SET bliss/Jazz Haven (In my home).

by charles1dad on Done For Now
Music Retreat.
All heart and soul, beautiful!
Jazz trumpeter Dwight Adams mastering his horn.
The late and great Roy Hargrove
Coincident Frankenstein 300b SET mono block.
SET realism
Amplifier flavors.
Pro-Ject RS2T
Abbas 3.2SE DAC Interior.
Abbas 3.2SE DAC.
Excellent audio signal chain
Frankenstein
Abbas3.2SE DAC
Live jazz in a friend’s living room.

Description

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.
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Components Toggle details

    • BPT Signature 3.5 plus
    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.
    • Frankenstein tubes.
    Tube complement 
    EML XLS 300b output.
    RCA 5U4G rectifier (1953)
    RCA 6EM7 driver (1960s).

Comments 1956

Showing all comments by kennythekey.

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Hi Charles,

I realize that your system's front end is digital, but I can't think of a better person to ask a question about the Coincident Preamp. You already provided me with good answers about the Statement, but do you have any experience or first hand knowledge about the Phono Preamp? After all this time, I just realized that the Phono has a second line input, and does not require a line stage. That's all I need.

Any input would be appreciated, including how the Phono might perform against the Statement for non-vinyl sources?

Kenny

kennythekey

Charles,
Positively, the most dramatic upgrade to my system, besides the 300b amps, has been the removal of my power regenerator. And, this upgrade cost me nothing.
Once, I pulled out the regenerator, and plugged my amps directly into the outlet my system came alive.
Another, interesting tweak to the amps, was adding the odd and minimalist Shun Mook power cords. I must admit, I was laughing inside when I first held these in my hands. These cords opened up the sound of my system and added dimensional layers to the depth of my soundstage. When compared to Telwire HC Cords, the Telwires did add more body, so I did get some bass improvement. I could live with either of these cords, but the Shun Mooks just made the music sound a bit more real, so I'm still looking for bass improvement suggestions.

kennythekey

Charles,
If you check out my system pictures, you can see how my speakers are set up. I'm losing some bass energy. Otherwise, l love the sound that's now more detailed, and the system throws a much bigger soundstage that's convincing. I can finally say, that my system has arrived and exceeded, in part, my expectations from when I got on this new road in 2009! Joyful and satisfying, and it's the room that has changed the character and presentation.

Some time back, I was trying to give Dev, an accurate review of the 300b amps, and he was particularly interested in the bass. Where I am now, I have excellent, but reduced energy in this respect as described. However, recently a buddy of mine purchased the TW 300bs, plus we have similar systems, so he's the one who lent me the Tron Ultimate line stage. He has worked and reworked his room, and now it's alive with energy. The bass is startling and perfectly natural, and in my situation, to die for. If, I could get that, except for some tweaking, and perhaps a new line stage, l'd been done.

kennythekey

Thanks, Charles.
Yes, I had to search out your system to post my question. So, they made this quite inconvenient IMO.
I am a great fan of Tron, so that hasn't changed. The price of the Ultimate will keep it at bay for quite some time, so I'm reaching out. Additionally, I moved into a new home and I now have a corner problem with my speakers causing some fill-in loss and less bass energy. I'm starting to look at subs or other solutions, so that just adds to cost.
Kenny

kennythekey

Charles,
Regarding your Coincident Statement line stage, have you ever encountered someone in the community who has matched the line stage up the with a Tron Seven phono stage? I know, that not all equipment works well together, so why I'm asking.
I recently had the opportunity to drop in a Tron Seven Ultimate line stage to A/B it against my temporarily inserted Boulder L3AE line stage, and while there were definite improvements, I did not find those improvements to be huge. This has sparked my curiosity.
Kenny

kennythekey

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