System #413 (Purity, Encore)

[JediMstr]

System #413 (Purity, Cinema i, Encore)

1. Member Name: Philip De Leon

2. Location: Bloomfield, NJ, USA

3. ML Model(s): 2x Purity (Front Main), Cinema i (Center), 4x Encore TF (Surround Sides, Backs)

4. Year Purchased: 2011

5. Mods/Changes: none

6. Associated Electronics:
Denon AVR-3312CI Receiver
Emotiva XPA-5 Power Amp
2x BIC VK12 Kevlar Sealed Subwoofers
Pro-Ject RM-1.3 Turntable
Denon DL-103R MC Cartridge
Pro-Ject Speed Box II
Pro-Ject Tube Box II Phono Preamp w/ Mullard NOS "Box Plate" 12AX7/CV4004 Tubes
DH Squares under the Tube Box II Phono Stage and TT
Sorbothane Sheets beneath some of the vibration sensitive items
Panasonic DMP-BDT210 3D Blu-ray player
Terk AF9330 AM/FM Antenna Tower
Logitech Squeezebox Touch w/ 192k/24bit Digital Out applet installed
Apple TV
Apple Airport Extreme w/LaCie external HD for TimeMachine Backups
2x D-Link DGS1008G 8-Port Gigabit Switches
Schiit Bifrost 24/192 DAC (without the USB module)
Xbox360 & Kinect
FiOS Motorola QIP7232-2 HD/3D DVR w/ WD Expansion Drive
Samsung HL61A750A 61" DLP with Mitsubishi 3D adapter
Cisco WiFi-N to Ethernet Bridge Box
2x Belkin PureAV PF60 Power Conditioners
Kimber Kable Tonik Interconnect between the TT -> Tube Box II, the Tube Box II -> 3312ci, & Bifrost DAC -> 3312ci, 3323ci -> Purity Line Level Inputs
Kimber Kable 4TC Speaker Wire between Emotiva XPA-5 and Cinema i
Monoprice 12AWG CL2 Speaker Wire for Surrounds/Surround Backs
Blue Jeans Cable Belden Digital Audio Coax between Squeezebox Touch -> Bifrost DAC
Various AudioQuest and Emotiva X Interconnects for remainder of connections
Cables to Go SonicWave Glass TOSLink cable btwn AppleTV and Bifrost DAC
Mix of PS Audio, Emotiva, and Shunyata Venom 3 Power Cords
Enter-Tech Magic Sing Karaoke Mic

Room Treatments:
RoomTunes TuneStrips on all four corners acting as light bass traps.
2x 2'x4'x4" ATS Acoustics Panels behind the Purities
1x 2'x4'x4" ATS Acoustics Panel on the back wall
Hogwarts Crest Wall Tapestry on Back Wall

Spousal Approved Nighttime Electronic Setup:
Schiit Valhalla Headphone Tube Amp
HRT iStreamer iDevice DAC
Kimber Kable Tonik Interconnect between the iStreamer and Valhalla
Audioquest Cinnamon 30-pin iPlug to USB cable
Audioquest Forest mini to USB cable for iStreamer USB Power
Sennheiser HD-598 Headphones when noone is around or on lower volume
thinksound MS-01 IEM when I don't want to bother anyone

Klipsch LightSpeakers For Multi-zone
Zone 2 - Kitchen
Zone 3 - Main Bath 2nd Floor

7. Comments and/or stories about your Martin Logan experience:
Started out thinking I would only pick up the Purity's on sale via Amazon, but then it dragged me down the rabbit hole of upgrade-itus. From the Encore TF surrounds, to the dual Subs, to a new Denon Receiver, to the analog setup with Turntable and Tube Pre-Amp and now a Cinema i. How far does this rabbit hole go???

8. An image of your system.

 

[TomDac]

Welcome aboard.

 

[JediMstr]

Some more shots:

 

[JediMstr]

Added updated pics and stats to include my newly acquired Cinema i.

Soon will have an Emotiva XPA-5 to feed the center, surrounds and back so going to update the pics afterwards.

 

[churchill]

Welcome Philip! Nice looking room and system! What is picture above the fireplace of?

 

[JediMstr]

Welcome Philip! Nice looking room and system! What is picture above the fireplace of?

Thanks!


It's an abstract oil painting my uncle left us that his friend painted, from a series called "Chaos to Order". A lot my aunts, uncles and cousins received various other paintings from the series and I got "Order". The others in the series look more like random paint splatters, but my taste tends to lean more towards the geometric and "cold" side of things so i picked this one.

 

[JordanD]

How do you like your RM 1.3? I am looking at the same turntable, actually I am looking at the same setup you have hahaha (tubebox and pearl cartridge).

Care to share your thoughts on all three pieces?

 

[JediMstr]

How do you like your RM 1.3? I am looking at the same turntable, actually I am looking at the same setup you have hahaha (tubebox and pearl cartridge).

Care to share your thoughts on all three pieces?

Sounds great, but then again it's been awhile since I had vinyl.

I had the turntable hooked up to my Denon's Phono in before I got the tube box.

I had some trouble with the cartridge that was preinstalled, but it was a shipment issue. The stylus was bent and resulting sound was very scratchy, and I had to order a replacement. Once I installed the new Pearl tip/stylus it sounded fine.

First thing I did when I ordered the Tube Box II was order replacement tubes since I read the default tubes were a bit "flat". I started out with replacement Mullard re-issues from Russia and they were fairly warm sounding with a nice quiet sound floor. Then I ordered some Platinum matched, cryo treated Mullard military, box style plate, NOS (New Old Stock) tubes. These were actually really nice with what sounded like a larger sound stage and very warm. The mid range was really smooth but detailed and really sounded nice with female vocals. Bass was textured, and deep but not boomy. The high's were very clean/clear as well. I have the RM 1.3 ground connected to the Tube Box II's dedicated ground thumbscrew. I have the Tube Box switches in the back set to MM and Low filter on.

The Speedbox II is great too because I didn't want to bother manually switching between 45 and 33 1/3rd. The belt is fairly loose and not having to manually shift to each pulley size is a god-send.

If you do decide to get the SB II, for the RM 1.3 the belt should stay on the larger pulley. This isn't clear in the instructions and I found out via trial and error.

I also have the Pro-Ject weight clamp (it's not really a clamp, doesn't screw in) which helps especially with warped records.

I ordered the FunkFirm 5mm Achromat to replace the felt mat that the RM 1.3 comes with, mostly to combat the static cling I always seem to get with newer vinyl, but also to help improve the sound. We'll see if there is actually an effect once I get it.

Hope this helped! Cheers!

 

[JediMstr]

Oh... and the cartridge (once the new stylus was installed) sounded nice and detailed with great trackability... it only skipped on one of my really badly scratched, but cleaned LP's. Some other damaged LP's had a bit of crackle, but still tracked fine and sounded great (considering the LP quality).

Of course I don't have any other MM or MC cartridges to compare against so...

 

[JediMstr]

New Updates for my Pro-Ject RM 1.3:

Swapped the Sumiko Pearl MM with a DL-103R MC Cartridge. Knowing that this cartridge needed a heavier arm to play its best, I used a 3 gram metal spacer between the cartridge and headshell with a lite application of Blue-Tack to dampen the mating of the spacer to the cartridge. I also replaced the counterweight with a heavier VPI drop counterweight with some rubber washers I shaved to fit since the VPI arms are thicker (the lock screw still held it firm through the washers). Set the VTA slightly tipped toward the front of the cartridge, azimuth straight to the middle grooves of one of my mid size LPs (thinner than my 180s but thicker than my early 80's records), and VTF at 2.8 (2.5 is normally recommended, but higher VTF noted in some reviews for this cart to help counter low mass arms). Then I set the Tube Box II to MC and tried a few records.

Sounded superb, with a lot more detail and... "strength" I guess you could say vs the Pearl. Also the sound floor was much quieter and barely heard pops and ticks whereas I heard every pop and tick with the Pearl. Now that the background was so quiet, I noticed a hum that was there on the pearl but not as noticeable. Hum changed pitch and level when I manhandled the ground wire, so I swapped the thin ground wire I had between the RCA outputs on the table and my Tube Box II with a custom thick one I made with 12 gauge monoprice speaker in-wall wire (just the black wire) and a pair of small spades that I crimped and soldered on. Relocated the Tube Box' transformer to another outlet on the power strip away from other transformers and plugs for good measure. Now the sound floor is dead quiet.

I also found that setting the Anti-skate to the middle level rather than the outer one recommended for VTF of 2 or more let the music sound more full and dynamic and less bright, so I left it there.

 

[JediMstr]

Another update

Update: swapped out some of the interconnects with some slightly better stuff and added the Schiit Bifrost DAC to the list.

I'll be using the Bifrost purely for music (much of it ALAC converted from high bit-rate FLAC) coming out of the AppleTV for now. I have my Harmony Remote setup with AppleTV for video through HDMI and then AppleTV thru the Bifrost via TOSLink for digital music as a separate Activity. Should make for a better digital music listening experience than relying on the Denon 3312ci's builtin DAC to convert the digital audio coming from the AppleTV via HDMI. Of course, my preferred delivery option is still via Vinyl.

Will replace the photos with the new setup soon.

 

[JediMstr]

Updated with power cords and the MultiZone setup. I can now use Klipsch LightSpeakers to stream audio from any source from my Denon 3312ci to my kitchen and main bath.

I can even have all the zones playing from different or same sources simultaneously and can control from my iPad or iPhone. With iTunes DJ during parties, guests can even request and vote for songs from their iPhones. Love this stuff.

The Klipsch LightSpeakers are great. Not exactly high fidelity, but better than waterproof shower radios and much more flexible. Now I can cook, shower, and...ahem... Do other things while listening to my music through my Bifrost DAC.

 

[amey01]

I must have missed this system. NICE!