The room is a dedicated listening space but it was not purposely built for audio, so it has its limitations. It is roughly 21.5' x 18.5' in a irregular pentagon shape. The walls are 2 feet thick and the door to the hallway is a sliding double glass patio door. Not exactly sure what the original intention was for this room, but the room is essentially sound proofed from the rest of house. The room is heavily treated using ASC bass traps and panels which has contributed significantly to its overall sound, more so than any equipment upgrade could have offered.
The system has slowly evolved over the years and the collection of gear is slowly piling up. Some of stuff gets recycled in the HT room, but it's about time to start cleaning out the closet.
About 3 years ago, I got the itch to replace my aging Threshold T400. I heard good things about a small manufacturer in Innerkip Ontario Canada called Blue Circle where the owner hand-built all his gear in a unorthodox fashion - point-to-point wiring and prolific use of silicon just about everywhere. The chassis looked fairly ordinary as it was not what I was commonly accustomed to when comparing it to other manufacturers who are the the 5-digit price range. Where's the audio jewelery, you know, the huge heat sinks and 1/2" thick brushed aluminum faceplates?
I asked my local audio boutique about BC and although they were not a dealer, they had some good things to say about the company. I saw some reviews on the BC206 stereo amp and read how it compared favourably to other well known brands costing many times more and decided to take a HUGE leap of faith and placed an order for the BC206 as a replacement for the T400. The BC206 took significant time to settle in but once got over that painful process, the reviews were bang on about the sound of the BC206 and my only regret was that I had not purchased the BC208. And for the audio jewelery ... Gilbert says he would rather invest the money on the inside which makes a whole lot of sense to me.
3 years later, I had the itch to make some significant changes. I had been using my EMMLabs CDSD/DCC2 as my digital source and I was using the DCC2 as my preamp. The DCC2 is fast and detailed, but I felt that it too much on the side of being clinical and forced. My goal was to replace the preamp with something better - and I wanted it to be a statement piece. I contacted Gilbert again and inquired about his BC303 DWBB but about the same time, Gilbert was working on his "Pinkie" prototype, which is now officially named the BC109. It is a pure SS design but is somewhat unique in that it uses a large bank of supercaps like batteries so that the pre can run without being on the dirty power grid. Gilbert determined that the more that he beefed up the power supply, the better it sounded - better refinement, authority, detail, extension ... everything improved significantly. He ultimately stopped at 2800 farad - a ton of capacitance! The pre will easily run for over 24 hours between charges but the purity in sound is simply breath-taking. I ended up getting the BC109 spec'd at 2800F and with a custom built remote controlled 47 point Shallco attenuator. The attenuator itself required 788 hand soldered joints and is likely a first of its kind.
At the same time, I decided to do what I should have done from the beginning which was to go with the BC208 monoblocks. The new amps are also a custom order in that I asked him to build it in a more traditional chassis, ie. horizontally mounted and slightly smaller. It is the same chassis that is used for the BC204, so there isn't a whole lot of wiggle room left inside.
Gilbert was kind enough to post pictures during the various stages of construction:
The faceplates are custom using birdseye maple on the outside and bloodwood in the middle. I think they look stunning. The BC109/208 is still going through a prolonged and painful burn-in process. Due to the amount of capacitance that is used in these units, I have been warned that it will require a significantly longer time than usual for the gear to settle in.
I changed digital sources over a year ago and replaced the EMMLabs combo with the Playback Designs MPS-5. This player is very well constructed, uses some variant of the Esoteric VRDS transport and has worked flawless. Sonically it was a significant step forward over the EMMLabs.
I heard other speakers, but only in show conditions.
A large part of going to the CLX was for a change in scenery. Blue Circle amps are known for their robust power supplies and they have the ability to drive difficult loads such as with the CLX. I have also heard that many BC customers use stats as well, and Gilbert himself has ML speakers in his factory, so there is certainly a synergy with his amps.
The CLX is very different and I do prefer them over the Mezzos. You don't get the same visceral impact and propulsion of a dynamic speaker but it also isn't the ML of old, the CLX has come a long way in bridging this gap. What I find with the CLX is nothing sounds forced, it has incredible speed and absolute transparency and lets you hear everything in the recording, good and bad, yet it does so with delicacy and finesse. The CLX will not produce thundering deep bass, but what it produce, it does very well - excellent pitch definition, speed and articulation with virtually no overhang.
I have switched from the Mezzo to a pair of Martin Logan CLX and still use the DD18 with good results. X-over is set at 68hz with a 36db slope. It was a challenge getting them to integrate with panels, but I am very pleased at the moment.
System edited: This is my first attempt at putting together a music server following similar configuration as the cics cMP2. Results have been very good albeit still not quite at the level of playing discs directly through the MPS-5. The next step in this experiment will involve Gilbert Yeung who will design a linear power supply to replace the noisy ATX power supply that is currently being used. Gilbert is a wizard with power supply design and I anticipate this will take the music server to the next level. Hopefully Gilbert can find some time from his busy production schedule for this little side project. The conveniences are tremendous!
System edited: Updated system description and added pictures of the latest upgrades. Added Blue Circle BC109 AL28 preamp and BC208 AL monoblock amps. Still going through a very tedious burn-in period due to the quantity of capacitors used in these statement pieces. Gilbert Yeung is an incredible designer!
Mtkh1567, That's a wonderful setup you have there - I'd like to try some truly full range speakers, but I think they would look (and sound) out of place in my room.
Everybody that has heard the PD at my place agrees it is far superior to the old EMM stack. Most of our friends are not critical listeners, but even they are quick to formulate their preferences.
I'm getting an itch to make some changes in my system, so we'll see what happens in the new year.
I'm not sure if I can add anything more meaningful to what has already been said about the PD player.
Construction wise, the player seems to be built like a tank. It doesn't have any funny quirks and noises that are associated with EMM. It reads discs extremely quickly and has been performing without any glitches. I have to admit that the styling isn't all that remarkable (I prefer the looks of the EMM, which isn't saying too much), but it does look better in person than any pictures that have been posted - no big deal for me. The display is easy to read and provides meaningful information. I suppose only time will tell, but the build quality gives me a lot of confidence.
The thing about the PD that I noticed when I first plugged it in was that this sound had a tremendous sense of ease about it - and not in a rolled off boring sort of way. It just sounds more real - more liquid. After about 5 hours of burn-in, it started to open up and you could tell that there is something special about this player. It has all the details and dynamics of the EMM, but the sound is not forced at you - music just flows in a very natural way. One of my favorite discs right now is Katie Melua - Piece by Piece. I have never heard her guitar and voice sound so smooth and real. It exceeds the EMM in the way it extracts subtle nuances and inner detail, but not in a over-hyped and exagerated way. Digital isn't supposed to sound this way.
The PD player has a deeper soundstage. Images float more realistically in space and have a sense of larger/fuller dimension about them. The illusion of Katie being in my room is greater; you can almost reach out and grab her - hmmm :).
The PD excels in the bass region. A lot more foundation, digs deeper with greater authority and punch. The EMM sounds thin in comparison.
It took my player about 150 hours to really open up. The mids started out congested when compared to the EMM, but that criticism has totally disappeared now.
The EMM is still an incredible player, but compared to the PD, it sounds more digital and less refined. I was contemplating upgrading my EMM to SE, but when I started reading all the positive comments, the current introductory pricing and knowing this player was a fresh design from the former partner at EMMLabs, it was really hard to pass up. Jonathan Tinn was also a pleasure to deal with. -- I'm very glad I took that leap of faith.
Lapierre, No, there was no convenient way for me to get them for an in-home audition, but I have always wanted to try them. I also would have considered JLAudio, but was looking for a sub that had speaker level inputs.
I am very happy with the performance of the DD series. It offers great flexibility with the built in SMS. I couldn't imagine trying to dial in multi-subs any other way.
They're still breaking in, but having two in my relatively small room provides absolutely effortless dynamics and slam. They're still a little tight, but I have certainly been listening with a grin.
The DD-18s are in and I'm picking them up this weekend. Daughter's in a hockey tournament so we'll see how much time I have.
I still like the Mezzos. They're an "exciting" speaker as the tweeters are very lively, detailed and transparent. Mids are nicely textured with lots of body but perhaps slightly thick. The bass is probably its greatest weakness as I would like it to be more visceral and tighter ... but this is where the DD-18s should improve upon. They're very finicky in terms of placement and need to be away from the boundaries. But once dialed in, they disappear and stage pushes behind the walls.
The tweeters can get a little hot, so you need to be careful with component matching and room treatments. I was able to tame a very annoying glare with the PCAD panels. My room is not great (too much glass) which really doesn't help.
The room is an irregular shaped 19x22x8, not too big. I'm looking forward to see how they will integrate with the room. The DD-15 worked extremely well with the Mezzos and you were never aware that they were even working until you turned them off. I had purchased the DD-15 for the HT room, but after trying them in the audio room, they never made their way down.
I'm hoping two DD-18s will give me the ultimate in effortless extension and slam. My dealer thought he would have them before the weekend, but doesn't look that way anymore :(.
System edited: Reorganized equipment to make room for dual Velodyne DD-18s currently on order, which forced me to get a longer IC to the amp - good excuse for the wife anyways ;). Added 5M Valhalla XLR to replace the 2M Transparent Ref w/MM.
Audiobroke, Thanks for the comments. My room is an odd shaped 19x22. Without a doubt, the improvements the sound treatments made far exceeded any component upgrades I have done. I wish my room was more symmetrical and predictable however.
