It’s always nice to check out neat high-end systems in elegantly furnished acoustically treated rooms. Mine is more along the lines of a messy system in a chaotic multi-purpose family room complete with dodgy photography.

 

The idea of a tranquil retreat of a listening room has its appeal, but for now I am happy to have my stereo in the living room. It means some compromises in terms of system set up and room treatments. But I want music to be something I share with my family rather than something that takes me away from them. And this is where we spend our time.

 

 

 

The room is 6x5.5x2.7m with a 1.5x2m corner taken out behind and to the right of the listening position. Speakers are about 2.7m apart, centred along the 6m wall. Equipment is housed in an old sideboard, along with altogether too much miscellaneous debris of family life (books, toys, craft supplies, nappy cream…). Day to day, speakers are about 30cm off the back wall with the drivers just forward of the sideboard. For serious listening sessions, I wait until the kids are in bed and pull them out about a metre into the room. This improves soundstage depth and imaging nicely. Moving them back and forth on the timber floor means no spikes. The house is a wobbly 40s weatherboard-fibro. The suspended timber floor has a lot of play, which is amplified by the sideboard, such that can’t play records until everyone else had retired for fear of indelicate footfalls sending the stylus scudding across the grooves. I need to get my act together and build a wall shelf for the turntable.

 

 

This system is not suitable for d!ckwaving or creating the illusion that the artist is in the room. It is quite good for presenting music, the whole and its parts, with enough detail and emotional oomph to provide listening pleasure.

 

Speakers are Orpheus Aurora 3. I auditioned and bought these about 4 years ago from Kiat at the Orpheus/Duntech listening room/factory in Sydney. A nice step up from the Paradigm Titan v1 stand mounts I’d had since 1993. They are about as big as I can get away with in a living room setting, have lovely tonal balance, work with a variety of music and are stable enough to stand the odd bump from a toddler.

 

 

The amplifier is a Marantz PM-6010 OSE integrated, a bit over 12 years. It is rated 50W into 8ohmns. The speakers are a benign 4 ohm load and reasonably efficient. A higher current amplifier would be better, but this manages to drive them okay without sh!tting itself.

 

CD player is a Matantz CD-6000 OSE LE, same era as the amp but I’ve only had it in system for three and a half years. It’s a pretty decent player. Detail is quite good, but sound stage is a bit flat.

 

Turntable is a TEAC PX-500, a late ‘70s Japanese quartz lock direct drive unit. It’s quite well built but certainly not an audiophile player. I am running it with an Audio-Technica AT-110E cartridge. The phono stage on the Marantz is okay, but I’m currently borrowing a friend’s DIY job.

 

There’s also a MacBook Pro for playing iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, etc. No external DAC, this is just lined in via analogue 3.5mm to RCA cable.

 

Over the years I have been more interested in music than gear.  My musical tastes are varied and broad without being particularly adventurous. I still have musical blind spots you could drive a truck through. In part this is because I only recently paid any attention to new music. As a teenager in the 90s I started with the 60s rock cannon. Since my early 20s I’ve probably listened to more funk and soul than anything else. I’ve had a good dabble in  blues and R&B. Along the way I’ve managed to pick up a few choice cuts of 80s-90s-00s pop/rock, hip hop and electronica, but usually only years after they came out. I inherited large chunks of my dad’s jazz and classical collections, so I have more of this on hand than I’ve had a chance to get to know well. It’s only in the last few years, that I’ve made any attempt to keep up with new releases. What an enjoyable, addictive and expensive revelation.

 

 

CDs are in built-in shelving in the adjacent hallway. For me this works perfectly: both out of the way and easily accessible. I can quite often be found propped in the hallway browsing the shelves. The running joke has the Squeeze asking: Can’t find anything?/No, I must need more/I was thinking you might have too many already.

 

 

Records are in a sideboard at the back of the living room. I can’t help thinking of the line from the film Sideways where Miles is asked about his wine collection ‘Oh it’s not so much a collection, more a small gathering at the bottom of a cupboard’. But I think that’s lapsing into ‘my humble system’ type faux pas. There’s some lovely stuff here.

 

Where do I want to go with this? To be honest I’m torn. Hanging out on SNA normalises flash systems and frequent upgrade cycles. I can’t help thinking my speakers would benefit from more capable amplification and that my music collection is worthy of better playback components. Wouldn’t it be nice to try one of Earle’s Topaz KT120s; a new CD spinner with digital inputs so I can also dabble further in computer audio; a nice hunk of vintage direct drive goodness…and so on.

 

On the other hand, what I have serves me well. I don’t have golden ears. The living room precludes optimal set up and room treatment. Small children can break things. And I’m wary of getting too carried away with indulgent consumption. I’m also hopelessly indecisive.

 

So I maintain the status quo, caught between extravagant daydreams and stingy pragmatism, spending most of my pocket money on CDs and records and enjoying it all very much.

 

I'm happy to entertain suggestions in this thread!

Edited September 28, 201312 yr by Monty

Very competent set up and indeed pragmatic considering the billy lids running about the place.  Fantastic collection of music and well housed.

The dedicated room can always come later, my just finished room(on show in this same forum) came after the kids had left and I can't recommend it highly enough but I'd of never done it when they were here as it is a real indulgence.

 

Can't really give you any advice as I've got the bug bad and I absolutely love buying stuff and it's a really really bad month if there isn't a package at the door or the P.O. I think the trick is to sell some gear occasionally...advice I'm still to take on board .

The most important thing in what you have to say is that the stereo is there so that it is part of the children's life

In 20 years time they will talk about and make jokes about their fathers music and your music will be a part of their life as will their own music

As for the system no matter how much you spend there is always a better one

I love looking at other people's systems and rooms but I would'nt swap mine and it's housed in the garage!

Not exactly perfect for sound

Great songs top great sounds every day

Great songs sound great on car radios transistors or iPods or anything that can be turned up

For me exploring the highways and bi ways of rock n roll is the real fun of stereo systems

Luc is right better systems and better rooms come over time

Cheers

Ray

Thanks guys. Bringing music into the kids' lives is important to me. The two year old is currently mad for Janelle Monae's 'Dance Apocalyptic', which I thnk is a very good choice. It seems less common for girls to become SNA level music nerds (why is that?), but I'll try to give them every chance to know and love good music.

I have a similar set-up and attitude Monty.

 

This photo of my living / listening room is taken from my kitchen. With a young family also there can be school homework, cartwheels, dinner, etc. all going on in this space at any given time.

 

That said I do have time to listen by myself when things wind down for the night.

 

Like you say there are compromises using a shared space but it makes music part of everyday life which is great.

 

 

 

I have always liked the look of the Aurora 3's, and would expect them to sound good too.

 

Thanks for the pics and write up

A lovely story.

I've just this weekend bought a new place and have been making stick-and-box diagrams with the SO about what gear is going to reside in which room, with an eye on austerity and practicality rather than dickwavability.

Perhaps a DAC may improve the MacBook's output and sort out the CD spinner's soundstage issue. Something from Audio-gd's catalogue should help without breaking the bank.

Never heard the Aurora 3 but have always thought they are an attractive floorstander among others which can look a bit same same.

 

Have to agree a second hand Audio GD or Schiit DAC (happy with mine) would be money well spent.

adamg: I like the look of your living room system. You look to be better than we are at keeping kid chaos under control. That built in shelf is just right for keeping your gear and music up and out of the way but still accessible. Are those Kef standmounts? Do you worry about your kids knocking them off their perch. It sounds silly, but perceived stability was a serious factor in me going for floorstanders.

 

datafone and adamg: I am happy with the Aurora 3. They are good allrounders I think. I might have done better if I went second hand, but I wanted to listen to what I was buying and at the time I was juggling a firstborn toddler and a father who was sickening to die, so it was hard to audition widely. No point worrying about it now.

 

mrdave and adamg: I have often wondered about adding a DAC (and Audio-GD and Shiit would be around the top of the list). It would have to improve CD playback to be worthwhile. I listen via the computer <10% of the time, so improvements there would be gravy but not worth the price of admission. And I just don't know how well my CD spinner would work as a transport. Would an external DAC be better, or just different, or would it just throw up issues? I like the idea of a good CD player with digital inputs for computer audio gravy. But those don't necessarily come cheap.

Edited September 29, 201312 yr by Monty

adamg: I like the look of your living room system. You look to be better than we are at keeping kid chaos under control. That built in shelf is just right for keeping your gear and music up and out of the way but still accessible. Are those Kef standmounts? Do you worry about your kids knocking them off their perch. It sounds silly, but perceived stability was a serious factor in me going for floorstanders.

 

mrdave and adamg: I have often wondered about adding a DAC (and Audio-GD and Shiit would be around the top of the list). It would have to improve CD playback to be worthwhile. I listen via the computer <10% of the time, so improvements there would be gravy but not worth the price of admission. And I just don't know how well my CD spinner would work as a transport. Would an external DAC be better, or just different, or would it just throw up issues? I like the idea of a good CD player with digital inputs for computer audio gravy. But those don't necessarily come cheap.

The speakers are LS50s. There have been a few anxious moments but the kids are 6 and 9 so are pretty good at keeping a buffer (after repeated threats). Stands are filled with ilmenite and blue tack under speakers so are surprisingly stable. The wall unit set-up is a shocker for swapping things around but being fixed to the wall I have no issue with heavy feet on the wood floor.

 

If your only doing 10% on the Mac money is probably better spent on the CDP.

I really love your approach Monty. One of my earliest memories of music is my father playing Tchaikovsky on his reel to reel in the lounge room (and carefully winding tape around the capstans)  -  he was happy to let the kids be around his stereo gear, taught us how to use it and care for it too. Which of course rubbed off on me, for better or worse. 

 

BTW, on gear and kids, I have always had valve amps etc around my daughter - who is now 10 - and we managed to escape without any incidents, and I like how she now respects the gear in the lounge room - perhaps like adamg, the careful buffering around the stereo has come after many years of warnings!

Monty - happy to say that we run a similar all in one room set up.

 

My set up is far from ideal from a room perspective - but who cares - as long as everyone is getting into it.  I am planning a reno and still no dedicated music room in the budget so you live with what you can do.

 

The Aurora 3's area great speaker i have herd it and the old 2's a few times - I was always impressed.  Holy cow on the cd collection - looks great .  I have showed it to the wife to ensure she thinks i'm sane and others are afflicted.

 

cheers Damo.

Thanks Damo and mkaramazov

 

Monty - happy to say that we run a similar all in one room set up.

 

It is nice to recognise others taking a similar approach. But one thing I really like about SNA is that it’s a broad church with lots of respect and encouragement for others whether their system is entry level, superfly or somewhere in between. There are generally few displays of elitism and expressions of envy are generally tongue in cheek.

As for the holy cow CD collection I must admit it flatters me somewhat.. Probably 40 per cent I inherited from my dad. And I have another 6-700 boxed up waiting for the day when I’m ready to go deep down the rabbit hole of classical music lore. It turned a good collection into a very good one but of course it’s a mixed blessing at best – I’d rather have had the old man hang around for another decade or two.

 

The expanded collection certainly forced me to think more seriously about storage. Earlier this year I reconfigured the shelves in the hallway, adding extra shelves and spacing them at intervals for CDs rather than paperbacks. This was a minor undertaking compared with some of the amazing build projects on this forum, but it was a challenge to someone with my (lack of) handy skills and very satisfying.

 

 

Just getting the CDs out of the way to the work took some room. It’s hard to imagine dealing with a seriously huge collection, let alone with the added bulk of vinyl.

 

 

I also took the opportunity to put things in alphabetical order (by genre) something I’d not done since I was about 16 and my collection grew beyond about 30 discs. I’m still getting used to it, but I think I’ll keep it this way. On the left side, from the bottom up is funk/soul; blues/R&B; and jazz. On the right is classical and above that everything else.  Stacked on the top are box sets.

 

 

Next job is to tackle a wall shelf for the turntable and hope it works well enough to allow me to play records before the house is asleep.

look great. Love the feeling of things finally being sorted out.

This is a super thread. I love the wall of CD's. I'm torn between having all my CD's (and it's only about 700) out on display to play one at a time, or simply running them all through a notebook as FLAC. My wife likes the latter idea, and with kids about, the time to sift through the collection and pick one to listen to for 45 minutes just isn't there. 

 

But I like this thread. 

Thanks Juiceter and Brendo. I missed your posts. Yes it is nice to get things sorted. And Brendo, If you like the wall of CDs I say go for it, and if you can tuck it in a hallway what is there to complain about. Doesn't mean you can't have your music sorted on computer as well.

 

Earlier in this thread I mentioned that the bouncy timber floor and sideboard play havoc with my turntable. Today my father in-law came over to help me build a wall shelf for the turntable. Nothing pretty or scientific but it's hidden behind the open backed sideboard and works reasonably well to isolate the turntable from the floor. It can't deal with dancing elephants but normal to boisterous walking is fine. Just imagine: I'll be able to play records during the day!

 

 

The shelf places the turntable inside the hi-fi cabinet section and frees up the hinged lid for access.

 

 

While we were moving things around I took the opportunity to move my old tuner (Yamaha T-07) in. This is the last vestige of the second hand Yamaha/Paradigm system I started with in 1993 and has been gathering dust for a while. Sounded bloody nice tuned to ABC Classic FM.

 

 

There are a few loose ends to sort out. Placing the turntable within the lidded cabinet means the plastic turntable lid gets in the way. I think I will make a fabric dust cover to use inside the cabinet instead.

 

As the amplifier is now lower in the cabinet, my least crap interconnect is now too short to reach the CD player. I've never spent money on cables but might take the plunge and get an Aurialis R1 for the CD player.

 

Finally the wall shelf gets in the way of the floor length curtains we had behind the sideboard. For alternatives, I will defer to the Squeeze for both aesthetics and construction.

i had the non curved signature series of auroras and we really enjoyed them... the finish on them were really top notch

Thanks Juiceter and Brendo. I missed your posts. Yes it is nice to get things sorted. And Brendo, If you like the wall of CDs I say go for it, and if you can tuck it in a hallway what is there to complain about. Doesn't mean you can't have your music sorted on computer as well.

 

Earlier in this thread I mentioned that the bouncy timber floor and sideboard play havoc with my turntable. Today my father in-law came over to help me build a wall shelf for the turntable. Nothing pretty or scientific but it's hidden behind the open backed sideboard and works reasonably well to isolate the turntable from the floor. It can't deal with dancing elephants but normal to boisterous walking is fine. Just imagine: I'll be able to play records during the day!

 

 

The shelf places the turntable inside the hi-fi cabinet section and frees up the hinged lid for access.

 

 

While we were moving things around I took the opportunity to move my old tuner (Yamaha T-07) in. This is the last vestige of the second hand Yamaha/Paradigm system I started with in 1993 and has been gathering dust for a while. Sounded bloody nice tuned to ABC Classic FM.

 

 

There are a few loose ends to sort out. Placing the turntable within the lidded cabinet means the plastic turntable lid gets in the way. I think I will make a fabric dust cover to use inside the cabinet instead.

 

As the amplifier is now lower in the cabinet, my least crap interconnect is now too short to reach the CD player. I've never spent money on cables but might take the plunge and get an Aurialis R1 for the CD player.

 

Finally the wall shelf gets in the way of the floor length curtains we had behind the sideboard. For alternatives, I will defer to the Squeeze for both aesthetics and construction.

I love your priorities. The music is more important than shiny bling gear and you have a CD collection I'm salivating over.

When I was just getting back into vinyl I bought a Teac PX500 TT on eBay. Great value. I've moved on but my step-son took it when he moved out and is loving it as much as I did.

Here's my setup at the new place, a bit tight.

 

The most important thing in what you have to say is that the stereo is there so that it is part of the children's life

In 20 years time they will talk about and make jokes about their fathers music and your music will be a part of their life as will their own music.

 

As one whose children have now grown & left the nest....PLEASE do not undersell the value of music in your children's lives.

 

They will have a far greater appreciation of music...genres...and usually become involved at some point in music...whether it is learning an instrument...singing or somewhere where their friends can come & listen whatever the latest thing is.

 

My children (now young adults) have music as an essential part of the lives...play at least one instrument...sing & find interesting songs from all over the world.

 

In my opinion music is an essential part of their development years...as is sport but that is another subject altogether...Rob

Monty, a great story and motivation for your setup. I too have my system in the living room, as well as have young kids, the warned away from the stereo type, who have so far, among 4 of them, only managed to knock one of my stand mounts over once! Once too much though if you ask me.

The TT shelf is a well thought out solution. Impressed. Happy vinyl listening at any time now.

Thanks for showing us around.

As one whose children have now grown & left the nest....PLEASE do not undersell the value of music in your children's lives.

 

They will have a far greater appreciation of music...genres...and usually become involved at some point in music...whether it is learning an instrument...singing or somewhere where their friends can come & listen whatever the latest thing is.

 

My children (now young adults) have music as an essential part of the lives...play at least one instrument...sing & find interesting songs from all over the world.

 

In my opinion music is an essential part of their development years...as is sport but that is another subject altogether...Rob

I agree wholeheartedly with both posts. My love of music came directly from my father who always had vinyl playing whenever he was home. Specifically I remember him endlessly playing Meatloaf bat out of hell, Supertramp and Kate Bush. I didn't discover his stereo set-up and buy my own LP's until about age 10, but if it wasn't for him, it may have never happened. Looking back, I was always into music far deeper than most of my friends.

Thanks for the generous comments guys.

 

When I was just getting back into vinyl I bought a Teac PX500 TT on eBay. Great value. I've moved on but my step-son took it when he moved out and is loving it as much as I did.

 

Nice to hear a Teac PX500 story. I've only ever had cheap turntables. I bought the Teac locally on gumtree a couple of years ago and it's the best I've had and for $35 great value. I know there's a lot of upside to explore but I suspect I'd have to spend $500+ to get much improvement and more still to do things properly. That's not trivial money. Later.

 

As one whose children have now grown & left the nest....PLEASE do not undersell the value of music in your children's lives.

 

In my opinion music is an essential part of their development years...as is sport but that is another subject altogether...Rob

 

Yes, I'm really keen for music to be a part of my kids' lives. They're still little (two and six) and they love dancing and choosing their favourites. I help my eldest make mix-CDs to include with the lolly bag at her birthday party and she loves that.

 

The challenge for me will be conveying to the kids that music is something you can do as well as something to be enjoyed passively. I'm a music tragic but neither my partner or I are musicians, so neither nature or nurture are working for us there, however they are still young.

 

Monty, a great story and motivation for your setup. I too have my system in the living room, as well as have young kids, the warned away from the stereo type, who have so far, among 4 of them, only managed to knock one of my stand mounts over once! Once too much though if you ask me.

The TT shelf is a well thought out solution. Impressed. Happy vinyl listening at any time now.

 

My kids have given me one bent stylus (thankfully it was a cheap one) and one stand mount knocked of its breeze block stand (this was a genuine factor in choosing a floorstander when I upgraded).

 

I'm happy with the wall shelf and thankful for having a handy father in-law with the requisite tools and can-do attitude to help me put ideas into practice.

This is a great thread. Has brought out the beauty amongst the lust that goes on around here (not that I don't love that too )

 

You're a great writer Monty, I have read your post a few times and laughed every time.

 

Usually in these showcases the intro sets you up for amazement and wonder. Yours is hilarious. I imagine you're a funny guy.

 

As far as liking music I understand what everyone is saying. My grandfather always had a classical record playing. My mother would play the piano every night whilst I was lying in bed. When I was a baby I would cry unless my father put his huge closed back headphones on me while I was in my rocker.

 

Now my wife and I play music ourselves every afternoon. Piano, 3 saxes, chinese harp, flute, irish flute and chinese vertical flute. Then after dinner classical or jazz records. 

 

We both always say how lucky we are to love music so much. I'm sure your kids will be the same.

 

Thanks for a great read.

 

Rob

There are a few loose ends to sort out.

 

Well the Squeeze fixed me up with a cloth dust cover. Lightweight silk salvaged from an old camping inner sheet, with a heavier border to hang well. It could have been a bit smaller, but does the trick.

 

 

Then I bit the bullet and ordered Aurialis R1s. Geoff was great to deal with. Answered questions about his different products without being at all pushy. And when I was ready to order he had them made and delivered in a couple of days.

 

Moving things around to fit the new cable proved too much for the old amplifier. It started to crackle in one channel. Oh the frustration!

Fortunately Decky was able to fix it the next weekend. Some new caps and rectifiers and a bit of a clean and it was ready to pick up the same afternoon. Amazing service.

 

So now I'm back in business and very happy with how these little tweaks have come together. Still have to work out what to do about the curtains though...

Edited December 4, 201312 yr by Monty