Officially a member of the club... more or less!

[c_morse]

Hi all,

I've been poking around the forums for a while now. Have read a great many threads, and gotten some very good advice from a few folks on here as I had questions arise.

It was a struggle to say the least to arrive at my choice of speakers with so many great models out there. Brad225 really helped me a lot in this area, as did Beakman, when I was looking hard into the CLS IIz lineup.

Ultimately I decided that with the size room I have and the layout I'm going for, a set of Spires or Summits would fit the bill.

Well I finally found a pair! Mark Edmiston (simply Edmiston on these forums) put up a killer price on his set of Summits. I had a very nice conversation with him this morning, and we agreed on my purchase of his Summits.

Needless to say, my deposit check is soon to be in the mail, and my roommate and I will be making a drive to Florida when I return from Iraq to pick up the speakers and deliver the rest of the funds.

I'm so happy I'm beside myself right now! Not only did I just get a set of speakers I've been lusting after most of my adult life, but I did so at a price that I never thought I'd get.

Just wanted to share my excitement with you all.

-Charlie

 

[F=ma]

Congratulations on realizing your dream!

Thanks for your service.

 

[JMAUSGP]

That's great Charlie, congratulations.

Trust me when I say you will enjoy your Summits for many years to come, they are truly great speakers......now you can chase the dragon with the rest of us.

And above all, thanks for your service, myself and many others here appreciate it.:bowdown:

 

[c_morse]

Thanks guys!

I'm as giddy as a little school girl right now. Can't wait to get back and pick these up. I'm still piecing together the rest of the system, but am definitely looking forward to first listen with these versus what I have now (Infinity QLS-1).

Means a lot that you guys appreciate what we service members do. Really appreciate your kind words, means more to us than you could know.

-Charlie

 

[timm]

Wow that is awesome and I think a fantastic choice. Those summits will compete with some of the best. They will get as good as your room and electronics will allow. Great choice

 

[Pokey]

Thanks guys!

I'm as giddy as a little school girl right now. Can't wait to get back and pick these up. I'm still piecing together the rest of the system, but am definitely looking forward to first listen with these versus what I have now (Infinity QLS-1).

Means a lot that you guys appreciate what we service members do. Really appreciate your kind words, means more to us than you could know.

-Charlie

Congrats on the dream coming true Batman. (Sounds funny saying that!) And thank you for your service. It also means allot to us who've come before. I try to remember to lift you guys-n-gals up too. Lord knows you can use the support. Hope your time goes quick and your tour is up so you can come home and enjoy your new music makers.

 

[Bernard]

This means, of course, that you will have a Bat Cave instead of a man cave for those wonderful Summits.

From a Canadian: Thanks for your service. We are always in it together.

 

[c_morse]

Until such time as I can get a new/bigger house, the Bat Cave will reside in the Bat Living Room. I'll integrate the system as well as I can, and use some treatments for the room as well. Won't be able to go all out on the room though. In a few years, maybe longer, I'll move into a more spacious house, and there WILL be a dedicated room for the stereo/home theater system.

 

[MOON]

Congradulations Charlie,

Do you have the rest of the system yet? or are you going to work on that later?

Thankyou for your service!!!
Greg

 

[c_morse]

Greg,

I've put together most of the equipment for my two-channel rig so far. This is what I have:

Pre-amplifier: Rogue Audio 99 Magnum with HT Bypass (upgrade)
Amplifiers: Monarchy Audio SE-160 Mono Blocks
CD Player: Musical Fidelity A3.5
DVD/SACD (to be used later): Denon DVD-2930ci
Speaker Cables: Analysis Plus Black Oval 9 Spades to Spades

What I still need:

DAC: Musical Fidelity TriVista 21
Interconnects: Analysis Plus Copper Micro Oval-In
Digital Interconnect: Analysis Plus Digital Oval
Rack: VTI BL503
Amp Stands: VTI
Surge Protection/Conditioning: Panamax 5300-PM

There's some other small odds and ends I still need, but those are the bigger things, and of course I still have to do some room treatments.

I'll do all the HT stuff a bit later, I want to get this 2 channel rig up and running pretty soon.

 

[JMAUSGP]

Batman,

How married are you to the VTI BL503 rack?

I have a new in the box, never opened VTI BLG404 Audio rack that I would make you a deal that you could not pass up.

I will have to check and see what type of glass it has and get back to you. I ordered it before I put my 5.1 system together and then a couple of months in found a Steve Blinn Design that I actually had customized to my taste.

By the time the Blinn rack was customized and setup the VTI was in storage and it has sat there for over a year now.

 

[Bernard]

found a Steve Blinn Design that I actually had customized to my taste.

Joe, how do you like the Steve Blinn rack? His racks look really good, but on the web site it does not say if the frame is welded or has to be assembled. The racks at rixrax.com look amazing, but are really pricey.

I'm not in the market right now; just kicking tires.

 

[JMAUSGP]

Bernard,

After I had already bought the VTI, I was still doing research as I was assembling the new 5.1 system. My research led me to Steve Blinn Designs.

I ended up getting one of his amp stands for the Simaudio Amp, and I really really liked it. It is really well contructed and isolates the Titan perfectly. Not to mention I think it looks pretty cool too. It is part welded and there are parts bolted on it, but the edges and corners and faces are very nicely done.

Liked it so much, I also had him build me custom sized replacement shelves in black maple to replace and isolate the shelves that I had on my existing rack which is holding the other components in my system.

You can look at pics in my members system #275 I updated it recently so it is all there. There are some closeups of the Blinn Design shelves and amp stand, among other things.

Again, Steve is very easy to work with and you can tell he takes great pride in his work. I did a lot of research and felt for the money his stuff was the best option for me. I liked it so much I never opened the VTI BLG404 which cost me around 450.00 but I will end up letting it go to someone I know for less than half that, maybe you, VTI makes some nice stuff too.

Seriously, PM if you are interested, for you I would do a special deal.

 

[MOON]

Hi Charlie,

I found that tri vista dac you are looking for since I just had surgery and have a lot of internet time on my hands. Here's the link,http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?dgtlconv&1277586716&/Musical-Fidelity-TRI-Vista-21- The price is also pretty good.

I have bought off Weinhart Designs before, excellent to deal with.
Cheers, Greg

 

[RichTeer]

The racks at rixrax.com look amazing, but are really pricey.

True on both counts! RixRax is based in Vernon, the next city north of me. I've seen a few examples of his work--pretty impressive.

 

[Bernard]

Bernard ....
Seriously, PM if you are interested, for you I would do a special deal.

Joe, thank you for your very kind offer, but I will pass; I don't like glass shelves. As well, when I upgrade from my Salamander rack, which I don't find sturdy enough, I hope to do so to something that is welded. Not in the finances right now.

The stuff from Adona looks good, but I wonder how sturdy it is; there is a double rack pictured on their site that looks great. I am skeptical about granite shelves, even though they are wood-damped; why not just use wood. It may be interesting to buy an Adona frame and use Steve Blinn shelves.

Too bad that the Rix Rax stuff is so expensive; it looks well-made, and is made in Canada to boot - no customs or broker's fees to consider.

 

[JMAUSGP]

Steve Blinn racks are bolted and damped. They are heavy duty and sturdy in my opinion but we all know what that is worth.

His wood shelves are really nice. I put his maple shelves which are about 1 1/2 inches think and painted with a rubber like paint for isolation with my current rack. My current rack was made by a local company that does metal work and I had them make these 'hanging in air' racks for me. They had glass trapezoid shelves that I took measurements from and had Steve Blinn replicate in wood. Turned out awesome.

Just let me know if you change your mind on VTI.

 

[MOON]

Bernard,

You should look into Lovan Soveriegn racking, the ones in my system pictures.Each section can be used individually as seperate sections or stacked. There are 2 pillars at the front and one in the center at the back. The pillar sections measure 2 inches square.

Each pillar is spiked at the bottom and the spike sits in a little pit on the top of the pillar of the rack section below if you stack them. You can fill them with sand or lead shot, All my sections are filled with sand. The rack sections come in heights of 7 inch or 10 inch or you can use combinations of both.

Shelves come in gloss maple , black, rose, etc. Since the system pictures, I only have 2 sections dead center with the pre and cdp, the amp is on its own rack section on the left with the conditioner on a section to the right.

Here is ther Lovan website http://www.lovanusa.com/index.php?cPath=21&osCsid=32cae534744fd5fd8d72be8c019b0593

 

[Bernard]

Bernard,

You should look into Lovan Soveriegn racking, the ones in my system pictures.Each section can be used individually as seperate sections or stacked.

I used to have stackable stands, and was not too keen on them as they did not seem rigid enough. Guess I'm one of the belt-and-braces crowd.

Charlie, my apologies for hijacking your thread; there are a few stands threads onto which we could well move this discussion.

 

[MOON]

The lovan sovereign stands are extremely ridgid and all seams are welded. The are very heavy as well when filled. Like , I mentioned , the columns are 2x2 square tubing. Too bad you missed this in our neck of the woods http://www.canuckaudiomart.com/details/176139-lovan_sovereign_modular_stand__extra_shelves/