All my vices in one spot!
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Yes. The Cambridge is my cd transport. I’d really love to get my hands on a used PerfectWave transport. I’m still within my return period on the Cambridge is if I find one, we’ll see…
Get them direct, unpainted, for much less too. Any latex works fine
Are they Golden Ear or Definitive Technology?
Goldenear Triton One
Hi Mathew,
Some of us are bothering PS Audio for a Stellar Memory Player with I2S output.
If you are alternatively considering the P3 Powerplant, I‘d go for that one with priority.
The Cambridge Audio looks good with the Stellar, and I trust that Cambridge Audio products always play above their price league.
In the meanwhile we could use some support for trying to further persuade PS Audio into designing and building a Stellar Memory Player with matching I2S output to the GCDAC.
Darren Myers has nearly finished the Stellar Phono Stage. It is supposed to sound really good and I trust Darren Myers on that one considering his achievements with the Stellar range so far. However, I have reservations about the price of the Stellar phono stage. US$ 2000 is rather out of proportion with the Stellar no nonsense price philosophy for a Phono stage and PS Audio’s roots either, as their business started with good sounding affordable phono stages.
Thorens on the other hand just introduced their gorgeous TD1600 and TD1601 turntables at the HighEnd exhibition in Munich for approx EUR 2000 resp. EUR 3000. The TD1601 features RCA+balanced output, with a smart auto stop feature that does not have mechanical switches and thus does not compromise the sound quality. Yet extending the lifetime of the cartridge and providing serious comfort.
Regarding a perfectly matching phono stage Gunter Kürten recent owner of Thorens informed me that Thorens is working on a full balanced phono stage to be released in 2020. That Thorens fully balanced Phono stage is expected to be in a no nonsense price range, meaning most likely more attractive then the single ended Stellar stage. Note, it will feature full balanced in- and outputs, a perfect match with the Stellar GCDAC XLR input.
Gunter Kürten wants to take Thorens back to it’s high end quality for a no nonsense price position, which fits right in with the PS Audio Stellar philosophy. Just watch the TD1600 and TD1601 press releases, and see what I mean.
I don’t work for Thorens neither do I have any other relation to them other than that I just get excited about such developments as I am equally excited about the PS Audio technology, their Stellar amps, quality and features.
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So my new Stellar System was sounding great (posted photos yesterday) but I could tell that this was still yet more that I was missing. I broke down and completely reconfigured my office in order to put my system in a more typical configuration. The difference is unbelievable - me thinks for three reasons: 1.) Shorter cables all around, 2:) best setup for the speakers, and 3…
This is the one that blew me away - the AC power outlet that I’m now using is a new outlet that was added to our building this past year. The one that I was using was from the 1970s. The plug itself was new, but the electric cable was old, I’m certain. The difference was un-freaking-believable. I’m still using my cheesy Panamax power conditioner, but still. Jeez. I seem an upgrade to a power plant in my future 
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Nice set up!
I have three super-cheap (two are free!) “tweak” suggestions for you to consider:
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If you have room, move the speakers forward in the room just enough for the tweeters to clear the plane of the front of your equipment rack (maybe they are forward enough already; hard to tell);
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I think you have your speakers upside down. If you do, I suspect that you will improve the overall sound if you flip them over such that the “tweeters” are closer to the height of your ears when you are in your listening position; and
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Pick up a package of Blue-tack and roll up 16 little balls of the stuff. Then place a ball of Blue-tack under each corner of your speakers and under each corner of your stands… This type of coupling is often a good practice. You may or may not hear a marked improvement but its a cheap tweak and always fun to try things like this that don’t really cost much.
Sorry for jacking your thread a bit.
Enjoy!
[Edit: Never mind about flipping the speakers. I was not familiar with these. Cool kit!]
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Latest interesting DIY tweak is lowering the resistance of my ESL bias supply to keep panel charge more stable in higher humidity conditions. Went from around 18M ohms to 10M ohms. Initial impressions are favorable at around 55% RH. Sound is crisper which is the goal. Don’t want to run the A/C when temps aren’t that high but humidity is due to rain, etc.
Maybe we can start calling it SP3 from here, to clearly differentiate it from what it replaced (which was commonly called P3).
55% RH sounds rather dry to me.
Guess it’s all “relative”. Sorry I couldn’t resist. Dew point is probably a better measure of how sticky it feels.
I’m enjoying this forum and its polite participants very much!
I love to see other systems and setups and therefore it’s only fair to share mine. Hope you like it (sorry, no elephant).
Remko
PS Audio P10
Sonus Faber Guarneri Memento
conrad-johnson CT5 and conrad-johnson Premier 140 (C1 upgrade)
Auralic Aries Femto, Matrix X-SPDIF 2 and PS Audio DSD
JA Michell Gyrodec SE, RB300, Benz Micro Ace L and Project Phono Box DS+
Rack: Solidsteel 6.4
ICs: Audioquest Water, Earth and Wind
HDMI: Audioquest Mocha
USB: Audioquest Diamond
Power Cables: AH! Triac AC Direkt (PrimaLuna homebrand)
Speaker Cables: AH! DLS Direkt KB10 (PrimaLuna homebrand)
IsoAcoustics Bordeaux
Shun Mook (Giant) Diamond Resonators and Mpingo discs
Bybee Technologies Active Room Neutralizers
Herbie’s Audio Lab Ultrasonic RX tube dampers
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With that grand piano it’s a true music room. The Sonus Faber Guarneri Momento are optically a real match to the grand. Now you can compare the life music to the stereo at first hand.
With that space behind your speakers I trust that your system will have no stage imaging problems.
Did the PS10 improve your sound very much. We have a rather solid grid in The Netherlands, compared to the US. Is the difference still audible?
Heel mooi systeem, je naam, maar ook de PTT wandcontactdoos verklapt je herkomst. Gr. Rudolf
@remkohuijgen - Nice SF speakers, I have the Guarnieri Evolution mains w/ REL subs. You should try the Iconoclast SPTPC speaker cables… and OCC XLRs… amazing sound stage. My SFs came alive with those cables and the sound stage is so real.
Beautiful set up!
I am a professional church musician and a pianist. When you really know the sound of acoustic instruments, it only makes you all the more demanding of your audio gear.
True.
I have a grand piano in the same room as my main system. I have recorded the piano and played it back in the same space. It is fascinating how close the recorded sound is in this circumstance. Yet the reproduced piano is still not the same.
This might be the reason why adding something (like speaker designs with resonating walls) can result in a worse experience theoretically but a better experience compared with a real instrument. (not that I finally or generally prefer resonating speaker walls, but I’m open for them depending on the result)
Very nice, any reason why the speakers are tilted up?
How is the Project Phono Box DS+? If it is any good (and I like Project a lot) must be the best value phono stage ever.
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