Aural Enlightenment 2

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Big Red Machine

Aural Enlightenment 2
« on: 25 Sep 2013, 07:08 pm »
Coming soon: 

new room in new digs,  :(

renovation of a rental space, :dunno: 

acoustic treatments,  :o

power conditioning, :thumb:

new DAC, new server, new cables  :bounce:

tbd

Mudslide

Re: Aural Enlightenment 2
« Reply #1 on: 25 Sep 2013, 09:43 pm »
new pics

new fun 

new sales of old stuff

 :thumb:

Nuance

Re: Aural Enlightenment 2
« Reply #2 on: 25 Sep 2013, 10:43 pm »
Awesome - can't wait! 

You kept "The Dude" though, right?

Big Red Machine

Re: Aural Enlightenment 2
« Reply #3 on: 26 Sep 2013, 12:05 am »
The Dude would have to be pried from my cold, dead hands.

Kinger

Re: Aural Enlightenment 2
« Reply #4 on: 26 Sep 2013, 01:13 am »
Subscribed........

Nuance

Re: Aural Enlightenment 2
« Reply #5 on: 26 Sep 2013, 12:42 pm »
The Dude would have to be pried from my cold, dead hands.

Oh thank God!  I'm still jealous of you every day for having that preamp. :D  Now that is a real piece of audio equipment! :thumb:

jtwrace

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Re: Aural Enlightenment 2
« Reply #6 on: 26 Sep 2013, 12:59 pm »
Oh thank God!  I'm still jealous of you every day for having that preamp. :D  Now that is a real piece of audio equipment! :thumb:
So buy one.

carusoracer

Re: Aural Enlightenment 2
« Reply #7 on: 26 Sep 2013, 04:44 pm »
A new house?  Still in Metro area?

Look forward to hearing and seeing the tranformation :thumb:

Nuance

Re: Aural Enlightenment 2
« Reply #8 on: 27 Sep 2013, 12:29 pm »
So buy one.

I have more important things to spend 5-6K on than a preamp at this time in my life. ;)  Perhaps one day.

Big Red Machine

Re: Aural Enlightenment 2
« Reply #9 on: 5 Oct 2013, 01:13 am »
The first thing I did (totally disallowed BTW since this is a rental) was put in a dedicated 20 amp line and breaker.  I did this out into the garage for tools/compressor and another for the HT/Stereo gear.








I planned ahead for the space I was remodeling and put in a dual receptacle.  I procured a variety of duplexes while looking for new work and decided to try a stock Hubbel 5362 and an Oyaide R1.  I don't really like that Oyaide.  It grips very tightly but seems to be touchy and not really built for domestic abuse.  I will replace it soon.




Big Red Machine

Re: Aural Enlightenment 2
« Reply #10 on: 5 Oct 2013, 11:35 pm »
Unfortunately I do not have a before photo to show of the monstrosity that was torn out by my father-in-law.  It was a cedar lined cabinet about knee high with 3 doors on the top surface that opened upwards.  You couldn't sit there as the door handles crammed up your ....

So I decided that this was the best space in the house and in a nice walk-out basement set-up so if I was going to use this spot then it had to accommodate both 2 channel and home theater.  So out goes the use of my nice Adona racks and 3 inch maple shelves.  Out goes the ability to use cable lifts and other tweaks.

Since this is the only space to have electronics in this "small to me" house I decided to put the HT gear on the left side and the 2 channel on the right side.  They would each be using the dedicated 20 amp circuit.

As I progressed I was constrained with the existing depth which was 24 inches but I worked the unit up higher to handle all the essentials.  Thing is that the heavy amps make sense on the bottom shelf but then I could not reach in behind them to turn them on so opted for the top shelf and made the top surface 3 removable pieces.  Each piece sits on felt pads so they won't vibrate.  I made the shelves 19 inches deep and left myself 5 inches of open space behind to run the cables side to side.  This made life much easier to string the cables.  I just painted the back of the space black and you hardly notice any wires inside.
















Big Red Machine

Re: Aural Enlightenment 2
« Reply #11 on: 5 Oct 2013, 11:44 pm »
I didn't get fancy with this.  I basically dado'd some 2x4's and used 1/2 plywood.  I made 3 sections and filled the spot.  I covered the insides of each shelf space with a black painted piece of 1/8 fiberboard.  Trimmed the front with some nice primed pine stock.  When I nail the trim to the front of each shelf with the nailer I make sure the trim takes out any shelf bow when I glue and nail it up.

Crude and cheap.








Helper...




Space behind for wiring:




The floor is really unlevel here.  Took a lot of shimming and I still missed one area I'll hold secret.




Additional 20 amp line box for the HT gear.  Overkill with two duplexes as I use a power manager device and only need one plug.  Just a Home Depot 20 amp receptacle at $7.






I left the large opening in the bottom center in case someday I can swing an SS8 center.  I opted not to use a perforated screen due to moire and other issues so a floor mounted is fine as that is what I used for years anyways.

audiotom

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Re: Aural Enlightenment 2
« Reply #12 on: 6 Oct 2013, 12:49 am »
Wow Pete

Glad to see your system coming together

Have you considered a vented black top to the cabinets?

Those Samsons are going to be fun to turn on and off


Big Red Machine

Re: Aural Enlightenment 2
« Reply #13 on: 6 Oct 2013, 01:25 am »
The Samsons don't give enough heat to even worry about.  I have 2 or more inches all around them plus the 5 inches behind them.  On the top shelf I just pull back one of the 3 removable top pieces, reach over, and snap them on or off.




A view from my chair.  I set my Ikea chair out in front of the theater seats for listening.

Austin08

Re: Aural Enlightenment 2
« Reply #14 on: 6 Oct 2013, 03:27 am »
BRM,

It is nice to see your system is up and running. How do your system perform in this new space.

TomS

Re: Aural Enlightenment 2
« Reply #15 on: 6 Oct 2013, 12:19 pm »
Lookin' good Pete and glad to see you back!

Kinger

Re: Aural Enlightenment 2
« Reply #16 on: 6 Oct 2013, 04:37 pm »
Looks good Pete!  Glad to see you have your gear back up and running again.

Big Red Machine

Re: Aural Enlightenment 2
« Reply #17 on: 6 Oct 2013, 06:18 pm »
BRM,

It is nice to see your system is up and running. How do your system perform in this new space.

Pretty good.  I am happy but not satisfied just yet.  I set up room treatments with no pre and post measurements but just from experience and a desire to utilize my diffusers.  I have an extensive quantity of OC703 and homemade absorbers using 703.  I am dismantling my Prime 53 diffusors because there is no room for them.

When I have extensive amounts of 703, I mean on the order of 3 full boxes of 24 inch bass trap triangles and about a dozen 2x4 x 2 inch absorber panels plus 4 8 inch thick 1x4 foot bass traps.  And I had some round tube diffusors I have no room for.  Kinda sucks.

The room is deceiving as it has 9 foot ceilings and the drop ceiling is at 8 feet.  12.5 feet wide but 32 feet deep.  The furnace is behind me and I used 703 panels to insulate the walls and flanking noise above to reduce that noise off my right rear.  I insulated the inside of the door and hung a panel on the outside to try and help reduce furnace noise.

I did appreciate that my diffusers mounted nicely in the ceiling tile grid.



Austin08

Re: Aural Enlightenment 2
« Reply #18 on: 6 Oct 2013, 06:30 pm »
Wow!!! Look at those cloud in your ceiling....very interestin.

Big Red Machine

Re: Aural Enlightenment 2
« Reply #19 on: 10 Oct 2013, 01:01 am »
Let's skip over acoustics for now and talk power conditioning.  Wanna see something sick?

Alan Mayer products - PE's and the little small jobbies, forgot their names.  Just a few.



I had plans for this box.  It was going to have solid copper bus and TeslaPlex and other top end outlets in it.  Empty now but TBD.



A passive junction box I used in my old digs.  Has 2 Maestros, 10 lbs of lead in the bottom and about 3 gauge copper wiring.


An AVA Humdinger - nicely built unit.