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.
Agear and Charles, Thank you both. My system page will have to wait until I relocate to a larger place and take my system to it's next planned level, which includes a large pair of speakers that have been put away for a dozen years.
Thesaint519, Thanks sincerely for your kind comment. You have an excellent system that obviously required thought, knowledge and of course taste. I'm sorry that your inquisitive and interesting thread had to suffer the unfortunate agenda driven hijacking. Best of luck with your new speaker quest. Charles,
Brett, I agree with Andrew's suggestion for a system page. You have assembled a very fine system and I believe others would certainly appreciate your efforts and subsequent results. Charles,
09-24-14: Isochronism Hi Agear, After checking out your provided link, I will order "The Voice That Is". Your mention of L7 immediately made me think Gibson. Barry Galbraith. They are my favorite guitar brand, tho I do not have one of their Jazz-Boxes, I had always desired one. Thanks for the link and getting me thinking.
Iso, it is good to have you back as Charles indicated. Let me know what you think of that music. You need a system page (as do I).
Agear, My version of "Night Lights" is regular redbook that I've had for about 8 years. Johnny Hartman who along with Carmen McRae are supreme vocalists who are very much under appreciated and known. "Johnny Hartman" on the Priceless Jazz Collection label is one I highly recommend. Charles,
Hi Agear, After checking out your provided link, I will order "The Voice That Is". Your mention of L7 immediately made me think Gibson. Barry Galbraith. They are my favorite guitar brand, tho I do not have one of their Jazz-Boxes, I had always desired one. Thanks for the link and getting me thinking.
This is one of the best recordings I own: Ali Akbar Khan - Indian Architexture
Recorded straight to 1-inch analog tape on a custom-built, all-triode tube recording chain. Mastered direct to DSD on a Sonoma system by Chris Rice and authored by Gus Skinas.
"With this recording, the prize for the listener is to be taken through every emotion, Khansahib knows the terrain, let him drive." Ry Cooder.
"True music of the spirit, recorded with the sonic truth of vacuum tubes in this age of computer chips, compulsory listening, lest we forget where its at." Keith Jarrett, Commemorating The 70th Birthday of Padmavibhushan Dr. Ali Akbar Khan.
I actually have the 24/88 version from HDtracks
Another dandy is this: http://store.acousticsounds.com/d/94132/Johnny_Hartman-The_Voice_That_Is-DSD_Download
Hartman signing Sunrise Sunset gives me chills. Organic and lovely. The L7 renders DSD in a most marvelous way....
Brett, I have to admit that I would be interested in the mixed power amplifier scenario outcome. I hope Mr. Rankin gets your Wavelengths straightened out for you soon. Charles,
Hi Charles, As for my wry comments, If I run out and grab a six-pack, I'm sure I can come up with a couple before the night is thru. Seriously, one 300B amp and one 45 amp each has a slight problem. I had emailed Gordon a while back about that. He answered me back right away, but perhaps I was not explicit enough or he was very busy at the time. He just suggested that I tighten up the 300B socket on the one, which actually is not the problem. Jet suggested to me the possible problem which seemed to make sense to me. A part needed replacing. I also would have had Gordon upgrade 300B sockets to Yamamoto Teflons while they were there. I have almost been tempted to run one each functioning 300B & 45 together on separate channels. Would make an interesting comparison, since my Doshi Alaap Pre has dual stepped attenuators. I doubt I will tho since I haven't yet. I can wait, I think.
With the recent placement of the Psvane W.E. Replica 101D in my CSL and now the Jupiter copper foil caps in my amplifiers it has increased the distinctions between my favorite 300b tubes. This change for whatever reason has increased my already high appreciation for the Takatsuki. I preferred it over the excellent sounding AVVT SL 32B, the gap has widen further. The Takatsuki simply conveys more soul, emotion and involvement while listening to music. As very competent as the AVVT is, it doesn't pull me in to the same extent. It excels with the sonic check list and beats nearly evey other 330b I've tried. The Takatsuki just brings the music more alive and visceral. This special quality is hard to describe but is easy to recognize. You hear it and "feel" it also.
Now what's interesting is the EML XLS moved upward as well, I definitely choose it over the AVVT. These two share a common pedigree but the EML is more musically engaging and so dynamically authoritative. The XLS is a superb tube in my amplifier, it gives up a bit of that unique organic magic to the Takatsuki (but not much). The better sounding upgraded 101D has really positively impacted the entire system and extracts more from the SET amp's full potential with premium 300b tubes. Charles,
Hello Brett! It is a joy to hear from you and welcome back. I've missed you wry humor and always insightful posts. Thanks for your kind comments. Is your system up and running again? I know how much pleasure it provided for you. Charles,
Hello Bill, As a long time Jazz fan I also have always been drawn in by "mellow, inviting and intimate". Must be a coincidence how my sobriety has gone up since my system has been down. A red wine or a Guinness has been very few since. Charles, After I sampled a few seconds of the title song of Night lights, I had immediately ordered the SHM version. Each of your prior recommendations that I have taken you up on have all turned out to be pure joy! I can't say enough. You have excellent taste in both science (system) and magic (music).
Hi Bill, I'm glad to hear that and I suspect you'll enjoy the other suggested recordings as well. "Night Lights" is just beautifully done by masterful musicians. This is one of my favorites I take to CES, RMAF and situations where I want to evaluate audio systems. If a system can't reproduce the natural warmth, tonal color and dynamic flow of this CD, well, something is wrong.I believed that your system would preserve the beauty of this music. Charles,
Hi Bill, I understand you regarding the warranty concerns, and besides the stock Frankenstein will still keep you very happy (as you've discovered). The Jupiter capacitors are just some icing on a delicious cake. They squeeze more performance from the Frankenstein in the same manner as higher quality tubes do (fine tuning an already high foundational baseline). A friend installed the capacitors and called it a simple task, "ample space and few number of parts", minimalist layout. Charles,
Charles, replacing the GE 5U4GBs with the Mullards was a little different than the 101Ds. The performance gap is no where near the gap between the Shuguang and WE replicas. Perhaps about as great as the difference between the HiFi and WEs. What is did was mitigate a long standing (12 years) problem, most noticeable as I said earlier, in certain recordings of French Horn solos. If that is all it offered it would be worth the cost. As a lover of Jazz, you also will be especially interested in anything that impacts brass instruments.
As you know, I really prefer not to share "impressions" without having them supported by a careful A/B critical listening session. But as I said earlier, Israel considers them the "best" with the Franks, and it was clear to me that they were better than the GEs straight out of the box. I will want to compare carefully horns, trumpets, trombones, tubas etc to determine that taking the edge off the horns has not adversely impacted upper harmonics on the brass.
The Mullards should be given another 60 hours or so of burn in before doing the comparison. Glad I picked up a pair before he sold out, but I/m guessing he will be on the look out for more, or perhaps one of the tube specialists has a supply.
I had followed the copper foil cap discussion with interest. I won't make any mods until I am out of the warranty period. Is the replacement easy, or did you have it done by a local tech?
Bill, Fellow Frankenstein owner Snopro (Joe) was on target regarding the Jupiter copper foil capacitor replacing the stock Solens(input coupling 6em7 stage) in the Frankenstein. This was an "excellent" recommendation. As terrific as this amp sounds in stock form the Jupiter improves the sound further upward(tone, resolution and naturalness). Superb SET amplifier for an obtainable price (within reach for many music lovers). As these capacitors accumulate hours they continue to improve. What an absolute treat! Very curious to hear what the Mullard rectifier tube adds to this wonderful mix. Listening to Art Framer and Benny Golson and they sound so beautiful. Charles,
Bill, I got a reply from Israel this evening regarding the Mullard CV 378. He's sold out currently but considers it the best choice for the Frankenstein. Bill was the impact of this rectifier in your amplifier the same level as the Psvane W.E. 101D in the CSL or is that going too far? Thanks, Charles,
