some lovely DanskFi.
Bit of an update from me…
I have updated my main speakers in my lounge moving from Monitor Audio Bronze 5’s to some lovely PMC Twenty5 22’s after demoing quite a few other speakers (including B&W 704 s2’s, Monitor Audio Gold 200 and Kef R5’s). They are a great speaker and I have moved from floorstanders to a sealed cabinet standmounts due to tricky positioning - e.g. in front of window. With rear ported speakers, even when bunged, I was getting too much bass.
I have added some acoustic panels at the back behind the sofa.
I have also been having issues with power outages, so I have added a new UPS (CyberPower CP900) into my server cupboard (bottom left) to keep my NAS and NUC running along with tidying up a few cables.
I have also changed from ROCK running on my NUC to windows 10, which is now running not only the core but also HQ Player. I have had a few teething issues to do with my own network and the power outages but it is all up and running now and it sounds great. A big thank you to @dabassgoesboomboom for helping me sort stuff out and to @jussi_laako for his product and support. Finally I have taken some room measurements and I have also used Thierry over at Home Audio Fidelity and I have filters with cross talk enabled loaded into HQ Player. This makes a big difference in my listening room.
The lounge set-up is getting there, its currently an Allo USBridge into a Mytek Liberty DAC feeding a Musical Fidelity M3i before going into the PMCs. Inevitably, I am starting to think about replacing the amp and streamer next, so I am not done yet!
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Why did you switch to Windows 10 (my own preference)?
He said he wanted to run HQ Player; and seems to be using it at the minimum for room correction as he mentions loading Thierry’s filters into HQPlayer.
Hi @James_Antognini, @Rugby is correct. I always liked ROCK on the NUC, as its very easy to maintain however I wanted to run HQ Player and Roon on the same machine so I switched to Windows 10. I use Chrome remote desktop to manage the NUC as I run it headless. It seems to work quite well (famous last words). I have tweaked the cooling profile of the fans to make it a little more aggressive and when the NUC is playing to the lounge endpoint and therefore using HQ Player (with filters), it tops out around 80c - 85c on a hot day, however right now its around 40c - 45c playing to my office endpoint.
Super Nice room and equipment !
But man …you need to punch a hole in the wall and bury those TV cables …even if its a rental property … getting someone to do it is $100 US …and if you need to fix them another $50
Yeah, and while you’re at it, why not rip the floor up and bury the speaker cables?
Very nice setup! +10 iFi points
How did you arrive at that speaker placement? I’m curious, because my room has similar features. Did you use a listening method, or a formula, or measurements?
Blame my wife, I do!
There is a much better speaker placement opportunity using the wall to the left (as you look at the speakers), but it would mean putting a sofa in front of the bay window which is not allowed, apparently. I am not bitter (I am).
To make the most of the tricky position I ended up going for closed back speakers to minimise the bass. This is why trying speakers at home is really worth it. I did have my mind set on the B&W’s but the PMC’s work so much better in my room.
Finally I took room measurements with REW (and physical measurements which you need to do - I have a terrible pencil drawing with it all on) and used Home Audio Fidelity’s filters to adjust the sound further. Its still not perfect, but pretty good considering the room.
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I love the DCS - Ayre combo!
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“Smooth operator” combo!
Is the opposite possible - ie sofa facing bay window instead - ie TV in the bay, speakers either side?
I know there is tradition about having sofa facing fireplaces, but that kind of ceased to be useful when smog laws came in 
BTW - you wont get an A-S2100 on that AV rack 
24Kg, depth by the time you have cables in - 45-50cm give or take a few - mine is on a DIY rack (made from a bunch of modified Ikea side tables, but that wont match you decor) of depth 55cm which is plenty of room to inset it a bit so knobs are well back and for cable connectors.
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No, I don’t think so, the current position is what I have to contend with now.
I am in the country, so no real issues there however we don’t use that fireplace anyway.
This presents an opportunity for a new rack then! The rack is a bit bigger than it looks, its actually 52cm deep and 24cm high (the aperture where the Musical Fidelity currently resides). Its actually pretty old and predates almost all our furniture and I have been looking at ways of updating it (e.g. darkening the wood with stain and changing the columns) or replacing it. It might just fit the A-2100 but I would worry about heat, although it would be fairly open.
The A-S2100 does need some space around it, a moderate gap of a few cm above is fine - it will probably get warmer than your AVR (Denon?).
Found the old photos I posted in this thread last year so you can see what I did with the Ikea lack stuff to accommodate the amp, AVR and Roon bits etc:
https://community.roonlabs.com/t/showing-off-your-roon-setup-description-and-photos/235/1242
The AV was supposed to be temporary, but other half liked it and short of spending silly money on a custom cabinet, we have never been able to find something that can accommodate the speakers and more to the point, speakers that I intend to replace them with (maybe Kef R or MA Gold).
Thanks @Adam_Goodfellow, that gives me some food for thought. The room looks great, and I like your desk setup behind.
I tested the new Monitor Audio Gold 200’s recently and I had my heart set on them but they were not great, it could be the room I tested in, but the bass was quite uncontrolled.
Yes - they need a lot of space around them and have to be well away from rear and side walls. Always the way with floor standers and had same issues with the Yamahas, but combination of placement and a bit of help from Roon procedural EQ just leaves me with nice flat and extended bass (with the help of a sub to subtly fill in below 45Hz.). Also the Yamaha amp exerts really rigid control of base which helps a lot as well - the same should be true of any good modern amp.
Not sure how I missed this last year. Super cool.
What genres/styles of music do you work professionally on/with?