Description

I like the WP 8's ability to reproduce whatever the Joules can send their way. Speed, they can handle the Joule's lighting fast attack transients. The wonderful harmonic textures, decays and inner details the Joules reproduce are handled deftly by the WPs. The bass is strong, tight, detailed and textured.
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Components Toggle details

    • Basis Audio 2500
    Active suspension with oil and spring.
    • Basis Audio Vector 3 Tonearm
    The 3 is less congested providing more inner detail with more extended hi's and bass. It has a VTA micrometer that will help with finer adjustments.
    • Basis Audio Signature motor
    Had original motor upgraded to Signature. The new Signature is quieter with less cogging.
    • Basis Audio Revolution Belt
    "It occurred to A.J. that the belt itself may be playing a role. He measured a range of the belts on hand, selecting the most accurate (consistent thickness), and found that the tighter the tolerances, the lower the speed variation and better the sound. So how to increase tolerance was the question. A.J. embarked on a crusade that eventually led him to design his own process and apparatus which grinds the belt and to an astonishing accuracy of one-ten-thousandths of an inch!"
    • Basis Audio counterweights
    Lighter main weight with two smaller fine tuning weights positioning larger weight as close to pivot point as possible should result in a quicker reaction time.
    • Walker Audio Ultimate Precision motor controller
    With Valid Points and Control Discs and upgraded teflon circuit board. The improvement in the total presentation is impressive, smooth and clear were the first impressions. The bass seemed more pronounced and better defined; the highs were smoother resulting in a .."more natural sound".
    • Air Tight PC-1
    Just a fantastic cartridge!!!! Loaded at 240ohms, VTF @ 2.1grams. "Like most vinylphiles, I've listened to a lot of fine moving-coil cartridges over the years. The Air Tight PC-1, TAS' 2006 Phono Cartridge of the Year award-winner, is, IMO, the best yet in nearly every aspect of phonographic reproduction - the most complete." - Jonathan Valin, 2007 Golden Ear Award Winner, The Absolute Sound Issue 173, August 2007 "In plain English, the PC-1's magnets produce a much stronger magentic field, greatly lowering noise and coloration and greatly increasing resolution in every regard. Details are clearer, timbres are truer, air is more plentiful, dynamics are more lifelike, and stage width, depth, and height are expanded... a leap forward in moving-coil design." - Jonathan Valin, 2007 Golden Ear Award Winner, The Absolute Sound Issue 173, August 2007
    • Koetsu Urushi Black
    Warm with detail.
    • Koetsu Rosewood
    I need to remount this cart and find if my recollections are correct!!
    • GamuT CD-3
    The best player I heard at my pay grade in my system, coupled with the Joule LAP-150 Mkll it produces an enjoyable sound.
    • Joule Electra LAP 150 MK ll
    The top unit is the separate power supply, the bottom is the pre/phono. Me likey!!!! Changed the tubes to: 3 x Amperex 7025 '66 in 5751 sockets 2 x Amperex JAN 7308 '62 in 6DJ8 sockets
    • Joule Electra VZN-160 Grand Marquis MKV Musicwood
    OTL immediacy/speed, wonderful inner detail, dynamic, delicate, attack matched by incredible decay AAAAA+++++ piece of gear!!!! A privilege to own a joy to listen through!!! The amp themselves can be tuned by adjustments to the voltage with the variacs, biasing the 6C33CB's between (25) to (33) and with a dial provided for adjustments of negative feedback creating the sound you prefer. Presently running Amperex Holland 7025's and Amperex Holland 6DJ8's.
    • Wilson Audio WATT Puppy 8
    I've been changing positions and tuning by ear only. I measure at the top outside rear corner of the Puppy for both back and side wall numbers. This allows a fixed point for side and back wall numbers while toe in is adjusted, this corner being the easiest spot on these speakers to permit this for me. My normal listening db level is 72db to 83db so I'm optimizing the placement for this volume range as I think the boundary distances are dependent on the db level. The outside rear corners are now at 39 3/4" to back wall and 23 3/4" to lt side wall and 23" to rt side wall. The celling rises from 9 1/2' at lt wall to 10 1/2' at rt wall. The tweeters are 101" apart and my ears are 120" from the tweeters with a sliver of the inside of the WATT visible. This is the best sound I've had in my room!!!
    • Purist Proteus Provectus I/C pre > amp
    All copper
    • Purist Proteus Provectus S/C amp>speaker
    Copper
    • Purist Aqueous 20th Anniversary P/C CDP
    This is has been moved from the CDP to the LAP-150 Mk ll.
    • Purist Musaeus P/C pre-amp power supply
    Using to the Joule LAP-150 Mk2 power supply. Will try different cords eventually. This pic is when it was connected to CDP.
    • Purist 20th Anniversary P/C wall to VZN's
    To the tube section of the amps
    • Purist Musaeus P/C 15A to Walker control
    Cable upgrade for TT motor controller.
    • Solid Tech Rack of Silence 4
    Quieter and much nicer to look at than my old racks.
    • Black Diamond Racing The Shelf (2)
    Two 21" X 19" X 3/4" shelves one under TT and one under the pre amp give quieter backgrounds with much greater detail "Made entirely of BDR’s proprietary Carbon Fiber Composite materials and finished with clear acrylic on both sides for an elegant and understated appearance, the BDR Shelf is massive and extremely non-resonant, absorbing enormous amounts of vibration: a BDR Shelf is only ¾” thick, yet it is 25x less resonant than an 8” thick granite slab and has 4 times the vibration absorbing power of 2” thick MDF!"
    • Black Diamond Racing The Shelf (2)
    Two 19" X 15" X 3/4" shelves one under the Joule LAP-150Mkll's power supply and one under GamuT CDP. "Made entirely of BDR’s proprietary Carbon Fiber Composite materials and finished with clear acrylic on both sides for an elegant and understated appearance, the BDR Shelf is massive and extremely non-resonant, absorbing enormous amounts of vibration: a BDR Shelf is only ¾” thick, yet it is 25x less resonant than an 8” thick granite slab and has 4 times the vibration absorbing power of 2” thick MDF!"
    • Solid Tech Rack Of Silence ROS 1
    Amp stands with cross braces suspended by springs and amps feet sitting on Sims Novcom pucks.
    • Solid Tech Rack Of Silence ROS 1
    This is a picture of the ROS 1 Ref without the spring suspension. Currently set up with 1.6
    • Acoustic Sciences Corporation Tube traps
    (2) 16" Supertrap tube traps, (2) 11" Tube Traps, (2) 9" Tube Traps,(2) half round 11", (2) half round 9"
    • Real Traps Mondo Traps
    (4) traps at first and second reflection points
    • GIK Acoustics 242 & 244
    (2) 244 on top of the record cases, (3) 242's on front wall, (1) on wall behind chair
    • Mint LP Mirror protractor
    Fantastic tool for checking stylus alignment
    • Cable Isolators ESD
    Made of Electro Static Dissipative Polyurethane. The jury is still out on the effect these have on the sound but they have helped separate and organize the cables.
    • Sims Vibration Dynamics Navcom silencers
    Used between Rack Of Silence and BDR shelves under preamp and CDP. They are also under the acrylic shelves under Direct satellite box and Walker speed controller shelf.
    • Purchasing Department I-Mac & inter net
    Without this tweak the rest would have been near impossible, at best very difficult and a lot slower.
    • Hickok 539 b
    Roger Kennedy digital mods and calibration. A must have for matching sections, power tubes and to protect equipment.
    • VPI 16.5
    This was a great buy it really make record cleaning a snap!!!!
    • Digital Tachometer no name
    Reads strip of tape on the side of the platter.
    • PHONIC PAA2
    The PAA2 can perform full acoustical analysis using its real-time spectrum analyzer. Thirty-one, one-third octave bands are displayed on the screen real-time with selectable response times (35ms, 125ms, 250ms and 1 second) and weighting options (Flat, A and C). The operator needs to select the SPL (Speaker Pressure Level) range (30-90 dBSPL, 50-110 dBSPL, 70-130 dBSPL) for the test being run. The user can select any of the center frequencies and display the level that was measured with the numbers displayed above the real-time graph. The peak level can also be displayed for reference. There are a total of sixteen memory locations for storing data. The measured spectrum data can be stored to any one of ten memory locations. Averaged data from any or all of the ten memory locations can be stored to the remaining six memory locations.

Comments 268

Great looking system, I'm sure you are getting the most out of the 160s, which I have been a longtime fan of. Really nice balance of gear and maximizing your space with effective room treatment; nothing looks to chance. Bet the results are terrific. 
Our side panels look strangely similar, haha. Cheers,
Spencer

sbank

Owner
Thank you!! It's been very enjoyable and a great teacher !

samhar

Nice system!

robforst1

Owner
System edited: Lost the Rt channel in the Joule pre-amp, time to break out the tube tester !!!! I hope it's only a tube !!!!

samhar

Owner
Experimenting with tube trap placement.

samhar

Owner
Arthur sorry for the delayed response I haven't been here last month !!!!!
Thanks for the kudos! The Joule's do have an enchanting sound one I find hard to improve on !!! The joule OTL amps aren't silent like SS although with the 92db WP8 what little noise there is doesn't distract from the beauty of their sound. I would wonder how much tube noise you might hear with 102db horns. If they would work well the sound would be spellbinding ! A single VZN-80 should do the trick or a pair of VZN-100 would be amazing !! Let me know if you are able to try Joule and what your impressions are. Once again your new room looks awesome !!!!

samhar

"Oh wow" is right! I thought the exact same thing. I've wanted Joules for a very long time. I have yet to try OTL and want to very badly. My first foray might be a little Transcendent Mini Beast, but a pair of Joule VZN-80 would be in the wings if the Beast pans out, even though I fully realize they have nothing in common otherwise. My only real hesitation is all those tubes! Have you found reliability to be pretty good? How painful has it been to retube them?

Arthur

aball

Owner
Jamiek thank you for the very positive comments !!!!! To me the sound is lovely, the combination of Joule VZN 160 and Wilson, which on paper shouldn't be a great match, works very,very well for my taste in music, room etc. I recently auditioned the Ayre MR-X and as much as I liked them and how much easier it would be to have SS, they didn't have the Joule's addicting sound. Vinyl is the main source as the differences between it and digital are very apparent through this system!!!! Thanks again for the kind words !!!!!!

samhar

Oh wow! Your system is amazing. I love how you've set it up and the equipment you've chosen. What a treat that must be to hear!

jamiek

Owner
Still figuring out my "new" much larger front room listening space. Will post new pictures. I'm also thinking about trying Lamm 2.1 or 1.2 amps, the SS is intriguing for the power.

samhar

Owner
Milpai
Sorry for the delayed response. I first tried the 244's in the corners behind the speakers and 242's at 1st & 2nd reflection points. I have 4 242's. Go to the system list and click on "GIK Acoustics 242 & 244" then click on the pic to view this set up. The 244's didn't do much there and there were issues with the bass so I moved them to the top of the record cases. You can view them in the middle pic on system page. I replaced the 244's with ASC 16" Supertrap tube traps in the corners, the improvement in the bass was impressive!!!! Similar to putting footers under equipment, improving definition and impact. I thought the bass was good before!!!!! I bought 4 Real Trap Mondo Traps and after comparing them with GIK 242's at 1st & 2nd reflection points preferred the Mondo Traps freeing up 3 242's to try on the front wall and 1 on the 1/2 wall behind my listening chair. I can't say enough about how good a job the ASC tube traps do, definitely worth looking into!!!!
Through this whole process I used a PHONIC PAA2 real-time spectrum analyzer, last item on the system list, open it and there is a description.
Unfortunately my system isn't "fully" set up in the new space yet!!!!

samhar

Sam,
Hope you have setup your system back after the move. Would like to see the pics of your new place and the setup.
I have a question about the 242s on the fireplace that you mentioned on my system page. Why did you decide on the 242s on the fireplace instead of 244s? Is it because they come in packs of 3 and not 2 unlike the 244s?
I tried a small experiment with the 244s I have. I took them off of the back wall and placed them behind the speakers. I really could not judge the sound because I started getting phase issues with the bare back wall. So how does one decide on 244 Vs 242 (and their position) on the front wall behind the speakers? Do you use any audio tool/software to determine this?

milpai

Owner
Getting ready to pack up system for a move to new home!!! Let the setting up games begin!!!!

samhar

Owner
System edited: For a 2012 start I'm going to put my old amps, Joule VZN 160's non musicwoods, in to compare to the Musicwoods.

samhar

Owner
Mjcmt your correct it can be a PITA!! I have a table to the left of my chair holding VPI 16.5 with 75 records below. These are picked out from the shelves and moved to this area for cleaning before a session or I pick from what's there.
I want the TT as low and recessed as possible, I've tried many equipment positions and the current positions are the best sonically. If I could I'd move the TT, preamp, power source for phono to the left of my chair it just isn't possible now. At some point I want everything but the amps out to experience the effect on sound stage and sonics but for now........I may remodeling my garage into a listening room.
Thank you for your kind comments about the gear. I'm liking your retro system and aesthetics very comfortable!!!

samhar

I do love your choice of amps, speakers and turntable. I look forward to hearing a system of this caliber sometime...just to inspire me of what may be, and maybe own someday.

Your upfront space looks really tight. It must be a challenge to retrieve albums and use your turntable. Is there anyway to relocate your amps and free up some working space. Maybe push them back to the wall between your shelves, and pull the turntable to front center. This will allow a path to the shelves and make using the turntable more pleasurable.

mjcmt

Owner
I think there was something wrong with the Spectron I tried my tennitus became much worse, white noise like sound is much louder, since I tried it!!!! Also now driving my M35 S exacerbates the problem!!!??? I'm going to start listening to my system again to hear how that affects my ears!!!

samhar

Owner
System edited: Tried a Spectron Musican lll Mkll stereo amp with Bybee filters, and V-Caps, didn't do it for me but I would still like to hear the mono blocks to hear the improvements some mention.

samhar

Owner
System edited: Modified system description.

samhar

Owner
System edited: Returned the amps to the ROS 1 stands with Simms Pucks between the rack and the maple boards, the amps wood skids are resting directly on the maple boards. The improvement in background noise, imaging, better definition in highs, mids and especially the bass have me wondering why I kept the racks out of the system for so long!!! It was probably to mask some problem with speaker positioning that I hadn't become aware of yet, possibly a lack of bass and an imbalance in the the sound from the speakers being out into the room to far. The last time the amps were on the stands I had removed the Simms Pucks, with them back between the rack and the maple board the bass is just as strong with much better definition.

samhar

Owner
System edited: Removed the LAP 150's power supply from the rack making it possible to lower the TT height and greatly reduce the reflection of sound from the mids and highs of the WATT off the TT's plinth reducing their forwardness and permitting the more coherent sound of the speakers to happen. A secondary effect was a reduction in noise with the power supply moved to another rack I don't know why but it just is.

samhar

Owner
Thanks!! The process has been therapeutic for me; I've learned so much about listening to music and getting the sounds I like from my system, I'm sure you know what I'm saying!!!

samhar

just what the doctor ordered,very nice set up.

mmsarge

Owner
System edited: Moved my listening position forward and speakers positions 1/2" back. The speakers outside rear corners are now 39 3/4" from back wall and 23 3/4" from lt wall and 23' from rt wall, the measurements being different because the celling rises from 9 1/2' at lt wall to 10 1/2' at rt wall. The tweeters are 101" apart and each ear is 120" from the tweeter on it's side, with only a sliver of the insides of the WATTs visible at the listening position. Adjustments to speaker positions are now in 1/2" increments, will try 1/4" later. I'm 18' away sitting at a counter typing listening to Howard Hanson "Nordic" track 1 at 86 db and the balance of the lows mids and highs seems correct, the timbre of each instrument making them easily discernible in the orchestra. This is by far the best sound I've had in my room!!!

samhar

Owner
System edited: Placed four BDR #4 Pyramid Cones between Joule LAP 150 Mkll and BDR Shelf. Monday I'll pull them then reinsert and find which is preferable. Repositioning the speakers from back and side walls to better understand the effects each distance has on the speaker's balance/presentation and to also check if where I had them was best. It seems the positions can vary by the db level of listening. I tend to listen between 75db and 85db at the highest, at 83db and above the speakers need to be farther away from the walls, to "breath". I think this changes the sound at lower db's because bass is reduced making highs and upper mids more dominate/forward at lower db levels. I'm using vinyl for for the source as that's what I listen to most and it's so much richer making for finer tuning.

samhar

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