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e-mail to:
Shane Mattson
Shane's web
site
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I am 26 years old,
not married yet (with the same girl for 8 years.....soon to be married....)
and have been serious about high-end audio for about 5 years.Ý My first
system consisted of mostly Adcom electronics and NEAR speakers......how
could I have listened to this?Ý Oh well, when you are in your early 20's
trying to get some good work, money is tough to come by....
My current system is located in a medium
size room which is not really
suitable for proper system setup.Ý The
goal is to move it into a dedicated acoustically treated listening room
by the end of this year.Ý As you can see in the pictures there is no sound
treatment as of yet, but this is going to change very soon.Ý Also, the
front-end components are sitting between the Apogee Stage's which is not
where they will be staying.Ý I plan on moving the preamplifier and digital
components to the back side of the room leaving the Levinson amplifier
between the Stage's.Ý The only thing holding me back from doing that now
is the current room configuration.
Type of music I listen to: 40% Jazz (traditional
and contemporary), 40% Classical, 20% POP/Rock.
For evaluation CD's I use test CD's from
Stereophile, Chesky and Denon.Ý I use a digital sound pressure meter along
with test tones generated from the Stereophile test CD.Ý I plot out the
results on a home-made graph to get an overview of the audio spectrum from
where the measurements were taken.Ý A very cheap approach to sound measurement,
allowing me to put my money into the system rather than expensive test
gear.
System's Components
| Turntable: |
None in present use |
| CD Transport: |
Sonic Frontiers SFT-1 |
| D/A Converter: |
Mark Levinson No.36 |
| Line Preamp: |
Sonic Frontiers SFL-2 (Upgraded Siemens Gold-tip 6922's) |
| Power Amp: |
Mark Levinson No.27 (100w/ch dual mono) |
| Speakers: |
Apogee Stage with Apogee stands |
| Interconnects: |
MIT digital reference AES/EBU, MIT Proline
AES/EBU, Kimber Select KS-1120 AES/EBU |
| Speaker Cables: |
MIT MH-750 CVT Bi-wire |
| Accessories: |
Bright Star Airmass 3 isolation component under SFT-1, No.36, SFL-2
power supply.Ý Brightstar Airmass 3S under SFL-2. APC Uninterupted Power
Supply for SFT-1 and No.36 |
Shane's comments
about his System:
AA: "Shane, how would you describe
your system's sound?"
SM: "Very balanced. All components
work very well with each other. No harsh upper end, bass is tight and well
defined, midrange texture is full but without any trace of congestion"
AA: "Do you think there is room
for improvement?"
SM: "The bottom end needs to be
a little more defined."
AA: "Have you got plans for upgrading?"
SM: "Yes. I am going to replace
the Apogee Stage's with Wilson Watt/Puppies." |
