Fully upgraded options - Driver tubes are Shuguang Black Bottle CV181-Z (6SN7) whilst tube stage on external PSU is regulated using an Emission Labs 5U4G-Mesh
Tube Distinctions Soul Mate
Tom Evans Vibe + Pulse pre with a remote! www.tubedistinctions.co.uk
Tom Evans Audio Design Linear A
Composite EL84 24watt SET. Currently using Harma Military Russian Cyro EL84's
Living Voice OBX-R2
External crossovers. Superbly transparent and musical
AudioTekne ARC-500/ARSP-500
500 strand copper litz. IC & Spk cables
BPT PPC
Superb - direct sound without any edge. Oyaide plugs + ERS upgrade (a must), centre earth point (nice), cones.
QRT Symphony Pro
Brilliant! Wifi power conditioning. Just feed it a with good neutral PC. Alters the sound signifacantly.
Audio Tekne & BPT Power Cords
All Litz construction - all upgraded with Oyaide plugs incl wall socket. Increased transparency, removed top end hardness and quieter.
Sablon Audio Robusto
Powercords
Shun Mook Mpingo, Diamond Resonators
Divine Wood.
Shun Mook Original Cable Jackets
Fab - wrapped around power cords, they lower noise and add a natural palpability that all SM products seem to do.
Symposium Ultra, Svelte, Rollerballs
These platforms help drop my noise floor without the downsides of using power conditioning ie. losing PRAT/being coloured.
Finite Elemente Signature Rack
Sits on FE mid range feets - Cerapucs. Nice improvement.
Machina Dynamica Pebbles & Little Clock
Pure voodoo but it works and takes my system from just high end to being one that is fluid, organic and musical.
I'd be very interested to learn why you decided to place the speakers "the wrong way round" (relative to Living Voice instructions). What differences did you hear that made you do it ? Haven't read through all the thread so apologies if this has been covered before. (Nice system...)
I think the reviews on 6moons pretty accurate. On the warm side, has good detail and dynamics are there. But it's a subtle cable ie. don't expect it to wow you or in your face like some cables (eg. valhalla). My other power cords are more linear and faster/transparent sounding so getting some robusto in to balance things out/provide some supple details is a nice injection.
@Being - with pebbles in bottles, you hear the harshness/hardness of the glass. A bag e.g. plastic, silk or cotton is much better sounding. Either way, i don't use it like mpingo, i prefer to use it as RFI diffuser ie. put it near my power cables, interconnects etc. Can have massive drop in noisefloor.
@Dktndh2835 - the Resonators are tricky. Hard to say except read 6moons review and a bit of trial and error.
@Tab10s - I'm using an Acoustic Revive one but pretty much whatever cable you feed the QRT, you will get that flavour spread across your system.
System edited: System recently migrated to Hong Kong and original Audiomecca Mephisto IIx finally packed up. New CDP by Modwright with all out options a nice replacement. PRAT tad bit lacking but otherwise very nice. Re-setup will take some time but sounding pretty decent at the moment. For full details (hyperlinks in comments) and more pix look here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/glass_and_tubes/5993208237/in/photostream
I found the best results from putting Machina Dynamica small gem bottles on the cable inputs, with the other three sized bottles (M,L,XL) one each on top of three Mpingo Disks in a forward triangle. They're both resonance control devices but do extra special together, but very sensitive on placement: best tweak I found. Haven't tried the Resonators. The Machina guy says the gems do better in a small plastic baggie instead of bottle, but haven't tried that either.
Can you tell me how these work. I hope you know some basic physics and some basic knwoledge in Audio science. I hope not lots of people on this site do not actually believe in Voodoo and magic without some basic understanding of Audio engineer and physics.
Ryder, put the BPT on some symposium roller balls or similar. ie. quality feet. That makes a HUGE improvement. On spikes, things tighen up but can sound hard, on balls, you get lovely top end openess/air. Finally, can't verify improvement as such, but i put my amp closest to the IEC, followed by pre and CDP/digital furthest away/last in chain.
Thanks for the response Boy_lah. I have actually ordered the unit from Chris of BPT and have been using it for almost 1 month now. Mine only has one Oyaide R-1 duplex and the Bybee. I find the unit to be good in removing background noise and a slight hardness in the upper registers.
Ryder - my BBT PPC is all oyaide + ERS. Mine does not have bybee as i generally don't like them. My friend on the other hand loves them and has them in his unit. The ERS and Oyaide are the 'big' upgrades in my mind.
Do you have the Bybee Quantum purifiers as the upgrade option in your BPT PPC? Also, did you replace all stock Hubbell duplexes of the PPC to the Oyaide?
hi Lokie, If you mean the black hollow base - don't. Kevin Scott apparently spent a lot of time building these seemingly simple base. i put mine on roller balls then on some wood base to raise them and off carpets. I find they like to 'breathe' and don't work well on any vibration dampening devices e.g. symposium platforms - kills the sound. Some shun mook mpingo on them does wonders too.
I'm in london mate which means small flats - yes, my speaker are less than ideal distance appart - perhaps 7-8 feet at best but it still sounds glorious.
My impression is the IBX is more immediate/lively with better grip whereas the OBX is probably a tad more transparent but more laid back/sanquine. But cables costs more! Kevin prefers the OBX but the market wants IBX.
Very cool room, rack and gear. It's hard to tell from the pictures but it looks like your LV's are about 9' apart. That's very close to what I found optimal for my IBX's.
Transparent and musical are two words that I would also use to describe these speakers (or in my case the IBX's). I would also describe them as fun. Live jazz has an exctement that I have heard in very few speakers. Most other speakers seem too polite and boring to me now.
I find your speaker bases curious. I have been thinking about replacing the hollow LV bases with a thick piece of maple and spikes. Any thoughts?
TubeDistinctions - You're exactly right re the history. Yes it's commercially available and you can contact Anthony directly here. Let him know Clinton says hi. http://www.tubedistinctions.co.uk/soul_mate.htm
I've not managed to hear the vibe+pulse in my own system but others i know have and they say it's better. Personally, the 1 box + remote option swung it for me even if it's just as good. But most importantly, my power amp only works with very specific pre's of which the Soul Mate is one of them.
AudioTekne - i have heard better cables but they cost a lot more and since i use double runs for my external crossovers, it gets v expensive if i start going something more expensive.
Looks like a fascinating system. I am very interested by the preamp. Can you tell me a bit more. I recall the tube distinictions produced the first soul with tom evans and then parted ways. Is the preamp a modification of the vibe pulse or a new unit? It has a remote as I understand, something I wish the vibe did. What is the cost and is it commercially available? Most importantly have you compared it to the vibe pulse and if so what were your thoughts?
I too have used the audiotekne wires in the past, very nice and natural sounding.