Description

Using the great room which is centrally located between the floors and where, certainly in the late hours the family gathers, I felt this place is ideal spot where one enjoys music, as background or for more serious listening if the wife is not on the piano.

The custom made cabinet, designed for my AV needs in the mid 90s and placed directly against the wall, makes any change cumbersome so most tests are done in the HT system. The allocated space for audio gear is also limited, causing over crowding, certainly after the installments of the mono blocks.

Looking at modern and aesthetically pleasing integrated like the Devialet d-premier, one wonders if less is more.

The core data:

Room: located at mezzanine level, measuring 21' x 30' with a half sloping cathedral ceiling (from 7' up to 14') and an open staircase to the 1st and 2nd floor. Hard wood floor; two ASC bass traps are setup as well as heavy curtains in lieu of too visible room treatments.

Application: 2 channel only and likely to remain so.

Music genres: mainly Classical (mostly strings and vocals), modern Jazz, some classic rock

System/history:

After going through the bulk of full range speakers, some on Stereophile's top list within my budget, I concluded that I preferred time and phase aligned designs with soft dome tweeters and settled, for now, on a pair of Duntech Sovereign 2001s that complemented two other Dunlavy designed speakers. My favorites being the 2001s and the Black Knights, a dance of two.

Amplification was changed from ARC, Krell to Conrad Johnson. Their gold plating fronts "forced" me to stay in their family so I gradually moved up the chain, from tubes to solid state and now back to tubes. Now I am a happy camper with these LP140s.

The two above mentioned categories are pretty important and, IMHO, apart from room acoustics, the prime determinants as one does not know which sound one likes and only frequent visits to concerts, show rooms, classified sites and the occasional sanity checks ensure one is still on the right track and within a (somewhat) justifiable budget.

As for source, I intentionally and emotionally detached the analogue part as I am sure digital is closing the gap (there is still a gap) and it is so much easier to shift through the albums and tracks on your mobile device or whatnot without the addition of plops and cracks each time. Hence I have canned most of my CDs onto FLAC files and my collection of hirez digital is growing by the day.

As expected, electronics have their quantum leaps - and painfully experienced as I sold the then ground breaking high end receivers of the dot com era for cents on the dollar in the sobering up years of the dot bust - I remain on the outlook for the next DAC "du jour" and expect to have found a new love when I have more DSD files than the FLAC files on my server. The AMR DP-777 does a tremendous job, acting a pre and DAC. No DSD yet as hirez 24/192k files serve me very well.

Isolation is an interesting discipline where one needs to experiment a lot. Luckily, changing footers is easier for my back than swapping amps (except class D ones) or, heavens forbid, replacing heavy speakers. It is also a very mature industry segment with a finite number of players, unlike the next category.  The European Cherry cabinet is far from ideal so I need to address the resonance issue some day.

Finding suitable cables, let's start with interconnects and speaker cables, is an adventure that requires patience and tenacity. After reaching the first important relays in this marathon quest for sound, I ran a bit out of power but retained a good amount of brands for the short list and settled on Audience, NordOst and Purist Audio Design in alphabetical order. I have tried full looms of NordOst and Audience but have not detected any special magic. 
Adding High Fidelity Cables was very beneficial, not to my wallet though. Almost full loom HFC from digital, over IC to SC.

Power and power conditioning has really made me go bonkers as they do make significant difference so I have spent the last year searching for the nirvana/greener grass, first with a set budget until I lost my mind. It is not an easy undertaking: the diverse approach in type and composition of conductors, isolation, shielding, magnetic control, etc; the fact that PC are system dependent, and lastly that investment of a full loom of cables is not a trivial matter. I needed a firm nudge from my better half and a look in the mirror to halt the craziness, it did not. This contagious disease has not stopped and probably won't. My latest change of IC and SC to High Fidelity Cables has probably put a damper on future experiments in this area, for one the budget is pretty much gone and for the other these HFC are game changers that took my system up a big notch.

As for power conditioning, I will probably add a power regen unit but am now very happy with my Adept Response 12TS, upgraded from the non teflon version.

My short write up is incomplete but I could not pass the opportunity to post my system on a date like 11-12-13 so the "controlled" insanity will go on.

Thanks in advance for all your comments! Just don't forget to listen to the music.
Read more...

Room Details

Dimensions: 30’ × 21’  X large
Ceiling: 14’


Components Toggle details

    • Cary Audio Design CD-306
    Liked this model so much I bought another for the HT system.
    • Conrad Johnson CT-5
    An excellent alternative to the ACT 2 Series II and as always, it just sounds right! Upgraded the 6H30DR, some improvement. As always, the after market fuse brought a big improvement. HiFi Supreme is very good but I do not expect it to last as new models come onto the market in a rapid pace.
    • Conrad Johnson LP140 mono blocks
    A big step up from the Premier 11A that I had. Replaced the stock Sovtek 6550s with first Gold Lion 6550 and then Tung Sol KT120, overall as good as the 6550s but certainly better and tighter bass. The upgrade of stock 6922 for the line stage to NOS Amperex with dutch heritage improved the sound, more so than the KT120.
    • Duntech Sovereign 2001
    Stock version
    • Logitech & linear power supply Touch
    with linear power supply (you dont need the more expensive Bolder variant, plenty of choice on Ebay) that clears up quite a bit and blackens the back ground. SW mod, thanks to Soundcheck from Germany.
    • Tara Labs ISM Onboard 0.8 digital
    between the Cary and AMR DP-777. Superb overall, lovely mids! The best I have heard in my system under 2k list price
    • NordOst Valhalla 1m and 2m power cord (2x)
    was long time my favorite in this all tube system, contested by newcomers like HiDiamond, still used as the first leg between wall socket and AR12T and from AR12T to DAC to get the high dynamics and high level of resolution
    • Symposium Svelte shelves
    19 x 24 under the source components and under the speakers
    • Black Diamond Racing Shelf, cones and pucks
    under each mono block. Will try Symposium Rollerblocks some day.
    • Audience AdeptResponse 12 TS
    very beneficial in improving the overall sound quality w/o only slight coloring. Traded up from the AR12 (non Teflon) so the extra investment is certainly worth while.
    • Furutech GTX-D
    Rhodium version and the best so far in my systems, more neutral than the gold version. Installed for both dedicated lines
    • HiFi Tuning Supreme fuses
    best bang for the buck, a must to have after market fuses. In combination with a dot of WA Quantum chips your system seems to make a quantum leap, a (very) small step for your wallet but big step for your music system!
    • Stillpoint Ultra SS (two sets of three)
    Pretty good improvement over the Symposium Rollerblock Jr. (in dual stacked mode), keeping the Symposium Sveltes shelves.
    • High Fidelity Cables CT1-U
    CT1-U digital
    • HiDiamond D8
    the D8 replaced a pair of HFC CT1E which have more resolution but does not offer the complex texture of the D8
    • HiDiamond P4 2m
    from Audience PC to the DAC
    • High Fidelity Cables CT1-U interconnect
    The best I have had/heard without taking out a second mortgage. Many will concur that adding HFC cables is addictive. I need a cure!
    • High Fidelity Cables CT1-U speaker cables
    Now I am requesting a second mortgage :-)
    • AMR DP-777
    • CH Acoustics X-20
    best power cord (so far) that has no downsides. Plenty of detail and speed, texture and imaging, great dynamics.
    • Star Sound Technologies Sistrum SP004
    under the mono blocks, improves the sound even more compared to Symposium Svelte shelves with Symposium footers.

Comments 30

Nice system. I owned a pair of Sovereigns in the late 80s and early 90s. I was moving around a fair amount in those days for my job, and after moving these speakers three times and another imminent move, my wife finally convinced me to get speakers that weren't quite as massive :). 

I really enjoyed these speakers driven by a pair of Krell MDA-300 monoblocks. The only issue I had was that the tweeters were easy to blow because of the shallow 6db/octave crossover slope. But it wasn't hard or too expensive to replace them, so this didn't bother me too much. 

Good luck with your system.

jaytor

I have a pair of Duntech’s 2001, driven by Krell 600c, Krell Kps 25sc, marantz 10b tuner, with Cardas Golden cables through out. This is how I survived covid 19. Being at home night and day.

economistdba

Thanks for commenting back to my question with all that detail; very much appreciated. I too and wary of big upgrades and huge 'shifts' of the kind you are talking about.  I've had good results at various points 'going up the line' with various cables only to find out that I went to far or too many and that the resultant 'house sound effect' and the overall sound/imaging did not really match what I was looking for with a lot of investment being 'water under the bridge'.  Enjoy your system and Happy Listening!

zephyr24069

Owner
Well very recently I have tried to use more affordable cables (e.g. Cerious Technology Graphene Extreme and SR Black) as power cords but the HFC (even the entry level CT-1) has much better extension at both ranges and clarity. 
The HFC CT-1 IC were deployed first nearly three years ago (when my main system had the NorOst and HiDiamond cables) and got upgraded first over to CT1-E and then CT-1U over the last two years. The HFC CT-1E SC replaced the HiDiamond P4 and last year I got a great deal on a pair of HFC CT1-U SC. I am very happy with the HFC full loom, something I was weary getting into as previous exercises (Transparent, Cardas, Audience, NordOst, HiDiamond) weren't satisfying at the end. If I were asked which big upgrade (cabling, power conditioning, caps bypass) made the biggest impact in terms of value/money at this stage, I would vote for the latter two categories.

jazzonthehudson

Wow...more updates!  You must be enjoying all these upgrades very much,....how do you like the HFC Cables and how long have you had them?  Have a great day!

zephyr24069

Owner
Adding an Acoustic Revive 888 (alignment to the N-S direction works best) and the sound improved in a similar way as upgrading the power conditioner (like from aR6-T to aR6-TSSD) in terms of "air" and imaging, everything sounds more articulate. Side effect: noise from farther away in the house (e.g. conversation) can now be heard from my listening position. The air has been "cleared". Planning to add a second device in the room.

jazzonthehudson

Owner
I feel pretty close to audio cloud #9 after upgrading my power conditioner first to aR6-TSSD and recently to the aR6-TSSOX, adding high-quality Chris Venhaus' VCap-CuTF as bypass caps in the cross-overs of my Duntech Sovereign 2001s.
The sound improves in many dimensions, vocals -my focus- are reproduced as "here", more texture, more air and dynamics, better separation between instruments. 


jazzonthehudson

Owner
Update on revisiting the isolation under amps and speakers:

The Star Sound's Sistrum and Apprentice platforms perform better than the alternatives of Symposium, BDR and Aurio under my mono blocks and speakers by a mile: better sound staging & imaging, more fluidity and faster, more details, you need to let them settle for a couple days, up to a week.
 
Under my 150lbs, Black Knights speakers (see my other system) the change from large Symposium Svelte Plus (I tried the cheaper solutions of Aurios, Herbies and BDR before settling on the Sveltes) to Sistrum SP004 was like putting in an HFC interconnect in the system for the first time. 

To round up the evaluation phase, I will put Stillpoints Ultra SS under them next week. Ultra 5 is out of the question (for now) but most users are very happy with them, some upgrading to Ultra 6 under their large speakers.

For the main system, where I currently have custom made XL sized Symposium Svelte Plus under them, I would need to have two Sistrum shelves under each speaker due to the size of the Duntech Sovereign to guarantee stability, the alternative is to have four Stillpoint Ultra 5 per speaker. Let's hear how the Stillpoint Ultra SS compare to the Sistrum in the home theater system first.

jazzonthehudson

Owner
Changes last couple of months:

Source: evaluating the PS Audio DSD to possibly replace the AMR DP-777
so far, it is going on well, the PSA burning in and deliver on its promise

Amps: upgraded the SR Red fuses to Audio Horizons Platinum fuses
yielding a even more organic sound

Isolation: added Symposium Svelte Plus to the existing Svelte under the mono blocs. Replaced the footers of the amps (was BDR cones+puck) with Symposium fat footers.
An even quieter background, better dynamics and imaging. We are nearly there!

Will continue to evaluate improved isolation for under the amps (maybe Sistrum platforms) and possibly under the speakers (currently large Symposium Svelte).

jazzonthehudson

Owner
Thank you zephyr24069! The journey has been rewarding but there is still so much to do and I will be revisiting the isolation or rather the resonance aspect of the large cherry cabinet that was a blessing 20 years ago but not so when you're serious about a good setup. I am soliciting for help in the amps section (there should a "isolation" section on the Gon as resonance control is as important as cabling, if not dealt properly with!
There are some changes during the last month that I will document. 

I can not say that I am not happy. Recently an audiophile friend visited me and I am happy to see him smile when we put on some music. 

We journey on!

jazzonthehudson

Outstanding write-up...I love the attention to detail and how you focus on your journey and strategy regarding system building. You must be very happy with how things are sounding!!!

zephyr24069

Owner
Last quarter improvements:

A. Power:
1. Upgraded the third party linear power supply of the good old Logitech Squeezebox (sofware modded to handle 24/192 files) with a high medical grade 5VDC power supply (onto which I added some VCaps for good measures) and the difference was certainly as big as a major component upgrade! It lowers the noise level to non existent, adds more texture and details, more air...more organic/natural.

2. power cords:
- upgraded the NordOst Valhalla on CDP with DPFC Lossless Reference (the most natural sounding PC but the sound stage is smaller than, e.g. the HD P4)
- upgraded the HD P4 on DAC/preamp with CH X-20: simply the best! In terms of instrument separation not as good as the DPFC LL Ref but beats other PCs I have had in all other areas.

3. Fuses:
upgraded those in DAC / amps from HiFi Tuning Supreme / Liquid Nano all to SR Red

B. Cables
Speaker Cables:
back to full loom, upgrading the HD D8 to HFC CT1U, still burning them in, lacking a bit of weight vs the D8 but gained on details/clarity, more air, more balanced.

Overal, quite a noticeable improvement! Not sure I will be able to keep all those expensive cables as I may need to upgrade my DAC to accomodate this "next level".

jazzonthehudson

Owner
/Lak: I am using CT1U upstream and sets of CT1E to amp, the latter will be replaced by CT1U that I just ordered.

jazzonthehudson

I forgot, what are you using for your current interconnects?

lak

Owner
System edited: Moving again away from a full loom, this time High Fidelity Cables. The HiDiamond D8 SC provides more pleasing listening with better defined texture and losing a bit of resolution vis a vis the HTC CT1E. The replacement of NordOst Valhalla power cord with the HiDiamond P4 was a good move, getting more balance and better timbre.

jazzonthehudson

Owner
/Tympani, thanks for the complements!

As for the journey, I have walked a long path to get where I am and as one does not get younger, hauling big speakers or heavy amps becomes too cumbersome and I believe those in my system are not too bad. In due time I need to upgrade the DAC.

I have the Ultra SS on the DAC and transport and will try them out w/o the Svelte shelves.

jazzonthehudson

Ahh, the Journey. Does it ever end?

You have a wonderful setup! I see you have noted the special properties of HiDiamond and Stillpoints. Not sure which components you have on the Ultra SS, but curious if you've tried them without the Svelte shelves?

tympani

Owner
Tbooe, thanks, I am very pleased with my journey.

As for HFC, there are plenty comments here on the Gon, most of which I would agree re low distortion, background noise and the transparency it brings. But I am wary about the superlative raves of some of their supports.

I moved away from Purist Audio Design (great both in build and sonic quality but I prefer lighter cables) to HiDiamond before trying HFC and must say that HD offers an excellent value/money. IME, HFC offers liquidity and transparency better than any I have had (that is, IC under 4k retail) whilst HD sounds a bit more organic and has more "weight" so I am trending toward their D8 speaker cable, away from the HFC CT1E SC.

Buying expensive cables taught me that retail price tag is just a label, as currently HFC cables are sold at 50% discount, reflecting their true market price. Rob at WorldWideSales (Distributor of HD for North America) is a great guy that will work with you.

jazzonthehudson

Hi there! I notice you use the High Fidelity digital cable. I am also interested in this cable and was wondering if you compared it with others and what your thoughts on its relative strengths and weaknesses?

Awesome gear by the way!

tboooe

Owner
Quo Vadis? As I am pretty happy with the sound of the system
and the possibility of making changes to speakers nor
amplification are slim as I deem them pretty good (the CJ
LP140 mono blocks) or too darn heavy to move, my focus has
been on tweaks and specifically cabling in the last half
year: fascinating are power cables as they are so system
dependent so this is still a work in progress (currently
comparing NordOst Valhalla, HiDiamond P4 and LessLoss DFPC
Signature).
As for IC and SC, I have moved from NordOst Valhalla (IC)
and Purist Audio Design Venustas (SC) to a full loom of High
Fidelity Cables. Starting with the CT1-E IC, I quickly added
the CT1E digital and then CT1E SC. The latest upgrade is the
CT1E to CT1U digital. Indeed a big investment but IME worth
it.
For those who still believe not spending more than 15% of
the total system value in cabling, I can only say, again,
consider cabling as main part of the infrastructure.
Would those $15k be better spent on a more pair of speakers
or high end DAC...?

jazzonthehudson

Looking very good!

lak

Owner
Thanks Glenhifi! I had to downsize a decade ago when we moved to an apartment in the city so I am enjoying the spacious listening rooms now.
Enjoy your VR4s (maybe they can use some dampening behind them, I put ASC bass traps behind each speaker and in the other corners); I once almost bought a pair of VR8, at that time their weight seems to much for me to bear.

jazzonthehudson

Great gear,glad you have the space for the speakers to really sing. Happy listening.

glenfihi

Owner
System edited: It was a no-brainer replacing the NordOst Valhalla IC between the preamp and amp with the High Fidelity Cables CT1E (no downsides at all) so I substituted the PAD Venustas with first CT1, then CT1E SC and the Tara Labs 0.8 with the digital CT1E, very tempted to move higher up the craziness ladder. The money could be better spent upgrading my DAC.

jazzonthehudson

Owner
System edited: After testing many AC sockets, I have settled on the Furutech GTX-D(r) for my main system, these sockets have IME no downsides and are very well mechanically designed as well. The best bang for the buck after dedicated lines and fuse replacements. Runners up: 1. Maestro: very spacious and natural sounding from the mid range up and excellent value for money, used in my library system. 2. TeslaPlex SE: certainly the most dynamic. Best control to the sound-stage and excels in the bass region and emphasize high frequencies. Best for pictures so these are now used in my HT system. 3. Oyaide R1: pretty good but for the money I would get the TeslaPlex or for a bit more, the Furutech GTX-D or D(r) All the above mentioned models are a big step from widely used Porter Port (cryo'd Hubbell 8300), Hubbel 5362, etc that I had before. Anyways, do upgrade the stock wall socket, its definitely worth it.

jazzonthehudson

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