System #304 (reQuest)

[radicalsteve]

System #304 (CLX)

1. Member Name: Steve West

2. Location: Ottawa, Canada

3. ML Model(s): CLX

4. Year Purchased: Feb 2010

5. Mods/Changes: Mass loaded the electronics box

6. Associated Electronics:

Power amps: Bridged pair Mono block Spectron Musician III Mk 2 SE with additional upgraded Bybeee mods and Vh caps or Plinius SA-250 Mk3
Pre-amp: MBL 6010
Digital: Apple G5 USB via Bel Canto USB Link into Kora Hermes DAC
Oppo BDP-83SE for Blueray & SACD
Phono amp: Aesthetix IO Sig w/ NOS tubes
Accuphase C-17 or Altec 4722 mic transformer step up
Analogue: Micro-Seiki SX_8000, stainless platter and air bearing
Grandezza Grand Ref 9 " arm
SME 312S
ZYX UNIverse SB Copper
Allnic Verity Z
Sony XL 55 PRo II or XL 88 Pro or Koetsu Rosewood Sig, or Miyabi McBee (on sale)
Victor TT-101 turntable: Sony PUA 1600L arm
Technics SP-10 Mk 2 with Dynavector 507 Mk 2 arm
Lenco L75 with Lustre GST 801 arm
Technics RS 1500 2 track R2R
BPT Balanced transformer 2KVA for everything except Plinius and Monster HTS (G5 on separate circuit)
Exact Power EPA 15
Monster Power HTS 3500
Granite Audio power cables, IC SE for DAC IC XLR for Phono
Zu phono cable
Grover Huffman phono cable,power cables and IC's for source equipment
Nuforce Speaker cable
Transmission line (8') dual 12" Focal 12v76 woofers per side
Behringer Super XPro croos-over, Feedback Destroyer & Exact Power EP2500 amp for woofers set at 80Hz
Equa-rack footers,
Shakti Stone on DAC

HT Gear:

Da-lite 120" screen
Epson 1080 UB projector
Blue Jeans HDMI cabling
OPPO BDP for Blue Ray and DVD
Centre speaker & TL surrounds are Swan Hi-Vi based designs
HT Sub-woofer 2 cu' Shiva driven by AMC 2100 bridged power amp

Room is 24' x 16' and 7.5' ceiling with various DIY sound absorber panels. Purpose built music room has sound insulation in all walls
Dedicated 20 amp power supply to audio and Projector



7. Comments and/or stories about your Martin Logan experience:

I used to have Quad 63 ESL Pro's and after living with them for a few years you realise they are missing something at the top end and they don't go that loud either -but those mids, that tight bass and the soundstaging, well ......

I moved on to various high end DIY dynamic driver speakers with either ribbon or planar tweeters. By chance I heard both Maggies and the ML Vantages at a dealer here in Ottawa and it rekindled my desire for planars. A used pair of Re-Quests came up for sale here in Ottawa, with original boxes and even though they are 10 years old they looked just like new and only 10 minutes from my house!

After hearing the CLX's in Montreal last show they eventually had to replace the ReQuests, and that happened in March 2010 (ReQuests now doing duty as rear surrounds). Early days but so far OOTW!

More to come as we settle down the system and play with the room placement etc.

Steve

 

[TomDac]

WOW. Beautiful system.. beautiful room.. :bowdown:

 

[wink]

WOW!! Nice system....are those paver blocks sitting on your ReQuests? If so, how has that changed the dynamic of your speakers?


Dan

 

[RichTeer]

Now that is a nice looking system! Gotta love all those turntables in your gear list! :drool:

 

[RUR]

Not to be redundant, but.....Wow! That is a nice room.

 

[Bernard]

Welcome Steve! Great-looking system, and nice to have another Ottawa guy here....especially someone who spins black pizza under a Koetsu Rosewood.

After seeing those pics I REALLY want to come over and have a listen, as we discussed via email.

 

[MiTT]

After seeing those pics I REALLY want to come over and have a listen, as we discussed via email.

Can I come too?

Seriously though Steve, welcome and I echo everyone else's comments, simply an awesome looking room and setup. I have a real soft spot in my heart for ReQuests. I had them prior to aquiring my CLS's and have many fond memories.

Looks like a great place to enjoy your music, of which it looks like you are also amply supplied!

 

[eknuds01]

I think if I had the $$$ to build any room I want...I think I would try my best to copy this one.

Amazing set you have.

Erik

 

[Now Slappy]

I know I'm just parroting what everyone else has already said, but WOW!! That truly is an amazing system.:bowdown:

Is that room in your basement? (God, I wish I had a basement... )

 

[FISH_MAN]

yeah it just goes to show you never know what somebody has in their basement ! if I said your system was awesome it would be and understatement.
looks like you love the music as well as the equipment I feel that is not always the case.

 

[User211]

Don't let Bernard in until he promises you some of his very special 1985 Burmester port

Nice system, BTW. Out of interest, what ribbon loudspeakers have you owned, and how to you rate them against the Re-Quest?

 

[radicalsteve]

Thanks everyone for the nice feedback - there is a lot of DIY in that room! What you don't see, fortunately, is the tangled web of cables behind the gear!

I feel that sometimes converging audio and HT is a compromise, especially on speaker placement and reflection from a screen. I will try a couple of moveable absorbers and I can do a little more on the front wall probably.

Dan, I learnt very quickly that the ML spikes, while very nice looking, are not as effective as simple threaded spikes properly secured thru the carpet into the wood sub floor. Imaging tightens up immediately. I added the brick mass loading just to amplify this effect and cut down a little bit on the vibration from the cabinet. Not sure it makes as great a difference as proper "spiking", but it certainly does no harm as far as I can tell.

Justin, I have a pair of MTM's from Orca Design I built myself that used Raven R1 ribbons. These replaced my ESL 63's and I preferred the ribbon air and extension. I also have a pair of Apogee Stages and again the ribbon has the same air and extension, with great imaging characteristics. I don't find these ribbons to be metallic sounding at all. The Ravens though can be a little fragile and I was always nervous about really loud thunder and lightning from movie tracks, Maybe a line array of 2" ribbons is more robust.

If you look in the newbie section you will see my pair of GR Research OB-7's that I built using the planar tweeter from B&G. I built these because I wanted the open Dipole effect and was pleasantly surprised by the treble quality and extension of the planar tweeter, even though spec wise it starts to roll off after 15K. These were my speakers for a couple of years prior to getting my Logans two weeks ago. The Re-Quests are more impactful, but for the $$, the OB-7's are amazing.

I also have the Hi-Vi RT1 planar tweeters in both the centre channel and my rear surrounds and I appreciate the very natural sound this tweeter has. These speakers use a Hi-Vi crossover design that went into the Swan models they sold as finished speakers about 10 years ago.

In general I like the characteristics of the speed and transparency of ribbons, they can just be a bit fragile. Planars are less energetic and more natural and have great dispersion, bested only by the really good (expensive) conventional dome tweeters, such as Diamond coated, Berylliums etc. one of the nicest dome tweeters I have heard is the Esotar.

My next project is to build a centre speaker that is the GR Research OB-7 horizontal - mdf is already CNC cut. Because it is an open baffle design, with sealed woofers, I am hopeful it will integrate well with the Re-Quests. All my built speakers have outboard crossovers - and I am a firm believer this gives an improvement in detail and presentation versus inductors being close to large woofer magnets. Hmm - that sounds like a project for my Re-Quests along with new caps etc. Any thoughts folks?

Steve

 

[amey01]

For some reason your room just looks like it has great acoustics. Nice new home for those ReQeusts.

 

[wink]

My next project is to build a centre speaker that is the GR Research OB-7 horizontal - mdf is already CNC cut. Because it is an open baffle design, with sealed woofers, I am hopeful it will integrate well with the Re-Quests. All my built speakers have outboard crossovers - and I am a firm believer this gives an improvement in detail and presentation versus inductors being close to large woofer magnets. Hmm - that sounds like a project for my Re-Quests along with new caps etc. Any thoughts folks?

Steve

Steve,

Check with Jonfo on his outboard crossovers, I've never heard a system with them but he's highly regarded in that dept.

Dan

 

[DrWily008]

I know I'm just parroting what everyone else has already said, but WOW!! That truly is an amazing system.:bowdown:

Is that room in your basement? (God, I wish I had a basement... )

We Florida guys are screwed out of a basement.

This is a wonderful looking setup and I can only IMAGINE how good it sounds!

 

[audiolover[UK]]

superb looking system, would love to hear it:music:

 

[radicalsteve]

Update

I sold the Miyabi and acquired the Allnic Verito Z. Also added my 2KVA EquiTech Q Balanced Transformer - which feeds the whole system and provides a blacker background. The EPA 15 regenerator really benefits from this balanced power source as well. The IO-Sig phono has a massive tube rectified power supply, so this is powered direct from the Q. The Spectrons and Logans perform better when powered thru the EPA 15.

Steve

 

[amey01]

How many turntables do you have?? Can we see one of the Lenco L75? How do you find that?

 

[radicalsteve]

I will get some pics of the Lenco up in a few days. I have not really fine tuned mine - but it sits in a heavy plinth I made and there are times when it sounds like nothing else:- dynamic, powerful, possibly a bit colored in the mids as they are so rich and luscious!. I wonder what a shot out between the Lenco, TD-124 and 301 would conclude?

My Oracle is probably more "correct" and my RX-5000 more harmonic.

Steve

 

[Bernard]

I was over yesterday to listen to Steve's fabulous system. We definitely need more audio porn here. The Micro-Seiki turntable with its two arms is stunning, as is the MBL preamp, and the MONSTER Plinius power amp Steve now has sitting between his speakers.

I took over a bunch of LPs and CDs, and we spent a couple of hours listening to them as well as to some of Steve's material.

The bass was definitely lower than that of my SL3's, and the highs were more extended. Unfortunately Steve's Koetsu was away being retipped, so we listened to the ZYX as well as one other whose name escapes me now. The difference between the two cartridges was clearly apparent, with the ZYX being more open.

We listened to mainly vinyl, but also listened to some digital. While doing so Steve mentioned that he had a Shakti Stone on his Kora DAC, and it does make a difference. I was sceptical, but when he removed the stone it sounded like the singer had forgotten to eat lunch - her voice lost a lot of body.

It was a most enjoyable session, and great to finally meet someone from here. Thanks Steve !