CWelsh

The ACA is underway! My audiophile brother-in-law is coming to visit this weekend and I have to have it finished so I have someone to share it with. Every time I do or buy something new, my wife tells me to, "Call Dennis", so I hope to have it finished before he gets here. The boards are finished and it is just a matter of doing all the wiring. I expect to finish that tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed that nothing smokes when I power up. Can't wait to hear this thing!

Once again, I will offer my lab and myself to test this assertion. I promise to keep testing until I am double blind! 🥳

A colleague and I built an engine for a stock car racer. He ran a few trial laps ahead of the first race and declared it the strongest engine he had ever had in the car. Once the race started, it lasted for all of three laps. Sad day...LOL

I have some...uh...dietary supplements that definitely enhance my listening experience. I'm sure I've heard things even the original artist didn't know were in the recording. 🤩

That NAD 3045 looks like a winner!

Like you, I suspect your theory is correct, but it really should be tested. I will generously offer the services of my lab (me sitting in my listening room) to rigorously test the hypothesis if Klipsch wants to send me a brand new pair of La Scallas.

The Bluesound is a streamer.

If I'm understanding you correctly, it sounds like having an HDMI eARC input is the highest priority. If not, ignore everything else I have to say. If yes, I'm going to suggest something that isn't what you asked for, but might work really well for you. My concern is, finding a good integrated with HDMI eARC in your price range may be a challenge. As an alternative, consider: https://www.amazon.com/Bluesound-Wireless-Multi-Room-Hi-Res-Streamer/dp/B0937LC7P2/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?crid=34JEEJDNUKWTW&keywords=bluesound%2Bnode&qid=1652403648&sprefix=Bluesou%2Caps%2C163&sr=8-2-spons&smid=A2763VQ7SN6URD&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEyQVNZT1c1NVBRSklYJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNjMyMTM5M0U3RkVWSTdUNDdTRiZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMzYwMDMwWUFWTFo2WEdOWUxaJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ&th=1 and https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08CJZGT6H/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 This is what I'm using with my Fortes. It gives you the inputs you want including the HDMI eARC, pairs well with Klipsch Heritage speakers, and sounds incredible. All within your price range. It doesn't give you any options for a CD player or phono, but you didn't say you needed them. If you want to chat in more detail, just send me a message.

The other big question folks will want to know is your budget.

Jeez! I had to buy new tips for my soldering station and special solder to assemble this darned thing. It better be worth it...LOL Seriously...DIYAudio really impressed me with their customer service. They had the missing chassis rail sent from the supplier in Italy within three weeks.

I'm still waiting on a media console and two chairs that are supposed to arrive late June. I've got my fingers crossed that they will show up sooner, but I'm not holding my breath. In the meantime, I have my turntable, CD player, and 1060 piled on the floor across the room. My Node and the Aiyama amp are the only things I can use for now. Needless to say, I'm jealous of almost everyone who has everything set up an operating...LOL

Your room looks great!

I really liked the way it all started. I don't own Cornwalls and probably never will, but enjoyed reading your thoughts and about the process you've gone through. This is why I come here.

By the way, have you received your custom tube amp from the Captain?

Yes, I suspect most will laugh at the statement of finality. 🤣

Is this a long way of saying all the wifi and Bluetooth signals flying around my house, along with everything else from cell towers, etc. might be scrambling my brain? I say that only slightly tongue-in-cheek. I do fear all this stuff a bit, but know there is nothing I can do about it. Most technology is not created with the intention of doing harm, but the history of science is filled with cries of, "oops, I guess we were wrong about that". 😉

I picked up on the same thing. What struck me most, though, was the intentional introduction of certain types of distortion to "improve" the pristine digital capture. To me, this is fascinating and points out how subjective our appreciation of reproduced sound really is. Someone could make a career researching what all goes in to our appreciation of reproduced sound. Why does the introduction of distortion make the result more "engaging"? Why do some "hear" the benefits of exotic cables while others "know" they can't be hearing anything because "wire is wire"? I like your last sentence that we need to, "look at any system holistically". I guess my big takeaway from the article is that we need to include our ears, brain, and personal preferences as part of that system. I love this hobby!

I started doing parts count and a little test assembly on my kit last night, and I can see why the chassis costs what it does. It's quite impressive. Unfortunately, the person packing the chassis parts must have been in a hurry to go to lunch because they only gave me three of the four rails needed to attach everything. Good thing I'm not in a hurry.

Telling my wife we need to declutter would probably go over much better than saying we need to get our priorities straight. 😃

Mine is the latest 1.8 version, but the differences are minimal. They've added a switch and done a little rewiring to make it easier to move from stereo to mono to balanced mono. It arrived today and I'm just a little anxious to get to work on it.

Full disclosure...I'm not the one who just got this today. My 24 y/o grandson just picked up an open-box Cambridge Audio phono pre-amp today, and I'm really proud to have another audio geek in the family. He's assembled a pretty decent hodge podge system over the last few years and has a huge collection of vinyl. I can't tell you how much fun it is when he sends me a text about the newest album he has picked up. Unfortunately, he lives about 300 miles away, so we don't get to actually listen together that often.

I don't know how quickly I will get around to actually building the amp. We moved back into our house about five weeks ago and I still have a shop/storage room full of boxes and my electronics tools are in there somewhere. I do look forward to hearing this thing, though. My typical listening level is under 70db so, yes, most of the time the amp will be in the fraction of a watt range. I like your suggestion about trying it with and without the jumper. One of the main reasons I bought this amp is to learn something new through the process of building it, and because it seems to be a great platform for experimenting with switchable options for stereo/mono/balanced, etc. I also want to try bi-amping with the ACA driving the upper end and the Aiyama Class D amp driving the bottom. Should be a lot of fun.

I ordered an ACA today. Got the notice they were back in stock and available, so I pulled the trigger.

Whether born with the "gene" or contaminated somewhere along the line, I'm infected as well. The bug laid dormant for many years, but it is back now and I'm enjoying it.

What a cool find! Congratulations. Should be a lot of fun figuring all of this out.