Hoping this system will remain stable for awhile. I've updated most of the interconnects with cleaner, shorter runs of Blue Jeans Cable, added an AirPort Express to stream iTunes, and upgraded from the Sumiko Blue Point No. 2 to the Lyra Dorian. I occasionally fantasize about new speakers, but the Monitor Audios are unlikely to go anywhere soon. There's a chance I may still buy a DAC at some point but I'm pretty happy with everything at the moment. Now if I could just train my cat not to go after the Denon headphone cables, I hardly use them now because I have to hide them away in a drawer.
OLD BUSINESS:
Although I miss the sleek, compact look of my Music Hall integrated and CDP, I was intrigued by the low, low price of the Emotiva separates along with the big (for my living room, anyway) power amp. So far no complaints; this system has sounded better than anything I've owned. I'm probably not going to add a subwoofer, but I'd like to add a Squeezebox Touch (instead of AirTunes), as well as an X-DACv3. I've also been lusting after the Michell Gyro SE, but that's going to have to be a long, long-term (if not outright unattainable) goal.
OLDER BUSINESS:
This system spawned from my home theater when I bought a house in Fall 2008. The Music Hall CD player really surprised me and has been making me rethink my turntable setup quite a bit (the cost difference between the two is huge and I've been impressed by the CD player). I'm looking at cartridges in the $200-500 range, especially the Dynavector 10x5, Grado Platinum, and Clearaudio Aurum Beta. I've been working as best I can to optimize set-up in hopes of putting that cartridge purchase off for awhile, though. Also looking at the Pro-Ject Speed Box SE II, but that's a big investment when my TT speed is only .1% off according to the KAB Speedstrobe I recently purchased. Also vaguely considering cable upgrades (using a mishmash of generic, Acoustic Research, and one Monster currently) but that's a game I'm hoping to stay out of. I hope to add a record cleaner and maybe some nice headphones with a used Musical Fidelity X-CANv3. Less important to me is a DAC for an iPod or my laptop, thinking about getting AirTunes to stream wirelessly. Finally (?) a Pro-Ject tuner box or the Music Hall T25.2 that goes with my integrated and CD player. It's a full-time hobby (another word for that might be "obsession").
Ported 2 1/2 way design with one 6½-inch C-CAM (Ceramic Coated Aluminum Magnesium) woofer, a 6½-inch C-CAM midrange driver, and a 1-inch C-CAM gold dome tweeter. Stereophile Class B recommended component.
Project Audio 2 Xperience
Acrylic plinth, MDF platter with vinyl playing surface, Stainless-steel axle runs on a Teflon bearing plate in a sintered bronze bearing housing, AC synchronous motor decoupled to reduce vibration, straight 9 carbon-fiber tonearm features a fixed aluminum headshell with high-grade copper wiring, inverted hardened Swiss-made stainless-steel bearings, and silicone-damped armlift, Sorbothane-damped aluminium cone feet.
Musical Fidelity X-LPS v3
MM and MC phono preamp. Former Stereophile Class B recommended component.
Musical Fidelity X-10v3
Tube buffer between phono stage and receiver. Former Stereophile Class A component.
Vibrapod Isolator Model 1
I have eight of these under a 1/2" slab of MDF supporting the turntable, with 1/16" thick cork (adhesive backing) stuck to the underside of the vibrapods.
Music Direct MD-150
LP rack with maple shelves and silver poles, makes a handy equipment rack with space for LPs I'm currently listening to.
Calabrine Quadio Ultra Bi-Wire
10 gauge copper, locking banana plugs.
Sony XDRF1HD
HD Radio tuner
Signal Cable Silver Tonearm Phono
3 ft. 24awg 5N Silver/Copper Alloy strands RCA to RCA plus ground.
Emotiva ERC-1
Channel separation: >95dB - ref. 1kHz; S/N: >100dB (A weighted); THD: >0.01% (0dB 1KHz); Playback formats: Red book CD, HDCD, MP3; Digital Output Filter: 24-Bit, 384 times oversampling (Analog Devices 1955)
Emotiva USP-1
Stereo analog preamplifier
Emotiva UPA-2
Two Channel Audio Power Amplifier 125 watts RMS x 2 into 8 ohms, 185 watts RMS x 2 into 4 ohms.
Belkin PureAV PF31 (AP21100-12)
11 surge-protected outlets; 5605 Joules ; Advanced over-voltage protection ; Level 4 power protection ; 285,000-amp maximum spike current ; UL 1449-rated ; Phase 3 PureFilter(TM) circuitry with A/V HiCurrent(TM) filters ; 2 HiCurrent(TM) outlets for high-power amplifiers ; LED status display including input voltage & output current
The Dorian has been treating me well (and I was kind of proud of myself for managing to install it without breaking anything!). I also ended up going with an Apple Airport with the Remote app on my iPhone to stream and it's been fantastic for DJ-ing on the fly. The "Genius" function totally sucks, though, at least with my music collection.
Just experimented a bit with adding a subwoofer (an Emotiva 10" sealed unit) but I think I'm going to stick with the unadorned Monitor Audios. I had lugged my home theater sub to try in this system once (the SVS SB12+) and thought it was basically fun but unncessary. I still feel the same with the smaller, cheaper Emotiva sub. Although at times the added weight was enjoyable, it was a bit tuneless on a hip-hop track by Blackalicious, and I found that the music I listen to most often doesn't have a lot of super deep bass. I would've kept it but there's too many other things I'd get more use out of this summer, like a new camera.
Thanks for getting back to me, and I'm glad to hear the issue with the ERC-1 was resolved. I looked at the forums at Emotiva and a few others had some problems loading or unloading CD's. I was wondering about the other equipment from them. When I purchased my gear I started with the Amp. I wasn't aware of Emotiva at that time. I got a BADA DC-222 Integrated I really like it with the ERC-1 which I also have running thru a Tube Buffer. Sounds like magic.
Cool looking setup! I have been curious about that MF DAC you have. Beautiful TT. I really like the rack too. Iyou might want to think about skipping the squeezebox if you have a large library. I had a duet and had many problems with my 16,000 song library. after a couple of months, it would only load like 2000 songs, all randomly and stop. I also had sound outages all the time. Now I use an apple tv and air tunes and have no probs. I keep my hard drive with all my music connected to an airport extreme.
The ERC-1 failed about a year and change after I got it. The first time I got it back from repairs it stopped working again within a week. They handled it very well for me, though, and since the second repair it's been operating just fine. Soundwise, I've done some A/B-ing of a bunch of disc players in the $0-$1000 range and I find it exhausting and not particularly rewarding. That said, I've been quite happy with the sound of the ERC-1. I think generally you get better quality from a decent dedicated CD player than a DVD/universal player when playing CDs, which make up the bulk of my music collection. I haven't heard any of the commonly recommended CDPs like the Regas, but the difference between the Music Hall CD25.2 ($699 before it was replaced by the 25.2) and the ($319 when I bought it on sale) ERC-1 was negligible, at least in my system to my ears. I'm starting to have doubts about the "transparency" of the Emotiva system, but I like the way it sounds, a lot, and don't feel any need to change or upgrade (my interest in getting an outboard DAC has waned quite a bit).
Hi Roytex, I noticed you are having problems with your Emotiva ECR-1 How did you come out with that? I own one also I've had it since September. It's been flawless. I'd like to know what you think about the sound, and hear how the company deals with this situation. How long have you had it? and how long was it before the problem started? Whats your thoughts on the other Emotiva products you have? I look forward to your reply. John
I finally tried the built-in phono stage of the Emotiva USP-1 preamp and was disturbed/impressed by the subtlety of the difference between it and my three-box Musical Fidelity phono pre. I would say the treble was a bit harsher on the USP-1, and it was not as quiet, but considering the MSRP of the Musical Fidelity stuff vs. the USP-1, it's a bit alarming. There was maybe more of an illusion of space and depth with the X-LPS combo as well. These differences were not night-and-day, though, which leads me to believe that one could easily live with the phono stage in the USP-1, especially if one has an entry-to-mid level table. I now have a Bellari VP-129 on a secondary system, too, so when I'm in the mood for more fiddling I'll have to try it out on this system.
The rumor last is $799 (aka $800), but that was in Sept. 2009 so who knows. Recent word from the company is:
"The XSP from the beginning is to be a top notch pre-amp in every regard. The first design was really good, but fell short in a few areas, so we made some changes to certain parts of the system. The next one was even better, but still not up to what I want it to be so we made a few more changes. Bottom line is, it is very close to being the pre-amp everyone is expecting it to be and once it gets there, I will cut it loose for full production. I know a lot of you have been patiently waiting and when it is released, it will be worth the wait. So I can't give you a release date yet, I got the latest sample in just before I had to leave town again, so I need to run it through the lab and see if it is there. But I do expect to cut it loose very soon. So just hang in there a little longer, it is coming."
AirTunes: first, I've had a bunch of irritating issues with Apple lately, after a good many years of no such problems, so part of it was just a reaction against that, but mostly it's because the Squeezebox does higher-rez digital audio, has ports for USB drives and SD cards, it does Pandora and internet radio...it costs more but it also has much wider functionality and I don't need to have a laptop in the vicinity to control it.
As far as the Emotiva amp, the only other thing I've hooked these speakers up to is the Music Hall A25.2 integrated, so I can't really comment too much, but it seems like a good value (nice big transformer, low price). The binding posts are pretty cheap. In terms of sound I would say that it may have tightened up the bass a bit compared to the A25.2 and possibly smoothed out the treble, possibly to a degree that it's less accurate but more listenable. Hard to say for sure, but I don't have any complaints.
Yeah, I'm frustrated with the player issue but I think it's pretty rare, I haven't seen too many complaints. Hope I get it back soon! I've been surprised by how much I enjoy certain HDCDs on it (I'd never seen much of a point to that format before). I think the balanced outs are a step-up, too, but I've only been able to use those on a friend's system. Kinda hoping to upgrade to the XSP-1, if it ever comes out.
great setup you've got! I have been curious about Emotiva products for a while now. that's a shame about the player... what are your thoughts on the amp?
also, why are you abandoning AirTunes? an Apple TV is next up on my audio upgrades... I'm curious to hear your impressions/experience
So, sadly, my Emotiva ERC-1 has had problems ejecting CDs. Sent it back for warranty repair and it still didn't work. Waiting on a second attempt. In the meantime, I set up my old Denon 2900, which I thought would be fun anyway as it plays SACDs and I haven't listened to any hi-rez stuff on this set-up. Sadly, I heard almost no difference when switching between layers. I'm wondering if the Emotiva/Montior Audio pairing isn't nearly as transparent as I thought it was, even if I find the sound of it highly pleasurable. When we did some comparisons using my less hi-fi PS3 (via HDMI out), Onkyo AVR, and NHT Classic 3s, the differences between CD and SACD were quite evident, although there's so much digital processing going on there that it's hardly a useful comparison.
Meanwhile, I heard a $750 headphone amp that kinda blew me away (from Avenson Audio), although it worked much better with Denon and Beyer than with AKG. I've barely been using my newish headphone rig so spending that much really isn't in the cards for me, but it's always good to know what's out there.
Ended up keeping the Denons, even though an external amp (albeit an inexpensive one) did not add any bass emphasis. In addition to the Beyerdynamics, I tried out some Shure 840s and Sony XB700 and didn't like anything as much as the Denons. I even tried another pair of D2000s to see if there was a significant difference in the product range. There was some, but it may have been as much due to a difference in break-in between the two as manufacturing variance. Down the line I may try out some Grado 225s, AKG 70x and Senns, but I think I'm done experimenting for awhile.
Bargie, sorry but I haven't really done any serious cable comparisons. My initial reaction in March was that it seemed a tad brighter but possibly more "transparent" in good and bad ways (maybe a little more detail, maybe a little more surface noise). My CDP has multiple active analog outputs so I'll try to do an A/B one of these days.
Although I have to say the other day I was comparing the Denon D2000 headphones with Beyerdynamic DT770/32 and was impressed at how quiet my turntable chain seemed to be. There were some clicks from dust but mostly I could just hear music, which was fantastic. Listening to an LP by the Timeless All-Stars I heard this really interesting echo on Harold Land's tenor sax. Neither set of cans is as obscenely bass-heavy as I'd heard they're supposed to be which makes me suspect the headphone output of my USP-1. Trying to decide if I should audition more headphones or just focus on matching them with an amp. The midrange is stronger on the DT770s while the D2000 handles lows and highs better. I react more positively to the Denons but also wonder if it wouldn't be good for me to listen to something more midrangey for a change, since the Denons sound somewhat like my speakers.
How do you like your Signal Cable Silver Phono cable? Did you notice a difference compared to your old cable? I recently purchased a Music Hall MMF-5.1 TT and I'm looking to upgrade the phono cable(s). I've also got a SimAudio LP3 Phono pre-amp so I'm thinking Silver Phono from the TT and Silver Resolution to the amp. All my cables are from Signal and I've been very happy with them; Frank is great to deal with. Believe it or not I noticed a difference with their MagicPower Power Cord on my Arcam CD player (I thought I was wasting my money). I see Signal has 2 ft. length of each cable for $79. You'd be hard pressed to find silver cables anywhere for that price. Any info you can provide on your Silver would be appreciated.
So, I'm a little baffled. Got a pair of Denon AH-D2000, which from most accounts are pretty heavy on the bass, and even these seem too bass-light for me via the USP-1 headphone out. I know I'm capable of hearing low frequencies because I get them out of my SVS sub, and there's a big spike around 50Hz in my Monitor Audio RS6s, and I also don't think I'm a total bass freak. I am just not hearing a lot of weight or punch in the Denons.
I tried them in my AVR and a cheap little all-in-one system and I *can* say the USP-1 output sounds better, clearer and with much more detail, but still low in bass. I tried listening to the ERC-1, my turntable, and Sony tuner so I don't think it's a source issue. I'm just baffled. I quick ordered a set of BD DT770 32 ohm to do a comparison, but at this point I'm wondering if I do need to go with an outboard headphone amplifier, or what my problem is. Any suggestions? Is it possible I got a weird "off" pair of Denons?
I'm pretty happy with the rest of the frequency range, the treble is close to my RS6s, which makes me happy, and I can hear pretty insane levels of detail which is definitely a good thing. Plus I like the way they look. I'm just not sure where to go from here.
Very nice looking system. Good luck with the 'phones. For me, it's about comfort as much has anything else. I've tried to switch, but keep coming back to AKGs.
Sorry, I took some photos awhile back but haven't had a chance to get them on the computer yet. Summer is a busy time! Hoping to get on that soon. I also just ordered the Denon AHD2000 headphones which I'm excited to try out. Listened to some Senn 595 and 650s at J&R this summer under less than ideal conditions and decided to go with the Denons since they appear easier to drive (and are obviously cheaper than the 650s). I thought the 650s were a bit uncomfortable, too, making it hard to justify the cost. Haven't had a chance to listen to AKG 701 or 702, but after a lot of reading they didn't sound like they'd be a good match for me. Hoping I'll like the Denons, otherwise it's back to Sennheiser or time to borrow my friend's Beyerdynamics.
Emotiva recommends plugging the power amp directly into the wall, so that's what I'm doing. The Belkin does have dedicated "high current" outlets designed for power amps, but I haven't experimented yet. I've barely had time to listen to music lately, much less tweak. Very sad.
