I just replaced the Airy 3X sb, and as much as I liked the Airy 3, the UNIverse is simply that much better. I can't wai till it's broken in and doing everything it should. It has so much more weight and authority, and speed.
TriPlanar VII
black and silver. I've never seen an arm so versatile and easy to setup.
Sota Cosmos sIV (the first one!)
Black plex finish
Pass Labs X-ONO
Excellent industrial chic. Nearly as quiet a phonostage as money can buy, with great sound reproduction.
Pursit Audio Design Venustus
1.5 meter interconnect.
Sony SC-D777es
sacd, 1 bit. Modded by Richard Kern in Dec 2005. added new superclock and replaced all caps with Black Gates. The sound is much less 'digital.'
Purist Venustus
1.5 meter IC
Klyne Audio Arts 7LX-3.5b
This is upgraded to newer than the 3.5 version and includes balanced inputs. VERY musical.
Purist Dominus, 4 meter
4 meter pair of the liquid filled Dominus between the pre-amp and amp. The best cable I have ever heard.
Classe Audio Omicron
350 wpc, nearly 300lbs! IMO this has all the benefits of SS w/o the harsh realities. Much more musical than the Krell FPB 700cx I had previously.
Purist Dominus PC - 2
Using two Dominus PCs on the Classe amplifier
Purist Venustus
1.5 meter pair
Harmonic Precision Caravelle
Smallish two way with the original stand.
Sistrum SP-1 (?)
I bought five shelves with the solid top for the Sota Cosmos table. This is a great rack. If a person spent twice the money they might be able to get something better, but is it twice as good? The picture is just the top shelf. [url]http://starsound.biz/multiplatforms.HTML[/url] gives more info.
Purist Venustus PCs (2)
On the Sota power supply and the Klyne power supply.
Exact Power EP15A
I don't know what this thing is doing, but it sure does it better than the Tice Power Block...
Custom made Brass cones
A machinist associate agreed to make several sets of brass cone to use under my phono stage and pre-amp
I wonder how Purist would sound in your system. I've noticed some interesting things with the addition of the Caravelle speakers, and I'm sure the Purist has a lot to do with it. I can't wait to hear what things sound like with a TT in place. Soon, right!?!
Our Reference 2 motor began having speed consistency issues. Nothing huge, but intermittent spells of running 1% slow was not acceptable, to us or to Chris.
CB put a Signature motor (the smaller one normally supplied with 100/200 series tables) into a taller Reference case and added a ton of lead shot. It's operating perfectly while he works on the problem.
I "know" our Reference 2 is quieter than a Signature because I A/B'd them when we upgraded from a 265 to a 320. But we've made so many other upgrades since shipping off our Ref that things sound glorious even with a lesser motor. I haven't heard Purist, but we are mightily impressed by Nordost's micro-filament "air dialectric" technology. The reduction in HF smear and glare is remarkable.
From your comment on my sytem page I gather you're still table-less. Isn't it time for some of your motorcycle buds to bust a few heads in Chicago? ;-)
Ride on over and bring a record or two. We're using a motor that CB leant us while he troubleshoots ours, but at least we're spinning. Sorry to hear you're not. :-(
I had a little time yesterday so I played a CD. One of the Proto-Kaw releases.
The speakers must be breaking in because I heard this hint of the voice breaking out from the wash of music. It seemed to be seperating itself. Sounds like progress to me.
Ray, the stands were a dealer maker or breaker. I talked to Tom Lyons for close to six months about buying the Caravelles, but the stands were a must. I love 'em. I know many didn't but that's their perogative.
I have been spending more time on the motorcycle the last few weeks. I'm trying to organize a ride. I haven't turned on my home or office system for at least a week. I'm looking forward to spending some quality time with the Caravelles though.
It won't be this weekend!!! Sunny and close to 90! Time to ride...
Anyone wanna ride from Green Bay to Door County, and back for a party? June 24th and 25th, be there.
Nrchy,My Caravelles took a few weeks to settle in,,,with the bass taking the longest time to fill in.Looking forward to hearing your impressions of these sweet little gems!Peace,Ray
System edited: I'll post more about the speakers when it happens, but they shouild be here this week. The Sota/TriPlanar/zyx are in Chicago for upgrades to the table. I plan to post extensive comments when all is said and done.
I bought that poster in an Ebay auction. I liked the fact that it was signed by the artist, and was still pretty cheap. He must have done a lot of them.
I saw an ad on another site for a couple of cool posters. They had Miles Davis and some other jazz artists. http://www.gothampark.com
It's harder than I thought to get GOOD listening room artwork. I guess it depends what you want, though.
Nrchy, Things are looking awesome! One question for you, did you ever consider the Klyne phono stage when you were looking for one? When I saw you had the Klyne linestage, I might have guessed you'd have the matching phono stage. Also, did you compare the Pass to any tube phono stages? Would love to hear your impressions of any you auditioned. Cheers, Spencer
Art, I have heard nothing but good about the Stereovox cables and that's from people with systems much better than my own. I would like to hear them!
IME there is nothing better than Dominus. I have used/owned AudioQuest, Kimber Kable, Cardas, and Virtual Dynamics. The only cable to come close was the Virtual Dynamics Revelation.
Dominus is more open, cohesive, tonally correct, and dynamic than anything I have had in the system, including some other, very good cables from Purist.
I wrote a review, and started another thread, 'Biggest Bang for the Buck' about my experience with Dominus. Check them out if you're interested.
If you can audition them, go for it. I would be surprised if you were not happy. I use them with SS, but I know several people, again with much better systems than my own, who use them with tubes.
Whether or not they are better than Stereovox, you will have to let me know.
Hi Nate. Even though I'm on a 12-step program for audio gear, I still allow myself to consider cabling changes, so I am very interested how you like the Dominus IC and PC, viz-a-viz others you've had.
I currently have IC/SC from stereovox, and PC's from Electraglide, Kubala-Sosna, and Isoclean, in an all-tbed system. I have tried many many cables, but for whatever reason, never had a chance to listen/audition the domnius gear, despite its excellent reputation. Thanks, Art