Roadster's Theater - Page 7

^^^^ Thanks Brolic. I know Audio Advisor also sells those power cords, but I got mine from amazon with free shipping. Pangea makes them in 14 and 9 gauge. Woo doesn't include any cables so I had to shop for one.

A work in progress, three 3 amp stands being custom made out of the same padauk wood as my amp trims.



more pics whan the arrive.

Well my EE DAC didn't stay very long, I just traded-in for a Wyred 4 Sound DAC 2. Heard the W4S (DAC 1) in my system over the weekend and it sounds even better than the new EE, a pleasant surprise that I wasn't expecting.

But besides this slight sound improvement, two very desirable features (for me) motivated the change after only one month with the EE.

1) W4S has remote volume control that I can now use for my Woo headphone amp
2) The W4S can be used as a preamp (HT bypass feature), shortening the path by driving my amps directly.

To close the deal, Black Sand Audio (the Canadian distributor) took my EE as trade-in for only a few hundred $$ less that I originally paid and is shipping the W4S for free.




I'll post a few pics when it's installed in the rack.

Amp stands are almost finished. Rubber feet with sorbothane washers will add isolation. I think the Emotivas are going to look like kings on their throne

Well, my DAC arrived on Monday and I'm letting it settle-in by running 24/7, 100-200 hours on loop. I'll share a more critical report later when it's got hours logged.

Right off the bat, it's a great buy, very happy with my decision. The soundstage is HUGE and the bass is very defined and tight, a net improvement over my EE or my player's integrated DAC's on both accounts.

I've got a big grin right now, specially since my Woo amp has gained remote volume control. I've changed my mind and won't be running my amps direct, the reason being that I want to keep on/off control over my XPA's when listening through my headphones.

^^^^ Thanks!

Having passed the 100 hours of loop time, this Wyred 4 Sound DAC is in a totally different league than my previous Eastern Electric DAC Plus. Every part of the spectrum is improved, absolutely everything. Starting with bass, wow! there is much more bass material than I ever thought I had on all those CD's. My Swans towers now deliver truly deep, very powerful and tight bass, down deep, way deep.

Compared to the EE, the soundstage has now widen by several feet, all while maintaining very precise instrument localisation. If there was one part that I particularly liked about the EE's tube output (with the upgraded Psvane tube) was it's warm and natural midrange. Voices simply took on such a natural "you are there" timber, more so than the SS output. Well, the W4S matches that slightly laid back midrange, while never ever veiling the voices or instruments within those frequencies.

After the settling-in time, high frequencies have now also perfectly integrated with the other ranges. Defined, precise, airy but never fatiguing, even on the many average quality masterings of classic rock material.

If it was easy to comment on the fact that the EE had it's own sound signature (which helped or hurt, depending on the recording), I can describe the W4S has being much, much more neutral in it's delivery. Only the midrange tends to have a tube like backdrop to it's signature, as the lows and highs really extend far, but without adding or taking anything away (to my ears). Put on an ordinary recording and this DAC will squeeze absolutely every note out of it, while keeping things well under control. Now, put on a very well mastered disk and this unit will make them sound AS GOOD as many of the SACD's I own.

What more can I say? This DAC cost me as much as my Sony XCD5400ES player or my Marantz AV, something it seems I would of never considered paying not too long ago, when all it does is, well convert the signal. But in the end, my F2.2 speakers deserved such a magnificent unit to make them truly shine to their highest level. System synergy and resolution taken into account, YMMV of course.

Good question Mike. Yes indeed, I've had the top ports of the F2.2's installed or removed, depending on the source recording. Now with the W4S DAC settled-in, I've got both ports of my mains always blocked, the DAC having them playing down in the low 20's whenever the recording has it on it's menu.

I even got up a few time to make sure my sub wasn't active, I'd simply never heard the Swans play that low and powerful before.

No Mike, not yet. I'm presently traveling in France on vacation, so I expect to get them in sometime next week when I return. I will post some pics once things are set up, John did an amazing job on them, based on the last pics he sent me.

A few pics of one of my three custom amp stands, as well as my pivoting cinema chair table. All are the same color, to match the speakers, although lighting plays tricks on padauk wood. The true color is actually the one seen on the pivoting table. As a finishing touch (and show of appreciation to the guy who made them), I had some laser etched plaques engraved..




For the table, I used a high precision aluminium pivoting mechanism. The base is installed inside a cup holder and the top part is mounted underneath the shelf itself. When i get around to it, I'll post a few pics of the hardware.



Edited by roadster-s - 7/29/12 at 6:39am

Thanks guys. I just took a few more pics which now show a better rendition of the color match with the speakers, enjoy.





As for the pivoting shelf I had built for my chair, I've included a few pics of how it was mounted:

It's basically two pieces of precision machined mounting hardware (Thorlabs.com) which included a base that was mounted inside one of my cup holders:



And then the shaft section that was screwed onto a reinforcing plate, iteself mounted underneath the shelf itself:




So I simply guide the shaft into it's base section and voilà! instant pivoting shelf that can be removed by simply pulling it off (in case you want to protect it from any accidental break when young children are around)
Edited by roadster-s - 8/20/12 at 2:08pm