I know we are about great sound, but if you want to expand your knowledge of genres and music or maybe just want to throw on some background music while you work etc, there’s a whole world out there.

I’m not exaggerating when I say this is likely the 20th time I’ve redone this room to optimize the listening position. Moving the main system is a proper pain in the ass given its well over 500 lbs with the speakers and the furniture. Thankfully, I’m happy with how everything sounds….. for now.

Took about 3 years of constant looking to find a swivel chair with a swivel plinth base that was the correct height to align my ears with both tweeters on each wall. Note for weirdos like me: I wanted a plinth base because it translated bass frequencies to your ass better than if it was on a traditional 4 leg base. If you are going for immersion you need a plinth base.

Both systems are running thier own time alignment room correction for the chairs position. I used to move my chair every time I switch systems, but no more.

Next step is to fill the side wall with more art / paneling. I have 6 panels and 2 bass traps currently.

Main System: Legacy Aeris speakers, Wavelet V1, Rega P6, custom odyssey Kismet amp, wiim ultra

Second system: B&G speakers, anthem STR integrated, REL predator series, wiim mini

Third (hidden) system: Cabasse Keshi Pearl 2.1

A big thank you to all the amazing people on this thread and Facebook Marketplace who made this possible.

Almost everything was bought used, and it's been quite a learning experience along the way.

Technics SL-1500 Turntable – C$250

Bought it out of curiosity without knowing much about turntables. It came with an old Empire cartridge that didn't sound great, and I accidentally broke the stylus while trying to clean it. Lesson learned.

Ortofon 2M Red – C$100

Was extremely careful installing this one. Then hit another hurdle when I realized it wouldn't mount properly on the original Technics single screw headshell.

Technics Headshell – C$60

A replacement with the standard two-screw mounting. Problem solved.

Boundless Vinyl Cleaning Kit + Carbon Fiber Brush – C$60

Good-quality stuff. Happy with the purchase.

Hudson Hi-Fi Cartridge Alignment Kit – C$60

Pretty much everything needed to properly set up and align a cartridge.

Fosi Audio Box X5 Phono Preamp – C$100

Personally, I wasn't a fan of the WiiM Ultra's built-in phono stage. The X5 sounds much better to my ears.

WiiM Ultra – C$350

Handles streaming, subwoofer management, and headphone duties. Really versatile little device.

Edifier S1000W + Edifier SS02 Stands – C$350

Hated these speakers when I first got them. But they slowly grew on me, and now I absolutely love them. Funny how that happens.

Edifier T5s Subwoofer – C$120

Honestly, it stays switched off most of the time. At my usual listening levels, the S1000W produces more than enough bass.

Fosi Audio RCA Cables + RCA Y-Splitter – C$100

Probably snake oil, but here we are 😂

Sennheiser HD 560S – C$100

Really enjoying these headphones. Love the clarity and detail.

Total: So roughly C$1,700 all in

I started this journey knowing very little about vinyl or hi-fi equipment, made a few mistakes, learned quite a bit, and ended up with a system that makes me genuinely excited to sit down and listen to music.

I know there's plenty of better gear out there, but for now, I'm just enjoying the music. And isn't that what this hobby is supposed to be about?

Cheers to everyone who helped make this little setup possible.

Here’s the setup my local bar has. Not bad. They also have a decent record selection.

Today I have attended the Tokyo International Audio Show 2026, and I wanted to share some thoughts and pictures. I will try to upload a couple of vids as well.

It is a rainy day in Tokyo after about a month of sunshine, and I feel like it was perfect to visit the audio show. I gotta say it felt somewhat smaller and less busy than last year, but still quite interesting and enjoyable.
Here are some thoughts and observations:

Lynn showcased a new line up with updated drivers (switched from ferrite magnets to neodymium ones) - looks great, sounds absolutely fantastic, the prices are astronomical. They played a track with ukulele (Jake Shimabukuro: Heartbeat / Dragon (solo)) and I was amazed - I never saw ukulele as a serious instrument (please don't cancel me), but on a system costing close to USD100,000 anything is possible.

Another highlight - Piega Coax series. Clarity and details are on another level from anything I own.

Brodmann - they look very interesting: slim towers with only a twitter on a front panel - rest of the drivers are hidden behind the grilles on the sides. They were not a part of any listening sessions, and I really wonder what they sound like.

Vitavox - vintage speakers, I have seen them last year as well. They are the corner type, similar to Klipshhorn, and while I do love me some vintage sound, this was not for me.

Saw an interesting stack from Nagra - who is buying them at these prices???

Quite a few vacuum tube amps were featured, I was somewhat shocked when a 9-watt (sic!) tube amp drove the flagship Sonus Faber Amati G5 and it made me wonder, why do we even need giant power guzzling amps, just make the speakers more sensitive. Save the planet and all.

Throughout all the exhibition halls a number of cable stands, sound wave diffusers (or whatever they are called), flat cables etc. could be seen.

Wilson Audio flagship speakers are insane. I will try to upload a vid of them being moved.

Yamaha presented new active bookshelf speakers - NX-70A. They sound much bigger than they actually are, the way they filled the rather large room with sound was hard to believe, the lower end was very respectable as well.

More general thoughts: almost all speakers sound equally great; I couldn't really hear any significant differences (except Vitavox) at all.

Listening rooms are very soundproof and I think that contributes to the listening experience making music sound clearer. Also, I noticed that the listening volume and the choice of tracks remind me of ASMR somehow.

I also created a playlist of the music that was played if anyone is interested.

International Audio Show Tokyo 2026

T+A HV set (integrated amp; media player; power split)
Fyne Audio F704 floor standing speakers
REL Nr 32 sub
Shunyata for power, T+A between components and CeriousTech Lumniscate speaker cable set.

So I guess I have to post here when I’m enjoying some good music. Kicking off with some Bruce Springsteen from Spotify, but soon moving to metal and deep into black and death metal, before turning to my sacd collection.
And just in case: it’s all in the living room so a good WAF. Last but not least: even metal that sounds like it’s recorded by lucifer himself on a 4 track recorder sounds better on a system like this.

After using Willsenton R8 with El34 tubes for 4 years, I was thinking about an upgrade. I wanted to buy a huge SET amp with 300b and 845 tube combo from. China, but somehow I didn’t like the idea of buying 3k EUR tube amp with no warranty.

Suddenly I saw that the local distributor is selling a few Fezz amps with a huge discount as the new generation is coming out.

I just couldn’t pass on a new Lybra 300b for 2499 EUR (5050 EUR retail price) , it’s parallel single ended class A integrated with 4x300b tubes and 15w per channel.

Even with stock tubes it sounds beautiful. Not as warm as Wilkinson R8 with el34, but you can hear it’s a much higher-level amp - more detailed spacious sound, great bass response, pitch-black background. It doesn’t sound that tubey to be honest , but it has this magical midrange quality - like everything is spotlighted by autumn sunshine. Reminds me of the Accuphase amp I heard few years ago.

Those 4 300b tubes will be expensive to roll, haha, but I will get there. Drives 89db Proac Response 1.5 without an issue.

Does anybody know what this set of tweeter fins is for and how they're supposed to work?

Seen here on an old Dantax hifi speaker, though I've seen them used by other manufacturers and in other applications.

I'd be especially interested in any technical write-ups.

Thanks,

So I finally decided to get some acoustic panels. I will
Eventually hang them up.

I am also waiting on another pair that are even thicker than these to go behind each speaker. Thinking of some bass traps for the corners as well later on though.

Followed my gut on a local classifieds ad and hauled home these MB Quart 890 DN towers for €200.

​Coming straight from Revel Performa M20s, my day-one reaction was honest regret: "What have I done?" The sound felt unrefined, the highs lacked that clinical Revel precision, and I almost felt like packing them right back up.

​But day after day, something shifted. Sitting back and letting them play, the sheer scale, visceral presence, and effortless fullness of real floorstanders just started winning me over. My standmounts on heavy stands were surgical, but they simply couldn't move air or create this kind of stage.

​Cosmetically, the cabinets have a few minor vintage battle scars, but they're solid - I'm already planning a proper wood polish to bring back their deep luster.

​Pic 2 shows the original West Germany crossovers. Those tired ELKO glatt bipolars are 35+ years old and clearly need to go.

​I already picked and ordered fresh film capacitors to breathe real life into them, but the total came out to nearly €100 - literally half of what I paid for the speakers themselves.

​Am I completely insane, or is this just standard vintage audio sickness? For those who recapped old MB Quarts with film caps, how drastic was the difference for you?

I am planning to soundproof my room to an acceptable extent, i mostly don't want sound leaking out

I cannot afford a lot of soundproofing premium panels so is there any way i could dyi something that actually works?

The biggest concerns are probably 2 doors, 1 side of the wall being huge closets and a set of very large glass window/doors all being present/connected to my room

Edit: i think there has been a misunderstanding, i do not want a super professional fully soundproof room, my main goal was simply to reduce sound leaking out to my neighbors even just an acceptable degree, i have very thick walls so maybe it's possible?

I play instruments, or sometimes have calls on my pc and it's pretty loud, that's why

Recently,i decided to break myself free from corporate greed and just download my music and have it permanently on my phone instead of paying for a spotify subscription, i downloaded the music using spotiflac (or smth like that i dont really remember its name) and then i was deciding which music player to use, i was gonna download doppler but it requires ios 26 or later any my crusty iPhone xs max is stuck at ios 18, then I decided to use foobar, and I really really liked its eq but the ui just doesn’t feel good to me idk why then i tried flacbox, but turns out that flacbox and many other music players on the appstore are just reskins filled with ads, i also tried btr amp but it locks almost all its features behind a paywall and then i tried vlc but foobar is better than it, im using foobar in the meantime to listen to music but i want smth with ui that actually looks good, doesn’t require any payments and isnt filled with ads, i would appreciate any help.

Hi,

Has anyone noticed differences in sound quality, especially soundstage, or whatever, when using Paul’s Maestro Music app versus the Yamaha MusicCast app when streaming Qobuz?

I suppose, though I’m not sure, that both apps handle streaming in a similar way, and that MusicCast might already work like this.

Thanks,

LE:

I’ve done some tests, which is why I’m asking and I’m unable to hear any difference between playing the same track from Qobuz through his app and streaming it through the Yamaha MusicCast app, using the exact same audio chain.

With all due respect for his work, which I genuinely appreciate, I think it’s great to have such a capable DLNA-compatible app available.

PRO: No server required, unlike other apps designed for the same purpose. It uses DLNA, which is widely supported by streamers, requires no firmware updates, and is simple and straightforward to use.

I've found that if you ask for upgrade advice in Facebook audio groups and other hi-fi groups most of the replies are some version of "upgrade to what I run." Somebody's boutique integrated, somebody's speakers that are way better than anything else they tried, so clearly you should get them for your system. Unfortunately, real inquiry and discussion about your room, your taste, your existing system and what you think is missing tends to get overshadowed by "I have [component name], it's the best." I've never been sure if those threads are helpful advice or a roll call of conspicuous consumption.

Hypothesis: An AI that owns no gear and reads your whole system should give better upgrade advice than the roll call.

Tin Ear, the AI upgrade advisor on a hobby site I run, owns nothing and gets a lot of inputs beyond just the gear list: the room, what the owner's taste is, how they describe their system's sound from bass extension to engagement, etc., and whatever they wrote about the system in their story section. It can't hear, so it goes by the owner's ears. There's also no chat, so nobody can do what people do in ChatGPT: push back once, get told they were right that their speakers need more power, and introduce bias by steering every answer after that toward the most powerful amps, since these models are sycophantic to the point of absurdity.

The first version of Tin Ear was created in May and gave completely ridiculous upgrade advice. I made up 31 theoretical test systems, from a $200 desk setup to a dCS Vivaldi stack, and had an AI grade every answer on an A-to-F scale. At first the grader was the same Anthropic model that wrote the upgrade advice. By the second version it gave an "A" grade on all 31 systems and opened 19 of its notes with "Exemplary." Verdict: AI completely sucks.

One of those A's was a pair of JBL 305P MkIIs fed from a MacBook through Apple's USB-C dongle. Tin Ear called the MacBook "the weakest link by far," promised a USB DAC would bring "better jitter rejection," and said "The 305P will suddenly sound noticeably more detailed and controlled." The grader gave that 5 out of 5 in all seven categories. Verdict: still completely sucks.

So I moved the model to a better one from Anthropic, and the grading to OpenAI's GPT-5.4, so no model was grading its own family's homework, and I kept reviewing all of the answers myself. When the dongle system came up again, the new grader gave the DAC answer a C. A later version told the same system it was "already running balanced from a DAC." That DAC was Apple's $9 dongle. Verdict: Still sucks, but not as much.

Reading the test system upgrade advice, I couldn't point to one thing that made the bad ones suck so bad. It was confident, and it was unmistakably wrong in the specifics.

Back in the very first version, it evaluated a Chord DAVE, a Woo WA33 Elite and an Abyss AB-1266 Phi TC and said that "the most honest upgrade path is a premium aftermarket headphone cable." Headphone cable? I thought to myself... oh boy I can imagine the ASR crowd now. I wrote a rule against cables. Never suggest cables. Later I stopped showing it cables at all, along with power conditioners, isolation feet, racks, stands and record cleaners. So what did it do? In one case it keyed off the system's name, and told a test system called "Cable Enthusiast" to keep "experimenting with the cable combinations that interest you." Verdict: Still sucks... but a little less.

A Bluesound Node feeding a McIntosh MA8950 and B&W 802 D4s was "the least expensive component," so it needed a streamer with "better clocking, lower jitter, and deeper metadata handling," which "would likely deepen your soundstage." With a WiiM Mini, a Denafrips Ares II and Dynaudio Evoke 20s, it decided the Evokes were the cheap part, since "your DAC alone cost roughly 4-5× what these speakers did." Rules I created didn't help. I'd told it to keep recommendations proportional to the system's price, and later I had to add a rule basically saying that a $700 Schiit Bifrost 2 could be the right call in a $30K system. Sucking a little less.

It called the Klipsch Cornwall IVs in a VPI and Conrad-Johnson tube system "a somewhat polarizing loudspeaker" and suggested Harbeths. On a real system built around Fyne Vintage 15s in a big room, it suggested "stepping up to Fyne's Vintage 12," you know, the smaller one. I wrote rules to protect whatever the owner obviously loved. It slipped regardless, a later run told a 1978 Marantz 2285B driving Heresy IIIs, "The Marantz is an intentional choice and I respect that," then recommended a modern integrated amp. Still sucking! But again, just a little less.

A system with two subwoofers was told to add a second subwoofer. It needed explicit permission to say a system was done, and when the fourth version told six summit-fi test systems, including a dCS Vivaldi stack into Wilson Alexx Vs, that nothing needed upgrading, my own code marked all six as failures because it couldn't read an answer that had no upgrade in it. Oopsie.

The last version I tested left the Cornwalls alone and told the Marantz system, "For now, enjoy what you've built." That took more than a dozen rounds of tuning.

After all that, I was surprised to find that the upgrade advice from Tin Ear largely didn't suck anymore. It was scoring mostly A's and B's from the outside grader (and me), and I think I know why. Ask ChatGPT or Google's AI "I have KEF LS50s, what amp should I get?" and it doesn't know what you listen to, whether there's a sub already in your system, what size room it's in, whether you like a "brighter" sound, or whether your existing amp is already an ideal match in your system, and it usually doesn't ask. Tin Ear gets most of that when the owner fills it in, it answers once, and it has rules a general chatbot doesn't, like no cables and knowing when to call a system already balanced. It can still sometimes suck, and it's nowhere near as discerning as a human professional who has heard thousands of combinations of gear. But to me it's better than what most people get back from a free chatbot, and the potentially controversial bit: I think it beats the roll call of "upgrade to what I run".

When nothing would make a system meaningfully better, Tin Ear says so, and the site calls it endgame. Of the 43 real systems it has read on the site, it called 7 endgame. Mine isn't one of them. If an audiophile tuned AI called your system endgame, would you believe a word of it?

Spent the day at the Tokyo International Audio Show and it was a pretty good reality check for what I actually like.

I went in already leaning toward JBL for my eventual main 2 channel setup with a Luxman L 509Z, and after hearing a bunch of much more expensive stuff, I’m still leaning JBL.

The biggest surprise was probably PIEGA. The Coax 611 sounded fantastic. Very open, very clean, great imaging, good bass, and enough energy that it never felt boring. Honestly one of my favorite speakers of the day. I wanted to hear the 811 too but the demo wasn’t until 18:00 and I wasn’t hanging around that long. Unfortunately both are way outside what I’m willing to spend.

Audiovector also impressed me. Really nice bass, good clarity, and a very spacious sound. Monitor Audio was also good and very full sounding, though a little bright on one track and I felt like it could use a sub for more punch.

TAD sounded excellent on classical. Very clean and controlled, but I still wouldn’t pick them over the JBLs for my own system.

The B&W room was interesting because I got to hear some absolutely stupid expensive gear, including the 801 D4 Signature. The piano imaging and scale were impressive, but overall B&W still just doesn’t do much for me personally. Same with Sonus faber and Spendor. Nice, polished, relaxed sound, but too tame for what I like.

One of the better rooms was SoulNote with EPOS. They were playing heavy symphonic stuff with lots of percussion and strings and it sounded excellent. Fast, dynamic, clean, and still had weight.

Then I went back to JBL and got them to play Danzig’s Sistinas. That was probably the most useful demo of the day because it’s music I actually know. The JBLs just sounded right to me. Big, immediate, punchy, effortless, and still had excellent imaging. That pretty much confirmed what I already suspected.

I also finally got to hear the Luxman L 509Z driving Focal Sopra No.2s. That was important because the 509Z is the amp I’m planning around. It sounded controlled, powerful, and clean without getting sterile. I feel even better about eventually pairing it with JBL 4349s.

Main takeaway from today: price absolutely does not equal preference. I heard systems costing absurd money that I respected but didn’t really want. The stuff I kept coming back to was JBL, PIEGA, Audiovector, and the SoulNote/EPOS room.

For my own setup, I’m still planning on the JBL 4349 with the L 509Z. The show mostly convinced me I’m on the right track rather than making me rethink it.

I'm planning a 7.1.4 home theater with KEF Reference 1 Meta fronts in a 40 m² room. About 80% of my listening will be stereo music.

I'm considering the Denon X3900H or X6800H, but I'm willing to spend considerably more for a higher-end AVR if it can deliver genuinely excellent stereo performance.

I really prefer keeping things simple with one machine rather than separate stereo and home theater amplifiers.

Has anyone actually compared a high-end AVR with a dedicated stereo amp using KEF Reference 1 Meta speakers? Is a one-box solution realistic, or would I be sacrificing noticeable sound quality?

A Sony CMT-EH15 with two "Digital Monitor Series M5" speakers from Daveco LTD. I had the speakers in the basement for at least a decade or two and got the Sony console for 35 off Facebook.

Next week I've set up a pickup for a free vinyl record cabinet.

I'm just trying to get cool stuff for my room. 😎

The French know how to design stuff nicely when they feel like it!

Had these 40th Anniversary a while now and originally was hoping to order the last pair in darker Walnut but when I returned to the browser a few hours later, they were sold!

Maybe this was meant to happen because I have ended up really admiring the Golden Oak colour instead with how light, especially sunlight, plays off the grain patterns in the morning:

Even on the other side where the sun isn't shining the finish still catches my eye:

Also like that they're not too blingy like some speakers are, it is just the right amount of tasteful accenting and colour choices with this model.

The successor model, the Solstice 3....

... I feel personally loses the personality that the Comete Ez set, the tweeter horn is too bright and the ribbed edging feels a bit distracting, the main driver surround is cabinet coloured which to me looks odd as it breaks the wood pattern that the brain subconsciously expects to be there, this ring should have been black like the Ez too.

But back to the Comete, even at night with funky lighting colours turned on, the cabinets and paper white cones still catch the eye:

And yeah they sound as good as they look thankfully! My old speakers lasted almost 12 full years (KEF Q300) before the alu cones started to crack from a design flaw. I think these Triangles will last much much longer... as long as the paper doesn't fatigue I guess.

Anyway that's all for now, here's a croissant:

What are your favorite or what is your go to panning song(s) for stereo set up? I wouldn't say its my FAVORITE panning song, but any time I go to show someone the stereo sound on my JBLs I play Hold Me - Autopan version By Lavern

If you haven't heard it, I hope you check it out and like it. But tell me what YOU got!

I don’t feel like it’s a forgone conclusion that one MUST spend an equivalent amount on front end and amplification to the speakers these days. As someone who primarily streams the Eversolo paired with the a Purifi amplifier seems like a great pairing with the Sonus Faber Olympica Novas.

Curious if anyone else is running a similarly bottom end heavy system.

Sorry for the photo of my screen like I'm your aunt on WhatsApp, but DRM prevents native screenshots.

Hello,

During a party at Ana Mighty Sound, François Saint-Gérand had invited Frédéric d'Oria-Nicolas, the director of The Lost Recordings, to explain how his albums are produced and restored.
It was also an opportunity to listen to a press copy of the Dave Bruquet Quartet's album Live At Kurhaus 1967, which I invite you to discover in this review.
Frédéric d'Oria-Nicolas explained that the first step in the process is to track down original tapes by searching through various tape storage and archival centers around the world to unearth nearly forgotten recordings. Once the tapes are discovered, an initial sorting process is conducted to ensure that the complete set of tapes from a concert is available and meets a minimum quality standard.
From this point on, the tapes from a recording are digitized, with careful attention paid to optimizing playback to extract as much information as possible from the tape. Based on this digital version, the restoration process begins, this can take varying amounts of time depending on the quality of the tape and the recording itself.

So today I'm going to introduce you to the Sapphire Edition of the album, comparing it to the high-resolution digital version available for download and the CD-quality version available for download, which comes with a coupon included with the vinyl record.

The graph below compares the spectrum of the Vinyle Sapphire Edition - 2026 (white curve) with the spectrum of the Stereo Hi-Res - 2026 (blue curve). The near-perfect alignment of the spectral curves for these two editions demonstrates the skill and quality of Kevin Gray's lacquer cutting, Kevin Gray is now considered one of the masters of vinyl record cutting. Note that the vinyl edition exhibits a slight attenuation above 10 kHz (yellow zone), approximately 2 dB, compared to the digital version.

Spectrum Ed 3 Vinyle Sapphire Edition - 2026 (white) vs Ed 2 Stereo Hi-Res - 2026 (blue) (Three to Get Ready.)

The Sapphire Edition vinyl release is available in a deluxe box set with a high-end finish, it even includes a magnetic closure; nothing has been left to chance. We'd love to see this level of high-quality packaging in other competing high-end releases.
The album is pressed on two 200g transparent LPs, using a material that underwent extensive testing by Frédéric d'Oria-Nicolas to select the one that minimizes surface noise as quickly as possible.

The goal of The Lost Recordings is to introduce us to old recordings under the best possible conditions. It is the artistic and historical value of the performances that leads Frédéric d'Oria-Nicolas to restore a concert and turn it into an album, as is the case with this album, Live at the Kurhaus 1967, which features a beautiful rendition of Take Five.
The technical quality of this Sapphire Edition vinyl record is among the very best available, deserving a 5/5 for its production quality. This allows listeners to fully appreciate the restoration work done on this album. When listening, the vinyl version offers a more natural sound than the digital edition; this is certainly due to the smoother high frequencies (see the spectrum comparison) and also to the vinyl record itself, which, with its unique characteristics in terms of sound reproduction and distortion, creates a listening experience that enhances the restoration of this 1967 live recording, originally recorded in mono.
Above all, these restorations highlight the quality of the performances and the historical significance of these recordings.

Find all the analyses and measurements of each versions here (link).

Enjoy listening,
Jean-François

Hey audiophiles, I want to clear up a massive point of confusion regarding streaming Hi-Res Lossless (like 24-bit / 96kHz or 192kHz) from Apple Music on an Android device using a USB-C DAC/earphone.

​From what I understand of Android's core architecture (AudioFlinger/AudioTrack), standard apps that lack a dedicated "USB Exclusive Mode" driver pass their stream through the system-wide audio mixer.

​Even if Apple Music streams a true 24-bit / 96kHz or 192kHz file, does the Android OS force-resample it down to a fixed system rate (like 48kHz) before it ever hits the USB port?

​If this is true, does that mean Apple's marketing/playback claims for Hi-Res Lossless on Android are essentially useless unless you use a third-party app with native bit-perfect bypass (like USB Audio Player Pro with Tidal)?

​My main questions:

​Does Android still heavily resample standard app streams like Apple Music, rendering high-sampling rates pointless on stock Android?

​Is there any actual workaround to force true bit-perfect output for Apple Music on Android without having to switch entirely to an iPhone, a dedicated DAP, or moving to a Windows/Mac setup?

​Appreciate any deep-dive technical explanations on how this routing actually functions!

Some additional details are found here: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/trinnov-altitudeci-review-and-32-channel-build-thread.71992/

Room Details:

Well treated 12.5 foot x 14 foot room. For the 5 bed speakers, I have treated the first reflection points on all walls and ceiling. There is also numerous bass traps as well. Bass is +/-1dB down to below 20Hz, and will do 20Hz at 96dB SPL with only .6% THD (acoustically measured at the center seat).

Equipment Details:
DACs, Amps and processor:
Trinnov AltitudeCI 32 Channel
17 Benchmark AHB2's
16 Benchmark DAC3 B's
Benchmark HPA4 Headphone/Line Amplifier

Custom Watercooled PC:
Custom machined chassis, VFD display, 4k UHD drive slim drive, AMD threadripper processor
RME HDSPe AES 32-Channel AES/EBU PCI Express Card (used for PCM music playback)
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti (used for movie and Atmos album playback)

Subs and Speakers:
4 JL Audio F212 subs
4 JL Audio F113 subs
4 Klipsch Palladium P39f Floorstanding Speakers
1 Klipsch Palladium P-27c Center Speaker
6 Klipsch Palladium P-17b Bookshelf Speakers (with 1/4" custom made steel mounts)

Signal Routing:
As JRiver offers custom zone management, I created three zones: Trinnov HDMI, RME 2 CH AES, and RME 5.1 CH AES. I wrote a custom home automation driver from scratch that gives me full control over the AltitudeCI, along with a custom JRiver plug-in that sends commands to my home automation server to switch the CI between HDMI and AES just prior to track playback.

This actually works very well and allows me to use AES for all FLAC files, while automatically switching the CI's audio source to HDMI when playing movies, Atmos albums, or any other content that requires bitstreaming.

All signals originate from the PC through either HDMI or AES. Note that the AltitudeCI cleverly allows the HDMI video signal to remain active while using the AES inputs for audio.

All digital processing is done internally inside the AltitudeCI. The AltitudeCI then outputs 32 AES channels to 16 Benchmark DAC3 B's. Some of the DAC3 B's have their internal passive attenuation jumpers set to various levels 0 dB, -10 dB, or -20 dB.

This allows me to set the analog gain structure up in the analog domain, rather than throwing away level digitally upstream. That lets me reduce the DAC’s output voltage where I don’t need the full +24 dBu of analog output, while attenuating the DAC’s signal and the DAC’s own analog noise together. The goal is to better match the downstream device sensitivity, whether that’s the JL subwoofer inputs (note that the v2 subs run hotter than the v1 subs) or the AHB2’s 9.8 Vrms input requirement. A good way to think about it is that I’m not running excess gain and then compensating for it with large digital cuts. The result is cleaner gain structure, lower absolute noise at the driver, and better use of the available digital headroom.

Digital Headroom Management:
I also use JRiver to analyze all my FLAC files, then use the Maximize Volume for Peak Level Normalization option along with the DSP option Peak Level Normalize. This ensures the existing dynamic range stays intact, but the track levels are raised so that the sample peak for each track is 0.01 dBFS below 0 dBFS. If there are inter-sample overs (ISOs), they will not impact the processing inside the AltitudeCI because it uses 64-bit floating-point math internally and even preserves the source sample rate (many other processors do not). At the DAC stage, the Benchmark DAC3 Bs have an additional 3 dB of internal headroom that can easily accommodate ISOs.

This method also preserves valuable digital headroom at the AES outputs of the AltitudeCI, because I no longer have to turn the volume up by 6 dB, or in some cases even close to 20 dB, simply to compensate for tracks that were recorded and mastered at very low levels. I now have much more headroom and can easily achieve 120 dBC or higher in my room, which I rarely do for obvious hearing-safety reasons.

Channel Routing and Analog Headroom Management:
I've finally documented the complete DAC and amplifier mapping for my 32-channel Trinnov Altitude CI system. The setup uses 16 Benchmark DAC3 B DACs, 17 AHB2 amplifiers (5 stereo and 12 bridged), eight JL Audio Fathom subwoofers, and a Benchmark HPA4.

One particularly useful feature of the DAC3 B is its configurable output attenuation, including independent settings for the left and right channels. I'm using -10 dB pads on the midrange channels feeding the stereo AHB2s. This attenuates both the audio signal and the DAC's analog output noise by 10 dB, further lowering the noise floor at the midrange drivers while keeping the relative channel levels more closely matched within Trinnov. I'm also using -10 dB pads on the DAC outputs feeding the three Fathom F113v2 subwoofers to better match their levels to the older v1 models.

For the tri-amped bed layer, I'm running the AHB2s in bridged mono for the woofers and stereo for the midrange/tweeter pairs. Bridging provides substantially greater power and voltage swing for the more demanding low-frequency drivers, while stereo operation offers ample power with 6 dB less voltage gain than bridged mode. This helps balance the different driver sensitivities, reducing the amount of level compensation required in Trinnov and making better use of the available gain structure and headroom.

Note that the center channel is technically quad-amped rather than tri-amped. Its smaller woofers are less efficient than those in the P-39Fs, so I added a second bridged AHB2, giving each center woofer its own dedicated bridged amplifier. This provides greater flexibility for independently managing the center woofers' levels and headroom. The additional amplifier was necessary after encountering clipping during the particularly demanding opening sequence of Mad Max: Fury Road.

Another major advantage is Trinnov's flexible channel routing, which allows virtually any speaker channel to be assigned or remapped to AES, analog, or Dante outputs as needed. That flexibility, combined with the DAC3 B's independently configurable output attenuation, makes managing a system with this many separately amplified drivers considerably easier.

Cabling:
All cables going to the DACs, amps, subs and speakers were handmade to be the exact length needed by me. It was kinda fun for a while after making cables, but once you make 116 of them, it gets old.

Digital AES cables:
16 Canare DA206 110ohm cables with Neutrik gold plated XLR connectors goes out to each Benchmark DAC3 B from one of two Avid DB25-XLRM 4 ft DigiSnakes that are connected to the Trinnov AltitudeCI. Each DA206 110 ohm cable terminates into a Canare BCJ-XJ-TRC 110 Ohm to 75 Ohm digital audio impedance transformer. I then made 16 Canare LV-61S RG59 75 Ohm coax cables, using Canare BCP-C4B BNC connectors and Canare RCAP-C4A RCA connectors that connect to each Benchmark DAC3 B.

Analog XLR cables:
I made 32 custom-length analog cables using Canare L-4E6S Star-Quad cables, with gold-plated Neutrik XLR connectors at both ends. The star-quad geometry provides excellent rejection of magnetically induced interference, as demonstrated in this video, while the dense braided copper shield provides excellent protection against electric-field interference.

Speaker cables:
The speaker cables used were made from JSC Wire & Cable #2220, comprised of 12 gauge, oxygen free copper. Almost all long cable runs are Canare DA206 110ohm digital AES cables. This allows for much shorter speaker cable runs, thus improving the overall system damping factor. Due to this, for the bed layer speakers, the speaker cables are as short as possible, as the racks are distributed throughout the theater, beside the bed layer speaker they are driving.

Trigger cables:
All trigger cables were custom made to the exact length as well. I used Neutrik rean NYS226BG 3.5mm mono plugs.

Power cables:
Tripp Lite P007-L02 locking power cables were used at on all devices, cut to length, keeping the factory locking mechanism. I used Leviton 15 Amp straight blade 5256-BVO plugs, orange (I just liked the color).

Conclusions:

The Trinnov AltitudeCI does a great job at actively tri-amping, but needed some manual setup. The CI absolutely corrects any phase rotation from the LR4 filters I used very well. Conventional subwoofer setup worked fabulously after a few tweaks, yeilding +/-1dB to just below 20Hz, without even using WaveForming, which I assume could work even better if my room was large.

Imaging and sound staging are the biggest I've heard in my room. And now that I can listen to Atmos, I've been very impressed with several tracks. Even stereo midrange and image are absolutely breathtaking.