a Norwegian tale of the road to greater sound - by kaap

kaap

Well-Known Member
Nov 3, 2015
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Norway
www.dpguiden.no
This is my attempt to do a system thread. Hope I don't break any roles if I post any pictures or info that is not strictly "hifi-system-related"(if so, please correct me).
I from Norway, so the will be both spelling errors and bad grammar... guaranteed :)

Short intro...

Due to the influence of two older brothers, I began my audiophile life at the age of 13(1993). With every little bit money I could set aside, I saved up to buy my own gear. It startet with Kef and Tandberg in my tiny bedroom. By the age of 15, speakers got bigger, but still restricted to the tiny bedroom. I have traded up from bookshelf Kef, to large dipol speakers. Just before turning 18, I traded the pre/power Tandberg for a DIY pre, and my first Dynamic Precision power amp. This was the start of my "obsession" with Dynamic Precision (DP). This was a model called DPA 6.0, after a few years, I got a great deal on the second largest DP, model DPA 6.5. This one I owned all the way to last year.

My long term plan has for some time been to go with active crossover, with two power amps. But there where only made 20 of my DPA 6.5, so getting hold of another was starting to get hopeless. Every owner knew what they had, so why should they sell...? After a few years of waiting, AND sit-downs with the creator and man behind DP, Mr Leif Ernstsen. His latest model, before retiring, was of a completely new design. Smaller, but very powerful. He said that, even though the new A1s was half the size of the mighty DPA 6.5, it was better across the board. So, after many hours of considering to trade away form my beloved 6.5, I bought an A1s.

I quickly realized that Mr Ernstsen was right, the A1s was awesome, even in the bass area.
One lead to another, and the 6.5 was sold to my brother. I bought another A1s, and a active crossover.

This was a very shorten down version of the last 22 years.

Last year my wife and I bought a house outside the city center, witch accidentally had a barn on the property...

We do not have horses.

We will never get horses..

My wife do not have any use for a barn...

What to do...? what to doooo......??

:p


There will more photos, but for now, here are some from my previous house.

IMG_0378.jpg

IMG_7042.jpg

IMG_7044.jpg

Regards kaap

(On a side note; due to my interest in DP, I startet early collecting info, manuals, spec sheets and photos about DP, so a few years back I posted a website to share it all to other DP entusiasts. URL is www.dpguiden.no.. Waring; it mostly Norwegian)
 
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amirm

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Nice story Kaap. Reminds me of getting into audio when I must have been 10-12 years old or so.

And seems like there is a good photographer lurking in your as much as an audio hobbyist given the second shot :). For sure we appreciate both so pictures do not have to be of gear alone.
 

LL21

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Dec 26, 2010
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great stuff! by the way, do your remotes work thru the frosted glass? We are thinking of adding frosted glass doors to our equipment rack. Thanks for any advice!
 

FrantzM

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
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Welcome to the WBF ...
Great story!!

You have your own listening room treat it right ;)
 

kaap

Well-Known Member
Nov 3, 2015
36
63
150
Norway
www.dpguiden.no
I see now that trying to describe 22 years in so few word, just didn't cut it IMO.
Anyone know how many hours I got to edit my initial post, until it locks?

Some Q&A;

Nice story Kaap. Reminds me of getting into audio when I must have been 10-12 years old or so.

And seems like there is a good photographer lurking in your as much as an audio hobbyist given the second shot :). For sure we appreciate both so pictures do not have to be of gear alone.

Thx :)

I do photograf a bit. The plan with the "barn-conversion", is to make it a listening room, but also a photo studio.

great stuff! by the way, do your remotes work thru the frosted glass? We are thinking of adding frosted glass doors to our equipment rack. Thanks for any advice!

Yep, had no problems with remote controll thru the frostet glass. This is a IKEA "rack", but it is now discontinued.

Welcome to the WBF ...
Great story!!

You have your own listening room treat it right ;)

Thx!

I'll be good to it, just have to (re-)build it. It is currently still a empty barn.

Regards Kai
 

LL21

Well-Known Member
Dec 26, 2010
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...Yep, had no problems with remote controll thru the frostet glass....

Regards Kai

Thanks!! Great to know.
 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
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Seattle, WA
I see now that trying to describe 22 years in so few word, just didn't cut it IMO.
Anyone know how many hours I got to edit my initial post, until it locks?
There is no time limit. You can edit it anytime.
 

kaap

Well-Known Member
Nov 3, 2015
36
63
150
Norway
www.dpguiden.no
I see that I have been neglecting this this thread... just a tat... :/

I'm gonna make it up again with some long ass posts and some pictures :p

Stay tuned :)

Regards Kai
 

kaap

Well-Known Member
Nov 3, 2015
36
63
150
Norway
www.dpguiden.no
Hi kaap,

Is your barn made out of a container van?

No, It is a purpose buildt building, 29x22feet. It was by the previous owner used to host 5 horses.

Photo from the sales ad when we got the house.

Regards Kai
91_1753537390_xl.jpg
 

Mike Lavigne

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 25, 2010
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Welcome Kaap, and congrats on your barn-audio room from a fellow barn converter. :)

here is what my barn looked like before it became my audio room/man-cave. it had three horses before I bought the place......barns are wonderful.....both for what they can become, and for where they are.

the bottom picture is about where my sweet spot chair sits in my current listening room.

st.jpg

ms.jpg
 
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kaap

Well-Known Member
Nov 3, 2015
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63
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Norway
www.dpguiden.no
Thx Mike, and I must say, it's kind a sureal to get an replay from the Mike Lavigne himself. I have been seeking every bit of information and picture of your impressiv audio-barn, over many years... I see that your hardware setup is quite different from when you moved in..



Now I'm gonna gather a series of photos, and play catch-up with myself and where I am today :)




Meenwhile, here are a few pause photos, taken with my iphone7 (raw mode with Lightroom app) from my house. There have been some nice sunset's lately.

APC_0183.JPG

APC_0173.JPG

APC_0027.JPG

one more, taken form outside the officebuilding where I work last winter:
APC_0013.JPG
 

Ron Resnick

Site Co-Owner, Administrator
Jan 24, 2015
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Welcome to WBF, kaap!

You have a very exciting project ahead of you!
 

kaap

Well-Known Member
Nov 3, 2015
36
63
150
Norway
www.dpguiden.no
Hello good folk.

Long days, tired. Not a lot of energy to sit by the computer to write.

A speedy run down to catch up with today.

last year we had to replace the ground based heating source(pump).. the old one died mid-winter.

Ground heating works something like this;
BergVP.jpg

Expencive **** to say the least. But I used the situvation to dig a tube to transport hot water to the barn. This is get a heated floor.

IMG_1321.jpg

Drilled holes in the concrete floor to get access to the pipes.

IMG_1754.JPG

In the spring of 2017 the barn looked like this...

IMG_1853.JPG

It's now midnight here in Norway, gotta go to bed. Big day tomorrow.................

To be continiued.

Regards Kai
 
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kaap

Well-Known Member
Nov 3, 2015
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Norway
www.dpguiden.no
I just worte a long post.. but when I went to add a photo, the "add photo promt" jammed the whole page.. Everthing gone.

So, for now, it's just gonna be a quick photo... (yea.. NOW it worked.. :/ )

IMG_3105.JPG

good night from norway.
 

kaap

Well-Known Member
Nov 3, 2015
36
63
150
Norway
www.dpguiden.no
Welcome Kaap, and congrats on your barn-audio room from a fellow barn converter. :)

here is what my barn looked like before it became my audio room/man-cave. it had three horses before I bought the place......barns are wonderful.....both for what they can become, and for where they are.

the bottom picture is about where my sweet spot chair sits in my current listening room.

Hello Mike. I must say it's a treat to get a reply from the ower of the barn-room I've been following online for some time now... (since 2005 I think..).

The sensible thing to do with my barn would be to make a small apparment to rent out, but we decided early on that we did not want that. The extra income would be great, but there a lot to consider.
Therefore I'm gonna make the back of my barn-room to be a photostudio, to make some extra money for the familiy.

My room is quite limited in height, but there is not much to do about it, without rebuilding the whole building... That's not cheap.

My build is also quite limited in the budget. In short I have to do almost everything myself, and haggle to get the best possible prices on materials. The completed rom will cost less than a pair of Nordost Odin bi-wire jumpers.

-------------------------------------------------

Back to the progress made this summer...:

Tearing out the windows, and cleaning the excisting concrete floor.

IMG_4456.JPG

IMG_4461.JPG

Having the kids to help out...

IMG_4475.JPG

Regards Kai
 
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kaap

Well-Known Member
Nov 3, 2015
36
63
150
Norway
www.dpguiden.no
Welcome to WBF, kaap!

You have a very exciting project ahead of you!

Thx you. I may be one of very few users of WBF from these parts of the world. Made a screenshot of google maps, just to illustrate where I live (Pin marks the spot).
As you can see, it's quite far north. It does not show on google maps, but it's just a one hour cardrive to the artic circle...

Skjermbilde 2017-10-29 kl. 21.37.09.jpg

...and by living this far north, we see skys like this this time of the year...

IMG_3170.jpg

.. and sometimes, we also get unusual guests outside our house.

IMG_1748.jpg

... and speaking of house, this is it, with the garage and the barn in the background.

IMG_3245.jpg

Regards Kai
 
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kaap

Well-Known Member
Nov 3, 2015
36
63
150
Norway
www.dpguiden.no
Before I continiue this thread, I just wanna do a few posts about my previous gear.

Setup #1 - 1993

I was about 13years old. My first setup was with a pair of KEF K120, a pre/power set of Tandberg(Norwegian brand), and a Marantz CD63.

KEFk120black.jpg

Tandberg3006a01.jpg~original.jpeg

Marantz_CD63_lft_600x345_pixels.jpg

Regards Kai
 

kaap

Well-Known Member
Nov 3, 2015
36
63
150
Norway
www.dpguiden.no
Before I continiue with my "audiophile-saga", I just want to share a photo from today.. Did a quick sanding session tonight on my side project (barn project is numero uno!)...

This is in short, a test, proof of consept, of what kind of performance I can get form very(!) cheap woofer units, in a basic enclosure.
Not one, or two, but twelve 10 inch woofers, in two towers. Mounted back to back, sealed. Every pair has a sealed compartment (three pr tower)
One plate-subwoofer amplifier I have in storage, with built-in crossover.

Total cost is well below any brand name 10" inch active subwoofer I can buy retail at the local hifi shak. (I estimate to complete this project below 500 USD)

I do not have usage for them... Just want to try out an idea... If it turns out good... I'll sell them and use the money in the barn build :)

Have a great weekend everybody

Regards Kai

IMG_5559.JPG
(I'm 185cm tall, and doing a hand-stand on the towers.. and they are just under 120cm tall.)
 

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