thanks! it took far more time than it would have taken a professional… and I’d rather not do it again 
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That is squared away.
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It has been exactly 5 years when I resumed this hobby and planned the current system. It started with DeVore 3XL, Firstwatt J2, Pass Lab HPA-1.
End of 2017 when first powered up: Sources were DSJ and old Sony DVD player. I was not happy about the sound.
Tube traps, rack, REL S3 SHO. Started sounding better.
Added DMP as source.
added analog source, 2nd REL S3 SHO, traded in DSJ with DS. from DSJ to DS and various firmware updates have improved the sound quality and details in many ways, very nice to have DS in the system.
Added P20
Earlier this year, added Audience SX power cable for P20
Added reference arm and Hana ML. Hana SL was re-tipped by SoundSmith, very impressed with their work. After re-tip Hana SL sounded better than before, after some breaking in, it is getting lot closer to ML now.
Per Ron’s suggestion, changed junction box with better wiring.
Last addition, degritter, extra water tank and 10 inch adaptor.
Plus a lot of records and CDs. this is very rewording journey. Boss (wife) usually don’t come down but when she comes, like this afternoon, she sits down and enjoy the music.
Cannot think of anything to change or add in short term, the system has good synergy and very revealing. It brings a lot of joy and make me focus on the music. Maybe when time comes, will consider upgrade the pre-amp (Shindo or XP-32) and DS MKII.
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RedRiver, what do you like about this with the P20? Had you compared it to others when making this choice?
Hi, Tony, I didn’t have chance comparing P20 with others side by side. When P20 came in, it improved the details and transparency very noticeably, a darker background. It is quite obvious both analog and digital sources benefited from it. the pre and power amp also seem to like it, they sounded sweet and had more punch / impacts. The later addition of SX cable (powering P20) and better 20A outlet added some sparkles on top end (they do make difference). Put this way, before I had P20, I may get that dark and quiet background feel in late night listening. However, when two subs powered by P20 at the same time, they buzzed and I ended up power them using wall outlet instead. Besides this, we had P20 since late 2018 and never have any issues since, it is pretty darn reliable. We only use a fraction of its power allowance, thus it is just tad warm.
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Thanks. I was wondering, though, if you had had a chance to use any other power cords in your process that led you to the SX.
Hi Tony, I was using Shunyata Venom 20A cable for a long time to power P20. I thought since P20 is regenerator and input power cable would probably not gonna make much difference, I was pretty surprised when I first change the outlet to better one, it made difference, then the SX really brings out a lot of details and sparkles out of music. It is not a fair comparison between the two, but I will not go back to use Venom upstream of P20 for sure. Reason I decided to go with Audience SX because all other cables (power, phono, signal, speaker) in our system are either Audience SE or SX. When I first used SX and changed from SE (pre-amp to power amp), The SX cables added that sparkle to the sound. SE is very musical but was a bit laid-back in comparison. Thus I decided to go with Audience SX for P20.
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Thanks RedRiver!
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Good looking system 
It may be me and my “trailer trash” origins but I liked the aesthetic of the sofa-mattresses in the corners
The hanging quilt is great too, does it cover a screen?
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First day I used sofa-mattresses as sound absorbers. In the past I used stacks of books at each corner for my ATC SCM20 speakers. The mattresses didn’t do well as books. Later I added tube traps and they made significant difference for this poorly damped basement room.
In the center is Panasonic plasma TV. We used to watch movies in this room. The TV is so heavy and I just covered it up with thick quilts and didn’t bother moving it elsewhere. If we want to watch movies (very rare) we will remove the quilt.
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I’m a big fan of covering tv screens
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I’m a big fan of no TV screen.
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Well yes, my preference too but not always possible
I always said the best thing my wife and I did was to get a house with two living rooms…
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TV cover (sub-topic)
I have a multi-use room where I have a TV (77”) in place. I’ve found some basic dust covers ( even some stylish ones), but my question is are there acoustic friendly covers out there? Would have to be pretty easy to get on and off if there is such a thing.
Thanks in advance
Shaun
The right amount of damping is what is needed for the room, learned from dealer who sold us the speakers and rack. His showroom used to have a lot of panels / traps and music sounded dull and lifeless. Then he started removing panels and deliberately kept a little bit room resonance, and the music became lively. For our basement, before we had tube traps, there were too much mushiness and resonances, tube traps at each corner and thick memory foam cushion on the floor cured it. I didn’t find imaging or details were lost when I removed the quilts from TV, actually it sounded a bit crisp without the cover. there were many times I was planning replacing TV with some decent diffusers, ended up with $$$ went to other sound improvements and music (records, CDs). Plus, I am getting old and lazy:-)
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Small dollar outlay brings huge satisfaction. The Bluesound Node streamer is killer for $500 feeding the “lowly” DS Mk1 via coax. Very impressed with SQ and BluOS interface. Not quite at CD level with the Jay’s transport but huge bang for the buck.
Edit: Just tried the USB interface and think it sounds better.
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Bluesound is such a value.
I love the Node’s sound but I also have some Bluesound speakers for casual and desktop listening which continue to surprise me in terms of listening enjoyment.
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I moved the Parasound A23+ over to the secondary Infinity system, mated with the Parasound P6 preamp, so that I could have the Conrad Johnson PV10AL tube preamp feed the M1200’s again as the main system. The magic is back, and yes, this combo is truly magical. Sound quality is being helped by an unofficial, and inexpensive, sound-absorbing lawnchair cushion leaning against the upper tv.
Since the 2 systems are still apart, the P12 powerplant is helping at the secondary system where the incoming power distortion is over 8%.
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Whenever they become available again, you should upgrade that Node with a Raspberry Pi 4. Running RoPieee and USB out, it obliterates the Bluesound units with ease, not to mention saves you about $350.
I’ve had the Node 2, 2i and Node. Needless to say, the Raspberry Pi has stayed.
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