My objective is to duplicate the sound of a good jazz venue as best I can. I'll never match it but getting close is fine. I've had various audio components through the years and tubes particularly DHT tubes/ASSET have gotten me the closest. So this is where I will settle down and appreciate.
Balanced AC power is fantastic !! 1800va balanced isolation transformer/conditioner. All aspects of music reproduction are improved for every single component.
Tripoint Tripoint Troy.
A wonderful grounding box component. When added to my system it increased the sense of natural sound quality and emotional engagement. The Troy has a humanistic and “soulful “ quality to it.
Coincident Speaker Tech Total eclipse 2
This wonderful speaker is transparent,open and involving. It`s large yet completely disappears as the source of sound within the room. Very easy to drive,94db and 14 0hm impedance (Minimum 10 ohm). I replaced the stock Solens capacitor with the Duelund CAST in the crossover.
Coincident Statement linestage
Superb performance. In my opinion , a masterpiece by Israel Blume. As would be expected, a wonderful match with its sibling the Frankenstein MK II.
Coincident Speaker Tech Frankenstein mark 2
A terrific 300b SET amplifier that is the foundation of my system. The EML XLS 300b tubes are a superb match with this amplifier.
Acquiring these 300b SET mono blocks changed the course of my music listening experience. They elevated the emotional engagement, tactility and “breath of life “ realism.
Yamamoto YDA-01
Wonderful music lover's DAC that has a very natural/organic sound quality. Duelund CAST addition(output coupling capacitors) makes it sound even better. It has a very minimalist circuit/design that was implemented well.
Ocellia Silver Reference IC
Very natural and pure sounding with excellent tone and timbre preservation.
Ocellia Silver Reference Speaker Cable
Same qualities/ comments as the IC.
Star Sound Technologies Sistrum Apprentice component platforms..
These Star Sound platforms are mandatory in my system. Effectively managing resonance and vibration leads to a very noticeable sound improvement with every component and especially the speakers. Excellent product.
High Fidelity CT1 Ultimate Digital cable
A highly impressive digital cable that mates beautifully into my system. Contributes to the natural sound presentation.
Pro-Ject Audio Systems CD Box RS2T
This is a superb Redbook CD playback transport. It’s both high resolution and impressively natural.
. I’m using the excellent Fidelizer Nikola II LPS. Splendid pairing.
Lavricables Grand and Master series Power Cables.
Pure silver wire and unshielded power cables. These are used with all of my audio components. They are very open, transparent, high resolution with beautiful natural tone and timbre presentation.
Abbas Esoteric Audio 3.2SE
Built by renown Ukrainian Abbas Zulfugarov. NOS DAC utilizing the classic Phillips TDA 1541 multi bit chip. Two 6080 tubes in the analog stage. 5 various rectifier tubes in the power supplies.
3 separate toroidal transformers (And 2 chokes ) for the power supplies.A very serious and successful upper tier DAC implementation. Using with the Abbas SPDIF and power cable.
Charles - I couldn't help of thinking of you on this offering, however I suspect you'd have many of these titles already. See this Illusive Disc link for the Blue Note AP Set 1 SACD....
Agreed about the the impedance load that would differ between the SE III and the PRE.
I did speak to Dennis, unfortunatly he had 3 pairs of the AVVT tubes last year when he was getting out of them - he now builds 2A3 amps only now. You got 1 of the 3 pairs, they're now long gone.
He does highly recommend dealing with Jac Music in Germany as he is the funding behind AVVT and EML - thats where Dennis sources them. The EML is largely the same tooling an people in Czech.
Thanks Charles - Since the last time I'd sent you a e-mail about buying Jimmy's CLS, I bought Dragon MkII from him as well, he took the Super Ecplise III as a partial trade. Therefore I use the 300B's in the output Franks, and the driver in the Dragons.
Funny thing about the initial revelation about the Franks being all the umph I needed with the SE III, with the PRE's it just wasn't the same. The Dragon's bring great balance to the equation, the combo is wonderful!
Further, while the write up's for the PRE are accurate in indicating the they are fast, extended with a ton of detail. What I find with this combo the system presents more a front row perspective, on a bright recording it can get to be a little to much for me.
I tried the Royal Princess in the Franks, beautiful, extended and airey up top and equally good down to the very bottom, however a little more top end energy than the Shuguang Black Treasure. So I'm on a search for a 300b that I can live with in the Franks.
How would you describe the high frequencies on the AVVT. I ask because I now have the PRE (Super Eclipse sold) and there are times I would wish for I little less energy up top.
By chance did you ever get a chance to try the Sofia Royal Princess? If so what's your take on it compared to the others?
Thanks kindly for the inputs. In the meantime I think I'll start with Dennis Fraker of Serious Stereo just in case I can avoid the import/shipped hassles.
Re: I'd like to recommend to anyone who uses a 300b amplifier to seriously consider the AVVT 32B SL tube if you happen to come across a pair(out of production)..... For their cost they are a true significant value given the performance provided. The AVVT 32b used (hard to find these days) is a spectacular buy.
I was on the Jac Music site (Germany) they still have some stock, though there will be foreign exchange, shipping and import fees to take in consideration. Based on the high praise it might be worth it. Has anyone gone this route before and had a positive experience? In the end how much extra did this cost I wonder?
