My current setup(s)

[Record Player]

A really nice and clean setup. Simplicity at its best!

Cheers

 

[koushik]

Congratulations! Nice and clean. That is what you get when you have CDP as source.

With Computer as source there is every sorts of mess all around
Wish I could set a clean setup like you, which is practically impossible as it seems now.

 

[Soundstage]

Very nice and clean setup there. Congrats!

I think the sofas on the sides, and the rug on the floor, are currently taking care of the room treatment somewhat. With curtains behind the speakers, you probably will not have any trouble hiding any future panels behind them.

Thank you Sir!

Yes, the sofas, rug and curtains are doing their bit in taming the reflections. The length of the room seems good enough to prevent rear reflections from becoming bothersome. When I do get some time I shall fashion a couple of Rockwool based DIY Bass Traps for the front corners.

And I shall also request Mrs. S to look for a couple of canvas paintings of her choice for the side walls. Now that's called killing two birds with one stone:lol::lol::lol:

 

[Soundstage]

All young and single FM's take note. This is the most important tip for great sound, especially as you grow older and start a family:clapping:.
Cheers,
Sid

Well said :clapping::clapping::clapping:

I wonder how Jim Smith missed out on this most crucial one! Ah, I guess he will include it in his sequel....Get Best Sound

 

[soulforged]

Nice pictures! A very elegant setup...and a very worthy one too :clapping::clapping::clapping:

Please take good care of the ML panels...they are notorious for jamming up in the Mumbai weather...

 

[Soundstage]

Greats are simple and minimal only!

Nice setup Soundstage there you have. It is a bit far from Baroda, or else would have liked to listen them. I have listened MLs in shops only and they were not much different with respect to mine or friend's OBs.

Thank you, Sumanta!

Whenever you plan a trip to Dubai, you are most welcome to have a listen.

You are right, I too was not much impressed when I heard them at the dealers, albeit the ones I heard were a smaller model. However, after playing around painstakingly with the distance between them and the front wall, so as to get the reflected sound waves from the back panel to align with the direct ones from the front, I was able to get a coherence I had not found at the showroom. Also, these are the first speakers I have heard where you dont have to crank up the volume to get that feeling of space and delineation of instruments, even at lower volumes that sense is present. And the dipole electrostats load the room with a vibrant energy which quite surprises me.

Cheers!

 

[Soundstage]

Soundstage, congrats on a setup that seems to bring a smile on your face.
So, is the soundstage the main reason you opted for the MLs? Did you try other amps with these speakers?

Thank you, iaudio!

I have heard ML Electrostats with Primaluna Dialogue, Cary SLI 80 Signature, Audio Analogue Maestro and Puccini and a couple of Naim and Linn amps, models I sadly cannot remember at this time. The ARC VSI 60 I have heard with Wilsons, Merlins, Genesis, Burmesters and Paradigm S8s.

I had made up my mind on the VSI 60 much earlier. The MLs I was not so sure about, but I was curious to find out more about electrostats first hand in my setup, and when the dealer very generously offered to let me try them at home for a couple of weeks until I formed a definitive opinion about them, I took it up, and during the course of a week found myself warming to them.

Although soundstage is very important to me, as my moniker suggests:lol:, it was not the only reason I bought them. Electrostats are renowned to sound very lifelike and the MLs did just so. I like to spend a quality hour and a half every other day immersed in listening to my favourite singers, and any setup which creates a believable illusion of them performing live in my room, just for me, gets a big thumbs up. To my ears, the VSI 60/Spire combination seems to be able to do that, and especially vocals, quite well.

Cheers!

 

[Nikhil]

Posting a few pics of my setup there which is comprised of an Ayre CX7 CDP paired with an Audio Research VSI 60 Integrated Amp, driving Martin Logan Spire Electrostats. The super heavy duty rack is by Burmester Audio. ICs are Audioquest and speaker cables Finolex 6 mm sq wire. There also is a Clearaudio Concept TT which I am yet to connect. There is no room treatment at this stage whatsoever, only a thick fleece blanket draped over the TV during listening sessions. The room is 12ft wide by 27 ft long.

.........

Did not see this earlier but compliments on a very nice setup.
Really like the nice and clean look you have implemented visually.

Look forward to pictures of your Pune setup!

Regards.

 

[Soundstage]

Did not see this earlier but compliments on a very nice setup.
Really like the nice and clean look you have implemented visually.

Look forward to pictures of your Pune setup!

Regards.

Many thanks, Nikhil!

Shall post the Pune pics tomorrow.

Cheers!

 

[Soundstage]

Well Gentlemen, a few pics of my humble setup in Pune.

The room is 16 ft wide x 36 ft long, but midway there is a column which acts as a divider so in effect there are 2 distinct smaller areas. The one pictured below is the pure music area, whereas the other one shall be developed into a HT. At the moment however, it is cluttered with relics of my long audio journey various speakers, subwoofer, AVR, power amp, DVD player, projector and what not.

The main listening room currently houses the following equipment. A simple Cambridge Audio 840C CDP as the source, with a Musical Fidelity Nu Vista M3 Integrated Amplifier driving a pair of Infinity Prelude MTS Towers. I also have a pair of MF 550K Supercharger monoblocs, which I use to drive a pair of Magnepan 1.6QRs. These are not connected now. I have also fashioned full length DIY Rockwool Bass Traps in all 4 corners which seem to work well, as there is practically no boominess in the bass present.

I have had this equipment for 5-7 years now. I am quite satisfied with the sound they produce, but I do dream of owning Magnepan 20.7s sometime in the future!

Enough of verbosity I guesshere are the pics.

 

[panditji]

Very nice setup sir...simple and elegant

 

[blackisback]

Beautiful set up , audio + Living room.

 

[prepress]

Very nice set-up and music room Keep it up.

 

[Nikhil]

Another really nice looking setup!
Kudos for having not one but two very nice systems.

 

[Record Player]

This is simply fantastic Soundstage! Very well done.

 

[sidvee]

Another clean setup. Nice!
Cheers,
Sid

 

[mpw]

those large windows.... they are very nice..

does the LF sometimes cause resonance and if so are you using and treatment / small diffuser / or sealing the window frame guideway so they hold up ?

I happened to be in DXB last week and visited Audissey ( i read about your AR VSi 60 amp on this thread ) and auditioned the AR VSI 75.... but thats another story..another day..

regards
mpw

 

[Bharathram]

Great setup friend..love it

 

[AVM]

Nice setups there.
Regards

 

[Soundstage]

Dear Panditji, Blackisblack, Prepress, Nikhil, Recordplayer, Sid, Mpw, Bharatram & Avm, thank you very much for your kind words. Anytime you visit Pune, you are most welcome to a listen!

Although these components are now somewhat long in the tooth, Ive retained them as they still sound quite good, and moreover there is some distinctive technology incorporated in them which sets them apart from their peers. Id like to share a few thoughts

IMHO the CA 840C offers great value for money, with the 24/384 upsampling digging out far more details from the recording than its price point suggests. It conveys a very believable sense of space surrounding the instruments, and the highs are nice and airy. Raat Khamosh Hai by Jagjit Singh has some truly delectable highs and the 840C doesn't disappoint.

The Nu Vista amp is quite unique. It is a 2 box design, with the power supply housed in a separate unit. Rated at 275wpc @ 8 Ohms and doubling to 550wpc @ 4 Ohms, the preamp section contains 4 Nuvistor tubes which impart a wonderful sense of delicacy to the presentation. To me it is a keeper.

The Infinity Preludes are Dr. Floyd Tooles labour of love. These are 4 way speakers, with a 12" side firing subwoofer powered by an 850 W amp. They have a built in parametric equaliser system called RABOS, which lets you optimise the bass to suit any room. A factory provided kit comprising a Test CD, SPL Meter and a nifty slide rule type tool allows you to flatten the peaks and nulls until your plotted graph comes closest to resembling the one provided by Dr. Toole, which is supposed to be the ideal for any room. The Preludes are extremely revealing speakers and I thoroughly enjoy the detail and resolution they portray. At the same time they have loads of PRAT, my foot instinctively starts tapping when I listen to these.

The 550K Superchargers too are unique, in that they have both Line level and Speaker level inputs. They can be used as simple yet powerful monoblocs by connecting between the preamp and speakers. Or, if you have a low powered tube amp the sound of which you love but are unable to pair with your favourite power hungry speakers, they can be inserted between the tube amp and the speakers via the speaker cable connections, to literally supercharge the original amp. They are designed to hugely improve dynamics without losing any of the original amps signature. I bought these to drive the Maggies and I must say that of all the amps I have paired with the Maggies, the Superchargers control them best. I have tried them with a friends 3.5 watter SET to drive the Maggies, with great results. I have also used them on their own to drive a pair of Apogee Divas, and the combination was breathtakingly lifelike.

Cheers!