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Nutznbotz’ system


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I’m a longtime Vandy fan. I was born in Hanford CA and my Dad went to school with RV. Still runs into him from time to time.  Got the bug when I moved to the Seattle area.  Started with 2ci’s and moved up the line.  Saving for Quatro CT’s someday soon!

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AWESOME. Love your doggie.  You need to share some RV stories from back in the day!!!  Ha....  I moved from Treo to Quatro CT's (painted) and am IN LOVE..Won't ever be able to get the Kénto's, but the Quatro's wiht Richard's new amp and I'll be happy for a long time.  Thanks for sharing pics.

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Nice set-up! I notice you have your Quatros sitting on granite(?) planks. Did you recalculate the amount of tilt (according to the manual) due to the increase in height of the speakers? I ask, because I may do the same with my Quatros as they are also on (carpeted) raised wood floors.

Edited by DrumTemp
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On 8/8/2020 at 9:44 AM, Steve Edwards said:

How do you like the new Neil Young album?  I've only heard it streaming, but the recording sounds quite good.  

I think it’s a pretty nice sounding disc.  I got it cheap on Amazon, so wasn’t expecting much.  Very happy with it. 

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22 hours ago, DrumTemp said:

Nice set-up! I notice you have your Quatros sitting on granite(?) planks. Did you recalculate the amount of tilt (according to the manual) due to the increase in height of the speakers? I ask, because I may do the same with my Quatros as they are also on (carpeted) raised wood floors.

I do.  I think they help in my room, which is upstairs.  I ended up keeping the same tilt, after some experimentation. I may have been a bit off before.  More likely, my newer chairs are a bit taller.   The rake angle doesn’t change, just elevation 

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Interesting.  When Richard told me to put the 3" slabs under my Quatro's, he told me to install 4 new washers for the rake and set up from there.  Due to Covid, I'm still waiting on my friend to come over to do this for me.  If I can get him over, I'll share our set up experience.  I'll be using the same chairs.  

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  • 4 weeks later...

Who's this one for?  If it's me, I've been using the Quatro's for over a year or two now.  LOVE them.  I listen to a lot of gear and I put my Quatro's up against anyone's 30k speakers.  We all hear differently, but to my ears,  My Quatro's have more micro and macro detail than the Wilson Alexa's and are so much more coherent than the 30k Magico's.  Heck, I put my money where my mouth is as I could easy have gotten the others if I felt they were better.  JMHO It's why I'm going to get Richards amps this fall.  They scale and are worth the attention of an amp that should be selling for 30k themselves.  Again I've heard all these combinations and feel that they are just great values for high end audio.  

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Ctsooner, thanks for the reply. I’ve enjoyed following your posts on A’gon and it sounds like you have an incredible system! I was actually asking nutznboltz (I should have made that clearer) as I saw he picked up the Quatro CT recently. I’ve chatted with him in the past as we’ve both used the Aesthetix Calypso/Atlas combo. I did post a ? In the set up/treatment section on granite that I’d be curious on your thoughts! 

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Ok. I spoke with Richard about this situation earlier today. He was so kind to spend the time to answer.  IF you decide to do this, you should do what I did and get two 1.5" pieces and have them glue them together with a rubberized glue (or whatever they call it).  Then buy a set of the special footer cups to receive the spikes on the Quatro/Treo's.  They have special felt pads on the bottom and it won't mar the stone.  Just place the stone on the carpet or wood floor.  Granite is bright sounding, but using it this way, it's only to spread out the vibrations and prevent movement of the speaker as wood moves a lot.  It makes so much sense to do it this way.  It's also a great way to be able to 'move' your speakers into place once they are dialed in most of the way.  He told me to look at the set up instructions and deduct 3" to see how many spacers I need for the tilt per the instructions.  

1. get your dealer to sell you those spike cups (forget the name of them, but it's Vandercups or something like that, lol)

2. make sure you looked at set up instructions to ge the correct washers for the speakers.  Then you must share how they sound.  :) 

Edited by ctsooner
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Ctsooner, thank you for your detailed response. I already have the Vandersteen spike shoes (or cups). The tilt adjustment makes sense. I wonder if anything could go under the granite so it doesn’t scratch a wood floor?
 

Not sure how moderators work on this site, but I wonder if these posts could be moved to the set-up section? 

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We can keep it here with no problems.  I'll ask, but the granite is just to spread and dissipate the sound vibrations so the speaker doesn't physically move.  I don't see how the granite would move and scratch the floor though.  It's polished and won't move. That's the whole idea.  I'll ask if you can get felt or something that would take up the whole underside.  

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ctsooner...

I'm within driving distance of central CT.  Who did you get your glued granite pieces from?  If you're happy with the results, I'd prefer to go someplace already vetted.  Especially now, with all the restrictions.

Also, I was going to try these:

https://herbiesaudiolab.com/collections/loudspeaker-rack-decoupling-and-isolation/products/cone-spike-puckies?variant=12645106712631

in addition to the Vandersteen spike shoes.  

I've previously had very good results when using titanium balls between our old 2Ci's and the Sound Anchor bases.  They ended up sounding better than plated steel, brass, ceramic, aluminum, and stainless steel equivalents.  (YMMV, of course...)

Usual disclaimer - I have no connection to Vandersteen, ball makers, or Herbie's except as a customer

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BK, where do you live? I"m in Berlin.  I spoke with Richard at length the other day about the footers.  All I can say is that you should use the Vandy spike shoes.  I asked about other cups etc, but what we are trying to achieve is for the speaker to NOT move.Keep it simple.  If you want to speak on the phone about this, let me know.  

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I'm a few towns over, well within range of wherever you got your granite pieces from.

I get the idea behind the use of granite on supported floors, and am not questioning the advice you got from Richard.  That would be silly.  Was just offering an alternative in case some tuning might give better results for a particular room and system.  Personally, I'm going to try both the titanium cups and the Vandersteen cups between our CT's and the granite and then decide.   I don't think there are wrong answers for this - just personal taste.

 

 

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Always personal taste.  Totally agree.  It may work as well or better.  I'm just one of those who goes with what the designer does etc...  It's also the reason I'm getting the HP5's and will sell my Ayre AX5/20 with integral crossover at 100hz.  I also am not a tube roller (I always owned tubes until recently.  My server/streamer has a tube that we have changed over time though). :). 

 

Zavarella Granite and Marble,   Ask for Molly.  ‭(860) 667-7711‬ is their number.  Feel free to tell her that Pete sent you and remind her what she made for me.  

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Personally, I build my own preamps and amps, so I always go with what the designer says.   (That's part joke, part not.)

Thanks very much.  I'll call Molly.  That's very convenient.  My wife has been saying she needs to Footprints anyway.

Edited by BKDad
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I decided a long time back that I didn't have the skills to build nice wood cabinets, nor was I interested in devoting the space to set up a proper shop for the task.  Besides, aside from some Celestion Ditton 66's I had way back, our loudspeakers have always been made in Hanford, CA.  The man certainly knows his stuff in every sense.

But, electronics fall into my background, so why not?  I'm not a fan of traveling to or hanging out in stores with hopes of finding that something somebody else designed might fit our tastes, anyway.

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There's also the overall economics that you have to consider.

Could I devote all my spare time for years and come up with something better than a Vandersteen design?  I doubt it.  He has access to better drivers than I ever would.  He has decades of experience.  It would cost me probably 10X the price of a new pair of Vandersteen to come up with anything close.  Plus, all that lost time.  It makes far more sense to deal with experts for this.  And Richard Vandersteen is an expert.  I feel fortunate that he has chosen to make a business out of his passion and I can partake of it that way.

I also considered this with regard to DACs.  Could I design an as good or better DAC  than an Ayre product?  Maybe.  Maybe not.  It would take a man year of my time.  Plus, the required design tools to properly build a suitable digital filter for use in an FPGA actually would cost more than an Ayre DAC.  So, what's the point there?  I find Ayre products to match my general idea of what sounds good, how a product is built, and how a company is run, so it makes perfect sense to purchase an Ayre DAC.

Power filters, amps, and preamps and those things are more in my wheelhouse.  

My silly comments are distracting from Nutznboltz's system, which is inconsiderate on my part.  So, I apologize to him and everybody else.

Thank you again for your generous help.

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