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.
I am really glad you like the caps! If my Audio Note caps ever die (I hope not for many years), I think Dueland will be high on my list of replacements. I must say, I love the Audio Note silver sound. I can't imagine my amp sounding better. But your comments about the Dueland and your insightful ears make me start to think...
A friend turned me on to Jaques and Paula Morelenbaum with Ryuichi Sakamoto playing Jobim classics: "Morelenbaum2/Sakamoto: Casa." It is now one of my favorite bossa nova/female vocal albums. Her voice and phrasing is truly wonderful.
I really like that 6Moons article. They talk a lot about Terry Cain and his speakers. The IM Ben they were using, for which the 45 tube was under powered, was a different model from the one I am using. It had a 4" driver that was less efficient than the one I am using, which is a 6" driver, more similar to the one found in the full size double Ben. It is also very interesting reading about the differences between Bruce Edgar's horns and the Cain and Cain cone driver speakers. Edgarhorns have always been described as "warmer" horn speakers. I was surprised to see a horn described as "warmer and mellower" than a cone driver. Charles made a comment on another thread regarding the differences between cone drivers and horns in which he theorized that a lack of crossover bridges the gap between the great liveliness and dynamics that horns are known for, and the relatively "slower" response of cone drivers. He makes a good point because I find that my crossover-less Cains are indeed very dynamic and lively. I would love to hear a 45 or 2A3 amp with my Cains to find out if the slightly more efficient driver in my IM Ben makes using less than 8 watts a viable possibility. I would imagine that your Beauhorns have the same kind of dynamics offered by an efficient, crossover-less cone design. I am beginning to think I must acquire some Yamamoto components. The return on investment alone seems unbeatable.
It seems like you are nearing a point where you can truly say you are "done for now." I am curious to know whether you have experimented with room treatments. I have noticed a major improvement resulted when I treated my room a bit.
Hi Charles! I bought a backup pair of TA-300B from the following website: http://www.audio-accessory.com/ for $1668, including all shipping and insurance to the US. I don't know what the price is at the American distributor because they have never replied to my inquiries after multiple emails. Just wanted to let you know for future reference. If you find a better price, please let me know!
