My Cost To Create The Ultimate Digital Streaming System
- DAC – Bricasti M12
- Power Amp (EL84 Amps and Sound Little Nugget push-pull at 17w/ch for fine-tuning using my 10/18 speaker build at 94 db efficient, then I moved to the custom Treehaus 300B amp as the ultimate using 6w/ch. But this requires an even more efficient speaker build at 99db). I used my 10”/18” bass build to fine-tune this combination, then moved to the more efficient build using the 15”/18” build. Both speaker systems are open-baffle by design and sound excellent. I also tried many inductors for the 18” bass and finally arrived at the best inductor to use. This cost an additional $3,500 for R&D costs for the inductors and $3,500 for the speakers. I threw away $7,000 to find the best sound for this system and now use it.
- Speakers (LaDolce Audio compact baffle 15” coax with 1002 tweeter and 18” bass speakers – high 20Hz to 18Khz at 99db sensitivity)
- Speaker Cables (Furutech 15 gauge solid core)
- Puritan 256 Conditioner with six outlets
- Puritan Ground Master Unit with an 8-foot deep ground rod in my backyard
7. Jena Labs 3-foot Valkarie interconnect between DAC and power amp
8. Farad Super 6 linear power supply (7V) with upgraded DC Classic copper cable for
9. Sonore Deluxe and Uptone EtherRegen RJ45 converters
10. Shanyata Alpha Ethernet 1.5 meter cable
11. Fiber RJ45 cable from Uptone converter to network switch
12. Two Finesar transceivers to connect the fiber cable to both ends using SPF+ on the switch and the Sonore or Uptone units.
13. Matrix Audio SS-1 Pro switch with linear power supply and re-clocker built-in
14. Cat 6 cable between modem-router (upstairs) going through ceiling and floor
15. Asus modem/router connected to Xfinity service
16. 2nd Farad Super 6 linear power supply (12V) to power modem/router
17. All Furutech power cables for all items (linear power supplies, switch, DAC, power amp, modem/router are F50 connectors with Furtuech Alpha Nano cable in between. All 14 gauge Furutech Nano wire is used on all components except the power amplifier. That device requires a 12 gauge Furutech Nano wire and I’ve used FI-50 connectors (both power and IEC) on the ends of all wire. I’ve tried heavier gauge (up to 10 and 7) and those don’t work well. Only use a 12 gauge wire on your power amplifier.
18. AudioRax custom solid walnut rack with ventilation and finger jointing (20” wide x 16” deep & 6U high with finger jointing and ventilation top and sides). The DAC sits at the bottom, and the Puritan conditioner is rack mounted on top using 2U of space.
19. Peter Meijer 6” high legs for rack
Total Cost Of This System
Total Cost For This System is around $65,000 and includes my 300B amp and the audio system outlined above to include the tubes plus the cost of the computer, monitor, keyboard, mouse, Audirvana, and the IZotope Ozone plugin.
I’m happy that this system will equal or beat any $100,000 system I could build using other components and it is very special.
(This system takes up a minimum of floor space and is quite simple to assemble and uses just three larger compoents – the 300B power amplifier, the Bricasti M12 DAC, and the LaDolce Audio Compact Baffle custom speakers). Even though it could be used from a sofa or listening chair, I’m a near-field listener and listen to the speakers, maybe about 4 to 5 feet away. So even with a really large room, my system is plenty loud. Maybe with a super large room and a listening position way back you might want to use a preamp to add addtional gain. But as I use it, the preamp definitely isn’t needed.
This system is also not bi-amped and extra cables are not used, even though I’ve tested everything with bi-amping and additional wires. I’ve used electronic crossover units provided by Sublime Acoustics, JL Acoustics, SPL, and have built several Pass designed electronic crossovers of my own. I prefer the single passive capacitor (Russian PIO 3.3uF) and the single inductor I use without any electronic crossover or 2nd amp attached.
The best sound quality for me was with one amp (the Treehaus 300B single chassis amp), the Western Electric 300B tubes, the Telefunken C3M tubes, and the NOS 4 notch Mullard rectifier tube made in the UK.
The EL84 amp is push-pull and puts out 17 w/ch, which is enough to power the 10” coax that is 94db sensitive. This amp doesn’t have the beatiful midgrange that the 300B amp does but it costs only $6,000 retail instead of $16,000 and is a lot cheaper. Its really good and for the money, a no brainer.
The 300B amp is single-ended. It puts out 6 w/ch, which is enough to power the 15” coax that is 97-99 db sensitive but not the 10″ coax speakers. With slot loading, it may be higher at 99db sensitivity but not when using the 10” coax. The 10” coax speakers are no longer used (not efficient enough), and the 15” coax build is now my reference speaker system with the 300B amp.
I’ve removed the second pair of binding posts that I had on the 10”/18” speaker build and now use only one pair per speaker (all copper Cardas posts) on the 15”/18” build. The crossover unit consists of one inductor (for the 18” bass speaker) and one Russian PIO capacitor for the treble driver. That’s it. The midgrange is connected driectly to the speaker binding posts without any other component. The slot loading provides passive inductor loading and that doesn’t take away from the crossover design as does an electronic version and additional component. This is as simple as possible, and the sound quality is superb. Other than the break-in required for the cables and components, I cannot imagine tuning this system any further.