Visit to Marc C.'s (SpiritOfMusic's) House in England

[RBFC]

Absolutely gorgeous room, with great attention to detail ! Please keep us informed as you move forward !

Lee

 

[morricab]

Brad, what tubes would you recommend? We've gone Electro Harmonix, I'm at the will of my dealer here.
Re sitting 15' back, you can blame Blue58 for this.
We were taking in the system a couple of months back, tried it, and despite my initial misgivings, I soon came to like it.
This is all v subjective, I may go back to the 12' I used to favour.
Otoh, I'm not getting the near field trend of 9' that guys like Mike L have hit on.

Remind me what tube type it uses. Couldn't find the info.

Is your chair easy to move? If so, try 10 feet or so for a few days. Easy, reversible experiment.

 

[BruceD]

Ah what superb setup---Kudos!

Having spent 8 years in the UK that aspect of British country life was always one of the jewels in the crown!

Luv the Co pilots Chair---a Hepplewhite or Chippendale?

Enjoy indeed!

BruceD

 

[Jazzhead]

Nice digs Spirit , enjoy your sound ... Congratulations !

 

[howiebrou]

Marc,

Love the chesterfields and of course the house, surroundings and system set up.

It must be idyllic in the country. I have been checking out some country houses in the English countryside for retirement and you have got me all excited!

Cheers.

howie

 

[gian60]

Beautiful House and place Marc
I and my wife love England and his country
Also very beautiful system
Enjoy music and life in this special place
Let Bonzo stay in the smog of London

 

[spiritofmusic]

Thanks boys.
Well, I'm getting the work/life balance thing right as well with the move.
And fascinatingly, the property, and life now not as an audiophile living alone, demands more of my money and time is devoted to non audio duties.
Thanks go to the Audio Gods that my big investment on the room, that covers a few years' components upgrade spend has been so productive and enhancing.
But the days when I didn't have to justify big spending to anyone other than me on yet another or of spkrs, or Heaven forbid maybe a 15ips tape deck, are long gone.

 

[ddk]

What at a great space Marc, what the heck are you doing in the attic? It's a beautiful home you should bring what you love so much into it not hide it away. Enjoy!
david

PS. New camera Ron? Very nice picts of Marc's home!

In a converted Wesleyan Chapel located in Nordelph, England, three hours Northeast of Central London, reside Marc -- also known as Spirit of Music -- his longtime girlfriend, Irana, three cats and a newly-built listening room. The grounds surrounding the chapel are filled with trees. The house is situated along, and Marc's carport is parallel to, a small river which leads to the ocean. I really felt like I was in the quintessential English countryside, because I was in the quintessential English countryside.


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[spiritofmusic]

Dave, that's a thing.
Unfortunately Ra is not one to sit down at all to listen to music, she's one to listen when reading or cooking etc.
Combine not wanting to impose on her, and 3 destructive cats w cables, tubes, stylus in a main space, and that's a recipe for one unhappy GF and user anxiety from me.
Second, the space at 35x30x20, actual listening area 27x22x20 w alcoves, open stairs and landing, mezzanine to one side, would likely prove v challenging needing a fortune in acoustic panels, and this would have ended up spoiling the aesthetic.
Third, I actually like having the main space just for me, Ra, the cats, guests. Making it an audio space would have meant compromising too much on our domestic furniture layout, esp eliminating our big family dining table that can seat 18.
Fourth, I believe the space in the attic is better than what I could ever have achieved in the main space, so what looks like a compromise is in fact the opposite.
But Hell, a big set of horns or Apogee Full Ranges could have fitted in no problem.
An interesting "what if?".

 

[analyzer]

Nice report, super cool and gorgeous house.
hope that also sound quality will follow the same level!!
my best
Marco

 

[Tango]

Very cool Citroen you have there.

Tang

 

[spiritofmusic]

The Citroen engineers were amongst the very best of European post-WW2 hothouse engineering houses.
A decade of genius and real world application created the unique oleo-pneumatic hydraulic system to power suspension, steering, brakes, gear change.
Six decades on, it's been refined and made bulletproof by Rolls Royce, but it's still highly effective in my 1968 model.
There is nothing like cruising on the "magic carpet ride" either bombing down A roads and motorways (I do 400 miles a week in Ruby), snaking around local country roads, or ambling in town.
It's not too much of a stretch to compare this hydraulic suspension to some of our best air suspended tts like the AFs or AS2000.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Our sofas are fantastic.
Old School craftsmanship w build quality that will outlast us.
Highly recommended.
www.oldbootsofas.com
We have a couple of Graduate models.

 

[853guy]

I'd just like to say how proud I am to be associated with a forum in which one of our members has not only assembled a fine system in a beautiful historical building, but uses it to prominently display and play the original soundtrack to Michael Bay's second-ever feature film The Rock, pairing Nicholas Cage as the FBI's top chemical weapons specialist with Sean Connery as a former SAS captain and the only person to escape Alcatraz to stop Ed Harris' rogue US Marines VXing San Francisco in the name of military compensation, because plausibility is just way overrated.

Well done, Spirit. May mid-range palpability and mid-bass slam be yours in abundance.

Best,

853guy

 

[spiritofmusic]

853, spot on LOL.
"The Rock" is positively Skakespeare compared to dross like Transformers 3 Dark Of The Moon.
I'd love Bay to have made Dunkirk and show he'd learned the lessons of Pearl Harbour.
Btw, that was a Laser Disc, of which I still watch many on a mid 90s Planetarium grade CRT PJ.
Old can still be good.
---
How's your property search coming along if you don't mind me asking?
You need the house to put around the Aries Cerat.

 

[XCop5089]

Congratulations on your new home and listening space Marc.

Good to see you're still using the GIK panels you bought from me. I'm glad they work well for you!

Fascinating system and great pictures and write-up from Ron.

Steve

 

[853guy]

853, spot on LOL.
"The Rock" is positively Skakespeare compared to dross like Transformers 3 Dark Of The Moon.
I'd love Bay to have made Dunkirk and show he'd learned the lessons of Pearl Harbour.
Btw, that was a Laser Disc, of which I still watch many on a mid 90s Planetarium grade CRT PJ.
Old can still be good.
---
How's your property search coming along if you don't mind me asking?
You need the house to put around the Aries Cerat.

Did you just type the words Laser Disc in 2017? They sure don't make them like that anymore.

Secret Bay admirer myself, and there's no one in cinema who does a 360 degree low-angle spinning shot with the actor rising up into frame quite like he does.

Won't attempt to divert attention away from what makes this thread so special, so will send you a PM.

853guy

 

[caliaripaolo]

I enjoyed reading how you have described the surrounding environment and the beautiful pictures of the system, Ron.
Congratulations on your beautiful home, the charming girlfriend and your beautiful system, Marc.

Paolo

 

[MadFloyd]

Wow, what a beautiful setting for a blissful existence - congrats, Marc!

I also noticed the laser discs. I used to have quite a collection myself but eventually had to part with it all for space reasons (and of course I replaced everything with DVD, then Blu-ray, working on UHD now, lol).

 

[JackD201]

I've never been to the UK. Now I want to!