[gme109]

When I wrote a review of the Channel Islands D200's, quite some time ago, I had concluded  that they blew away my Spectron Musician II in just about every area, except deep bass impact.  Well its time to revise that conclusion.  I had some sleeping bags that hung on the side walls and were located half way between the back of the speakers and the bass traps in the corners.  Originally I placed them there to dampen the room to control room slap. I've been moving them around to experiment with how they change the sound. I placed them on the front wall, directly behind the speakers, and to my surprise, they sucked out a ton of bass, and some lower midrange.  I then moved them back to were they were, and the bass returned  to where it had previously been.  I then decided to move them a little more forward, right along the side of the speakers, and low and behold, I had deep bass impact like I never heard before with the D200's!  Not only that, the lower midrange was fuller and more fleshed out, and the soundstage expanded further to the back and sides.  Apparently these sleeping bags were making great bass traps, and the closer they were to the corners behind the speakers, the more bass they soaked up. I feel like I just made a component upgrade, or added a sub.  I can't believe it took this long to figure that out! I've been going along enjoying all of the improvements that the D200's had over the Spectron Musician II, but always felt it was a bit of a trade off when it came to the bass.  I'm not saying that the D200's trumped the bass of the Spectron, but that my room had never been properly optimized for the D200's. Now that the room is, I can say without a doubt, the bass is not lacking in any regard. I now have even more respect for these little jewels, and have no intension of letting them go any time soon.

[IronLion]

Thats interesting, sleeping bags huh?  Sounds good to me, can't wait to get mine running with my pair of Timepiece Minis. 

[gme109]

Thats interesting, sleeping bags huh?  Sounds good to me, can't wait to get mine running with my pair of Timepiece Minis. 

You can also keep them rolled up and in the corners for a cheap and fast bass trap.  I had them hanging in order to control room slap, and didn't realize they were also doubling as a bass traps.

[JLM]

I'm more interested in your room acoustics (size, shape, furnishings, speaker layout).  I suggest this also be posted on the acoustics circle.

I have six GIK 244 absorption panels (2 ft x 4 ft of 4 inch high density fiberglass).  In my Cardias design dedicated listening room they frankly don't help a whole lot, but the speakers, setup, and room are already pretty well optimised.  I've tried moving them around and just left them where recommended (first side wall reflection points, first front wall reflection points, and straddling the front corners).

[gme109]

I'm more interested in your room acoustics (size, shape, furnishings, speaker layout).  I suggest this also be posted on the acoustics circle.

I have six GIK 244 absorption panels (2 ft x 4 ft of 4 inch high density fiberglass).  In my Cardias design dedicated listening room they frankly don't help a whole lot, but the speakers, setup, and room are already pretty well optimised.  I've tried moving them around and just left them where recommended (first side wall reflection points, first front wall reflection points, and straddling the front corners).

The size of my room is 14'x18' with a 9' ceiling in most of the room, with a 1' drop over my listening position. The room also has a small L shape appendage to it, that I've placed furnishings and room treatment in to help render it nonexistent. I have two DIY bass traps in the corners behind the speakers, 8th Nerve corner traps in every ceiling corner, and seams placed half way up in the vertical corners. There are also 2'x4' Owens Corning panels placed at the first side wall reflection points, and behind the speakers and listening position.  The speakers and listening position are setup using Cardas's golden triangle method. In the continuation of the sleeping bag saga, I decided to completely remove them from the side walls. I now have even better bass, along with better top end extension. Those sleeping bags were not only soaking up bass, but they were also taking away some of the sparkle and extension from the top end. Evidently they were needed with the Spectron amp, as that amp had a much more powerful bottom end, and a top end that was not as smooth as the Channel Islands D200's.

[mcullinan]

Wow! Those speakers are sick. What kind are they if I may/must ask.
Mike

[gme109]

Wow! Those speakers are sick. What kind are they if I may/must ask.
Mike

They're the Excelarrays which were custom built by Selah Audio. They utilize a 45" Newform ribbon tweeter and six Seas 7" magnesium cone woofers per side.

[JLM]

Thanks for the follow-up and photos.  It seems we've travelled similar paths, but in different ways.  I too have custom designed/built speakers, Cardias nearfield layout, CIA monoblocks with only a CDP, and dedicated listening room with treatments.  (But my speakers use single drivers.)

Your room is tasteful and well thought out.  I'm sure it looks better without the sleeping bags and not surprised that it sounds better (seems like you've got enough treatment without).

[gme109]

Thanks for the follow-up and photos.  It seems we've travelled similar paths, but in different ways.  I too have custom designed/built speakers, Cardias nearfield layout, CIA monoblocks with only a CDP, and dedicated listening room with treatments.  (But my speakers use single drivers.)

Your room is tasteful and well thought out.  I'm sure it looks better without the sleeping bags and not surprised that it sounds better (seems like you've got enough treatment without).

What cd player and are you using? Did you design/build your own speakers?

Yes the room looks a lot better without sleeping bags hanging up, but at the time of owning the Spectron, it was the only thing I had left on hand, that seemed to make the room work.

This is my first dedicated listen room, and experience with acoustical room treatments. And it has shown me just how important the room is, and how it must be fine tuned every time a new piece of equipment is introduced.

[jaywills]

"When I wrote a review of the Channel Islands D200's, quite some time ago, I had concluded  that they blew away my Spectron Musician II"

By interesting coincidence, I am familair with both your review of the Spectron II and the Channel Island amps, including your response to a reader's follow-up question in the latter.  I've had the same experience with the sound from the two as you reported, albeit with a UcD 400AD homebrew.  There simply is no comparison between the two in my system.  I suspect that my Spectron will be on Audiogon soon, though it's a great amp if you've never heard a Hypex-based unit or if your system doesn't work with them.

[denjo]

gme109

Lovely room and system! I like the simplicity of your setup. Are you feeding the CDP directly into the D*200s, bypassing the need for a separate preamp? If so, what CDP are you using?

In the time that I owned the D*200s (which sadly failed after a year ), I well remember what a giant slayer the little monoblocks were! They had a wonderfully sweet midrange. I do miss the D*200s quite a bit and when I am in pensive mood, my mind often wanders to my time with the D*200s paired with my McCormack ALD-1 (great synergy).

[gme109]

gme109

Lovely room and system! I like the simplicity of your setup. Are you feeding the CDP directly into the D*200s, bypassing the need for a separate preamp? If so, what CDP are you using?

In the time that I owned the D*200s (which sadly failed after a year ), I well remember what a giant slayer the little monoblocks were! They had a wonderfully sweet midrange. I do miss the D*200s quite a bit and when I am in pensive mood, my mind often wanders to my time with the D*200s paired with my McCormack ALD-1 (great synergy).

Yes I'm running the cdp directly into the D200s. Its a Raysonic 168. Sorry to hear about your D200s, did you look into having them repaired?

[JLM]

The speakers are Bob Brines FTA-2000.  I'd commissioned Bob to design/build a mass loaded transmission line (based on the work from Martin King) around "the mighty" Fostex F200A driver.  That 8 inch driver has an Alnico magnet, goes very deep, and doesn't have a whizzer.  In room response is into the 30 Hz range, but the high frequencies do beam.  OTOH the beaming allows tweaking by aiming and cuts down on room interaction.  My speakers are the ones in the photos on Bob's site. 

I'm currently slumming with a stock Oppo 970, but have a Behringer 2496 DEQ with plans on having Scott Endler mod it when wifey gets another job.  The DEQ would replace the baffle step/zobel circuit that the speakers use to allow a more direct connection between monoblocks and drivers, tweak the room response, and provide an upgraded DAC to the Oppo.  For little coin, Scott's mods are supposed to work wonders to the Behringer.  I'll also be adding my CIA VPC-3 back into the mix to provide volume control.  Someday I may try another computerized music server.

My room has a 4 ft by 2.5 ft "indent" in the back corner to allow access to my water softner and electrical panels, but I figure that it may help more than hurt the overall sound.  The room is fully insulated with exterior fiberglass door, insulated flexible ductwork, and insulated staggered stud walls.  The 3 year old house is served by a dedicated transformer, all 12 gauge wiring/20 amp circuits, and all new appliances.  The audio system is on three cryo'd hospital grade receptacles, each on its own circuit, and share a separate ground.  My mistakes were installing recessed can light fixtures in the ceiling and not substituting a drop ceiling when the builder balked at floating the drywall ceiling on gauge metal Z channels.  The mistakes can/will be fixed in time, but am very happy to have my own good sounding room.

[denjo]

... did you look into having them repaired?

Yes, it was repaired but psychologically I could not accept the fact that the amplifiers failed me so soon into the "honeymoon"! I guess I was just unlucky!!