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.
You're observant Brett, Miles and Shirley were dear friends for many years. I don't blame Miles, you can't help but notice the presence of an attractive woman. Charles,
Charles, I really do love this recording! Toots does a solo on Summertime. My CD copy has a classic photo of Miles and Shirley together. Shirley is looking off in the distance with Martini in hand In while Miles seems to be focused on her cleavage! :)
Recommendation, Shirley Horn "I Remember Miles" also features Roy Hargrove and Ron Carter. Very well done session, the music is beautiful. Typical of Shirley Horn. Charles,
Good advice but I haven't managed to receive a two sentence reply from him so far. He doesn't like to use more words than needed. Always received an answer though and that is a hard to find quality in todays manufacturers.
My Super Eclipses don't have ground posts but I can add one if I understand where to connect it. I'm considering to add a post to the small plate which has speaker connectors on it. That's the easy part, I'm not sure where should it be connected inside the cabin. Maybe magnets of the woofers?
Hi Firat, Good to hear from you. I don't utilize the Ocellia ground wire on their speaker cable as there's no place to connect them to my speakers. Ocellia's speakers and Tannoy for example provide a ground post for these wires. Do your speakers have a ground post? Thanks for your nice comments Firat. Charles,
Since my last visit to this page in last December, you have made lots of progress with your already excellent system. Congrats on your acquisions. This thread has become a meeting point to many SET users
Since grounding issue is a hot topic nowadays I want to ask you about the usage of the grounding wire on the Ocellia speaker cables. Are you using them? If yes how? I'm not sure where to connect it on the speaker side.
Hi Bill, Israel has been nothing but stellar in any dealings I've had with him. No resistors and hardly any capacitors, only two in your speakers and one in my speaker.That's typical for Coincident, he believes in minimalist crossovers. You'll be in sheer delight when the Duelund caps are installed. Charles,
Charles, it turns out my speaker does have a 6.8 uf tweeter cap. The resistor is just part of a Zobel Network. The 3uf cap is for the midrange drivers. The builder was a nice help!
I'm a jazz diehard and it will always be my first love musically speaking. I am gradually adding more classical music to my listening and I do like it, more than I expected. Listening tonight to Janos Starker and also Mstislav Rostropovich. It really something, both play the Cello brilliantly yet sound nothing alike. It's a genuine pleasure hearing both.
For a jazz analogy, drummers Elvin Jones vs Phily Joe Jones or pianist Theloneous Monk vs Oscar Petterson. All great musicians with their own approach, I love it. Charles,
Grannyring, You're welcome. I've always thought that with a well devised audio system that aims for natural -realistic(such as yours) rather than "hifi sound" silver is ideal. Good quality silver cables reveal(preserve) more natural tone, harmonic information as well as transparency and nuance. Simply put, more realism than copper wire IMO. Charles, .
Charles, I wanted to let you know that I now own silver cables all around! I had told you I never heard a silver cable I liked. In the end they all sounded thin and a little whitewashed to me. You kept saying that silver does not have to sound that way and I decided to try one more, yes one more time.
I now have silver speaker cables and IC's. The brand is Amadi. This brand is way under the radar and a killer value. I have his Maddie Signature stuff and it is so smooth and natural sounding. Silver detail and tight bass with uncanny realism .......and body! Total opposite of thin! I did not think it possible with silver.
Well, I owe you thanks as your comments persuaded me to try one more time!
I thought Tbg was a Stillpoints advocate/user. Tbg has both the Troy Signature and also the new High Fidelity Power Wave conditioner? He must be having plenty of fun I'd imagine. The Audiopoints are exceptionally cost effective. Charles,
Agear, I've given it some casual thought but I'm so pleased with everything I just haven't followed through on doing so. I'll eventually get to it. The Troy is marvelously natural. Charles
Mark, At one time Alexis Vaic and Ricardo Kron were partners and made tubes together . Later they went their separate ways, Vaic (AVVT) and Kron (KR Audio) both made their tubes in the Czech Republic. EML are made in the same country as well, thus all three share this common pedigree and some similarities in appearance and construction. Based on my listening the AVVT and EML are more closely related sonically than the KR tubes. Charles,
Hey Charles, I have an extra pair of the clear glass V V 32b as a standby if something happens to the blue glass V V 32b pair that I am using now. I checked the blue glass, and they are labelled as being made my KR Enterprise. Not sure how they compare to the AVVT ones, or if they are the same? Anyways, I wonder how much longer the 32b tubes will be around, but it's good to know that the EML 300b-xls tubes are a viable substitute!
The SET and hi-efficiency speakers are a great way to go, and I will mention that hi-efficiency crossover-less speakers are an even better scenario, at least IMO!
Brf, Your take on the Duelund CAST is insightful. I immediately heard their beneficial effects upon placement in my speakers. However the sound just kept steadily improving for week after week. The stock speaker is quite transparent and natural to begin with. The performance improvement with just changing the speaker's single capacitor in the crossover is actually remarkable. The cost of the CAST in reality is cheap given the results they yield. Charles,
Your take on the VV =>AVVT lineage is correct. I dont know if its is me or not, but I still think the Duelands are still improving as I put more hours on the caps. I know that the Dueland caps are expensive, but for the sound improvement, you will be hard pressed to say they are not worth their asking price.
Brf, Thanks, I knew the EML XLS 320 isn't a drop in replacement as the 300b XLS is. I believe the Alexis Vaic "VV" tubes were his earlier line and was followed by the AVVT tubes. Brf what's your final verdict on the Duelund CAST in your speakers? Charles,
Most Vaic Valve (VV) tubes use the same designation as the AVVT tubes
AV32B = EML 300B-XLS These are drop in replacements for 300B amps, however, the plate voltage can be increased over the standard 300B to achieve greater plate dissipation i.e. more power
AV302B = EML 320B = EML 842 These are also drop in replacements for 300B amplifiers providing that the heater voltage never drops below 5v. This is very important and if 5v cannot be guaranteed, tube life will suffer. As with the 300B-XLS higher dissipation can be achieved with greater plate voltage with no harm to the tube.
