Am I kidding myself in thinking that I’ve put together an endgame music system? Make that two systems—one in my main-floor living room and another in my second-floor office. Recently, I’ve made some changes to both setups, and I’m delighted with the results. I fully expect both systems to keep thrilling me until I shuffle off this mortal coil or get carted off to a home.
The great thing is that I accomplished this by tricking out gear I already own. And I did it without cluttering up these rooms with extra equipment. That’s important, because there’s not a lot of space in the 1920s urban rowhouse I share with my missus. Both of us have an aversion to hi-fi clutter.
Downstairs
A KEF LS60 Wireless active speaker system serves up tunes in our living room. This is a multi-purpose space that we use for hanging out and entertaining, so it’s important that the music system not interfere with other activities that go on there—and this one doesn’t.
The LS60 is a fully self-contained music system—amplification is built into the two enclosures. The primary speaker has a built-in network streamer that supports Apple AirPlay 2, Google Cast, Spotify Connect, and Tidal Connect—and the system is Roon Ready. When I want to hear music, I grab my iPad and launch the Roon app, then stream music from Qobuz or my digital music library, which is stored on a 2TB SSD inside the Roon Nucleus One server in my second-floor office. The two speakers are the only audio components in the room (or were, until recently), and their power cables are the only visible wires.
I love the way the tall, monolithic enclosures look in our living room, and so does my design-conscious wife. Sporting a pearlescent titanium-grey finish, they pick up a sage-green tint from the wallpaper behind them, so the speakers look like they were designed for this space.
Created with Roon’s DSP tools, the parametric EQ setting for the right channel compensates for standing waves in my living room.
I also love the way they sound in our living room—except for one thing. With many recordings, the bass can sound boomy and indistinct. That’s not the fault of the KEF system—it’s the room. As I’ve written many times on this site, our living room has some nasty standing waves, the worst of which causes a 12dB peak around 62Hz at the main listening position on the end cushion of a sectional sofa against the wall opposite the speakers.
To address this problem, I created some parametric EQ filters using Roon’s Muse DSP tools. The filters alleviate the effects of those standing waves, so that bass is more detailed and room boom mostly absent. But those benefits are only available when I stream from Roon. When I play audio from our 55″ Samsung Frame TV, which is mounted above our electric fireplace, the boom is back.
Game changer: a Bluesound Node (2024) with Dirac Live room correction
Recently, I reviewed the latest version of Bluesound’s Node streaming preamplifier ($549, all prices in USD). One of its standout features is support for Dirac Live room correction. The new Node doesn’t perform room correction out of the box. You have to purchase a license from Dirac, which costs $159 for a bandwidth-limited version that corrects frequencies below 500Hz or $249 for the full-bandwidth version.
As outlined in my review, Dirac was more effective than my DIY settings at taming my room modes. Bass detail and texture were noticeably better. Deep bass notes had better pitch differentiation. With full-bandwidth correction, the soundstage was broader, higher, and deeper, with more precise delineation of aural objects. In my review, I described the improvement as “transformative.” And I get these benefits with all content: not just streaming, but also TV and vinyl. Vinyl? you ask. Yes, indeed—more on that later.
Before and after: faint lines show uncorrected response for the left (green) and right (purple) channels; bold lines show corrected response using a customized target curve.
I’m sure you can guess how this story ends—yup, I bought the review sample. Placed atop the small side table that houses the breakout box for our Frame TV and an Apple TV 4K media adapter, the compact, unobtrusive Node in no way adds to the clutter in our living room. Its coaxial S/PDIF output is connected to the LS60’s coaxial input.
I took a small hit in terms of convenience. When the Frame TV’s HDMI-ARC port was connected directly to the LS60, I could adjust volume with the Samsung remote while watching TV. Now the Frame TV’s HDMI-ARC port is connected to the Node. For reasons outlined in my Node review, I disabled the volume control on the Node, which means I have to adjust volume using the LS60’s remote. Similarly, when streaming from Roon, I can’t use the volume-control slider in the Roon app to adjust level. The same goes for the BluOS app—the volume-control slider isn’t operational.
But there’s been an offsetting improvement in convenience. To make it simpler to route TV audio to the Node and LS60, I used the BluOS app to create a preset for the Node’s HDMI input. Now when I want to watch TV, I just touch the Preset 1 LED on the Node’s top panel, and then audio plays through the KEF system rather than the Frame TV’s speakers. I’ve created another preset for vinyl playback (like I mentioned, I’ll have more to say about vinyl later). This is more convenient than switching inputs using the BluOS app.
Upstairs
In my second-floor office, music comes from a PSB Alpha iQ active speaker system ($1299) that sits on the top shelf of my secretary desk. The Alpha iQ has a built-in network streamer based on the same BluOS software platform that powers the Node. I can cue up tunes in the BluOS app or send music to the Alpha iQ system via Roon or AirPlay.
I listen to this system almost entirely in the nearfield, seated in my office chair 3′ to 4′ from the speakers. The PSB speakers throw a wide, deep soundstage, with admirable image specificity—so much so that I can close my eyes and imagine that the musicians are much farther away than the speakers actually are. Bass is surprisingly robust for small speakers with 4″ midrange-woofers.
My desktop setup: PSB’s Alpha iQ active speaker system
This hasn’t stopped me from thinking about adding a subwoofer, specifically the Bluesound Pulse Sub+ ($749). Equipped with an 8″ polypropylene driver powered by a 150W amp, the Pulse Sub+ is practically tailor-made for my application. It’s small—an important consideration for use in my jam-packed office, which measures 8.75′W × 12′D. The Pulse Sub+ can be laid flat, placed upright, or wall-mounted; a mounting bracket is included with the sub. It can be paired wirelessly with the Alpha iQ system and other BluOS-enabled components, so there’s no need to string a signal cable to the sub. This little sub has fantastic placement flexibility.
In the Audio Settings menu of the BluOS app, you can set crossover frequency and subwoofer output level—there are also level controls on the sub itself. BluOS enables both a low-pass filter for the sub and a high-pass filter for the main speakers. That frees the Alpha iQ’s 4″ midrange-woofers from having to produce deep bass.
In hi-fi, one thing leads to another, right? So when I decided to buy the review sample of the Node, I figured, why not add the Pulse Sub+ to the order? It arrived in mid-February.
Setting up the sub was simple. After I clicked the + button in the Players section of the BluOS app, the app found the Pulse Sub+, asked me to enter my network information, loaded a firmware update onto the sub, and then asked which BluOS device I wanted to pair with the sub—I chose the Alpha iQ.
Game changer: a Bluesound Pulse Sub+
Between my desk, office chair, file drawer, small bed-sofa, credenza, printer stand, a stand for my turntable, and another for my network gear, my office is packed, so there aren’t a lot of options for subwoofer placement. After some experimentation, I ended up mounting the Pulse Sub+ on the wall to the left of my secretary desk. This is unused space adjacent to the door to my office, so the sub did not add to the clutter.
The BluOS app lets you adjust crossover frequency in 10Hz increments from 40 to 200Hz. After tweaking the levels, I found that a crossover frequency of 90Hz resulted in a seamless blend between the Pulse Sub+ and Alpha iQ.
Predictably, bass output and extension are better with the sub engaged. With the sub in the mix, my office system sounds fuller, more robust. Because the Alpha iQ doesn’t have to produce deep bass, the overall sound is less congested. The system can play louder without sounding compressed or confused. Now I enjoy listening to this system as much as the main rig in my living room.
Vinyl
On a small stand to the right of my desk sits a tricked-out Pro-Ject Debut Carbon Evo turntable, which I bought in early 2021 so I could play vinyl when reviewing products with built-in phono stages. I found that I enjoyed having physical artifacts of musicians I admire and so have amassed a modest record collection. I am definitely not a digiphobe, but I do enjoy the ritual of playing records.
Like many hobbyists, I also enjoy tinkering. After reading a feature by music editor Joseph Taylor on turntable upgrades, I upgraded the cartridge, platter, and subplatter on my Pro-Ject ’table, and fashioned an isolation platform from a piece of heavy ceramic tile and some memory gel that Joe was kind enough to mail to me. The results were impressive: better rendition of fine detail, smoother highs, more textured bass, and a more spacious presentation.
My ’table: a tricked-out Pro-Ject Debut Carbon Evo with Ortofon 2M Blue cartridge
Until recently, the Pro-Ject ’table was connected to the Alpha iQ’s phono input so I could listen to my records in my office. For a while, I’ve been wondering if there was a way to play vinyl through the LS60 system in my living room, and with the arrival of the Bluesound Node, I found a solution: the Bluesound Hub ($299).
This little black box has a built-in phono stage, as well as line-level analog, coaxial (RCA) and optical (TosLink) S/PDIF, and HDMI eARC inputs. It lets you stream audio from connected source components over your home network to BluOS-enabled components in other rooms.
Game changer: a Bluesound Hub wireless preamp/transmitter
I disconnected the turntable from the PSB system and connected it to the Hub’s phono input. The Hub converts analog audio to 24-bit/48kHz PCM. Now I can stream audio from the turntable to the Alpha iQ system in my office and the Node in my living room. I’ve compared the sound of the Hub playing streamed audio from the Pro-Ject turntable through the Alpha iQ with a direct connection, and I can’t hear any differences.
Now I can also play my records through the KEF system downstairs. There are occasional dropouts, but they’re rare. I admit that this is a bit of a party trick, but I enjoy it. If we’re entertaining and one of our guests brings over some vinyl, it’s fun to be able to play it through our living-room system.
Game over?
So am I really done? Have I actually assembled a couple of endgame systems? In this hobby, it’s delusional to think that you’ll never have an upgrade itch that’s begging to be scratched. I can imagine there being some accessory or tweak I want to add to the stuff I already own. But I don’t foresee replacing either the LS60 or Alpha iQ system. As I said at the outset, I’m delighted with both setups and just want to enjoy them.
. . . Gordon Brockhouse
