I’m blessed with three audio setups at home. There’s the main rig in the basement, my 1959 Bluetooth speaker in the office, and a third system that has gone through some changes as it moved from the living room, where it was seldom used, to the newly renovated upstairs den.
The speaker cabinets and credenza are Heathkit AE-30 and AE-20. The AE-30 cabs are heavily beefed-up internally, and house an adaptation of Jeff Bagby’s Zephyr design with Eminence Definimax woofers, DE250 clone compression drivers, and DIYSG SEOS-12 waveguides. I built them over a decade ago with my dad, and will probably never part with them, despite that I wish they were a little taller and SE-friendly.
Inside the AE-20, there’s a Panasonic DVD-A320 being used as a CD Transport, and a Rotel RB-1050 power amp that turns on and off remotely via 12V trigger.
Topside, the Samsung Ultra HD Blu-Ray player is connected to the TV, and both feed the stereo through the HDMI ARC.
The most recent arrival is the WiiM Ultra, here serving as preamp, DAC, streamer, and Bluetooth receiver. I’m really pleased with it. Spousal-approval is important in this system, and the Ultra gets there by being as close to seamless as any piece of gear I’ve owned. It requires nothing to watch TV/Roku/DVD/BR/UHDBR over the stereo other than the remotes my wife is already comfortable using. She doesn’t even have to so much as turn anything else on or switch an audio input. Huge advantages, there.
This isn’t the best these speakers have ever sounded. Placement and room acoustics are always going to be a problem here, but I’m looking forward to playing with the Ultra’s EQ and auditioning other power amps. I’d be most excited to try 15+wpc tubes, but I think something better-sounding with a 12V trigger or that can be left on will win here. Wire and cables are whatever I had laying around, and could likely be improved upon.
This system will be getting a fancier CD transport the next time I have the credenza pulled out, and I’ll be installing a shelf for my Technics SL-1600, which has been on reserve duty.
The speaker cabinets and credenza are Heathkit AE-30 and AE-20. The AE-30 cabs are heavily beefed-up internally, and house an adaptation of Jeff Bagby’s Zephyr design with Eminence Definimax woofers, DE250 clone compression drivers, and DIYSG SEOS-12 waveguides. I built them over a decade ago with my dad, and will probably never part with them, despite that I wish they were a little taller and SE-friendly.
Inside the AE-20, there’s a Panasonic DVD-A320 being used as a CD Transport, and a Rotel RB-1050 power amp that turns on and off remotely via 12V trigger.
Topside, the Samsung Ultra HD Blu-Ray player is connected to the TV, and both feed the stereo through the HDMI ARC.
The most recent arrival is the WiiM Ultra, here serving as preamp, DAC, streamer, and Bluetooth receiver. I’m really pleased with it. Spousal-approval is important in this system, and the Ultra gets there by being as close to seamless as any piece of gear I’ve owned. It requires nothing to watch TV/Roku/DVD/BR/UHDBR over the stereo other than the remotes my wife is already comfortable using. She doesn’t even have to so much as turn anything else on or switch an audio input. Huge advantages, there.
This isn’t the best these speakers have ever sounded. Placement and room acoustics are always going to be a problem here, but I’m looking forward to playing with the Ultra’s EQ and auditioning other power amps. I’d be most excited to try 15+wpc tubes, but I think something better-sounding with a 12V trigger or that can be left on will win here. Wire and cables are whatever I had laying around, and could likely be improved upon.
This system will be getting a fancier CD transport the next time I have the credenza pulled out, and I’ll be installing a shelf for my Technics SL-1600, which has been on reserve duty.
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