SOYS: State Of Your System

Cool, will look into that, potentially v helpful.

I do have a current dialogue going with XTZ in Sweden as I’ve sourced the spare Excel drivers from them & am in the process of returning a subwoofer plate amp they’ve sent me by mistake…LOL!

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May have jumped early in my excitement… :joy: … hopefully this is of some use

should be easy to find fried components in the crossover … MK1 eyeball and multimeter

Don’t currently have a multimeter, but can easily rectify that next week.

At least the drive units all checked good with the battery check this afternoon. Don’t mind too much, now having spare SEAS Excel units as they are a special bespoke unit mfrd for XTZ by SEAS

A version of this >

The standard version won’t fit my cabs, the XTZ version has a specially chamfered basket & a special anodised surface coating on the magnesium cones. The all in landed cost has been £360 Inc currency conversion & customs + UPS admin (with a nice 15% off & only £7 /50% off for shipping)

A single driver would have been that much Inc vat from Falcon acoustics.

:+1:

Just need to say here …take great care when in this situation…I’d say 100% care with an extra helping of care …

You don’t want to be connecting good drivers to bad crossovers / bad drivers or crossovers to Amps etc … Some real experts on here …regarding crossovers …drive units etc … @hoopsontoast is first guy who comes to mind for example…

Sorry if giving lessons on sucking eggs etc …

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I’ve got a nice set of Pioneer RM-05 active monitors.

So will hook them up tomorrow. Am now concerned at damage to the amp, but the SEAS Prestige lower bass units are outputting to surprisingly high up into the midrange. (Albeit in a quasi sense & rather dull & lifeless)

It’s probably ok if you were driving what was left of your speakers ok after the “event” …but please check it out …I’m very wary of my lack of expertise with respect to the guys on this forum…

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TL;DR alert!

A tale of a streamer and its network connection woes!

For as long as I’ve had a Sonore UltraRendu streamer/bridge thing, I’ve had problems with it!
3 years now it guess.
It’s Lan input only, USB out.


Before I used a laptop, then a modded ChromecastAudio, then a RPi with Volumio and Kali reclocker (native I2S output).

The Rendu would play for a while then lock up and need a reboot and power cycle of the DAC it was connected to.
This was using DLNA and the Android app mConnect that Sonore recommend.
Worst was starting long playlists or hopping about between tracks in different playlists.

@dom @coco etc can testify to this.

Dom left a Win Pro streamer behind when he last visited, so I’ve been using it occasionally and seeing what was the best sound I could get out of it.
It’s NEVER once failed to play or hung up!

Okay so Rendu is faulty then - but it sounds so good! - Especially since I started using a Topping D10s .

for USB to SPdif conversion, instead of a Gustard U18 reclocker!
Cleaner, more on point sound.

Recently Sonore released Qobuz Connect SW.
Ah I thought, can kick mConnect app and DLNA into touch. My problems will be banished!

Nothing of the sort!
All sorts of dropouts and weird happenings in the Qobuz app ensued.
These escalated to only being about to play 1 or 2 tracks and it stopped.
Really hard to resolve. Hard power off of Rendu and Dac required, Reboot of Qobuz app. Sometimes requiring 2 or 3 power cycles of Rendu!

I was resolved to use something like Wiim or buy another Ultrarendu (risky) or another unknown streamer.
Or use Lyrion Music Server, which bizzarely works perfectly with Ultrarendu, but alas doesn’t quite sound as good!

I’d been in contact with Sonore support and the SW guys with diagnostics etc..

Everything else on the network worked fine. TVs, Media PC, Lyrion Music Server, Sonos, Alexa devices, WiFi calling, phone surfing etc etc..

Enter daughter’s boyfriend.
An experienced Enterprise Architect (Network Infrastructure, Unified Comms, Collaborative Services, Network Infrastructure) Expert.
He did the internet solution for the Lloyds Bank metal monstrosity building in London.

He completely redesigned my Internet Router configuration with it’s 2 daisy chained sub routers, optimising addressing and network throughput.
Optimised WiFi configuration over 2.4 and 5GHz for the devices that must use these.
More too that I didn’t understand..

Result, have 5 meg better WiFi download everywhere, and so far Ultrarendu has not stopped or hiccupped once even, no matter what I’ve thrown at it!

No new streamer for me it seems!

Current system pic

Inc 2 of these for that horn sub bass

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lol audio networking problems in 2025

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Yeah I know :joy:

Tell your daughter that he’s a keeper.

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Yes, he gets my vote.
He’s a nice guy too.

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This weeks headphone setup, Chord Mojo 2 being fed by a D10 converting usb to coax and then the mojo 2 in to a Lake People G109-s driving Focal Elegia.

Had a problem with a new USB C cable being a little too heavy for the Mojo 2 and it kept slipping out so decided to try out the coax on the Mojo 2 (always preferred it on the OG Mojo) and then feed a proper headphone amp. Got to say this sounds exceptional, no idea why I prefer the Mojo 2 through the coax, and can only think the G109 has a better grip on the Elegia than the Mojo 2 driving it directly.

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Have had the Carmody Carreras in play since March but fancied a change so Direkts are in play. Way better bass but less refined.

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So a year and a half ago, I drove to Oslo (!) to collect these fuckers.. it took me several hundred miles to stop asking myself what the blinking flip I was thinking. I made some lovely stops along the way, turned it into a holiday, and a couple of weeks later, they were in my living room, being connected up to a system I’d been collecting together for a while. Bucking the overall Abattoir trend towards big-ass horns, I’ve concluded I am very much a panel man, albeit still very much with the emphasis on ‘big-ass’ I had been pre-empting this installation for several years by saying yes to absolutely every bit of interior decor that my girlfriend had proposed, knowing that at some point I would be confronting her, not only with huge slabs in the room, but ones that will not function properly butted up against the walls. It’s taken some months and a tape measure and a measure of grim determination on my part, and she seems to have just about surrendered.




The system consists of Apogee Duetta Signatures, on the end of one of Colin Wonfors larger amplifiers, an EWA M100 Pro (large black lump bottom-right) Then I have a Bag End Audio Infrasub system, so the sub 60hz is rolled off and sent via the rack crossover you can see, to a pair of sealed cabinets (one on the right of the hifi shelves, the other at the other end of the room, behind the panel). Those are powered by an Ohm Industries pro amp of considerable heft. Then I have at the rear of the room another pair of planar magnetic speakers (even taller!) by Bohlender Graebener, connected in a Hafler configuration, but powered by their own amp - another Ohm Industries (forgot to photograph these, but they’re quite lovely looking, slimmer than the Aps) Then there’s a lovely passive pre custom built by someone I can’t recall, and a Jolida Glass FX iii DAC, with various mods, a Systemdek IIX, and a home-built phono preamp that I was very kindly gifted on here, which I adore. There’s also a WiiM Pro, streaming from my NAS to the Jolida, and a Arcam Delta 70.2 CD player. The net effect of it all is absolutely awesome to my ears.

The Apogees were actually somewhat of a spur of the moment about-face. I was aiming at full-range electrostatics. I had heard Justin (User211’s) Duettas, and liked them, albeit perhaps not in the best room or with amps I would have chosen, but impressive nonetheless. This is going back a few years. They seemed so rare and such a potential money-pit though, and my ears were hooked on the holographic electrostatic clarity. But then I spotted this pair in Norway, and they seemed to be in uncommonly good nick, so I took a punt, and the rest is history. I have no regrets. They have zero low end rattle, and continually take my breath away.

Since then, not to be swayed from my original course, I also managed to bag some full range electrostatics, which I have crammed into my studio. Kingsound Prince II. They run on a Carver PM1200, which turns out to be an unexpectedly superb amplifier, especially for the sub-£100 price I paid for it. Pics of these below.


The stats have the edge in ultimate clarity. The Aps just have silky power.. the Pan Galactic Gargleblaster of speakers - like being hit by a slice of lemon wrapped around a large gold brick.

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Schlepping to Norway to collect speakers indicates an impressive level of commitment to the hobby but…

takes you to another level.

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Haha! Pre-emptive acceptance. “Since you’ve been here I’ve accepted absolutely everything that you’ve proposed, without exception, haven’t I?” “Yes, you have” “So these speakers, in this position.. these are my red line. My one and only non-negotiable.”

It was an extremely strong position that it took me several years to set up :joy:

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Apogees, eh? All your amplifier are belong to us!

I don’t think I’ve ever heard a pair, which is kind of a shame

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That’s a mad looking room to stick panels like that in, love it.

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Yeah it was actually the juxtaposition of the rustic woodburner and sheepskins with the futuristic Apogees that prompted me to take the photos. I quite like how it all sits together, but it’s not an obvious stylistic match!