[Weirdcuba]

Well, we finally got our permit (after the normal bureaucratic BS). They've done internal demo and will take out the trees tomorrow (which required a separate permit (it's Atlanta after all)). I have settled on the dimensions of the room, with all the quiet batt/whisper clips/green glue/separate breakers/double doors/dedicated lines one could ever imagine (and I could ever afford).

In the interim, I actually have a better room here in the rental (about 14 by 20 with 9 foot ceilings) than I had in my other house. I also have no wife or family traffic in this room, so I'm free to pull the TADs out into the room and away from the walls - which makes all the difference in the world. Just that difference alone makes the system sound better over here than in my living room over there.

Never able to leave well enough alone, I am running the E650 here, which took some time for me to get right. At first, like my other Accuphase components, it just sounded like a tin drum - it was difficult to stay in the same room with it. Then, I let it run for about a week uninterrupted and things started getting much better. After things had settled, I compared it to the A200s - and there was, of course, not much of a comparison (but more than you would expect). Where the 2X A200s were the entire brigade with the heavy guns, the E650 was the Rangers - light and quick and precise, but just lacking on the lower end when compared to the big guns. As I said, it sounded better overall than my living room system because of the speaker placement, but it still lacked a bit on the lower end compared to the two big monoblocks (and the C3800).

Then, light shines on marble head, and I ordered a set of REL 212SEs (yes, two of them, with four woofers and 1000 watts each). I was previously running the SHO3s (which I got because they were all I could fit in my living room). Now, the 212s aren't placed perfectly, but they are so easy to integrate into the sound and just absolutely sound great. I have no idea why subwoofers make the mids and highs so much better, and seem to exponentially expand the sound stage (width and depth), but for me - they absolutely do. I was planning to do the 212s when I moved to the new room (with the TAD R1s), but figured this way I could break them in here in the "lab" and they'd be ready to go.

Having gotten the system sound ironed out to a good degree, I am really struggling with digital only sources. I miss the physical aspects of actually spinning a record (insert one's flame here), but in particular, I miss the DJs that I've listened to for decades on my local public and community radio stations. So, I've got an indoor antenna on order from Magnum Dynalab and will set up the 108T/SEs when I get back from a trip to Europe in the next several weeks. I know that FM is dead and all of that, but these guys are always thinking about new and old music to spin and I just really enjoy it. They have engineers that care about the signal, and it just really sounds good. Somehow, the Roon algorithm just hasn't replaced that for me. I guess this makes me a relic, but there it is.

The thought of setting up the turntable and unboxing the LPs in the middle of all of this is just too much for me. A couple big boxes for the subs I could handle, but unpacking/organizing/cleaning/repacking the LPs and then dealing with the turntable set up is more than I can do for nine months or so (and then have to break it all down and set it up over there). Much easier just to run a coax from the indoor antenna to the tuner.

So, that's it from here in the rental, with new subs and a new integrated amp - all of which is sounding very good.