System #196 (Aerius)

[slowGEEZR]

Ha ha, yeah, they're pretty puny alright! You know you're welcome anytime! I think we need some more barbeque!

 

[Wardsweb]

I can say from personal experience the system sounds as good as it looks. You really have things dialed in nicely.

 

[slowGEEZR]

Thanks Luther. Coming from you, that means a lot, as you have put together some very fine systems which I hold in high regard.

 

[slowGEEZR]

Added Silent Running Audio amp bases to the system. I also am now using the 7 gauge power cords I've had for a while. First listen, I'm impressed. Here are some pics.

 

[sb6]

Looks and sounds great Steve. Good time at your house recently.

 

[slowGEEZR]

Thanks Steve. Looking forward to hearing your Summits again, especially with all the system and room improvements you've recently added! It seems every time I visit, you've raised the quality of sound in your listening room, in meaningful ways by addressing good sound fundamentals and a great attention to fine tuning the details. The one thing I think both of us have learned over the last year is that everything, placement, room treatments, cabling, equipment, vibration control, etc., really do matter.

 

[narvarr]

Wow Steve! You have taken things up several notches since I was there last year. I need to plan another trip your way to have a listen.

Sent from my SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE using Tapatalk 2

 

[slowGEEZR]

Absolutely, Narvarr! Just let me know. I'm always willing to show off the system. Thanks!

 

[slowGEEZR]

When I purchased my amps and preamp, I also purchased balanced interconnects to connect everything together. Not wanting to spend a lot of money on cables, as the new gear wasn't exactly cheap, I bought all Mogami interconnects. Now, I can start auditioning various cables, to see what effect they have on the system's sound. I borrowed a pair of 6 meter Purist Audio 25th Anniversary interconnects from a friend and connected them from my preamp to the amps. I have also bought an old pair of audioquest Diamond silver interconnects, which I use from my DAC to the preamp. In this picture, the first cables are the audioquests, the second cables are the Mogamis and on the other side of the RCA connectors, are the Purist interconnects.

In this picture, you can see the Mogami interconnects are unplugged and just laying on the floor. The Purist interconnects are connected to the amp. Notice the cable lifter! A pair of these were given to me by my friend Mike (sebrof). The power cords are the 7 gauge Pangea cords. I plug them into PS Audio wall plugs. The burnt orange (almost brown) cable is the speaker cable, audioquest Rockport, I think.

The last picture shows the cables to the amps. These things are heavy! Unfortunately, they are not long enough to go along the walls and behind the speaker. These are six meters in length. I will only have these cables for a few weeks, but after first listen, I am amazed at what they do.

 

[Gordon Gray]

Steve,

Spend a few bucks, and I mean peanuts, and buy some Cardas RCA caps to cover the unused inputs on your preamp.

Available through Music Direct.

The difference it made in my system was very audible. Astounding really.

Gordon

 

[slowGEEZR]

Yeah, that's a cheap tweak that will at least clean up the looks and keep the connectors clean. I'm not going to worry whether it will clean up the sound any, as I have mixed thoughts on whether they will affect it. Since you hear a difference, then it's worth trying, for the price. Thanks Gordon.

 

[Bernard]

Steve,

Time to update this thread with pictures of that gorgeous new turntable.

 

[slowGEEZR]

Here you go Bernard..

Where the pedal meets the metal...

 

[R.I.P]

Steve gorgeous Pass mono amplifiers and Wilson Audio loudspeakers. Not to mention the turntable.
Serious audiophile cables.

The room, everything looks very nice. Have fun.

 

[slowGEEZR]

Thanks RAH.

 

[slowGEEZR]

On another website for Wilson owners, I was asked to write something about my journey to Wilson speakers. I thought I'd share what I wrote with my Martin Logan family. Cut and pasted...

The first time I heard Wilson's was at a dealership near Washington DC, back in 2005 or 2006. I thought they were jammin' but never thought twice about owning them, as I thought they were pricey and I wouldn't get the boss's approval. Here we are, along with our cats upon our first Wilson encounter.
http://slowgeezr.smugmug.com/Music/Audio/i-qrNqGm4/0/XL/576103_10151282601759447_922058696_n-XL.jpg

But, I got a little ahead of myself, let me start over...
I have always enjoyed music and can still remember standing with the guys, waiting for the school bus back in '63, listening to the girls giggling over the new fab four from England. Being the musical snob I have always wanted to be, I blurted out one of my first of many ill thought out predictions. I said, “Yeah, they're ok, but they'll never replace Elvis!”. I then held up my mighty “6 transistor” radio (no lousy 2 or 3 transistor radio for me) and blasted an Elvis tune to drown out their Beatles song. The guys and I got a big kick out of that.

I guess I've always been an audiophile in the making. I blame my Dad, as he always had big band music playing at healthy volumes in our home. I remember him teaching me how to use the tonearm on his Dual turntable (1019?) correctly and how to wind the tape on his Akai reel to reel and listening to the music flowing via the Scott amps and Bozak speakers. No Victrola in a box in our house! I knew that someday, I'd have a great home system, too. The Vietnam War came along and I joined the Air Force and was (fortunately) sent to Okinawa. I bought a Pioneer surround amp, four Pioneer 901 speakers (15 inch woofers!) and other gear. Then, one day I heard Bose 901's and bought those, too. My journey had really begun. That is, until I discovered that I really enjoyed riding motorcycles on the race track! For the next twenty years or so, my true hobby was motorcycling and audio took a back seat. Eventually, I returned to audio after hearing some Martin Logans. I purchased some Aerius (Aerii for plural?) and was quite happy until I heard those dang Wilsons!

Fast forward to retirement and moving to the Austin, Texas area. I met Casey, of ne plus ultra, via a Porsche Club of America buddy. This friend owned Wilson WP7's and I thought they sounded fantastic. Casey made me a deal I couldn't refuse on some WP8's and I have been smitten with their qualities ever since. To me, they sound like real music, real life, not “prettyfied” like some other brands. I listen to live music weekly and I think Wilson's sound more like true life than other brands. One thing I have noticed is that the WP8's improve with every improvement I've made to my system. I am still somewhat stunned by how their character changed for the better when my Ayre QB-9 was upgraded to DSD status. I have been able to clearly hear changes brought about by different cabling, too. They respond very well to room treatments and clearly let me know when I had too many bass traps! I have used tube amps and transistor amps, but my favorites so far are my Pass Labs amps. Ok, enough jibber jabber, here are some photos.

As you walk up the stairs to my media room, this is the view.
http://slowgeezr.smugmug.com/Music/My-Audio-System/i-BkWHnTd/0/X2/DSC01900-X2.jpg
All of the treatments are GIK. I got the front center wall treatments at RMAF when the guy from GIK yelled out into the room, that the first $150 gets them. The room is 15.5 ft X14.5 ft, so there is not a lot of space. It does open into a hallway and a bathroom, so I get good bass.


This pic shows the seating area. Cheap, but comfy. The bass traps are GIK.
http://slowgeezr.smugmug.com/Music/My-Audio-System/i-73ML373/0/X2/DSC01903-X2.jpg

A couple of posters from my favorite Austin band, the South Austin Moonlighters.
http://slowgeezr.smugmug.com/Music/My-Audio-System/i-KrLD6CT/0/X2/DSC01891-X2.jpg

I control the digital side with the iPad and iPod. Recommend this album, BTW.
http://slowgeezr.smugmug.com/Music/My-Audio-System/i-qRc4pmH/0/X2/DSC01890-X2.jpg

A look towards the equipment rack. The 4 terabyte external drive sits behind the Ayre and is the only thing I can hear from the listening seat. When it is putting music into RAM, I can hear it spooling up. This lasts about ten seconds until the music starts and is user definable, that is, I can define how large the memory cache can be.
http://slowgeezr.smugmug.com/Music/My-Audio-System/i-wHkk3h7/0/X2/DSC01894-X2.jpg

XP – 20...
http://slowgeezr.smugmug.com/Music/My-Audio-System/i-xpdQLRn/0/X2/DSC01895-X2.jpg

Ayre, Mac Mini, PPP...
http://slowgeezr.smugmug.com/Music/My-Audio-System/i-cvQ4dSs/0/X2/DSC01896-X2.jpg

TTW Gem II Copper...
http://slowgeezr.smugmug.com/Music/My-Audio-System/i-BhhMpFv/0/X2/DSC01897-X2.jpg

One more look at that copper platter...
http://slowgeezr.smugmug.com/Music/My-Audio-System/i-Hgwrxt3/0/X2/DSC01899-X2.jpg

BAT VK-P5 and disconnected Scout...
http://slowgeezr.smugmug.com/Music/My-Audio-System/i-mKwjzGd/0/X2/DSC01898-X2.jpg

One of the XA100.5's on SRA platform...
http://slowgeezr.smugmug.com/Music/My-Audio-System/i-zTkXdZz/0/X2/DSC01901-X2.jpg

I keep my vinyl and CD's, etc in the adjacent bedroom...
http://slowgeezr.smugmug.com/Music/My-Audio-System/i-QrPHWDQ/0/X2/DSC01906-X2.jpg
http://slowgeezr.smugmug.com/Music/My-Audio-System/i-7t78CmV/0/X2/DSC01907-X2.jpg
http://slowgeezr.smugmug.com/Music/My-Audio-System/i-GQdHPNG/0/X2/DSC01905-X2.jpg

My fabulous Wilson Audio Watt Puppy 8's!..
http://slowgeezr.smugmug.com/Music/My-Audio-System/i-XBvwXpv/0/X2/DSC01902-X2.jpg
http://slowgeezr.smugmug.com/Music/My-Audio-System/i-GdRVBjK/0/X2/DSC01893-X2.jpg

An older picture, showing the color better...
http://slowgeezr.smugmug.com/Music/Audio/i-x79NFBw/0/X2/DSC01651-X2.jpg

 

[GaryG]

Steve,

Well written post with great pics. I also began my real audiophile journey with a pair of 15" Pioneer woofers. The model CS 99A in 1974 powered by a Maranz 2270 receiver. Wilson Audio does indeed make great speaker and I would say they are my favorite overall. I have a pair of Sasha series 1's that I use in a 12'x14' room and from low to mid to high they are seamless wonders. How does Dave Wilson get such a smooth resonant base out of those modest sized boxes?

Congratulations on what appears to be a beautiful system from speakers to amps to treatments.

Regards,
Gary

 

[slowGEEZR]

Steve,

Well written post with great pics. I also began my real audiophile journey with a pair of 15" Pioneer woofers. The model CS 99A in 1974 powered by a Maranz 2270 receiver. Wilson Audio does indeed make great speaker and I would say they are my favorite overall. I have a pair of Sasha series 1's that I use in a 12'x14' room and from low to mid to high they are seamless wonders. How does Dave Wilson get such a smooth resonant base out of those modest sized boxes?

Congratulations on what appears to be a beautiful system from speakers to amps to treatments.

Regards,
Gary

Thanks, Gary. I have no idea how he does it, but the bass is very good, especially with room treatments. It's quite interesting as, if you look up frequency response specs, the bass seems light, but in a listening room, it is great.


Here's a pic I found on a quick search for my Pioneer speakers. They were the CS-901's...

 

[slowGEEZR]

Added a Spatial Isoplane for my MaC Mini to sit on...

 

[Bernard]

Steve, what kind of difference are you hearing with the Spatial?