Dan aka jdandy systems

[Pider]

Originally Posted by jdandy

Terry.......Originally this room and the control room were built as a small recording studio. Before I retired I knew I was going to need something to keep me occupied and interested. Since I play guitar and write songs and have friends who do the same, a studio seemed like the perfect pastime. I drew the plans up thinking I would subcontract the work, but decided to build it myself. From my past experience in broadcast and recording I had a good idea of how to lay out the two rooms. Both the control room and the studio have five separate circuits each that are dedicated to gear and lighting. Included in the in-wall wiring scheme are multiple balanced microphone runs to wall jacks in both the studio and control rooms, multiple powered headphone outlets around the studio room supported by a six channel headphone amplifier, and Speakon speaker jacks in wall outlets wired from low to high on the same wall and from the studio to a Speakon patch bay in the control room. I can have up to 12 microphones and six active headphones plugged into the wall jacks in the studio, all wired back to balanced jacks and two patch bays in my control room. Anything recorded in the control room can be played back to the JBL LSR6332 monitors when patched to a Crown K2 power amp in one of my two control room racks. I even have power, balanced outputs and Speakon speaker connectors behind the JBL's on the front wall in the studio just in case I want to use actively powered speakers in those locations. I put a great deal of thought into the control room and the studio. All in-wall balanced microphone cables are shielded Belden, with all terminations silver soldered to the wall jacks and the same for the headphone jacks. In the control room all microphone and headphone jacks are wired in-wall so that I wouldn't have cables running on the floor from the racks to the mixer and digital recording station or to the Roland keyboard that's in the control room.

I used the studio for recording myself and friends, and just having fun. I'm not a professional musician, although one of my friends is a pro and in the Rock-A-Biily Hall of Fame, Matt Lucas. He's a drummer and singer, had a bunch of R&B hits back in the late 50's. He still gets air play on stations around the world. He's a great friend and we have fun together. Anyway, to make a long story short, one day I decided to install a widescreen television in the studio and do a small Yamaha surround system. I hadn't been using the studio for recording all that much, so a new direction took place. After that, little by little the studio became a home theater and then gradually became a two channel audio room. Everything is still in place to use the studio for recording but I just don't use it like that much any more. It has evolved into what is now used primarily for two channel audio.

This is a good description, as all of yours tend to be. Makes me very interested in ready the entire thread. I hope more folks take the time to write a little about their journey to their current system. To me how a system came to be, what were the considerations along the way, how did the evolution to the current sound come to be, is so much more informative than a listing of current gear. Of course, many on this forum are taking each of us on their personal journey, which is wonderful.

Anyway, thanks!

[audio39]

When you tire of gear and want to replace it, could I be placed top of your "donate to" list please!

Rick.

[MOSFET]

Dan, those are some fine looking systems.

[Stereo-head]

Wow Dan,

Loving the pics. I bet they must sound even better than what they look, and that's saying a lot. Perfect man cage. You are blessed. Enjoy!

[jdandy]

Simon.......Thank you. Both systems are fabulous, but the studio two channel system is out of this world. The room is perfect for intimate two channel listening, dead quiet at 27 dB ambient noise level, and the McIntosh and Sonus faber synergy is incredible. It has been a long time dream that gradually took shape and finally developed piece by piece into what it is today. Listening to music in the studio is a fantastic experience. I often go down there for a couple of hours and wind up spending six, eight, even ten hours parked in the sweet spot. Sometimes I just can't find the will to turn it off, but I look at that as a good thing.

[jdandy]

Originally Posted by MOSFET

Dan, those are some fine looking systems.

MOSFET.......Thank you. I drool over these systems, too.

[jdandy]

Originally Posted by audio39

When you tire of gear and want to replace it, could I be placed top of your "donate to" list please!

Rick.......I think there are few others ahead of you.

[Stereo-head]

Originally Posted by jdandy

Simon.......Thank you. Both systems are fabulous, but the studio two channel system is out of this world. The room is perfect for intimate two channel listening, dead quiet at 27 dB ambient noise level, and the McIntosh and Sonus faber synergy is incredible. It has been a long time dream that gradually took shape and finally developed piece by piece into what it is today. Listening to music in the studio is a fantastic experience. I often go down there for a couple of hours and wind up spending six, eight, even ten hours parked in the sweet spot. Sometimes I just can't find the will to turn it off, but I look at that as a good thing.

That should be the Webster's Dictionary definition for Audiophile's Quest.

[Mac A-Doodle]

Dan, your systems look fantastic. I especially like the studio and how you built it out.

[jdandy]

It has been awhile since I posted to this thread. One change I made this past year was to install Vicoustic Wavewood acoustic panels on the front and rear walls in place of the ATS asorbtion panels. I originally made the room quite dead using absorption panels so that live microphones used in the studio would not pick up reflected sounds. This was perfect for live recording but ultimately proved to make the room too damped for stereo listening. Adding the Vicoustic Wavewood panels improved the rooms aliveness by adding some diffusion in place of pure absorption. The sound system gained an improved sound stage with more accurate imaging and an increase in midrange energy, especially in the human voice range.

This is the way the studio looks today. These photos are posted in other threads but I wanted to update my system thread with the most recent photos.