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.
In one of your system pictures there is what appears to be a 3 cent resistor hooked to the $400.00 Duelund cap. If so, that resistor is much more of a noise issue than the Solen capacitor ever was. I would suggest you have a resistor bridge made of nude Z foil Vishay Tx2575's [about $100.00 plus labor] or a single Duelund carbon element resistor [about $30.00] as a replacement for the one pictured. Vishay now also has listed a 2 watt Z foil and then you would only need 3 of these in parallel to acheive the wattage rating needed. Sorry I don't have that part cost. Any of these resistors would make for a major improvement yet again. Best Regards. Tom
The Duelund CAST capacitors address the issue of lowering resonance in their design. The benefit of such effort is to lower noise.Well this approach is highly sucessful!The improvement in increased tone/harmonic believability, low level information,resolution and dynamic contrast is undeniable.It really is an acomplishment to improve resolution and detail and yet gain more naturalness.The sound character is as organic and real as I`ve heard in my system(and this had been a strength).Listening to acoustic jazz and classical(which I`m discovering more and enjoying) is at a very high level of involvement and emotion.
In terms of performance- value ratio for money spent,The Duelund CAST is perhaps the best I`ve done along with my Frankenstein 300b SET amplifier which began this new foundation several yers ago.
Agear, good thoughts. Even at our own end of the listening chain it may come down to the speaker and how live or dead the room is that could give us a preference for one type or the other.
Charles, Jazz is my favorite listening these days. I saw Sarah in person in a small and intimate setting many years ago. Very memorable. I have none of her albums, trying to figure why that is. I have been listening to MOG lately and it gives me the opportunity to cue up an entire album. I will listen to both of the ones you mentioned. Thanks for the recommendations.
Hi Onemug, I`m not sure if you`re a jazz nut as I am but just in case... Last night I listened to my girl,the beautiful Sarah Vaughan. 1)"Sarah Vaughn with Clifford Brown" 1954 recording Mono. 2)"After Hours" recorded 1962? Stereo. These are just beautiful, both in terms of music and sound. It was as though I could just reach out and touch them,the presence was that strong. Are you familiar with these two rcordings? Tonality on both are so natural and real. Regards,
Hi Agear, Yeah you had multiple variables at play for sure. Interstage transformer vs capacitors won`t be solved and will forever remain a matter of choice as is 'every' other aspect of audio system construction.You can find excellent examples of either,so as I always say,let your ears decide.Otherwise it just becomes endless debate over who`s right(or wrong).I find the sound of my transformer coupled components stunning.I`d believe you feel exactly the same toward your TRL capacitor coupled components. So there,we`re both very happy with our choices. Regards,
Charles, I am satisfied with the Duelands. They are the most organic cap I have 'heard." The only problem I had with objectivity during the early phases was that there were too many variables changing at once. The Dude had a new volume control in place, new solid core wire, etc with their associated break in periods. I also had just added Sistrum racks under all the equipment, so again, another change.
Unlike Bill, my cap experience is somewhat limited. I had Mundorf supremes in the Dude before and they were not exactly bad. When I still owned the Frieds, i tried several different caps in the xover (stock was Zen; then Mundorf Supremes and then AudioCap PCU). The Audiocap PCU was very, very good much like the Duelands but without the same degree of resolution.
Onemug, that is indeed a very interesting question. I have NO direct experience with transformer coupled equipment. A friend of mine does and has owned many SOTA pre-amps that are transformer coupled (Audionote, Ypsilon) and he claims that he can now hear the negative effects of transformer coupling. He has moved away from them. He believes, as do I, that much of this is system dependent, and a matter of whether these artifacts can even be heard. He owns SOTA power conditioning products that lowers noise floor tremendously, and this may be part of the reason why. Remember that manufacturers don't always possess SOTA systems for voicing. They may not be able to "hear" some of this stuff either.
Hello Onemug, Interesting question I`ve actually comptemplated on that myself. Here`s the problem,I`m no engineer or electronics builder.All I can do is listen(but I can`t hear every component avalible)and read articles by the builders,who all make strong cases for their choices.My gut feeling is a 'top' quality interstage transformer(I.T.) (all things considered) would likely trump a 'top' quality capacitor.
Can I prove this? no,that`s why it`s merely a gut feeling.Andy Groves designer for Audio Note wrote a very compelling article on the merits of an I.T. over a coupling capacitor.israel Blume belives an I.T. beats the best capacitor(I just don`t know).VAC,Allnic(I think?),Wavac and a number of cost no object custom builders go in that direction also.
Given my experience with the Duelund CAST I know as a coupling capacitor it would sound excellent.But would it outperform a high level I.T.? My amplifier and linestage use the I.T.(custom made in japan) and sound sublime.Would that that be true with the CAST caps in their place? it`s certainly possible.I love the way my music sounds in my system. But there are other systems that are obviously as good as mine or better. There`s always more than one sucessful approach in audio. I am very satisfied with the path I`ve taken.
One thing I`d love to do is have an all silver version of my Frankenstein.Replace the copper wiring and copper wound transformers with silver everywhere and compare them side by side.I `m a huge believer in silver but I can`t argue with the musical results of the all copper Frankenstein.I`m really curious as to the differences There would be. Regards,
I know how much you love your Frank's and that they are transformer coupled. Transformer or Capped, I guess each has its sets of pluses and minuses.
Based on what you hear with the Duelund cap and just speculating, what do you think the Franks would sound like if they were cap-coupled with the Duelunds instead of TC'ed?
I know, pretty abstract but I have a few of those thoughts roaming around in my mind and like the way you have achieved your success.
Agear, Are you satisfied with the CAST capacitors in your Dude preamp? They`ve worked out brilliantly for me.The epitomy of organic character, beautiful natural tone of all instruments along with superb resolution,detail and nuance.Musical and emotional communication is the best so far in my system.It`s near impossible to turn off the system(and if was already difficult prior to the CAST placement). Regards,
I think the burn-in will vary depending on the component and likely the size of the capacitor.The CAST in the speaker seemed to burn-in sooner than in my DAC.Both are really just fine now.They don`t require the extended time as many teflon caps do. Regards,
Houstonreef, In hindsight I`d say at 100 hours they are pretty much burned-in.The good news is there`s no pain during this process,Within a few hours of use they sound very good(that`s for my speakers,others may differ). Regards,
Dragon viibe, Questions like this are tough to answer when both components are this good.I have`nt compared them directly in the same system,sonically both of them are superb! they`re both in the 'natural' and 'realism' camp rather than the analytical and Hifi camp.
In terms of convience I`d choose the VAC just simply because it have far fewer tubes to be concerned with(this factor may not matter to you).Both sound excellent. Regards,
Agear, The good news is your sound will improve significantly as the CAST caps add the hours.These are likely the most natural and realistic capacitors available. Just sit back and enjoy the organic beauty of your system(and room).Your admiration for these wonderful capacitors is going to grow,a lot! Regards,
Agear, Well,the CAST are continuing to evolve.Yes the music is just beautiful(and has been for a while) but the sound apparently has`nt quite peaked yet. These CAST are insanely good.Agear would you consider them in your TRL GT-100 power amps if you love them in your Dude?I don`t know if you`re a Hifi guy or music lover. If the latter, you`ll be so happy with these in your system. Regards,
I got my Dude back with the Duelands in place. Very pinched and bright at first blush. I thought I needed a new pre-amp. Bill talked me down. At 72 hours, the magic had arrived. The most coherent and musical cap I have EVER heard in this application. Nuanced, organic, without overemphasis, blah, blah. I use piano to put things to the test, and the D's nail it.
Onemug, that article is a ringer. I stumbled across it a few years ago online sleuthing for God knows what. It resonates with me and seems "true." Most of the audio blabber I read is flushed down the toilet, but that article sticks. I would love to see that experiment repeated focusing on the source alone (master tape, LP, CD) within a single system.
