The
audio equipment has a separate 240VAC mains spur, run straight from the
fuse box to behind the equipment rack (a distance of about
12m). Conductors in the spur cable are 6mm2(~9AWG).
Two Furutech FP-15A-Cu AC duplex outlets are mounted into a fire and
acoustic rated wall-box. At the wall socket an
Audience aR2p-TO, Teflon capped
line power conditioner (240V version) is used. Two
VH Audio Hotbox's
with Furutech FI-11Cu male wall plug and FP-15Cu outlets are plugged
into the aR2p-TO.
Power cords are all
DIY. Bob
Crump's 'Asylum' recipe for the turntable/SDS, Chris VH's DIY
Flavor 2 design on
the pre/power amps and VH Audio Flavor 3 on the digital sources. The
DIY F2/F3s can be used with many different connectors
available from Chris' parts list. I chose the Furutech FI-11Ag IECs and
the FI-11Cu male plugs.
All power cords have been made a similar length to help maintain a star
earthing scheme.
It boggles the mind, but power cords and outlets seem to have a much
greater effect on system sound quality than interconnects and speaker
cables. In fact I now consider power connections to be of
fundamental importance (those who haven't experimented will be shaking
their heads!). Prior to installing the VH Audio power cables and
Hotboxes, I'd been using an API Power Wedge IIe line conditioner (high
current filtered outlets and isolation transformers for low power gear)
and the generic cords supplied with the equipment. I could scarcely
believe the improvement that occurred when I substituted the
Hotbox/Crump/VH Audio cords. Every aspect of the sound improved:
soundstage height/width/depth, transparency, transient definition,
focus, bass power, dynamics, detail - the sound became more open, vivid
and robustly realistic. I'm talking BIG improvements here, of
the kind associated with a major component upgrade - I'm not going to speculate as to why/how.
The room size
had to fit basic design
constraints - odd shapes would be difficult to analyse and expensive,
so basic rectangular construction was chosen.
Dimensions are: 6m length, 4.3m width and 2.7m height. The dimensions
of the room started by following Sepmeyer's 1 : 1.6 : 2.33
ratios and was slightly adjusted using basic (calculated) spectrum
analysis of room modes.
The corners behind the speakers have
DIY
Bass traps
built to Jon Risch's instructions. There are two
DIY absorptive panels across the front corners on top of the bass
traps. Some 100mm foam panels are mounted to the front wall each side
of the window with some Vicoustic DC2 diffuser panels above them. Vicoustic Wavewood 1.2m panels are mounted vertically at the first
reflection points of the speakers with some more 1.2m Wavewood panels
mounted horizontally along the side walls. DC2 diffusers are
mounted above the Wavewood panels and more of the DC2 panels on the
rear wall above the record shelving.
Speakers are positioned with the front baffles postioned about 1.9m from the front wall and the centre of the front baffles about 900mm from the side walls. Speakers are placed as symmetrically as possible (measured and matched from walls). The listening position is 1.9m from the rear wall. This forms a nearfield listening triangle with the speakers spaced about 2.5m apart and 2.6m to the listening position (again measurements to the centre of the front baffle). Speakers are angled towards the central listening position.
Its
amazing how focussed and precise the soundfield of a big baffled
speaker like the SCM100 can be when set up in this manner. The superb
clarity and neutrality of the SCM100 is exploited and provides
great insight into recordings, The music produced is compelling.
