rowlandhills's System

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rowlandhills
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rowlandhills's System

Post by rowlandhills »

I've had a couple of threads on here about my system before (I'd be happy to combine them all if there's a way to do that) but have now finally got everything out of storage, now that the builders have finished creating our extension.

After much blood (skinned knuckles trying to pass cables through oles in the wall), sweat (from holding oddly contorted positions while trying to get cables correct and tears (when it all bloody failed to work at one stage!) I've finally got it all setup and working nicely :)

As promised, a few photos. Partway through the installation:
Image

Rear speakers (Tukans on Brakits) fully installed:
Image

Work complete at the front (ADS, Sky HD, Pioneer BluRay into Kinos, c4200, Majik 6100 driving Kabers (Aktiv) and Centrik with Sizmik 12.45 sub):
Image

Although I do have a problem I hadn't anticipated.....: :D
Image

Given that sorting all of that lot out took the best part of a day, I've not had a chance to focus on cable dressing for best performance. In fact, I've not even tune-demmed the speaker position and Aktiv settings, so there's lots more performance still to come! :)
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Post by Charlie1 »

Great job Rolland! Really smart looking room now. You must be really pleased and the Mrs delighted :D
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Post by ThomasOK »

Nice looking setup. Look forward to reading how it all sounds once you've got it dialed in.

I'd be careful about your unanticipated problem. I have a customer with a cat that liked to sleep on his NAD integrated amp. Unfortunately, the cat leaked while sleeping! End result: an unrepairable amp due to a corroded main circuit board. :( I do notice there are open vents on the top!
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Post by David Neel »

Rowland, be careful! Some years ago we had a VCR fail, and returned it under warranty. When we collected it, we were told that the failure was caused by a vast amount of cat hair - it was the moulting season and the cats had slept on it for warmth! Still, the repairer saw the funny side and didn't charge us. Ever since then I've kept shelf heights to an absolute minimum - Isoblue is ideal for preventing cats sleeping on top of vented hifi boxes.
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Post by rowlandhills »

David - very valid point! I guess that if you have open shelving, there's always a challenge between having enough space for cooling (Linn recommendation is 80mm, I think) versus enough space for small furry animals to crawl in a go to sleep...
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Post by Tony Tune-age »

ThomasOK wrote:I'd be careful about your unanticipated problem. I have a customer with a cat that liked to sleep on his NAD integrated amp. Unfortunately, the cat leaked while sleeping! End result: an unrepairable amp due to a corroded main circuit board. :(
Good point, animals can create unexpected challenges :wink: .
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Post by rowlandhills »

Just had a lovely morning of upgrades...

Firstly, I added the Dynamik PSU to my Akurate DS, which definitely makes it more tuneful, punchy and "dynamic" sounding :)

Secondly, silvers from the ADS to the Kinos. As there are two sets of RCA outputs, I was able to leave the blacks connected too, and compare the two. Definitely understand what people say about silvers being more tuneful and adding clarity to the sound.

Final upgrade was a second pair of silvers from the Kinos to the power amps (into the 6100 which is powering the bass channels before feeding on to the 4200 driving treble and mid).

Now it's time to just sit back and enjoy a few tunes. Playing around with the Asset Control (http://forums.linn.co.uk/bb/showthread.php?tid=6445) and listening to a few new albums.

What a nice way to spend a Friday! :D
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Post by Charlie1 »

Yes, very nice indeed!:) I know you want to enjoy what you've just done, but curious if there is anything else planned?

I even got a chance to listen to some music myself - in daylight for a change.

Have a great weekend.
Last edited by Charlie1 on 2010-04-02 19:56, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by SaltyDog »

Hey, any idea what happened to the pictures?
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Post by ThomasOK »

rowlandhills wrote:Just had a lovely morning of upgrades...

Firstly, I added the Dynamik PSU to my Akurate DS, which definitely makes it more tuneful, punchy and "dynamic" sounding :)

Secondly, silvers from the ADS to the Kinos. As there are two sets of RCA outputs, I was able to leave the blacks connected too, and compare the two. Definitely understand what people say about silvers being more tuneful and adding clarity to the sound.

Final upgrade was a second pair of silvers from the Kinos to the power amps (into the 6100 which is powering the bass channels before feeding on to the 4200 driving treble and mid).

Now it's time to just sit back and enjoy a few tunes. Playing around with the Asset Control (http://forums.linn.co.uk/bb/showthread.php?tid=6445) and listening to a few new albums.

What a nice way to spend a Friday! :D
Those certainly are some nice upgrades. I wish I had gotten to listen to my system Friday but being in retail I had to work. :(

I do have one suggestion to make. It sounds like you have Silvers going to the 6100 and then Blacks going to the 4200. If this is the case I would recommend trying running the Silvers from the preamp to the 4200 for the treble and mids and then the Blacks to the 6100 on the bass. My bet is that this will give a more musical sound than the other way around.
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Post by rowlandhills »

Thanks Thoma. Trouble is, my 4200 is balanced, so for gain matching it has to be at the end of the chain, hence feeding it off the 6100. The cables were made up for me by House of Linn, and actually use Linn silver RCAs on the end of balanced black ICs. Might upgrade those to silvers at some point.
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Post by Tony Tune-age »

rowlandhills wrote:Now it's time to just sit back and enjoy a few tunes. Playing around with the Asset Control (http://forums.linn.co.uk/bb/showthread.php?tid=6445) and listening to a few new albums.

What a nice way to spend a Friday! :D
Sounds like a great plan... 8) .
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Post by rowlandhills »

SaltyDog wrote:Hey, any idea what happened to the pictures?
Nope, but they seem to be back now...
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Post by SaltyDog »

Yes they are :roll:
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Post by rowlandhills »

A couple of upgrades to my system today.

Firstly, I finally got round to converting my Centrik from passive to aktiv, using two channels of my Majik 6100. Dialogue now much clearer and easier to follow, and the little multi-channel music that I had also sounds better.

Secondly, and more signficantly, I decided to take advantage of all the Akurate kit being sold off in light of the new look kit, and bought a 2200 to allow me to run the Kabers entirely on x200 amplification, where before the bass was running on two channels of the Majik 6100. Although the Dynamik in there is new (I got the to fit it for £250 on top of the cost of the amp itself, which was pretty cheap for a dealer ex-demo one) it still sounds noticeably better than the way I had it running before. Tune is definitely easier to follow, and I've had it playing all afternoon! :)

Now I just need to find someone who wants to swap a Ninka/Keilidh bass aktiv card for a "universal" treble aktiv card, and I can get my rear Tukans aktiv too!
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Post by Tony Tune-age »

rowlandhills wrote:A couple of upgrades to my system today.

Firstly, I finally got round to converting my Centrik from passive to aktiv, using two channels of my Majik 6100. Dialogue now much clearer and easier to follow, and the little multi-channel music that I had also sounds better.

Secondly, and more signficantly, I decided to take advantage of all the Akurate kit being sold off in light of the new look kit, and bought a 2200 to allow me to run the Kabers entirely on x200 amplification, where before the bass was running on two channels of the Majik 6100. Although the Dynamik in there is new (I got the to fit it for £250 on top of the cost of the amp itself, which was pretty cheap for a dealer ex-demo one) it still sounds noticeably better than the way I had it running before. Tune is definitely easier to follow, and I've had it playing all afternoon! :)
Nice upgrades... 8)
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Post by rowlandhills »

Hadn't updated this thread for a while, so it's time for a "what's been happening?" post.

Basically, I'm changing all of my speakers, and some of my amps. I've sold my Tukans, and my Centrik and Kabers are on eBay. The 6100 is also on eBay, and I've picked up a 3200 and had it Dynamiked instead.

On the speakers front, I've bought and installed a set of Linn in-wall speakers, the "Custom 2Ks" (106c and 104c) for my centre and rears. These are much less visually and physically intrusive than the previous speakers and hopefully will make it easier to play around with main speaker options. If nothing else, I don't have to try and match the rosenut finish which I had on all of the old speakers!

I'll be trying out new main speaker options soon, but I have a pair of Majik 109s with the Linn stands which I'll be using in the interim once the Kabers sell. Any new speakers will be on home demo from my dealer for at least a week. I want to try Majik Iso's passive on a 2200, with aktiv bass on a 4200, and 242s passive on a 2200. The budget will allow the M'Isos new or 242s second hand, I think. If I stick with passive speakers then the long term plan will be to move to Klimax (or Tundra!) amplification.

The new speakers are actually best covered with photos over on the Linn Forum:

http://forums.linn.co.uk/bb/showthread.php?tid=15103

Last time I uploaded photos somewhere on the net which was accessible from here they disappeared after a while, so I'll leave the photos hosted on Linn rather than duplicate them here.
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Post by Charlie1 »

Very smart. Much better than before.

Hutter is looking good too. The different woods are not obvious.

I recognise the table cloth too - essential for messy little fingers.
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Post by rowlandhills »

Time for another update...

I'm currently sitting on the sofa, listening to a lovely pair of Cherry 242s (Mk2) with black arrays. They have the original stands rather than the upgraded single piece items, but that's part of the reason why I could (just!) afford them.

They are being driven single wired, with two cables in a pair of K400 connected, by a 2200/Dyn, as I will be selling the 4200 to pay for them. I will experiment at some stage with biwiring to split the array from the bass drivers, before splitting my K400 down to K200 if I stick with single wiring. Source is still Klimax Renew DS into Exotik+DA/Dyn, with Linn unbalanced silvers connecting it all up.

Installation, including torque adjustment of all drivers, was performed by my installer, Anthony Lockwood, and it was an excellent job, with accurate levelling and final speaker positioning by tunedem. Many thanks.

Sound is simply fabulous!

I've spent the last day and half working through bits of my music collection, never skipping forward on a song as everything makes me want to just keep listening! The process has ranged from The Prodigy (Funky Shit and Smack My Bitch Up) and Rage Against The Machine (Killing in the Name) at volume 72 while the rest of the family were out at lunch time to Eva Cassidy Live (Tall Trees in Georgia) at about 45 while the kids sleep this evening. Tracks like Tiesto's Battleship Grey have certainly shown that there's no lack of bass in this setup, while Joy Denalane's Sign O' The Times felt as atmospheric as I've heard it anywhere.

There is a lovely combination of much more authoritative bass with an open mid-range and treble, a very fast response to transient bass notes and a natural sound on all types of music. Compared the Kabers which I've had for the last few years until around February this year, the sound is a little fuller in the bass (less lean than the Kabers) but significantly more open and airy in the mid and treble, with a lot of detail that was clearly masked by the much simpler treble driver in the Kabers. The 109s which I'd been using since February have a more similar sound, but there were a few entire octaves missing from the bass on those...and although I tried adding a Sizmik sub it never integrated as well as I would have liked. Also, the 3k array is clearly superior to the 2k array on the 109s, with noticeably more detail audible. Simply put, the 242s are much more musical and engaging than any speaker that I've ever owned before!
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Post by sunbeamgls »

Nice write-up on the new config Rowland. Thanks.

Time for some pics perhaps please?
KSH/0; KEBox/2; 3x Tundra Stereo 2.5; PMC fact.12. Blogger. Exakt Design. SO measuring.
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Re: rowlandhills's System

Post by rowlandhills »

Realised that I'd not updated this thread in a long time. A few changes since the last post...

First change is that in July last year I bought a used Tundra 1.2 to replace the 2200/D and have been very pleased with it ever since. I think there's a great synergy between the Tundra and the 242s. Oddly, I didn't quite get on with the original Tundra Monos, which didn't seem to "boogie" quite as much in my room.

Secondly, I was able to get hold of a Renew KDS/1 at a sensible price, so my source moved up a notch too.

Even more importantly, I've moved house and now have a very different room, as well as getting rid of the surround sound elements and simplifying back to stereo only. Although I'm still running the TV through the system (and there are inevitable compromises in the fact that it's the family living room, not a listening room just for me, where music takes precedence above aesthetics, space to play, reduced risk of tripping over cables, speakers etc.) the new room sounds great.

Today I made another set of improvements, by trying out my new local dealer (Sound Organisation in York) who I got to supply a pair of upgrade feet for my 242s, and then to do a full tune-dem setup of the speaker positions and SPACE optimisation. Took two of them all day to complete, while I joined in to some extent although I had to deal with lots of work emails. I can safely say that my system has never sounded better or been more enjoyable!

...the ultimate accolade - my eight year old daughter doesn't want to go to bed because she wants to keep dancing to the music!
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Re: rowlandhills's System

Post by donuk »

Nice to hear about the improvements in your audio life.
I too replaced my 2200/D with a Tundra (2). Unbelievable improvement.
I think the upgrade of DS is the way to go- I will move on from my ADS/1 someday.
Good that you have hooked up with the guys from the Sound Organisation - very friendly and conscientious. I've been try to persuade Hamish to stock Freddie-boxes, so far unsuccessfully.
I will hopefully bump in to one day at one of Hamish's "evenings".
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Re: rowlandhills's System

Post by rowlandhills »

donuk wrote: I too replaced my 2200/D with a Tundra (2). Unbelievable improvement.
It's a great bit of kit. My next upgrade is likely to be an upgrade from 1.2 to 2.0 on my Tundra, but I want to hear it first in my system, and I want to get used to the latest changes first.
donuk wrote: I think the upgrade of DS is the way to go- I will move on from my ADS/1 someday.
Let me know when you do. I might be interested in selling my KRDS/1 (either for a full KDS/2 or a KDSM).
donuk wrote: Good that you have hooked up with the guys from the Sound Organisation - very friendly and conscientious. I've been try to persuade Hamish to stock Freddie-boxes, so far unsuccessfully.
I will hopefully bump in to one day at one of Hamish's "evenings".
Yes, very nice guys. I think David was quite impressed with the Tundra as he listened to it throughout the day.
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Re: rowlandhills's System

Post by lejonklou »

Sounds like a very good system, rowlandhills.
rowlandhills wrote:It's a great bit of kit. My next upgrade is likely to be an upgrade from 1.2 to 2.0 on my Tundra, but I want to hear it first in my system, and I want to get used to the latest changes first.
Thank you for the first sentence!

The second one contains two bits of wisdom, in my opinion: Let your own ears decide, even when everyone swears by it. And whenever possible, enjoy and appreciate each upgrade thoroughly before taking the next step.
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Re: rowlandhills's System

Post by rowlandhills »

Thanks Fredrik, and you deserve all praises for the performance of the Tundra.

The plan is to just enjoy it for a while, but there are definitely options on the horizon around the Tundra upgrade and a better preamp (or KDSM, given that I need digital sources too) which are very tempting too...

Whatever I do will be evaluated first though.
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