<munching popcorn>

here's a few pic's of the rig with all the recent changes in place. when the carpet was put in, i had them extend it to the right about a foot. this allows the left speaker to be placed further outside and improves the sound stage and imaging a great deal.

component shelf as follows;
top left: Yamaha B-2x drives the low end beautifully.
top center: WAF basket used to hold the in-use cd cases.
top right: source stack (from top to bottom): portable DVD, EAD DSP 1000 DAC, Hafler DH-110 preamp (more on this later), Luxman D-113 (for cdr's), Kenwood DV-4070 (wont read dvd's or cdr's but is a very good transport for the DAC).

middle center: The Carver Receiver, 135wpc that sounds so sweet driving the high's.

the yellow boxes are more WAF for cd storage, ignore the covered piece on the bottom of the shelf, for now.

close up of the source stack

Nice system. But i have one question :
- Don't you are afraid of sound degradation because the vibration & propagation between all the source elements, since they are so close to the speakers and one above the others ?!

absolutely. i'll be getting a real audio rack at some point in the near future. until then i'm finding it easy to live with this setup.

I understand what you mean...so, here's to your beautiful setup.

thanks Alvaro!

You've got a nice bunch of gear there. I like your new carpet. In addition to the improved speaker placement, it really lightens things up.

It's really a nice looking setup Scott. Someday I'm coming up there to hear it for myself. I'll probably drag Mark along so we both can harass you as you deserve

Mike

i'm taking you up on that.

Your system has evolved quite a lot in the space of one year Scott.

Jorge

when i started it was a Yamaha CR-420 receiver, ADS L810 speakers and an el-cheapo Panasonic 5 disk cdp.

then we blew up his 810's with my carver and then the steamroll began.

elroy

added another wrinkle today. i came across a Rotel RB-970BX MKII that looked promising. i know Rotel by reputation only and without any way to -*test*-('") it (no speakers in the vicinity) and no internet available to research it (phone disconnected due to the guy moving), i bought it without knowing the first thing about it. i've been looking for a dedicated separate to replace the receivers i've been using to drive the high end on the AR9's (most recently The Carver Receiver), so i figured i would try this Rotel, with the idea of maybe getting another one if it turns out to be a keeper. there's not much in the way of info about this amp on the net, but no bad reports, turns out its 60wpc in stereo, 180wpc bridged in mono.

i've been putting it through the paces for the last two hours and i dont think i'll be needing a second one just to keep up with the 170wpc Yamaha B-2x that drives the lows. thats not to say i wont pick up another one, but its got plenty of power for the high end and compliments the B-2x beautifully. the first thing that struck me was how much more refined this amp sounds compared to anything else i've used with the 9's. for the first time i am able to distinguish between the mid and mid-bass drivers. this alone adds another layer to the sound that i've never had before. the improved soundstage and depth that i gained with the Hafler pre-amp are even more pronounced, impact and dynamics are much better (actually downright amazing for 60wpc) and to top it off its smoother and sweeter than anything else i've ever had.

keeper? without any doubt its staying in my system. pic's to follow.

Now if you just had a Mac Cd player in there. Let me know how it sounds when you get time.

Mike