UPDATE (12/23/07): added the MBL 5011 preamp. After living with my Esoteric front end for almost 3 months without a pre, I came to the realization that a pre was definitely needed. Without a pre, the sound was a bit thin and lacking bass. The 5011 addressed these issues and so much more. I did not realize how poor my soundstaging was until I introduced the 5011. This pre does in incredible job of layering the soundstage as well as separating each individual instrument.
UPDATE (12/07/07): added the Ayre MX-R amps. These were broken in by my dealer for 2 weeks before I took delivery. I rarely am taken back by gear but I was startled at how much real these amps sounded to me than my previous amps. There is more detail, more immediacy of notes, very good separation of instruments, and a very nice holographic presentation. I can go on and on but by far these amps are the most realistic sounding I have come across. They are just so enjoyable to listen to!
UPDATE (9/29/07): added Esoteric P-03 transport and D-05 DAC. The D-05 has the latest 32 bit DAC from AKM. Even only after a few hours I hear much better separation between instruments and notes, better sustain and decay, and more authoritative bass. More updates to follow.
UPDATE (8/03/07): added the Oyaide R1 outlet for my amps. Everything is a bit livelier with much better detail. I am hearing so many little nuances I have never heard before!
UPDATE (7/24/07): added the Oyaide SWO-GX Ultimo outlet to my front end. What a difference! The bass now goes lower and there is more detail across the board. I will adding another outlet for my amps next. This is by far one of the best tweaks I have ever done.
UPDATE (7/13/07): I finally got around to adding some heavy silk drapes and they made a world of difference. Everything is much smoother. I will continue to look for ways to judiciously treat my room without making it look like a recording studio.
Beauty:
-The sound is just incredible. Vocals are holographic and textured.
-The MBL 5011 preamp is beautiful to look at. Luckily the sound is just as good.
-The Ayre MX-R amps are just gorgeous to look at. The casework is outstanding. And as my wife said, "they are so cute"!
Beasts:
-The Usher BE-10 speakers are big and thick producing a powerful yet delicate sound.
-The Esoteric P-03 transport is incredibly heavy (75lb) and big but it sure sounds good.
My system has undergone A LOT of changes over the last few years. This has been mainly to me figuring out my own listening preferences and understanding what I wanted to get out of my system. After swapping out a lot of components and spending too much money, I have finally settled down a bit.
I listen to all kinds of music but tend to favor anything with female vocals, particularly acoustic folk and vocal jazz. I also favor simple orchestration and basic instrumentation with a preference for acoustic guitar and piano. The less number of instruments between me and the vocals the better. I mainly go to listen to music in small, intimate venues where I am able to sit within a few feet of the band.
Given my musical tastes, I wanted to put together a system that is able to reproduce the sound as organically as possible. I want to hear every little detail like the quiver in a singer's voice, the sound of the guitar pick striking the string, the feeling of the hammer hitting the piano string. To me, these tiny nuances help to make the music sound as real (i.e. organic) as possible. To this end, I wanted a system that was detailed, dynamic, fast, and immediate with just a hint of warmth. I did not want anything that was too syrupy sounding though. My current system gives me everything I am looking for. It is as close to hearing musicians in my room that I have ever heard with any previous iteration of my system.
I love the Esoteric sound so much I had to get their P-03 transport.
Esoteric D-05
Anniversary model with new AKM 32 bit DAC
Esoteric VRDS-Neo
This transport is a work of art! By far, the best, most accurate transport available. The amount of detail it extracts is amazing!
Sonos ZP-80
Wireless digital music system. Digital output is sent to Esoteric D-05 DAC, a huge improvement over internal DAC. I enjoy my music so much more now that I have instant access to my 40K song library
MBL 5011
A very musical preamp with outstanding soundstaging and separation of each instrument.
Ayre Acoustics MX-R
I am so happy with these amps. They make everything sound so real it is startling! The transparency and dynamics suit my preferences perfectly!
Usher BE-10
Very dynamic and neutral sounding speaker. I am sold on beryllium!
Tara Labs The One
Very transparent and "tight" sounding cable that also offers weight and solidity. These give me all the virtues I admired in my previous speaker cable, the Nordost Blue Heaven while providing what it was missing.
Acoustic Zen Silver Reference II
Used between my source and preamp. Great detail without sounding bright or edgy.
Acoustic Zen Matrix Reference II
Used between my preamp and amp. Very smooth sounding.
Acoustic Zen MC2 XLR
AES/EBU digital cable from Esoteric P-03 transport to D-05 DAC.
Acoustic Zen Silver Byte
Used to synch the word clock from the Esoteric D-05 DAC to the P-03 transport.
Acoustic Zen MC2 RCA
Digital cable from Sonos ZP-80 wireless digital music system to Esoteric D-05 DAC.
Virtual Dynamics Nite 3
Being used to power by MBL 5011 preamp. Like all VD power cables I immediately noticed more dynamics, speed, and authority. The soundstage with the VD power cables are incredible!
Star Sound Technology SP-4 Sistrum Stand
Great amp stand that helped to add smoothness to my system.
Oyaide SWO-GX Ultimo
Double cryo'd outlet with 24K gold plating - used for cdp and preamp
Oyaide R1
Cryo'd ac outlet with Beryllium/copper and palladium plating - used for amps
HiFi Tuning Fuse
I added this "audiophile" fuse to my MBL 5011 preamp. I am not sure it made any difference but it was cheap and lord knows I have spent much more money on things that actually made my system sound worse! My previous preamp, Classe CP-700 did respond positively to these fuses though. I still may try some in my other components.
Thanks for the kind words Ken. It was actually your system your comments about your Ushers that first got me intrigued about the Ushers in the first place. So indirectly you are partially responsible for my decision to get the BE-10.
Nice to see your beautiful system, and another Usher owner I'm sure your Be10's must sound terrific!
As Newbie points out, and as you also mention...your room acoustics are likely causing the limitations in your sound-stage abilities here.Im sure it will be nice when you move the system and you can treat the room accordingly.
If you room remains as it is in the photos your sound stage could be absent due to the concurrent absence of any stuff (domestically approved or commercial) to break up bouncing high frequencies off the walls, ceilings etc. 1st reflections uncared for can destroy high quality imaging and finding the right toe in to reduce side wall reflections can be of great help, including crossing the axis of the speakers well in front of your head. You don't indicate where your listening position is. Do I assume you've got a triangulated set up? I'd suggest you do some down and dirty testing by doing three things just to find out where your problems might be: 1) hang some thick wool blankets on walls and windows and see what happens as you take them down one at a time, starting behind you, then behind the speakers, then on the side walls. 2) Play with toe in, A LOT. 3) Make sure you've go a relatively triangulated placement and that the speakers and seat are not located in nulls or nodes which could be screwing up the frequency response.
BTW, congradulations! Very NICE stuff. Now you've got a BMW, all you have to do is learn how to drive it!
Oh, for what its worth. My imaging/staging etc is very natural - what you get on the record is what you get in the room. Height wise it extends both above and below the tweeter appropriate to the music. Don't quit your equipment - you just have to set aside a couple of years to fine tune your set up! No kidding!
Oh, FWIW this subject has been discussed often. You might try the archives both here and on AudioAsylum.
Thanks for the kind words audphile1!!! I am still using the AA cables. I have decided not to change for a while or at least until after I first upgrade my power and get some vibration control.
And YES I can enjoy the music but the NEVER stop thinking about upgrading...thats part of the fun right? :)
Tboooe, nice!!!! Finally the new pictures with all the new goodies. Hey are you still using Purist Anniversary Aqueous speaker cables? These are killer amps man! They look great on these stands.
So now finally you can enjoy the music and stop thinking about upgrading....... :)
Luis, I will be happy to keep anyone who is interested the status of the system as it evolves.
Semi, I can 100% recommend the Usher BE-10 and BE-20. I heard both before deciding on the BE-10. As my system is only 2 channel I felt that I did not need the extra woofer. Also, the BE-20 is a monster in terms of size. Sound wise, they both sounded very similar except for a slightly fuller sound coming from the BE-20, especially in the bass region. Have you listened to the Ushers yet? Let me know if there is anything I can do help. Good luck.
I am very familiar with Sonus Faber as I currently own Amati (1st generation) and Cremona, used to own Extrema and Electa Amator 1. I have heard JM Labs w/ BE tweeter briefly, it was nice and sweet but thought the rest of the range was OK. Was seriously considering MBL 116 or 111, but 2nd audition of 116 was a total disappointment and now decided to seriously consider BE20 instead. Don't have a large room, but I love big speakers even for playing at low volume.
Semi, I used to own the BW 802d and before that had the BW 804s and 805s. I just heard/read good things about Usher so I decided to give them a listening to. Luckily I have a local dealer who is fantastic so I was able to listen to them extensively. I found the sound to be much more to my liking (as compared to the BW). The price was also very hard to beat given its performance. Before deciding on the Ushers, I listend to Wilsons, Audio Physic, Sonus Faber, Vienna Acoustics, Acoustic Zen, MBL, Martin Logans, JM FocalLabs. In the end, I loved the Usher's dynamic and uncolored presentation. The beryllium tweeter gave by far the most realistic sound. The build quality is ridiculous! And I must admit I like having something that not a lot of people have. All the speakers I mentioned are fantastic but I found it hard to beat the performance/price combination of the Ushers. I could go into detail about what I liked/did not like about each speaker but in general, the overall sound of the Ushers suited me the best.
Wondering what other speakers have you considered/heard before settling on Usher? Most people are not familiar with Usher enough to plunge down that kind of investment, like to hear what made you picked Usher over other brands.
Hi Brian. Thanks for the compliment. Before buying the Cp-700 I auditioned a whole bunch of preamps. Some that came to mind are Airtight, MAC, Primare, BAT, Simaudio, CJ, Cary, and Pass. I found that once you get into a certain stratoshpere of equipment, they all sound good. The clincher for me was not only the sound of the CP-700 but its feature set. I really wanted to get a pre that was smooth sounding to match with the dynamic and uncolored nature of the Usher speakers. Another important feature for me is having small steps in the volume control. Of the ones I heard that met both of these criteria, i liked the CP-700, Cary, and Simaudio. I was able to get a very good deal on the Classe so I went that route, though I could have been happy with any of the final three I mentioned. I find the classe to be incredibly smooth and easy to listen to, perhaps too polite if mated with Classe amps. The bass is not as deep as I would like but thats ok. Right now, I am intrigued by the Placette passive preamp and in the near future, I am going to give tube preamps one more listening to.
I hope this helps. Let me know if I can answer any additional questions.
System edited: Last night I finally got around to placing my Pass amps on Sitrum SP1 amp stands. I have been avoiding doing this because I knew the hernia that awaits after I lift those amps. After too much sweat, grunting, and cursing my wife and I finally got them on the stands. The results? Pretty darn impressive. I noticed an improvement in soundstage depth and a bit more detail. I am pretty happy with the Sistrums and will be adding the speaker stands soon (after my back recovers, the Ushers weight almost 200lbs each!!! Yikes!)
Tboooe, now I'm about 1500 miles north on an island in the Puget Sound. Sold my boards about a year before I left...just wasn't getting out anymore, other than to go to Salt Creek with my bodyboard. My kid, who grew up in LB now lives on the SF peninsula and he frequents Santa Cruz and thinks Maverick's is the last word in big waves. Ah, youth. Now I occasionally do some rowing in protected water but only when it's warm.
May I suggest you try to get an audition with a Hydra 8? Your front end especially will benefit from its insertion into the chain.
I came very close to ordering a pair of the 160s. Great choice.
Hey Islandear: always good to hear from another OC dude. Yes! All the beaches are too damn crowded, especially for my long board. I tend to go to Old Man's now a days. Once in a while I get up to Newport. I guess I am just becoming a grumpy, crusty surfer in my old age. Are you still in the OC?
As for the power issues...I dont know if I do or not. My house is only four years old. I did audition a PS AUdio P-500 this weekend for my front end components and the improvement was pretty nice. Everything sounded more clear, with a really black background. I also auditioned passive devices like the hydra 6 and did not hear nearly as profound a difference.
As for the XA160...I love those amps! I can say that least I am done with amps for a while. I can now focus on throwing my money at other things in my system. :)
Well assembled system, Tboooe. I gotta believe the Cary loves the XA-160s. BTW, do you have power issues at your house? Dedicated lines? FWIW, I'd audition passive conditioners as well as PS Audio components.
BTW, I'm a south county guy (left South Laguna in '96); how's Trestles these days? Crowded?
