Now follow me through the little blue door (hey, to get behind the green one's not today's subject), for a quick virtual visit to 6moons' second physical incarnation. Hover your mouse over pix for photo credits.


mi casa, su casa kitchen area
working on dem rays area Ivette' desk and easel area
towards the dungeon enter the dungeon
the Avantgarde DUOs view from the bedroom
the rig full moon rising
the chair and Pilates machine working on the tunes wall
the desk 6moons HQ
the main stack the headphone/computer stack the stairs altar


The relevant audiophile data? Cairn Fog v2.0 with 24/192 upsampler card and after-market BNC digital out compliments of Chris Johnson from the Parts ConneXion. It feeds the glorious Zanden Audio Model 5000 MkIII DAC via Chris Sommovigo's i2digital X60 coaxial digital interconnect, BNC-to-BNC. From there, a pair of Analysis Plus Solo Crystal connects the DAC's 1V tube-powered signal to the Bel Canto PRE1. From there, HMS Gran Finale wire to the AUDIOPAX Model 88 monos. A shotgun biwire run of HMS Grand Finale juices the DUOs whose tweeter horn connects with the midrange horn via a custom Gran Finale jumper. All power cords are HMS Energia except for the Audio Magic Clairvoyant between the Walker Audio Velocitor and the WorldPower cryo'd wall outlet. The Grand Prix Audio Monaco rack sits on Apex footers as do the DUOs, a Furutech RD-2 disc demagnetizer and Walker Audio Vivid perform far-out but benign, not bovine audible voodoo.


The headphone/computer system is a Parts ConneXion modified Jolida JD-100, a stock Unison Research Unico and a pair of AKG K-1000 connected via Stefan Audio Art's mandatory replacement cable. Desk top speakers are AAD E-40s, a Marantz CDR630 serves to make CD compilations for friends and tradeshows. This stack of components plugs into an Audio Magic Stealth power purifier.


How does the main system sound? By virtue of venting into a doorless width of 56 feet total (the sound barely changes with the curtains in the archway closed), there are no audible bass nodes - none. Bass from the depths of hell equals bass from Heaven. Naturally, such an amount of raw air volume also leans out the sound. Fortunately, minor adjustments on the DUOs' active woofer attenuators and crossover pots ameliorated in a Taos minute what otherwise could have been a fatal hunger strike. The listening triangle's dimensions now are 11' x 11' x 8.5', placing me two feet closer than before, with the speakers a bit closer to the front wall as well. As a result, I'm not getting quite the soundstage depth I reveled in before. However, tonal density has grown to rather scary proportions for that virtual reality intensity. I'm not done fine-tuning yet but already know that I'm home-free - bound for first-rate sound. A good thing, too. My career as head moonie woulda come to a premature conclusion otherwise. Final adjustments? Those will simply be a matter of experimenting with minute speaker positioning changes, active control settings and the TimbreLock bias changes possible on the SEP monos. A pair of heavy brocade drapes suspend between the speakers on the front wall to absorb early reflections, the two longer banners previously in that position (albeit hung from the ceiling) now buffer the backwall on either side of the Afghan Kilim chair.

Ever in the area? Be sure to stop by. The neighboring Adobe & Stars [right] is a first-rate Bed'n'Breakfast - click on their card for reservations. The resident CD collection is large enough to last a few music lovers more than a few nights. Not that Taos suffers a shortage of other attractions - but fellow 'philes seem rather rare. In a roundabout way, this is more of a self-serving rather than no-strings-attached invite then. You didn't think reviewers were saints, did you?


Regardless of wicked tendencies and future punishments on the grand wheel of life, sincere thanks to the universe for this present circumstance, for doing something for a living I truly enjoy, in an environment that serves all my needs. You, dear readers, make it all possible and meaningful. Accordingly, these thanks extend to you as well. Muchos gracias!
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