Naturephoto1's 2 channel listening room /Home Theater system

[naturephoto1]

My first round of Acoustic Treatments from GIK Acoustics arrived on Tuesday, I finished installing all but 2 (which be installed later) yesterday, and I finally was able to get photos of them installed earlier today. I have 8 diffusers on order from GIK Acoustics to add to the system coming.

Here are photos of the different Acoustic Treatments below.

The first is of the 6 GIK 242 Acoustic Panels:

The second is a closer photo of 3 of the same Acoustic Panels:

The third photo is of the 2 GIK Monster Bass Traps:

The fourth photo is of the 6 GIK Tri-Traps:

Below are the first to photos of the installed Treatments.

The first photo is looking from the right OMA New Yorker toward the left one. In this photo you can see the 2 GIK 242 Acoustic Panels behind each of the New Yorker speakers, the 2 GIK 242 Acoustic Panels above the Plasma TV and the stacked GIK Tri-Traps in the corner:

The second photo is looking from the left OMA New Yorker toward the right one. In this photo you can see the 2 GIK 242 Acoustic Panels behind each of the New Yorker speakers, the 2 GIK 242 Acoustic Panels above the Plasma TV and the stacked GIK Tri-Traps in the corner:

Rich

 

[naturephoto1]

Below are 6 more photos of the installed Acoustic Treatments,

The first photo looks at the front 3 channel speakers and the Plasma TV. You can again see the GIK 242 Acoustic Panels behind each of the New Yorker speakers and above the Plasma TV:

The second photo is a closer view of the Nola LCR Reference Center Channels speaker and the Pioneer Plasma TV with the 2 GIK 242 Acoustic Panels above the TV:

The third and fourth photos are of the left OMA New Yorker speaker with the 2 GIK 242 Acoustic Panels behind the speaker and the stacked GIK Tri-traps in the left corner:

The fifth and sixth photos are of the right OMA New Yorker speaker with the 2 GIK 242 Acoustic Panels behind the speaker and the stacked GIK Tri-traps in the right corner:

Rich

 

[naturephoto1]

Here are two last photos of the installed Acoustic Treatments of the rear of the room.

The first photo is of the left Epik Conquest Subwoofer and Nola Viper IIA side surround speaker with the GIK Monster Bass Trap in the left rear corner on the rear wall at the ceiling wall interface:

The second photo is of the right Epik Conquest Subwoofer and Nola Viper IIA side surround speaker with the GIK Monster Bass Trap in the right rear corner on the rear wall at the ceiling wall interface:

As to the sound of the room with the Acoustic Treatments the audio performance is more natural; more 3 dimensional; greater resolution, detail, and refinement; less etch; rounder sound; smoother; much wider and deeper soundstage; better imaging; much more emotional; more dynamic; better bass, midrange and highs; better voices; more life like sound; instruments sounding more like what they are; etc.

Rich

 

[Audioseduction]

What a fantastic room! It seems to be screaming for a huge 120" projector thou. Why just a 50” plasma? Did I miss something? Again, what a great room Rich!!!

 

[naturephoto1]

What a fantastic room! It seems to be screaming for a huge 120" projector thou. Why just a 50” plasma? Did I miss something? Again, what a great room Rich!!!

Hi George,

Thanks for the kind words. I do not think that I can squeeze in a 120" Projection screen. The 50" Plasma is still a temporary fix. I am waiting for the release of the 100" HDI 2D/3D Laser Tv that will hopefully be released in 2011.

http://www.hdi3d.com/products.html

If the new HDI Laser TV doesn't prove to be the estimated cost, review, and performance then I will probably get a Projection screen in the 100" or so size and a Projector.

Rich

 

[naturephoto1]

The photos below are the GIK diffusers that will be installed into the room. The first 3 photos are of the 6 unpainted GIK D1 diffusers that will placed on the ceiling of the room.

The 6 GIK diffusers will be sanded and painted the same gray color of the room and the ceiling. Additionally, the wells in the back of the diffusers will be filled with Poly fill to act as additional absorbers for the room. So, the D1 diffusers will act as both diffusers and absorbers at the same time.

The D1 diffusers will be alternated in their installation on the ceiling so that they are in opposite directions for added diffusion and they will occupy 26 square feet on the ceiling of the room.

The second 3 photos are of the 2 GIK Acoustics Q7d wooden diffusers.

One of the GIK Q7d diffusers will be placed on the rear of the door of the room attached with French Cleats and the other one will be hung on the opposite wall of the room above the First Watt M2 Power amp.

At this point, we are only awaiting the new door for the room. I hope that we can do the installation of the door and frame, the GIK D1 diffusers, GIK Q7d diffusers, and the last 2 GIK Tri-Traps next week.

Rich

 

[rbbert]

It's nice to see some other systems with Adona racks; i think they're fantastic bargains, very well made.

Any progress in integrating the sound of your center and front speakers? I'm somewhat skeptical that it can be made to work well.

 

[naturephoto1]

It's nice to see some other systems with Adona racks; i think they're fantastic bargains, very well made.

Any progress in integrating the sound of your center and front speakers? I'm somewhat skeptical that it can be made to work well.

Hi,

Thanks vey much for the kind words. I have been adjusting the position of the Nola LCR Reference speaker a little on the shelf of the TV stand. The sound of the Nola has integrated much better with the OMA New Yorker speakers than when the Nola was on its own speaker stand. The sound isn't bad at all, though some voices at times appear to have a bit more chesty sound than I would expect, but that may actually be the case. The speakers do not totally blend, but I have found that it is at least acceptable and the front 3 speakers really sound quite good together.

Rich

 

[naturephoto1]

I just completed the installation of the new door to the room, the installation of the 2 GIK Q7d diffusers, 6 GIK D1 diffusers, and the last 2 GIK Tri-traps. Unfortunately we went way over budget for this work largely because it took so long to install the new door.

Below are 6 photos of the latest installation in the room:

The first photo is of the GIK Q7d diffuser on the wall above the First Watt M2 amp; you can see a wider shot showing the diffuser in the 4th photo showing the D1 diffusers and part of this in the 6th photo showing the Audio Components:

The second photo is of the GIK Q7d diffuser mounted to the new door to the room:

The third photo is a closer view of the GIK Q7d diffuser mounted to the new door to the room:

The fourth photo is of the 6 GIK D1 diffusers mounted to the ceiling of the room; the diffusers were filled with Poly Fill:

The fifth photo is of the GIK Tri-Traps mounted to the ceiling and to the rear wall above the curtains and the seating:

The sixth photo is of the audio components as they now are with part of the GIK Q7d diffuser mounted on the wall above the First Watt M2 amp:

Rich

 

[flez007]

Rich, Your system is a feast for the eye, I am sure it also sounds wondefull, I am really keen towards room treatment and might take some of your ideas to improve mine if possible.

 

[naturephoto1]

Rich, Your system is a feast for the eye, I am sure it also sounds wondefull, I am really keen towards room treatment and might take some of your ideas to improve mine if possible.

Hi Fernando,

Thank you very much for the kind words. If you wish to have Acoustic Room Treatments made up and shipped to you, you may wish to contact Bryan or Glenn from GIK Acoustics. You can send them photos and they can give recommendations as to what to use and where to install the different treatments. Both Bryan and Glenn were most helpful though I worked primarily with Bryan.

Here is the link to GIK:

http://www.gikacoustics.com/products.html

Rich

 

[flez007]

Thanks Rich! .. will do.

 

[Ron Party]

Between your new speakers and a seemingly wonderful attention to room treatments, man, I would love to audition your system one day! Kudos.

 

[naturephoto1]

Between your new speakers and a seemingly wonderful attention to room treatments, man, I would love to audition your system one day! Kudos.

Hi Ron,

Thanks very much for the kind words. I have been very fortunate to have had the opportunity to purchase some very fine pieces of equipment including the OMA New Yorker speakers, the Teres Certus 450 Turntable and Tonearm, and Strain Gauge Cartridge/Phono Preamp System, and to receive some wonderful assistance from the staff at GIK Acoustics.

Rich

 

[Ron Party]

Well it all seems to be coming together wonderfully!

 

[naturephoto1]

Several days ago I finally adjusted the position of my right OMA New Yorker speaker to match the position of the left one. It resulted in opening up the sound of the system with a larger and deeper soundstage but I thought that I had lost some of the bass. However, this loss of bass may have been attributed to the fact that I had removed my modified Lavry DA10 DAC from the system since it required a minor repair and I ran my modified Denon 5910CI directly into my modified ARC LS10.

Well today the repaired Lavry DA10 DAC arrived along with some some new TimePortal silver IC cables to demo. I am not sure if I have lost any bass at this point with reinstalling the Lavry DA10 back into the system.

As to the new TimePortal IC cables I have been told that these new cables already have outperformed some $8,000 MIT cables and that they make our older TimePortal cables sound like they are "broken". The sound of the cables has been described as: They sound big, great bass, very smooth and full with low noise and excellent detailing/transparency....kill the previous TimePortal cables.

I have uploaded 4 photos of the new TimePortal silver IC cables (2m length) along with one of 2 pair of Kevin's Solid Core Silver (2 1/2m length) and one of the 2 of Kevin's new Silver IC cables (2 1/2m length; these have been shown before) below:

The first photo shows the new 2m TimePortal Silver (dark/black) in the front, Kevin's 2 1/2m Solid Core Silver (striped black and gold) to the left in the 2nd row) and Kevin's 2 1/2m new Silver IC (white with the black Carbon fiber RCA housing) to the right in the 2nd row:

The second photo is a little closer of the 3 pair of cables with the Kevin's new Silver Cable partially cut off in the photo:

The third photo is mainly of Kevin's Solid Core Silver cables with the other 2 pair cut off in the photo:

The fourth photo is mainly of Kevin's new Silver cables with the other 2 pair cut off in the photo:

The new TimePortal Silver cables are not "cooked" or burned in at this point, but I will listen to them for different connections within the system and make comparisons with the other 2 kinds of cables that I received recently from Kevin. I will reserve comment about how they sound until I have given them a bit of time for comparison. Ultimately, I will decide as to where to use any of these cables within my system. By the way, we have already preferred the performance of many of the older TimePortal silver IC cables with cables costing more than $3,000 a pair. So, this will be interesting. At this point, I have 2 pair of Kevin's new Silver cables in the 2 1/2m length and 2 pair of Kevin's Solid Core Silver cables in the 2 1/2m length and 1 pair in the 1m length.

These new TimePortal IC cables will cost somewhere between 3 and 5 or so times the cost of the older TimePortal IC cables and those from Kevin.

I already have an idea of the comparison of the sound of Kevin's Solid Core Silver cables compared with the sound of his new Silver cables for different applications.

Rich

 

[zepherman]

Hi Rich,

First off I want to apologize for not commenting on your gorgeous systems. I thought I had, and as I was going through your system thread I saw that I hadn't.

Your systems are phenomenal! The choice of speakers, gear, cables, the presentation, and just how organized and clean looking everything is is really impressive. Your systems must sound incredible! You put in a lot of very careful thought, and no doubt $$, in assembling your current setups. And besides the whole look, the photos you took of everything are awesome! The photos are so clear and detailed, with very accurate colors. I'm jealous!

A great job on some truly remarkable systems!


Seth

 

[ejusted]

Hi Rich,

Thanks for inviting me to this wonderful site! There are some truly incredible systems on here!!

 

[naturephoto1]

My turntable set-up has been down for awhile with some problems but we are close to having everything back to the way that things should be, but unfortunately some vinyl was damaged and I do not know the extent at this point. We still have to make the final adjustments to the tracking force but are close. As I continued to listen to some vinyl after the last adjustment I found that the cartridge was having some problems with a bit of flutter for some passages on some vinyl. It isn't to the point of jumping out of the grooves of the vinyl; it may be mistracking. But, the cartridge is struggling at times for the adjusted tracking force I will have to increase the tracking force a little.

Jonathan Weiss of OMA had made the adjustments to the turntable on Monday and he has offered to come one more time to make the final adjustments. I have the same scale on order that Jonathan had and recommended; it is scheduled to arrive on Friday. When Jonathan was here on Monday and while listening as we were making the adjustments to the cartridge and tonearm, Jonathan asked me what was different about my system since we last got together besides the addition of the Acoustic Room treatments. We were running the Soundsmith Strain Gauge 410 Phono Preamp directly into my First Watt M2 amp. Jonathan knew the sound of my OMA New Yorker speakers (he built them), the sound of my Teres Certus Turntable system, and he knew the sound of the Soundsmith Strain Gauge Cartridge and Phono Preamp. I told Jonathan the only things besides that Acoustic Room treatments were the new TimePortal silver ICs and the Herbies Giant Fat Gliders that were placed under the OMA New Yorker speakers. Jonathan indicated that we were missing the lower midrange and it sounded like I had lost $12,000 worth of my system.

So, we removed the Herbies Giant Fat Gliders from below the speakers. Low and behold the gliders sucked the magic and the sound out of the speakers and the system. So they have been removed for this application. We also repositioned the speakers during our listening bringing them a little closer together so that now they are about 86" apart for the inner part of each of the horns (not the speaker cabinets). They will have to be moved about another 1 to 2" apart when I put in the large HDI 2D/3D 100" laser TV (if it is released) or a 100" Projection screen. The speaker position will dictate basically 100" as the maximum screen size for the room.

Jonathan indicated that the test vinyl that we were using now sounded the way that it was supposed to after we adjusted the cartridge and arm. He was pleased with the sound of the speakers and the system and thought that the First Watt M2 SS amp sounded quite good. He agreed that Nelson Pass had made a finely designed SS amp. Though he makes his own tube amp he does not like most tube amps and he would rather a good sounding SS to most tube amps.

Jonathan and I agreed that I should install 2 more of the GIk Acoustics 242 Acoustic panels, one above the turntable and one on the opposite wall to the left of the LP rack. 3 of these panels were ordered in black yesterday (I will have one extra) and they are scheduled to be shipped Friday.

I also bit the bullet earlier today and I placed an order to have Purist Audio Design make up 2 special solid bodied Y adapters consisting of 2 female RCA inputs to 1 male RCA output. Purist Audio will machine these adapters for me so that I can run both the Soundsmith Strain Gauge 410 Phono Preamp as well as the upgraded ARC LS10 directly into the First Watt M2 Power Amp and I won't have to change the cabling any more. The adapters are supposed to not degrade the sound and Purist will ship the adapters directly to me; it will take somewhere around 8 to 10 days for them to be prepared.

Finally, if you want to see something cool, GIK Acoustics has posted 3 photos of my set-up and their Acoustic Room Treatments on the front page of their website. They are on the top of their front page and they are 3 of the rotating photos of set-ups and their Acoustic Treatments. Below is the link:

http://www.gikacoustics.com/

Rich

 

[ejusted]

Thats awesome Rich!!!
It must feel good to see your pride and joy on display like that!! I really like your set-up and apparently they do too! I hope to have a system comparable to that one day! Maybe then I can post some pics on this site!!!
Keep up the good work and glad to see the turntable issue is finally being resolved.