Original d'Atelier

[Pim]

Easy, I'm a sparky

Oh well Pim I'm expecting big things from you then. Dedicated consumer unit feeding off the power entry point, new earth rod (chem rod?!), some nice thick copper wire in the walls, maybe dedicated circuits for each unit... and don't forget decent Furutech or at least hospital grade outlets!!   

Maybe lots of impedance measurements before and after?

Go Pim!

Guillaume

Fredrik's setup looked interesting:

http://devialetchat.com/showthread.php?tid=3175

He's a sparky too 

Guillaume

I have to deal with the fact that I only have one fase coming into the house and I'm not sure if I'll be able to get another. I will look into it because the supply cable needs to be replaced anyway. If I can, I'll have a dedicated fase. If not, I'll at least have dedicated supplies straight from the main board but with the option of going battery powered one day.

As for power points; Because the O d'A came from Germany, it will have Schuko plugs on the cables so I will get some power points when I'm in Holland. 30 years ago I worked in a hospital as a sparky and last year I spent quite some time with my wife in intensive care and as far as I know there's no such thing as a hospital grade power point. I also paid attention to the network cables; ordinary Cat.5E.

I'm more inclined to take care of the room and that's got me thinking lately. Initially I thought of hanging the amps on the wall in a shallow shadow box. Nice light behind them, it would look great. And, because I can attach the board they're screwed onto to the outside wall with silicone they would hang virtually vibration free.

Now though, I've given it some more thought and I've got a sneaky suspicion that the new living room will be too large with too many reflections and I just think it won't sound right. There's no way on earth my wife will let me sound proof the whole room so I'm seriously considering making the master bedroom the main listening room. It is my living room now so I know how it sounds and I also know there's scope for improvement. I can hang the speakers on the wall opposite the bed head. They could be 30-40cm off the back wall but I can clad that wall with some cloth and fill the void behind it with insulation. The void is 60cm deep (Roof overhang) so that filled with insulation should sound as if there's no wall at all behind it. I can fill the side walls (20cm deep) in the corners too. Then to combat side wall reflections further in the room there's a window just in the right spot on the left and I could do something on the right wall to even things out. The bed should take care of any other reflections.

All this thinking lead me to drop the idea of hanging the amps in the living room. I can just set them up on shelves and should the room sound ok, I could always keep using them in the living room. If not, they will get the wall treatment in the bedroom.

As for speakers. If the living room sounds ok, I want to go big, dollars permitting. If I have to go to the bedroom, I will do some serious research into bettering the Dynaudio C1's. The problem I'm facing there is that whatever speakers I get, they need to be able to be screwed onto wall brackets. Brackets can be custom made but the speakers need to have something to screw into. The C1's have that option but I almost bought Raidho D1's and I don't think they have.

I'm quite happy with the overall sound of the C1's but I would love to be able to just cranck them up a tad more than they can handle now. I guess with SAM on 0% and some in wall subs that's achievable. Maybe all they need is the 1.2 to 1.3 kW into their 4 Ohm load which the O d'A provides.

There you have it; first world problems. Great to have