Understood. By comparison, a new out of the box MkI didn’t sound anything like a burned in unit. 
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After 10 days since I switched on the system, a hard work of tuning has been done. In particular about speakers set up.
More investigation is needed due to carpet (still waiting for it, italian artisans… you know) and rear wall furniture that must be completed and filled with books again. Another few days of patience.
Anyhow I was hearing a different background noise, very subtle but annoying, I never heard it before. Just an odd feeling… I was thinking that the culprit were longest XLR UPOCC Iconoclast cables, 28’ vs 6’ is a big difference.
You know when you have a little pebble in a shoe… after an entire day checking all for the zillion time… dang! I had plugged the ethernet cable into the wrong port of the Statement, my bad what an idiot!
I was using the output port for streamer vs the input LAN!
Oh happy again, what a terrible hobby and how sensitive our ears might be sometimes!
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I adore Sonus Faber, its handmade finishes and woodwork is very fine.
At first I opted for your same speakers (my wife, despite the size, happily accepted them at home) but having little space in my living room, there was a lot of booming from the rear air port.
I had to opt for the Electa Amator III monitors, which were better suited to my space. Congratulations on your room, it’s looking amazing.
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So luca…how are you liking your new music room?
Must be pretty amazing…
Best wishes
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Thanks David.
I completed speakers and subs set up, finding out by ears their best position. I managed with center diffusor, moving it a little bit forward and obtaining the right well focused image and really realistic voice on the soundstage. Now the speakers have completely disappeared and the soundstage dimensions are close to perfection.
Still waiting for:
1 rug (ordered customized 3 month ago, ah the italian craftsmanship!),
2 sliding panels for the library on the rear wall, hand made to reproduce diffusors line
2 acoustic curtains, custom sized too, on the corners between sides and front wall.
Until those things are installed, I was thinking it’s impossible to settle the room. It means that I was still struggling an unnatural reinforcement of bass area behind the speakers and a subtle lack of presence in lower mids.
I also had some trouble rolling the tubes in my BHK pre, in fact replacing a pair of Gold Lions with a new matched pair, I got two of them faulty or noisy. Blah!
Once I added the MSB DAC it suddenly fixed those issues, like the ice on the cake, it brought the right tonal balance and a wonderful liquid smoothness to the sound.
All the electrical wires and receptacles are brand new and cold, it takes time you know but at that point I finally started enjoying the music with a big smile on my face. Playing CDs and streaming both became really engaging and the sound so vivid, embodied and full of life. Still haven’t tried to spin a record (this is the pinnacle proof and I promised to myself to keep this emotion for the great final).
Fine tuning is still not complete but I think that 80% of the job is done. And I couldn’t be happier! It was a 9 month project, a challenge for a newbie like me, a big effort (an act of faith sometimes) investing time and money hard working and long reading to learn, understand, design.
More than ever I can attest without any doubts: the room is the most important component of a system and the biggest variable able to affect the sound.
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Your input is appreciated. In line with the discussion on this thread…
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Ready for some more pictures of your set up, when you are…
If you don’t mind.
Ciao
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I think it could be a problem with the source of the material. You mentioned that the issue seems to happen more with electric guitars - is it possible that some recordings are mixed in a way that creates this effect?
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Thanks @JessieJim1, I suppose you started reading this thread from the very beginning. It was November, a lot of things happened meanwhile…
Guess what? I still haven’t played that John Cougar album in my new room. It’s on my list, of course.
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I’m going back through the thread and will try that Mellencamp.
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The act of faith. Maybe you hope for perfection but expect something less. Hopefully the finished project (even though you’re never finished) is closer to perfection than minimum expectations. At the very least you’ll be able to say, “it’s the recording” if that distracting speaker ever reappears.
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Luca,
what kind of diffuser did you go with? Quadratic, hemispherical, …?
On an unrelated note, bad decision to run an update to my projector last night. The thing is bricked… Going back to OEM for correction.
Center front wall
Front wall left/right
Side walls
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Grazie Luca (grandma was 100% Italian blood borne in what became part of the US).
I have abfussers on the sides (Seven Audio https://sevenaudio.eu/?post_type=product )
My plan is to make stands that I can easily remove for movies.
I like the GIK diffuser but it might be too heavy for my application. Looking a PI Audio
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My God. Awesome!
What lighting are you using?
Beautiful luca…
Patience rewarded!!! For sure!!! 
:
Best wishes
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Thanks.
Philips hue
After a few years I learnt that lights may be fundamental both keeping in touch with different genres of listening music (according to your mood) and making speakers better disappear.
Zillion of combinations available with a finger on my iPad. Very fun!
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Thanks David, still a few things to do to consider the job done, if ever possible.
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You have been planning this so well and the result is stunning! I cannot imagine how much better the room sounds! Congratulations!
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