Reviewer's Bio

Greg Weaver

  Greg Weaver entered the audio electronics industry in the late 1960's, originally as a hobbyist, but rapidly moved into retail sales shortly thereafter. Throughout the 1970's and 1980's, he grew to supervise a variety of audio shops and small chains, eventually moving on to manage a number of fine audio salons. Also in the 1980's, after receiving his digital electronics certificate, he partnered a consumer electronics repair shop where he did everything from designing and installing winning custom competition IASCA 12-volt systems to repairing computers to designing circuits for coin-operated video arcade games. He has been an industry journalist and product reviewer since the late 1980's, both writing for and editing numerous print and internet journals. He has been an industry consultant since the late 1990's, working with companies such as Harmonic Technology (Greg lead the team that developed the original Magic line of products), Quantum, and NSR Sonic Research. Greg currently resides in north central Indiana with his wife, children, and four large-breed dogs. For 15 years, Greg was the senior IT Engineer and Analyst at the University of Notre Dame (supporting the Department of Athletics). In the spring of 2014, he took his early retirement option from the University of Notre Dame and now provides IT Services for Patrick Industries, the 4^th fastest growing company in the nation, as well as serving as a Senior Writer for The Absolute Sound, and Senior Editor at Positive-Feedback Online.

If you need further information, please feel free to see Greg's personal Bio webpage here or just ask for anything else you might need. Thank you.

Greg Weaver's System
LOUDSPEAKERS:
Von Schweikert Audio VR-55 Aktive, Von Schweikert Audio Vortex VR-33, B&W Matrix 1, with rare factory upgrade to van den Hul internal wire, Audience ClairAudient 1+1 v2, Audience ClairAudient The ONE Personal Reference Monitors

ELECTRONICS:
Dynamic Sounds Associates Pre 1 Solid State preamplifier, Pass Labs XP-20 Solid State preamplifier, ModWright SL 100 Tube Preamplifier (rolled out with a vintage f32 Mullard GZ34 and a matched pair of 6SN7GT CBS/Hytron dual triodes), Channel Islands Audio PLC-1 MkII passive preamplifier with VAC-1 power supply. Pass Labs XA160.8 Monoblocks, Channel Islands Audio D-500 MkII Monoblocks (Putzeys based Class D), Channel Islands Audio VMB-1 Monoblocks (gain-clone). DSA Phono II phono preamplifier, ModWright PH-150 Reference.

SOURCES:
Kronos Sparta Turntable, Kronos Helena Uni-pivot tone arm, Air Tight PC-1 MC Cartridge, Transfiguration Temper V MC Cartridge, Clearaudio Virtuoso Mk II Moving Magnet Cartridge, Denon 103-D (with vdHul Mods) MC Cartridge, others. Hegel HD30 DAC, Hegel HD12 DAC, Channel Islands Audio Transient MKII with VDC-5 MKII high current power supply. McCormack UDP-1 Beyond Deluxe (many more mods – over and above those offered by the factory).Dell OptiPlex Windows 10 Music Server, JRiver Media Center 21, and Fidelizer Pro v7.

CABLES:
Stealth Audio Dream V14, Audience Au24-SE biwires, Von Schweikert Master Built Signature biwires, SoundString Gen II Platinum Edition Biwire speaker cables. Stealth Śakra V12, Stealth Śakra, Stealth Indra, Stealth Nanofiber, Stealth PGS, Audience Au24-SX (single-ended and balanced), Audience Au24-SE (single-ended and balanced) interconnects. Audience Au24-SE HP and LP powerChords, Acoustic Zen Absolute and Gargantua II power cables, Audience Au 24 powerChords, Soundstring High-Output 30-amp Gen II power cables.

ACCESSORIES:
Grand Prix Audio Monaco Modular Isolation System equipment stand (with Apex Footers and Formula Shelves), Grand Prix Audio Monaco Amp stands, Magico QPods, Grand Prix Audio Apex Footers, Aurios 1.2 MIB, Vibrapods & Vibrapod Cones, Herbie's UltraSonic SS Tube Dampers, Home Brew Cable Lifters. Audience adeptResponse aR-12-TSSOX with Audience Au24-SE powerChord, Furutech eTP-80, Monster Cable HTS 800, a pair of Quantum Symphony Pro's, and a liberal application of HiFi-Tuning Supreme³ fuses. Audio Dharma Cable Cooker 2.5 EFS. Shakti Hallographs, CornerTunes.

Vinyl Cleaning/Care: VPI HQ-16.5, Nitty Gritty Mini-Pro, Audio Intelligent Vinyl Solutions, Buggtussel Vinyl-Zime, the full gamut of LAST record care products, Disc Dr. Miracle Record Cleaner and Quick Wash. Furutech RD-2 demagnetizer (now branded Acoustic-Revive), Digital Systems and Solutions UltraBit Platinum-Plus, Digital Systems and Solutions TruVoice Dampers, Audience Auric Illuminator. OnzowZeroDust, AudioQuest DM-100 demagnetizer, KAB Channel Balancer, KAB Speed Strobe.

Music Room
In November, 2015, with the kids grown and out of the big house, we moved to a smaller home situated on nearly two acres in north-west Goshen, Indiana. My music room occupies the north end of the west half of my basement, in a room that is 44' 7" X 13' x 7' 4".

Click image for larger version

The front face of my Von Schweikert Audio VR-55 Aktive's are 78" from the front walls, with the back outside corner 19" from the side wall, and the front outside corner 24" from the side wall, positioning them some 8' 2" apart, tweeter center to tweeter center. The prime listening area is centered roughly 10' back from the plane of the tweeters.

Room taming is achieved with the use RoomTunes Corner Tunes, and the stunningly effective Shakti Innovations Hallographs. I am using a set of 6.5' tall Cascade Audio Engineering Corner Traps behind the Hallographs, in the two front corners, and Whisper Wedge diffraction panels at the first reflection point for the tweeters.

I also have employed two very large plants behind the speakers to afford a very effective diffraction/diffusion field in those rear corners. Further, the floor-to-ceiling shelving situated along the left side wall of the room (housing LPs and optical media) provides a diffraction/diffusion field along that wall to balance the openness afforded by several doorways as well as my desk, printer, and laptop stations.

Power to components in the listening room is fully dedicated, with two separate, dedicated electrical runs, a 20-amp service for amplification, a second 15-amp service for all sources. All other devices in that room (lights, printers, computers, etc.) are on an entirely separate, isolated circuit. All circuits in the room were set up for proper ground and polarity.

Those who know me (or have read my work over the years) know that my system MUST be tonally accurate, strikingly neutral, stunningly transparent, and jubilantly musical. However, open, detailed, and layered soundstaging, combined with realistically sized and spatially accurate images, are every bit as important to me as truthful timbre and musical bloom. With the right recording, this system whisks you back to the venue or hall of the original performance for a spooky-real recreation of that event in the here and now.

I have had any number of audiophile and musician visitors' remark on the power of the listening experience as witnessed from my chair. Musicians from any number of genres of music, from Salsa to Rock ‘n' Roll to Classical, have actually wept after or during a listening session. Audiophiles of many years have remarked things like, "What more could you ask for," and "I've never heard a rig sound any better than this."

While those are encouraging words, and seems to indicate that I'm doing the right things with component and cable selection and room set up, my system (every system? ;-D) must be seen as an continuous work-in-progress. Every once in a while, the addition of some new piece, be it a source, a cable, or an accessory, allows me to move just a little closer to that actual musical event. The journey continues...

Multi-Channel Music And Home Theatre System
Housed in a separate dedicated 12' x 22" by 7' 4" space, the theater has two dedicated rows of seating, with the second row elevated. For times when I really need more than 5 or 6 seats, as there is some 12 plus feet of open space behind the second row of seats, extra temporary seating is easily added.

MONITORS
Samsung FH6200 60" 1080p 120Hz LED HDTV

LOUDSPEAKERS
Von Schweikert Vortex VR-33, Mirage MC-3 center, Optimus LX-4 rears, Mirage FRx-S10 subwoofer.

ELECTRONICS
Emotiva LMC-1 7 channel preamp/processor, Emotiva LPA-1 seven-channel amplifier.

SOURCES
McCormack UDP-1 Beyond Deluxe Universal player, Samsung BD-P1590 Blu-ray Player, DirecTV R-10 HD receiver, Hughes HDVR2 DirecTV TiVo Digital Receiver, JVC HR-S3600U S-VHS.

CABLES
Audience Au24 speaker cables, Audience Au24e interconnects, SoundString Gen II Platinum Edition HDMI v1.4 cables.

ACCESSORIES
DIY Equipment Stands, Monster Cable HTS 800, Quantum Symphony Pro, Aurios 1.2 MIB, Furutech RD-2 demagnetizer (now branded Acoustic-Revive), Digital Systems and Solutions UltraBit Platinum-Plus, Digital Systems and Solutions UltraBit Diamond-Plus, Digital Systems and Solutions TruVoice Dampers, Audience Auric Illuminator optical disc treatments.