Showing (off) your Roon setup - description and photos [2015-04 .. 2021-03]

Well Tempered Lab GTA turntable, EMT JSD6 cartridge, Well Tempered Lab DPS, Audio Research PH9 phono preamp.

The Levinson is a No 326S preamplifier. I run two systems, one solid state, and the other tube based. I like the variety.

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I had ATC SCM 20 for over 10 years and I replaced them with ATC Active 100. I enjoyed my Active ATC 100 for about 5 years. Absolutely Awesome speaker. It sounded better than anything I had ever heard before. Your Active 100 appear to be the lovely Rosewood finish - one of my favourite veneers from ATC. Yours look about 15 years old with the older Vifa tweeter which is actually very similar to my well loved old 100s.

Sadly I had to get rid of my ATC Active 100 speakers.

It was awful to be without them and I still miss them and I didnā€™t think I could ever find something that sounded better. In the end I found something that sounded a little bit better - not night and day better but slightly better in all aspects. I donā€™t think I will ever replace theseā€¦

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Those are ATC SCM 25ASL speakers if I am not mistaken.

Holy macaroni, Iā€™d bet youā€™re a happy camper. Iā€™m sure I would not part with these if I ever be luck enough to have them, super nice. :smile:

Hereā€™s my (rather complicated) setup. Iā€™ve worked to get music accessible in hd across my whole property including ā€“ inside and outside ā€“ and now have 15 zones served by a roon nucleus+ (not counting computers that can also be a zone). Everything related to music has a hardwired network connection with 10G links to important areas. My nucleus holds all of my music (~70K tracks) in a 4TB SSD which is backed up to a Synology NAS. I donā€™t have a dedicated listening room so have a setup in my theater area that can let my McIntosh AV Processor manage all speakers (and crossovers) when playing video but lets a JL Audio Subwoofer Crossover manage the same left, right and sub speakers when playing audio. This gives me the ability to tune for both movie playing and music playing.

Iā€™ve included a diagram and some pics. Enjoy.

Hereā€™s my theater cabinet and racks that was custom builtā€¦

Hereā€™s my network rack serving the propertyā€¦

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You my friend are my kindred spirit. I have a much of the same gear except I didnā€™t score that new UBNT router.

Nice! Great mindsā€¦ :slight_smile: The new UBNT router seems solid. I actually just got it and am in the process of transitioning from my checkpoint 790 firewall/router which is still in the rack in my picā€¦

Check out the new Allo Katana DAC if youā€™re looking at a new HAT Graham. I think it can do balanced outputs with some DIY soldering.

@Graham_Bird Take a look at the Apple Pi DAC, compatible with a screen with Ropieee.

@andybob, @Henry_McLeod,

Thanks! I had seen the APi but not the Katana (though I had heard of Boss).

What struck me about both of these is that a) we are counting angels on a pinhead in terms of tech specs - now it may be that others can hear these reflected as a prefereable sound, but we got to techie stuff very quickly. To me (and this is a VERY personal opionion), these might be fun to play with and check out but Iā€™m not seeing an overwhelming benefit over e.g. the IQAudio boards Iā€™m running. And they are 3 times the price, and the katana especially looks like very hard work.

Where are folks finding a HAT + touch screen case, perhaps I missed it?

It looks like time for someone to do a direct comparison of the HATs out there: Iā€™d really like to see that!

So, at least for now, in my mind there is a gap for a Pi product that is much more aesthically pleasing as a total package and (separately) a better tablet solution than Iā€™ve found to date.

Has anyone got direct exeprience of these two HATs? On a head to head basis?

Thanks for the inputs folks!

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The Pi is just shipping. Mine is at the DHL reception depot. Nobody will have been able to make direct comparisons yet, but the APi does work with the official Raspberry Pi 7 inch screen and SBC. But the official enclosure for both wonā€™t cover a HAT without some faffing around.

You can use a number of cases with touchscreen and HAT. Audiophonics sell one called RaspTouch but not cheap.
This oneā€™s with a hat already but they sell it on its own to.

https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/network-audio-players-rasptouch/rasptouch-open-source-player-es9023-dac-raspberry-pi-3-silver-p-11255.html

Cheaper ones tend not to cover the hat or need some slight modification to cover such as this one

https://www.modmypi.com/raspberry-pi/screens-and-displays/screen-cases/raspberry-pi-7-touchscreen-display-case-black?gclid=CjwKCAjwtIXbBRBhEiwAWV-5nhHIbxfq3LjWB9HbAmAScXl1e_ERhC22IQcdHi7s6wsDvxwa1dS6IxoCWx4QAvD_BwE

or this is uncovered,

http://www.eleduino.com/Raspberry-Pi-Official-7-Touchscreen-Display-Case-100%-Bamboo-Made-p10581.html

I have both.

@pl_svn: what speakers are you driving with that J2? That amp is on my short list. Iā€™ll be going from VTL tubes to solid state, and Iā€™d love to learn what you have to say about the First Watt.

@Antonio_Bendezu speakers are Klipsch Cornwall III (purchased for the 2A3 SET Iā€™ll never part with :wink: )
(thinking about some Zus in the future, but theyā€™re very hard to hear in a shop, here)

still having mixed feelings about the J2 (Iā€™m just on my 2nd day with it) but itā€™s a keeper for sure
what I can say so far compared to the above 2A3 SET (Don Garber Fi ā€œXā€):

  • dead quiet! (ā€œthumpsā€ when turning it on, though. but nothing major)
  • lightning fast, live, engaging :slight_smile:
  • unexpectedly (my fault) way warmer sound (Iā€™m not fond of warm sounding stuff)
  • almost on par as far as ā€œlivelinessā€ is concerned butā€¦ more micro-detail :slight_smile:
  • mids and highs to die for (maybe a tad sibilating, sometimes, on Ss: depends on recordings)
  • great bass and very ā€œenergeticā€ (when needed). maybe a tad ā€œless controlledā€ (these 15" woofers are pretty hard to tame :stuck_out_tongue: ) than with my tubes
  • definitely not suited (as my SET) for orchestral music :frowning:
  • just great for whatever music makes your toes tapping :wink: plus, obviously, voice, strings, chamber music, jazz, world etc
  • personally Iā€™d pick it over (almost) any 300B I ever heard. not sure aboutā€¦ over a 2A3 but they can live side by side (and they will, here :wink: )

oh, andā€¦ remember: it mostly is a 45x40cm radiator constantly at 55-60Ā° C (these days) :grimacing:

Iā€™ve been contemplating Heresys fed by a BottleHead SET amp. Heresys donā€™t seem to have much bass, according to specs.

Is it true Cornwalls need to be against a wall or in a corner?

Thank you, @pl_svn! Thatā€™s the most useful information Iā€™ve seen about the J2. The reviews gush, but they donā€™t seem to go into much detail about the sound. Iā€™m familiar with the Klipsch sound, too, so that helps me understand. Iā€™m a little concerned about the warm nature of the sound, but my speakers could probably use that emphasis.

@xxx: I have a pair of Heresy speakers, and Iā€™m happy with the bass. It wonā€™t reproduce the deep stuff in the trip-hop I like to enjoy, but I donā€™t find the bass missing whenever I listen, and my main system speakers go down to 25Hz. The dude I bought them from (in a Walmart parking lot) threw in a Klipsch subwoofer, and I have not been compelled to connect it yet, after a year of enjoying them. I would not place the Heresy or Cornwall in a corner, but the Heresy does well very close to the back wall in my rig. Youā€™ll definitely get better imaging and soundstage if you bring them out into the room, though, IMO.

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mines are placed 20-40cm (toed in) away from a (glass) wall on the back and 2,5mt away from side walls
spent months slightly moving them ā€œaroundā€ to find the best position :roll_eyes:

Heresysā€™ bass isā€¦ ehm :stuck_out_tongue: (a dear friend has a pair)

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@CrystalGipsy, thanks Iā€™ll check them out.

Cheers

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Wanna try the bass of my Heresyā€™s? Theyā€™ll blast your ears out with my 3.5 Watt tube amp. At 60% volume, without distortion! :slight_smile:

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How do they image, so close to the back wall?