Okay first, don't give me too much grief about the environment as this is our bedroom setup...I was going to set this system up in our main listening room but I wanted a place where I would be spending plenty of time tuning and listening. Especially with an 8 month old son around now, we seem to spend most of our mornings and evenings in this setting which means we will get a ton of use out of it until we move homes later this year...at which point this will become the main system in a 2nd living area/man cave.
The goal of this thread is to share the joy I have realized by finding my ultimate setup, to share the work I've endured to arrive at my current conclusions/decisions and to make some friends in the process...the amazing people I have met in this hobby over the years has been a priceless part of this incredibly fun hobby. It has always been a passion of mine to seek out the best of the best in all things sound reproduction and nothing brings me greater joy than to share my passion with others.
My goal for this system was to build a setup that would rival even the best high end systems while maintaining as realistic of a budget as possible. Yes, I understand for the price of the drivers alone I could have purchased an entire high end HT with reputable components. I chose the current pathway because 1.) I already have my "ultimate" HT and I wanted to focus on an ultimate 2-channel for this build for pure stereo music enjoyment and 2.) Everything was purchased second hand in like-new condition for 40-75% less than retail (minus the Pioneer VSX-D912S which appears to have spent a past life para-jumping into demolition derbies without a chute...but for $80 and a killer learning remote I can't complain too much). It has taken years to find some of this gear and I am still not finished...eventually I want to add ~8 GR Research 12" open baffle subwoofers but that is another expense I need to save for...and I need more space.
I've built a few open baffle concepts going back about four years after studying the work of Mr. Linkwitz and his Orions as well as "gainphile" on Diyaudio. I've had the DIY bug for closer to 20 years when I first started dismantling and modifying my dad's gear and used these learnings to profit off of building car stereos for upperclassmen in high school. My involvement in both home and car audio gave me an agnostic gear selection viewpoint which led me to some very interesting discoveries. This experience has led me to try all sorts of DSPs, amps, drivers, etc. and from this I have compiled my short list of favorites, some not native to the world of home audio.
A couple big surprises, my favorite DSP is a 12v automotive unit, the Helix DSP and my go-to budget amp, the Pioneer VSX-D912S (I am building a custom Hypex amp for the final build but this Pioneer is pretty darn awesome for the time being, thanks to the thread I found here on AC). I use Hypex amps in my truck system and LOVE them and I can't wait to test them with this setup. But for now the Pioneer is amazing...and gives me much needed volume control.
Here is the build list I've reached after all this time...and I am learning new things every day so this may not be the last iteration but I think I've come pretty close to my desired sound:
RAAL 140-15D Dipole ribbons
Accuton C173-6-090 mids (I've been advised to try these in a small enclosure with an aperiodic membrane)
Pioneer VSX-D912S
Adire Tempest 15" subwoofer (to be upgraded to open baffle GR Research servo 12" W-frame arrays at some point)
Rythmik 360w plate amp (to be replaced by a pair of GR Research HX800 amps)
Helix DSP (DAC, active crossover and EQ) (generic cheapo eBay 12v power supply)
Esoteric EA7 interconnects for ribbons/mids
Esoteric A7 interconnects for the sub
Other components:
QNAP TS212 NAS w/WD Red HDDs, 60k+ song library
WD Live TV media player (for MP3, FLAC and Spotify playback)
LG 47LN5900 display (this series is the best bang for the buck on the market right now...check Slickdeals.net for the latest promo).
Okay, bedtime for now...I will share my initial listening impressions and detailed gear breakdown/triage in my next post.
Thanks!
