My system feels and sounds "done" to me, 14 yrs after I started. 2 channel and movies are better than I ever dreamed possible - the synergy is just remarkable. I have very fortunately been able to assemble a system that I will never grow tired of listening to. This is not in a dedicated listening room, but in my living room, complete with dogs, TV, open doorways, etc., etc. It really shouldn't sound any good, but it sounds GREAT!! Go figure... It has definitely been a learning experience and I've made my share of missteps along the way, as I expected to do.
My original goal was to be able to close my eyes and have the performers in the room with me. I have finally gotten there and actually beyond, to the point where the speakers disappear in the room. A pretty big deal considering the size of the speakers (BIG!) and the size of the room (19' x 20') I now just listen to the music and smile.
The latest additions - VAC Statement linestage, Focal Grande Utopia EM speakers and Critical Mass Systems Maxxum rackage made a huge impact to my system, both aurally and visually (as well as to what USED to be my savings.) :-). I finally have my DREAM system and couldn't be happier, as it sounds as good as it looks (some say even better). (edited 12/2014)
Valve Amplification Company STATEMENT 450 IQ Monoblocks
Great amps. IQ Continuous Automatic Bias System and Auto-Sentry System added on recent trip to VAC. Very good sound became off-the-charts sound. Literally best tube amps I've heard anywhere, at any price. With addition of the FOCALS, I can really appreciate the amps.
Valve Amplification Company STATEMENT Linestage
Added Seimens 7308s for break-in; will be installing CCA Telefunkens in several weeks. :-)
Esoteric P-02 Transport/D-02 DAC
SOTA digital. Phenomenal combination.
FOCAL Grande Utopia EM
WOW!
High Fidelity Ultimate Reference Rhodium and HelixPowrCds
Each run from wall to a P-10 power regenerator, which supply my system. They are "game-changers" for my system - the detail, imaging, separation and musicality are great. Helix goes to transport.
Critical Mass Systems Maxxum Rack and Amp Stands
Merlot 9-position filtered rack, with 2 Merlot filtered amp stands. Installed by Joe L. and my local dealer. All are movable for cable access, etc., a Maxxum first. System got even quieter, imaging improved and sound stage got both wider and deeper. They also make my living room look much better. :-)
High Fidelity Ultimate Reference Power Cable
Ridiculously excellent power transmission. Powers Esoteric P-02 transport from PS Audio P-10 power regenerator. Best I've ever heard.
Master Set Speaker system Tuning
Performed by Rod Thompson of Soundings (here in Denver). Took speakers to a much higher level than I thought possible in my room. Well worth the money for this system to perform to the level he got it to.
High Fidelity Ultimate Reference Speaker cables
SOTA for speakers
High Fidelity Ultimate IC's betw preamp and amps
Final piece of the puzzle. Entire system opened up tremendously.
High Fidelity CT-1Ultimate ICs from D-2 to preamp
New design with magnetic influence. Amazing low level detail with excellent musicality. Best cable yet between Esoteric D-02 DAC and Vac preamp.
Purist Audio Custom DC umbilical cords 4 Focals
Connects DC woofer external control modules to the Focal speakers. Custom made for this application (thanks to Albert Porter).
PS Audio P-10 Power Regenerator(2)
System protection as well as clean, steady power to all gear. Silver.
HighFidelity Ultimate Reference Helix Digital
Great digital cable clocking the p-02 and D-02 together using internal clock.
Hi Diamond P-4(4) and P-3(2) power cords
P-4s from wall to 2 P-10s, and from P10s to each amp. Also from P-10 to CD player and wall to sub. P-3 from P-10 to preamp and from Oppo to P-10. Extremely quiet, resolving and organic cables that get out of the way of the music. Macro and micro details in abundance, without any harshness or loss of musicality. Best PCs I've heard, at any price.
Pro ELITE 70 inch LCD w/full Local Dimming
Motorized wall mount allows TV to come forward and down for viewing. Retract to wall for critical listening.
Integra DHC-80.2 HD Processor
All the latest codecs for movies.
Legacy Audio Focus 20/20 rear speakers
Full range and great for movies
Oppo BDP-105
Video processing to 3D plus all latest Audio Codecs
Digital Systems Ultrabit Platinum Disc Treatment
The best I've found to help my CDs sound their best and remove scratches.
Rick created a "balanced-cable" workaround for me to solve a problem, as I described above. I don't think there are any balanced High Fidelity cables in production at this point yet. My system keeps sounding a little better every time I turn it on now, and sounds better than it did before the work-around.
I still have a bunch of break-in ahead on these work-around cables, which are actually 2 pair of single-ended HF Ultimates with Cardas adapters.YMMV.
you wrote; Your assumption is also incorrect re: Rick's ic's.
Did you mean correct?
My understanding was Rick's IC's originally where only available rca terminated hence my response above, are they now in production offering xlr connectors?
I would really like to compare these against my Stealth Sakra xlr IC's, use from pre to amps and from sources.
Hi Dev- One of the switches on 1 of the amps has a dirty contact and is not making a proper single-ended connection. Your assumption is also incorrect re: Rick's ic's.
"So they became in essence a balanced "work around", necessary due to a single-ended issue with one of my amps. Easy? no. Inexpensive? HELL NO!! Temporary fix until my amps go back to VAC for some tweakage in a month or so? Absolutely. :-)"
What's going on with your amps, what is the tweakage that you refer going to be.
I take it due to using Rick's IC's you are left with only using rca.
On a hunch, Rick S. suggested I try his balanced cables between my preamp and amps, replacing a Hi Diamond XLR3, which I liked. We couldn't figure out why the Ultimate Reference speaker cables weren't performing as well as they should have been. His theory was that the XLR3 was "in the way" for lack of a better descriptor.
We created balanced cables out of 2 runs of Ultimates and after several reconfigurations, finally got everything set the way it was supposed to be.
After 20 minutes, I listened. WOW!! Not only was imaging and depth MUCH better, bass improved, speed improved and there were lots more details I wasn't aware of before. I now know what others with an all High Fidelity cabled system are raving about. I don't hear my system, but rather the musicians. I know of no better compliment.
That's my point you can never say never. I learned that a long time ago. I have the VAC Sig. 2A preamp and would like to know your opinion on the statement.
I never said there WAS an end cable, so don't understand your comment. I try what interests me. I'm also not worried in the least about upsetting "this new wire company." Its called professionalism. Also, at some point its time to back off the merry-go-round and appreciate the music. I am pretty much at that point already, and will be more so after installing the Esoteric combo and the new VAC Statement preamp.
Having said all this, you never know what the future might bring, so I have learned to never say "never". :-)
Fplanner2000 there is no end cable. If you had this attitude you would never have tried this cable in the first place. In two years from now there probably will be a cable more musical, natural than the one you have. I understand why you don't want to mention other brands so you don't upset this new wire company.
James- thanks for the kind words. Mine is the 4.0-Master. My rationale for the Esoteric is from a service/convenience standpoint. I know them, like their products and they are in Cali. I'm sure Alex's new 2 box is good, but something bothers me about gutting the 4.0M in order to "upgrade" where my source is in some foreign country.
I'm pretty sure the Esoteric duo will outperform the 4.0-M, at least from what I've read so far. I am waiting until I can get more breakin on my speaker cables and ics before I change out sources. I'll let you know when that happens.
Great system. Congratulations. I would be interested to hear more on your thoughts of the new two box Esoteric against the NWO 4.0SE. I used to own the 4.0SE but have now moved on to Alex`s two box master system with the APL DAC-M and the Esoteric digital transport - nothing short of fantastic. James
I am thankfully way past the "trying lots of different cables" portion of the audio cycle. What I find is that most are just tuning devices for a preferred sound or presentation. Over the past 5 years, I have probably tried a dozen different brands from low to high-end.
As my system has improved, I have come to appreciate "zero-tuning" more and more. In other words, let me hear the music as it was created. When Rick S. asked me to try his new cables, I agreed. They are very revealing and easy to listen to. They are still under evaluation.
I really don't want to throw other cable brands under the bus, as everyone has their favorites and there is no 1 correct answer, just what's right for YOU and YOUR system.
I occasionally try new and different cabling in my office system that catch my interest, but no longer have the need to constantly seek "the magic cable". I am now to the point of just listening to my systems for the great sounds they produce and relaxing into the music. I've been fortunate to be able to put together a couple of pretty good systems over the years and now look forward to just enjoying them.
Got it! Wow, that is quite a lot of isolation...great stuff. It would be interesting to play around with isolation between the modules of the X1 but obviously that is impossible based on how they built it. The fasten to each other both by the spikes underneath as well as screws that go into the sides... I bet done right there might be improvements given how well the Ultra 5s work in place of the Wilson spikes. Enjoy!
Hi Lloyd- Thanks for the kind feedback. Each of my speakers consists of 2 "modules" - a mid/treble stacked on a bass unit. The Ultra 5's remain between the 2 modules to isolate them from each other, while the Track Audio footers are between the bass units and the floor, which is draining excess energy from the bass units to the floor(carpet over concrete).
Apparently the Ultra 5's will both couple and de-couple depending upon where you put them. I have heard a number of others use them as you have with excellent results.
One of the reasons I went with Track Audio for the footers is that they are adjustable, which has already come in handy during setup. I'll post some updated pics when I get some free time.
Added Track Audio Isolation points to the speakers this weekend in "coupled" mode. In other words, I want all bass speaker resonances to drain to the floor. It took 3 of us, but after several hours we got it done.
Bass immediately got cleaner, tighter, and faster with the slight mudiness that had been slightly covering up the mids and tweets now gone. SO, mids and tweets now much better than when I first added the Stillpoints, and bass is just a pleasure to listen to. Marcus Miller just got a LOT better!!
I'm also breaking in new speaker cables - High Fidelity Ultimate Reference with Ultimate jumpers. Have about 250 hours on them as they are FINALLY starting to really open up nicely. I have so much more bass energy that I have turned my sub off - the 7's are loving this!! Isolating the m/t speaker box from the bass, and then coupling tha bass to the floor is allowing the cables to really "do their thing". I am at the point now where every day brings a new audio surprise or two.
One caution with High Fidelity cables - make absolutely sure that you get the current direction correct. Even being very careful, turned out I had reversed the polarity on 1 pair of Ultimate jumpers for 225 hours. I noticed the sound out of 1 speaker seemed a bit "off" as they finally started to open up. Sure enough, I had the jumpers backwards on that speaker. Another point is to be really patient with these cables. Depending upon your system, breakin can take quite a while. There is a light at the end of the tunnel,as I am slowly finding out. Resolution, speed and soundstage are now increasing every day, or so it seems. Already sounding better than any other speaker cables I've ever had, and they are at most, maybe 60% broken in.
On a tip from AVS, I put 4 Stillpoint Ultra 5's between the upper and lower modules of my 7's, without touching the rubber feet.
Speakers totally transformed for the better. Amazing transformation - much better mids and highs - also tightened up the bass. Imaging much better, separation as well. It was enough of a major improvement that the 7's are no longer on the trading block - expensive, but a lot cheaper than new speakers in the range I was looking. :-)
Much more than a component upgrade and much less brain damage than finding and replacing 400lb speakers to work in my room.
04-08-11: Jwm Dev, I am using Brimar ECC-88 and Mullard 12AU7 (1950's) 2 Support Square D Getter tubes in the Preamp. In the amp I am using Kevin's Chinese KT-88 and all RCA 6SN7 GTB black base tubes in the input stage. My oh my as Sulu says in those tv ads. Jwm (System | Threads | Answers | This Thread)
Esoteric P-02/D-02 arrived yesterday. Got them home today to start breaking them in. They are heavier and bulkier than I thought they would be, making me reconsider whether the best place for them is my top shelf, stacked. Such a setup pretty much rules out my clock as the 3rd stacked piece on that shelf. I might have to leave the clock out, although I hate to do that. I figure I've got about a month to figure something out, as the pieces break in outside my system.
Dev, I'm using input #4 XLR. For whatever reason, rolling the 12au7 made a huge improvement. I have boxes of spare tubes, was curious and glad I tried.
so you have your dac hooked up to what "tape input" because as per Jwm posting above the 12au7's are only for the tape stage. Those are the only tubes that I have yet to roll. I actually removed my pair and confirmed the pre still operates.
05-03-13: Jwm Dev, the second set of tubes in the Sig. 2 is for the tape input output stage. The new preamp does not have tape so no longer needs the second set of tubes. The information was directly from the horses mouth.
