Figured I'd start a system thread of my own, now that I'm dipping my toes back into the audiophilia game. As my current listening space is in the process of being cleaned up and transitioned from a small room as dual-purpose (home office + 2-channel room) to more of a parlor space for sitting, reading, and dedicated listening,
I'll hold off on pictures until the rearrangement is complete. However, this room is roughly 12' wide by 15' long with my audio gear + speakers/sub along the 12' side at the front of the room. I had a dedicated 20-amp line installed behind the audio gear with three receptacles. The floor is hardwood, and I've got a small shag carpet in the middle of the room to help with floor reflection. Bass traps are in the front corners and acoustic panels are at the first reflection points for both speakers, both products by GIK Acoustics. Three windows at the front of the room behind the audio setup, currently outfitted with blinds but I plan to replace these with some heavy curtains that can better handle the glass reflections. The door leading into this room from the entryway at side of room has a large glass panel centrally inset; I plan to install a heavy curtain above the door that can be drawn when it's music time to cut down on the glass reflections at this location as well. Aside from that, the room is fairly ordinary, just a little small.
Onto the gear! The main electronics are housed in a black BDI cabinet:
- Power conditioner: Furman IT-Reference 15i, powered by Shunyata Venom-3 cord direct to dedicated 20A line on wall. Standing on a set of Stillpoint Ultra Minis.
- Network streamer: Sonore ultraRendu, powered by Uptone Audio LPS-1, plugged into the Furman 15i. Both sitting on some inexpensive sorbothane feet. Input is slightly-better-than-generic-but-not-audiophile-grade Ethernet cable run from my network switch (more on that later). Output is WW Starlight USB A-to-B running out to my DAC.
- DAC: Schiit Yggdrasil ("Less Is More", plus Unison USB), powered by Wireworld Electra 7 cord plugged into the Furman 15i. Standing on a set of Stillpoint Ultra Minis. Output will soon be WW Silver Eclipse 8 XLR's out to the pre-amp (currently Audioquest Mackenzie XLR). Note: The Yggy is out in California for the new upgrades, so right now I'm using my trusty Gungnir Multibit with Gen5 USB.
- Pre-amplier: McIntosh C2600 tube pre. Bought it a few years ago on my initial attempt to move to separates (which ultimately fell through -- it wasn't the right time), but I've rarely used it. Powered by Wireworld Silver Electra 7 cord plugged into the Furman 15i. Output will soon be WW Silver Eclipse 8 XLR's out to the amp. Note: while I'm waiting for the amp, I'm actually using my good ol' MAC6700 receiver as an integrated; this unit is going toward the incoming amp as trade.
- Amplifier: Moon by Simaudio 760A stereo amplifier. Yes, I've decided to start a transition to the Moon Evolution series! It'll probably be a year or so before I make a similar jump with the pre-amp, but in the meantime I'll get to enjoy an interesting (I hope!) combination with the C2600/760A pair. When this is in place, it will be powered by Wireworld Silver Electra 8 cord plugged into either the Furman 15i or directly to the 20A dedicated line, I haven't decided. Output is Audioquest Castle Rock speaker cables to my floorstanders.
- Speakers: Sonus Faber Olympica III. Not much to say here, I love 'em and I'll probably hold onto 'em until a move to the next house can justify buying bigger-and-badder speakers.
- Subwoofer: REL S/3 SHO, powered by Shunyata Venom-3 cord direct to dedicated 20A line. I have a single sub, and the plan was to move to dual subs but REL went and discontinued this model while my audio journey was on hiatus. Unsure if I want to try to scare up a mate for it in the used market or move it off to another system and buy a new pair of something different. Not my priority but it's a to-do item on my list.
- Turntable: Marantz TT-15S1. I'm not big on vinyl yet but I wanted to give it a more serious attempt after selling my entry-level Music Hall turntable to my brother a while back. The motor is plugged into the Furman (may change this to the general room's 15A outlets though), and the grounds and RCA output all go to the pre-amp.
I'm also listing out my upstream network gear here, as they're in the same room as the other gear and they do have an impact on listening via streaming and stored files, which is 99% of my listening activity.
- Power conditioner: Furman Power-Station 8, powered direct to wall with general 15A outlet.
- Router: Eero Pro 6 mesh router, powered by OEM wall wart to Furman PS-8. I used to plug the old Eero router into my HDPlex 200W LPS but the new router has a USB-C input... maybe I can find a USB-C to XLR cable that'll allow me to connect it to the HDPlex. Anyway, I have Verizon FiOS, so the Ethernet from Verizon's ONT comes straight into the wall and into this Eero, which is also connected to the network switch via generic Cat6.
- Network switch: Consumer-grade TP-Link switch. Nothing too fancy here, though I have it powered by the HDPlex 200W LPS, which is plugged into the Furman PS-8. Currently this handles all wired network traffic in my house, all of which use generic Cat6 Ethernet cables.
- Roon server: Intel NUC 7th-gen (I think), installed into a fanless case with built-in heatsinks. Runs Roon OS and holds my entire library of Redbook and Hi-Res FLAC files. Sole purpose of this device is to run Roon server. Also powered by the HDPlex 200W LPS and output via generic Cat6 Ethernet.
And that's it for now! My new Wireworld cables will be arriving this week from Masterlu, so I'll start burning those in soon. Schiit should be receiving my Yggy for upgrades tomorrow, hopefully they'll turn that around quickly. And my Moon amp is awaiting construction in Canada right now, so my dealer said they expect to ship it in a couple weeks. My hope is to have my computer desk and much of the accrued clutter up and out of this room by then so that I can fully appreciate all the new upgrades
In a later post, I'll list out some of the future upgrades that I have in mind, and perhaps you all can offer some advice as to next steps.