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The second time today, the delivery man has been to my house. The first time, he dropped off my Pro-ject Perspective Turntable with BluePoint Special Cartridge, a Pro-ject Speed Box SE, and a Pro-ject Tube Box Phono Pre-amp.

Amazingly, the same guy came back a few hours later to drop off my Emotiva RSP-1 and RPA-1 along with my stuff from HeadRoom. (I ordered a Micro Stack Package w/AKG 701s, and a Balanced Desktop Amp w/HD650s)

Now I will hopefully get my Rega Saturn CD player and PS Audio Quintessence Power Center on Satuday.

I ordered most of the items 2nd Day Air, and so far all have arrived on time, and in great condition....crossed fingers. This is the first time I have ever owned a turntable, and look forward to hearing my dads old collection on a quality rig. ( for years he used a JVC Stereo Rack system he got when I was a kid. Used to love to listen to Earth, Wind, and Fire).

I don't yet have a rack to put all my gear, and also don't have any cables (decent ones) I am waitng to buy cables until I can find a rack and check for distance between components...before buying decent cable. I'll die before I buy Monster, but don't really know what else there is....Possibly make my own using WBT Connectors and silver solder. I heard that short lengths are good.

Can anyone here suggest a component rack of decent quality, that will hold all these components, and maybe some brands of decent cable to use?

This is the first 2-ch rig I have ever put together, and I thought it would be simpler than the Full blown THX set-up I have in the theater. Not so.

I will say this about the Emotiva gear. It is heavy and seems to have solid constrution. It feels like a quality product that belies its small price. OMG...it also looks like it cost a bunch too. Some of my friends have questioned my judgement about purchasing the Rega Saturn at twice the price of my Pre/Amp combo. Are they right? I wanted a CD player that was SOTA, could keep up with any chages in my system, and never be the limiting factor in the audio chain. Plus I heard/read, that the Emotiva gear was well worth twice it's price, if not more. And a five yr warrenty.

Am I wrong?

I do have a Reference standard to compare my rig to. I have listened to Krell, ML, Arcam, NAD Master, and Onix A-120 MKII Integrated amps. All of these sound awsome, but I wanted a rig that none of my freinds had, and that could be used in a variety of ways.

I almost forgot. I use Klipsch THX speakers in the thater, so I bought Klipsch RF-83 floorstanders for my 2-ch rig.

Hopefully, I will get my rack, and cables soon, and get it all hooked up and and broke in to give my comparison to some of the other gear...I have heard. I have a buddy who has an Onix A-60 MKII and A CD-5 combo running on 8" Klipsch bookshelfs..So I think That would be a good comparison.

Anyone got any tips for a newbie to 2-ch?


FatCat

Pretty hard for anyone to comment without hearing anything but I have the Sennheiser 650's with a Max balanced and it is AWESOME. I have a 2 ch rig that was a lot more money than the stuff you named, and the headphones are better than my speakers!

I can name the usual suspects around here that will jump on me and tell me to provide them with white papers that say it makes a difference... But I would recommend at least trying the Cardas balanced headphone cable between the headphone amp and the Sennheisers. Really brought out the last degree of openness and "magic" on mine.

I'm a believer in cables, but I don't think you should buy them if you can't hear the difference. Unfortunately, it may be tough for you to find one to try before buying because the balanced Cardas headphone cable is such an unusual beast.

Should sound pretty nice. Just make sure to pick up a nice record cleaner and a carbon fiber brush, helps eliminate static from the vinyl. It is amazing the way a well recorded record sounds when they are well maintained.

How do you like the Emotiva gear ? I have a pre-amp that I'm happy with but I've been thinking about the RPA 1. I have heard nothing but good things about this combo. Are these your first separates and did you compare the RPA 1 to any other amps ?

I went to an unfinished furniture store to get a rack (it is a built-in now). I finished it like I wanted and the build quality is extraordinary. Solid oak, and I removed the back from it to have clean access to the back of the equipment from behind the rack. I also added a couple of extra shelves. It is very easy to swap components out.

http://www.hometheatertalk.com/Reviews/Audio_System/audiorack.jpg

If you dont want to go that route, id suggest looking at RacksandStands.com They have just about anything you may want.

As for interconnects...I use BetterCables Silver Serpent line and Outlaw Audo cables. Both work fine and they both sound great. I'd recommend getting something reasonably priced first and work your way up the ladder with interconnects. Dont go hog wild right away. I've tried many interconnects, the sound changes are subtle and subjective...take your time.

Hope this helps.

Mike

Okay...everything arrived today. I got a Lovan Sovereign modular stand to put my gear on. Cabled together with BetterCables interconnects and Spkr Wire w/ spades.

Speakers have been run in for the last 2 days in the theater room pulling frony L/R duty. I couldn't find any lead shot to fill the stand with, so I used fine grain sand that I got from Toys 'R Us. I think it is really heavy, and it doesn't move or vibrate when my twin 12" THX subs hit hard. So I think the damping of the stand is good.

The turntable was the hardest to set-up. I had help from my freind (vinyl freak he is). He set up the tone arm and cartridge and did some stuff with a wierd ruler. He ran the power for the table thru the SpeedBox controller, then plugged the power cord into the PS Audio power suppy. He then said " perfect power...perfect speed." Anyway, he then ran the analog audio output from the turntable to the TubeBox phono pre. Then ran another pair of interconnects to the Aux1 input on the RSP-1, and connected the ground.

( for those wondering, the Tubebox SE produced a better sound than using the RSP-1s's phono input. It was clearly better, but the Emotiva still did a great job. If you didn't listen and compare you would still find the Emotiva's Phono stage very nice. Better than the Pio Elite Rcvr I had a while back, and that was great! )

Next came the Rega Saturn. Since there are no digital inputs on the RSP-1, we would have to settle for using the Rega's DACs. Bettercables interconnects from the Saturn to the Emo's CD-in. ( we also hooked up the Headroom Balanced Desktop amp to the Digital out on the Saturn. The HeadRoom amp is "fully pimped out" with their top of the line DACs and other goodies.)

With that done, we hooked the RSP-1 and RPA-1 together using XLR connections. All power for the system was provided by the PS Audio Quintessence Power Center. Speakers were connected with 25' runs of BetterCables w/ spades.

We let the system warm up for 2hrs. In the mean time we gathered some more freinds, some more beers, and some demo material....


More to come...
Christopher

Finally, someone from my neck of the woods on the forum. :)

Interesting choice of speakers for your 2 channel rig. Would be interested in hearing the Emotivas. Bring them to Tulsa and let's take them for a spin. ;)

I had the Onix integrateds in for audition and for the most part (cosmetics issues) they sounded pretty decent.

got the rsp1/rpa1, it was delivered on time without documentation but hey, I'm a big boy and can download the manuals without hassle. The pair sounded good even with basic cd input but the volume control on the rsp1 would not work with the remote.

Emotiva sent a replacement rsp1 without delay but it showed up with no protective plastic and it had smudges on the silver face plates that could not be easily cleaned so I gave up. During this shuffling it became obvious that replacement unit was lighter than the original unit and a bathroom scale showed a 4+ pound discrepancy in weight.

By this time I was convinced that I was sent a rebuilt/used/pleasecheckother unit to replace a defective unit in service less than a week. I advised Emotiva that I will be sending all 3 pieces back under the RMA provided (#BP1001) and they accepted my decision with grace.

Upshot? I don't have time for this, no explanation was offered for the used piece nor the weight discrepancy. I feel like a guinea pig for a chinese import firm and will continue my pursuit of a decent 2.0 listening system...

I don't have time for this, no explanation was offered for the used piece nor the weight discrepancy. I feel like a guinea pig for a chinese import firm and will continue my pursuit of a decent 2.0 listening system...

Wow!

I won't name any names to be politically correct. But, I to have had several issues with an ID companies products. Yes, the customer service handled the issues. But, it unnerves me to see so many others praise the ID companies even when I know they to have received faulty or less than perfect items on the first go around. It makes me wonder. :confused:

I have received no less than 10 items from one such company that either had major cosmetic issues, were DOA, and one unit I received had a foreign object lodged within the speaker cabinet that ended up being the butt end of a screwdriver......WTH is that all about? :mad: I no longer praise or advertise for this company and I haven't bought anything in a while either as I'm afraid of what I might receive. :rolleyes: