All components in BOLD are loaned; all components in standard face are owned by me.
LOUDSPEAKERS
Main Speakers Booth Audio Custom Curved Fronts, CC speaker Booth Audio custom CC, Surround Speakers Booth Audio Custom Curved Fronts, Subwoofer speakers Booth Audio Compound Loaded.
ELECTRONICS
Anthem D1 Processor, Electrocompaniet ECM 1 MK11 DAC/Music Streamer, Coda Stage main amplifier, Coda Stage subwoofer amplifier, Coda 432 CC & surround amplifier. Phono/pre EAR Phonobox, NYAL Moscode Custom Super IT.
SOURCES
Digital: Sony CDP-XA7ES, DVD/SACD player Denon DVD-3910, Blu-Ray Panasonic DP-UB9000.
Analog: Grado Statement Master 1 cartridge, Well-Tempered Tone arm, Well-Tempered Turntable.
CABLES
CD player interconnect MIT MI 330 Shotgun, MIT Oracle Digital interconnect, MIT AVT main speaker cables, MIT MH 750 Plus S3 Sub cables, MIT Phono TT interconnect, MIT Phono interconnect, MIT CC & Surround cables, MIT Z-Cord II and RSX Beyond power Cords.
ACCESSORIES
MIT Z-Stabilizer, AC Equitech, Acoustic Treatments AV RoomService FRP, EVP, CVP, PolyFlex Diffusers, Internal Chassis Damping Strips, etc. Record Cleaner Kirmuss Audio KA-RC-1.
Lab-grade calibration tools for acoustics, power quality, video, and phono.
I have been a drummer, recording engineer and acoustical engineer for most of my life. This is all because of my love for music. My listening space is a dedicated one, a room inside of a room (19'2" x 14' x 7'10") in the basement with isolated walls, ceiling and floor. It also has dedicated balanced power with isolated grounds. It is a 5.2 surround sound system with matching amplification, cables and speakers, where the front mains are dual-mono biamped. The noise floor is an RC 20 and the reverberation times are between 0.25-0.4 seconds from about 125 Hz. on up and stays under 0.6 seconds from 125 Hz. on down. This is all accomplished with many acoustical construction materials and methods and products that my company, AV RoomService, offers.
My musical interests vary from rock, to jazz, to classical, to world, to ambient. I don't care for most commercial music. I have over 5000 LPs most of which were bought when they were released in the 60s- 80s. I love the purity and honesty of minimalist recordings and I love music with engineering trickery. I lean on analog as my preferred recording and playback medium, but also use digital, and I own thousands of digital recordings.
My audiophile tendencies are micro and macro dynamics, texture and harmonics. Probably because these attributes directly correlate with musical expression- more so that say soundstage, etc. I tend to like a tube front end with solid state amplifiers. I believe cables make a difference. I can enjoy music over a boom box. I believe that the acoustics must be under control before you can accurately evaluate a recording or playback equipment.
Norman Varney is the owner of AV RoomService, an acoustic design company that also offers a few acoustical products. Having been in the noise control and sound quality industries for decades he has earned awards for acoustical products and room designs while working for A/V RoomService, Kinetics Noise Control, Owens Corning Science & Technology Center and MIT. Mr. Varney has presented white papers to the industry and written articles on acoustics for numerous publications over the years, as well as participated in seminars and panel discussions. He is an active member of ASTM (Committee E-33 on Building and Environmental Acoustics), Acoustic Society of America, Institute of Noise Control Engineering, AES, NAMM, CEDIA, etc.
