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.
I`ve decided to change the capacitor(Auricap) in my speakers.Fortunately for me my Coincident speaker has only one cap(tweeter) for the entire crossover! and no resistors.I`m going to try the esteemed Duelund CAST copper WPIO capacitors.I`m quite curious to hear what the differences may be.The Duelunds should arrive in about 2-3 weeks.I will post my impressions.
Onemug, Gsm8439 has actual owner experience with the 2A3 and I don`t,he`d be better qualified to discuss the matching of these with the 300b.
I understand your reservations about the Takasuki, it`s very exspensive.This tube is special and should be used full range to get the most of its uber performance.
Most telling comment about the Takatsuki, people who generally have preferred the 45 or 2A3 tube over the 300b have come to recognize the Takatsuki as their sonic equal but with more output power.That`s a compliment. Charles,
Charles, I like EML's. I have their 300b and 45 solid plates, never tried their 2a3. I've been using the Sophia 2a3 Princess Mesh for the last 2 years. The bias started wandering on one of them and that's why I started looking for a replacements.
One thing I have to balance is the blend between the amps I use in this "active" set up. The x/o is around 2.8k so I hear some of the 2a3 below that and some of the 300b above that point. Ahhhhh, the days of just using "one" amp. :)
Gsm18439, Takatsuki.....Charles plants the seed and you water it. :) If I ran "only" a 300b amp, I would have already bought a pair. I'm sure they are worth it. Harder to decide when they would only be used from around 2.8k and below.
I guess the BT and EML would be at or near the top choices for 2a3's. Do either of you have an opinion as to which of the 300b's you've heard would "blend" better with the 2a3?
I had been using Sophias 300b Princess mesh to go with their 2a3 mesh. Now with the BT's, I'm going to roll my EML's and KR's in and see how that goes. Maybe the Takatsuki IS in my future.
I used the EML 2a3 and found it to be excellent. (As I remember, it was the solid plate.) However, like Charles, I now use the Takatsuki 300b; I was fortunate to discover and buy them before the price hike. They are truly excellent and replaced the RPs that replaced the Shuguang BTs.
Onemug, I felt the same towards the BT 300b out of the box, they just kept improving with the added hours of use.You`ll have to spend more money to better them.
Have you tried the EML 2A3?(mesh or solid plate ?). This is said to be an excellent sounding tube. Charles,
Onemug, The Sophia RP is a better tube(actually it`s excellent) but it`s also 2-3x the price of the Shuguang BTs.The BT is a very good value IMO.I`ve not heard the Psvane but word of mouth is good.I will say the BT 300b has been absolutely reliable and my amps are in use just about every single day for hours. Charles,
I remember the thread about the Taka's. If I ran my 300b amp full range I would definitely consider them. As is, in my bi-amp situation, the 300b amp only sees aroung 2.8k and below so I'd be wasting a lot of it's potential BUT I would bet on it being one of the best sub/2.8k sounds obtainable.
I believe you also tried out the Sophia Royal's, how would you rate them compared to the Black Treasures?
I will consider the Psvane Blacks. I think I read that the Shug's has a more romantic sound and the Psvanes a little more modern sound. Do you know the differences and who sells the Psvanes?
Hi Onemug, Nice to hear from you. The Franks driving maggies? that sure goes against common wisdom of most maggie owners. The Shuguang Black Treasure 300b I used for 2 1/2 years and is a 'very good' tube.I replaced it 6 months ago with the Takasuki-TA 300b. This tube is simply stunning! there`s no other way to put it. The tone,timbre,harmonics,purity and emotional communication is sublime.I really agree with the 6 Moons review of this tube.
The'only' downside to this tube is its very high cost(now 1800 USD, I payed 1400 USD.). As far as I`m concerned they`re still a bargain given their supreme sound.I`ll keep the fine Black Treasure tubes for backup/spares(you never know what can happen).
Onemug, I would also strongly consider the Psvane Black Tube 300b. Some think it`s slightly better than the Shuguang version(but pretty close overall). Charles, Regards,
I came across this and thought you might find it interesting. Shows how good the Franks are.
>>>>Magnepans (1.6's):
Personal Notes- I had no idea that the Frankenstein amplifier could be this versatile. My best guess is that the flat 4 ohm impedance of the Magneplanar is an easy load for the Frankenstein. At that point, it is just a matter of whether the top volume levels are adequate for the listener. For many audiophiles, this should not be a problem.
This happy result is also excellent news for the owners of other speakers with flat impedance loads (4 ohms or higher). How "excellent" can only be appreciated by those audiophiles who have actually heard the Frankenstein amplifiers at their considerable best. <<<<<
Also wondered if you still had your Shug 300b-z. I'll have their 2a3-z shortly and would like to try their 300b-z for the 300b amp part of my bi-amped system. Any interest in selling or trading them?
Hi Scott, Thank you for your very kind comments, yes I do love my jazz musicians.You should consider moving your pictures and see if it works for you.I imagine that large Nina Simone painting is really special. Regards,
Also...awesome photos in the background! I have a big painting of Nina Simone behind me next to a Miles pic. I should move them towards the rig like you did!
Charles, my main point which I forgot to make, is that I am extremely happy with my digital and could just stay there, so I fully agree with you. I just happen to have many LPs which I need to get back to someday.
Chayro and Isochronism, Thanks to both of you for your kind comments. To be clear I enjoy good analog quite a bit. My own experience is Linn LP 12 and Well tempered TT(which I liked better). Isochronism once you set up your analog rig I know it will sound fabulous with your current components. I just don`t need the bother bother hit of miss quality of records, TT, tone arm,cart,phonostage etc. anymore.The Yamamoto provides the music without the fussiness. Regards,
Charles, you very eloquently and succinctly describe the pleasure you attain from music/your system. I would match mine in words if I could do that as well as you. Tuner and mainly CD has me spellbound! Some day I will move residence and set up my TT, Arm, Cartridge, RCM that are all still boxed, never used yet. A shame! That may be icing on my already fine cake. Enjoy your cake and eat it too, as I do!!
No doubt that good digital can be very involving. I recently had the opportunity to listen to a fairly expensive system using the Linn CD12 and I was truly impressed with the ease and musicality. Then again, when I had my Naim CDX2/XPS2, a $10K+ player, I was amazed at how good even a $700 Music Hall record player sounded. I'm not going to carry on about this past this point, but I'm just curious - when did you give up analog? Enjoy your system. You obviously have very good taste.
