My new system

[prem]

My new system is up and running. It’s just been a day. I am liking what I am hearing. The most alive sounding system I have heard at my place.

The components of the new system are

EMT 930 turntable with 929 tonearm and TSD 15 spherical cartridge

EMT 139 tube phono

Thoress F2A11 integrated amplifier

Axiom 80 driver in the Goodman designed cabinet with the ARU

A big shout out to Arj, Dr Bass, Fiftyfifty and Satyaki who have been with me throughout this journey, constantly guiding me.

A huge thank you to Sadik for building the cabinet exactly as per the plan and for putting up with all my crazy requests.

 

[Fiftyfifty]

My new system is up and running. It’s just been a day. I am liking what I am hearing. The most alive sounding system I have heard at my place.

The components of the new system are

EMT 930 turntable with 929 tonearm and TSD 15 spherical cartridge

EMT 139 tube phono

Thoress F2A11 integrated amplifier

Axiom 80 driver in the Goodman designed cabinet with the ARU

A big shout out to Arj, Dr Bass, Fiftyfifty and Satyaki who have been with me throughout this journey, constantly guiding me.

A huge thank you to Sadik for building the cabinet exactly as per the plan and for putting up with all my crazy requests.

Hearty Congratulations @prem . Beautiful looking setup with superbly crafted components. It's wonderful to see a person whose passion and quest for better sound takes an end game to such great heights.

Can't wait to hear the setup after it's burned in - I'm sure it sounds absolutely amazing!

Do keep updating this thread with more pictures and observations. Best wishes!

 

[yogibear]

F2a /F2a11 is a different animal altogether.

Congratulations on the setup !

Pictures will be great.

 

[sivakumars]

Congrats Prem Please post some pics.

 

[EswarReddy]

Congratulations Prem. Please post setup pics

 

[hifimaddy]

Congratulations on the setup. please post pics .

 

[prem]

 

[prem]

Will share close up photos of the speaker later. In fact you can find them on Sadik’s thread. The plant is there only for aesthetic purposes before you guys go on an over drive

 

[souravin]

Many many congratulations Prem. This pursuit will keep us alive and energetic. Looking forward to listen..

 

[Bhaskar Jyoti Talapatra]

Congratulations , prem. Hope your new system will make you happy for a long time.
Kudos to your unflagging pursuit for a sonical bliss.
Regards
Bhaskar

 

[reignofchaos]

Hi Prem! Does the TT need more isolation or is that suspension system sufficient?

Beautiful and utterly simple setup!

 

[square_wave]

Nice progression there. Congratulations, Prem. When you get some time , do write about some key aspects where this system betters the Jbl + LTA. A note about your priorities will add some interesting perspective too.

 

[arj]

My new system is up and running. It’s just been a day. I am liking what I am hearing. The most alive sounding system I have heard at my place.

The components of the new system are

EMT 930 turntable with 929 tonearm and TSD 15 spherical cartridge

EMT 139 tube phono

Thoress F2A11 integrated amplifier

Axiom 80 driver in the Goodman designed cabinet with the ARU

A big shout out to Arj, Dr Bass, Fiftyfifty and Satyaki who have been with me throughout this journey, constantly guiding me.

A huge thank you to Sadik for building the cabinet exactly as per the plan and for putting up with all my crazy requests.

As every project one full of so many learnings for all !! So looking forward to hearing this system all setup. The beauty of this system is its simplicity with just 2"Boxes" and a speaker but the promise of a quality of sound so much better than many separates !!

 

[Naturelover]

Simply wow!!
Only hope playing vinyl doesn't become a back breaking task .
Isn't there a stand option akin to the earlier 950?

 

[sachinchavan 15865]

Congrats Prem! Enjoy the new sound.

 

[prem]

Reignofchaos, the suspension system is more than enough. It’s a fairly advanced isolation system. Isolates upto 4 hz. Isolation is as good as a SRA base.

Naturelover, it doesn’t come with a stand like the 950. At some point I might make a small table and place it on top of it. In fact many users place it on the ground.

Square_wave, I am not good with explaining differences. Maybe someone who’s heard my system earlier will be able to spell it out better. As I said earlier, the system sounds very alive. I heard old and new Bollywood, classic rock, Indian classical and jazz on it. System is very comfortable with all these genres. Since all components are new, I really don’t know what component is doing what in the system. Axiom 80 naturally doesn’t go as deep as JBL, but surprisingly it rocks as hard as the JBL. SPL levels are naturally lower because the driver can handle only upto 6 watts. But it still plays comfortably in the mid 90db levels without losing composure. I anyways don’t hear louder than this. Usually I listen at around 70- 80db levels, depending on the music being played. Bass upwards, it’s a no contest. The Axiom 80 is clearly superior in all aspects relating to mids and highs. Be it micro dynamics, tone, timbre, attack, presence, immediacy. Surprisingly it’s less sensitive to room placement than the JBL. Maybe because it’s a single driver. I don’t know. I have had single drivers in the past like the Rethm. But those were sensitive to room placement. I don’t know what about this driver and box design that makes it easier to place in a room.

 

[yogibear]

Combo of F2a with a single driver will be very hard to beat.

Although it’s a limitation of a single driver to be not able to dig deep, F2a is well known for its incomparable low end extension and quality. Only tube 46 surpasses it but outputs way less. F2a was my first build and it never ceases to fascinate me.

 

[mshifi]

View attachment 83313View attachment 83314

Congratulations Prem!!! Must be sounding Great

 

[grindstone]

It's about time, man--been waitin' and waitin', here

Just fooling--congrats and thanks for posting!

Hey -- did you or @sadik end-up hanging curtains in the cabs or lining walls or some combination, if you don't mind...just wondering.

 

[prem]

No we didn’t hang any curtains. There’s a 1 inch polyfill of 20 kg/m3 density lining the complete insides of the box as per Goodman design. I checked with an ex Goodman employee. He said to follow the recommended cabinet design to a T.

He wasn’t sure what the recommended density of the polyfill should be because that’s not specified. So decided to go with a lighter one. Didn’t want to over damp.

Also it’s very difficult to hang a curtain since there’s less than a 3 inch clearing between back wall of the cabinet and the back of the driver