By Juan C. Ayllon Living in the Midwest, summer is a festive season for us. It’s as if we emerge a cold winters thaw and come out to play. It is a time when we especially enjoy entertaining family and friends. Yesterday, was an especially gratifying celebration of family and music. The Purveyors of Music My current audio setup consists of a Lampizator DSD Komputer music server linked to a modified Lampizator Lite 7 DAC (added chokes, a few removed resistors and upgraded capacitors) via USB cable on the digital side and a VPI Industries Prime turntable with an Ortofon Quintet Black cartridge and a VPI Viper phono stage on the analog side (I am reviewing the VPI gear). They all feed into a PS Audio BHK Signature preamplifier that I am also reviewing and my Odyssey Stereo Khartago Extreme SE amplifier that feeds a review pair of Usher Mini Dancer Two DMD speakers and is connected to a Hsu Research ULS-15 Mk 2 subwoofer (crossed over at roughly 40-45 Hz). Cabling throughout is by Straight Wire. Mounted on the wall above is our Vizio 65” flat screen TV that feeds into the DAC via Toslink (optical connection). I control digital playback either via my iPhone 7 or a Mini iPad 2 using the Roon app for playback. The system has a great deal of synergy with its detailed, balanced and full-bodied presentation for two channel listening, reviewing and home theater. I was looking forward to showcasing it later that evening when my wife, Belle, and I were having my step daughter, Colleen, and her husband, Drew over for dinner. But, first things first! Less is More In the afternoon, I did a little pruning in my listening space, which is actually our family room. For quite some time, Belle has been hounding me to take down the triangular acoustic cushions adorning the corner junctures where ceilings meet adjacent walls that I installed with clear push pins last year as part of my acoustics treatment. She said that they shrunk the space and looked rather ridiculous. In the interests of domestic tranquility, I took them down. After all, I had much larger absorption panels and bass traps placed about the room (coincidentally, I also agreed to remove the portable acoustic panel that I keep at the right reflection point by the fireplace when I’m not engaged in serious listening). And then a funny thing happened. Firing up the stereo, I played several DSD selections from Diana Krall’s When I Look in Your Eyes album before moving onto the Anthony Wilson Trio’s Jack of Hearts. I was startled with how the sound opened up. After Belle arrived home from shopping, she made it down to the listening room. “Oh, that looks much, much better!” she said and, after listening to several cuts of Krall, she remarked how much better the system sounded. In fact, the Usher Mini Dancer Two DMD speakers never sounded better. “When the kids were small, I used to play with them and talk to them through a cardboard tube,” she added. “That’s what it sounded like before.” Of course, she was exaggerating, but I had over-dampened the room with all the acoustic absorption I’d put up, resulting in a slightly congested sound. Now, the room was a little bit more lively and natural sounding. So, I snapped photos of the unneeded cushions and a few other items and listed them for sale at USAudioMart.com. Then, we prepared for dinner. I vacuumed, ran out to the store to buy a few last minute items and peeled sweet potatoes, while Belle mopped, chopped vegetables, marinated the pork chops following a recipe she’d discovered online and lit a few candles. Before they arrived, I searched the TIDAL music app linked up to ROON and found Belle, who’s partial to Country music, the album, Strummin’ on Garth by Books Jefferson. She loved it! In fact, she listened to it twice and said, “Let’s play that when they come.” We certainly did — and then some! They brought along their six month old goldendoodle puppy, Lexi, to play with our year and a half old goldendoodle, Liam. They immediately began chasing each other around the kitchen and living rooms. As usual, Drew and I took turns cleaning up the pee of two very excited dogs. A Delectable Dinner Sipping drinks and sitting around the kitchen island while I broiled slices of sweet potato, zucchini and egg plant and Belle pan seared the pork chops, we noshed, laughed and heard about Colleen’s and Drew’s recent trip to Ireland. Surprise — a Guest DJ After dinner, I took Drew downstairs to the family/listening room, where I handed Drew the mini iPad and showed him how he could search out and play the latest music on TIDAL. Belle, who’d given Colleen a rice mask facial, came down with Colleen and the dogs in tow. Drew was like a kid with a new toy, acting as DJ for us all over the next several hours, serving up a wide variety of country and rock. Not an audiophile, he relished playing his favorite tunes on a high fidelity system. At one point, he mentioned that he loved Johnny Cash, so I played him Johnny Cash’s At Folsum Prison album in DSD from my collection on the Komputer. As my Lampizator Lite 7 DAC requires a button to be pushed to engage its DSD reading engine, I activated it. That piqued Drew’s interest. “What’s DSD?” he asked. I explained that it’s a higher resolution format of recording that was used in Super Audio CDs — kind of the opposite of MP3 recordings. We laughed, we listened and watched the dogs exhaust themselves playing. Towards the end of the night, Colleen asked if I was going to buy the Usher speakers. I said that I thought I would and asked what she thought. Having heard other speakers in my room, she said that she liked them a lot and thought I should. It was about midnight when we said our goodbyes. Upon reflection, I find that audio, like summertime, is often best enjoyed with family and friends. And yesterday was a classic case in point. Cheers.
2 Comments
12/14/2018 07:34:06 pm
An interesting discussion is worth comment. I think that you should write more on this topic, it might not be a taboo subject but generally people are not enough to speak on such topics. To the next. Cheers
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3/30/2022 10:39:26 pm
I very much appreciate it. Thank you for this excellent article. Keep posting!
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Juan C. AyllonA writer, artist, educator and owner of Prairie Audio Man Cave, he lives with his wife, Isabel (AKA Belle), and their Goldendoodle, Liam, enjoys listening to high fidelity music and all things hi-fi at their home in the greater Chicagoland area.. Archives
March 2024
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