Current state of my 'small' setup.

[MWalt]

Love your small set up. Love small set ups. Have a small set up of my own. Oh, and the good idea fairy just stopped in and said that maybe the Haven would be even more cool if it had a "small set up" forum.

 

[JohnVF]

Love your small set up. Love small set ups. Have a small set up of my own. Oh, and the good idea fairy just stopped in and said that maybe the Haven would be even more cool if it had a "small set up" forum.

Not a bad idea.

I have small, medium, and large setups but mostly I listen. to this one...because I like the vibe of the room best. And the system is also the easiest to deal with, being an integrated amp with the turntable actually using the phono stage in the integrated.

 

[MWalt]

I don't have a large room set up, but I do have a medium room and a small room set up. My best and most expensive gear is in the bigger room, but I have had my best and most intimate listening experiences in the smaller room in a more nearfield environment.

 

[JohnVF]

I don't have a large room set up, but I do have a medium room and a small room set up. My best and most expensive gear is in the bigger room, but I have had my best and most intimate listening experiences in the smaller room in a more nearfield environment.

Same here. I also use this smaller setup more casually, less "critical listening"...so it'll take me by surprise and just grab me sometimes with how well it does what it does. I'm often in here with the reel to reel sitting in the floor making mix-tapes like I'm a teenager again.

 

[je2a3]

View attachment 66054Here’s where you sit.

To be honest I’m surprised anything sounds good in a smallish room with huge windows on three walls but it actually is a very nice sounding setup.

I love that day bed! 👏

Is it a Nelson?

 

[JohnVF]

I love that day bed! 👏

Is it a Nelson?

It is. There's a Nelson Lamp (hanging in the corner), coffee table, and daybed. Oh and another lamp, a reissue of the Half Moon lamp by the turntable. Though they're Modernica... I wanted darker wood and Modernica makes them in walnut instead of the original which I think is maple? Most things in here are from the Case Study program except a mod Overman Pod side chair which is out of frame in most of the photos.

 

[Rudy]

Nelson lamp and furniture...preamp by Nelson Pass in the other room...a few albums with Nelson Riddle on them...

You live in the House of Nelson?

 

[JohnVF]

Nelson lamp and furniture...preamp by Nelson Pass in the other room...a few albums with Nelson Riddle on them...

You live in the House of Nelson?

I do! And there’s a huge overhead Nelson bubble lamp waiting in a box to be installed in the living room AND…the best part… we got this condo in a bidding war by giving the previous owners my old George Nelson hi-fi cabinet (they also collected MCM).

 

[pvillemasher]

View attachment 66054Here’s where you sit.

To be honest I’m surprised anything sounds good in a smallish room with huge windows on three walls but it actually is a very nice sounding setup.

Maybe the atmosphere in that room has something do do with that

 

[JohnVF]

Maybe the atmosphere in that room has something do do with that

It certainly helps. I’m sitting here this morning during a light rain, listening to early ‘40s Sinatra on vinyl Lp. I can’t imagine it being any more calming, with the rain on 3 sides and trees blowing outside. Still, the room is really not that bad for sound. Despite the windows I think all the varying soft materials, the shades, the fact that it’s not one large window but many, and how high the ceiling is, help. Plus I’m using relatively small speakers.

 

[Jcris]

Early 40’s Sinatra,
What a great way to start your day

 

[JohnVF]

Early 40’s Sinatra,
What a great way to start your day

Not only listening, but reading. Though the Sinatra in question in the book is ‘65 Sinatra…I highly recommend this book to anybody with an interest in mid-century culture, not just Sinatra. It’s a book about a magazine article about an artist who never shows up for an interview. Editorial writing was so interesting back then.

 

[Audionut]

View attachment 67621View attachment 67622
Not only listening, but reading. Though the Sinatra in question in the book is ‘65 Sinatra…I highly recommend this book to anybody with an interest in mid-century culture, not just Sinatra. It’s a book about a magazine article about an artist who never shows up for an interview. Editorial writing was so interesting back then.

Now if you had the documentary playing in the background, you’d have the trifecta! I remember staying at the boulders resort one winter and the docu’ was playing, while the fireplace was on. Not sure if it was the atmosphere but it all went together nicely and made for a good showing.
Very interesting man.

 

[JohnVF]

Now if you had the documentary playing in the background, you’d have the trifecta! I remember staying at the boulders resort one winter and the docu’ was playing, while the fireplace was on. Not sure if it was the atmosphere but it all went together nicely and made for a good showing.
Very interesting man.

I hung out with the remnants of his last group of friends at a classy old bar in Palm Springs one weird evening in my twenties, by pure chance, twenty years ago. It gave me a fascination for him (and Palm Springs, which I’m returning to next week). There’s just a vibe that works for me, with that world. I wish I could live out there.

 

[Thermionics]

I do! And there’s a huge overhead Nelson bubble lamp waiting in a box to be installed in the living room AND…the best part… we got this condo in a bidding war by giving the previous owners my old George Nelson hi-fi cabinet (they also collected MCM).

 

[Rudy]

 

[asilker]

I do! And there’s a huge overhead Nelson bubble lamp waiting in a box to be installed in the living room AND…the best part… we got this condo in a bidding war by giving the previous owners my old George Nelson hi-fi cabinet (they also collected MCM).

holy moly, north side bidding wars were so wild the last couple of years. Is that still going on in '23?

 

[JohnVF]

holy moly, north side bidding wars were so wild the last couple of years. Is that still going on in '23?

I’ve heard that the market is still hot for houses, less so for condos. We bought two years ago.

 

[RDSChicago]

Somewhere on here I have a "Behold the treehouse system!" thread about the stereo in my little sunroom. Well, nothing in that setup is still in my sunroom, its been spread out among other stereos here (or in the basement). So I just wanted to jibber jabber a bit about the current state of things.

First, its a difficult room with windows on three sides. It should sound worse than it does, but it does kind of limit me on the scale of things.

Speakers: Dynaudio Special 40. These took a long time to figure out and I didn't like them at first, but now I really dig 'em. They want a lot of power, they want the tweeter to be exactly at ear-height, they like to be decoupled from their stands (they're on little nubby spikes on the stands' top plate), they like a specific placement. High maintenance! But they reward you if you give in.

Amplification: Luxman 507u. I love this thing and can't say enough about it. Would I like the newest version that's like $9000? Sure. But I bought this used a few years ago for a fraction of that and I just can't fault anything about it. I'm even using its internal phono stage which I almost never do, despite having several top-notch phono stages laying around. The only tweak is that I'm running it with a SUT, as I prefer how it sounds with this particular LOMC.

Turntable: Sony TTS-3000 w/PUA-286 tonearm. This is with the larger of the TTS-3000 bases, and the longer of the Sony arms contemporary to it. I bought this on a whim late last year because I always thought the 3000 was one of the prettiest tables. To my surprise the performance keeps up with its looks. Its a fantastic turntable and I haven't felt the need to do anything to it. There's a thick Funk Firm Acromat on it but that's only to get the cart level. The PUA-286 uses a standard SME style connector on the headshell but the Sony headshell is ....odd. If you use a different headshell, you can't get the arm low enough for level VTA. And I needed to use a different headshell because my cart won't fit on the Sony one. So..stack the platter! I think there's also a thin Nagaoka acrylic mat under the Acromat.

Cartridge: Cello (Mark Levinson) Chorale. This is a rebadged Miyabi LOMC cartridge and its incredible. It's big and heavy, though and doesn't like every arm. Its also got a little stubby cantilever that's hard to see and setup. Oh, and it likes to ride a bit tail-high but that's beneficial here (see above with the headshell quirks).

CD Player: Sony CDP-X7ESD. This was one of those "we're going to show off" pieces that the Japanese audio industry gets into now and then. I'll just say I have a bruise on my forearm from carrying it up from the basement the other day with one arm. It weighs more than some of the integrated amps I've had. The balanced output uses actual transformers. Soundwise it makes a pretty good argument that digital really hasn't advanced much, sound-wise, since it was built. I prefer it sonically, on CD, to my 'audiophile darling' EMM Labs CDSAse. Plus it's just classy, and pictures don't do it justice. It was one of the last players before single-bit/bitstream/delta-sigma or whatever. I have a philips TDA-1541/CDM-1 based McIntosh player in the other room and this rivals it sonically...more scale/authority, slightly less 'musical'. Its really awesome, though.

Streaming/DAC: Wiim Pro w/Berkeley Alpha DAC. 1st generation Alpha DAC from Berkeley Audio Designs, affiliated with studio-pros Pacific Microsonics. I'd say its dated by now but I'm using an even older CD player. I'd guess its from about 2005 and recently beat out the "better-measuring" Topping D70 for use in this setup. The Topping will migrate with another Wiim to another system.

Reel to Reel: Pioneer RT-707. Man, I love this thing. Pioneer really went to town with this thing and its just....cool. I play a few pre-recorded tapes but mostly I record high-res streaming audio of things I really want to just keep and play off-line. It's.... again...its just so cool.

And that's it. Oh, the cabinet is from Modernica, an Eames ESU storage unit in walnut, with a Modernica Nelson half-moon lamp and some danish-modern owls keeping watch. Beats me what the speaker stands are, bought them used, but I put some cheap spikes on them from Amazon that are surprisingly well made.

Cheers!

Pictures to follow....

John, does Modernica still make that cabinet? Love it. I didn’t see it on their website.

 

[JohnVF]

John, does Modernica still make that cabinet? Love it. I didn’t see it on their website.

It’s buried in there somewhere. They call it “Case Study Storage” as I believe they lost the license to the Eames name. But it also might be more true to the original Eames Storage Unit dimensions than the current licensed Herman Miller ones? Though you can’t get a “real” one in walnut like I have.

You can design your own which is what I did. It gets pricey though.

Design Your Own - Storage Unit Configurator

Modernica’s Case Study Furniture® Storage Units are fully customizable with drawer options, 37 different fiberglass color panels, 4 wood types, and 3 types of hardware to choose from. Each unit is built to order and is suitable for both the home and office. Use our online configurator to design...

modernica.net