System Pics 2023

How to get the best out of a monitor audio smart speaker. Forget bluetooth and feed it high res via a dragonfly DAC.

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I took the picture last night while listening to Massive Attack’s Blue Lines. You can see where I have the volume control. I didn’t measure the dBs from my listening position, but it was a comfortably engaging volume. Maybe the 9 o’clock position would be tolerable too, and I would have had more slam, etc.

However, what’s been surprising is that coupled with the 19s, it is producing enjoyable slam and bass. Not as much as the 52/250 combo of course, but the rest of what it does is surely noteworthy and consistently remarkable.

I’m only 8 albums in, but so far, I’m not missing the 52/250.

If I feel the same at 100 albums in then it might be time to evaluate simplifying my system.

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I can recommend you try some alternatives to the Lavender.

Yes, I have several, but wanted to start with a baseline and the Lavender does an excellent job at that.

Next up is a Morgana.

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That’s amazing.! I must get to hear one of those little naits one day

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Yorkshireman, which you will recommend to test?

All the usual suspects and maybe even the odd unusual one too.

I would need to do some more testing before I could recommend any cables to you or anybody else.

However a few years ago I bought a second hand Silver (Sean Jacobs) Custom HiFi Cables 5 pin din 180 to rca cable, I can’t remember what I originally bought it for and it’s remained unused for quite a long time.

I had a Witch Hat Morgana 4 pin din which I used with my old Dac V1 but since getting my Naim dac I’ve been waiting for the Witch Hat spring offer to buy a 5 pin din cable so was using the Lavender as a stop gap.

All my other cables are Witch Hat Morgana except for that one source cable and recently felt (instinctively/intuitively) it was maybe letting the system down.

Earlier last week I swapped my old Lavender cable for the Sean Jacobs Silver din - rca I had lying around and it made such a big difference for the better.

Less harshness, stronger/tighter bass, clearer, more detail, more natural and all that at lower volume levels.

At hifi shows I’ve heard Chord demos where I can hear a clear difference so as I said I need to do some more testing myself.

Tom Tom recently suggested the higher end Chord cables to me like Signature, Sarum T, and Music.

Yorkshireman, thank you for sharing! Have you had the chance to compare Morgana speaker Phantom vs Spectre and Witch cables vs Tellurium? There are some threads in later one and sounds like there is parity among users.
Believe Chord top end are good, but too expensive for some systems.

I have Phantom, Nac A5 and Nac A4 and I have Spectre on order but not received yet.

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After recently swapping my Lavender source 5 pin din cable (that I was using as a stop gap) between my Naim Dac and my Nac 52 for a Sean Jacobs Silver cable I’d say that it’s brought both my systems and all my speakers shown in that picture upto a similar level.

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Let the Easter fun begin, well once I recover from moving my Target R2 stands, forget what beasts they are, the Q60s light in comparison.

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Still warming up after some time in storage but already driving the cabin beautifully

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That looks exactly as I imagine a man cave to be. Wish I had one!

Cheers Graham, it had multiple uses a few years ago when my youngest daughter was into her dance, hence the mirrors!

It’s been a brilliant bolt hole for both daughters over the years with friends over and parties etc.

As they’ve got older it’s been less multipurpose and more just the gym and escape for late night listening when I don’t want to disturb anyone in the house.

It’s an awesome sound chamber too, so can sit in the garden with the doors open in summer and the sound just floats out.

It’s definitely loving these big Gurus and I think I need to rationalise some of my speakers, especially as I have a pair of Klipsch out on loan to a mate that I really don’t need another “spare” pair if these Q60’s stay put.

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Are B&W still servicing Nakamichi decks? I had My ZX7 & RX202 serviced by them. I’m looking for a home for 800+ mint Deutsche Grammophon cassette tapes as I’ve moved abroad.

Afaik unless things have changed, not any more

No. I used Wilkinson’s Hi-fi near Manchester. Not sure if it breaks forum rules, but this is their email address wilkinsons@hifi.repair

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I used Wilkinson’s too. They fixed the problem within a week and the price was a super bargain too.

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Wow! Congrats! The Q60s are looking great. Have fun …