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System Pics 2021

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Can I ask (sadly) where you got the chair? Looks very comfy...

The Armchair is a Hans Wegner GE290 replica, I bought mine as a pair locally off eBay a number of years ago. Plenty of places sell replicas online. :)
The Sofa is a 'Balder' sofabed from Innovation Living, highly recommended.
 
I've got a temporary audio solution in my weekend place now, just using bits that were easily to hand and didn't involve me raking about in the loft:

171831630.5XeYxM0C.hifi01.jpg

Despite the speaker placement it sounds ok - certainly better than the Echo dot I'd been using previously.

Not sure yet what'll be going in that room long term as I suspect SWMBO will not regard my spare Naim active set-up as being living room friendly - I suspect that'll have to go into the studio. The Onix DNA-45 might stay although whenever I've had that in system previously it's not lasted long and been replaced with something with better ergonomics - especially with a useable remote.

The dna45 is quite handy if you run out of logs though!:D
 
The last part of my system, a custom made music server, arrived and was personally installed by the man who built it for me – Lukasz Domansky of Lukasz Audio Labs. I was very grateful for this as not only did he tune the set up to the room and other components, but he fixed a number of cable compatibility issues between the server and the DAC that prevented playback. I guess this is one of the downsides to buying esoteric, small volume custom built equipment, but the upside is music far beyond what a mainstream product at the same price point could ever hope to give you.

IMG_0251 by Greg Turner, on Flickr

To give you some sort of context as to how good the server is, I had been trying a Silvercore Whanfried Edition line stage pre-amp. This is a special beast, fully silver monocrystal wiring throughout and very expensive (£24k via G-Point Audio). It was quite special and lifted the dynamics, soundstage, detail and overall musicality of my system to a heart breaking level. I’m not sure why I even agreed to listen to it as currently, now the system I have is bought and paid for, there is nothing left to finance anything more than what I have. And that’s OK because what I have is wonderful. But still, I found myself musing that just when I should be enjoying a decent bump in engagement and enjoyment with the arrival of the server, I found myself thinking that the departure of the pre-amp would be by far the greater wrench and the server would be simply trying to limit the loss, a task I didn’t expect it to do especially well. Afterall, how much better could this server be over the Macbook Pro I’d been using until then?

The answer is that the server didn’t just limit the loss of the pre-amp, it almost exceeded the improvement that the pre-amp had made. The experience is revelatory, astounding, superlative.

IMG_0249 by Greg Turner, on Flickr



IMG_0247 by Greg Turner, on Flickr

The server runs Roon as a core but Lukasz prefers the way HQ Player handles the files and passes them to the DAC. I can run either Roon or HQP but so far have not switched to Roon as the HQP output is sublime.

I cannot sing Lukasz’s praises highly enough. Yes I waited a very long time for the server and his management of time and expectations became something almost comical as one reason for a delay after another was offered, but I always had the sense that he was a genuine guy, truly passionate about music and building amazing servers that just sing like a nightingale. Even then, the wait time wasn’t that bad – ordered and paid for in January and delivered just last week. OK so twice as long as you might expect from a major brand from order to delivery, but the sound quality is equally as excessive. It really is quite magical.

IMG_0248 by Greg Turner, on Flickr

The complete and final system is thus as follows:

IMG_0253 by Greg Turner, on Flickr

- Lukasz Audio Lab custom built LDMS Mini server with Ideon Audio internal re-clocker, separate PSU and David Laboga interconnect between the PSU and server. The software is a custom stripped back Window OS tuned by Lukasz himself.

- Final Cut USB cable, custom made to Lukasz’s specs; the earthing arrangement in the DAC was causing problems with cable compatibility and none of the David Laboga cables would work but the one built by Lukasz works flawlessly and sounds superb

- Lampizator Golden Gate DAC with single ended 300B output tubes

- High Fidelity CT-1 Ultimate RCA interconnect – 5m runs from the DAC to the amps

- Silvercore 833c monobloc SET amps; 20W, hand wound silver output transformers sitting on Rogoz isolation tables

- High Fidelity CT-1 speaker cables

- Horns FP10s with internal silver wiring upgrade and matching Rogoz stands – the speakers are 30kg each, the stands are 45kg!

- Grapite Audio isolation cones under the DAC and between the speakers and stands and Graphic Audio pucks between the stands and the floor

- ProAudio Bono suspension table

- Some more Polish made kit that didn’t cost a lot and look just like sound diffusers; these are yet to be mounted onto the wall. For the money (£400) they are an easy upgrade to say yes to.

IMG_0254 by Greg Turner, on Flickr

The total spend is, being honest, an appreciable fraction of my mortgage. But this was the promise I made to myself after my marriage broke down and during the years of being very unhappy in that union and not being able/allowed to listen to music (indeed obliged to sell my Naim kit), I said I would put aside that fraction to buy a dream system. The room is the limiting factor, but the true near field listening position and sheer musicality of the overall presentation is far beyond what I would have thought possible from the budget.

If anyone would like to have a listen, I am in West Sussex and would be very happy to host you.

IMG_0247 by Greg Turner, on Flickr
 
Last edited:
Technics SL1200G into MM on a McIntosh MA252 driving Graham Audio somethings?…..it will come to me! I’ve had a wine and it’s also why the photo is slightly ‘off-kilter’….
 
The last part of my system, a custom made music server, arrived and was personally installed by the man who built it for me – Lukasz Domansky of Lukasz Audio Labs. I was very grateful for this as not only did he tune the set up to the room and other components, but he fixed a number of cable compatibility issues between the server and the DAC that prevented playback. I guess this is one of the downsides to buying esoteric, small volume custom built equipment, but the upside is music far beyond what a mainstream product at the same price point could ever hope to give you.

IMG_0251 by Greg Turner, on Flickr

To give you some sort of context as to how good the server is, I had been trying a Silvercore Whanfried Edition line stage pre-amp. This is a special beast, fully silver monocrystal wiring throughout and very expensive (£24k via G-Point Audio). It was quite special and lifted the dynamics, soundstage, detail and overall musicality of my system to a heart breaking level. I’m not sure why I even agreed to listen to it as currently, now the system I have is bought and paid for, there is nothing left to finance anything more than what I have. And that’s OK because what I have is wonderful. But still, I found myself musing that just when I should be enjoying a decent bump in engagement and enjoyment with the arrival of the server, I found myself thinking that the departure of the pre-amp would be by far the greater wrench and the server would be simply trying to limit the loss, a task I didn’t expect it to do especially well. Afterall, how much better could this server be over the Macbook Pro I’d been using until then?

The answer is that the server didn’t just limit the loss of the pre-amp, it almost exceeded the improvement that the pre-amp had made. The experience is revelatory, astounding, superlative.

IMG_0249 by Greg Turner, on Flickr

The server, which usually retails for £6,900, was built for me to a budget of around £3k so has some significant performance downgrades. It is sort of a LDMS Pico built into a Mini case with some hot rodded hardware that allows it to run Roon as a Core (the Pico doesn’t have the horsepower to do this). It’s hard to say how much it really cost because it was a package deal – Lukasz’s FP10 speakers and the server for £5k; I don’t know the second hand value of the FP10s as I don’t think they sell often if at all on the second hand market but even if I had paid £7k for this server I would have been exceptionally happy, and keep in mind that the ‘off the shelf’ LDMS Mini does have some major performance upgrades on top of the one I have and is the reason it retails for a shade under £7k.

IMG_0247 by Greg Turner, on Flickr

The server runs Roon as a core but Lukasz prefers the way HQ Player handles the files and passes them to the DAC. I can run either Roon or HQP but so far have not switched to Roon as the HQP output is sublime.

I cannot sing Lukasz’s praises highly enough. Yes I waited a very long time for the server and his management of time and expectations became something almost comical as one reason for a delay after another was offered, but I always had the sense that he was a genuine guy, truly passionate about music and building amazing servers that just sing like a nightingale. Even then, the wait time wasn’t that bad – ordered and paid for in January and delivered just last week. OK so twice as long as you might expect from a major brand from order to delivery, but the sound quality is equally as excessive. It really is quite magical.

IMG_0248 by Greg Turner, on Flickr

The complete and final system is thus as follows:

IMG_0253 by Greg Turner, on Flickr

- Lukasz Audio Lab custom built LDMS Mini server with Ideon Audio internal re-clocker, separate PSU and David Laboga interconnect between the PSU and server. The software is a custom stripped back Window OS tuned by Lukasz himself.

- Final Cut USB cable, custom made to Lukasz’s specs; the earthing arrangement in the DAC was causing problems with cable compatibility and none of the David Laboga cables would work but the one built by Lukasz works flawlessly and sounds superb

- Lampizator Golden Gate DAC with single ended 300B output tubes

- High Fidelity CT-1 Ultimate RCA interconnect – 5m runs from the DAC to the amps

- Silvercore 833c monobloc SET amps; 20W, hand wound silver output transformers sitting on Rogoz isolation tables

- High Fidelity CT-1 speaker cables

- Horns FP10s with internal silver wiring upgrade and matching Rogoz stands – the speakers are 30kg each, the stands are 45kg!

- Grapite Audio isolation cones under the DAC and between the speakers and stands and Graphic Audio pucks between the stands and the floor

- ProAudio Bono suspension table

- Some more Polish made kit that didn’t cost a lot and look just like sound diffusers; these are yet to be mounted onto the wall. For the money (£400) they are an easy upgrade to say yes to.

IMG_0254 by Greg Turner, on Flickr

The total spend is, being honest, an appreciable fraction of my mortgage. But this was the promise I made to myself after my marriage broke down and during the years of being very unhappy in that union and not being able/allowed to listen to music (indeed obliged to sell my Naim kit), I said I would put aside that fraction to buy a dream system. The room is the limiting factor, but the true near field listening position and sheer musicality of the overall presentation is far beyond what I would have thought possible from the budget.

If anyone would like to have a listen, I am in West Sussex and would be very happy to host you.



IMG_0247
by Greg Turner, on Flickr
Wow, lovely setup!
 
'GeeTee' - what a beautiful set-up and room, bet it sounds fabulous, for me, reading your equipment list one thing stood out immediately, 5m HiFidelity CT1 Ultimate, bet that hurt :)
Sorry to put a downer on such a wonderful post, but I tried to get onto the Lukasz Audio Lab website and was immediately blocked, saying it was a 'phishing site', anyone else had that problem?
 
'GeeTee' - what a beautiful set-up and room, bet it sounds fabulous, for me, reading your equipment list one thing stood out immediately, 5m HiFidelity CT1 Ultimate, bet that hurt :)
Sorry to put a downer on such a wonderful post, but I tried to get onto the Lukasz Audio Lab website and was immediately blocked, saying it was a 'phishing site', anyone else had that problem?

Thankyou Salamander. The room is really as important to me as the hifi as it's my 'expression' of my own taste and style and being able to make that expression without fear of being criticised was a big deal. That room is sort my sanctuary as well as a reaffirmation of personal identity. Sounds a bit trite I know but anyone who has lived in a difficult marriage will know very well what I mean.

The cables (as well as the DAC and speakers) were ex-demo so the cost was only a fraction of the RRP. I tried the speaker cables first and tested them against a wide range options that G-Point audio (the dealer that I bought the system from) loaned me and although the Luna Rouge I had in that bundle were my favourite, the cost difference was huge as the Lunas would have been bought new. The dealer I got the speaker cables from also had the RCA interconnect showing on his website but yeag, at that point he was asking I think £4,000 for it, down from £7,000! I had a feeling there might be a better deal to be had on it (second hand cables, even ones with brand names everyone knows, don't hold their value) so I asked to try it on loan and he agreed.

It was quite a significant improvement over the Albedo Monolith that I'd been trying so I made the dealer an offer! Not quite half what he had originally been asking but not very far from it and so not exactly cheap but more or less a third of RRP.

Link to Lukasz's website is https://www.lucasaudiolab.com/about/
 
Intriguing looking set up and a nice post. The polar opposite of my system philosophically but I’d love to hear it but a little too far from NE Scotland.

The last part of my system, a custom made music server, arrived and was personally installed by the man who built it for me – Lukasz Domansky of Lukasz Audio Labs. I was very grateful for this as not only did he tune the set up to the room and other components, but he fixed a number of cable compatibility issues between the server and the DAC that prevented playback. I guess this is one of the downsides to buying esoteric, small volume custom built equipment, but the upside is music far beyond what a mainstream product at the same price point could ever hope to give you.

IMG_0251 by Greg Turner, on Flickr

To give you some sort of context as to how good the server is, I had been trying a Silvercore Whanfried Edition line stage pre-amp. This is a special beast, fully silver monocrystal wiring throughout and very expensive (£24k via G-Point Audio). It was quite special and lifted the dynamics, soundstage, detail and overall musicality of my system to a heart breaking level. I’m not sure why I even agreed to listen to it as currently, now the system I have is bought and paid for, there is nothing left to finance anything more than what I have. And that’s OK because what I have is wonderful. But still, I found myself musing that just when I should be enjoying a decent bump in engagement and enjoyment with the arrival of the server, I found myself thinking that the departure of the pre-amp would be by far the greater wrench and the server would be simply trying to limit the loss, a task I didn’t expect it to do especially well. Afterall, how much better could this server be over the Macbook Pro I’d been using until then?

The answer is that the server didn’t just limit the loss of the pre-amp, it almost exceeded the improvement that the pre-amp had made. The experience is revelatory, astounding, superlative.

IMG_0249 by Greg Turner, on Flickr

The server, which usually retails for £6,900, was built for me to a budget of around £3k so has some significant performance downgrades. It is sort of a LDMS Pico built into a Mini case with some hot rodded hardware that allows it to run Roon as a Core (the Pico doesn’t have the horsepower to do this). It’s hard to say how much it really cost because it was a package deal – Lukasz’s FP10 speakers and the server for £5k; I don’t know the second hand value of the FP10s as I don’t think they sell often if at all on the second hand market but even if I had paid £7k for this server I would have been exceptionally happy, and keep in mind that the ‘off the shelf’ LDMS Mini does have some major performance upgrades on top of the one I have and is the reason it retails for a shade under £7k.

IMG_0247 by Greg Turner, on Flickr

The server runs Roon as a core but Lukasz prefers the way HQ Player handles the files and passes them to the DAC. I can run either Roon or HQP but so far have not switched to Roon as the HQP output is sublime.

I cannot sing Lukasz’s praises highly enough. Yes I waited a very long time for the server and his management of time and expectations became something almost comical as one reason for a delay after another was offered, but I always had the sense that he was a genuine guy, truly passionate about music and building amazing servers that just sing like a nightingale. Even then, the wait time wasn’t that bad – ordered and paid for in January and delivered just last week. OK so twice as long as you might expect from a major brand from order to delivery, but the sound quality is equally as excessive. It really is quite magical.

IMG_0248 by Greg Turner, on Flickr

The complete and final system is thus as follows:

IMG_0253 by Greg Turner, on Flickr

- Lukasz Audio Lab custom built LDMS Mini server with Ideon Audio internal re-clocker, separate PSU and David Laboga interconnect between the PSU and server. The software is a custom stripped back Window OS tuned by Lukasz himself.

- Final Cut USB cable, custom made to Lukasz’s specs; the earthing arrangement in the DAC was causing problems with cable compatibility and none of the David Laboga cables would work but the one built by Lukasz works flawlessly and sounds superb

- Lampizator Golden Gate DAC with single ended 300B output tubes

- High Fidelity CT-1 Ultimate RCA interconnect – 5m runs from the DAC to the amps

- Silvercore 833c monobloc SET amps; 20W, hand wound silver output transformers sitting on Rogoz isolation tables

- High Fidelity CT-1 speaker cables

- Horns FP10s with internal silver wiring upgrade and matching Rogoz stands – the speakers are 30kg each, the stands are 45kg!

- Grapite Audio isolation cones under the DAC and between the speakers and stands and Graphic Audio pucks between the stands and the floor

- ProAudio Bono suspension table

- Some more Polish made kit that didn’t cost a lot and look just like sound diffusers; these are yet to be mounted onto the wall. For the money (£400) they are an easy upgrade to say yes to.

IMG_0254 by Greg Turner, on Flickr

The total spend is, being honest, an appreciable fraction of my mortgage. But this was the promise I made to myself after my marriage broke down and during the years of being very unhappy in that union and not being able/allowed to listen to music (indeed obliged to sell my Naim kit), I said I would put aside that fraction to buy a dream system. The room is the limiting factor, but the true near field listening position and sheer musicality of the overall presentation is far beyond what I would have thought possible from the budget.

If anyone would like to have a listen, I am in West Sussex and would be very happy to host you.

IMG_0247 by Greg Turner, on Flickr
 
Intriguing looking set up and a nice post. The polar opposite of my system philosophically but I’d love to hear it but a little too far from NE Scotland.

Do share your system! I love someting that is the polar opposite to what I have. I have a friend who I introduced to the joys of our hobby some 12 years ago and he is now quite some way down the rabbit warren (a very serious system indeed) but his is similarly tangential in philosophy albeit it a very similar front end. He has the full LDMS Mini server and just recently acquired the top of the line Lampi DAC, the Pacific but he's playing that into an Audionet Stern/Heisenberg amp setup then into Wilson Benesch Resolutions with active subs and Skogrond cabling. His room is maybe four or five times the size of mine as is his investment in the system, so the experience is difficult to compare because my system is so small and intimate and so even though it's a much inferior system, it's less about the inferiority and more about the overall experience. His system can't do what mine does and vice versa, largely because of the room and execution not because of the investment in equipment.

It's an interesting idea; most of us build the system that we want or aspire to hear but perhaps we ought to build the system that the room wants us to hear? My room is teeny tiny - 3m by 3.8m - and there is only one listening spot but then it's just me (the kids do come in but not to listen to music), but the expereince is very intimate and the system has been built around that intimacy. My friend's big room/big system approach is like being in a concert hall with a full orchestra in front of you. The scale and dynamics combined with the nuanced and delicate detail is breathtaking, truly breathtaking. I haven't heard anything remotely close to what his system can do.

I would also love to visit the granite city so maybe one day I will pack my system up in my car and come visit!
 
The last part of my system, a custom made music server, arrived and was personally installed by the man who built it for me – Lukasz Domansky of Lukasz Audio Labs. I was very grateful for this as not only did he tune the set up to the room and other components, but he fixed a number of cable compatibility issues between the server and the DAC that prevented playback. I guess this is one of the downsides to buying esoteric, small volume custom built equipment, but the upside is music far beyond what a mainstream product at the same price point could ever hope to give you.

IMG_0251 by Greg Turner, on Flickr

To give you some sort of context as to how good the server is, I had been trying a Silvercore Whanfried Edition line stage pre-amp. This is a special beast, fully silver monocrystal wiring throughout and very expensive (£24k via G-Point Audio). It was quite special and lifted the dynamics, soundstage, detail and overall musicality of my system to a heart breaking level. I’m not sure why I even agreed to listen to it as currently, now the system I have is bought and paid for, there is nothing left to finance anything more than what I have. And that’s OK because what I have is wonderful. But still, I found myself musing that just when I should be enjoying a decent bump in engagement and enjoyment with the arrival of the server, I found myself thinking that the departure of the pre-amp would be by far the greater wrench and the server would be simply trying to limit the loss, a task I didn’t expect it to do especially well. Afterall, how much better could this server be over the Macbook Pro I’d been using until then?

The answer is that the server didn’t just limit the loss of the pre-amp, it almost exceeded the improvement that the pre-amp had made. The experience is revelatory, astounding, superlative.

IMG_0249 by Greg Turner, on Flickr

The server, which usually retails for £6,900, was built for me to a budget of around £3k so has some significant performance downgrades. It is sort of a LDMS Pico built into a Mini case with some hot rodded hardware that allows it to run Roon as a Core (the Pico doesn’t have the horsepower to do this). It’s hard to say how much it really cost because it was a package deal – Lukasz’s FP10 speakers and the server for £5k; I don’t know the second hand value of the FP10s as I don’t think they sell often if at all on the second hand market but even if I had paid £7k for this server I would have been exceptionally happy, and keep in mind that the ‘off the shelf’ LDMS Mini does have some major performance upgrades on top of the one I have and is the reason it retails for a shade under £7k.

IMG_0247 by Greg Turner, on Flickr

The server runs Roon as a core but Lukasz prefers the way HQ Player handles the files and passes them to the DAC. I can run either Roon or HQP but so far have not switched to Roon as the HQP output is sublime.

I cannot sing Lukasz’s praises highly enough. Yes I waited a very long time for the server and his management of time and expectations became something almost comical as one reason for a delay after another was offered, but I always had the sense that he was a genuine guy, truly passionate about music and building amazing servers that just sing like a nightingale. Even then, the wait time wasn’t that bad – ordered and paid for in January and delivered just last week. OK so twice as long as you might expect from a major brand from order to delivery, but the sound quality is equally as excessive. It really is quite magical.

IMG_0248 by Greg Turner, on Flickr

The complete and final system is thus as follows:

IMG_0253 by Greg Turner, on Flickr

- Lukasz Audio Lab custom built LDMS Mini server with Ideon Audio internal re-clocker, separate PSU and David Laboga interconnect between the PSU and server. The software is a custom stripped back Window OS tuned by Lukasz himself.

- Final Cut USB cable, custom made to Lukasz’s specs; the earthing arrangement in the DAC was causing problems with cable compatibility and none of the David Laboga cables would work but the one built by Lukasz works flawlessly and sounds superb

- Lampizator Golden Gate DAC with single ended 300B output tubes

- High Fidelity CT-1 Ultimate RCA interconnect – 5m runs from the DAC to the amps

- Silvercore 833c monobloc SET amps; 20W, hand wound silver output transformers sitting on Rogoz isolation tables

- High Fidelity CT-1 speaker cables

- Horns FP10s with internal silver wiring upgrade and matching Rogoz stands – the speakers are 30kg each, the stands are 45kg!

- Grapite Audio isolation cones under the DAC and between the speakers and stands and Graphic Audio pucks between the stands and the floor

- ProAudio Bono suspension table

- Some more Polish made kit that didn’t cost a lot and look just like sound diffusers; these are yet to be mounted onto the wall. For the money (£400) they are an easy upgrade to say yes to.

IMG_0254 by Greg Turner, on Flickr

The total spend is, being honest, an appreciable fraction of my mortgage. But this was the promise I made to myself after my marriage broke down and during the years of being very unhappy in that union and not being able/allowed to listen to music (indeed obliged to sell my Naim kit), I said I would put aside that fraction to buy a dream system. The room is the limiting factor, but the true near field listening position and sheer musicality of the overall presentation is far beyond what I would have thought possible from the budget.

If anyone would like to have a listen, I am in West Sussex and would be very happy to host you.

IMG_0247 by Greg Turner, on Flickr

That is a beautiful room and the system looks great. Like @Colin L your system philosophy is utterly different to mine, but if the end result is something that you love you’ve done the right thing. I may not be far from you, so perhaps a comparison will be possible!
 
I learnt something from the post by @geetee1972 . I didn’t realise you could post pictures from Flickr that are not public, useful if you don’t want miscellaneous pictures cluttering up your photo stream.
 
I learnt something from the post by @geetee1972 . I didn’t realise you could post pictures from Flickr that are not public, useful if you don’t want miscellaneous pictures cluttering up your photo stream.

Yeah I definitely don't want these images in my public stream although to be honest I don't use Flickr these days. It just doesn't have the audience (for fine art photography). Instagram is where you get the exposure in that field.
 
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