wgb113

I had a Planet 2000 that was just too un-involving with rock music. Swapped it out for an Arcam 73T and was happier. Curious to read some more reviews on this DAC though. Bill

Deleted. Bill

Survivor

I've been enjoying the Valhalla with my 701s. It's my first run-in with a tube product and it's not as different a sound as I thought...not necessarily a bad thing IMO. Bill

Good choice...maybe...takes big ones to order sound unheard. Let us know what you think.

Cordies anyone? quirky | Cordies Cable Management

These guys have some cool ideas and nice designs for such an unexciting topic. Bluelounge

The burn in and cable conversations drag this hobby into loony-toon land...

After chatting with Jason I'm going to preorder the Valhalla as well. My first experience with tubes! Bill

What to do next? Asgard: $250 Valhalla: $350 Matching DAC: $300 A sweet setup in either flavor for $550-$650. Bill

They have USB but it's only for printers. They also have optical out...which is what I would use...

I'll be ordering one as well for a bedroom system. They're a breath of fresh air in this hobby...and American made to boot! Now for a DAC to put between my Airport Express and the Asgard...

I have a very low level hiss to mine as well but it's there regardless of their gain settings and only noticeable if I'm right next to the speaker. I have them connected to my iMac via optical and my Benchmark via balanced. I usually just set their volume to the midpoint indent and use the Benchmark's volume from there. I definitely don't notice it when playing music and I'm not that concerned really as they sound fine when playing music at all levels. Bill

They do seem big at first but you get used to them.

Dang! You'll be happy though so it's alright! Lanemart's who I got my cherry pair from about a month ago. Bill

I might grab those 12Ls in Rosewood...they'd look nice in the bedroom.

I'd be down wit dat!

There's a nice piano black pair on AudioGon at the moment.

I've got a Michael Greene room pack in storage from my old dedicated theater room. I'll have to get them out and see. I like the GIK products too. Has anyone measured the differences at the listening position to get a before and after snapshot of what they actually did? When I go through with this I plan on using the treatments in conjunction with a Behringer DEQ2496 plus mic. Bill

The speakers are @ 4' apart and I'm about 4' from the plane of the speakers. I would think that treatment (absorption) on the wall behind them would yield the biggest benefit but aardvark's had good results with diffusion. Bill

Does a nearfield setup change the game at all? Once our basement is finished and the toys move downstairs I'd like to make a special dedicated listening room in the office. It will be a nearfield setup so I'm curious is acoustic treatments would have as big an impact. Bill

I'm using a Poang now but once my room is dedicated to music listening I'll be moving in the Ekornes Orion Stressless in Classic Desert/Wenge. Bill

Thanks everyone. To answer some questions: 1) Yes, the stands are DIY. A lot of people with desktop computer setups seem to go for the Ikea Lack shelf + Capita leg combo. My local Ikea was out of Lack shelves in both black and white (only had red) so I picked up the legs, swung by Home Depot and grabbed a 24" x 12" x 3/4" piece of oak and stained it to match the desk (wenge). At the time my heart was set on those Dynaudios. 2) I like the Benchmark. My goal with this computer-based setup was Keep It Simple and for it to sound revealing. I have always had a thing for headphones and I wanted some new ones. I also wanted an outboard DAC and a pair of active speakers. At the time I had a Cambridge Audio DacMagic in my HT setup connected between my AppleTV and Rotel Pre/Pro. That combo sounded better to me than the Arcam CD73 it replaced. When I got the itch to build a more serious 2-ch setup in the office, I got that headphone itch at the same time. I could have kept the DacMagic and bought a headphone amp but again, I wanted to keep it simple. I sold it off for $200 and a pair of Sennheiser 580s that I converted to 600s. I picked up the Benchmark DAC1 USB used on AudioGon as well. To me it sounds as nice as the DacMagic did and the headphone amp makes a noticeable improvement over every other headphone jack I have at my disposal (all standard). I picked up the AKGs shortly after and lastly the Quads. I'm REALLY enjoying this setup at the moment. It leans to the analytical side for sure but that's what I wanted out of it. I'm debating between treating the room with DIY treatments combined with the Behringer DEQ2496. The latter is an interesting piece that would keep me entertained for a while. Bill

First post...just wanted to say hello. I picked a paid of 12L actives up used about a month ago and have been very pleased. I realize most of you are fans of their electrostatics but wanted to show their other speakers some love. This is my first pair of active speakers and I'm very happy with the results. After watching for some Dynaudio BM6AmkII on eBay for months I came across these on AudioGon and bit the bullet. They remind me of my first god pair of speakers, NHT SuperOnes, in the imaging and midrange department, with a more weighty low-end and cleaner highs. Since taking these pictures I've added a pair of Auralex SpeakerDudes which did make a slight improvement, and helped by angling them down slightly. For serious listening I pull them out to the front edge of the desk and use a much more comfy chair.