StreamFidelitys Setup

StreamFidelity

Well-Known Member
Jun 30, 2020
110
121
115
Rostock, Germany
griggaudio.de
With my first post I would like to introduce my setup. :)

The listening room is in a separate area with a nice view of the garden. The room is open to the rear of the living room.



Absorbers are located on the walls to limit the side wall reflections. With curtains, carpets, etc., the reverberation times are just right for me. The reverberation times would be too long for a studio, but that was not the goal.



My setup is geared towards streaming. I prefer direct routes. The power amplifiers are controlled directly by the Denafrips Terminator DAC. A bit unusual since there is no preamplifier. With the excellent algorithms of the HQPlayer, the digital volume control is a pleasure.

Denafrips Terminator


T + A M10


Sonus Faber Amati Futura



The components


Thanks for your interest. I look forward to discussions and suggestions.

Cheers Gabriel
 

DeadWax

Well-Known Member
Apr 11, 2020
187
161
115
57
Nice, clean, well-thought-out system!
 

Lagonda

VIP/Donor
Feb 3, 2014
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Sonus Faber do make the most beautiful speakers, nice system !
 

StreamFidelity

Well-Known Member
Jun 30, 2020
110
121
115
Rostock, Germany
griggaudio.de
Thank all for the nice comments.
Do you listen with the curtains closed because of the glass?

The curtains are open during the day because I love to look into nature. The more intensive listening to music takes place in the evening. With the curtains closed, the timbres increase.
 

StreamFidelity

Well-Known Member
Jun 30, 2020
110
121
115
Rostock, Germany
griggaudio.de
Minor changes
... but some costs
... luckily combined with an increase in sound! :D

The JCAT PCIe Cards USB XE & NET Femto are supplied with clean 5V power by the JCAT OPTIMO 3 DUO. That brought a boost more blackness and stage into the sound.



The Denafrips Terminator has been replaced by the Denafrips Terminator Plus. A masterpiece! The details and instrument location increased. It feels like the bass goes one floor lower without being imprecise. The timbres have increased. A dream. But it took 300 hours of burn-in time before it sounded like it does now!



My complete setup

 

sbnx

Well-Known Member
Mar 28, 2017
1,181
1,323
290
Very nice system. Based on your choices i bet the sound is very rich.
 

StreamFidelity

Well-Known Member
Jun 30, 2020
110
121
115
Rostock, Germany
griggaudio.de
Sorry for the late reply. @Kingsrule @sbnx Thank you for your nice comments.

I've been a T + A fan for a long time. I couldn't resist and bought the T + A SDV 3100 HV. The built-in preamplifier gets along perfectly with the T + A M10 monos.



The sparkling clean structure can be seen through the hatch.



And here in operation with DSD 256 and Network Audio (NAA).



The possible uses are very versatile. Streaming services such as TIDAL or Qobuz and Internet radio can also be played without an audio PC. If I should buy a turntable again, there is an analog input for it. Blue-Ray players and televisions can be connected via HDMI.

In my constellation I was interested in USB and NAA (Network Audio Adapter) via the fis Audio PC. USB running right away, but network access was a struggle. Only after setting the router to IPv6 did I get a stable connection.

My new setup:



I had a variety of DACs such as Linn Klimax, T + A MP 3000 HV, Holo Audio Spring or Denafrips Terminator Plus. Although I can't make any direct comparisons, I claim to have achieved the best sound so far. I enjoy a deep, precise bass foundation, wonderful timbres, superb instrument separation and high-resolution clarity that only perfectly constructed systems can offer.
 

StreamFidelity

Well-Known Member
Jun 30, 2020
110
121
115
Rostock, Germany
griggaudio.de
Move to the sea

We have left Berlin and are where we like to go on vacation: the Hanseatic City of Rostock. Warnemünde beach is 15 minutes away. We have downsized until our large apartment with its own listening room will be ready in two years. The system is now in the shared living room with an open kitchen.

Compromises had to be found. Fortunately, we were able to agree on an acoustic curtain for the TV. I don't like looking into a dark hole and the curtain has acoustically advantages.

New are added

- Reference Power Line Conditioner GigaWatt PC-4 EVO +
- Afterdark Switch: 2 x Buffalo BS-GS2016 with Giesemann OCXO

IMG_5861.jpg
 

StreamFidelity

Well-Known Member
Jun 30, 2020
110
121
115
Rostock, Germany
griggaudio.de
My room has caused me some problems acoustically. The room has an L-shape, the speakers have different distances to the side walls, a table and a stool are in the stereo triangle. In a living room, you have to make compromises.

Nevertheless, the sound is quite good. I use the digital room correction and the positive effects are audible. The frequency response and the step responses of my speakers were significantly improved.




Since I am occasionally asked how I do this, I have written instructions. If you are interested:

How to measure your room and speakers
How to create a convolution filter for room correction?
 

StreamFidelity

Well-Known Member
Jun 30, 2020
110
121
115
Rostock, Germany
griggaudio.de

The implementation of my new listening room​

In Germany, the real estate market has collapsed. I mention this because 3 years ago we bought an apartment by the lake from a developer.
Then came Corona and then the Ukraine war, which made construction costs and construction financing considerably more expensive.
That's why we consider it a miracle that our developer didn't go bankrupt and our apartment was completed.
With the new apartment, I also planned my new listening room and that's what my article is about.

Installation of the system and acoustic elements​

The space​

In a rectangular room, the first question is whether the speakers should be placed on the short side of the wall or on the long side of the wall . As you can see in the image below, I chose the short side because of the symmetry . If I took the long side, there would be the door on one side and the window on the other, which would reflect the sound differently. The listening position would have to be positioned closer to the rear wall, which would also promote unfavorable sound reflections.

Coincidentally, the floor-to-ceiling soundproof window is right in the middle of the room and was defused with an acoustic curtain . The corners of the room are particularly sensitive to bass modes; bass traps could be used here. At the moment I'm avoiding it

Behind the listening position is a bookshelf , which acts as a natural diffuser but also as an absorber. The speakers are relatively close to the side walls (70 cm measured from the tweeter). Here I know from experience that wall diffusers will serve you very well. Absorbers on the ceiling are intended to dampen the reverberation. There is a shag carpet on the parquet floor .


Acoustic curtain​

I chose the full-surface acoustic fabric ABSORBER LIGHT. Micro-slits in the fabric ensure a sound absorption level according to ISO 11654: αw = 0.80 (sound absorber class: B), which is really a lot.


Below in the measurements you can see in the reverberation times that the acoustic curtain significantly reduced the reverberation from 0.4 seconds to 0.3 seconds from 300 Hz .


Sidewall diffusers​

I have had very good experiences with side wall diffusers . This time it should be something very special: Formfeld 1 from the Munich company Vorhammer Computational Design. The design is inspired by the natural schooling behavior of fish and birds and is offered as a wall panel.


With the hole perforation it can also be used as an absorber . For perfect symmetry, I had the pattern produced in an exact mirror image so that diffusion and absorption occur equally on both walls. Even the holes are absolutely identical. This is made possible by a computer-controlled CNC milling machine.


ceiling sail​

There were no ceiling sails because I didn't feel like doing any drilling. It stayed with the Austrian manufacturer: Tante Lotte Design GmbH. It is a self-adhesive acoustic panel with the descriptive name “Klebeschaf Apps” made from sheep ’s wool (Tyrolean virgin wool). Here are some features according to the manufacturer:

– Improvement in reverberation time: Alpha-w 0.35
– Regulation of the room climate (humidity)
– Filtering of toxins (formaldehydes) from the room air
– allergy-free, moth-proof
– dirt-repellent

Since I don't want to over-steam the room, I started with 6 apps (45x45x1.2 cm). If necessary, more to come.


Carpet and armchair​

In order to effectively suppress floor reflections, I decided on the SOLO shaggy carpet (rolf-benz.com) . Pure new wool is dirt-repellent, elastic, sound-absorbing and, in contrast to synthetic fibers, hardly absorbs odors.

My tried and tested Leolux armchair Scylla – Leolux is very comfortable and, above all, has a low backrest . Make sure that your armchair does not reflect sound from a high backrest, possibly made of leather. In my case, the sound passes the head unhindered and is absorbed and dispersed on the back wall by the felt absorber (door) and the library.


HiFi rack​

My HY series device platform | Selected high-end AV racks | I was able to continue using Solidsteel . I really appreciate the modular structure. Each platform is decoupled from the other. The pipes are made of solid stainless steel and weigh a lot.


cabling​

In the picture below the cabling looks really chaotic, but it follows a certain system. In the newsletter How to properly lay cables for your hi-fi system , I described how incorrectly laying the cables can lead to significant loss of sound . The reason lies in electromagnetic interference ( EMI – Electromagnetic Interference ) and radio frequency interference ( RFI Radio Frequency Interference ).



How much effort did I have to lay cables or twist when replacing cables? My wife aptly noticed that the devices were “upside down” in the rack. This time I wanted the cables to be really easy to access. The power cables to the GigaWatt PC4-EVO+ can be seen below. Separated into high power, analog and digital. The power supply runs separately from the fuse box.



Verification through measurements​

The theory must be confirmed by practice. This is why extensive measurements with different setups are important.

Reverberation time​

With Acourate – AudioVero you can easily measure and evaluate the reverberation times by entering the room dimensions and comparing them with common standards. Smaller rooms like mine require more reverberation time attenuation than larger ones. My average reverberation time is around 0.3 seconds from 300 Hz. That's a little, but it can be even less. For comparison: music studios are usually heavily attenuated to 0.2 seconds.


I already mentioned above that the acoustic curtain dampens the reverberation very effectively. For comparison, the picture below shows a measurement without an acoustic curtain . Here you can clearly see that the reverberation from 300 Hz is still around 0.4 seconds . That's the upper limit for my small room.


Frequency response correction​

The simulation in hunecke.de | The loudspeaker calculator already showed the problems with the room modes well. The simulation showed a strong peak between 30-40 Hz and a dip from around 50 Hz. The thin blue line is the frequency response without correction and shows exactly that. The red line shows the correction.

Without correction, the bass was thickened and imprecise and obscured the mid/high range.

Correction of the step response​

When it comes to room correction, many people only think about the frequency response. Now I think correcting the timing (phase) is even more important. Especially in multi-way systems, the tweeter (here reversed polarity) precedes the midrange and bass. After all, both speakers run in parallel due to the perfect symmetry in timing. This is rarely the case.



In the picture below you can clearly see that all chassis make the same jump upwards at the same time .


Audiophile greetings from the Hanseatic city of Rostock

Gabriel
 
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Lagonda

VIP/Donor
Feb 3, 2014
3,423
4,675
1,255
Denmark

The implementation of my new listening room​

In Germany, the real estate market has collapsed. I mention this because 3 years ago we bought an apartment by the lake from a developer.
Then came Corona and then the Ukraine war, which made construction costs and construction financing considerably more expensive.
That's why we consider it a miracle that our developer didn't go bankrupt and our apartment was completed.
With the new apartment, I also planned my new listening room and that's what my article is about.

Installation of the system and acoustic elements​

The space​

In a rectangular room, the first question is whether the speakers should be placed on the short side of the wall or on the long side of the wall . As you can see in the image below, I chose the short side because of the symmetry . If I took the long side, there would be the door on one side and the window on the other, which would reflect the sound differently. The listening position would have to be positioned closer to the rear wall, which would also promote unfavorable sound reflections.

Coincidentally, the floor-to-ceiling soundproof window is right in the middle of the room and was defused with an acoustic curtain . The corners of the room are particularly sensitive to bass modes; bass traps could be used here. At the moment I'm avoiding it

Behind the listening position is a bookshelf , which acts as a natural diffuser but also as an absorber. The speakers are relatively close to the side walls (70 cm measured from the tweeter). Here I know from experience that wall diffusers will serve you very well. Absorbers on the ceiling are intended to dampen the reverberation. There is a shag carpet on the parquet floor .


Acoustic curtain​

I chose the full-surface acoustic fabric ABSORBER LIGHT. Micro-slits in the fabric ensure a sound absorption level according to ISO 11654: αw = 0.80 (sound absorber class: B), which is really a lot.


Below in the measurements you can see in the reverberation times that the acoustic curtain significantly reduced the reverberation from 0.4 seconds to 0.3 seconds from 300 Hz .


Sidewall diffusers​

I have had very good experiences with side wall diffusers . This time it should be something very special: Formfeld 1 from the Munich company Vorhammer Computational Design. The design is inspired by the natural schooling behavior of fish and birds and is offered as a wall panel.


With the hole perforation it can also be used as an absorber . For perfect symmetry, I had the pattern produced in an exact mirror image so that diffusion and absorption occur equally on both walls. Even the holes are absolutely identical. This is made possible by a computer-controlled CNC milling machine.


ceiling sail​

There were no ceiling sails because I didn't feel like doing any drilling. It stayed with the Austrian manufacturer: Tante Lotte Design GmbH. It is a self-adhesive acoustic panel with the descriptive name “Klebeschaf Apps” made from sheep ’s wool (Tyrolean virgin wool). Here are some features according to the manufacturer:

– Improvement in reverberation time: Alpha-w 0.35
– Regulation of the room climate (humidity)
– Filtering of toxins (formaldehydes) from the room air
– allergy-free, moth-proof
– dirt-repellent

Since I don't want to over-steam the room, I started with 6 apps (45x45x1.2 cm). If necessary, more to come.


Carpet and armchair​

In order to effectively suppress floor reflections, I decided on the SOLO shaggy carpet (rolf-benz.com) . Pure new wool is dirt-repellent, elastic, sound-absorbing and, in contrast to synthetic fibers, hardly absorbs odors.

My tried and tested Leolux armchair Scylla – Leolux is very comfortable and, above all, has a low backrest . Make sure that your armchair does not reflect sound from a high backrest, possibly made of leather. In my case, the sound passes the head unhindered and is absorbed and dispersed on the back wall by the felt absorber (door) and the library.


HiFi rack​

My HY series device platform | Selected high-end AV racks | I was able to continue using Solidsteel . I really appreciate the modular structure. Each platform is decoupled from the other. The pipes are made of solid stainless steel and weigh a lot.


cabling​

In the picture below the cabling looks really chaotic, but it follows a certain system. In the newsletter How to properly lay cables for your hi-fi system , I described how incorrectly laying the cables can lead to significant loss of sound . The reason lies in electromagnetic interference ( EMI – Electromagnetic Interference ) and radio frequency interference ( RFI Radio Frequency Interference ).



How much effort did I have to lay cables or twist when replacing cables? My wife aptly noticed that the devices were “upside down” in the rack. This time I wanted the cables to be really easy to access. The power cables to the GigaWatt PC4-EVO+ can be seen below. Separated into high power, analog and digital. The power supply runs separately from the fuse box.



Verification through measurements​

The theory must be confirmed by practice. This is why extensive measurements with different setups are important.

Reverberation time​

With Acourate – AudioVero you can easily measure and evaluate the reverberation times by entering the room dimensions and comparing them with common standards. Smaller rooms like mine require more reverberation time attenuation than larger ones. My average reverberation time is around 0.3 seconds from 300 Hz. That's a little, but it can be even less. For comparison: music studios are usually heavily attenuated to 0.2 seconds.


I already mentioned above that the acoustic curtain dampens the reverberation very effectively. For comparison, the picture below shows a measurement without an acoustic curtain . Here you can clearly see that the reverberation from 300 Hz is still around 0.4 seconds . That's the upper limit for my small room.


Frequency response correction​

The simulation in hunecke.de | The loudspeaker calculator already showed the problems with the room modes well. The simulation showed a strong peak between 30-40 Hz and a dip from around 50 Hz. The thin blue line is the frequency response without correction and shows exactly that. The red line shows the correction.

Without correction, the bass was thickened and imprecise and obscured the mid/high range.

Correction of the step response​

When it comes to room correction, many people only think about the frequency response. Now I think correcting the timing (phase) is even more important. Especially in multi-way systems, the tweeter (here reversed polarity) precedes the midrange and bass. After all, both speakers run in parallel due to the perfect symmetry in timing. This is rarely the case.



In the picture below you can clearly see that all chassis make the same jump upwards at the same time .


Audiophile greetings from the Hanseatic city of Rostock

Gabriel
Very cool diffusers ! :)
 
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Reactions: StreamFidelity

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