System edited: I replaced the VTL 7.5 with a s/h cary SLP-98P and that added some musicality and tube warmth. just replaced the cnj prem350 with cary CAD 500MB monoblocks. The 500MB's just sound wonderful with great top to bottom conherence. There is no longer any leaness in the upper frequencies and the bass is now harmonically richer compared to the cj prem350. the best SS amp I have heard coming from a guy that luvs that classic tube sound.
I did not read anything about the effect the switches on the Mahlers had on their sound/tuning. Unless those are what you mean by the lenses. Do you just leave them in neutral? I have an Oratorio and did not notice a big diffrence and I might be getting Mahlers in the near future.
That's a shame. My BAT dealer is awesome! I can't say enough about him. The dealer really does mean everything. He has me considering a VK-75SE amp. Could be fun!!!
John. that is good to see the BAT upgrade was worth it. If I had an all balanced system I would luv to hear one. Besides the BAT distributor is a dick. won't let you hear anything unless you buy it first - his loss.
After some initial dissapointment, I'm now very happy. Right out of the box, the BAT was not much of an improvement over my VK-P5 phono stage. Then someone recommended the Granite Audio MC Phono burn-in cd. After 96 hours of repeat play at a much higher output voltage than my cartridge (4mV), the new BAT moved up several levels. It now sounds incredible! Similar to Mikey's review, eerily quiet with a huge soundstage. Focus within the soundstage is spooky good, and perfect timbral balance.
I can't believe how good my analog is sounding now, goosebump city. I had a long time audio buddy stop in for a listen recently, he was blown away. He has been to many more audio shows and dealers than I have. He says this is the best analog he's ever heard....anywhere. The only downside is now my digital sounds much worse in comparision. I used to be able to listen to digital after listening to analog, it wasn't as good, but it wasn't embarrassed either. Now, it's embarassed. I can no longer listen to digital after playing some vinyl.
FWIW, I also upgrade my Lyra Helikon cartridge too. I'm now using a ZYX Airy R1000 3S SB, which is smoother and a better soundstager than the Helikon. Not too smooth like a Koetsu, but more relaxed than the Helikon.
I haven't had an opportunity to hear the PH5 yet. The only AR phono pre I've heard was the PH-3SE, which did not impress me. I felt the VK-P5 was a better value. I know the PH-3SE was a much older design though.
Now I'm considering sending my VPI JMW 10.5 tonearm in for the plus upgrade, Nordost wiring. I love the 1 meter Nordost Valhalla from my tonearm (RCA) into my VK-P10SE (XLR). Extremely transparent! I'm wondering what it would sound like if I had the tonearm wired with Nordost cabling...
me, I am having great fun with a ARC PH5. never really liked ARC, but thye PH5 is a peach and quite cheap as well. I like it much better than the steelhead or rhea - has better tube bloom!
Shane, well, my BAT VK-P10SE w/ Super-Pak is on order. My dealer says about a week to 10 day wait. I had to tell you that I traded my Shunyata Anaconda Alpha power cord to a gent for a Nordost Valhalla power cord. I placed it on my BAT VK-51SE.....I'm still stunned at how much this has transformed my system. It is absolutely incredible! The speed is unreal! This made a much bigger change IMS than switching from copper ic's to silver ic's. I've long been a power cord believer, but this was a revelationary switch.
John. U r doing the right thing upgrading your phono stage. The top of the line BAT phono is supposed to be awesome. cables are just the icing on the cake. valhalla's are very expensive, buying s/h is the only sensible option - if you could ever call spending that much money on any cable sensible.
Raquel, I have a lot of respect for the Jena's, as I had them up against many challengers, and they really stood out. They are very musical, warm, sweet, engaging, but with superior imaging and definition than the Cardas Golden Reference (eg). The Parsifal's have many of the same qualities though, and combined with the Jena Labs, became too much of a good thing.
After speaking with my dealer, and many Parsifal owner's I tried silver cables, and have had terrific success, for the first time in my life. I've experimented with silver cables several times over the last 15 years, with no success. The most recently was with the Strauss last year. The Parsifal's love silver cabling though, so yes, it is all system dependant.
I currently have one pair of KS-1130 between preamp and amp, and two pair of RSA Poiema!! from sources to preamp. I only received and inserted the KS-1130 yesterday, so it's too early to judge. They are used though, so I've no idea how many hours are on them.
FWIW, when my buyer came to pick up the Strauss last night, I unpacked and demo'd them for him. He noticed the sound was slightly siblant, and I felt the high's were thin and edgy. Once again, I didn'T like the silver with my BAT equipment and the Strauss. The Parsifal's love the silver though, go figure.
Of course I'd love to try some Vahalla's out too. :-)
I asked the dealer at Harvey very offhandedly whether he preferred the Mahlers or Strauss. He said he preferred the Strauss with a subwoofer. I did not get a chance to hear his justification, i.e., whether he was thinking of two-channel, home theater, his own personal situation, etc. -- the store was closing and we were talking on the sidewalk. In any event, the Verities are supurb at what they do and I am sure you will enjoy them. I have Mahlers and Salons, and actually prefer the Mahlers in a number of ways.
On a different topic, I use Kimber Select 1030 throughout my main system, the single-ended version of the 1130 you have. As explained above, don't draw any conclusions as to any Kimber "Black Pearl" silver product until it has a good 1,000 hours on it. My closest hi-fi friend found Jena Symphony to be superior to 1030 in his (very high-end) system (quieter, more dynamic, and more like live music), but cables of course are very system finnicky, so perhaps you will find otherwise.
Shane, I've considered the Valhalla, but it's a bit too pricey for me at this point.
I just sold my Strauss, and I'm debating on whether to spend the money on cables or a new phono preamp. Right now I'm leaning towards the phono pre. I'm pretty happy with the RSA Poiemas!! that I'm currently running. The PAD Proteus and the Kimber KS-1130 are too new to me, I haven't formed an opinion on either yet.
Right now, I think I'd be better served upgrading my BAT VK-P5 to the BAT VK-P10SE w/ Super Pak instead of trying the Vahalla cables at this time.
I will have to try the Valhalla's at some point down the road. So many toys, so little time. :-)
John. I am getting RCA on both ends. The VTL has both balanced and RCA connections. Sounds like Valhalla cables would suit your new speakers perfectly :). sounds like a trip to the audiogon classified for you.
Raquel, no idea on the differences between Strauss and Mahlers. Same as you I bought the mahlers way before the Strauss was even released. The Strauss use a 1 inch tweeter that goes to 30,000hz and an 11 inch woofer v mahler 1.2 inch tweeter which goes up to 25,000 hz and two 10 inch woofers. the two 7 inch mids are the same. I guess crossover would be different as well.
Raquel, I had both in my room. First of all the Mahlers list for $9800 and the Strauss for $6595, both in the Rosewood finish, meaning the Mahlers are 49% more, not as close to twice the price as you might think.
According to the info on the Sumiko website, well, here it is:
Mahlers:
Driver Complement Woofer: 2 x 10 in. honeycomb cone Midrange: 2 x 7 in. ribbed, carbon fiber filled, air-dried paper cone Tweeter: 1.2 in. silicone-layered silk dome
Strauss:
Driver Complement Woofer: 10 in. paper and carbon fiber cone Midrange: 2 x 6-3/4 paper and carbon fiber cone Tweeter: 1 silk dome, center drilled Neodymium magnet assembly
So you can see, there are some differences in the drivers. A Sumiko dealer told me the crossover design was the same though. I thought the sonic signature was very, very similar. The Mahlers did have more bass though, better extension, with better resolution and power. It was too much power for my room though. The Mahlers could play VERY loudly with no strain at all. If I had a larger room, I'd have definitely taken the Mahlers'. I toyed with the idea of bass traps and such, but the Mrs. fought very hard on that. So I just went with the Strauss. :-)
I have read the above exchange comparing the Strauss with the Verities with interest. As Shane knows, I have Mahlers in my second system.
Your exchange raises a question for me that I have wondered about in the past: how comparable is the performance of the Strauss to the Mahler? It appears that they use different midrange drivers (the drivers in the Strauss looked physically smaller to me when I saw the speaker at Harvey on West 45th St. in NYC, and Sumiko's website indicates that they are indeed slightly smaller). Also, while the Mahler otherwise appears to differ only in having an additional 10" woofer, it is, at $10k versus $6k, nearly twice the price of the Strauss. Does it therefore have, for example, a more refined crossover, better cabinet construction, etc., to justify the price disparity?
Has anyone out there carefully compared these two speakers and/or can anyone speak from knowledge about the technical differences between them?
Are you just getting RCA's on one end, or both of the Valhalla?
I'm currently overloaded with interconnects, I gotta sell some. Currently I have, in no particular order, Jena Labs Symphony, Purist Audio Design Proteus Rev B, Ridge Street Audio Poiema!!, Kimber KS-1130, and Tara Labs Decade. Obviously I'm not currently using all of them. The JL Symphony were my former reference, but are too warm for the Parsifal's. At the moment, I have all RSA Poiema!!'s in the system. After I'm done experimenting with the woofer direction, I'll play with the PAD and Kimber.
happy listening John. It is always fun to have a new toy to listen to and it sounds as if you have found the ideal speaker for u. the mahlers require a certain amount of volume before they become alive.
I definately can't afford a new set of speakers. I am waiting with baited breath for my long Valhalla IC between pre and power to come back factory re-terminated with wbt nextgen rca's. I had balanced ic before that, but since I settled on a unbalanced amp, the balanced to unbalanced connecters were less than ideal.
I guess the biggest factor was midrange palpability and micro-dynamics. What this means to me is basically that they imaged better, I'm better able to localize the players within the soundstage, as well as the instruments just sounding more 'live'. The shimmer of cymbals is startling realistic. I can now hear incredible detail on a simple thing such as a cymbal stike. It sounds like wood striking brass, instead of just a stick hitting metal. Vocals are 'in the room' goosebump material. I mean Patricia Barber is right in front of me, I don't have to stretch as much to visulize it.
I would say the Strauss could play louder, had more abundant bass, and a tad more detail in the high's. The Parsifal's have better definition in the bass, which does go surprisingly low for an 8 inch woofer. Verity claims they are only -3db at 25 hz, and I believe it. However, The Strauss (and I'm sure the Mahler's) will sound more relaxed at higher volume levels. Higher than I normally listen to anyway. Macro-details favor the Strauss/Mahlers, micro-details favor the Parsifal's. I would say the Parsifal's are warmer than the Strauss, which did require that I switch to silver cable for optimal performance. The Parsifal's are the first speakers I've ever heard where silver sounds better than copper.
All in all, much depends on what you listen to and how big your room is. My room, at 24 ft X 14 X 8.5 was too small for the Mahlers. That's why I had the Strauss. If you enjoy large orchestral or rock and roll, or if you have a very large room, the Parsifal's are probably not for you.
I listen to mostly jazz, folk, blues, much of it acoustic, and the Parsifal's just presented a much clearer 'picture' of the sound. They also like my high powered SS amp, the BAT VK-600SE. SInce they are a 89 db/ 4 ohm load, very similar to the Strauss (90 db/4 ohm).
BTW, the woofer cabinet can be set up firing forward or backward. I have them firing forward, like the dealer recommended. I plan on spinning them around this weekend for a listen. Artg, who also owns them, likes it better this way. He said he spoke with the designer, and the designer recommend the woofer firing rear as well. I'll hear for myself this weekend.
I've always thought that the Mahlers/Strauss sounded best with a powerful SS amp. I was running a BAT VK-600SE on my Strauss with very good results.
I say 'was', because I've moved on. I have a sale pending on my Strauss, with the buyer coming tomorrow night. I already have my new Verity Audio Parsifal Encore's
I think I am going to have to change my summary up top. The mahlers are sounding better than ever, now that I have the SS cjprem350 amp. That has really brought the bass under control as well as moving the speakers a little more forward. You are right, the mahlers do have a sound that is easy to play loud without fatigue.
BTW, I experimented w/ woofers in or out and in my room woofers out definitely sound better with speakers slightly pointed at the listening position. Setting up the Mahlers' woofers requires quite a bit of experimentation -but the reward!
I drive my Mahlers with Jeff Rowland Model 201s amps and Synergy IIi pre. I don't find the bass loose at all. The 201s with its high current output really control the very demanding Mahler woofers. I also listen to music quite loud (90 - 100db with peaks up to 110db). The 201s and Mahlers never fatigue and bass always sounds taut and detailed.
Jeff, I know what you mean re Zyx being the current flavor of the mnth. Same thing last year re Shelter cartridges. Once they have been around for a while, they seem to get dropped from the radar screen. It worries me that Sorasound always has demo cartridges available to buy on gon. That to me means that maybe they are not THAT popular.
At least U know that Dynavector will be around for the long term.
