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.
11-26-14: Isochronism Agera, Tibet has the highest mountain ranges in the world. Dali Lama is the head Monk of the Tibetan school of Buddism. You are the one who placed Charles on the mountaintop....... Do you get ironicism?
I am actually pointing out the error of his ways. It is a mission of mercy....
The real irony is the actual structure built around said Dali Lama in light of the buddhist tradition....if you meet him on the road, kill him or make him your man-god.
Agera, Tibet has the highest mountain ranges in the world. Dali Lama is the head Monk of the Tibetan school of Buddism. You are the one who placed Charles on the mountaintop....... Do you get ironicism?
Agear With any and mostly all information available on the web, anything can be found with time. My stuff is obviously straight off the cuff. Your comebacks seem to take awhile. That is very telling.
Such hostility merely due to happiness with my audio system, why is this? It seems someone needs to meditate and reflect. The snowcaps are really beautiful up here. Charles,
11-25-14: Isochronism Agera, Actually, A Gastric flatulence sound is produced by a forcing through the Sphincter muscle, akin to blowing through a trumpets mouthpiece. It has nothing to do with the Gluteus Maximus muscle as in your cheek reference. Charles, Sorry, don't think of my analogy when you pick up your Trumpet...
At least I have you thinking. The medial soft tissue mass of the gluteus provides the rumble functioning much like a horn. Without it, there is little to impress your friends with.
Iso, believe it or not, I studied Eastern Religions as my undergrad major (in addition to the biological sciences) including many courses on Buddhism. I am thus very familiar with that quote and could not resist the bastardization. Richard Hopkins, the translator for the Dali Lama, was one of my profs at the University of Virginia.
Another well known saying is "if you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him." I use a variation on this in my personal attacks on Charles. I am trying to knock him off his mountain top, but he is stubborn....
Agera, Actually, A Gastric flatulence sound is produced by a forcing through the Sphincter muscle, akin to blowing through a trumpets mouthpiece. It has nothing to do with the Gluteus Maximus muscle as in your cheek reference. Charles, Sorry, don't think of my analogy when you pick up your Trumpet...
11-23-14: Isochronism Charles, My advise is for you to stop being so perfectly and predictably reasonable so that this fine page of your's will continue on....
or so predictably smug. Is anyone else here annoyed by this? Yes Charles, we get it. We struggle and fight and argue, and you sit on the mountain top in full lotus position. Don't worry Iso, the thread will continue, and Charles will continue to dispense his wisdom from above....
Thank you Charles, I druther being one with the Universe over useless arguementing. My/your vehicle for that choice, is through the truest art form we have, which is music.
SET with limited (or less) crossovers with appropriate speakers does it the way I/we like. Period.
Hi Brett, You and fellow music lovers will always have an open invitation to express your thoughts here.I'm just distancing myself from the repetitive and pointless audiophile /hifi battles. I realize that I'm in the natural/organic niche and not the accuracy/detail at all cost niche. These are very different pathways. Charles,
Charles, That was so well and succinctly put that you don't have to say anything else. My advise is for you to stop being so perfectly and predictably reasonable so that this fine page of your's will continue on....
Hi Spirit, Honestly (and bluntly) I don't care what others opinions are. I just listen and decide, its become that simple for me. Electrical grounding, mechanical grounding(vibration management)quality fuses,better capacitors, tubes and on and on. These have all led to improved music reproduction and further enjoyment in my home. I don't feel any urge to convince anyone else. I hear what these additions have provided and that's enough for me. The Tripoint Troy will never leave my system. Anything that increases natural or holistic sound stays. Anything that adds a mechanical,analytical or hifi sound goes. This is why I'll always have a SET amplifier based system. Charles,
Charles, I've put myself under the spotlight. Tbh, I'm a little tired of the sniping the objectivist crowd are guilty of indulging in, grounding being a prime target of theirs. I absolutely believe in maintaining max skepticism, but if the listening experience is substantial, maybe one should bow to the feeling, and actually be open minded to it. My thoughts on Entreq grounding are effusively enthusiastic, as are yours re Troy. I've put a little challenge to someone on another forum board who totally disses grounding to do an ad hoc blind trial - let's see if it happens. I actually did a deliberate disconnection/reconnection, and I was anxious I might have $6k worth of egg on my face if it all appeared to be placebo/expectation bias, but the negatives of non grounding were immediately apparent i.e. shrinking of the soundstage, less solidity, and greying of the tonal palette. Reinstalling immed brought back a fair degree of magic, 24hrs more wait should be totally magical. Now I've done it!!!
