It was raining all day and the kids are in bed now so I decided to do a mock up of my previous McIntosh setup that I had a few years ago. You can see the pictures attached. I think it grows on me now...
I noticed as mentionned in a previous post that the low frequencies were more boomy and less defined. I am not so sure if the sound stage was affected by the yellow credenza but I would tend to believe so. Before doing this mock up, I tried to remove the two bottom doors in the middle but there were gigantic holes left from the screws and some paint chipped. Suffice to say, I didn't like it and ended up not liking the look with that openning. The three doors make it more streamlined in my opinion.
So, it's kind of back to the drawing board. But in a good way I believe. I like how open it is now for the screen. I am very specific about aesthetics; I could not fully enjoy a system no matter how good it sounds, if it's plain ass ugly. To me, it must please the eye so as long as sound is not affected. It's a balance act I guess. By separating the amplifier and digital front end, it makes cabling quite a bit less messy. All I need now is a 4 meters long interconnect.
In the future, if I go separates again I may just add a 9 in. shelf on top of the amp shelf so that I have the pre-amp on top and amplifier on the bottom. The digital front end would stay as it is. Or add a vintage Yamaha tuner to match my amplifier. One thing I have been considering though is the addition of a power conditionner. In this setup, I would actually need two. One for each rack; but that would be way overkill I believe.
Much to my wife dismay, I may end up moving that yellow mustart furniture in the living room upstairs. But that is another story
