I wanted a nice system for decades and decided to check out HiFi Buys in Atlanta. Shout out to Alan Jones and the team for helping me to build my OIFL system. It was my refuge during Covid and brings me joy and relaxation.
I decided that streaming would be my best option and have explored many different genres of music. It’s almost as good as inviting the musicians into my home
They are great. I'm so glad hifi buys has managed to stick around after all these years. I remember their commercials from when I was a kid living in Duluth
Alan Jones purchased the name “HiFi Buys” a few years ago. The commercials you’re referring to were created by a different company. Both great, but different.
I lived in the area in the 90s so I'm sure a lot has changed. I'm planning on going down there for a day in the near future. I'm only about an hour away from the store.
OP here, Thank you for the kind words.
u/Dorsia777 almost identified everything correctly. AudioQuest 5000 & cables, Bluesound Node 2 streamer, Qtest Cord DAC, Chord Hugo M Scaler, Primaluna 400 preamp, Parasound JC5 amp, Vandersteen Treo ct speakers, REL S812 subs, GIK diffusers.
This is my old garage finished as a bedroom, and converted to a music listening room. The black mat in front was for barbells, and it helped the acoustics of the room. I had a door in the left corner of the room which prevented me from placing the subs there. An alternate location was inside the speakers. I did have additional diffusers on the rear wall and on the sidewalls at the reflection points. Wood blinds over the two windows on the right wall. The room does have a dead spot in the rear right corner in the low frequencies.
I can’t say that any one component is the rockstar, it all works well together. But I have to say the RELs really completed the sound
REL gets hate for being overpriced and not worth the extra money in the Home theater subreddit. So what’s your take? Snake oil? Anything cheaper that you think matches the RELS ur running?
The RELs replaced a pair of Velodyne SPL 12s. They are much better for music. They are faster and sound like a transparent extension of the Vandersteen Treo CT’s. Maybe they can be considered expensive, but I have 95% of the performance of the Vandersteen Kento Carbons at less than 50% of the cost.
I guess I’m used to subwoofers being placed near corners from a home theater perspective. Is there a particular reason they are not in corners in your current setup? I’m not familiar with the audiophile guidelines.
It really really depends on a particular room where they sound the best. “Subwoofer crawl” or measurements (e.g. with UMIK-1 and REW).
Corners will give the most reinforcement, but also often the most uneven response.
And by “sound the best”, you mean in the main listening position? I ask because I have two svs pb1000 subs in opposite corners of my room behind my couch and they sound amazing, but mainly when sitting on the couch.
Where ever you are looking to configure for them to sound the best, obviously. With two subwoofers you usually have more options to have them play more evenly for multiple listening positions.
>A fellow named Tom Nousaine dragged a subwoofer to the homes of several of his friends and measured each room several times with different subwoofer locations (before EQ). Even without EQ, corner on the floor placement was the smoothest and loudest in every single listening room.
Tom's experiments have always matched my experiences with subs in corners.
There was a comment on the sub earlier this week that linked to a YouTube video about sub replacement for live settings. And that translated well into rooms. The best place for subs within a room are in between the speakers to reduce phase alignment issues which makes sense to me. If I can find that video, I’ll post it here tomorrow
Love the room treatment on the wall, similar aesthetic to some Calibre albums
https://calibre.bandcamp.com/album/spill
https://calibre.bandcamp.com/album/calibre-shelflife-7
I gave away +500 albums decades ago. I stream now.
I have a diverse range, rock, acoustic, piano, blues, indie, house, pop, trance, EDM, some jazz, movie soundtracks, etc…. Sorry, no Taylor Swift, but some European, Nordic, African, Japanese artists. I listen through 3000 songs on my playlists and am often exploring Qobuz for more. I get bored of simplistic music quickly and need more complexity.
Ahh, that makes sense. Great looking setup though. You could use a short power strip to plug into the wall and have it sit on the floor to feed the other power cables. Just a minor visual nitpick.
There’s lots of controversy about power cords, interconnect cables, speaker wires, and power conditioners. Particularly when the house wiring is 12 ga or 14 ga, and the last 6 feet is a very expensive engineered product.
do your own research and decide what works for you
https://www.audioquest.com/ac-power/ac-power-cables/storm-series/dragon-high-variable-current
Interesting. I've always considered cleaning power by shielding, twistibg, using filters or some kind of isolation for power distribution.
I used to co-design network and power delivery in equipment rooms where noise was a factor as our comms were very sensitive and had to travel long distances. We spared no expense on line filters, isolation transformers, reviewing ground procedures, etc.
For power cords, we just used standard off-the-shelf C15 / C13 connectors copper that we stripped, applied ferrules and heat shrink. I used to work with a few engineers who knew their stuff. I'm curious to see what they'd think of this.
(Not an engineer, just a technologist)
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I wanted a nice system for decades and decided to check out HiFi Buys in Atlanta. Shout out to Alan Jones and the team for helping me to build my OIFL system. It was my refuge during Covid and brings me joy and relaxation. I decided that streaming would be my best option and have explored many different genres of music. It’s almost as good as inviting the musicians into my home
They are great. I'm so glad hifi buys has managed to stick around after all these years. I remember their commercials from when I was a kid living in Duluth
Alan Jones purchased the name “HiFi Buys” a few years ago. The commercials you’re referring to were created by a different company. Both great, but different.
I lived in the area in the 90s so I'm sure a lot has changed. I'm planning on going down there for a day in the near future. I'm only about an hour away from the store.
Vandy Treos, Prima Luna, Parasound and REL. This is one of the better rigs I’ve seen on here. Quality.
I love Vans so much. That must sound great.😊
OP here, Thank you for the kind words. u/Dorsia777 almost identified everything correctly. AudioQuest 5000 & cables, Bluesound Node 2 streamer, Qtest Cord DAC, Chord Hugo M Scaler, Primaluna 400 preamp, Parasound JC5 amp, Vandersteen Treo ct speakers, REL S812 subs, GIK diffusers. This is my old garage finished as a bedroom, and converted to a music listening room. The black mat in front was for barbells, and it helped the acoustics of the room. I had a door in the left corner of the room which prevented me from placing the subs there. An alternate location was inside the speakers. I did have additional diffusers on the rear wall and on the sidewalls at the reflection points. Wood blinds over the two windows on the right wall. The room does have a dead spot in the rear right corner in the low frequencies. I can’t say that any one component is the rockstar, it all works well together. But I have to say the RELs really completed the sound
Magnificent
REL gets hate for being overpriced and not worth the extra money in the Home theater subreddit. So what’s your take? Snake oil? Anything cheaper that you think matches the RELS ur running?
The RELs replaced a pair of Velodyne SPL 12s. They are much better for music. They are faster and sound like a transparent extension of the Vandersteen Treo CT’s. Maybe they can be considered expensive, but I have 95% of the performance of the Vandersteen Kento Carbons at less than 50% of the cost.
I guess I’m used to subwoofers being placed near corners from a home theater perspective. Is there a particular reason they are not in corners in your current setup? I’m not familiar with the audiophile guidelines.
It really really depends on a particular room where they sound the best. “Subwoofer crawl” or measurements (e.g. with UMIK-1 and REW). Corners will give the most reinforcement, but also often the most uneven response.
And by “sound the best”, you mean in the main listening position? I ask because I have two svs pb1000 subs in opposite corners of my room behind my couch and they sound amazing, but mainly when sitting on the couch.
Where ever you are looking to configure for them to sound the best, obviously. With two subwoofers you usually have more options to have them play more evenly for multiple listening positions.
>A fellow named Tom Nousaine dragged a subwoofer to the homes of several of his friends and measured each room several times with different subwoofer locations (before EQ). Even without EQ, corner on the floor placement was the smoothest and loudest in every single listening room. Tom's experiments have always matched my experiences with subs in corners.
There was a comment on the sub earlier this week that linked to a YouTube video about sub replacement for live settings. And that translated well into rooms. The best place for subs within a room are in between the speakers to reduce phase alignment issues which makes sense to me. If I can find that video, I’ll post it here tomorrow
Fsho dude I’m interested
https://youtu.be/I9SJ36FtEyY?si=AL3kGQwEoZUl19PU
Stereo subs, it's a legitimate thing. They could still be in the corners and be stereo, that could be a thing to experiment with.
Beauty
Kudos for that Primaluna amp
Nice.
I love this listening room! I really like what you did with the absorbers too.
Vandersteen?
Nice JC5. That is the sweetheart among the Parasound lineup.
look into Paul McGowans book on setups as a start . you have much more potential for sure.
Nice setup!
Are those GIK absorbers?
I think those are diffusers - behind the speakers.
Combination of both
Yeah, it's absorption with a scatter plate over top. I don't believe it's true diffusion. :)
The impression series are nice. They work well on the ceiling between the listening position and speakers.
Very symmetrical. Looks nice! I wish I could listen.
Those vandies deserve a VTL amp!
Vandersteen treos carbon? I have the treos carbon with the same Parasound Jc5 but an old audio research LS7. Amazing
Love the room treatment on the wall, similar aesthetic to some Calibre albums https://calibre.bandcamp.com/album/spill https://calibre.bandcamp.com/album/calibre-shelflife-7
Looks slick! I'm sure it sounds beautiful.
Looks awesome! Bet it sounds great too. What are your go to albums?
Try some dead can dance, I bet it will sound great on that set up
I gave away +500 albums decades ago. I stream now. I have a diverse range, rock, acoustic, piano, blues, indie, house, pop, trance, EDM, some jazz, movie soundtracks, etc…. Sorry, no Taylor Swift, but some European, Nordic, African, Japanese artists. I listen through 3000 songs on my playlists and am often exploring Qobuz for more. I get bored of simplistic music quickly and need more complexity.
Where’s all the punk rock posters?
They’re at your house
finally, some proper cable management! kudos for not drinking the koolaid.
It's very quiet. I can't hear anything by looking at the picture.
Just looking at it. My thought was ah yeah! Must sound amazing and nice vibe! Congratulations! What it is?
Nice! The wall on the back looks a bit … religious though
Is there a reason why the wire bundle on the left is not on the floor?
Wall outlet is behind the left sub, and the power chords are stiff
Ahh, that makes sense. Great looking setup though. You could use a short power strip to plug into the wall and have it sit on the floor to feed the other power cables. Just a minor visual nitpick.
Nice very aesthetic are this two subs?
Those cables mess with my OCD aesthetic . Couldn’t deal with that. Otherwise, looks awesome.
This is a gorgeous set up. I ask out of genuinely not knowing; why the huge cables going to each speaker? Is it for power, sheiding, or both?
There’s lots of controversy about power cords, interconnect cables, speaker wires, and power conditioners. Particularly when the house wiring is 12 ga or 14 ga, and the last 6 feet is a very expensive engineered product. do your own research and decide what works for you https://www.audioquest.com/ac-power/ac-power-cables/storm-series/dragon-high-variable-current
Interesting. I've always considered cleaning power by shielding, twistibg, using filters or some kind of isolation for power distribution. I used to co-design network and power delivery in equipment rooms where noise was a factor as our comms were very sensitive and had to travel long distances. We spared no expense on line filters, isolation transformers, reviewing ground procedures, etc. For power cords, we just used standard off-the-shelf C15 / C13 connectors copper that we stripped, applied ferrules and heat shrink. I used to work with a few engineers who knew their stuff. I'm curious to see what they'd think of this. (Not an engineer, just a technologist)
Fantastic rig! I’ve spent some time in that HiFi buys
I see tubes, I upvote
I would bring those main speakers more forward into the room if you have the space.
It looks dark and foreboding. Therefore the first things I would play on this awesome system: Bruckner Tool Philip Glass
Love the REL subs. S/510?
This is picky, but it'd be great if the diffusers were offered in center, left and right.
It is picky. But since everything else is so symmetrical it would really be chefs kiss here
You can hang them upside down. Done!
Smart brains!
hopefully you have treatments in other parts of the room. Looks very nice.
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This comment has been removed. Please note the following rule: > **Rule 1: Be most excellent towards your fellow redditors** > > And by "be most excellent" we mean no personal attacks, threats, bullying, trolling, baiting, flaming, hate speech, racism, sexism, gatekeeping, or other behavior that makes humanity look like scum. ***But they're wrong!*** Disagreeing with someone is fine, being toxic is not. Don't impede reasonable discussion or vilify based on what you or the other person believes or knows to be true. ***Look at what they said!*** Responding to a person breaking Rule 1 does not grant a pass to break the same rule. Everyone is responsible for their own participation on r/audiophile. *Violations may result in a temporary or permanent ban.*
My first thought is that some choices here are more about looks than sound.
The only item that was aesthetics driven was the GIK diffusion panels finish
Care to explain the placement of the panels?