About to build the most basic high quality 2 channel system from scratch. Video series to follow

[ryanosaur]

I just like WookieGR am starting to put together a system,

Keep in mind, Wookie is not a rookie in this. He has an active YT program, too

 

[Renzi]

Oh, okay sorry, I just joined

 

[ryanosaur]

Oh, okay sorry, I just joined

Dude, you're fine.
You have to be intrepid and find your own way forward. We will gladly help, and asking questions is the best way to do that. You may have a legitimate cause to start a new thread. No biggy, but your needs will be unique to you, as will the issues you need to address and overcome for implementing in your room.
Wookie has some great materiel out there and is worth checking out what he did!

All that said, don't do something just because you saw it on YouTube. There are a lot of people out there that will say a product sounds great and not give any background or proof to their claim. You cannot audition Speaker or electronics over You Tube.
Forums can be a great resource, but you have to be willing to ask questions and learn!

 

[WookieGR]

I've had enough of the research and wanted to just get this over with already. I'm going insane. I bought the Cocktail Audio X45 as a refurb from Hi-Fi Heaven for $2300 shipped and two mono block Nord One NC500MB 500Watt amps from Nord Acoustics for a shipped price of $1353. Any bets there will be power concerns for the BMR Towers now?

I chose the Cocktail Audio X45 because of the great reviews it has received. It has a decent DAC and It's very competitive sound quality wise with the major well known brands according to all the reviews I read/watched, it supports all the formats I need and I can dump my high res audio collection onto a 2TB SSD drive and play the music locally without the need of the server being on or dealing with possible jitter from streaming the files over the network. It has a built in database with album covers and metadata, basically the works. I want all that fancy stuff and it has an HDMI out to the TV duplicating the GUI for easier navigation. I'm spoiled by PLEX and can really appreciate a good menu system.

The Nord amps seem to be good quality and come recommended by forum members. Plus they measure well right? They are more expensive than the monolith 200w I almost bought but Monoprice tacked on significant shipping costs and sales tax brining the total just a couple hundred dollars away from having the Nords shipped in from the UK.

This is done... wish me luck while I go throw up.

 

[WookieGR]

just updated the previous post.

 

[ryanosaur]

I've had enough of the research and wanted to just get this over with already. I'm going insane. I bought the Cocktail Audio X45 as a refurb from Hi-Fi Heaven for $2300 shipped and two mono block Nord One NC500MB 500Watt amps from Nord Acoustics for a shipped price of $1353. Any bets there will be power concerns for the BMR Towers now?

I chose the Cocktail Audio X45 because of the great reviews it has received. It has a decent DAC and It's very competitive sound quality wise with the major well known brands according to all the reviews I read/watched, it supports all the formats I need and I can dump my high res audio collection onto a 2TB SSD drive and play the music locally without the need of the server being on or dealing with possible jitter from streaming the files over the network. It has a built in database with album covers and metadata, basically the works. I want all that fancy stuff and it has an HDMI out to the TV duplicating the GUI for easier navigation. I'm spoiled by PLEX and can really appreciate a good menu system.

The Nord amps seem to be good quality and come recommended by forum members. Plus they measure well right? They are more expensive than the monolith 200w I almost bought but Monoprice tacked on significant shipping costs and sales tax brining the total just a couple hundred dollars away from having the Nords shipped in from the UK.

This is done... wish me luck while I go throw up.

Not familiar with Cocktail. Looks to be an intriguing device.
Kudos on the Hypex choice. This is the way.

 

[MalVeauX]

and two mono block Nord One NC500MB 500Watt amps from Nord Acoustics for a shipped price of $1353. Any bets there will be power concerns for the BMR Towers now?

This makes a lot more sense for a sweet setup like this, powerful monoblocks. Nice choice.

Very best,

 

[WookieGR]

This makes a lot more sense for a sweet setup like this, powerful monoblocks. Nice choice.

Very best,

Isn't having a sweet setup what it's all about?

 

[MalVeauX]

Isn't having a sweet setup what it's all about?

Depends, sometimes we don't sleep well wondering what if. After you get to a point where you don't feel like you actually need an upgrade anymore, then the sweet spot is achieved and you can focus on just getting more high quality music to listen to, etc. For me, that's what it's all about, hitting that spot. It doesn't have to take a high end system to achieve that for everyone. We all have our limits. I have zero interest in even listening to a $100k system for example. I do however love to listen to things in the up to $10k region. Personally I'm rather happy with my stereo setup for music listening, as its Philharmonics and a Sub running from a tube stage output DAC and an integrated class A/B amp. None of it is high end, but it sounds great and I have no real care to replace any of it at the moment because I'm more interested in getting new music that is high quality and well recorded instead, since I don't feel like I'm missing anything (spending tons to get 1% increase maybe?). I'm more interested in various tweeters these days too (RAAL, etc). But just having a sweet setup isn't really my goal. I have many setups, like most people here. Good listening is what it's all about to me.

Very best,

 

[WookieGR]

The first of the components for my 2 channel listening room have arrived and the unboxing video is now live.

I'm thrilled to have received the Cocktail Audio X45. Despite what I mentioned earlier about it being a refurb, it is in fact new and factory sealed... I paid more. Tell me this is not a beautiful device!

 

[WookieGR]

I keep tinkering with the layout of the room and have mostly settled on this revised version. I've made considerable changes from the original plan. First, I cut way back on the acoustic treatments, added lots of record covers in frames. Most of which I've held on to from my days working in the record industry. I just never wanted to throw them away and realised I had a gold mine of album flats sitting in a box I could use to make this room pop.

On the front wall I'll have a wall mounted 43" TV. It's left over from the spare room and will be used primarily as the interface of the music player.
I now have the console that will hold the equipment and records as shown in the cad drawing. I also have the Cocktail Audio X45 music player and DAC as shown in the pic. The unboxing video for that is linked below. The Fluance RT85 turntable is on order and arriving in a couple days with another unboxing video of that to follow. The BMR Tower speakers are still in limbo, I assume I'll have them in a months time but we will see.

I'm having a rough time with the symmetry of the room since there are double doors on one side. The two 24"x48" acoustic panels on the front wall will be Roxul Rockboard 60 Mineral Wool. I bought a 4 pack from ATS Acoustics. There will be two more of these panels to the immediate left and right sides of the room for speaker reflections. There are two more acoustic panels that will have 2" acoustic foam in them just to cut back on any slap echo that may occur.

I'm considering adding spots on the walls of 2" studio acoustic foam for more sound control and for the music room/recording studio vibe.

On the back wall I have not found a solution for seating yet. The wife is coming to her senses that we will need something comfortable as opposed to the ridiculous pull out sofa bed she demanded to have in there. The more I bombard her with visuals and space limitations of the room, she decides on her own that a piece of furniture like that has no place here. I'll get some heavy light blocking curtains and drape a sun moon tapestry over them, I already ordered it.

I have no end tables yet nor have I decided on subs. I really need to spend time with the towers first.

Up above near the ceiling will be black moulding and above that I'll install RGB LED strips.

On the floor we have a nice area rug ready to go.

In all the corners I'll have 8" bass traps from floor to ceiling. In one corner, I'll use the bass traps to disguise the wires getting the RGB LED's up to the moulding.

So far I'm pleased with the design. Below are the rough drawings I threw together.

FRONT

BACK

LEFT SIDE

RIGHT SIDE

 

[ryanosaur]

I keep tinkering with the layout of the room and have mostly settled on this revised version. I've made considerable changes from the original plan. First, I cut way back on the acoustic treatments, added lots of record covers in frames. Most of which I've held on to from my days working in the record industry. I just never wanted to throw them away and realised I had a gold mine of album flats sitting in a box I could use to make this room pop.

On the front wall I'll have a wall mounted 43" TV. It's left over from the spare room and will be used primarily as the interface of the music player.
I now have the console that will hold the equipment and records as shown in the cad drawing. I also have the Cocktail Audio X45 music player and DAC as shown in the pic. The unboxing video for that is linked below. The Fluance RT85 turntable is on order and arriving in a couple days with another unboxing video of that to follow. The BMR Tower speakers are still in limbo, I assume I'll have them in a months time but we will see.

I'm having a rough time with the symmetry of the room since there are double doors on one side. The two 24"x48" acoustic panels on the front wall will be Roxul Rockboard 60 Mineral Wool. I bought a 4 pack from ATS Acoustics. There will be two more of these panels to the immediate left and right sides of the room for speaker reflections. There are two more acoustic panels that will have 2" acoustic foam in them just to cut back on any slap echo that may occur.

I'm considering adding spots on the walls of 2" studio acoustic foam for more sound control and for the music room/recording studio vibe.

On the back wall I have not found a solution for seating yet. The wife is coming to her senses that we will need something comfortable as opposed to the ridiculous pull out sofa bed she demanded to have in there. The more I bombard her with visuals and space limitations of the room, she decides on her own that a piece of furniture like that has no place here. I'll get some heavy light blocking curtains and drape a sun moon tapestry over them, I already ordered it.

I have no end tables yet nor have I decided on subs. I really need to spend time with the towers first.

Up above near the ceiling will be black moulding and above that I'll install RGB LED strips.

On the floor we have a nice area rug ready to go.

In all the corners I'll have 8" bass traps from floor to ceiling. In one corner, I'll use the bass traps to disguise the wires getting the RGB LED's up to the moulding.

So far I'm pleased with the design. Below are the rough drawings I threw together.

FRONT
View attachment 55336

BACK
View attachment 55337

LEFT SIDE
View attachment 55338

RIGHT SIDE
View attachment 55339

Symmetry isn’t always your friend.

One thing I found with the BMRs and Phil3s in my setup is that with their great horizontal directivity and impeccable wide dispersion is that even in Stereo, the reflections do s great deal to create a very immersive sound field.

I hope you experiment before locking in your paneling. Not that it looks like too much in your drawings, but too much acoustic treatment can be just as bad as a room that is too live.

 

[WookieGR]

Just finished the unbox and assembly of the Fluance RT85 Turntable and posted the video:

 

[Eppie]

Just finished the unbox and assembly of the Fluance RT85 Turntable and posted the video:

Another 30 seconds and you could have shown how to set the counterbalance. I noticed that there was no anti-skating weight in the packaging. Does the RT85 have an anti-skating adjustment at the base of the gimbal?

 

[WookieGR]

Another 30 seconds and you could have shown how to set the counterbalance. I noticed that there was no anti-skating weight in the packaging. Does the RT85 have an anti-skating adjustment at the base of the gimbal?

I was saving the counterbalance for when i do video 3 of the 2 channel video series. Theres no anti skate

 

[Eppie]

I was saving the counterbalance for when i do video 3 of the 2 channel video series. There's no anti skate

Yes there is. It is the dial to the right of the gimbal labeled "anti-skating". It is typically set to the same value as the tracking weight. They recommend 1.0 - 1.8 grams for the RT85 so if you set the counterbalance to 1.5 you would set the anti-skating to 1.5. Some recommend a slightly higher setting so if there are any tracking issues you could slightly increase the anti-skating.

There are typically two styles. Some turntables have a small weight that hangs on a line which connects to the rear of the tone arm. My Project EVO uses that method. Others use an internal spring which is adjusted with a dial. That allows for a little finer control. You can see the little arm and the weight to the left of the gimbal on my Project. Reading lots of good things about the Fluance tables. Nice that it comes with the Ortofon Blue.

 

[WookieGR]

The unboxing video of the Nord One NC500MB Hypex NCore mono block amplifiers is live:

 

[WookieGR]

Dennis with Philharmonic Audio is sending out emails that the slow boat from China is due in later this week. I guess the pre-orders for BMR Towers are due to start shipping out next week? I plan a full unboxing video and photos as soon as I get them! I know how all 5 people on the planet love unboxing videos.

I'm dying to hear how an 8" driver can possibly perform as good as everyone is saying.

 

[WookieGR]

Parts 2 and 3 of this video series are online.

 

[WookieGR]

Hey, ya'll....

I just posted a review video of the CocktailAudio X45 audio player/DAC if there's any interest.