My first Stereo Audio System

[rsjaurr]

Hi
I will go straight to listing my stuff as I rarely get this much time as I have today evening. I will go in chronological order based on date of buy.

1. Rega RP1 TT with performance pack along with Rega Phono mini and Nagaoka cartridge. TT is still in box ever since I bought it in July 18 from FM drkrack. Playing vinyls on TT requires lot of time and lack of this was the primary reason he put it up for sale. I also bought close to 200 Vinyls which are in same three different places ever since I put them there since purchase.

2. Focal Electra 1038 BE towers were bought from FM Audiohunt in almost new condition. Very happy with the speakers the way these sound and look.

3. Parasound Halo A21 amplifier too was bought from FM Audiohunt in very good condition. This amp has been replaced with monoblocks and have been listed for sale. This is a real powerhouse amp with power output 450W @4ohm. I was extremely happy with this amp till I saw someone selling monoblocks which i like to keep for atleast next 20years.

No 2 and 3 were bought in November 2018 but only started using these when Adagio was bought.

4. Metrum Acoustics Adagio DAC with volume control function bought in Dec 2018 from Sunder who represents Metrum in India. It was a toss up between Adagio and Denafrips Terminator but went with former due their presence in India and excellent reviews. Extremely happy with this purchase as I love the sound signature of Adagio which is little warm, smooth and very free flowing music you can listen for extended period.

This above set up was my system for two months till end of last month when I added preamp and monoblocks.

5. EAR 868L preamp was bought from our new FM Shehzad (aka onemanarmy) along with monoblocks and lots of freebies. It brought the sound to little more towards neutral with slight more detail. I liked it but my 12 year old son did not like the addition of preamp. He actually preferred the sound of Adagio alone. He would also help me later between two USB cables. This was not surprising to me honestly as Metrum claims that addition of volume control function does not degrade the overall SQ of their DACs which can happens with other DACs with volume control function.

6. Threshold SA-1 monoblocks were bought from Shehzad along with preamp and probably is my best purchase with Adagio and towers very close joint second. I wanted to buy preamp only to use as source switcher between DAC, TT or any other source but when I found that he was also selling these beasts I just went for it. He gave me quite a few freebies as well to make the deal sweeter. Shehzad is very nice person to deal with and is always there to help you out. These monoblocs offered entirely different sound signatures and now music was even more fluidic, sweeter, and relaxing. Now Bass has little better thump and midrange was too improved. I did not feel much improvement in higher frequencies.

7. Cables are from different brands and were mostly bought from audiogon. Currently I am using Seven Plus American series power cables to feed monoblocks, MIT RCA ICs from preamp to monoblocks, Cardas XLR from DAC to preamp, Furutech power cable to feed DAC, stock power cable of Parasound for preamp, Transparent Audio Musicwave speaker wires and Anticables USB cable. Here again I was able to notice the difference between stock USB cable and Anticables USB cable. My son too preferred the SQ of upgraded USB cable in a bind test. BTW I also noticed the improvement in sound when I upgraded speaker cables from Amazon basic subwoofer cables.

8. Source is my old laptop and audio playback software is Foobar with few tweaks. I know this is laughable and not a justice to rest of stuff but right now I am bit confused about the source. I also bought Antipodes DX2 server but that day my bank just refused to allow that much transfer. I nrequested the seller to divide the payment in 3-4 parts which he did not do and I could not make this purchase. I plan to but either Aurender, Aries G2, Lumin U1, Innuos Zenith mk3 or make an audiophile server myself which will be very time consuming and difficult with my limited knowledge.

9.Rack is DIY stuff made by using T slot aluminium extrusion profiles purchased from universal system listed on Indiamart. Their guy Dev was very helpful and listened to me for hours.

10. 5kVa power conditioner and stabilizer are custom made. I needed this combo as power supply sometimes becomes very erratic.

11. Extension board is also custom made by me using Havells Crabtree 15A universal sockets and connect to stabilizer with Havells 6 sq wire. This will be upgraded to PS audio and Pangea AC outelts bought from amazon.

Right now I am enjoying my setup very much but not only I need better source but also a dedicated room. Our house is decent size (4500 sq feet) but I have only a corner of a big room for my stereo setup. This room is multipurpose and is being used for 3-4 purposes. Hopefully within next couple of years my setup will have its own dedicated room.

 

[amitk777]

Quite a system, for a first one. Congratulations.

 

[soundbuff]

Indeed! Some starter system this...

 

[tuff]

Congratulations. We like pictures.

 

[audiocrazy]

Cong's bro for your excellent set up as a beginner .. It must be quite challenging for you to find each components matching according to your music taste.. I must say you have done excellent research work in finding these awesome gear.
Best of luck for your audio journey

 

[audiocrazy]

Could u give review of focal Electra.. Which type of music suits these speakers.. Are they good for listening trance and electronic music..

 

[mshifi]

Hi
I will go straight to listing my stuff as I rarely get this much time as I have today evening. I will go in chronological order based on date of buy.

1. Rega RP1 TT with performance pack along with Rega Phono mini and Nagaoka cartridge. TT is still in box ever since I bought it in July 18 from FM drkrack. Playing vinyls on TT requires lot of time and lack of this was the primary reason he put it up for sale. I also bought close to 200 Vinyls which are in same three different places ever since I put them there since purchase.

2. Focal Electra 1038 BE towers were bought from FM Audiohunt in almost new condition. Very happy with the speakers the way these sound and look.

3. Parasound Halo A21 amplifier too was bought from FM Audiohunt in very good condition. This amp has been replaced with monoblocks and have been listed for sale. This is a real powerhouse amp with power output 450W @4ohm. I was extremely happy with this amp till I saw someone selling monoblocks which i like to keep for atleast next 20years.

No 2 and 3 were bought in November 2018 but only started using these when Adagio was bought.

4. Metrum Acoustics Adagio DAC with volume control function bought in Dec 2018 from Sunder who represents Metrum in India. It was a toss up between Adagio and Denafrips Terminator but went with former due their presence in India and excellent reviews. Extremely happy with this purchase as I love the sound signature of Adagio which is little warm, smooth and very free flowing music you can listen for extended period.

This above set up was my system for two months till end of last month when I added preamp and monoblocks.

5. EAR 868L preamp was bought from our new FM Shehzad (aka onemanarmy) along with monoblocks and lots of freebies. It brought the sound to little more towards neutral with slight more detail. I liked it but my 12 year old son did not like the addition of preamp. He actually preferred the sound of Adagio alone. He would also help me later between two USB cables. This was not surprising to me honestly as Metrum claims that addition of volume control function does not degrade the overall SQ of their DACs which can happens with other DACs with volume control function.

6. Threshold SA-1 monoblocks were bought from Shehzad along with preamp and probably is my best purchase with Adagio and towers very close joint second. I wanted to buy preamp only to use as source switcher between DAC, TT or any other source but when I found that he was also selling these beasts I just went for it. He gave me quite a few freebies as well to make the deal sweeter. Shehzad is very nice person to deal with and is always there to help you out. These monoblocs offered entirely different sound signatures and now music was even more fluidic, sweeter, and relaxing. Now Bass has little better thump and midrange was too improved. I did not feel much improvement in higher frequencies.

7. Cables are from different brands and were mostly bought from audiogon. Currently I am using Seven Plus American series power cables to feed monoblocks, MIT RCA ICs from preamp to monoblocks, Cardas XLR from DAC to preamp, Furutech power cable to feed DAC, stock power cable of Parasound for preamp, Transparent Audio Musicwave speaker wires and Anticables USB cable. Here again I was able to notice the difference between stock USB cable and Anticables USB cable. My son too preferred the SQ of upgraded USB cable in a bind test. BTW I also noticed the improvement in sound when I upgraded speaker cables from Amazon basic subwoofer cables.

8. Source is my old laptop and audio playback software is Foobar with few tweaks. I know this is laughable and not a justice to rest of stuff but right now I am bit confused about the source. I also bought Antipodes DX2 server but that day my bank just refused to allow that much transfer. I nrequested the seller to divide the payment in 3-4 parts which he did not do and I could not make this purchase. I plan to but either Aurender, Aries G2, Lumin U1, Innuos Zenith mk3 or make an audiophile server myself which will be very time consuming and difficult with my limited knowledge.

9.Rack is DIY stuff made by using T slot aluminium extrusion profiles purchased from universal system listed on Indiamart. Their guy Dev was very helpful and listened to me for hours.

10. 5kVa power conditioner and stabilizer are custom made. I needed this combo as power supply sometimes becomes very erratic.

11. Extension board is also custom made by me using Havells Crabtree 15A universal sockets and connect to stabilizer with Havells 6 sq wire. This will be upgraded to PS audio and Pangea AC outelts bought from amazon.

Right now I am enjoying my setup very much but not only I need better source but also a dedicated room. Our house is decent size (4500 sq feet) but I have only a corner of a big room for my stereo setup. This room is multipurpose and is being used for 3-4 purposes. Hopefully within next couple of years my setup will have its own dedicated room.

an excellent System put together. You need to improve the source too.

 

[rsjaurr]

Thanks guys for the appreciation.
I have had couple of decent systems in my cars. First one in 2005 was Alpine 9853, JL audio E6450 6-ch amp, Infinty Kappa speakers and Infinty Reference 1040 sub in a sealed box. Wires were by Audison. I used to impress many colleagues and friends the way this system would sound in my car. I still have 9853 and Infinty subs in my closet as my prized possession.
Second was/is 4-way active system and bit too complex which I had to simplify much later. It had a Classic Ipod connected to Helix P DSP via Pure i20. Amplifiers were Zapco 150.4 and Audison LRx 5.1. Ipod and Pure i20 couldn't work in a moving vehicle due to frequent disconnections. Now I use my android phone connected via otg to Helix Hd USB add on card installed in Helix P Six DSP feeding HAT L1pro R2, HAT L3pro and Exodus Anarchy woofers.
The 5th channel of Audison is powering Morel Ultimo 12" sub (non SC version) in a sealed box. Zapco was sold long time ago along with Helix P DSP and replaced with Helix P6 DSP.
But for the last two years my drive per day is only about 15-20 minutes/day so I decided to buy a system for home and sell this car audio system which i will put up for sale some day. I also needed something which sound better/different so had to buy something better than Marantz, CA, NAD etc. So I started looking for my stuff from 2018 onward and here I am now. Still I need a better room and ofcourse much better source. I have controlled my temptation to spend money on half good source and one day I just might go for Aurender N10, Antipodes or Innnuos server.

@audiocrazy - Good speakers should be able to reproduce any kind of music very well as better quality components are used. 1038 has excellent sound stage. When I am standing 1 foot away from my laptop and speakers are on sides approx 3.5 feet away the vocals still appears to come from laptop. I have demonstrated this to few of my friends with their eyes closed and they were impressed. I was also afraid that Focals might sound little bright but I was so wrong. Highs are crisp mids are very prominent and for low base you won't feel the need for separate subwoofer. As I wrote earlier Focals are my second joint best purchase along with Adagio after the table topper monoblocks.

Posting few pics below but honestly pics won't do much justice here as placement is as imperfect as it can be.

 

[soundbuff]

Someday, when you have time, may be you could make a sketch of your room with dimensions and location of furnishings etc. and share it. Many of us have to work with limited space, and with experimenting and suggestions things ought to get better.
For starters, is it possible to get the rack away from the middle of the speakers. This might give more space to the speakers. If this is a problem, think of taking the sources away and the mono-blocks on the ground next to the speakers. This too would give the speakers room for breathing.
Again is your room a rectangle or squarish? If the former it might be worth locating the speakers on the longer axis.
You do have a outstanding system, and it deserves a careful set up.

 

[rsjaurr]

Our house is very old built in late 80's as you can see. This room has a custom built huge multimedia cabinet which has 40" TV, BDP and many CDs, DVDs, and BDs apart from quite a few other electronic stuff. Initially I wanted to use sides of this huge cabinet for towers but there is no space not just for towers but also amps, DAC and Preamp.

This is the only space available here in this room which also has a dining table, huge multimedia cabinet with TV and BDP and 4+3+3+1+1 seater sofa . And only 6'x6' space is without anything for my young son to turn back is cycle and a door to enter my small study room.

Even if I move that left speaker one foot this is going to obstruct the door for visiting guests. As I said earlier this setup will have dedicated room with all you mentioned arrangement and 1-2 recliner. It will also have a mini bar on the side and after every touch on the "Next" song my mouth will taste a bitter liquid form something which is labelled black

 

[tuff]

Near field listening is the best experience.

 

[soundbuff]

I personally have never had a dedicated listening room. IMHO a dedicated space is a little a-social. Your son should listen to the music you hear. My children have learnt to love the music I enjoy because it was part of the normal listening space. Having said that however I have always separated the TV/AV from the stereo set up and have banished the TV to the bedroom.
My guess also is that the sofa set is taking a lot of space, Is it possible to split the sofas in some way that the room furniture distribution becomes more balanced. You really do need to try and play around with speakers and the furniture so as to keep the electronics at a distance from them Also do you really need a multi media cabinet. Can it not be relocated to a bedroom or study. It just takes a carpenter half a day's work.
I actually like the idea of having your music system in the living room which has dining space too. It is a socially central space in the home. Let the music also live there.

 

[rsjaurr]

I personally have never had a dedicated listening room. IMHO a dedicated space is a little a-social. Your son should listen to the music you hear. My children have learnt to love the music I enjoy because it was part of the normal listening space. Having said that however I have always separated the TV/AV from the stereo set up and have banished the TV to the bedroom.
My guess also is that the sofa set is taking a lot of space, Is it possible to split the sofas in some way that the room furniture distribution becomes more balanced. You really do need to try and play around with speakers and the furniture so as to keep the electronics at a distance from them Also do you really need a multi media cabinet. Can it not be relocated to a bedroom or study. It just takes a carpenter half a day's work.
I actually like the idea of having your music system in the living room which has dining space too. It is a socially central space in the home. Let the music also live there.

Well after more than a year after your post is so true what I'm begin to settle with.
In-between I bought a LG C9, built a new cabinet and also have a 5.1.2 HT setup with marantz 6013. This is at one end of long living room which is becoming like a true living room after i installed a 2.2 ton ac.

After a brief period in winters when I had my HT setup and stereo system at one place it was too crowded so I took it back to other end of same room.

And as you said about kids, my both sons especially the older one are spending more time with stereo system. He is 13 and is beginning to understand the nuances of music.

In the meantime I have added a custom made computer transport with apl 4.0, Marantz SA10 and nakamichi 660zx cassette place to my system and have also modified the same rack.

Edit- This problem took me six months to solve and find the cause.There was some distortion from both speakers while playing or not which was found due to faulty speaker cable.