It's been a long time between updates (circa 2020 to be exact) as life, family and work has taken up a lot of my time and shifted my priorities.

 

My old setup is here:  My humble system - now with added Polymax XHD! - Page 5 | Showcase Your System & Build Threads (stereonet.com)

 

I was fortunate to move house just before Christmas and have recently finished setting up my audio gear in the new house.

 

2 channel

 

Front and centre remains the lovely JDM Sansui AU-alpha 907MR with 33kg and 160WPC of Tamura, Elna Silmic Alpha Super Gold, Riken and WBT powered sonic bliss. Unfortunately the Sansui is too deep for the built-in entertainment unit, so my wife piped up and suggested that I simply plonk it on top as it "doesn't look half bad anyway". Suffice to say, she only had to say this once! 🙂

 

I recently sold my beloved Elite Aesthet 1 Mk 2 speakers which I had a long love affair with. In their place reside a beautiful pair of Legacy Studio HD speakers with a bespoke 8" silver-carbon weave woofer and AMT tweeter. https://legacyaudio.com/products/view/studio-hd The cabinets are super inert and beautifully finished in a deep gloss metallic black pearl paint. The Legacy speakers take no prisoners, with a very clean, clear and articulate presentation. The clarity is just amazing and never fails to bring a smile to my face. These standmounts can really get up and boogie when asked with dynamics that surprise given their size, but they are equally adept at lower level listening where they provide superb insight into the music. 

 

Concealed in the entertainment unit is my digital front end. The source remains the venerable Squeezebox Touch with EDO enhanced USB output and Gieseler power supply, sending the zeroes and ones to a Gieseler Kompakt DAC, which spits out its analogue sweetness via DIY Neutrik and Van Damme XLR cables to the "power amp direct" inputs on the Sansui. 

 

Very, very happy with the sound of this setup. The Legacy speakers truly show what the upstream gear is capable of. 

 

My restored Technics SL-120 turntable with SME-3009 tonearm and Denon DL110 cart is still packed away for the time being. 

 

 

Home theater 

 

On the home theatre front, the new room came pre-fitted with in-wall speakers and a receiver. Rather than mucking around and integrating the home theatre setup with my 2 channel rig, I'm quite happy keeping them separate. However to make this perform to my satisfaction, I scored a lovely Onkyo TX-NR7100 9.2 receiver with built-in DIRAC Live for a cracking deal in the boxing day sales.

 

Coupled with the big-bertha HSU VTF-3 mk3 subwoofer in the corner and with DIRAC measuring and correcting the show, it sounds far better than it has any right to given the in-wall speakers. In particular, the bass response is MUCH improved with a few peaks and room modes nicely smoothed-over. It won't win any points for outright grunt or sound quality, but it's a surprisingly capable setup and the HSU sub is a barrel of fun. 

 

The entertainment unit is fitted with 12V silent PC fans which are underspun at lower voltage, and are triggered when the gear is fired up to draw air through the cabinet.

 

I also have some simple room treatment in the form of 3 x DIY framed Polymax XHD panel artworks on the rear wall, along with four bare polymax panels on the rear wall and first reflection points for the Legacy speakers. These will be trimmed in fabric in future.

 

All in all, very happy with the outcome - a very comfortable and enjoyable room that sounds fantastic!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 15, 20242 yr by pete_mac

Awesome.

But the best bit?

Re the Sansui 907-MR:

"

1 hour ago, pete_mac said:

so my wife piped up and suggested that I simply plonk it on top as it "doesn't look half bad anyway".

 

Is your wife available to act as Prime Influencer upon my wife to persuade my dearest that an Alpha would likewise suit our loungeroom?! 😁

Wow, what a woman!

11 minutes ago, Robertoh said:

Awesome.

But the best bit?

Re the Sansui 907-MR:

"

 

Is your wife available to act as Prime Influencer upon my wife to persuade my dearest that an Alpha would likewise suit our loungeroom?! 😁

Wow, what a woman!

 

Mate, tell me about it!!! She's a keeper! 

Nice work, Pete 👍 

 

Looks like a lovely place to be 🙂 

On 15/02/2024 at 7:24 PM, pete_mac said:

"...simple room treatment in the form of 3 x DIY framed Polymax XHD panel artworks on the rear wall..."

 

 

Lovely!

 

We're currently engaged in executing room treatments for our new space and have been on the look out for some kind of treatements/art panel(s) for the spot behind the lounge. I'd considered some abstract stuff on canvas with 80-100mm acoustic foam in behind.

 

Can you explain a little more about your DIY panels? 

 

Thanks and enjoy.

19 minutes ago, Steever said:

 

Lovely!

 

We're currently engaged in executing room treatments for our new space and have been on the look out for some kind of treatements/art panel(s) for the spot behind the lounge. I'd considered some abstract stuff on canvas with 80-100mm acoustic foam in behind.

 

Can you explain a little more about your DIY panels? 

 

Thanks and enjoy.

 

Thanks!

 

There's some brief information in my earlier system thread below (June 2020 update).

 

The canvas prints we acquired aren't especially transparent, so I'm not fully sold on their outright effectiveness but I have no measurements to confirm or deny this. In this case, my wife liked the design so we purchased these, rather than playing around with more acoustically transparent canvas prints.

 

The construction comprises simple oak frames with french cleats to secure them to the wall, and 50mm Polymax XHD behind the print.  

 

You'll note I run some bare panels which sit directly above the lounge, given the very close proximity to the wall and the bare, hard surface right behind our ears. Aesthetically not idea, but very functional and I can certainly hear a difference when I remove them!

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 27, 20242 yr by pete_mac

New room, what room, I only saw this.

 

Cant see the forest for the ...Sansui😍

 

Wd Pete👌

Looking seriously good Pete. The only fly in the ointment for me is the bunch of cables hanging over the end.

 

Could you dare to take a hole-saw to the unit for one of these and  dress the cabling through and under the cabinet work?

 😳

32 minutes ago, Grimmie said:

Looking seriously good Pete. The only fly in the ointment for me is the bunch of cables hanging over the end.

 

Could you dare to take a hole-saw to the unit for one of these and  dress the cabling through and under the cabinet work?

 😳

Yes, most certainly!!

 

The above setup is/was essentially a stop-gap when we moved into the house and were sorting out our plans for the ‘entertainment unit’ in this room. I suspect we’ll retain the existing built-in unit for a while longer, so concealing the cables is very much on the agenda - it really bugs me!

 

Great idea re: the above - I’ll snaffle one from Bunnings when I get back from holiday. Thanks! 

Hey Pete.

Nice to see everything up and running in a really nice looking room. You have definitely been missed around here and thanks for sharing the new set up with us.

 

Cheers mate.

 

On 18/04/2024 at 9:03 AM, Grimmie said:

Looking seriously good Pete. The only fly in the ointment for me is the bunch of cables hanging over the end.

 

Could you dare to take a hole-saw to the unit for one of these and  dress the cabling through and under the cabinet work?

 😳

 

Thanks again for the suggestion @Grimmie - problem largely fixed using one of the above items at the rear right corner of the entertainment unit. 

 

A few large holesaw cuts between the internal partitions and most of the cables are now fully concealed.

 

The only visible cables are now the speaker cable and the subwoofer power and signal cable - the latter two I hope to conceal at some stage.

 

Edited May 13, 20241 yr by pete_mac

Love it, 100% better.

I'm going through the same thing right now Pete. I just strip the system for a rebuild. My system all starts with Grizzly's new speaker stands he's built.

Time for a 12 month update!

 

Key changes have been:

• Dual mono power supply mod to the big Sansui Alpha 907MR - removal of two wires and addition of two resistors - simples!
• Upgrading to a @Gieseler Audio Kompakt II TDA1541A DAC - what a superb bit of kit! Get one while you still can! S1 chip added thanks to @muon*
• Raspberry Pi 5 in a passive cooling case running the Snakeoil OS and Squeezelite as a music streamer - a perfect test-bed that demonstrates how different music players and software tweaks DO indeed sound different, as you can switch between them via a few mouse clicks. 
• Gieseler Kraftwerk II PSU for the Raspberry Pi 5
• Gieseler Reinigen USB reclocker - it elevates the performance of the Pi 5 markedly!
• 2 x Audiomeca pure silver USB cables - astonishing value-to-performance ratio at circa $55 from aliexpress and it has made a believer of me regarding (some) USB cables sounding different
• DIY Connex BL-ag solid silver XLR interconnects (made with DH Labs base cable)
• DIY @andyr-inspired CAT5E based low-inductance speaker cables - stupidly good for very little outlay
• Sansui CD-alpha907 CD player with new belts and a self-made custom solid silver SPDIF cable

Very satisfied with the ongoing evolution and tweaking of my system. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Very nice Pete, out of interest what are the dimensions of your room?

8 minutes ago, Hi-Fi Whipped said:

Very nice Pete, out of interest what are the dimensions of your room?

 

Thank you sir!

 

She's not especially big - 3.3m wide and 4.2m long.  

 

A lovely room Pete, well done!

 

Have you considered Atmos speakers?

What are the in-wall speakers you have there?

 

The HT buff in me sees the recessed screen cavity that would be perfect to paint black and install a screen and projector...I'd argue that a material screen would perform better than the tv for your 2 channel as well...  🤷‍♂️

47 minutes ago, pete_mac said:

Time for a 12 month update!

 

Key changes have been:

• Dual mono power supply mod to the big Sansui Alpha 907MR - removal of two wires and addition of two resistors - simples!
• Upgrading to a @Gieseler Audio Kompakt II TDA1541A DAC - what a superb bit of kit! Get one while you still can! S1 chip added thanks to @muon*
• Raspberry Pi 5 in a passive cooling case running the Snakeoil OS and Squeezelite as a music streamer - a perfect test-bed that demonstrates how different music players and software tweaks DO indeed sound different, as you can switch between them via a few mouse clicks. 
• Gieseler Kraftwerk II PSU for the Raspberry Pi 5
• Gieseler Reinigen USB reclocker - it elevates the performance of the Pi 5 markedly!
• 2 x Audiomeca pure silver USB cables - astonishing value-to-performance ratio at circa $55 from aliexpress and it has made a believer of me regarding (some) USB cables sounding different
• DIY Connex BL-ag solid silver XLR interconnects (made with DH Labs base cable)
• DIY @andyr-inspired CAT5E based low-inductance speaker cables - stupidly good for very little outlay
• Sansui CD-alpha907 CD player with new belts and a self-made custom solid silver SPDIF cable

Very satisfied with the ongoing evolution and tweaking of my system. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is that my old cd player Pete?

30 minutes ago, Kaynin said:

A lovely room Pete, well done!

 

Have you considered Atmos speakers?

What are the in-wall speakers you have there?

 

The HT buff in me sees the recessed screen cavity that would be perfect to paint black and install a screen and projector...I'd argue that a material screen would perform better than the tv for your 2 channel as well...  🤷‍♂️

 

 

Thanks! 

 

All of the in-wall speakers were installed by the previous owner - they are nothing special, with the front stage being Jensen-branded speakers and the rears and rear sides being unbranded speakers. Our home is two-storey so access to the roof cavity is non-existent and makes upgrades difficult - both for speakers and routing HDMI cables and the like.

 

The home theater setup is very much secondary to my hifi and they are two distinctly separate systems. The home theatre sounds reasonable with Dirac Live room correction via the Onkyo receiver, but is far from high-end. The big HSU sub certainly rocks the room though!  

 

The room gets a lot of TV/general purpose use by my wife and we adore the picture quality of OLED TVs, so I'd need to become familiar with what reasonably priced projectors and screens can deliver during both daytime and night light conditions and how they compete with a larger OLED screen. I reckon we're at least 5 years away from any big upgrades in that area anyway, so we have time to ponder!

 

 

 

 

25 minutes ago, Sansui77 said:

Is that my old cd player Pete?

 

I'm not sure - it came to me via the Sansui alpha legend @Cafad

42 minutes ago, pete_mac said:

 

 

Thanks! 

 

All of the in-wall speakers were installed by the previous owner - they are nothing special, with the front stage being Jensen-branded speakers and the rears and rear sides being unbranded speakers. Our home is two-storey so access to the roof cavity is non-existent and makes upgrades difficult - both for speakers and routing HDMI cables and the like.

 

The home theater setup is very much secondary to my hifi and they are two distinctly separate systems. The home theatre sounds reasonable with Dirac Live room correction via the Onkyo receiver, but is far from high-end. The big HSU sub certainly rocks the room though!  

 

The room gets a lot of TV/general purpose use by my wife and we adore the picture quality of OLED TVs, so I'd need to become familiar with what reasonably priced projectors and screens can deliver during both daytime and night light conditions and how they compete with a larger OLED screen. I reckon we're at least 5 years away from any big upgrades in that area anyway, so we have time to ponder!

 

 

Being they're effects speakers they only kick in during certain scenes.  I've no doubt they'd be very effective and it would be a fantastic experience.  Yep, no roof space then no go, all good though because a well done 5.1 or 7.1 is a great experience.

 

Regarding projectors in ambient light, I had the same question many years ago when I was buying my first one (JVC X500), and I couldn't believe how good they are.  They're only better these days with the light output they produce, but as you know, once you start down the slope it becomes slippery - once you start it's hard to stop!  lol