Boy some big changes. You must be enjoying the upgrades in clarity and dynamics with the Pass, Wired 4 Sound and the PS PPP!!! I'm lucky like you, my wife also tolerates the room treatments. Post your thoughts on your TT. Enjoy. Sam
System edited: Hello everyone. It's been a while since i last posted and i did a pretty change up to my system. Changed my amp from Mcintosh MC402 to the Pass Labs X350.5. I love that class A sound!! Replaced the Cambridge Azur dacmagic with the new Wyred 4 Sound dac2. Much smoother, more detail and better bass. Added a PS Audio Powerplant premier for pure, clean regenerated power. I had see hear the hype of vinyl lovers and picked up a Music Hall 5.1 turntable with the Cambridge 640P phono preamp. Also added, the most important part, the room treatment panels.
Hello Everyone! Happy New Year! Thanks for the compliments!
BIF, i don't know too much about room acoustic panels. All i know is that my wall without those panels, echo a lot. After i put them in, it deaden the sound a bit but i think it still needs a little bit of work. If you have bass problems, i think you need bass traps. Try looking into those. As for my WAF factor on those panels...she hates them! ;-)
Mhedges, the tubes make a huge difference. Can't live without them. It sounds really good already without the tubes, but if you can compare a to b, it sounds much better. There is more depth,air and especially separation. There's this one track where there is a violin coming from the left side. Without the tubes, you can barely hear it. With it in, it brings out the violin and sounds like it is beside you.
The terminology in high end audio is similiar to wine. In the end, if it sounds / tastes good to you, buy it, irrespective of the price - lots more upside on the low end of things.
Very nice room and system! Well-treated with those panels. I have only two traps up in the ceiling-wall interface as the rest of my room has thick carpeting and furniture and record cabinets. I dont want to make it too dead, and for some reason the windows beind my equipment dont reflect or interfere with imaging and soundstaging all that much. Again, very nice system!
Hi Bmwmcab -- please accept my compliments too!!!! Could you advise on where I could learn about the use of acoustic panels. Of course, my wife is the master of our home, but maybe if I beg and plead enough, she will let me put a few panels up to improve the acoustics of my finished basement, which is where I set up my rig.
The room is carpeted and furnished. However, I do hear a low end base thump, which I think relates to room acoustics. I have tried fiddling with my Paradigm Signature subwoofer settings, i.e., phase and adjustments and cut-off, and speaker placement. I also own the Paradigm Sig 8s v2 (w/ Be tweeter -- very sweet and detailed!). Unfortunately, I can only move my speakers and sub around a little -- for example, closer/further from wall; closer/further together. That's about it.
Thanks for the advice and kudos on your system. BIF
Hi joeweiss84! Thanks for the compliments. I didn't go for the c500t because it's double the price of the x0.2. Performance wise, i don't hear much a difference that's why i opted for the pass. Which B&W's do you have? Are you running all mac as well. If you're debating between c500t and X0.2, i would totally without a doubt go for the pass. Unless you're a mac fan and want to keep everything mac. I'm a mac fan as well, but due to the size of my budget, i have to get the 'best bang for the buck'.
Hey nice system very similar to mine. I really like the acoustic panel work you did. I'm still working on mine. B&W speakers are a match in heaven with McIntosh. Why did you go with the pass x0.2 preamp instead of the McIntosh c500t? I've been drooling at the mc500t and putting some tubes in the system. I think its just a matter of time before I get it. Was there something you didn't like with the c500t or like more about the pass?
No, i haven't ssayeed. I've only heard the c500t with an mc402 and wilson sasha's. It sounded excellent but for 12000 msrp, it better sound good. I just didn't know if the c2300 was up to par with the c500. When i buy, i like to buy top of the line and not think of 'what if'.
I use a pass labs XP-15 phono stage with my Mcintosh system and it works beautifully together. I'm glad the preamp is working out for you. Have you compared the X0.2 to the Mac C2300?
Wow....... you've got a pretty beautiful set-up. Congratulations on putting together an awesome system. Now, if you really hate this hobby, I'll be nice enough to take everything off your hands if you simply pay to ship it all to me. And, I won't even charge you to keep everything in my house for the next forty years !
Thanks for the comment. i'm in Vancouver, B.C. and bought the cabinet from a store called Home Quarters. I think they have a website: homequarters.ca. They sell some pretty cool stuff. I'm trying to get a more 3-dimensional, better imaging effect (here we go again with the terminology) from my music. I'm just wondering if i upgrade my preamp that i can get close to acheiving it. I was looking into the passlabs x10 but i've never seen anyone pairing passlabs with mcintosh. I wonder if the synergy is there?
We'll you're doing an incredible job on something you hate. Would love to see what it would look like if it was born of love. Nice cabinet by the way. Where is it from?
