of all my systems in the past few years I have to say to my ears this is the most musical and engaging system by a large margin. I'm not listening to equipment any longer - just music. The all Kaplan wiring was a major step towards the enjoyment factor.
SOLD and replaced with Mytek With the MK2 upgrade an already great DAC took a major step forward in sound quality.
AMR(Abbingdon Music Research) AM-77.1
running the amp in vertical biamp configuration - Dual-Mono Amplifier - using integrated class A tube preamp.
Rosso Fiorentino Siena
leather wrapped full range acoustic suspension speakers. Love them ;)
Kaplan Cables GS MKII
used for the Siena mids & tweets
Kaplan Cables GS MKII
XLR from PWD to amps
Kaplan Cables GS MKII Power Cables
15A
dedicated circuits 3x 20A
one outlet for each amp and the PWD
Boston Tuning standard w/tungsten ball
used under Mytek
Kaplan Cables HE MKII 3a conditioning cable
used for Mytek 192 DAC
SOLD * Adona Nemesis w/cherry trim
used for AMR amps
Acoustic treatments various
GIK 6x corner traps - ATS various - GIK QRD7 diffusor used at 1st reflection - 8th Nerve etc..
SOLD * Project Audio RM10
with 10cc carbon arm & Ground It isolation base - Cover It cover.
SOLD * Tom Evans Microgroove Plus
very nice sounding SS phono pre that replaced a Project Tubebox II SE
SOLD * Mytek Stereo 192 DSD
unbelievable performance & expecially at this price! Using it via Firewire(Granite Digital cable) with external ESATA storage(12TB) - server software is JRiver(EXCELLENT SW)
Cabledyne Reference RCA Cables
very nice sounding RCA cables from a new to market company. Used between TT & phone pre and phono pre to amps.
SOLD * Sumiko Celebration Pearwood
cart.
HIFI Tuning Supreme fuse
used in the Mytek DAC
Maestro 20A outlets
used on the 3 20A lines
SOLD * Sumiko Speedbox II SE
external power supply/speed control for the RM10 TT
Agear - I bought a pair of Pass XA100.5 because I needed to feed my obsession and after a year+ with the AMR I wanted to experiment LOL... I can't afford to keep both but I like both equally - whichever pair sells first will go ;(
I bought both amps at the same time so I haven't tried using just one. I've pretty much always had mono amps in the past so I guess I am prone to mono amps ;) With the AMR in mono bi-amp mode most of the power supply power is available to the low frequency channel and gives better channel separation. I have 2 JL Audio 112 subs that I might try to integrate into the system. I miss that sub 25hz pumping - the Rosso do an excellent job with bass but only go down so far.. The only problem is the AMR don't have a sub or pre output. Not sure how I can hook them up... Any ideas?
I'm now thinking of selling my analog rig. I don't find myself using it much and have grown tired of using my VPI 16.5 RCM. I have about 200 albums to clean and just can't seem to find the time to do it, hahah..
Agear, both are excellent. The amps have plenty of power and the speakers use it to full advantage. They never sound over driven and bass is super tight and tuneful. I really like a sealed box for bass.
I would say the AMR has better tonality and dimentionality. I also think it has a bit better resolution. The ASR is a fantastic amp but the AMR is more enjoyable to me.
Hi Agear, the AMR amps only have 2 small tubes per amp for the voltage gain stage and they are supposed to last a very long time and do not need bias adjustment. It seems to be the best of both world's IMO. The Rosso are not Kirk's - I think his were wrapped in brown crocodile leather. Kirk was actually at my house to hear my system last year - it helped him decide to buy the ASR gear.
I alternate the Isotek (track 2) with music of wide dynamic range when breaking in equipment. I've also found with the good advice of several friends who are very experienced at all this that alternating material, the Isotek and also utilizing a rolling power down schedule (play for many hours in the day, then shut the unit off for varying amounts of time followed by power up and continued burn-in results in a very good result. Write me for more details on Audiogon email if you like and I'll let you know the approximate times I utilize, how I rotate the time played, the time powered off, etc... The rolling burn-in/power down/burn-in allows everything to drain and then recharge which seems to help the break in and produce a more satisfying result...
Many thanks. Your experience is consistent with what I have heard/read online. I guess I have a long way to go as I don't have the Isotek etc Cheers Pradeep
break in takes forever! I tried to keep a record of how many hours I had burned it in with the ISOTEK burnin track 2. It definitely opened up and became smoother around about 400 hrs - after about 600 it was even better but I don't notice any more changes. I probably have about 800-900 on mine now - I stopped keeping track. The ISOTEK track is supposed to speed up the process by 2-3X.
Thanks Tony What kind of break in did the Mytek need ? Read somewhere that it requires 500 hours !! I reckon I have less than 100hrs despite leaving it running 24/7 with a Mac feeding music from AudiNirvana. Cheers Pradeep
Thanks Pradeep ;) Yes, the FW sounds much better than USB in my system. I used the Gold X USB cable. FW is much more transparent and open sounding - the USB was a bit muffled in comparison. You might try both and see what you like better.
Tony Congrats on an excellent looking system. Did you find that you get superior results using the FW connection on the Mytek as opposed to the USB 2 and the external HDD is connected to the computer ? I am still finding my way with computer audio and a recent Mytek. Cheers Pradeep
Tony, I have no doubt that the sound jumped in quality dramatically by utilizing cables over jumpers. Many manufacturers use shortcuts at shows due to logistics and constraints of shows; some don't feel jumpers are so detrimental to the sound, while others feel pressure to get the rig set up in time. There are also arrangements regarding cables possibly with other manufacturers, etc. Some feel the speaker should be heard "stock" and not enhanced.
A person cannot be assured that any manufacturer has established the rig/speaker demo as optimally as may be expected.
Yes, Mono Biamp Mode is nice; the Cambridge Audio Azur 840W amps I had also benefitted from the Mono Biamp mode; comes in handy. :)
Hi Doug, I really am enjoying the sound ;) The Rosso sounded much better when I bypassed the jumper from the sub box to the mid/tweeter box by using individual cables for each. I don't think Darren ran them that way at the shows - when in mono biamp mode the AMR uses one channel for bass and the other for the highs - most of the power is available to the bass section - it makes a big difference sonically running things this way. thx Tony
Hi Pdreher, I use a Win 7 quad core PC that feeds the Mytek via firewire. The PC is in another room so no noise. I use JRiver as the server and JRemote on an IPad to control it all - it works great. The Mytek doesn't have wireless but I doubt it would work with DSD anyway.
Hi Aaron, yes North would be better but with the measures I've already taken it's really not an issue an longer. The solar screens really do the job. I take most of them off from Nov. to about late March..