Hi, nice system. But the art on your walls caught my eye. Both paintings, the one over the sofa and the other adjacent to your listening chair. They are seductively dark. Who is the painter, and can you share anything about him / her? Thanks.
Jsquattrin, thanks for the kind words...i just watch alot of HGTV. i think the secret is to buy dramatic pieces...orginal art work will make any space look great.
Michael beautiful system. the red wilsons are a great compliment to your room and the fantastic art collection. Did you decorate yourself or did you have some help?
Lenny, great to hear from you. I have added Shunyata Hydra 2/Copperhead AC cable...little cost for huge improvement. Also replaced interconnect to Nordost Blue Heaven. I understand now why Nordost has such a big following.
Gammajo, the back of the speakers are currently 3 feet from the front wall (most audio magazines use the listening position as a starting point to identify walls...thus the wall facing the listener is the front wall and wall to the back of the listener is the rear wall). it took my dealer and i 8 hrs to find the optimal position, which wilson calls area of neutrality...but to be candid, i have been pushing the placement further from the front wall then the original position. you can see the progression from the 1st picture to the picture labeled "Redrum" by comparing the Sophia's location to the urn.
Been debating getting the Sophia. Some say that they have to be well out into the room. Yours look to be about 2 feet out. Is that correct and what do you think about near rear wall placemnet with these? PS Great system!
Chris, thanks for the post...red does stir the emotions, just like a good listening session. The artist is Ray Donley. (http://www.raydonley-online.com/main.html) He also stirs something pretty dark though. After owning the piece for sometime, I actually havent determined if the image is female or male.
Awesome simple well done setup (including the decoration)! Love the Ferrari Red Color on the Sophia's! Who is the artist of the oil of the women in black? That is really a powerful piece.
Hello again Michael. One other aspect to your query about running my 390S direct is that it DOES NOT truncate info at low levels. It attenuates in the analog domain.
Paul, I am at peace with the DNA 2 DLX. It is neutral with a good sense of authority. I have owned good tube gears in the past (Quick Silver) and the DNAs comes close without the high maintenance issue. Even though I am an audiophile, I hate messing with tubes and phono cartridge/tone arms. I guess thats why I have never gotten into LPs. Dont get me wrong, I enjoy listening to a good Phono setup as much as the next guy, but I just dont enjoy all the fuss (I have a cousin who owns a good phono setup Project turntable/JM Lab BE speakers run by a Sim Amp). Its funny, as I have gotten more years on me; I shed the gears I perceived is needed. Ones perception is ones reality
Anyway, I think you are headed in the right direction with your full-range driver. Now thats simplicity taken to an art form. Just think about it you have all this gear, but the final link to your ear is one speaker while I have minimal gears but need 3 drivers to achieve what you have. Talk about different road taken to the same destination
Michael, I should have read the thread more carefully, as someone already made a comment about the compromises of a all in one preamplification+digital source, as the Wadia provides.
What do you think about the DNA-2? Are you happy with its unmodded performance? It is a bear of an amp, and I wonder if you have any qualms or noticed any shortcomings with it. I myself have a DNA-225 that is sitting on my rack.
After looking at your system, it makes me wonder whether my system is pulling into too many directions and have too many sources that I would like to play with, such as Phono, Tuner as well as Digital. In all honest reality, how many of these sources do I use extensively? Some I use more than others.
Therefore, your system had got me really thinking about sonic and space priorities.
Have you tried passive attenuation with a source?
I have a pair of EVS Ultra Attenuators and I am thinking about experimenting with what I have. Once I did something like that, pairing my Op Chip monos, the EVS, a DAC and the Epos ES11s...Sure the sound was clear, but it felt a little too bleached out, presentation wise. The instruments and the vocals seem to be distinct and yet, lumped together...almost clinical.
But, with this sort of experimentation, I think one needs just the right set of pieces, be it cabling, source, amplification and loudspeaker. More than equipment matching, it is more like alchemy.
Cheers for all the good music that you must listen in your system.
Paul, Wadia direct is very precise. Words I would use to describe the sound are detailed with an extremely focused image. Direct mode is all I know, since I have never used a pre-amp between the Wadia and McCormack. The only issue I have is playing the Wadia at low volume. At low volume, the Wadia looses some of its dynamics still very neutral but you do have compromises due to the digital volume.
Having owned Quick Silver equipment including pre-amp in my prior system, I would do without the pre-amp any day. I guess it really comes down to the match of other components in the whole system and the type of music one listens to.
Wow, I guess history repeats itself, the pattern in the handles of the vases makes it reminiscent to the vases from those earlier dynasties. In any case, they are a stunning addition to the room and the system. Fabulous.
How do you feel about driving the DNAs directly from the outputs of the Wadia? The Wadia, for what I remember has a preamp section built in, with digital volume control. Since I have tried to passively control the volume of the source to my DNA 225 via a pair of EVS ultimate attenuators, I wonder what sort of differences have you noticed in the quality of the dynamics and the speed of delivery. My impression about passive control are the way too frequent assessments, that what is gained in accuracy of sound, is not sufficient to compensate the lack of weight and dynamics that music should have.
Paul, The bronze urns (they are a pair) are actualy from the Qing dynasty (18th century), Senyang, Liaoning Province. Not as acient as Zhou, which would have been 700-250 B.C. Sometimes I wonder where its has been and whom were its previous owners. Now, they enjoy jam sessions with Tracy Chapman and Stevie Ray Vaugh. Santana joins us as well, along with Coldplay. Thank you for the kind words... Best, mt
