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.
Hi Spirit, If your system is on the mark 99% of the time your are doing something obviously right and there's no need to tamper with sucess. Just continue to sit back and indulge in your wonderful sound and enjoy your music collection. There are a number of excellent preamps that would likely make you just as happy as your Hovland. Why switch if you're already there? Charles
Charles, thanx for your input on the Wyetech labs Ruby Std thread. I was actually not in the market to buy a new preamp, my Hovland HP200 is still 8 years on hitting the right notes for me. It can occasionally seem to sound a bit lean with my current set up, but only in patches, and 99% of the time sounds on the money. The Ruby piqued my interest due to the HP Soundings review which seemed to say it was an analog lovers dream really enhancing the tonal qualities of reproduction, hence like your requirements, this is ticking the right boxes. I'm sure the reviews/marketing v.much said the same thing about the HP200 back in '05!
Hi John, Thank you very much for your kind comments on my system. It's been a year since I have placed the Duelund CAST into my DAC and speakers. The splendid musicial realism and involvement they increased in my system exceeded very high expectations. If the CAST capacitors were twice their cost I'd still obtain them for what they contribute to my enjoyment. Charles,
That looks like an awesome system! I can only imagine the many pleasurable hours it has given you.
The capacitors in my speakers were originally Solen, and as you know my Duelund CAST capacitors are still breaking in, but our having similar embarkation points on that common part of our audio journey gives me great appreciation for how nice your system must sound. I would love to someday hear such a system.
Firat, The EML XLS is a simple direct replacement tube and is a noticeable improvement over the black treasure 300b. I've used both in the Frankenstein and will be fine with either version of the amplifier. Charles,
Firochromis, To the best of my knowledge from people who have heard both, sonically they are "very" close. Differences were nearly nonexistent. Charles,
Dear Charles, have you (or other people in this thread) had a chance to directly compare the two versions of Frankenstein's? In terms of sound quality, Internet comments favors the newer version by a small margin. New one is cooler (any shiny) old one has a 4dB gain advantage. Any more differences?
Comparing the Shuguang and the Psvane 101D tubes is intriguing. The Psvane is smaller and the interior architecture is rather different between the two. I wonder if internal materials differ also, something has to account for the differences in their sound. It isn't a case of bad vs good, it's very good vs exceptionally good.
The Shuguang is able to reproduce excellent sound in the Coinccident line stage without question. Some how the Psvane enhances the beautifully natural sound further and it just causes me to wonder how this is accomplished. Tonality, timbre, harmonic over tones, tactile presence, subtle sounds and nuances are all improved from an already high baseline. The Psvane offers this superior sound for the same price aas the Shuguang, what a deal! Few components utilize the 101D tube, that should change. This splendid tube is capable of reproducing music in an utterly sublime manner. Charles,
I placed the new Psvane 101D in my CSL in place of the very good stock Shuguang tube. This Psvane is simply better sounding and needless to say I am quite impressed. When you get more organic sound along with higher resolution/nuances you know you've found a special product. The tone of this 101D is just beautifully life like. Charles,
Out of pure admiration I posted a picture of my man Dwight Adams. When he isn't busy touring with Stevie Wonder or teaching jazz in Wayne State University's Music Department he plays the trumpet fabulously. This is him last week blowing some first rate Hard Bop ! I'm sitting close to the action as usual. Charles,
A must recommendation, Harold Land "Promise Land" beautiful playing and well recorded (minimal compression). Land is a fabulous tenor saxophonist who is much under appreciated in my opinion. This CD also features pianist Mulgrew Miller and drummer Billy Higgins. Charles,
Bill, The Sistrum Apprentice is SP-SA-102 it's 14" depth. My speaker's depth is 22" so Robert of Star Sound recommend placing two Apprentice beneath each speaker. Sonically it worked out very well. Ideally for cosmetic sensibilities a single "custom" size Apprentice would be the ticket. I'm not complaining however. Charles,
Firat, Israel believes in brevity at times but has always been fast and responsive for me over the years. The current Frankenstein has a "ground lift" switch but lacks a "grounding post". I connected the Tripoint Troy ground cables to the Frankenstein chassis screws. This required getting small connecting spades on the Troy's cable, it worked out fine. Charles,
Charles, My Frankenstein is the previous version so mine doesn't have a selectable ground connection for the mains. Does the new version have that? And I wonder how do you connect all these devices to mains, any ground cheaters etc? Or Troy has a solution for mains ground loops?
-Eliane Elias "Everything I Love" Brazilian Pianist who sings on a few tracks. Christian McBride is on Bass. (say no more:) -Cassandra Wilson "Loverly" Incredible voice and phrasing beyond my description. Great guitar work throughout IMHO I really like these two albums!
Miles and we ( you included) have at least one thing in common, then. We are unable to refrain in appreciating the beauty that that abounds us in this life!
Brett, I suspect you'd really like Delfeayo Marsalis, "Minions Dominion" features his brother Bradford as well as Elvin Jones and Mulgrew Miller. First rate playing by top tier jazz men. Charles,
