[Tomy2Tone]

Country garden audiophile! I love it!

Nice looking setup, I heard these at the Newport Show and thought they sounded pretty good. Not sure why B&W gets a bad wrap in certain circles. If I had to choose between the uber expensive Wilson's I also heard I would take these B&W's.

Congrats!

[bside123]

Looking good Scotty!

Some folks look for the "best bang for the buck." Looks like you've gone for the "best pound for pound!" Massive    I haven't heard your rig yet, but you did want "cool" factor, which it seems like you've got it in spades, including the vintage truck drawn trailer with the Kubota assist. BTW, I'd do the Funky Cold Medina with you just 'bout anytime...

[mjmsound]

Looks real nice!
Can't wait for the listening session.

[DaveC113]

I hate to tell ya, but your new system is still in the top 1% I'd guess.     The new B&Ws are very impressive.

I never get tired of music but my interest in improving everything comes and goes, sometimes I'll take a break for a year or three. It's there playing music and waiting for me when I'm ready to make more changes or build a new piece of gear.

I used to own a welding and auto shop and the auto hobby is the biggest drain on the bank account I've ever witnessed. But I do miss my supercharged, stroked 454 big block Chevy with a custom built Holley double pumper. It's still the best engines I've ever experienced, although the Z06 Vette is up there too...  One day I'd like to have a Z06 for a toy/track car, it's the most fun car I've ever drove.

Do you have either of the crossovers left? 

[Scott F.]

Thanks guys,

Country garden audiophile! I love it!

Yep, we've got a tiny commercial 'farm' where we (my wife actually) grows peppers for the local butcher's jerky. She also grows and sells loofa's to the local beauty shops.

Din, wasn't it Telling that talked about dollars per pound on audio? Lord knows my cost fit in his formula somewhere. Speakers at 250 pounds each, amp at 130 pounds, turntables at 175 pounds each (stands included of course).

Mike, at some point later this year, I'll have a people out. The system isn't nearly as accurate at the fleapowered system but it really seems to suit my current goals.

Dave, I know exactly what you mean about vintage cars. They take tons of attention and resources. Thankfully, with the truck and the TBird, we use both as drivers. They aren't put away, polished and only brought out for car shows. We use them, especially the truck, our workhorse. It's actually really reliable. Stick the key in, turn it and go. So is the TBird for that matter. Sure, we have the usual upkeep, but we've committed to doing things once. The truck and Bird for example. Both were a little squirrely going down the road and needed tie rod ends and the like. Rather than just doing the tie rod ends, we ripped the entire front end apart and replaced all the bushings on the controls arms and put all new parts in while they were down (steering boxes, ball joints, drag links, tie rod ends, etc.). They now drive like new (old) cars and I no longer have to worry about picking away at the next front end issue at some point down the road...it's all new. Sure, it cost a few bucks up front but saves tons of headaches and added expense later. Do it once, do it right and never look back. That's been my motto for some time now. Sorta like the new system. I picked around the edges trying to cheap out and my wife said, just do it and be done with it. Who am I to argue with that kind of logic?

[drummerwill]

  Sorry Scott , I can't get away from Small Triode amps, Large Hi-Eff. speakers
   ....and my Li'l 2010 Z06..





    Have fun !
  Willie

[Scott F.]

NICE!!!!

I almost bought one myself. I ended up settling on a 2015 Mustang Ecoboost.



I love this little thnig. They are pounding 310hp out of the 2.3L four cylinder and it's darned quick. With some mild mods, exhaust, cold air intake and a tune, you can get close to 400 hp and well over 425ft lbs of torque out of it...and STILL get 30mpg.

Fast cars are WAY too much fun.

[Tomy2Tone]

I love this little thnig. They are pounding 310hp out of the 2.3L four cylinder and it's darned quick. With some mild mods, exhaust, cold air intake and a tune, you can get close to 400 hp and well over 425ft lbs of torque out of it...and STILL get 30mpg.

Fast cars are WAY too much fun.

Ford must be on to something special with the eco boost. I've come across several people in the last year who have varying types of Ford vehicles with the eco boost and they absolutely love it.

Is there a catch to it? Is the maintenance any different or are there long term costs that may come in to play? Everybody that talks about them just makes them sound too good to be true...

[Bob in St. Louis]

It's a marketing term for turbocharging.

[DaveC113]

Turbos have a big advantage with the newer direct injection systems, the static compression ratio can be much higher and combined with variable valve timing the fuel economy is similar to a non-turbo, but you have much more power on-tap. However, turbos run a richer a/f mix when on boost so when the turbo is engaged the motor sucks the gas down like there's no tomorrow. The ecoboost F150 can get horrible fuel economy when towing or hauling a lot... like single digits. My WRX can get 30 mpg if you're careful and 20 mpg if you're a leadfoot. OTOH, Chevy disengages a couple of cylinders during light loads, the new Vette has 455 hp and can get 30 mpg highway. Dodge has a new diesel 1/2 ton that gets 28 mpg avg. The big disadvantage with turbos is upfront cost, complexity and durability... boost will wear out the piston ring seal faster and the motor will start using oil before a conventional motor would.

[Scott F.]

When it comes to mileage, on the highway, IF and only IF I keep my foot out of it and stay below 80, I get about 33mpg. The flip side of that is doing what I said not to, and I get between 29 and 30mpg. Leadfooting it on the twisties you'll take hit and mileage drops to about 25 or 26. Now there, I live above 4K rpm and bounce off redline regularly. Canyon carving in California doesn't hold a candle to the back roads here in Missouri. Just have to dodge tractors and deer.

In the 15k miles I've put on it so far, I'm averaging 28.6 mpg. I do 50/50 highway and city. Carve out 5-10% of that for me driving like my hair is on fire chasing (seldom leading) my buddy in his GT3.

When it comes to maintenance, it's pretty straightforward. The usual suspects though I choose to run Mobil 1 full synth, race oil in mine since I tend to go fast. I change oil at 7500 miles. One thing I need to do is install a catch can on the PCV system. If you don't, and this is pretty typical of turbos, you can get some oil mist that drifts up into the top of the motor. Where the PCV connects at the head, those two valves can start to carbon up because of the mist causing a maintenance issue later down the road. The catch can is a centrifugal design so it separates the mist from air, then you reach in and drain it once a month or so during average driving conditions.

Dave, I respectfully disagree with you on your disadvantages on the turbo. In the days of yore, absolutely, but turbo technology, the advancements in overall engine technology, fuel injection and variable valve timing have negated those old issues. Then again, VW and Merc have been running turbos on their diesels since the 70's. And crap, you can get 300,000 miles out of a Merc turbo diesel before even thinking about doing anything to the motor except injectors and glow plugs.

I could be wrong, with out a doubt but I believed enough in the Ford Ecoboost technology that I signed on. They've been doing it for the best part of a decade over in the EU and it appears the bugs are worked out....at least I hope they are. If not, that's why I bought the extended warranty

[Bob in St. Louis]

Yup. Turbos are great. It's almost like "free" energy. Supercharges are nice too.
Changing the oil regularly and not sludging up the oil feed lines to the turbo is the key to not finding out how much a turbo replacement is. 

[DaveC113]

Diesels have much heavier duty piston/ring assemblies that are designed for huge cylinder pressures. Barring a catastrophic failure excessive oil consumption/blow-by usually ends the life of a gas-powered turbo motor before anything else. Shoving double the amount of air/gas into the same volume simply results in more wear on the piston rings.   

[Bob in St. Louis]

How about twin turbos? 

[drummerwill]

 ...When I got my Z06 new . that's 505 HP from the factory, I could get 31 MPG easy. That driving about 67 MPH . In the city and not
   quick jumping every stoplight, I could get about 24 or 25 MPG.

    Now since the engine work , I know its a lot less MPG's ........ but it feels sooo good !!

     Willie

[mjmsound]

I like all the talk about audio equipment. I never knew you could get turbo charged stereo gear that gets 30 miles to the gallon.
I drive a Focus wagon. I get 30 miles to the gallon on the highway, but my cruse control stopped working.
Now, I don't know. And I have a massive 4 banger, kicks ass as long as I'm not in the way of everyone else!

[Scott F.]

Just a quick update.

I know I said I was going to post pics and prices for all my gear that is for sale...well that never happened. Life keeps getting in the way. So, what I did was take the initial post and added prices and brief descriptions of the gear. Here's the link. Still have lots of cool gear for sale.

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=135683.msg1441782#msg1441782




OK, so enough with hawking my gear. Here's a couple pics of the continually evolving system;

 



I broke down and picked up a BMC PureDAC from Ryan. I've heard it several times and was always impressed with the way it sounded. Last week I upgraded by computer the an all-in-one you see in the pic. It's a touch screen that I can remote into via TeamViewer or JRivers Gizmo. I've got 12TB (yes TB) of music hanging off the back of it. It feeds the BMC, the McPre and so on. I've gotta say, the BMC was one helluva upgrade over the DIY Cleo and the MHDT Stockholm. I've got a bit of cabling issues I need to work out but overall, this is damned fine sounding....and if it doesn't sound fine, I've got bass and treble twisty thingies to fix it!

Blackmore was over this morning. Maybe he'll chime in with some comments on the sound as he's heard with and without the BMC.

If things go as planned, I might have an open invite for some folks over the Christmas holidays. We'll have to break it up into a few groups if you are interested in hearing the system. I can't do the 40 to 50 people like we used to out here.

[Bob in St. Louis]

Scott, that's the smallest home theater screen I've ever seen. 

But seriously, I'll rearrange life in order to hear the system, so count me in. Please. 

[vintage9594]

Scott,  System looks fantastic!  Looking forward to hearing sometime....I am going to change out my computer system soon so would like to see what you have going on there.

Don

[Scott F.]

Scott,  System looks fantastic!  Looking forward to hearing sometime....I am going to change out my computer system soon so would like to see what you have going on there.

Don

Thanks Don,

You'll have to make your way out sometime soon. It's quite a bit different than the Lowther system. Still dialing the system in, chasing a couple audio ghosts, but I'm pretty close to getting them exercised.

On the computer side of things, as you know, I was an early adopter. This combo works pretty darned well. I love the BMC PureDAC. It was well worth the investment.  Although I didn't do an official 'audiophile' computer server, this all-in-on works pretty darned well, plus It's got a touch screen. I really like having the album art displayed on the screen while I'm listening.

Gimme a buzz sometime and we can catch up...

Scott