Masluck's System

[masluck]

After much deliberation, I have decided to put up my system. I have spent countless hours enjoying it and putting it together. It is getting to where I want it to be and the help from Gil But, Dave Iaria (RIP), Kevin Weeks and others has been very rewarding and I owe allot to you guys!!!

It currently consists of:

Analog Front End: Clearaudio Performance SE turntable w/ SmartSync speed stabilizer, Verify Carbon tonearm and Shelter 501MKII MC cartridge
Phono Stage: BC23-705-L2 (hard soldered 100ohm loading)-set to high gain
Preamp: BC3000 MKII (getting GeeZee'd in October!!!) running Amperex Holland Orange Globe 6DJ8's (at the moment.. )-set to high gain
Amp: BC26-NST-LOC- Li'l KQ (at least what I call it) - new 200 series output stage, NST, some KQ goodness and gobs of caps
Digital Front End: Tascam CDOU1 Pro transport (AES/EBU connected)
Digital Front End: BDP-83 (for movies) (SPDIF RCA connected)
DAC: BC501ob-LOC
Power Conditioning: BC6000 and Music Ring 1200 chained together via BC68MKII cable - all digital and anything with a motor in the MR1200
Interconnects: DAC to Preamp (Crimson), Phono to Preamp (Morrow MA4), Preamp to Amp (Shunyata Antares)
Digital Cables: Cullen Cable (AES/EBU), Antipodes Khokiri (SPDIF RCA)
Speaker Cables: BC92 with spades (double run)
Power Cables: BC68MKII, BC62, BC61 and Audio Art reference series (Neutrik powercon on most)
Speakers: Paradigm Signature 6 V2 in cherry
Rack: crap - soon to be replaced - building my own
Tweaks: Herbies Tenderfeet (used throughout), Herbies Tube Dampers, Mapleshade TT stand, Soundocity Outriggers for the speakers (big difference!!), Masluck Stablefeet - own design under rack feet
Room: 23X16 w/ 10 foot ceilings (1861 farmhouse)

I am amazed sometimes just how good this system sounds and how very fortunate I am to own what I do!!

[/u]

[BlueKnight]

Two words:

Exquisite and delicious...!

[masluck]

Thanks Boo Lite, much appreciated!!!

I forgot to mention that I have 1 6X Sillycone plugged into the BC 6000, as well as the fact that my tonearm isn't a Clearaudio Verify, but a Satisfy - gees, you would think that I would know that...

[Raven]

Very nice sir! All those boo lites must look cool at night.

[k-Dub]

It is a VERY good sounding set up! I learned a lot about floating floors, and how you need to isolate from that upon hearing this setup (My main setup, is on a Concrete slab in a dedicated listening room).

The maxed out 501dac made a huge difference! Like that setup a lot. Very similar to the analog - could listen to either all day (and night). And I am a HUGE vinyl listener.

The 4 legged "Room Treatments" are cool too Just a cool room to hang out in all the time...

[masluck]

Thanks Raven and K-Dub!!! K-Dub has a phenomenal ear and helped me with the speaker positioning to great effect!!

I wanted just a bit more of the good stuff that the 501ob has on offer and I contacted Bob Neill to see if I could audition the Crimson interconnects, on a whim. Well, to make a long story short, I bought the set. I am not trying to sound like a shill here, but they clearly smoked the Shunyata Altairs I had in there before and I am very happy. According to Bob, he has had good luck with the Crimson and BC marriage. Also, they are very reasonably/realistically priced.


Mark

[nikki]

Mark,
You have a great system here. Your room is definitely large enough to support the CLX and I'm sure they would work great with your modded BC26. The 10' ceilings will allow them to breathe. They would need to be further out than where your paradigms currently sit however.

[masluck]

Good Evening BC Nation,

I just wanted to update my systems page to show the freshly updated BC3000 MKII GZpz SE - well that is what GilBut is naming it. I call it the BC3000 GZpz "Ahnold" version - simple recipe, do the GZpz upgrade, but take it to the next level by fitting as many capacitors and other stuff in there - and then cover it with goo. Basically, a 2X GZpz upgrade!! Excited to get it!! Thanks GB and thanks BC for the motto - if you can dream it, we can do it!!


http://www.flickr.com/photos/17843311@N ... /lightbox/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/17843311@N ... /lightbox/

Mark

[Ha Boi Egg]

...sweet ....gotta luv the stainless...

[masluck]

Thanks HBE!!!

Yeah, all my gear is stainless and it has a clean look, although I do like the wood faces that I have seen on other's gear (Nikki, Freddy, etc.) as well.

Mark

[masluck]

Hello BC Nation,

I just wanted to say that I have added the AAD Silver Reference 7 speakers to the rig - the Paradigms have moved on. The AAD's are wonderfully natural sounding speakers - the tweeters alone are worth the purchase and based upon trusting Gil But's opinions on what works (and what doesn't) with his creations, it was a no brainer. I am in the process of dialing them in, but am quite happy with them. Yes, there are the Reynauds, the Harbeth's, the Martin-Logans etc., and the pantheons of "audiophile accepted gliteratti" that are known to sing with BC gear; but in another corner, there is AAD and they should be added to the "consideration list" for serious evaluation. Well done AAD and Phil Jones!!



Mark

[Double D]

Hey Mark,
We all know that speakers are very much a "personal" flavour thing,.. moreso than pretty much any other aspect of a system. So, no apologies required for moving from the Paradigms to the AAD's
I've heard the Ref7 and it is indeed a fine speaker, and yes, mates very well with BC gear.
Personally.. I've gone round the block with speakers over the years, and it was largely a "fluke" that brought me back to the Harbeths. My love affair with the Logan Ascents' was very fruitful, but the newer series with the powered woofer boxes left me colder than this past winter ! I think if ML were to bring out a really nice approachable fully passive model again.. I might consider dipping my toe back into the panel world, and as for the audiophool glitterati, well.. let's just say.. been there, done that... over it !

So.. time for some updated pics please !

[masluck]

Hi Double D,

Thanks for the comments. I have been busy updating a fair amount of the system and have introduced a few tweeks.




The speakers are of course the AAD Silver Reference 7 demo models I purchased from Gil But. I had a heck of challenge getting them positioned correctly, which resulted in having to do the math to make sure I was exciting, not nullifying the room modes. Finding those calculations was a godsend and now bass response it tight and accurate. These are very fast speakers and the tweeter is one of the best I have heard - so natural and non etched (ease, is what comes to mind).

Additionally, (and K-Dub would say this too), I have a suspended floor (1860 farm house) and I was losing a lot of bass energy into the floor itself due to coupling the speaker spikes directly to the floor. I spoke to some acoustic engineering firms, researched all underlayment configurations known to mankind and for close $2000 USD, I could have my floor treated. Well, having a significant other who thinks I am an "audio nutcase" anyways; that was not going to fly. So I used my "Masluck Stablefeet" invention to decouple (oh, the heresy!!) the speakers from the floor. I use them on the rack for the same purpose. Suspended floors either need underlayment reinforcement or what I did on the cheap (or a combination of both).

The other picture shows my new Simaudio Moon Neo 260D (thanks Splityew for the recommendation) and it is breaking in running disks - Sim says 400 hours, so on we go. Additionally, the picture shows how I attached the Xe1/+20 "jet pack" to the BC6000. Because the Sim also exhibits some power line digital PSU noise insertion, I have a 2 outlet Xe0 on the way to kill that stuff - nasty business that and IMHO if you have a phono stage you can hear it. The Xe* do a very good job killing switching PSU noise in digital gear.

Well, that is about it. My BC3000-GZpz SE is finally getting completely broken in and the system is hitting its stride!!

Mark

[masluck]

BC Nation,

Just a quick update on recent changes to my system that have yielded exceptional results. I was a big proponent of Shunyata interconnects and had BC 91 and 92 speaker cables since like 2000. I decided to mix it up a little and added a pair of Crimson interconnects that I got from Bob Neill. My BC friend K-Dub said "hey, have you heard of LAT (Luminous Audio Technology)?" and I have slowly added both TG Audio (LAT wire with Bob Crump's modifications) interconnects, the LAT Synchestra Signature bi-wire speaker cables, the LAT Synchestra Signature interconnects and finally the LAT Synchestra Reference interconnects. To be candid, the LAT cables easily bested the Crimson interconnects (don't know if it is a synergy thing, but the Crimson sounded fuzzy and not as articulate), so they are now in the cable box awaiting a second system maybe). All I can say, is that there are many choices out there for cables and I have to say how very impressed I am with the LAT and TG cables. K-Dub is far more versed in describing their sound, but I am hearing so far into and around the corners of the music it is just been a blast. The cool thing is that the LAT folks are great, their stuff is very reasonably priced and it just sounds killer with BC gear. If you are searching....add them to the list...

Mark

[masluck]

Good Morning BC Nation,

I finally bit the bullet to help minimize my room mode issues. I bought a pair of Rythmik Audio F12SE subwoofers that flank the AAD Reference 7's. I have done all sorts of things like putting jack stands under the floor - now a strong floor; no more footfall issues on the TT and using bass traps, etc. - all helped but I was still missing deep bass.

I reached out to Blue Knight because he just added added Golden Ear dual subs to his rig. Mike was awesome in his guidance and many thanks to him for his time and responses!!!! I am still dialing them in and I had to do some cable customization (thanks Gil But!!!) and a plate amp swap (kudos to the great people at Rythmik) so that I could deal with the phase inverted outputs of the BC3000, but the mains and subs are now in phase and sound just killer.

I did a ton of research on the Rythmik, SVS, Golden Ear, etc. subs in the $1000 range and decided on the Rythmiks. The AAD Ref 7's are no slouches when it comes to bass (let me be very clear on that). It is just that based upon listening chair (couch) positioning I am in a null - no amount of room treatment could fix that, nor can I move the room around due to my other half, so I went with the brute force method. Additionally, the Rythmik's have a parametric EQ, so I could boost my 35Hz mode just enough to kill the hole (brilliant!!!). I then added some Dawn's Platforms maple blocks to minimize floor bounce and rumble and they are working well at isolating the subs from the suspended floor I have.

Here are some pics. Also, kudos to BC and Walt at TLP for making the PLC Pucks - perfect PLC for my subs that had to be plugged into alternate outlets in the room....

Mark