To me the color combination looks real funky, I dig the asthetics
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It is known as “The Beast” not only for the weight but also the wallop it provides from the warmly lit glass.
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A 300B driven by C3gs? A radu tarta perhaps ?
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Yes it is, I tried to hide it but it is nearly impossible to miss
mea culpa
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Wait, how did I miss that one? Going to need impressions on it stat!
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Wow, that’s an incredible setup! Really nice. 
Can I come by for a listen? 
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It was all a matter of random timing, I happened to have borrowed an Abyss 1266 from a buddy and I really loved it with some other planar headphones I had in hand. Then bugged the hell out of Saint @NickMimi who was like, “Sure why not, I need a damned car anyway more than an amp at the moment”
Thank you, if you happen to be around Washington D.C. stop on by.
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I’m in Seattle, but thank you!
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I will slap Nick’s hand later as I made him promise I get first dibs, but I am trying to consolidate and I still dont have space for all 69lbs of that amp. I am just glad it is staying in this community and to a good member.
@Camus Not sure if you knew but that amp was built to the original owners spec specifically for the 1266 so it is fitting. It also worked extremely well with the LCD prefazors, the best vocals by far were with that amp and a 2.2pf. Timbre, lusciousness, sweet romancing, and a lot of moments of “ooohhhhh that is what they were saying!?!”
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Slap me instead, but only my left side so I don’t feel it as much 
I’m sorry I slid in front of you, it was not my intention when Nick surprised me with a demo. As you know it’s an addictive beast, and I did learn about the history behind this particular build. I love my DNA Stratus, unfortunately DNA amps are not designed for planar headphones but rather dynamic drivers. I had a hole to fill, and my A&S amp fell short of the hypnotic nature the Radu imparts on a quality planar headphone. I would love to try a Susvara off it, or the new Yammy.
A few friends came over during CAF, also were smitten with it and they listened to a Caldera, LCD-4, the 1266, and an LCD-24. If my guard dog was asleep, they may have walked out with it 
Guard dog typically sleeping
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Dog pic = all is forgiven.
Once you get more time with it I would love to compare notes.
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Over the last 18 months we built an extension to our house, including a dedicated listening room. The first set of acoustic panels are in and it’s beginning to sound good. I’ll probably add some bass traps next.
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@EvilGnome6 …Adopt me please, I am more responsive, much cleaner, WAY more organized, I do ALL the chores, am capable of vacuuming and mowing nice lines and I will probably eat less overall than a teenager 
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And you’re already potty trained!
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@EvilGnome6 , can you tell us more please about those gorgeous acoustic panels?
Were they purchased or DIY?
What is the canvas material and fill behind it? Is the Canvas porous? Are the panels Absorbent? Diffractive? I want to understand more please, what you did and why?
What is in the shelving? More absorbent material? Did you purchase canvas and some sort of stuffing and then stuff it between the shelves? My curiosity is piqued 
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I purchased the side and ceiling panels from Psy Acoustics. . They’re basic 2’ x 4’ x 4" acoustic panels stuffed with mineral wool. The cloud is 72" x 40" x 4". The fabric is acoustically transparent and a little bit stretchy.
I picked the “Your Art Here” option, purchased some desktop wallpapers from the Roger Dean website and used Topaz Gigapixel AI to upscale the graphics to be big enough to print. I’ve loved Roger Dean’s artwork since I was staring at old Yes album covers as a teenager.
Basically, from all that I had read, step 1 of acoustic treatment is to put absorptive panels at the primary reflection points. I picked the Psy Acoustics because they look awesome. Sure, you can build them yourself for less and maybe you could get better performing panels for the same money but this is just as much about making a good looking listening room as one that sounds nice.
The shelving is just a cheapo IKEA Kallax. The bins hold extra cables and audio crap. 
The panels in the corners are GIK Acoustics Impression Series. They are just there temporarily. I had them left over from my listening area in the dining room. I’ll be putting up some corner bass traps when the budget allows.
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Very very nice, beautiful work done thus far it is a very colorful and inviting environment 
Thank you very much for the details! 
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This is incredible, love how the Stratus is at the center of it all. What do you use the HPA4 for?
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Thank you, Blue has to be center stage as it’s my baby 
The HPA4 is on loan from a friend, with whom I loaned the DSHA-3F for a few weeks/months. Since it’s the same as the LA4 (minus headphone stage) I am trying it out mainly as a pre-amp.
There is some features it has which I want, such as the ability to convert balanced input to single ended output (and vice versa), and the ability to set each input gain for volume matching.
Currently it is receiving each of the three DACs and a phono stage via XLR or RCA, from there I have the RCA going to a distribution box feeding a few single-ended amps, while the XLR is outputting to a balanced amp (not my DSHA 
)
So far in this functionality, I am liking it and it’s pretty easy to use once I took the time to go through the menu tree. I know a lot of pre-amps will do the conversion, not seem any non-studio options for the individual gain setting.
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Thanks for the explanation, this part where it can set the gain for each input seems really valuable. I never know where to make that adjustment when doing comparisons, either on the source, pre, or amp. Nice to be able to do it in one place.
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