All for the Love of Music

Owner

I posted about last year regarding the first-run innovative cable organizers from Audio Hifi Solutions ("Audio HighWire") which Michael and his son Patrick (both live in Wisconsin) had envisioned, designed and made a reality as well as how they radically improved my cable management.

I talked to Michael yesterday, and they have been extremely busy with many different additions for floor standing, rack mount, wall mount and other accessories for these cable riser-organizers that continue to amaze me.

***There is now a Shopify-based website with every model and option pictured including a new and quite unique option done especially for Nordost ribbon-shaped speaker & other cables for those of you that use them.

There are many more sizes, options, and combinations now available.

Check it out…..I see there’s also an introductory coupon and comprehensive FAQ section, helpful videos, a Contact form, etc....

NEW WEBSITE:
www.audiohifisolutions.com

They will also be at AXPONA with a table+booth with samples of the products, lots of information, and the ability to see and experience the quality and design flexibility

Disclaimer: I have no affiliation/incentive for sending this out; just being a very happy and impressed customer.

zephyr24069 February 16, 2025 19:49

Owner

Thank you very much @randypeck I appreciate that very much! I've answered your question on the other thread you had previously opened but will also copy-paste here though it's a bit out of context as it references others' great comments on that thread. You'll note that I've upgraded from Adona AV45 to Zero GX over the couse of 2023-early 2024. I have many AV45 columns, X-frames and hardware put aside after the upgrade (no platforms but someone interested can buy these from Adona). Anyone interested can write me directly and I'll post a proper ad as it's difficult to detetermine what rebuilt versions of all these parts would make the best ad. I

At any rate, here's the response I posted on the other thread:

"Randy,

I owned a large rack system of multiple racks of Adona AV45 going back to 2003 & 4 with very good results. The AV45 racks can be assembled in many different variations/configurations and i've had alot of them between my old 7.1 & 2 ch hybrid system that I had in CT from 2003-2007 and then moved to other homes I've had in SC prior to me selling off all the HT/multimedia components and speakers in 2008-2009. The flexibility of Adona allowed to treat is as an "audio erector set" if you will and rebuild into many different rack configurations from 2009 until last years in several different homes and system configurations. If you look back at my virtual system and scroll down, you can see a sampling of photos that show the systems while also seeing a few of the rack configurations I was able to build out of all the parts.

Adona AV45 (and his other racks) have varying levels (as you go up the model list) of use of sound constrained layer damping techniques both in the multi-layer platforms as well as the use of different materials in the racks themselves. These CLD techniques help capture and channel vibration away from the gear.

Many of us have also found that supplemental use of higher-end footers, fine-tuned additional platforms and/or or damping platforms helps refine the performance even further. Roxy, Mike L and others all have long experience with Adona as do both myself and 9 other people I know who either have a newer line (ERIS) or the AV45 line with a heavy emphasis for those who have bought in the last 5 years of adopting the ERIS models. There an additional 2 who have gone with the Zero GX and the level that replaces it (Altaira). Others like Mike L have the top model, the Zero GXT for their most important turntables and related components.

After 19 years with the AV45 racks, I decided last year to begin the process of swapping out my AV45 one rack at a time and moving to the Zero GX (has 3" columns while the Zero GXT has 4", both have slightly different aspects to them). From what Paul tells me the Zero GX has been replaced by the Altair for both design and supply chain reasons (the Altair is the next-gen design). I finished the Zero GX upgrade with the last rack section early this year.

I was alway very happy with both the flexibility, price, overall value, function and look of the AV45 gear. The Zero GX performs and looks even better and I an extremely happy. The fit and finish of the Zero racks and other new models is even better and in the case of the Zero GX I was able to hear an even better sonic result in imaging performance and other aspects.

The great thing about Adona is that the multi-element platforms will hold any weight component I've had on them from 15 lbs to 150 lbs (and I'm told others put more on them). The platforms are the same for all Adona racks and can be made into custom sizes in addition to the stock 18x18 (inch) and 19x24, 19x,21 stock sizes. You can by the platforms with your first rack once and then use them over many different Adona rack models.

The Zero and his latest models are a meaningful improvement; the AV45 however is nonetheless still a great performer for the money.

There are higher cost, more sophisticated (i.e. more detailed tech and designs), even more beautiful and fancier racks and platforms out there. Some of have limitations in terms of configurability, movement of shelves after initial build at time of purchase, etc... there are several major names on the "uber racks" list that frankly I think are great options from US, UK, Europe, South Korea. All are excellent. All have one thing in common,....the uber rack options are all extremely, and sometimes outrageously expensive. They will also take months to build and deliver and while frankly Adona builds at time of order and this can range from 2-8 weeks in my experience depending size of order, materials supply, previously in queue how they are still much faster than the 4-6 month timeframes and less costly than the uber options I looked at both in 2002-3 and over the last couple of years.

Adona gets the job done and at a fair price. The direct-sale model helps with the economics too for obvious reasons.

You can pay multiple time more and get more or different or better in some way but honestly, I cannot justify the $75K-$100K+ (or more) that it would take in 3 different other manufacturers rack and platform systems based on quotes I have procured to try to do what I need with my 3 favorite uber-rack manufacturers.

There many, many options out there as well for alternate solutions at the same price points as Adona, many available in all countries, some not available outside of Asia or Europe or Eastern Europe (or other areas) that also great options.

For me, it's Adona for over 20 years and for the foreseeable future.

YMMV and IMHO and ll that :-)

zephyr24069 April 20, 2024 23:35

Owner

I have just added twelve Audio HighWire Cable Elevators from Audio HiFiSolutions, a new company located in, manufacturing these products in Wisconsin (USA).

The cable elevators are unique and are available in multiple cable tolerance sizes (0.25", 0.5" and 0.75"); they accommodate, from 2 to 9 cables depending upon cable size and model chosen.

There is also an on-wall or on-rack mount option coming available.

They've done wonders here in my setup...

zephyr24069 April 05, 2024 14:45

Owner

Finalized racks with conversion of one amp stand to a 2-level Adona ZeroGX Reference rack to allow for placement of Shunyata Typhon T2_30amp model and better organization of all core components. Added new and revised photos for some of the gear and system views.

zephyr24069 March 11, 2024 13:56

Owner

Added a Shunyata Typhon T2 (30amp input) unit between the wall and the power Valor speakers, Esoteric S-02 amps, C-02X preamp and Wavelet v2's HDPlexx 300W power supply. This combined with the upgrade of all chassis and signal ground cables from Delta and Alpha to Shunyata Sigma v3 with STIS terminations and VTX-Ag connections has done great things for the system, far more than I had original hoped for....

zephyr24069 February 18, 2024 18:00

Owner

Recently upgraded from Shunyata Triton v3 and Typhon QR (a good friend will now give that excellent combination a good home), to a Shunyata Everest 8000 power conditioner with very impressive results...

zephyr24069 August 07, 2023 21:42

Owner

Component and cable list completely updated....

zephyr24069 July 10, 2023 14:19

Owner

Photos updated...

zephyr24069 July 10, 2023 04:23

Owner

Updated photos to follow....

zephyr24069 July 08, 2023 13:53

Owner

After almost 20 years with Adona's AV45-series racks that were a great long-term investment, I have done a massive upgrade to Adona's Zero GX Reference racks across my entire system. These raise the performance-value bar even higher!

This year I've also added two (2) Shunyata Altaira SG (Signal Ground) hubs and upgraded all my existing Signal Ground cables from Shunyata Delta to Sigma level with VTX-ag connector ends with fantastic results as well as adding additional Sigma signal ground cables as I added the second hub. In addition, I've upgraded about half my chassis ground cables from Delta to Sigma level as well with sonically noticeable results.

zephyr24069 July 08, 2023 13:09

Owner

Front walls treated with light diffusion. Rear wall treated with quadratic diffusion. Legacy Wavelet takes care of the rest with room correction (4 vectors: frequency, phase, amplitude, time) full range. I use REW before and after and have vetted the results.

zephyr24069 March 12, 2023 19:49

Owner

@bullot

Shane,

Thank you for the post with great comments; it's great to hear from you. We should hookup via email or phone sometime and catch up on life, audio, etc...

I hope that work, life and all is treating you well!

zephyr24069 August 13, 2022 02:34

Owner

It's been a few years for sure,...3-5 sounds about right.

Thank you again for the comments here. It's great to hear from you.

If you have half a day or more to get up to Greenville in the fall let me know and you are welcome for a listen.

zephyr24069 May 16, 2022 01:08

Owner

Thank you Jeff, it's great to hear from you! The Valor speakers are definitely substantial (severe understatement), even more so with the new upgraded Wavelet II. The way these larger drivers convey sound is in a word, effortlessly and I've yet to find their limit of where the speaker stops being musical, where it would sound brash, etc... I received these in early June 2020 and I am, no exaggeration, learning what they can do more and more on what seems to be a weekly basis!

The new i.V4 Ultra amp, also installed here about 1 month before the Valors back in 2020 continues to defy my old biases regarding the need for big powerhouse Class A, A/B amps that weigh well over 100 pound in order to have big, dynamic, and expansive sound. When you take into consider the price of 4 channels was at the time $8250 in "Ultra" configuration, it still baffles me how good it sounds. Again, no exaggeration however I will stop there so I don't start into the magic audiophile words zone :-)

The TAD R1 Mk2's were and are a great speaker. The best part is I was lucky enough to sell them a very good friend in Atlanta so I've already heard them once since they left here and I'm looking forward to additional listening sessions as he's been very busy with additional upgrades and should have a set of DarTZeel 468s and the matching new generation preamp in the near future so I'm looking forward to hearing how they sound with the DarT's compared to his Accuphase A-200 monos and matching pre (which is already excellent).

Hope all is well with you and you are enjoying your system and alot of great music!

If you are ever in the area, you are always welcome to have a listen.

zephyr24069 May 15, 2022 01:14

Owner

Thank you @jond !

It takes the same number of people (two) that would be required change footers and not a lot more in terms of process.

That is certainly "the" question when it comes to anything like this for a speaker of this size. The initial install, as with installing footers
of any other kind and moving a good sized speaker like this, was a two-person job and some careful thought. The essential ingredient was
to know exactly where the speakers sound best in the room both playing as passive speakers and also with the Room Correction that
Legacy Wavelet provides (which does NOT get you out of the task of doing proper passive speaker "best location" placement). After almost
2 years and a lot of experimentation I had found the best place for the speakers in the current room so step 1 was to precisely mark the outside
edge (outline) of the speaker base on the floor so I knew exactly where the speaker needed to be sighted in to coincide with once on the podiums.

Step 2, with 2 guys working together was to have 1 of us rock the speaker gently back on its back 2 legs while the other carefully slide the Townshend podium into place all the way up to the back speaker footers. Step 3 was then both of us "walking" the speaker and getting it centered on the platform and squared off. Step 4 was one person hold the speaker while the other got down on the floor and pushed the Townshend platforms back and sliding them into their near-final place with some "sighting in" and verifying with (Step 5) a couple of minor adjustments to get the speaker and podium to align the speaker over the blue masking tape targets on the floor on all sides. Step 6 then is adjusting the isolation pods (the legs) in pairs to make sure the podium is floating no more than an inch above the floor and even on all sides to get it level to the human eye. Step 7 is taking good "calibrated/verified" level and checking the speaker on all sides front and back to ensure it is completely level and 100% vertically aligned straight as well.

Moving the speakers on the podiums themselves was the same "walking" motion and process due to the extremely thick and hard blasted finish they manufacture.

Sliding the podiums themselves on a smooth surface takes some care and even force on 2 legs at a time; someone to steady the speaker vertically helps however I did do it myself a few days ago as there was a slight distance away from the target markings where is missed. I was able to get push the podiums myself with a bit of care. It would have been better or at least less disconcerting to have a helper but I figured it out on my own.

They tell me that on carpet the podiums with their slick disc footers on the legs will move; I see that as requiring more care, a bit more force and definitely not done without a second person as carpet is more challenging to contend with. They did tell me they have many customers who use them on carpet so they can surely advise as to best techniques.

Hope this answers your question...

zephyr24069 May 09, 2022 22:22

Owner

Just completed a major upgrade in terms of totally decoupling an almost 300 lb speaker that stands 6 feet 1 inch tall from the room to eliminate the prodigious amounts of energy this speaker can produce from feeding into the floor and subfloor (and crawlspace under house) and ultimately feeding back into the speaker. This delivered a lot more than even the highest expectations I had. I'd researched available options for over a year and even considered going back to the use of Stillpoint Ultras 5's (now v2) or other footers like Magico MPODs (sized for M6 speakers) or the larger IsoAcoustics footers and received a great recommendation from a friend to look at Townshend Audio from the UK.

Townshend Audio custom podium journey….began this design project back in January after several months last year of investigation into many other excellent products in this space from HiFiStays, Magico MPODS, IsoAcoustics and many others.

I decided upon Townshend after quite a few conversations with other “big speaker owners” who had bought and used all other top offerings for high-end footers with the larger speakers models from YG Acoustics, Wilson, Magico and also Legacy Whisper XDS and MBL 101e MkII and MBL Extreme owners. They all wound up with Townshend’s podiums as their preferred solution, some after spending many thousands more on competing solutions.

Townshend makes 5 different standard sizes of the platforms for different combinations of size plinth and weight-bearing capacity from 50kg up to 200kg. They can accommodate any speaker over 200kg of any weight through a custom design and going from 4 to 6 load cells.

Due to the unique angled back profile, the size of the Legacy Valor plinth, a 298-pound actual weight of my speakers as-built and the height (6 feet 1")

plus their load distribution a custom sized Townshend product was needed. The same is true of the other Wilson, larger Magico, MBL and YG owners

I spoke with. The process of collaborating with Townshend was great and they were extremely responsive at all points even allowing me first hand calls and emails with their lead engineer to arrive at the CAD drawings needed to commission the project. As a result, they now have an option for any Legacy VALOR owner in their design portfolio.

Townshend completed the order after commit in the shortest time possible (about 5-6 weeks) and then shipped them in custom-built real wood crates. They arrived without any issue whatsoever.

The finish quality is heavy duty, beautiful and first class in every way. I am very happy with the end product. This project was measured and designed down to millimeters to facilitate the CAD and laser-cutting processes. When I got them out of the crates, they were exactly to promise and to measure.

Pardon the blue masking tape in the photos...I am still tweaking final speaker position based upon original best-position.

The playback quality of the speakers once installed on them far exceeds any expectations I had, and have markedly improved every single aspect of playback, including bass of course, all the way up through midrange and treble clarity, total imaging, soundstage depth, density, 3D rendering, etc..

It's also an amazing thing to see an almost 300 lb, 6' 1" speaker "float" and when pushed, easily move in 3 dimensions, and quickly absorb the shocks and return to stationary in a matter of seconds. The bigger surprise is to feel absolutely zero vibration and resonance in the floor directly in front of the speaker and yet feel the force of bass, mid-bass, etc...moving air.

Very happy with the results and looking forward to listening to a lot more music to re-explore my speakers!

zephyr24069 May 09, 2022 01:24

Owner

After many months of looking for options to find a destination HDMI cable made with a pure focus on the needs of high-speed audio data-only protocols like ES-LINK2, ES-LINK3, 4 and 5 by Esoteric, I've upgraded to a handmade bespoke cable design by Aldwin at TUBULUS cables in the Netherlands ("CONCENTUS" model). Outstanding results....the Audioquest Firebird 48 HDMI's were and are a great cable. I do find that last bit of refinement in all categories is delivered, at least in this system, by the Tubulus CONCENTUS cable choice...

zephyr24069 May 09, 2022 00:47

Owner

Thank you @jond ! I very much appreciate the comments! I've had other more typical "big bad solid state amps" over the years like the Edge NL12.1's, Esoteric A-02, etc..and loved them. This Legacy i.V4 Ultra amp really gets the job done and for 4 channels covering mids and treble separately, uniformly with the built-in amplification in the Valor speakers and at a price that I still some days cannot fathom how reasonable it is. I may try other amps in the future like Esoteric S1X if they ever bring that out (don't have room for 4 M1X's :-) ) however any amps that enter the system now have a VERY high bar to jump. In short, this amp allows me to have the unified system build view you called out for the speaker side, while sticking a long-time favorite (Esoteric) for the source side.

Thank you once again,...if you are ever near Greenville SC, you are welcome to visit and to enjoy a system that I think makes very realistic and enjoyable music across all genres (and I like alot of different kind of music).

I'll be updating with a couple new photos a bit later; about a week ago I finally concluded on an install of what turned out to be a much bigger upgrade in terms of return on investment than I thought it would be. That namely is the update to custom-made (size and weight-bearing config) TOWNSHEND AUDIO PODIUMs....

More on that later....thank you again!

zephyr24069 May 08, 2022 23:52

Owner

Thank you!!! Very soon!

zephyr24069 January 03, 2022 20:23

Owner

Great new additions in the cable area with ELROD Masters Series cables and Shunyata OMEGA in 2021 as well as ELROD Masters Series cables. The biggest upgrades came after long searches and listening comparisons the last 3 years; added Esoteric C-02X preamplifier and the Grandioso P1 and D1 stack,...the effects of which are immediately obvious from the first minutes of play as output by the VALOR speakes which I've had now for over 1.5 years and am still discovering more that they can do...

zephyr24069 January 03, 2022 19:00

Owner

All new photos of reorganized system layout with particular attention to cable layout, organization and optimization including even more isolation. I started with a goal of organizing and making better use of space and wound up with a definite audible benefit, much more than expected. Even more clear and layered instrument, voice and ensemble location accuracy within the soundstage. Hope you'll enjoy the new photos!

zephyr24069 October 16, 2021 00:44

Owner

@cymbop Thank you very much,...I appreciate them very much and I'm glad you enjoyed music on the system as much as I do. Thanks for sharing time and some great music!

zephyr24069 July 23, 2021 04:36

Owner

It's not a plague though it is serious and life, work, education, fellowship must go on with care. You ("Y'all") are welcome any time and proper precautions are being followed.

zephyr24069 February 21, 2021 14:27

Owner

@cutlr7 Thanks for the great conversation yesterday; I definitely enjoy hooking up with music and HT lovers and talking speakers, systems, etc....it was cool to hear all the Legacy models we've both owned and have in common and hear about your experiences with them as well;the AERIS are a great speaker as you know by owning them,....if you have a chance to get up to Valor though, Go For It!!!

zephyr24069 October 22, 2020 20:52

Owner

@cutlr7 Apologies for the delay in replying, I've not spent a lot of time on Audiogon lately and it does not notify/alert via email most times there is a post on my system thread. I am hoping that you see this.

The Valor have not stopped amazing me in terms of their ability to deftly play the most delicate of passages, violin, cello, flute, percussion instruments of a fine nature up through the most dynamic ensemble works of pipe organ, symphony orchestras with incredible presence, imaging well beyond the speaker and room boundaries all equally well. How a 300lb speaker disappears like this and simply leaves music in all three dimensions hanging in the air, enveloping the listener is beyond me. The softest passage you can imagine to the loudest and most intensely conveyed music all done with a finesse and beauty that I find hard to put into words. Sounds like happy ears right? It's not, that I can promise you. I find they have the resolving power for individual instruments and voices while also being able to convey the power and beauty of a large ensemble AND without losing the individual instruments and voices when playing large complex works.

They show you a scale of musical playback that you've not heard before and with the Room Correction and Stereo Unfold Array with a presence and a realism that is hard to describe.

Range,....12 Hz all the way up with an accuracy in the bass and sub-bass that I've not heard before. Midrange,...there is nothing I've heard that renders mids like this 14" driver at the heart of the concentric mid & treble concentric driver array.

DEEP Bass, body impacting yet smooth, fast, articulate, accurate,...I could go on and on. I will NOT ever need subs with these, that is for sure as they have their own 4-pack of subs, two per tower!

Oh, and they rock out too, will I'm sure amaze you in a Home Theater & 2ch hybrid setup.

I listen to everything from Pipe Organ, Classical, Jazz and New Agee to Hard Rock, Prog-Rock, Heavy Metal, Techno and Electronica. There is nothing I've tried out of a huge collection that did not drop my jaw in amazement.

I am truly glad I have these; it's the speaker I've waited to find and be able to have in my system. I went to Munich HIGH-END and Hifideluxe in 2019, both shows, 4 full days, hundreds of speakers......a veritable who's who in high end audio.

The only speakers I heard that i would put in the same league as the Valor started around $250K-$3000K and went to $500K and beyond. That list was also very short, probably 5-6 names.

At any rate, if you have a chance to get these, I highly recommend them.

At Legacy's retail prices you'd be crazy not to (IMHO).

If you are at Scott's a good friend's Valors in Rosewood finish for sale here at a killer price, you'll be even happier with the speaker and also be getting a great deal from a guy you can trust all day long.

I would calmly say that Valor is a 'destination' purchase. Only way to improve on it is power cable, interconnect and speaker cable choices.

Write me here on the message Inbox. I'm happy to get on the phone and give very specific examples of what I've heard on many different types of music, what I've compared it to and heard over the years and why I think this speaker is the best reference speaker purchase in all audio though i am biased by my own listening preferences.

zephyr24069 October 19, 2020 00:13

Owner

Updated with 14 GSM Eco professional canvas art and a nice fractal-generated pattern,...the art looks great to me and sonically is a great improvement,...much more attractive than normal room treatments and just a small amount of diffusion on the backplane/wall...

zephyr24069 October 18, 2020 23:24

Owner

Good morning Doug!

Wavelet is powered by an HDPlex 300W power supply with both fixed and adjustable XLR3 DC outputs. I use the variable output to hit the optimal input voltage for Wavelet exactly as it varies a bit above 12V from what Bill told me a couple years ago. The HDPlex is connected to the Wavelet by a Revelation Audio Labs XLR3->XLR5 DC umbilical, this is my 2nd order from Brad and I have pointed several other Wavelet owners there with similarly great results. I also have a Ghent JSSG360 umbilical that I also think is amazing.

Let's talk this week if can spare some time,...

These Valor speakers are well broken in, over 600 hours...this is truly a world class speaker.

Hope this help,...have a great weekend!

Mark

zephyr24069 July 05, 2020 11:29

Owner

Hello, great to hear from you! Yes, many changes in life, audio, etc....

The results of the audio wave sound better than I've ever heard before and I could not be happier!

I do not think that you are suffering at all with Whisper DSW Clarity Edition,...different speaker than Valor however it is definitely to my ears one of the finest speakers ever made in terms of rendering music realistically and without fatigue regardless of how many hours you listen!

The custom part of the Valor setup is that this pair has separate binding post inputs requiring 4 channels of external amplification instead of 2 for the top end; this means I have separate amp channels for treble and another 2 for the upper midbass and midrange. I love how this combination sounds,...out of the Wavelet. are still 4 pairs of XLRs of course, outputs 2 and 6 require a Ycable to route to both the external amp channels for midrange and then Y off the same output for the 8" cancellation driver internal to the speaker that is used when SUT in engaged. Very innovative and a bit different than stock Valor but like your DSW version, these little pluses give us the future flexibility to go whichever direction is best to amp and cable the mids and the treble as is best in each case.

The black box on the floor in front is a design prototype I have been testing for a few months; would love to share details as it is really something unique and special however I cannot at this time and any news would come out as official from Shunyata.

Wavelet is powered by an HDPlex 300W power supply with both fixed and adjustable XLR3 DC outputs. I use the variable output to hit the optimal input voltage for Wavelet exactly as it varies a bit above 12V from what Bill told me a couple years ago. The HDPlex is connected to the Wavelet by a Revelation Audio Labs XLR3->XLR5 DC umbilical. I also have a Ghent JSSG360 umbilical that I also think is damned good.

The rest is a sea of Elrod Master Series Statement Gold, Statement Gold powercords, speaker cables and interconnect and Shunyata SIGMA XLR and Anaconda Ztron (w/KPIP, 6meter run) which gives me a great sounding result!

I run Esoteric D-02 analog outputs to the Wavelet; I like the result better and I believe the volume control is better, the Esoteric DAC certainly is my favorite. I've tried the Wavelet as an all in one and it's great,...there is nothing like dual-mono master clocked playback from my Esoteric Transport and DAC here so I'm sticking with that configuration and love Wavelet for it's RoomEQ and other features that I do utilize.

Have a great week!

zephyr24069 July 01, 2020 01:24

Owner

:-) definitely!

zephyr24069 June 25, 2020 23:05

Owner

Updated photos and gear list,...more work to do, Audiogon photo handling and reordered takes much work so most critical changes are up today, more when I have time.

Big news besides selling old house, renting an interim house since last September is the arrival several weeks ago of a Legacy Audio i.V4 ULTRA amp.....fantastic is what I'm experiencing.

Further the arrival of my dream speaker, the Legacy Valor 2 weeks and 3 days ago means the multiple years I've waited and wanted this speaker are now over (!).....words don't suffice to describe how much I am enjoying and amazing by these speakers. Bill and the Legacy team have done it again to bring amazing and real music into my home on an entirely more impressive level!

zephyr24069 June 24, 2020 00:24

Owner

Well, the winds of change have blown through my life 🙃, a welcome and new path in life has now emerged, so many changes have occurred. The house pictured has been sold and I will be in temporary quarters (read "rental house") for a couple years while I regroup, get back to more music and plan the next steps...

The system as pictured is still with me and despite being in a rental "as is" sounds great and I am enjoying it as much or more than before.

The Legacy i.V4 ULTRA is now fully broken in and I am gobsmacked at how it competes and exceeds much more vaunted and expensive amps I have owned and others I have heard previously.

The same can be said for the custom Legacy CaliberXD build and Foundations setup I have been running since late Novemeber 2018. Having been to High End 2019 HifiDeuxe 2019, I heard a veritable Who's Who of speakers and found that Legacy once again what I preferred to come home to as they are the most musical that I prefer.

The next 2 weeks should be VERY interesting and all I can say is...

"Something Wicked This Way Comes..."

zephyr24069 May 31, 2020 22:41

Owner

As the current rental is short term I probably will not go through the pains of taking all new, posting, etc...only to have to do it again a year from now.

zephyr24069 December 19, 2019 13:32

Owner

Updated the list to clean up things that are no longer in the system. Will post updated photos after I return from Munich High End 2019...

The Legacy Powerbloc2 is fully broken in and is an incredible addition to the system. It is a surprising experience as it is full digital amplification that does not sound like it at all and the system sounds quite amazing to me.

zephyr24069 May 05, 2019 00:43

Owner

Updates....

First bit of news....after several years of musical nirvana using the Esoteric A-02 to drive the mids and tweeters on the Legacy AERIS and later full-range for the TAD R1, with the install of my latest almost totally active Legacy speaker config, the A-02 has been relegated to driving a pair of tweeters. Arguable this sounded great but this was wasting most of the capabilities of such a fine amp so I've now sold it and will be replacing a great sounding Legacy Powerbloc 2 dual-mono stereo amp (and Powerbloc monos if Bill ever brings them out) to drive the upper frequencies on this great speaker setup!

In other news, the 10 MHz master clock is just recently returned from Cybershaft in Japan where it was converted from custom build prototype to current production version, better power supply, 102 SSC lead wiring to and from the new transformer, addition of a 3-output 50/75-ohm distribution amplifier board...all the best of Cybershaft's latest creations brought to production specs.

Test results of the overall unit are even better than before using the same OCXO OP21 level master clock assembly. This now tests out better than any other OCXO clock I've seen including the BVA!

zephyr24069 April 06, 2019 20:37

Owner

Updates....

zephyr24069 April 06, 2019 19:05

Owner

Apologies for the delay,...work has been taking much time including international travel and when I'm home I don't jump on the forums as much as I used to as I'm having so much fun listening to the new setup that I just focus on that. Decision to change speakers was a combination of life events (upcoming sale of a house, move to temporary quarters while a build is planned) and just flat out missing the Legacy sound and performance. This new setup exceeds even the bass extension and overall musical engagement of my AERIS setup and having Wavelet back in the system to compensate for room effects and remove the need to consider room treatments is a huge step up. Could not be happier!

zephyr24069 March 10, 2019 01:36

Owner

With additional time on this configuration, the addition of EdenSound TerraCone custom footers between the Legacy Calibre XD and Foundation cabinets.

These provide a very dramatic improvement in overall system articulation, image size and location of each instrument and voice as well as the total ensemble playback experience. The extra vertical spacing introducing is clearly also adding to the mix in term of soundstage overall size....I am extremely happy with these upgrades. Dan puts out some amazing value and provides extraordinary customer service!!!

zephyr24069 January 03, 2019 15:31

Owner

Updated a few photos...Happy New Year everyone!

zephyr24069 January 03, 2019 15:03

Owner

@zipost This combination is the most fun I've had listening to music (and I believe I can add the qualifier 'ever' to that),....I have run the gamut of musical styles through these and with the speakers easily going flat to 16Hz in room and not being bashful about it either this is clearly the most impactful, fast, musical bass I've ever experienced. The way Bill took this active system to its fullest extreme with the dual ICE amps instead of 1, passive radiator and dual woofers instead 1 in the Calibre XD and then letting them focus all focus on only mid-bass on up delegating all bass and sub-bass duties to the Foundation cabinets is a brilliant stroke. The have better bass extension, speed and accuracy than my prior setups with Focus SE (passive bi-amped) and AERIS with Xilica 4080 and later Wavelet. I spent 2 solid days 12+ hours playing nothing but various big pipe organ works, most of which are on very full-range dynamic SACDs from JAV and AEOLUS and I have to say I've never heard pipe organ out of any of my systems like this. Big symphonic, rock, techno/electronica, hard rock and taiko drumming are all at all-time highs in terms of playback experience too. One other thing,....playing 24 hours per day during break in and having music on 12+ hours since, it never ceases to amaze me on listenable and non-fatiguing these and all Bill's larger speakers are. I could not do this with other speakers I've heard, that much is certain.

Imaging breadth, depth, wrap-around aspects, ambiance, etc...are all impressing me very much. We all have those 'special' discs that show off these things (Roger Waters Amused to Death SACD and many others)...I've not heard these discs played back quite like this before and am very happy with the result.

These are frankly fantastic to me an a LOT of FUN!!! To me, this is what this 'sport' is about,....the sheer enjoyment of listening to all the different types of music. All this without thinking about what a reasonable price point all-in these are available for...that as they say is bonus in all of this and Legacy delivers tremendous enjoyment and ROI.

Happy New Year!

zephyr24069 December 30, 2018 22:52

Owner

Merry Christmas fellow audio-nuts!!!

zephyr24069 December 25, 2018 13:44

Owner

Using EdenSound TerraCone custom footers between the Legacy Calibre XD and Foundation cabinets. These provide a very noticeable improvement in overall system articulation, image size and location of each instrument and voice. The extra one inch or more of vertical spacing introducing is clearly also adding to the mix in term of soundstage overall size....very happy with these upgrades. Dan puts out some amazing value and customer service!

zephyr24069 December 24, 2018 02:09

Owner

Thank you Lak!

Doug: Thank you! This also works if you can afford something much bigger but just don't want the hassle of a 300-400+ lb speaker!

zephyr24069 December 10, 2018 17:41

Owner

I've been off the forums for quite a few days not because I had nothing to write but because I've been having so much fun listening while working and when not working and had a new set of speakers burning in 24 hours per day that have really been quite amazing and very musical from the first couple of hours.

I listened to a lot of speakers and researched many others this year. In late summer I went to Atlanta where Bill Dudleston was showing off his SOTA Reference speaker ($80K) the "VALOR" which utilizes many unique and revolutionary design concepts and drivers that are all his proprietary designs together with Wavelet, which can be used as a DAC (Apodizing), Linestage Preamp and DSP-ed full roomEQ. Furthermore, VALOR makes use of Bill's new "stereo unfold" technology which you have to hear to believe what it does for soundstaging and imaging. This was Sunday afternoon meeting of the Atlanta Audio & Video Society which is a great group if you are ever able to attend one of their events.

Also in the room was the Legacy Caliber "XD" model. As an aside, the Caliber productions models come in 2 flavors;

- Caliber: passive speaker, required a full range stereo or monoblocks to drive it. Tweeter, midrange and small woofer,....specs are amazing and the speaker is incredibly well built, not your typical 20-30lb monitor speaker...

- Caliber XD: hybrid with a woofer, midrange and tweeter and Dudleston's own ICE amplifier design, can be run fully active where the speaker is driven by its own internal amp or hybrid where the bass and mid-bass are run active and an external amp drives the midrange and tweeter. This mode utilizes Wavelet for RoomEQ and other benefits...

A note on the room...old Marriott with possibly THE worst sounding and hard to contend with meeting rooms and ballrooms you have ever heard. Power was terrible as well.

The VALOR being what they are were outstanding and with Wavelet and Stereo Unfold conquered that terribly room and filled with great audiophile-grade sound, imaging and yet were very musical.

External amplification was a surprise....$1800 Legacy Powerbloc2, a new stereo amp from Dudleston with his standalone ICE amplifier designs running a full-range 2-channel output. The amp was so damned good it caused me to reevaluate briefly all $20K and above amp designs I had ever made. Being objective however, there is a practical limit with any digital amp design where things get a bit grainy when you push them to concert hall levels but it was a long time before any flaw in that great cost-effective amp showed.

The surprise for everyone in the room including me beyond the comments the 2-channel Powerbloc2 amps elicited was when Bill switched over to the CaliberXD run fully active, no external amp using a CD player and/or computer audio streamed into the Wavelet. Bear in mind the Caliber XDs and a Wavelet weigh in at under $10K...

The Caliber XDs I believe are about 62 lbs each; picking them up you found a very formidable speaker whose weight and density was a surprise. You could break a knuckle tapping these if you were not careful.

As an aside, Caliber XDs carry on the history of fatigue-free, very musical speakers that Bill at Legacy is known for designing...

Everyone in the room was amazed at how the CaliberXDs run with internal amplification only and mid-level cables and CD player positively filled the room with impressive sound, accurate imaging and musical playback. Engaging/Disengaging Wavelet's RoomEQ on the fly for both CaliberXD and VALOR made that device's amazing effects readily apparent as to how it battled and won over the room's problems. When all was said and done, more than half of the 50+ people in attendance were making comments as to how they were astounded at what this stand-mounted speaker and Wavelet could do at a price that few other high-end vendors would ever offer.

Anyone needing a cost-effective speaker that while not inexpensive does not break the bank that is capable and delivers MUCH more than you would think should not buy anything before they hear or try the CaliberXD with Wavelet.

Long-story short, after this experience in Atlanta, I traveled to Legacy twice to hear the VALOR, a custom version of Whisper XDS which I initially favored and planned to order and the Caliber XD. Over a period of 4 solid days (2 trips) I put all these through their paces after trip #1, was excited that Whisper XDS with Wavelet and some custom mods would be my next speaker.

Trip#2 changed that as I thought about the size/stature of Whisper XDS the needs for dual large subs if I wanted full range back (I did) and how they did not fit into my original plans.

For 2-3 weeks, I communicated back and forth with Bill and posed a question as to how we could utilize Caliber XD, extend it and couple it with subs to make a modular full-range separated-cabinet speaker that would allow for monitor-only, monitor-plus-bass/sub cabinets and ability to also add a 3rd decoupled cabinet just for mid-bass and midrange specialization in the future.

His answer was 'Caliber XD Custom' for me which adds the following to Caliber XD;

- an extra woofer so 2 in place of the default 1, 1 each side-firing left and 1 right

- a large passive radiator on top

- DUAL 750w ICE amps internally

- DUAL XLR inputs

- a redesigned back plate with dual speaker binding posts to the tweeter section only

- a pair of Legacy FOUNDATION subs (to my hearing these rival REL G25 MK2s and JL Audio 212 and Gotham); 1000W of ICE amplification in each FOUNDATION

- new Wavelet algorithm sets to allow Wavelet to drive every driver set individually and treat the woofers in the Calibers as woofers or mid-woofers depending upon whether the Caliber XD "Custom" was utilized by itself or in unison with the FOUNDATIONs

- all 8 outputs on the Wavelet live to accomplish this, only one external amp needed to drive the tweeter section

- new Wavelet algorithms for 'steering' taken from Bill's wealth of experience in the pro-audio world together with Wavelet's Time and Frequency RoomEQ algorithms...

- ability to add Stereo Unfold algos to this setup based upon lessons learned from VALOR design, to be added in the future...

- the customized Calibers weigh in at about 80lbs each...

- result: 96db efficient speaker setup, 16Hz-30kHz FLAT in-room with bass on pipe organ and synth popping out well below that; I HAVE to get our REW and measure...

- Using thick sorbothane pucks for now to perch and isolate the Calibers on top of the foundations and an Adona shelf under each FOUNDATION to couple this stack to the floor and yet allow the massive passive radiator on bottom of each bass cabinet the room to do its job and breath freely...

*This was one huge experiment and there were many refinements on the overall design, driver complement, algorithms, etc...but in the end the last week has been nothing short of eye-opening. I believe that I have much more 'speaker' here than even I thought I would have at the beginning. I've been off the boards as this is one of the most fun and musical speaker setups that I've ever had, bar none and I keep finding myself getting off the computer and back in front of an around the speakers!

They have about 265 hours on them as of now; imaging, soundstaging, musical playback and realism are all up there with the best I've heard. Friends have already stopped by including one well-known power cable, interconnect and speaker cable designer who lives about an hour from here; all have been amazed at the overall result of this chance taken that resulted in one hell of a unique set of speakers.

More later and pictures below..when you consider that price of the setup retail even with the custom adds to the Caliber XDs, the Wavelet extra work and 16-layer black pearl piano-grade finish all-in is only $24K for the entire setup, it's even more amazing.

zephyr24069 December 09, 2018 23:59

Owner

I've just about had it with silence in the room after the R1s departed to a good friend's place, powered down components and speaker cables protruding from amps with nothing to connect to! Apologies for the bastardized quote but it's a favorite and resistance is futile....

By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes. Then rang the bells both loud and deep. Audio obsession is not dead nor doth it sleep!

Fun for a Saturday morning...could not resist! :-)

Only have to wait 3 more weeks....Aargh!

zephyr24069 October 27, 2018 11:15

Owner

Long overdue update to the system components list above and a couple of new photos; some older photos still remain showing Isotek equipment which has now moved up and is replaced with SHUNYATA TRITON v3 and TYPHON QR which deliver a musical playback experience unlike anything I've heard from this system yet!

zephyr24069 August 21, 2018 21:41

Owner

scar972: Thank you very much and apologies for a delayed reply; I've been off the forum for quite a while due to other things that have pulled time and lessened audio (hate it when that happens!).

zephyr24069 June 01, 2018 23:17

Owner

Arnie,...thank you and happy listening!!!

zephyr24069 March 12, 2018 14:30

Owner

Thank you for the feedback and great advice! I would also that no matter how good the respective choices of amps in a 'hybrid' config that temporal coherence would always suffer to some degree simply because the amps have different sonic characteristics as you point out and circuit paths, etc...when one gets down to the minute details. This is probably a config I would just to hear it but would not standardize on in the final analysis! It's great to hear from you; it's been a while since we chatted,...hope all is well with you!

zephyr24069 March 05, 2018 13:50

Owner

Giving some serious thought to taking in some SOTA tube gear (amplifiers & preamplifier) in and try an entirely new presentation to feed the R1s...could be very interesting and I'm getting psyched up just at the thought of it :-) !!!

As the R1s can be bi-amped, another variant I would try for which I've received advice in the past is great tubes on the top-end and great solid state for the bass....interested in anyone's thoughts on both pure-tube and the mixed amp scenario.

zephyr24069 February 19, 2018 14:08

Owner

Revised system photos and some descriptions modified or added....

zephyr24069 January 18, 2018 14:44

Owner

Last night: tore down system and re-assembled moving main racks holding most of the components and cables in the system further away from speakers into an alcove on the left hand side of the room....the trip to the 'audiophile gym' is complete (for now!).....

zephyr24069 November 11, 2017 16:31

Owner

Thank you very much for your feedback and compliments!

The system does make wonderful music that is the most real and compelling in any room/system I have ever had.

50-ohm where it is called for on a 10 mHz master-clocking interface for Esoteric devices with that capability does make a real difference in the accuracy of size of an instrument, a voice, an ensemble, etc...there is payback as well when using a proper 50-ohm cable over a 75 on a 50-ohm circuit in terms of tonal correctness and realistic portrayal of the music.

Thank you again!

zephyr24069 November 11, 2017 01:30

Owner

Updated several photos....

zephyr24069 October 18, 2017 17:15

Owner

System updated....now have added 3 Shunyata Research SIGMA "CLOCK-50" 2-meter Reference clock cables with TAP Polarizers. Like the SIGMA AES/EBU cables these have easily met and surpassed any other cable's prior level of performance, musicality and excellence!!!

zephyr24069 October 14, 2017 13:43

Owner

Changes all burnt-in and sounding amazing;

- the 4 Elrod MASTERS SERIES Statement Gold Powercords noted below; these are the new foundation for my entire system...cannot say enough great things!

- an amazing custom-build collaboration with Cybershaft Ltd Premium Limited grade 10 mHz clock with copper base plate internally, custom power supply, transformer and power supply isolation, chassis grounding connection and some other nifty internal features...

- two (2) Shunyata Research E-SIGMA AES/EBU cables to replace my Kubala-Sosna ELATION AES/EBU cables...these are beyond even the best I've ever had in my system for many years...

- a second Esoteric/Mexcel 8N-A2000 BNC:BNC 50-ohm clock cable a friend was able to authenticate for me in Japan and ship over to replace a 75-ohm BNC:BNC WW PS7 cable; I now run in 10 mHz clocking using the Esoteric D-02's "CLOCK THRU" functionality...

zephyr24069 August 05, 2017 00:01

Owner

Updated component list with the following recent changes;

- added 2 more Elrod MASTERS SERIES Statement Gold Power cords some time ago for a total of 4 now with amazing results

- added the best birthday present ever, a set of 4 Elrod MASTERS SERIES Statement Gold jumpers; these jumpers are 'crazy good' and have not only added even more articulation and impact to sub-bass and bass, they have also gone a long way to improve the already impressive midrange and treble response of the speaker

- addition (in 1 week) of a custom-design project with Cybershaft Ltd for a Premium Limited grade OP21 OCXO 10 mHz clock with copper base plate internally, custom power supply, chassis grounding connection and some other nifty internal features...

- expected delivery in 2 weeks of a Shunyata Research E-SIGMA AES/EBU cables to replace my Kubala-Sosna ELATION AES/EBU cables

- noting a second Esoteric/Mexcel 8N-A2000 BNC:BNC 50-ohm clock cable a friend was able to authenticate for me in Japan and ship over to replace a 75-ohm BNC:BNC WW PS7 cable; I can now run full 10 mHz clocking using the Esoteric D-02's "CLOCK THRU" functionality...

zephyr24069 July 19, 2017 10:28

Owner

Humble apologies for the delay in replying,...I've been off the boards for a number of days due to work and life priorities outside of audio.

I've had Legacy-based setups for over 11 years including many speakers in a hybrid 7.1 HT + 2-ch setup for many years and from 2009 forward, pure 2-ch.

The AERIS with Wavelet and custom-built HDPlex power supply was a formidable setup that I still miss on a daily basis. It was not a question of

something I found in another speaker that prompted me to switch but rather a multi-year WAF battle that was finally lost that caused me to have to leave the AERIS active setup behind due to number of boxes overall, plus all the additional cables, boxes and racks that are necessary to connect such a setup being too much to deal with from a WAF point of view.

That stated, I knew things might go that way for a few months so I listened to alot of high-end speakers at the same point as the R1 Mk2s as well as below and above. Many of them were truly great speakers but always lacked 1 or more critical things that I was used to and "spoiled by" with the AERIS setup.

I can be more specific on both sides of the issue in private message or by phone and am happy to do so; I will not however give specifics here so as to not appear to be bashing other speaker manufacturers or alternatively, over-applauding others.

Let's just say that out of speakers costing less up to a point of costing 2x more than the TAD R1s at retail, either the speakers were lacking one or more key things or they were simply behemoth in size, scale and weight or had a truly bulky or unorthodox appearance and would not have been accepted here. There were other SOTA speakers I passed on as well that would have fit the mold for WAF-friendly aesthetics but there are those among them that I've never quite liked the sound profile of or that it was obvious were overly high-priced versus what they delivered, or those that come from 'fan-boy favorite' manufacturers that are replaced too often with new models and don't hold their value...

In short, the TAD R1s were the only ones I ran across that met all the criteria while giving true full range frequency playback with incredible musicality, presence, rock-solid imaging and other needed attributes. They are also incredibly well built and 'tried and true' designs. Bear in mind, I was not ever happy to realize that I had to spend over 3x the price of the AERIS + Wavelet to even get into a league of speakers that could truly surpass them. The auditory image of the price:value ratio and the sound of the Legacy AERIS will be with me in memory for years to come even as I enjoy what I have to have today. They are IMHO, of the top 3 or 5 absolute best values and sounds in high-end audio today and for the foreseeable future. I had to go way up the scale to come close or surpass them in ALL the ways they excel.

Ping me on private message; as I said, I'm happy to jump on the phone or converse through messaging to help answer your specific questions.

zephyr24069 June 02, 2017 14:16

Owner

Apologies for the delay in responding!

Yes they do...that is for certain! WAF hates the large cords and cables and the prior system with its great active speakers, extra boxes and extra cables even more! Also hates all the big boxes and racks, in short, pretty much hates all of it. No peace on this subject I'm afraid,...

zephyr24069 April 21, 2017 10:19

Owner

Davey,..it's great to hear from you! I still have the Hallographs neatly tucked away in our attic and wrapped. Unfortunately I've had to move away from room-tuning devices due to WAF and other factors. The Hallographs are still to me a great device and one I'd like to see work themselves back into the room at some point soon. They helped me tame some very problematic spaces over the years and I look forward to getting them back in my room whenever I am able :-) !!!

zephyr24069 April 14, 2017 10:45

Owner

A few new photos added on the Elrod Master Series powercords and a bit of cleanup of the listing...also removed Elrod Statement Gold powercords that are going up on Agon now that the 4 Master Series are here.

zephyr24069 March 22, 2017 11:12

Owner

For several years, Elrod utilized Oyaide M1F1 15-amp and 20-amp terminations on all Statement Gold (and I think Statement Silver) powercords. About 2 years ago if memory serves, he started utilizing Furutech FI-48s; they seemed to give me (on 2 Statement Silver cords I had built for my Legacy AERIS bass amp inputs) a smoother presentation that still had extremely fast attack with incredible tonality. All my Statement Golds were built with the Oyaide M1F1 terminations.....I enjoyed what they brought to the table very much but I noticed that when I had one Statement Silver reterminated a couple months ago with Furutech FI-50 "NCF" plugs, the overall performance of the Statement Silver came very close to my Statement Golds with the M1F1 connectors. The FI-50 NCFs are the best connectors I've ever heard; further proof of that has come in Elrod's recent adoption of the FI-50 NCF as his standard connector for all Masters Series Statement Gold cords. They are definitely 'audio jewlery' as well; they have a fit and finish that is the best I've ever seen.

I cannot speak to how good/well the Bocchino power connectors are not ever having owned Elrod Diamond power cords. I've seen them in-person and heard the Diamonds with the Bocchinos briefly but not long enough to form a complete impression. I do however have Elrod Interconnects and speaker cables that make use of Bocchino terminations and find them to be of incomparable quality both with respect to overall build quality and sound.

Hope this helps...

zephyr24069 March 19, 2017 15:08

Owner

Well, it's official; I formally added a 10 ft. version of the Master Series Statement Gold to my A-02 amp and a 9 foot version between my C-02 pre-amp and Isotek EVO3 SIGMAS power conditioner. The 7 foot version has been turned in (it was on loan for testing) and is on its way to another demo situation.

All I can say is that after a lot of listening with the first cord and now with 2 in the system, and those being the only changes in quite some time since the TAD R1s arrived, I am left with only one thought; "HOW CAN A POWER CORD DO THAT?!?!?!". I don't want to step over any lines here, nor am an employee, dealer or what some people affectionately refer to as a "plant" or a "shill". I simply am extremely impressed with Elrod's cables over the years and had thought I was hearing everything my system is capable of. In short, I was wrong and there is a sound emerging from the system that is a step above (and then some) what I was already considering amazing. I'll keep my comments to this level; it's been a very good and musically enjoyable week!

zephyr24069 March 18, 2017 15:56

Owner

Thank you! Of all the brands I've owned or tried at various mid-high levels, they are the best and more true to the source cables I've heard. I have not compared with NBS but have heard a few over the years at this level or higher (price) and frankly what I have leaves them all in the dust. The room is alive with music, the energy behind it and the everything simply sounds like they are playing right there in front of me. There may be better or equal out there but frankly at this level and higher (again point of entry), I've not heard it. They are well worth the size, weight, cabling layout planning and cost...and then some! The best part is, the Statement Silver "entry" level cables leave 98% (rough estimate) of all I've heard in 30 years wallowing in the mud. From there on up,....well, I am may nuts but it sounds great here!

zephyr24069 March 08, 2017 10:51

Owner

Adding Elrod Masters Series Statement Gold power cords in the next 2-3 weeks as they are ready to upgrade 3 Statement Gold next-gen and one Statement Silver power cords. Based upon what I heard from testing 1 of these on my amp, the 4 places I'll be deploying them once mine are built should be very impressive sonically when it's all said and done!

zephyr24069 March 01, 2017 12:26

Owner

Thank you cymbop....it was alot of fun; your system next and a deep dive into new MQA adventures!!! So much time, so much great music :-) !!!

zephyr24069 February 22, 2017 10:39

Owner

Pictures updated showing Stillpoint Ultra5 footers attached to R1s....enjoy!

zephyr24069 February 21, 2017 10:45

Owner

LAK...it's great to hear from you and thank you very much for the kind words! You are welcome here anytime with a bit of advance planning (travel and scheduling around work for both of us). It would be a great session; we should figure out how to make it work!

zephyr24069 February 20, 2017 15:51

Owner

Thank you mountainzen, very much appreciated!

Tried something new and extremely surprising today;

ELROD new MASTER SERIES Statement Gold,a true surprise; changes the game considerably

Installed ONE of these in the system today on my Esoteric A-02 power amp to replace a 2 year old Elrod Statement Gold next-gen cable as a test.

Cable was cooked for 6 days and then rounded out by David on his system to a full 2 weeks of burn-in.

To say the design changes are major would be a huge understatement....double the width of the widest ribbons used to date and double the count over what was already his latest generation design for Statement Gold; that's all that can be said. Furutech's latest FI-50 NCF connectors are utilized as they were determined to be superior to anything else available.

Within the first 12 hours the phrase (which I've only used once before for any cable) "component-level upgrade" came to mind. It's as if my amp had been further upgraded along with my entire system. This is no exaggeration and I'm surprised at the uplift from a single power cord from the level I already was experiencing. All frequency bands experienced significant changes for the better, an already 3-dimensional wrap-around soundstage on most recordings became an even more dense, musical energy-filled 3D wrap-around deeply immersive soundstage on EVERY recording, every note, voice, etc...became even more real and life-like, inner detail increased on most material (already have tons of inner detail thanks to the TAD R1s), musical energy increased in the room and the listener is pulled even deeper into the recording. I found myself rewinding or starting tracks over many times as the surprise factor with this change was extremely high.

I had talked to a couple of guys who had gone this route picking up this brand new cable family in the last month; they were saying that the Master Series Golds eclipsed the Diamond and MBX2 families of cables and simply blew the doors off the latest Statement Gold generation. That all sounded hard to believe (particularly the part about eclipsing MBX2 and Diamond/X2; after 12 hours, I do believe it to be true...

Tough part about the Elrod line is the website has not been updated in a long, long time as more time is spent on design and build than on marketing. My advice is to reach out to me or others using these cables and get some candid conversations going. Also, you can easily reach David Elrod via phone / email; he's a wealth of knowledge and will discuss cables, music, system design/synergy with any serious audio-nut.

zephyr24069 February 19, 2017 05:05

Owner

FYI all...Elrod cabling for power, analog interconnect and speaker cables have been a core part of this system for a long time now. Elrod has just finished his "Master Series" design upgrades for his Statement Silver, Statement Gold and Diamond power cords, interconnects and speaker cables. I am told by a couple of people that are running them already that they are "beyond words" great in their sonic and musical performance and they are yet another huge improvement in what is possible with SOTA audio cables...

Oh well...an audio-nuts job (of obsessing) is never done; I will be trying some of these in the months to come!

zephyr24069 January 28, 2017 12:35

Owner

Thank you Shadorne,...it's great to hear from you! The AERIS with Wavelet had the kind of super-tight, fast, accurate and musical bass you are talking about. This big difference is the extra sub-bass extension down to 16Hz nearly flat in my room; definitely was not over-emphasized.

In short, any adjustment time was very short....

The R1s are strutting their stuff now and continuing to open up more and more every couple days of burn-in. I get what you are saying about the super-tight, articulate and accurate pro-style bass but believe me, I've got extension and depth here to admittedly to a slightly higher roll-off point. For me though the measure of any speaker is not just bass but the total spectrum. The R1s have amazing mids and highs with gorgeous transient rendering in all frequency bands, wonderful spatial presentation, air around instruments, ultra-precise imaging and sound-staging in all 3 dimensions. Hearing notes, instruments, voices and overall ensembles in amazing and new ways. The sheer mass and density of the cabinets on these is very impressive; seems to contribute further to the rock-solid and accurate rendition of every single note. Extremely happy here with every aspect of how the system is and sounds,....

Sheffield Drum Disc, Japanese Taiko Drumming (Ondekoza), Kim Hok-Man, all the classics have come out to play. What great ride these are going to be!

zephyr24069 January 26, 2017 00:19

Owner

Hello! I'd love to see pics of your system and a manifest put up on Agon; with all Elrod cabling and the CR-1s, I'm imagining the component/other list makes for one hell of a system. Great to meet you!

The short answer after several weeks of owning the R1s is 'yes, definitely but don't use the Stillpoints spikes with the Ultra5 footers'; more on that later. The supplied TAD footers (small spikes are all that came with mine straight from Japan) are adequate but frankly I'd just put the R1s flat on the floor even carpet if the TAD spikes were the only option; their sheer weight couples them well enough. The Ultra5s are an expense to be certain, need 3 of them per R1 but they tighten up the bass even more and are well worth it.

To understand where I'm coming from, through a recent and difficult decision process, I had to part with my Legacy AERIS+Wavelet+HDPlex setup. The performance of that speaker full range and particularly in the bass/sub-bass and mid-bass plus its mid-range was world class and I miss it already. The drivers on the AERIS were the fastest, most accurate and capable of prodigious bass output that I've ever heard coupled with amazing attack, decay, bass transients, etc...Add to that the fact that the R1s roll off below 21-22Hz in my room (so the AERIS go much! deeper) and you'll know why I miss the AERIS already. (Yes, I'm saying the AERIS are and compete with world-class speakers well above their price class and I miss them even compared to the R1s which I love the sound of...)

Back to the R1s...they are an amazing speaker that impress me in so many ways and I'm glad to have found them over all others I heard and considered; if I had to leave the active-speaker AERIS+Wavelet (+more boxes/gear & cables to drive them active), I am VERY glad that it was for the R1s!

The 2 bass drivers in the R1s that cover the range are incredibly fast and accurate and more importantly, extremely musical. The concentric midrange+tweeter multi-driver is the ONLY Beryllium driver I've ever heard that I like the sound of; it's amazing and deserves a page of comments on its own. The large port on the bottom front of the speaker is horn-shaped and as you can imagine, delivers all the musical benefits of that being incorporated in the design. The cabinet design and mass of the R1s is incredibly tight, solid and yields an ultra-solid imaging and sound-staging performance. All that stated, with the R1s simply mass-coupled by their wide bases to the carpet, there is a bit less attack and accurate decay than I would like.

The Ultra5 footers (no spikes) improve the speaker's performance in my room substantially, bass became much more tight, accurate and tuneful, imaging and soundstage overall became a bit more accurate and more tight and overall I simply like how they sound better. I took them off for a day or two but suffice it to say, they are back on and will remain there.

Regarding the Stillpoint spikes (that I also bought but won't be able to utilize) that are of amazing girth and quality. My advice is not to use them with the R1s. I found that given the small length of the smaller-diameter part of the coupling bolt that goes into the Ultra5 versus the length and diameter of the bolt that goes into the bottom of the R1, that when I used the spikes as well, the forces place on the coupling when tilting or moving the speakers given their 330lb weight and how massive the spikes are/how they "bite" into carpet and sub-floor resulted in a slight bend/partial buckling of the overall assembly where it joins the bottom of the R1. Stillpoints should make a longer threaded input on the Ultra5s and lengthen that part of the coupling bolt plus make it a larger diameter. This is a lot easier to explain via phone versus try to write about the inherent design/usage problem. Drop me a message, I'll be happy to talk about this or anything else audio-related in more detail!

Please note that since you own the CR-1s, the Ultra5s plus spikes may work fine for you but the Ultra5s are sure to be a great choice regardless.

To reiterate,....Ultra5s, definitely yes, get them but simply use the Ultra5s directly on carpet, area rug or floor with the R1s, don't use the spikes.

zephyr24069 January 15, 2017 12:19

Owner

DaveyF: Thank you very much for your feedback. I have a quite a ways to go to full burn in but things are looking/sounding very promising. I will always miss how the AERIS/full setup sounded. The R1s are excellent but it points out just well the AERIS with Wavelet properly cabled out will keep pace with and exceeds speakers in much higher 'strata'. Happy New Year! Hope all is well with you!

zephyr24069 January 03, 2017 17:34

Owner

Thank you very much Denovovox; it was a great session and alot of wonderful and interesting music and conversation was shared and appreciated! Let's have another session soon! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you!

zephyr24069 December 20, 2016 10:23

Owner

To Audiogon and WBForum user 16HzLover: Thank you for a great listening session here yesterday and for banding together with Rick and Bill to make the trip from NC to enjoy a lot of music and great conversation! I enjoyed it very much and I look forward to future sessions here and in NC!!!

zephyr24069 December 19, 2016 11:58

Owner

Open shout-out to Audiogon user DENOVOVOX for a great listening session this past Saturday; I appreciated the change share alot of great music and conversation as well as to demo the AERIS and the system very much!

zephyr24069 December 19, 2016 11:55

Owner

Thank you very much my friend,...hope life is treating you well! We have to get you back here for one more AERIS-based session before they head to another home! Call me :-) !

zephyr24069 December 19, 2016 11:53

Owner

In the way of an update, due to the complexity of a wonderful active speaker systems (2 supporting components, 4 additional power cables, 2 pairs of additional interconnects, etc...) I have listed my speakers for sale. Practical considerations, potential international relo for future and WAF are complicating life so I will have to reconsider my choice of full-range speaker and try to find a passive speaker that equals the AERIS. Some lucky new owner will be very happy with them and I will be very unhappy when they leave. Any feedback and recommendations will be appreciated...

zephyr24069 December 14, 2016 11:04

Owner

Thank you CDRC!!! Hope you are doing well!

zephyr24069 November 07, 2016 21:43

Owner

HRS Damping Plates are in place for about a week and while I was adding 1 at at time and doing A/B along the way, I was amazed just how much these tweaks added to a system sound I already loved. Tightened up imaging and rendition of every single note....they are a great surprise in how much they bring!

zephyr24069 November 01, 2016 12:51

Owner

Thanks to a good friend, was able to find the last brand new 8N-A2000 50-ohm version of this cable reportedly for sale on the globe. This was tailor made and is no longer produced, for 50-ohm master clocking purposes. It's been in about a week between my Cybershaft Rb+OCXO dual 10 Mhz master clock and my Esoteric D-02 and the results, over and above an already impressive custom build 50-ohm cable from a great manufacturer are subtle but important and immediately obvious, better pacing and imaging, tonality, etc....going to enjoy having found this very hard to find cable!

zephyr24069 October 23, 2016 13:50

Owner

Will be giving HRS Dampening Plates a try (DPX versions) for my components in the next 2 weeks. In talking with many other Esoteric and DCS owners it seems that regardless of how good a rack setup one has, that these HRS plates are reported to help tighten up imaging, etc...with high-end digital setups. I'm happy where I am however if there is some vibration airborne or otherwise in the setup, these could help deal with that. I'll let you all know what I find in my listening tests.....

zephyr24069 October 08, 2016 13:43

Owner

No changes....loving the musical rendition capabilities of the system as it stands and going back through alot of older favorites that I've not heard in a while. This is why we do this :-) !!!

zephyr24069 September 29, 2016 12:05

Owner

Thank you XTA,...very much appreciated! It produces music very well and fatigue-free both in the listening position and around the room and house in general. I'm enjoying it very much! Since looking at your system a few days ago and commenting, I've been doing some reading on ATC's various offerings and found a good friend actually picked up a pair of the SCM40a model a short while ago and loves them. The ATCs you have are beautiful....hold onto them!

zephyr24069 July 09, 2016 13:53

Owner

No major updates here,...everything broken in deeply and the music, soundstage, etc...are all making me very happy. Switching between many different types of music and enjoying it very much! For many weeks, I've left the Cybershaft dual 10Mhz master clock connected on its OCX output module; the lower phase noise in that circuit and the inherently better match to what the vast majority of music seems to be recorded/clocked with in the first place have left me a very natural and musical-sounding presentation that I like very much! Happy 4th of July everyone!

zephyr24069 July 03, 2016 22:45

Owner

Thank you Jazz....very much appreciated; the cabling and amp plus the new Cybershaft 10Mhz master clock have done wonders cumulatively for the the system,..very happy hear as of late! Hope all is well with you and your system!

zephyr24069 May 16, 2016 11:57

Owner

Updated a couple of photos and some details...

zephyr24069 April 22, 2016 12:28

Owner

The Statement Gold speaker cables are nicely broken in now and have opened up even more than when they first arrived fresh off more than a week of cable-cooker time. What they add to the system is beyond mere words and puts a smile on my face every time I hit play in terms of how much better things sound. I was extremely happy with the Signature Golds for all those years and they've already found a new lucky home but I could only have guessed at how much better the Statements are in all major categories.......very happy result to say the least!

zephyr24069 April 15, 2016 20:01

Owner

In the way of an update, I have the Cybershaft Rb+OCXO 'dual master clock' offering up and running as of late and I am extremely impressed by the build quality of the unit and the customer service provided by Hasegawa-san at Cybershaft. He goes to great lengths to ensure all questions are answered and provides unit-specific test data for ALL testing of the unit including Allen Deviation, reference measurement devices used, etc....It's the most specific and open backing of what a unit truly does after it is built I have ever seen. The price point of the unit is a fraction of the other offerings in the space (that provide 10 Mhz atomic-precision master clocking) and frankly when I saw the unit, it's quality, appearance and sheer weight coupled with the exceptional customer service, I don't fee that I am missing out on a single thing compared to the offerings from Stanford Research, Isochrome/Antelope or others. I currently have this connected as follows;

Cybershaft Rb-output=>10Mhz=>Esoteric D02 (WRD CLK IN, 10Mhz)=>Esoteric P02 (MCLK frequency from the D02).

Put another way, the Cybershaft clock is providing an atomic-precision baseline for the clocking circuit of the D02.

All the specs and other technical aspects aside, there was an immediate improvement in the natural/liquid nature of the sound when I enabled the 10Mhz input signal from the Cybershaft to drive the WRD CLK Input of the D02 over the D02 alone. All was extremely good before but I find a touch more precision in image size and placement (of instruments and voices) and an even more musical presentation overall of the system as a whole.

I am very happy to have stumbled on the company out of Japan that as it turns out produces alot of these and similar devices for broadcast and recording audio and video firms and audiophile users in Asia. My hat is off to Hasegawa-san and his team for building on hell of a component at a fair price and topping that with some of the best customer service and attention to detail I have ever seen!

zephyr24069 April 15, 2016 19:59

Owner

Updating several photos today.....have a great listening day everyone!

zephyr24069 March 30, 2016 12:17

Owner

We will definitely be putting something together soon...next few weeks with work are complicated but late April should see the Rb+OCXO clock and speaker cables 100% broken in so that is what I'll target. Also was contacted by another local long-time audiophile (ejk2003) so we have some more audio connections locally in the making! Great to hear from you cymbop; hope all is well with you!

zephyr24069 March 29, 2016 07:12

Owner

Added Cybershaft RB & OCXO dual master clock to the system mainfest and desciptions. Read and enjoy!

zephyr24069 March 27, 2016 13:35

Owner

Note: prior post should read "..speaker cables...." on the first line, not "...speakers...".

zephyr24069 March 25, 2016 20:01

Owner

The Elrod Statement Gold "plus" speakers are in the system for a few days now with over a week on a cable cooker plus some consistent break in time following that; I am immediately impressed by the dramatic increase in liquidity and realistic nature of the image as well as individual instruments and voices. In addition, soundstage depth and density has increased even more than it already was.....in short, they exceeded my already high expectations. They also point back to just how good the Sig Golds have been all these years but suffice it to say the system has evolved in ways that I could only dream of years of ago and overall the enjoyment factor of the system as a whole took a HUGE jump this week.

***The cherry on top as they say is that the 4 drivers on the top of the Legacy AERIS are now sounding as if they truly were a single driver. I could not have guessed that this would happen to this extext. Also given the interactions with Wavelet and AERIS, the overall performace of all 7 drivers in the speaker have also achieved this single driver-like phenomenon.***

zephyr24069 March 25, 2016 13:39

Owner

I've done a lot more research in this regard and have had a number of conversations with SRS as well as other options. The lead-time on the PERF10 or FS725 is longer than I would like to wait personally and my RFQs out to LibertyTest, AllTest and other certified/used equipment vendors for a PERF10 or FS725 have come up dry at the present time. I stumbled on Cybershaft Japan as an option via listings on various sites. It seems they make OCXO, Rudidium-only and OCXO+Rb clock units (single port each standard) for high-end audio, video and studio purposes at an extremely aggressive price point (the Rb-only unit is about $1300-$1500 USD depending upon JPY->USD conversion rate). They are rated for 100-120V and 50-60Hz use which makes them perfect for US or Japanese usage. The Rb-only unit has a single FIFTY (50)-ohm BNC clock output; they supply all their test and calibration results with each unit plus a 1 year unconditional warranty. I have taken the plunge and ordered one as of yesterday; this should be a very nice and affordable test. I plan to use this 10Mhz reference clock sync to drive my Esoteric D-02's clocking baseline while leaving the D-02 to sync itself and the P-02 transport together at 22.5792 Mhz. This should surpass the already great performance of the D-02 clock circuit by a clear margin. The Cybershaft unit seems to have a good internal PSU but I'm not discounting the potential move to another HDPlex power supply with a retrofit in the future to get an even better bespoke PSU to drive the Rb-clock. I will report back my findings between mid-late April after I receive it and break it in. They state specific compatibility with Esoteric D-02, D-03, D01, G-01, G-02, G-03x, G-02s, K-01, K-01X, K-03 and K-03X. More detail is available here (use Google Chrome and let it translate the page);

www dot cybershaft dot jp

zephyr24069 March 25, 2016 13:34

Owner

Photo of new Elrod Statement Gold Custom Version built speaker cables added above. These are "over the top" over-built versions of Elrod's existing Statement Gold speaker cable design taken even further. The photo shows the cables immediately after build and before they will spend many days on a cable cooker prior to being placed into the system. More photos once cables arrive and are installed in the system....

zephyr24069 March 13, 2016 10:59

Owner

...and thank you or the invitation, I am there regularly with family ties to the country and will definitely see you on one of my next 2 trips. Happy Listening (!) in the mean-time! As I mentioned in my other message on your system thread, you are welcome here as well; just let me know if you can make it and we can plan ahead for some great food (un buen asado con malbec!) and wonderful music!

zephyr24069 March 10, 2016 19:41

Owner

Thank you Dante...I look forward to talking more as time goes on about your fantastic and very large collection of great music.

Here is the performance live at the Vatican by Patricia Sosa of Misa Criollo in 2014 that I was referring to. It holds it own against the 1960s standard-setting recording and is very enjoyable overall;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BgINEDGA7E

Also,...if you do not have a copy of this recording, it is spectacular, was recorded by a master recording technician and audiophile in an old church/monastery about 150 km from Bs.As.;

http://www.marecordings.com/main/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=41&products_id=70

The follow-up is also amazing;

http://www.marecordings.com/main/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=41&products_id=78

zephyr24069 March 10, 2016 19:37

Owner

The Edge NL12.1 was with me for a little over 7 years and the Maker NL14+ about 1.5 years. They are truly special amps, both to remain listed here, and all capable of incredible dynamic range, sound-staging and full frequency range incredible performance....I will miss them each in many ways. With the move to the Esoteric MSW A-02 however, I have found all of those attributes coupled with even more presence, sound-stage depth and density AND the first solid-state amp that to my ears and those I've talked to, that truly bridges the gap with the best of tube sound and the best of solid state. What an amazing amp!!! The system now has everything I was looking for and more,..whomever states "Esoteric gear is good but analytical, etc..." has not heard this gear coupled with these cables and connects and speakers!

zephyr24069 March 05, 2016 12:26

Owner

Updated system title to fit my mood and working on updating photos....have a great weekend everyone!

zephyr24069 March 05, 2016 11:34

Owner

Adding a Revelation Audio Labs custom-built CryoSilver Reference DC Umbilical cord to maximize the benefits of the HDPlex Linear Regulated Power Supply that has been driving the Legacy/Boehmer WAVELET Processor with great results...I am extremely happy with this combination and the results!

zephyr24069 February 16, 2016 15:47

Owner

Updated...added a custom-built 100 Watt. XLR 5-pin output linear regulated power supply to provide ultra-clean high quality DC power for the Legacy Audio Wavelet processor. Immediately upon powering up the Wavelet with this power supply, the sound stage became larger and much more refined than it already was unbelievably (it was great to begin with!). Larry and the folks at HDPlex have really outdone themselves. The unit weighs alot more than one would suspect from its size; the build quality if off the charts. This unit obviously has a serious, and well-shielded transformer and high-quality parts inside....VERY IMPRESSED!!!

zephyr24069 January 31, 2016 15:29

Owner

Some updated pictures after Wavelet/etc moved into the system....still need a good photographer and a day of system cleanup. Enjoying the music has taken priority though and I'll get to these other things some day.

***If anyone knows of a person/company that makes high-quality stained-wood still cable supports that look better than the ceramic insulators, etc...I've had to use over the years, I'd be grateful knowing details. What i have works well for cable support but (to me) is not aesthetically pleasing.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

zephyr24069 December 12, 2015 11:06

Owner

Thank you jon2020....in the first day after some initial setup, measurement and calibration (auto with the Wavelet) acclimation, and having used and demo'ed a number of DSP-based solutions for room correction for 2-channel and home theater over the years, I'd like to say that the Wavelet is the slickest and most impressive solution to this I've ever seen in my limited experience. The way it goes to work sending all the measurements taken locally (via mic/tests) over the internet up to Bohmer's servers and the (something like) 8 passes per channel that are reported in the server log window to come up with the most optimal 'target function' for the speaker is fun to watch and amazing in what happens once the algorithms and data are sent back down from the server(s) to the Wavelet and stored persistently.

Hitting play after the Wavelet is updated produces a not-subtle, in your face better experience in improved sound from the first minute. Timing, frequency accuracy, bass response and accuracy, everything simply got much better.

After that, on top of the server-generated algos and curves that are implemented you can if you choose, layer in 'Contour' algos for various soundstage treatments (expansion, etc...); while I've not yet played with that, I'm looking forward to testing it out but frankly, with what I'm hearing now, I'll leave things be....

Haven't even scratched the surface of the Wavelet as I'm only using it as an active crossover and roomEQ. It's got a fully functioning apodizing filter-enabled DAC and a pre-amp section that I will test at least after the device is broken in. All this at a very reasonable price-point....

The only change I'll make is that the AC-DC power conversion is handled out-of-chassis (a cool design approach to keep Wavelet as pure as possible internally), but, by a (good quality) 'power block' with 5-pin XLR DC input and normal wall cord on the other. I will be picking up a separate linear-regulated power supply so that I can get back to using my power cords and not have the power block in the system. This is personal preference only, from what I can hear, if you never did this, you'd still have great sound.

Very impressed thus far!

zephyr24069 December 11, 2015 10:38

Owner

The Legacy Audio/Bohmer WAVELET with firmware and algorithmic support for AERIS has arrived! Numerous system changes are incorporated above. The Wavelet is a fully functional DAC+Preamp+Active Crossover+RoomEQ/DSP; I will initially use it and break it in as an Active Crossover & RoomEQ/DSP however after it has been run in for those purposes I'll begin a new cycle of experimentation to determine if what it provides as a Preamp and possibly DAC are impressive in my system.

Cabling changes include removal of the VH Audio Symmetry long-run cables I've utilized for years and replacing them with a Gen1 set of Elrod Statement Gold XLRs (the Gen1s excel at hyper-accurate, super-fast and deep bass), reallocation of other Elrod XLRs to different points in the system together with the addition of a Gen3 Statement Gold XLR pair for the critical link between my D-02 DAC and C-02 Preamp.

Once all is broken in, this will not only be a rearrangement but a huge upgrade overall.....

zephyr24069 December 09, 2015 11:26

Owner

Shutters....not 'shudders'; apologies for various errors below :-)

zephyr24069 December 04, 2015 11:32

Owner

Believe it or not the louvered blinds being adjusted at different angles helps mitigate the reflections (to some degree) and I've got very tight imaging though I'd love to be able to hang something over the window shudders only when listening but that's not happened yet. The historic train photos (shot by my father at his work when he was alive) have high-quality plexi versus typical framing/art glass; that helps produce a scatter effect versus when I had 'art glass' in the frames. The Xilica helps me compensate for the general weirdness of the shape of the room on one side and overall balance the rest. There is a new Legacy processor/DSP on the way (Wavelet) that sends samples over the internet to a super-analysis computer at the designers' shop in Europe and sends back precise curves that one could only hope to strive for through excessive trial and error. I am hoping that will take me further. All in all though, I've got great, organic, highly music and nicely imaged sound happening despite some obstacles.

Unfortunately due to WAF, I cannot fully treat this room the way I'd like to. I'm attempting to discuss more decorative options like those from Vicoustics but that conversation is likely to take some more time :-)

Thanks for the compliments and comments; it's take a LONG time to get where I want to be. I had to make a decision a long time ago where I would focus and like the HT/hybrid system that is no longer here to achieve the most out of 2-channel, I had to decide against ever pursuing an analog rig again (no matter how much I love the sound) as trying to max out 2 different worlds (digital/SACD/CD) and analog is just not practical (at least for me) and I'd have to compromise on both. Then there's the audiophile scourge of having to have all the best multiple/latest pressings, etc., etc. etc....

The dual grounding rod with a Cadweld kit properly applied is a huge plus in the system along with all the other things I've done to achieve clean power.

Member cdrc is someone I'm grateful to for really pushing the idea of the grounding rod refinements, Cadweld kit, etc....

Thanks again and Happy Listening!!!

zephyr24069 December 04, 2015 03:22

Owner

John: Thank you very much for taking a look and for your comments; I am very happy with how it renders music and the total lack of ear fatigue even after 6-8+ hours. For various reasons (WAF) I cannot apply room treatments but all in all it makes the experience of listening to quality music extremely enjoyable......have a great day!

I just had a look at your system,...it looks very good to me as well starting with the Silverlines and the Ayon gear. Happy Listening!

zephyr24069 November 29, 2015 12:54

Owner

Bombaywalla/Cymbop: Thank you very much for a great listening session over here. I appreciated sharing great new and old music together very much. Looking forward to the next iteration!

zephyr24069 October 17, 2015 13:57

Owner

System edited: Updated system description,....definitely enjoying this iteration of the system very much. I think after almost 2 years with the Aeris that it is time to properly and fully dial them into the room with the DSP beyond the OEM curves included with the processor.

zephyr24069 August 24, 2015 11:46

Owner

It definitely is.....all around improvements in every aspect of playback. Have a great day Lak!

zephyr24069 August 05, 2015 11:44

Owner

Substantially broken in Isotek Elite cable, power umbilical, EVO3 TITAN and EVO3 SIGMAS units with pc extenders from David Elrod are bringing about a great change in my system for the better every category. I'll write more when I have some time on this or applicable euipment thread but suffice it to say the steps to this configuration and the destination itself are all well worth it!!! People talk about "a window on the sound" or "a window on the performance...."; this generation of power conditioning and gear in my system overall give me that as I've not experienced it before; the glass is super-pure and clear so to speak! Hearing many things and nuances for the first time!

zephyr24069 August 03, 2015 16:55

Owner

System edited: Added 2 custom-built (Elrod) power cable extenders; over built to Statement Silver spec plus high-speed silver over copper additional wires for clarity and speed. Terminated by Furutech FI48s to match the power cord they will extend and a Furutech GTX-D (Rhodium) duplex outlet....this will allow me to connect my Legacy AERIS bass section amplifiers completely to the high output duplexs on the EVO3 SIGMAS as existing long-run Statement Silver power cords needed 1.5m additional length to both we connected to via the SIGMAS.....

zephyr24069 July 20, 2015 11:53

Owner

Wow....a couple of day in and the way in which tying the Titan and Sigmas together results in extremely black backgrounds and and super-transparent soundstage presentation (like an extremely perfect pane of glass for an image) is impressive....great gear and beautifully designed kit to boot. Early experiences are very positive, inner detail, soundstage, transparency, full frequency response, dynamics, all are better than I could have hoped for even with very little break-in at this point (about 100 hours). These units clearly need more and will get it but they perform extremely well fresh, OOTB!

zephyr24069 July 18, 2015 22:37

Owner

System edited: Updated system pics, including pics of theIsotek EVO3 Titan and Sigmas power conditioners....

zephyr24069 July 17, 2015 03:14

Owner

System edited: Isotek Systems EVO3 SIGMAS and TITAN added to system tied together but an Isotek ELITE C19=>Neutrik custom power cord to help ensure the SIGMAS see the same high current ability and power conditioning produced by the EVO3 TITAN. All components then see an absolutely identical ground plane as well. EVO3 TITAN tied into the wall socket via an Isotek ELITE 20-amp cable. Will attempt various combinations on available cables I have to find the best cord to power the TITAN as well as the other components in the system. New pictures and comments on these units are forthcoming. The Bybee v3 was/is an outstanding unit; it definitely will be missed. I do feel that given what I've learned about the TITAN and SIGMAS and their purpose-built nature that the demands of the system will be well-served by this combination of Isotek products.

zephyr24069 July 10, 2015 21:12

Owner

Definitely....enjoying it very much!

zephyr24069 July 06, 2015 18:53

Owner

Lak: after 2-plus months with the new dual grounding rods, ground-plane work, meter head/box, etc..and Cadweld kit applied I can vouch for the fact that it makes a BIG difference overall and the level of detail and depth of ultra-black backgrounds is extremely impressive to me. Well worth all the extra effort and time,....a great idea courtesy of another Audiogon member cited in the system listing above!

zephyr24069 July 06, 2015 10:29

Owner

System edited: Updated power and grounding-related topic items and descriptions, cleaned up overall listing, removed Maker Audio amp build-photos... Contemplating Isotek EVO3 Sigmas and Titan install and coupling....any thoughts are welcome!

zephyr24069 July 06, 2015 10:25

Owner

Will do Lak...I think I already hear a bit quieter backgrounds overall. It was definitely worth the time and work to do so!

zephyr24069 May 12, 2015 08:14

Owner

System edited: Installed the following recently and upgraded the single rod-based house ground with the following; - New Meter Box with fresh contacts, screws and all parts - Dual Solid Copper 10ft ground rods separated by 8 feet (exceeds code) - Solid copper #4 (exceeds code) wire from meter base in continuous loop through to box grounding rods - Cadweld Kit Applied for permanent and non-clamped bond (clamps loosen over time and corrode) Many thanks to Agon user cdrc for all of his insight and advice on this key topic!!!

zephyr24069 May 09, 2015 13:13

Owner

Lak: Thank you very much...great to hear from you again and thanks for the comments. My frustration with photos is that i can never get the lighting in the room right and the poor man's tweaking I do in iPhoto/other tools never looks like the real thing; I probably need someone with the right fill-flash stands, etc...to come over and take some good photos. I'm glad they look better than I thought...home team fears on quality of results I guess !

I'm still giving a good amount of thought to your comments and experience using isolation transformers on your setup; as good (read 'decent') as the power is here, my foremost desire save the ability to dig an entirely new 2nd service line to the house with separate 10' ground spike and well-bonded ground (see Cdrc member's system post) which is not possible given long established backyard, fencing and lack of WAF for such things not to mention cost, would be to use i-transformer(s) to give me a pristine power signature coming into the sub-panel and put well done/bonded ground spike into the house; the Environmental Potential WF Correct unit is a great step in the direction of cleaned-up power but it probably does not come close to what a full i-transformer can do......more thoughts on that later.

As far as listening over here, yes definitely you/others are always welcome with a bit of advance planning. I love to share all sorts of music.....drop me a note via in-mail and I'll get you a phone number so we can talk more specifically...

Have a great day!!!

zephyr24069 April 24, 2015 10:30

Owner

System edited: System pictures updated now that Esoteric Master Soundworks Preamp and Maker Audio NL14 Stereo Amp are at home in the system. I'm not a great photographer, a pro would do much better; think I'll find one to take better photos all around. All that aside, the latest swaps into the system over the past few months have really raised the game of realistic music reproduction here. The system sounds like the best of tube gear combined with the best of solid state and top-level SACD and CD playback from the Esoteric gear. Very happy and impressed here....

zephyr24069 April 22, 2015 19:27

Owner

Exchange in the works thanks to a great dealer in CT; ping me for details...

C-03 Preamp that's served me very well for many years is on its way out, and a used/broken-in Esoteric Master Soundworks C-02 Preamp is expected this coming week......more later.

zephyr24069 April 19, 2015 11:29

Owner

Agreed....it crossed 500 recently and sounds magical but there's a ways to go to get to 1000; the P02/D02 are past that point now and they've really opened up and hit their stride. Thank you!

zephyr24069 April 18, 2015 22:06

Owner

System edited: Updated and corrected some descriptions....

zephyr24069 April 17, 2015 23:35

Owner

The NL14 crosses 350 hours today.....extremely happy with the texture, liquidity, depth and musicality of the entire frequency spectrum. I've had a couple guys over that know my system well and what this amp is capable of has taken all by surprise in terms of what a jump it is over an already great amp that preceded it. The soundstage is much more dense in all dimensions and the room is filled with very realistic music you can almost touch.....it also sounds like a great tube amp while still keeping all the best attributes of the punch and definition of great SS.....extremely impressed and happy with this move!

zephyr24069 April 08, 2015 13:12

Owner

You are very welcome..and thank you very much as well! . A friend of mine from GA. is big on Chario speakers as well; they are a fine brand and you must be very happy! Six pairs owned according to your system,..I can relate to finding a brand that one likes the sound of and sticking with it too!. I've not heard the Constellations but will have to remedy that someday soon. Enjoy the Music!

zephyr24069 April 06, 2015 00:59

Owner

Sam: Great to hear from you! I could not agree more...massed strings in incredibly 'dense' passages at both low and more full dynamic levels are a definite measure of how a system is performing (IMHO). Vaughn-Williams, "Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis..." is a case in point for a massed string piece as are countless examples from the "big" classical composers (when a system performs well, this last piece should make the hair on back of neck stand up as they say...). Full-on ensemble performance with a large orchestra (including percussion, brass, woodwinds, etc...for "big" symphonies as well as those that throw in vocal solos and chorus ensembles (various Mahler, Beethoven, Orff, Wagner, Verde, various other opera, etc...) are also true measures of system performance. And there there's great pipe organ :-) , another personal favorite over the years to truly put a system through its paces. I love all types of music; but for pushing a system to its limit and truly seeing where the gaps are, these types of material are where it's at...IMHO

zephyr24069 April 04, 2015 11:05

Owner

Threw a lot of big classical on demanding playback levels at the NL14 yesterday and today. At only 250 hours or so, this amp is opening my eyes further to the changes it brings. It has taken everything I've thrown at it in stride and rewards with very musical sounds, great imaging and overall and very impressive experience. Don't have time to write more but "HOLY SH%^& What an Amp!" comes to mind no matter whether it's rendering subtle violin, piano, sax flute or other delicate passages or is in full-on assault mode for any of the most demanding material I've thrown at it. Tom Maker has done it again and even better than the prior NL12.x and Sig One generations!

zephyr24069 April 02, 2015 20:03

Owner

System edited: Recently moved to a Kubala-Sosna EMOTION 1meter BNC:BNC 75-ohm clocking cable from the EXPRESSION level of KS. I expected some level of improvement however what happened took me by surprise this past week in terms of the sheer amount of additional air and naturalness of the instrumental notes and voices emanating from my system and the increase in accuracy of the sound stage. Admittedly, this is one of those ".2%" improvements we audiophiles make but the difference was very noticeable ever since this up-level on a single clock cable!!!

zephyr24069 April 02, 2015 09:08

Owner

Forgot to mention what's been spinning in the last hour;

VEGAS, The Crystal Method
LEGION of BOOM, The Crystal Method

Outstanding!

zephyr24069 March 26, 2015 22:59

Owner

Had some of the big guns out yesterday+today as the Maker NL14 crosses 200 hours of break-in with amazing results...cannot wait to hear what this amp does after 500 hours or so. A very varied program of demanding break-in material;

Widor Symphony 5 and 6, Cavaille-Coll Organ, Saint-Ouen (van Oosten)
Widor Symphony 5 and 6, Cavaille-Coll Organ, Saint-Suplice (Roth)
WIdor Mass, Cavaille-Coll Organ, Saint-Suplice (Roth)
Four Great Toccatas&Fugues, Four Antiphonal Organs, Frieburg Cathedral (Power-Biggs)

21 Spices, Trilok Gurtu & NDR Big Band

Fujiyama, Ondekoza, Gold CD
Kyoten Douchi, Ondekoza, K2HD
Doutou Banri, Ondekoza, K2HD HQMastering
Legend, Odekoza 20-bit K2
Super Trio, FIM Music UDC Ultimate Disc

Fagen, Morph The Cat

Tathagatha, He Xun Tian
Sister Drum, Dadawa
Seven Days, Dadawa

TOUCH, YELLO (their best album to-date IMHO)
AIRBORNE, Dean Peer

Miscellaneous PHUTUREPRIMATIVE and ZeroOne tracks...
Miscellaneous Porcupine Tree tracks across several albums

THE ROAD HOME, Jordan Rudess

Various favorite Mahler #1, #2 and Shostakovich #5, #8, #10 tracks

Various Jazz tracks of Venus Hyper-magnum 24/192s and SACDs
Various Jazz tracks of FIM/LIM UDCs....

Extremely impressed....!!! More to come!

zephyr24069 March 26, 2015 22:56

Owner

Roxy/Doug: Thank you very much for your comments! I've clarified the item containing the terminal plate I had built for this speaker. It is not the stock terminal plate. I'm running this speaker in full active mode and using only 2 channels of outboard amplification (option #1 below); 10-binding post, 5, rows,
6-way terminal plate allows me the flexibility to externally jumper the AERIS using
SOTA jumpers that match my speaker cables in the following configurations;

1. stock using 2 sets of jumpers to replace the factory-supplied metal jumpers and
utilize the dual ICE amps in each AERIS tower to power the bass and sub-bass drivers
as designed and shipped "stock with my amp to drive the mid-bass, mid-range and
upper frequency drivers of the AERIS. This is full active mode for this speaker. Jumpers
go between rows 2 and 3 and rows 4 and 5 respectively

2. utilize 1 set of jumpers with 2 pairs of speaker cables and 4 separate channels
of amplification to override the internal ICE amps and power both the bass and
sub-bass drivers with one external stereo amp (or mono blocks) coupled with
my existing stereo amp to drive the mid-bass, mid-range and upper frequency
drivers of the AERIS. Jumpers go between rows 3 and 4 only

3. utilize no jumpers with 3 pairs of speaker cables and 6 separate channels of
amplification to override the internal ICE amps and power both the bass and
sub-bass drivers with separate stereo amps or mono blocks then also using
my existing stereo amp to drive the mid-bass, mid-range and upper frequency
drivers of the AERIS. No jumpers utilized, connect speaker cables pairs to
rows 1, 3 and 4 independently

Layout is as follows (numbered from top-left moving left to right and down);

Row1: Binding posts 1-2 wired to Upper section
Row2: Binding posts 3-4 wired to Top ICE AMP
Row3: Binding posts 5-6 wired to Top 12 subs
Row4: Binding post 7-8 wired to Bottom 12 Subs
Row5: Binding post 9-10 wired to Bottom ICE AMP

The configuration possibilities with this customer terminal plate is an audio nuts dream in terms of future upgrade and experimentation potential!!!

***Never feed a mid+high-level signal into Rows 2 or 5!!!

zephyr24069 March 26, 2015 10:24

Owner

System edited: Clarified and added more detail under several items including 10-post, multi-way terminal plate item listing.....

zephyr24069 March 26, 2015 10:18

Owner

System edited: Manifest of components/cables updated....

zephyr24069 March 24, 2015 16:32

Owner

Thank you! I do not know where you are located Aball but if you happen to be anywhere near the northwest part of SC in the first 2 weeks of April, I am going to have some downtime and can host multi-hour listening sessions many of those days so consider the invitation open! Send me an in-mail on Audiogon if interested....

The Signature SEs are a fantastic speaker for 2-ch and for HT. I once heard a system paired with the right subs where the sigs were used all around for multi-ch listening and HT and it was extremely impressive. They work very well for situations also where room size and volume or 'other factors' (WAF or budget for example) don't allow for going with a bigger speaker.

You've got one hell of a setup...it would be great to have a listen someday,...let me know where you are located and perhaps we can hook up.

You will be very happy with the Electrocompaniet AW60; it's a great amp from a manufacturer that impresses me with their natural and very liquid presentation of music. They pack one hell of a lot of performance in for a killer price as well!

The NL14 is an improvement over an amp I already loved (the Edge 12.1) and had for many years without thought of another until recently. My 12.1 went back to Maker Audio in trade and is being refurbed and will be on the market soon; that piece was the 2007 Spring review sample that I bought immediately after it was returned by the reviewer.

I'm always up for taking audio, great music selections, etc...drop me a note and we can hook up soon.....thanks again!

zephyr24069 March 23, 2015 09:50

Owner

After only a day, I can say (again) that Maker has definitely raised the bar with the organic and musical attributes that the NL14 brings 'cold' right out of the box. I cannot wait to hear what this amp is capable of with 500-1000 hours on it. Soundstage density, depth and refinement have taken a big leap forward over and above the already impressive NL12.1. Packing the NL12.1 was like saying goodbye to an old and trusted friend however, based upon what i heard within 15 minutes of powering up the NL14, I will miss the NL12.1 but will not be looking back....NL14, first in North America from what I'm told. More people should hear this amp!!!

zephyr24069 March 14, 2015 12:40

Owner

Thanks Lak....very much appreciated! The new Maker Amps I'm told can come sheathed in exotic wood veneers, leather, CARBON FIBER, various high-end hot auto paint colors and other options.

zephyr24069 March 12, 2015 17:00

Owner

System edited: Maker Audio NL14 Stereo arrived and put into system...Fresh out of the box, this amp impresses with its sonics, dynamic range, musical nuances conveyed and breadth and depth of soundstage...once broken in, it should be amazing!!! Cannot believe an amp sounds this good in its 1st hour. Tom Maker has raised the bar substantially over and above the already impressive Edge NL products of years past with his new Maker Audio line!

zephyr24069 March 12, 2015 14:49

Owner

System edited: Added build pictures of a Maker Audio NL14 Stereo Amp with balanced input transformers and meticulously hand-matched caps, transistors, etc...on the bench at Maker Audio as of yesterday.....

zephyr24069 March 07, 2015 11:57

Owner

Thanks! Probably within 2-3 weeks. I've had well over 7 1/2, almost 8 years with this NL 12.1 and on some levels will be very sorry to see it go but what's coming in its place represents countless refinements on its design and I am very excited!

zephyr24069 February 23, 2015 17:13

Owner

Hell Yeah!!! After a healthy amount of break-in of course!!! Ah...the task of an audio-nut is never finished :-) !!!

zephyr24069 February 21, 2015 13:51

Owner

Maker Audio NL14 Stereo amp with hand-wound balanced transformer option build is underway.....:-)

After aLOT of research into potential tube amp matches, and finding some very good ones, I received from great input from a very ethical high-volume distributor of great tube amps who knows my speakers and equipment very well and seeing it matched with both tube and high-end SS amplification; the conclusion was high-end SS was the best route to go to drive these speakers to be at their best over the full range of music that I listen to.

Given that it came down to a short list of contenders; knowing Edge and Maker Audio sonics and quality well, I taking the upgrade path into the NL14 tweaked out for my setup.....

More fun on the horizon!

zephyr24069 February 20, 2015 10:28

Owner

Thank you Ozy...very much appreciated!

zephyr24069 February 18, 2015 16:58

Owner

Cymbop: You are very welcome...it was a great time and lots of great music was shared!!! Looking forward to doing it again in both places soon!!!

zephyr24069 February 06, 2015 18:59

Owner

Azjake: Thank you,...I was aware of that and have had several interchanges with Onkyo international who is handling sales, support and repair (along with TAP Electronics N.America) for Esoteric. They are still selling quite a few units across the line including the Grandioso 01 and 02 levels. Having owned an 03 combo since late 2006 and 2 other gens of Esoteric gear before, it seems reasonable to expect a good 7-10 years at least out of my current 02 level transport and DAC; that stated, given what is likely to happen in the industry and the fact that there are precious few manufacturers in the SOTA digital transport/DAC market with that kind of unit stability and long-term build quality (truly IMHO) I can live with this for the foreseeable future.

Thanks for the heads-up and the opinion; I'm not sure why having the Esoteric Audio thread still going is not such a good thing but let me know what you are thinking here.

What's your digital/other front-end? Let me know,....I love this hobby and am always looking at new gear and potential choices...thanks!

zephyr24069 February 06, 2015 11:20

Owner

System edited: Initial tests indicate the B.M.C PureUSB1 USB A->B cable is one hell of a great sounding USB cable for high-end computer->DAC feeds....

zephyr24069 February 03, 2015 16:30

Owner

Will update photos and system manifest soon....

All: Thank you for the help and advice offline and on other threads from the K series and the 02; I've done a LOT of testing of permutations and track by track compare over the last couple of days with the various filter and up-conversion & protocol options for PCM on the P02/D02 and this is where I think I'll stay for a while as it gives;

- the biggest, densest and deepest soundstage
- best imaging in all 3 dimensions for the 'crucible recordings' I've used for testing for years
- the deepest, most accurate bass without over-bloom/muddiness
- the most pleasing and roundest notes, best transients and overall musical experience thus far

Caveat: I've stayed away from PCM->DSD on purpose for now. Will test that later after I burn in pure DSD for SACD once the PCM circuits hit 500 hours each. Then we're on to more testing and then even more with the high-throughput USB options; should be done about this time next year at 500 hours per permutation !

Here's the config;

- up-conversion PCM->4Fs (176.4) on P-02, 48-bit ESL3 seems to be the silver bullet!

- digital filter set to On (P-02), resulted in slightly tighter bass, thought FIR on the transport and anything on the DAC would redundant but it really seems to do wonders so filter on P-02 is back on!

- P-02 set to output ESL3 protocol, 24-bit 352.8 is impressive but 48-bit ESL3 176.4 is the best thus far (note above,...skipping test of DSD for now). D-02 set to receive ELS3/176.4 so 48-bit input on dual AES

- up sampling set to 176.4 (D-02), ELS3 *dual XLR inputs", this is 48bit output!!!

- digital filter set to S_DLY2 (D-02), no ringing, all the right elements as highlighted in my opening passage, amazing filter, at least on this system

- clock frequency 22.5792MHz master clock output from D-02, P-02 clocked to D-02, still don't miss the G-03 given clocking improvements in D-02. 22.5792Mhz sounds better than 176.4, the 512x over 44.1 seems to really round things out nicely with the right combination of precision and musicality...

That's all for now, let the burn-in continue :-) !!!

zephyr24069 January 21, 2015 19:28

Owner

P03U, D03 and G03X are posted as a system package today on the site, I am hoping to find them a good home; I'll miss them in some ways as they were wonderful all those years for HT+2ch and later only 2ch but the latest 02 generation is making me very happy and impressed.....

zephyr24069 January 18, 2015 17:23

Owner

That sounds like a great set of experiments and alot of fun to get right. I always found that having my sub in the same plane as my main speakers was critical as well, particularly with respect to blending in for 2-channel listening. As far as 'another set of ears...' if I lived nearby I'd be right over to help! I'm definitely looking forward to seeing your room updates when they are complete and you have a chance to post them. One thing on deep (sub-bass); it is omni-directional and many frequencies have such a long wavelength that they don't materialize fully for 10, 20 or more feet from the subwoofer cabinet, depending upon the size of the room, technically, some extremely low frequencies don't fully materialize the wave until you reach another room entirely due to their wavelength; for blending especially I found that not only was testing from the primary listening position essential, but i also found it useful to go the furthest point in the room, and also elsewhere in the house (if there is good flow down a hallway or stair case for example) to listen for coherency/blending of deep bass into the overall audio output. With the REL B1 and an older pair of Mirage OM200s many years ago, I also found varying the phase of the sub from 0 degrees to other values depending upon the room at the time, also helped me achieve a very tight and well-blended and 'disappeared' subwoofer setup....

zephyr24069 January 18, 2015 11:19

Owner

CSM: great to hear more from you as always. I look forward to seeing the new pics and reading more about how your systems turns out with the changes and upgrades. I head the LSA Statement Plus Integrated back at AXPONA 2011; it is a fine piece of gear and a ton of musicality and power for a very reasonable amount of money. It made an impression at the time that I still remember vividly. I also used the Velodyne SMS-1 back in the day of a hybrid 7.1 HT and 2-ch Audio setup that I had. The SMS-1 is a fantastic unit for refining LFE for HT in my experience,...how do you find it for 2-ch audio? I did not have need of it at the time as I used the high-pass input path from my amps to the Neutrik input of my REL B1 Britannia plus the blending/filtering/level controls on the B1 to tweak my bass and sub-bass crossover points and blending when I had the REL and the Velodyne units in the system...

zephyr24069 January 17, 2015 14:13

Owner

CSMGolf: Great to hear from you and thank you! How is your system doing, still have the Summit's? Have a great weekend!

zephyr24069 January 16, 2015 13:05

Owner

I've done additional testing both with and without the G-03x and the master clock in the D-02 yields at least equal results to having the extra OCXO standalone clock (G-03X) in the system. I currently have pulled the G-03X out of the circuit and will now post it with the P-03U and D-03 when I offer them.

I've got the D-02 set to output a master word clock out at 512x44.1 (22.5792 MHz) to allow the full range of upconversion rates and DSD playback with the P-02 slaved to the D-02's master clock. Great results,...here is the current config;

- up-conversion PCM->4Fs (176.4) on P-02
- digital filter set to On (P-02)
- P-02 set to output ESL3 protocol
- up sampling set to 176.4 (D-02), ELS3 *dual XLR inputs", this is 48bit output!!!
- digital filter set to FIR1 (D-02)
- clock frequency 22.5792MHz master clock output from D-02, P-02 clocked to D-02

zephyr24069 January 15, 2015 19:43

Owner

I will miss my tried and trueP-03U and D-03; they will be posted soon.

All I can say is "WOW!" in terms of the improvements that the new 02 combo brings to the table; they extract so much more from anything I've thrown at them and provide a massive sound stage with incredible depth and great imaging while still providing a very organic and musical presentation. In addition, the frequency range and particularly deep bass resolution and extension of the new 02 combo is truly "off the charts!"

I've experimented with various settings in the first 24 hours and thus far I am tending towards burning in the following combination first;

- up-conversion PCM->4Fs (176.4) on P-02
- digital filter set to On (P-02)
- P-02 set to output ESL3 protocol
- up sampling set to 176.4 (D-02), ELS3 *dual XLR inputs"
- digital filter set to FIR1 (D-02)
- clock frequency 176.4 with G-03x driving (will try D-02, no G-03x at some point)

I've read several reviewer/other posts and have tried S_DLY1 (apodizing) filter1 as well as NoFilter on the D02 and NoFilter on the P02. Thus far, the above seems to be the best overall settings for my ears and how the units sound now but we'll see how things burn it and how it turns out overall. I will also try up-converting to both PCM via Dual XLR at 352.8 and PCM->DSD up-conversion at some point though initial tests of each seemed to indicate the above list is where I am going to start.

There are so many options with how these can be configured (have not even gone near the USB input yet!) that I look forward to a long and happy set of experiments and alot of listening with these units.

As for that seller of the first D02, a legal demand letter has been issued late last week, and the hunt will continue with the appropriate outside agencies if the DL is not responded to per its terms. If anyone's been through anything like this and can provide feedback/additional ideas please let me know through 1:1 private in-mail. Thank you!

zephyr24069 January 14, 2015 17:56

Owner

System edited: Will update photos soon: Esoteric P-02 and D-02 up and running in the system....also, have rearranged power cords. Elrod Statement Silver power cords bring power from the Bybee v3 to the 1000W of amplification in each of my Legacy AERIS towers for bass and sub-bass with great results. Other cords used for the Esoteric G-03X and XILICA DSP "for now" until the eventual config can be ordered and put in place...

zephyr24069 January 13, 2015 20:52

Owner

System edited: D-02 is here and up and running!!! Absolutely amazing upgrade in every category when paired with the new P-02 compared to the D-03 that I loved the sound of for 7 1/2 years. What an amazing tour de force of audio engineering by Esoteric!!!

zephyr24069 January 13, 2015 17:59

Owner

The P-02 continues to amaze even hooked up to my old D-03 in terms of what it pulls off recordings I know extremely well. I cannot wait to hear what the D-03 sounds like. I wound up picking up another one that should be here in a few days from a great seller out in CA. Details for anyone who wants them but this guys straight up and great to deal with. I still have the "dirtbag to chase" for my original D-02 or to get some other 'resolution' but I'll be able to complete the setup of the P-02 with its brother DAC very soon....more when updates occur. Have a great day everyone!

zephyr24069 January 10, 2015 13:47

Owner

Lak...thank you very much on both accounts! I am hopeful to have a D-02 here to match the P-02 very soon even if I wind up pursuing the original seller legally and grabbing another D-02 in the interim. It will be to his detriment not to make things right as we are definitely over the civil court and misdemeanor lines into much higher jeopardy space for him given all the audit trail that's been retained online and the overall levels and interstate nature of this....

It's unfortunate that there are such people on the planet...

BTW....(note to all), there has apparently been a big phishing scam in the last 24 hours that has impacted some users and IDs. I just had to have mine taken off suspend by Audiogon support and check through everything. Grateful to Support for replying and fixing things in such short order!!!

zephyr24069 January 07, 2015 21:29

Owner

System edited: After 7 1/2 great years with an Esoteric P-03U, I've upgraded to the newest SOTA Transport from Esoteric, the P-02. The level of detail retrieval coupled with increased organic and more musical sound is outstanding and quite a surprise over and above the P-03U. I am sorry to see the P-03U move out of the system; at the same time, the P-02 even in its first days paired with my existing D-03 dual mono DAC is leaps and bounds ahead of where I was just days before.... Aa a footnote, this transport upgrade is part of an upgrade that will involve a D-02 new SOTA Dual-Mono DAC from Esoteric as well however, I've been involved in the 'transaction from hell' with a very difficult, elusive, hard to communicate with seller since the first days of December and the D-02 still has not arrived with the P-02 only arriving 2 days ago after substantial additional efforts and stress on my part. This will be a hard-fought upgrade to say the least.

zephyr24069 January 07, 2015 13:05

Owner

It is...my first thought with the new house and having to live with WAF on the treatments I'd prefer to have was "what great construction on the home but the windows, etc...are gonna kill sound repro...". I was pleasantly surprised and relieved at the result. The plantation shutters not only look good throughout the house, they save my playback as well! Happy New Year everyone!

I still have my eye on Vicoustics treatments as my salvation so to speak as they are aesthetically pleasing and yet are accumulating a great reputation for what they do in-room...

zephyr24069 January 01, 2015 21:56

Owner

Lak: Thank you very much! I appreciate knowing this; that is the 2nd or 3rd time I've been referred to Xentek transformers...I may just have to give this a shot one day soon! Happy New Year!

zephyr24069 January 01, 2015 19:07

Owner

Good Morning all and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Schubert: The room has rock solid construction quality and the new house is built like a tank overall, extra thick drywall, narrow studding, etc....but it does have a few challenges like different shapes and profile on left-hand side versus right, etc...

I find that with the sloped back wall of the room and by varying the blinds opening gap, orientation for top versus bottom, and direction and amount of opening on each that I am able to defeat the effects of the windows and get some fine listening results. Overall I am very lucky with the sonic performance of the room overall....

zephyr24069 January 01, 2015 13:48

Owner

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to everyone! The 1st week of January could see some important changes on my front-end digital aspects of the rigs. Stay tuned!!!

zephyr24069 December 31, 2014 15:01

Owner

Pete: You can email me using the Member Lookup and then specifying my Audiogon ID. There is a "Send Message" on the left of the screen.You can also click on my ID (Zephyr24069) right below this message and on the next screen click on 'Sales Feedback'; this will take you to the same screen MemberLookup does; look for "Send Message" on the left. If you have an issue, let me know. I'll be glad to talk about the Esoteric setup or anything else!

I have 2 types of power conditioning in the system (EP and Bybee), the first is an Environmental Potentials EP2050 WaveForm Correction & Surge Suppression device; this is installed in the main house power panel right after the mains come in so the whole house if positively affected. I then have EP2750s on each circuit for my audio setup in my sub-panel; the EP2750 is a ground filter and does alot of good. The next level is a Bybee v3 unit into which I plug all my gear; it has a mix of outlet types (different metal types) for analog and digital and I've found the optimal way to connect for my specific gear. See Bybee product literature for detail on options available. Let me know of any other questions......

zephyr24069 December 08, 2014 08:11

Owner

Glenfihi: You are very welcome....the 'ride' continues! More details to follow as I think there may be changes soon.....hope you are well and enjoying your system!

zephyr24069 December 07, 2014 12:32

Owner

Thinking about making several changes to the system;

- moving from Esoteric 3-box setup to K-01 (for now) that also allows for a more sane upgrade path using the D-02 and an external clock in future but would 'today' give me the state of the art in CD and SACD playback in a single box.....moving to the new 3-box 02-based or Grand Reference stack is not in the cards...

- trading the Edge NL 12.1 for a pair of NL14+ monos from Maker Audio, also to modernize (not simplify as a new PC would be required and another amp stand would be required)

Anyone's thoughts on the above would be appreciated....

Still have to rev the powercords to the AERIS to Elrod Statement level as well as the additional interconnects needed for the XILICA proc and AERIS bass section; plans are still to match the level of Elrod cables already in the system....

BTW....the link below now collects all the various reviewer feedback links from RMAF on "V" into one location that you can click around and get to the specific articles. Some high praise appears to have been awarded from a lot of different reviewers;

www.legacyaudiolegacy-v-is-best-in-show-stunner/

Also...if you go here for AERIS, and click on the "Details" tab below the picture of the speaker mid-page, there is an updated and very long list of articles and reviews that you can jump to for AERIS;

http://www.legacyaudio.com/products/view/aeris/

If anyone is ever near Greenville SC, let me know, some serious listening awaits! Work and personal schedules are somewhat complicated but with advance planning, time can be had!

zephyr24069 October 29, 2014 12:32

Owner

This was great to read and see some great photos of the speaker;

http://theaudiotraveler.com/2014/10/14/rmaf-2014-legacy-audio-v-is-a-stunner/

zephyr24069 October 16, 2014 09:47

Owner

By "them" I mean the new Legacy "V" Statement speaker.....did anyone hear them at RMAF 2014 and have any impressions?

zephyr24069 October 14, 2014 08:52

Owner

Wondering if anyone heard them at RMAF 2014 and could share some listening impressions. The photos that are starting to pop up certainly make a profound statement as to how beautiful they are....

zephyr24069 October 13, 2014 22:28

Owner

Lak: Thank you very much....I am very pleased with the system, after many years I finally have a system that produces large scale orchestral music with a true sense of the venue and fullness and richness of the image, individual instruments as well as the overall ensemble in the softest as well as the most dynamic of passages. Same for all the other types of music that I listen to . What I have sonically, currently is what I have been striving for all these years; just a couple my power cords and 2 more sets of interconnects to complete the high-end wiring in of my AERIS (versus stock or lower-cost options I am using to fill gaps) and I'll be done (for now!)....

I am VERY impressed with the Bybee Power Purifier; much more so than in July after it arrived. While it was fully broken in (it was the unit from the 6moons review which just came out), it has settled in and broken in completely and is without a doubt the best power conditioner I've auditioned or owned at least to my ears. The system as a whole has responded extremely well to being coupled into the Bybee. The jump on day 1 was apparent but 'audiophile bliss' at a new purchase aside, several months later, I am wow'ed by what it has done for my system....it is highly recommended in my book.

I just looked at both your primary and second system; you've done some great work with system assembly and power. You appear to be utilizing isolation transformers or some other in-line device around your main and sub-panels; what brand and model are they and how do you like them?

Open to talk audio and system building anytime,....work sometimes gets in the way of my ability to field calls and email but I always catch up whenever I get a breather.

Thanks again!

zephyr24069 October 02, 2014 12:01

Owner

Thank you!

zephyr24069 September 11, 2014 08:52

Owner

System edited: Updated photos and re-organized the equipment list; I'm very happy with how the system is settling into the new room, circuit, etc....the AC9s on the AERIS towers are a definite surprise and fill a much needed gap in preparation for future upgrades to Elrod PCs that cannot happen for a while.....

zephyr24069 August 28, 2014 19:26

Owner

Everything has settled in nicely into the new room and the Bybee continues to impress on all levels. Picked up an omni-directional mic kit and pre-amp,....time to start capturing sound samples and working with Legacy to tap into the capabilities of the Xilica processor and Aeris to tune the setup to the room now that the speakers are well broken in. All that stated, even with the default curves for the Aeris as tested/built at the factory, the overall result of the Aeris and the system as currently assembled is incredibly open, music and non-fatiguing. I find myself going to some of the tougher recordings in my collection to see how much improved they sound simply after moving to the Aeris and the Bybee + new room and power setup. While this hobbie/pursuit is never-ending, I am extremely happy and grateful for where things are today and looking forward to enter "the time of tweaking :-) " the system further...

The only issue currently that pops up in cycles is lack of WAF for the rather large and prolific (number) of high-end cables and the overall bulk of the system. I'll probably be looking at alternatives as discussed on some other threads with different members for under-the-floor cable routing and passageways ultimately. Any ideas are welcome.....

zephyr24069 August 24, 2014 12:14

Owner

After several days of many hours each listening, the Bybee Stealth is AMAZING(!); I had the good fortune of picking up a fully broken in version that had been with a reviewer until the week prior on a prior reserve order. The PP is gone and won't be coming back; I am ecstatic and blown away by what the Stealth is doing for my system, better imaging, even quieter and more black backgrounds, tube-like harmonics and overall sound, increased precision coupled with naturalness of images, instruments and voices,....this unit is beyond my expectations and is without a doubt the best I've had in my system........

zephyr24069 July 13, 2014 15:06

Owner

System edited: Updated pics.....

zephyr24069 July 08, 2014 04:04

Owner

System edited: Have unpacked and organized music, movie and music video collection,...new house affords me a chance to spread out quite a bit more and most importantly, house the collection in a totally separate room. Not only is this better organizationally speaking, it is also better for in-room acoustics for the new listening room. WAF is up this month so that is always good :-), ....now just need a couple of more shelves!!!

zephyr24069 July 06, 2014 14:11

Owner

System edited: Bybee Power Stealth latest version (6moons reviewer sample) added in exchange for Purepower 2000; built for 20-amp with a mix of Furutech GTX-D Rhodium and Gold duplexes and all the latest upgrades from Mike, John, et. al! I am very excited to hear what this will do for my system!!!

zephyr24069 July 04, 2014 20:13

Owner

Thanks Bo...the power is in how musical it sounds to me, more so now than ever before. Bybee Stealth which is inbound should go a long way to improving that,...will write more once I hear it soon!

zephyr24069 July 03, 2014 03:08

Owner

System edited: NEW PICS: First attempt at setup of new system, cabling and arranging new layout. It's been a month since I heard the system and I've been in proper audiophile withdrawal....this is a very good day!!! Much work to do yet to perfect layout, cable race-ways, etc.....a music lover's job is never done!

zephyr24069 June 29, 2014 15:07

Owner

System edited: New systems pics, room description, other things coming soon!

zephyr24069 June 28, 2014 13:11

Owner

System edited: Adding new pictures of Cutler-Hammer main house panel, GE Master Load Center Sub-Panel, Environmental Potentials EP-2050 and EP-2750 units, labelled prior system panoramic photos from last house as prior system to pave way for new system under construction in new house.....stay tuned!

zephyr24069 June 28, 2014 12:40

Owner

System edited: Moved to a new home 3 weeks ago and have just installed an upgraded dedicated circuit. Main panel is Cutler-Hammer CH series with copper bus bar, sub-panel is GE Master Load Center with copper bus-bar. The sub-panel is tied to the main with massive 6/4 conduit and I'm using 10/2 Romex (for now,...other options too pricey at 16-25 dollars per foot given I needed about 150 feet of cable). I have installed an Environmental Potentials EP-2050 on the main house panel to protect everything and an EP-2750 Ground Filter on the dedicated circuit. I have heard nothing but good things about the EP units and that combined with the copper busbar panels should be a nice upgrade in the entire system's sound....very excited to hear the result once I finish unpacking! I'll still be using my Purepower 2000 on the system as a whole but may go straight into the wall for my Edge amp and amps in the Legacy Aeris towers. Ultimately I think I'll move to a Running Springs Audio Dmitri but time will tell if this move can happen.... Everyone who has tried the EP2750 and EP2050 units loves them; I'm very excited to hear what they can do.... Outlets: 5 Avatar Acoustics AFTERBURNER8s that moved with me to the new house (best outlet I've ever used....)

zephyr24069 June 25, 2014 11:55

Owner

Update....packed up the music collection this past weekend and will be packing the entire system this coming weekend; we are moving so the system will be in transit and will have a new room soon. Stay tuned for new pics and details!

Key Question: Purepower still sounds great but for various reasons, the new plus units will not be able to be part of this system (see other threads on PP). I'm looking at Chang, Running Springs plus a new dedicated subpanel and circuits as well as other units. I'm also considering max-ing out the sub-panel and considering going straight into several dedicated circuits and would be interested in recommendations on all fronts for where to take my power install and conditioning from this point forward. Thanks!

zephyr24069 May 29, 2014 12:47

Owner

System edited: Added new pics of Statement Silver PC 10-foot with Furutech FI48 connectors and Statement Silver PC 6-foot with Oyaide M1F1 conectors....outstanding PCs that have stood the test of time!

zephyr24069 March 24, 2014 16:51

Owner

I love the P-03U, D-03 and G-03x combo that I own and previously had the G-0s rubidium clock from 2006-2010 until I replaced it with the G-03x for various reasons (warmth of presentation, just enough precision vs absolute technical precision, together with a personal circumstance). I've had the P-03U/D-03 since 2006 and don't see any upgrade or change necessary even after all these years. I also have the Esoteric C-03 pre-amp which did wonders in my system and with the right cabling is performing well beyond any expectations I had...The electronic components I have today have stood the test of time like no other i've ever owned.

zephyr24069 March 16, 2014 11:15

Owner

System edited: Various cabling and layout changes to accommodate the XILICA XP4080 and Legacy AERIS....the speakers are breaking in very well and opening up beyond my expectations...

zephyr24069 March 05, 2014 11:14

Owner

Schubert: No worries..could not really tell if it was a comment or a joke or something else particularly with the comment about a the rolls royce thrown in :-) . Let's just call it a misunderstanding and forget about it! I love music and spend a lot of long weeks working for it and putting it together over the years. It plays so many different kinds of music well (my listening tastes run the gamut) and so enjoyably that it's a lot of fun seeing everything come together. Let me know what you like to listen to and I'll let you know of any killer demo material that I might have that could be fun to audition.

zephyr24069 February 18, 2014 22:14

Owner

Sorry for the delay in responding to all of this, work, work travel and family activities took alot of time over the past few weeks....

Euphonium: I agonized over putting a processor into my system for many months, not because I don't see the value of such things having enjoyed the benefits in a different way back in my chase of home theater sound quality but because I've spent a few years pursuing the best solid state digital to analog chain I could bring into my home and I did not want to introduce anything downstream from my preamp that would take things out of the analog domain. All that stated, I'm very glad I gave the Xilica processor and Aeris speaker design approach a chance as the setup allows for great bass level matching and frequency contouring that can literally tame any room. I am also very glad I did as looking at Bill's curves for the Aeris, I can see that he's really maxed out the benefit of the including the processor in the chain by what he is able to do with frequency, time and other key attributes by taking in a 2-to-4 channel input split from the preamp (duplicate left and right channel signals) into the processor. Adding the custom built Elrod Statement Gold Y-splitter to the chain really helped me hear even more. In short, I'm very happy with the choice I've made and what the Aeris and Xilica bring to the setup. I've not even scratched the service as while my speakers are still breaking in, I'm using only the "Aeris_Normal" curves supplied by Legacy and will ultimately do some real tuning and customization of the curves for my room and setup but in the meantime the out of the box result frankly is quite amazing!

Gadmanrdh: Thank you very much...that's one hell of a compliment! I never thought in this way though I have pride in what I've built up; the energy, dynamics, realism and enjoyment factors with this system are beyond what I could have expected and hoped for. I am constantly going back over tracks to hear things I've not heard in these ways before. Thank you again!

Schubert: Sorry to disappoint your somewhat ill-placed question/comment/jab but no massive house or Rolls-Royce or 'found money here'. I've worked for 30 years in an industry that I've earned a great job with a great team of people to work with and I am able to enjoy some of the benefits of the hard work and extremely long hours with my family and in my audio system. I've spent quite a few years (6 currently) rebuilding my system for 2-channel listening enjoyment and it's been a long road that I'm not done with as yet but if I had to stop now, I'd have a great sounding system to call my own.

zephyr24069 February 17, 2014 12:14

Owner

It is a wonderful addition to the system; my noise floor was further lowered and it helped me defeat any issues in my system. The one thing it won't solve is a fault in the room wiring itself so let me know if you still run into issues and I can try to help you diagnose.

zephyr24069 January 21, 2014 22:08

Owner

System edited: Additional panoramic photos taken of listening room from three angles; I will post better quality photos soon as these were extracted from a home virtual tour from our realtor and I need to get the original source material or retake then myself...

zephyr24069 January 21, 2014 11:05

Owner

Thank you very much! I've used a number of high-end outlets (Shunyata, Furutech, Oyaide, etc...all with very good results) over the years but the Afterburner8 outlets are really something special. Darren tells me he went to great lengths to find the right combinations of metals and manufacture through exhaustive testing that would bring about these attributes together with great musical presentation. I don't understand all the intricacies but the end result is exactly as promised and more.

zephyr24069 January 19, 2014 11:59

Owner

TMS...see additional system components (terminal plate and custom Ycable for the processor that I've just added to the system view here. I definitely agree that adding this terminal plate and keeping the ICE amps as supplied is the right way to go. I did not want a one-off nor did I want to be compelled to launch into 4 or 6 channels of amplification before being able to take the AERIS and begin enjoying but did want the future paths the 6-way plate affords. Bill gave me all that and more!

zephyr24069 January 17, 2014 15:12

Owner

System edited: Added new pictures of customer Y-cable, custom 6-way binding post terminal plate and other new aspects and changes to the system around the upgrade to Legacy's AERIS speaker...

zephyr24069 January 17, 2014 13:46

Owner

I have new pictures to post additionally but Agon is still looking into an issue with session management and single signon that is preventing me from getting into the virtual systems editor.

Legacy built me a version AERIS with a 6-way binding post terminal plate option. Not only does it give me the flexibility to move up to 4-channels and 6-channels of amplification in the future to externally power the bass
and sub-bass portions of this speaker, it allowed me to externally jumper these sections "now" with SOTA 5-ribbon jumpers matching my existing speaker cables from David Elrod. The difference is NOT subtle at all. The result is so good, I get to hear what the 500 watt ICE amps are truly
capable of (even with stock power cords) and frankly given how the bass and sub-bass now plummet and impact all parts of the anatomy and the
house I may not ever go to the expense of additional amplification as it would be a vanity purchase only given what I now hearing!

zephyr24069 January 16, 2014 13:17

Owner

Djkzk: I forgot to mention that one small change resulted in a heck of an increase in performance of the speaker beyond the usual use of SOTA speaker cables, etc...that being the use of matching high-quality jumpers (matching the speaker cables in question); while this is not a revolutionary idea by any means with the FocusSE (and now with my AERIS where I need 2 pair) it made one hell of a difference in the performance of the mid-bass down into the sub-bass frequencies. You should plan on trying this upgrade at the first opportunity you ahve...

zephyr24069 January 07, 2014 11:02

Owner

Enjoy the FocusSE's! Depending upon when you bought them you may be getting my set as they were traded in towards the AERIS in 2nd week of December. Regardless...you are going to enjoy them from day 1!

zephyr24069 January 06, 2014 19:37

Owner

I have new and better pics of the speakers and a custom built Elrod Statement Gold level Y-splitter (2->4) for input into my Xilica XP4080 processor; I tried to post them but it seems like there is a web session management and credential passing issues on the forums again as it keeps asking to login after I get to My Page to view or update forums and I cannot get into the system builder. As soon as the tech-team fixes this I'll be able to post the new pics.

zephyr24069 December 29, 2013 10:28

Owner

MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY HOLIDAYS to all of you; there is something about a house on Christmas with the sound of a good system that just makes life seem right somehow. Have a great holiday season everyone!!!

zephyr24069 December 25, 2013 16:16

Owner

I had an inquiry via email earlier this week about the steam locomotive art work getting in the way of the image and sound stage......I took the glass out of them quite a while ago so no downside any longer. What can I say, love trains, love music, get to keep both this way!

zephyr24069 December 25, 2013 00:44

Owner

Additional note...even though they appear in a couple of photos above, I removed the Hallographs from the system some months ago. They gave me many great years of service and audio-tuning a 3 difficult rooms that I've had but I found surprisingly here that they are not needed in this room....

zephyr24069 December 22, 2013 23:23

Owner

System edited: Adding some new pics of system with new Legacy AERIS; I still need a pro and proper lighting as well as working up the necessary additional interconnects and power cords to cable in the AERIS at the same level as the rest of the system. I'm amazed at the extent of the out of the box performance of these speakers with stock power cords and entry level interconnects...cannot wait to upscale to the same levels as rest of the system!!!

zephyr24069 December 22, 2013 02:06

Owner

4orreal: For years I dreamt about a system like this too and still look in awe at quite a few other systems with their custom rooms (Mike Lavigne's room comes to mind as well as several others!). I am extremely grateful for what is here and how it sounds, particularly after the mods involving Elrod and Kubala cabling and the latest addition, the AERIS. The AMT driver is very clean and "right" when it comes to how it renders each frequency tonally correct as well. The midrange driver is another new star in the Legacy family; same comment for that. Tonal color and ambients are amazing right OOTB. The other thing which hit me hard right away is how the AERIS ENERGIZES THE ENTIRE ROOM and the sound-field wrapped around me even though this is only 2-channel. Another key improvement is from the open baffle top-end of the speaker; the omni-directional radiating pattern does wonders for image depth, precision, etc.....overall, I've had a very surprising and absolutely AMAZING first 2 days!!! I can only imagine how this will sound after about 350-500 hours of 1st-level break in! Please note these impressions are with stock cabling for power to the AERIS towers and processor together with grabbing some decent interconnects; I have not even gone to PCS and interconnects that are the same as the rest of the system making the overall experience that much more of a Day1 surprise...

Note to Legacy: You've outdone yourselves with the AERIS. It is without a doubt (IMHO) your best work ever!!!

zephyr24069 November 28, 2013 15:13

Owner

System edited: Quick Photos added from cellphone (better pictures coming soon) of the new AERIS in Sapelle Pommele Cabernet high-gloss finish with Black Pearl front baffles....AMAZING!!!

zephyr24069 November 28, 2013 14:44

Owner

AERIS are here having arrived today, are setup and making great music! It's amazing to me how good this sounds on day 1; it's the most amazing OOTB (out of the box) day I've ever had with any piece of audio gear!!! They are drop dead gorgeous to boot!!! Sapelle Pommele Cabernet with Black Pearl front baffle is "THE" way to go :-) !!!

zephyr24069 November 26, 2013 21:38

Owner

AERIS upgrade in-bound!!! My AERIS pair are on an ESTES Long-Haul truck as we speak; they'll arrive in the depot tonight so I could have them on Tuesday morning at the latest if all goes as planned. I will be somewhat sorry to see my Focus SEs leave but it's been just short of 3 great years with them so I am looking forward to the AERIS arriving very much. I'll keep everyone posted on what I hear as I break them in....

zephyr24069 November 24, 2013 13:08

Owner

A key part of the audiophile journey for me over the years has been the meeting and forging deep friendships with a few audiophiles via this website as well as talking with, exchanging ideas and helping quite a few others.

I tried to create a new thread on the forum this morning to share the news I learned yesterday of BRainwater's passing away suddenly in his home in SC yesterday morning; in the case the moderators do not let that posting through for whatever reason, I am including this news here in the hopes that it helps get the message out to others who may have known Brent and enjoyed his passion for this hobby/obsession, music, movies, food, his family and life over the many years he has been here. I've seen threads where he was called a dynamic force on this forum and quite agree with the assessment; more so, he was a close friend, someone I shared hundreds of conversations with over the years about this hobby, music, and all the things that we shared a passion for. He will be deeply missed and his passing will be felt very much in the weeks, months and years ahead by all of us who knew him well. Condolences and prayers are offered from all of Brent's family in this moment of loss...wherever he is, I'm sure he's already listening and trying to tune the room and excite those around him about music he loves....

zephyr24069 November 03, 2013 13:52

Owner

Upcoming change: I'll be hearing the Aeris is my system within 3-4 weeks
as my build order is now in the queue; I'll let you all know once they arrive
and are up and running. This will be one hell of a jump in the system
based upon what I've heard to date and am very exciting about this
upcoming change! Finish will be high gloss Sapele Pommele Cabernet with
Black Pearl Front Baffle....should be astounding!

Custom build options include the addition of a six (6) binding post
terminal plate with extra switches to allow me the freedom to experiment
with 2 or 4 additional channels of amplification to circumvent the ICE
amps in each tower using either one or two stereo pairs to power the
entire bass section or bass and subwoofer sections separately. Given the
bass I've heard out the factory models, I don't think I'll need this but if I
ever hit the lottery :-), I'll have the flexibility to experiment.

zephyr24069 October 23, 2013 09:38

Owner

The system has been in steady state for quite some time now with a very broad, deep and detailed soundstage; more importantly, it's been alot of fun and very satisfying and interesting to listen to musically with its level of realism, etc....I had a big surprise though in the last week when, on the advice of an audiophile friend who has heard the system in many of its iterations over the last few years, I removed the Hallographs which I had used faithfully since 2006 from the room. I was excited and also disappointed by the result; the soundstage became even more broad, much more deep, high and denser with increased realism. I may very well have kept them in the room past the speakers and room I needed them to improve and tune prior to moving here and taking on the FocusSEs and the last round of improvements. I will be doing a lot of listening over the days ahead to determine if what I heard is real and if I should remove them from the config permanently. I'd be interested in any opinions and experience in this regard as I was very surprised by what happened...

zephyr24069 September 21, 2013 12:05

Owner

They do....I am extremely happy and impressed by what the system sounds like and the realism that is happening in the room with them.

zephyr24069 March 17, 2013 15:09

Owner

Krell_man: I see what you meant and why you chose the Afterburner8 outlets. I've lived with them for about a month and I am extremely happy with the results to the system as a whole!

zephyr24069 March 14, 2013 20:22

Owner

Over two weeks into the process after switching to the Afterburner8 outlets and I am very impressed by the noticeable improvement in the natural and organic attributes of the music emanating from this system as a whole. I enjoyed prior outlets that I've used over the years from good quality Hubbel/Hospital grade outlets up to the Oyaide R1s which I utilized for years. I can honestly say that with respect to this small but very important aspect of the system (unless Darren improves the Afterburners at some point in the future) that I see no need to ever contemplate any other outlet (yes, they are that good to my ears for this system!)!

zephyr24069 March 01, 2013 13:03

Owner

System edited: I just had 5 Afterburner8 outlets put in to replace my long-held Oyaide Cryo'ed R1s and am very happy with the results. It's early on to be sure but I can tell you the bit of a bright edge that the Oyaides are reported to have (and that I heard) is gone, the tonality of the system seems a bit more true to the original note and the energy and pacing of the system on many different types of music seems to have improved. I am looking forward to the results after break-in!

zephyr24069 February 12, 2013 18:49

Owner

I had the opportunity to travel to Legacy again last week and hang out to listen to a brand new pair that had been built the days preceding my visit and was able to observe Bill dialing them in. Of all the Legacy speakers I've owned since 2005 (there have been a LOT), the AERIS amazes me with its ability to sound good right off the line (literally). I've also been able to hear a pair late last year that had 200 hours on them and can tell you break in like anything else I've owned will make a difference. Given the various levels I've heard (day1, 50 hours or so, 200 hours), my gut tells me that these speakers will 'come out' at 350-500 hours extremely strong and impressive. The best part is, they already sound great on day1!

The AMT tweeter assembly and the new midrange and midbass drivers are all something special. The thing that stands out the most is the integrity, sound profile and accuracy to real-life of instruments and voices that the mids and highs on this speaker render. You can really hear the differences between different metals (for cymbals, guitar and bass strings, etc...) and other materials (drum heads, pipe organ metal versus wooden/reed pipes, etc....In addition, based upon hearing the Aeris dialed in on 2 different occasions, the AMT tweeter assembly appears to never show a harsh edge; you can keep throwing more level at it and it does not ever seem to distort,...all you get is more detail. This is an extreme rarity even in the best speakers I've heard. If first impressions (or third and fourth also in my case) are accurate, and break-in simply reveals and refines more about what it can do and how it does it, the AERIS is to me one hell of a speaker and an entrant at a reasonable price that should make some pricier manufacturers sit up, take notice and get very nervous (IMHO).

zephyr24069 February 04, 2013 12:40

Owner

Jfrech: It does and I have achieved a level of extreme happiness with how musical, dynamic, and filled with energy this system has become. The front-end is part of it but the power cables, interconnects and everything else all work together in a combination that is hard to beat at least for me. Your room is amazing to look at and must sound even better than it looks; it must have been a fun journey with Rives and the builders to get that room to be what it is today. Thanks for the kind words....enjoy!

zephyr24069 January 09, 2013 13:25

Owner

I heard from Maker Audio that they have a major step up in amplifier performance in the successor to the Edge NL 12.1 and Signature designs...The new amp (NL 14 stereo single chassis and NL 14+ for separate mono chassis) are reported to be an advance over what was already fantastic sounding series or amps. If anyone is at CES and can hear the NL 14+ there or has already heard one at a another location and report back I would be very grateful!

zephyr24069 January 07, 2013 19:26

Owner

I am looking forward to hearing a Purepower 2000+ unit (Canadian company, genuine article) next week and should be making the move to the even more refined version of its power regeneration and battery storage technology shortly thereafter.

If the stars align, I should also be back at Legacy sometime in 2nd week of December to hear the fully broken in Legacy AERIS with at least 350-500 hours on the pair by that time.

I've been delving back into a lot of big symphonic works as of late by Shostakovich, Mahler, Bruckner, Sibelius, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Elgar, Honegger, Beethoven, Vaughan-Williams, Janaczek, Kodaly, Liefs, etc.....I am constantly made very happy with the level of realism, musicality, etc...that this system has been producing. It makes me want to spend all my waking hours digging back through my collection and while this is not realistic with work, family and life balance needing to be maintained, it sure is fun to dream big!!!

More fun than humans should be allowed to have :-) !!!

zephyr24069 November 28, 2012 19:21

Owner

System edited: Added old pictures of prior 2-channel system configuration as well as prior hybrid 7.1 and 2-channel all out assault (or at least as far as I could take it!) systems going back many years. It took quite a while to reach the decision to move forward with only 2-channel listening but for the past 4+ years I have not looked back and am enjoying my current system to levels I did not think I would attain...

zephyr24069 November 14, 2012 13:30

Owner

The AERIS in person is a formidable entry into high-end speaker design and sonics. They paint an incredibly large and realistic soundstage with incredibly smooth and accurate mids and highs. The new mids and tweeters are a big jump in performance over the drivers I already love in the Focus SEs. When I was there I saw Focus SEs with the new AMT tweeter but did not take the chance to hear them as I wanted to focus on the AERIS. Given what I heard from the new tweeter, I have no problem believing that they will improve the Focus SE even further and refine it in all the right ways. I don't remember if the new mids are an option for the FocusSEs and/or the Whispers but that would be a question I intend to ask again as well as that driver is also something special.

The AERIS will take many people by surprise (IHMO) in that it is not stratospherically priced and yet weighs in at the rarefied "deep end" of audiophile speaker performance (again, IMHO). I believe this speaker is going to give a lot of more expensive options serious competition.

The speakers I heard were not the final version of the speaker; they have refined them further as well for the final build template with respect to ICE amps, first octave bass response, and terminal plate final design and arrangement.

I heard them driven reasonably price electronics with reasonable cabling; the results were amazing. I can only imagine what putting them into a high-end electronics/cabling system will yield! This is a speaker that I MUST hear again and that I feel will find its way into my room as soon as it is possible to do so!

zephyr24069 October 21, 2012 10:43

Owner

After hearing it, even at its early stage of only about 150 hours of playing time, it is clear the AERIS is an amazing speaker with great capability to pull you into the music in a way that will require writing much more to describe! More later...

zephyr24069 October 19, 2012 02:43

Owner

System edited: Updated the system description. Today is a great day, visiting Legacy in the afternoon and will see the manufacturing and design facilities and get to spend several hours with the new AERIS speaker!!!

zephyr24069 October 18, 2012 11:44

Owner

O0obilll0l: Have you had a chance to hear the Focus SE speakers? Legacy is also showcasing a new speaker (AERIS) at RMAF 2012 this weekend. Had you heard about that yet? Please let me know if i can help you further....

zephyr24069 October 12, 2012 12:53

Owner

Thank you for your detailed post....given you like all those types of music, frankly, you are going to love the Focus SE model as they handle all of that and more! Given your emphasis is on listening to and appreciating a wide variety of music you should definitely find a way to audition a pair of these speakers that are fully broken in; I believe you'll be amazed with the results. While not 105db efficient, they have extremely high efficiency ratings and seem to do very well with a variety of different amplification. Enjoy!

zephyr24069 September 10, 2012 10:17

Owner

System edited: One of the things I have noticed most lately is the sheer density/fullness of the music and the sound-stage as a whole in all 3 dimensions....this overall change in the system coupled with all of the other positive attributes has increased my enjoyment in music listening many fold...

zephyr24069 September 07, 2012 12:45

Owner

System edited: Updating several system pictures and a few item-level pictures. The system has realism and energy that is difficult to beat; more importantly, I am enjoying music listening combined with audiophile refinement at a level I did not think I would attain!!!

zephyr24069 September 05, 2012 15:14

Owner

System edited: Updated system manifest and item descriptions...

zephyr24069 September 04, 2012 20:18

Owner

Excellent! Thank you very much for the help! I look forward to hearing back from you...

zephyr24069 July 30, 2012 06:02

Owner

Thanks...I actually found it 2 days ago and read it completely through. Are you suggesting the atomic clock be utilized for a reference clock source for an existing clock as a viable option (Esoteric allows this with their existing clocks) or purely as the single clock in a system at a fixed frequency? Have you tried both scenarios extensively?

I actually put in a web request requesting contact from 2 different sources for the Perfection10. Unfortunately noone has responded to my inquiries. I left voice-mails as well but to no avail. Who did you deal with? Thanks!

zephyr24069 July 21, 2012 11:33

Owner

System edited: New pictures posted for system level and various cabling and components...

zephyr24069 July 19, 2012 02:27

Owner

Thanks...I'll check it out. Please clarify which clock you are talking about (can you pass me the thread)? I've owned the Rb-oscillator G-0s for 2+ years and loved it however I did have to part with it and have found that that G-03x provides enough precision without an overly analytic presentation. I'd be interested in your thoughts on this in more detail. An atomic clock could serve as a reference for an existing clock but I'd be interested in your thoughts if you mean something else entirely...

zephyr24069 July 18, 2012 21:23

Owner

Have new pictures to post for over a week now...unfortunately they are working on the system builder to remedy issues where you cannot edit systems in the old database format. As soon as they figure this out and fix it, we'll be back in business with new pics!

zephyr24069 July 15, 2012 00:39

Owner

Thank you Chuck...I'll shoot you an email soon on this topic as I'd like to talk through it in more detail. Thanks!

zephyr24069 July 09, 2012 01:43

Owner

I am using the ELATION AES/EBU cables; they have outstanding build quality and tremendously deep, broad and refined soundstage even in their initial break-in period. This AES cable is extremely promising and they've gone over the top to achieve a SOTA AES digital cable!

zephyr24069 July 07, 2012 13:47

Owner

System edited: Enjoying the system more and more each time I have a chance to listen be it casually or with a more audiophile focus!

zephyr24069 June 21, 2012 11:18

Owner

I'm looking for any good feedback on SOTA digital (AES/EBU 110-ohm digital cables). Does anyone have experience with Stealth Varidig Sextet, Kubala-Sosna Emotion or other top-end AES/EBU cable for use between transport and DAC? Thanks!

zephyr24069 June 03, 2012 11:22

Owner

Continuing to sit back and enjoy many different types of music and how this system renders it with a transparency and realism that are making me very happy...I continue to be amazed at what my choice of speaker is also capable of. The Focus SE continue to show themselves as being worth much more than their asking price.

zephyr24069 May 23, 2012 15:48

Owner

System edited: Updated several photos and also mention use of Elrod Statement Gold XLR interconnects as stunningly good quality AES/EBU cables...

zephyr24069 April 23, 2012 15:38

Owner

Based upon some discussions with users in Italy/Europe I've found that my Elrod Statement Gold interconnects have the capability of yielding great performance and energy and realism when used as AES/EBU cables between my transport and DAC. I had previously used "pure digital" cable designs from various high-end manufacturers with great results and more recently an all-copper adaptation of an analog XLR design with similarly great results. Delivering yet another performance upgrade, the Elrods seem to make the system "pop" no matter where you utilize them! They will be staying in my system as AES cables based upon my recent listening experiences and there will be no looking back!

zephyr24069 April 18, 2012 22:00

Owner

I am finding myself going back over many recordings that I've known very well and exploring them again, this time with the added benefits of all that the Elrod PCs and interconnects deliver in terms of soundstaging, micro and macro dynamics, musicality and the added (surprise) of a solid-state system that now has tube-like harmonics and overall presentation. Music listening has taken on a new level of satisfaction and passion...this is why I started down this path in the first place many years ago!

zephyr24069 April 15, 2012 12:27

Owner

Duke: Thank you very much for the point to GIK; I do not know their products and will check them out. Do you have a photo of your system showing these panels either posted here or available?

I did not do a full out comparison of AP in-wall wire but did not have the opportunity to trial a length of their 10-gauge heavy duty in-wall conduit. At the time (about 3 years ago), it was about $30/foot and for the 100 feet that I needed from my panel to my room, it did not turn out to be practical however suffice it to say, the construction and power-handling capability of this conduit for first rate and I still wish I'd been able to justify to myself that level of expense versus putting that money elsewhere in the system.

At present however I still have the same OFC 10-gauge conduit that I had my contractor build 'custom' for me by hand-pulling good quality OFC copper through flex conduit and terminating and grounding properly. I also use Cryo'ed Oyaide R1 outlets and run all power into a APS 2000 unit from Pure Power. The APS2000 is the unsung hero in my system so to speak as it does 2 passes of AC curve regeneration prior to storing all regenerated power in a rather large set of battery packs. I would highly recommend you check out this unit as for us audio geeks, there is nothing (IMHO) that approaches the quality of battery-delivered power. Suffice it to say I am very happy.

zephyr24069 February 19, 2012 18:14

Owner

Kevin,...thank you! It helps alot. I have 9 CD shelving units packed with single and mostly double rows of various type of CD, SACD, DVDA, XRCD, etc....boxes, jewel cases and LP-like covers. The varying depths of the shelves, irregular composition of every shelf's exposed discs gives some measure I believe of what you are referring to above. I have seen your room and will draw some ideas from it and what you've written above. Thank you!

zephyr24069 February 15, 2012 13:09

Owner

Kevin...forget to mention; I am in the northwest corner of S.C. a little over an hour south of Charlotte (NC) on Rt-85S

zephyr24069 February 13, 2012 12:36

Owner

Kevin,...thank you very much for responding and the tools recommendation. Power and system components (sans a fully separate sub-panel I'd like to put in) are taken care of; the overbuilt dedidcated circuit I have is at least the first one off the main after I had the panel completely reordered. More details on the conduit and other things I used for the circuit if you want it...

To the ears, I do not seem to get much if any bass "pile-up" or dips/unsavory peaks at any frequency from the mid-bass on done, the lower midrange seems to also be fine; the room however is quite lively even with all 9K disc loaded on the shelves. Depth, height and width of image and soundstage are definitely not suffering however there are clearly frequencies from the midrange on up that could use a bit of work from the room point of view (1st order reflections, etc...). I've been advised by a friend who is an RPG fan that I could benefit from a few of the BAD panels and/or the Diffractal treatments as I need a bit of both type of treatment. I'll take a look at the tools you mention above and see where I stand in reality. Due to a heavy WAF potential objection, anything I use should meld into the room decor and not look like a 'recording studio'. I had a house like that when 2nd "W" and I met and she thought I was insane and it was cool but a funny things happen when you marry; all of a sudden, 'insane' and "cool" turn into "not in this house...." LOL!

I could probably get away with 3 Skyline diffusor profile tuning treatments from RFG in the center-line position but that is about it. The best end result would be room treatments that look more like fabric-covered panels and that are painted/dyed to match the paint color or a complimentary/contrasting color. Any recommendations would be appreciated!
Any recommendations

zephyr24069 February 13, 2012 12:32

Owner

BTW Kevinzoe...you have one hell of a nice setup and room; I'd like to hear details of how you built it out and customized the room as I'm still scheming for the future :-) and have not done anything for my room per se...

zephyr24069 February 12, 2012 15:01

Owner

I've thought about it as 20-25+ years down the road some of the discs will be outside the period of time where they are supposed to hold together (physically) but I have not yet heard playback from any storage & streaming setup that rivals the best physical disk setup. I may not have heard enough units so I am open to recommendations. That stated, I love the process of choosing from 'the library', reading the paper inserts and holding the physical disc in my hand. I still like to read real leather-bound and hardback books too so I can guess I'm 'out of sync' with today's society LOL!

zephyr24069 February 12, 2012 15:00

Owner

Thanks for the feedback...I could not agree more! The ears are the final determining factor to be sure and they have been very happy with the journey and the transformation over the years. Next step is to tune the room a bit while still achieving WAF :-)

zephyr24069 February 02, 2012 11:01

Owner

The system has definitely matured to the level I was always hoping for in terms of musicality, imaging, inner detail, pacing, and so many other attributes. I am having great fun listening to many discs and hearing things in ways, or that I've never heard play this well before. The amazing side benefit of all this is that with this combination of components, cabling, etc...I've been able to achieve something I did not think was possible namely a SS system with all the most desirable attributes of a system with a tube pre and tube amp. A buddy of mine and I were listening several weeks ago and were both marveling at the overall transformation of the system over the years in this and many respects.

zephyr24069 January 31, 2012 22:25

Owner

Let me know what you wind up doing with the panels and if they work acoustically. I have a similar problem and need to solve it in a WAF-friendly way!

zephyr24069 January 12, 2012 21:49

Owner

Lapierre: Did you consider the Hallographs again? You won't be sorry that you did! Happy New Year!

zephyr24069 January 08, 2012 16:57

Owner

That's definitely correct! I checked out your system posting a bit more deeply and I like your new room plan draft. Please let me know how those acoustic treatments work for you...

zephyr24069 December 08, 2011 15:47

Owner

Lapierre: The Shakti Hallographs are of great help in this room or any other over the years. They do help tame other characteristics. Technically speaking, the answer to your question is yes; the room would benefit from diffusers and a few good bass traps however I do not wind up with as much pileup in the corners as I had thought. In the previous house, I was able to have a well thought out design and application of studio-like (Auralex/other) diffusers and corner ceiling traps. Unfortunately, in the current world what I would like to do fails WAF criteria completely. I am looking ultimately for anything that is aesthetically more like having acoustic treatments that look like art/wall-hangings. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

zephyr24069 December 06, 2011 11:01

Owner

Will do...things just keep sounding better and better to me as the cords have settled in very nicely and the harmonics and macro and micro dynamics have really come into their own. The system has a pacing, naturalness and precision while still being the most musical I have achieved that leave me smiling...

zephyr24069 December 06, 2011 00:49

Owner

Thank you very much!I put the system together over the years as a devout music lover of many different styles. I am very happy and blown away by the result!

My experience with the PurePower is similar to any other power conditioner I've owned in that using a better pc does serve to deliver larger quantities and quality of power to the power conditioner itself resulting in an overall better listening experience. With this conditioner however, given the fact that the PurePower performs 2 regeneration steps (according to my dealer) and then stores the cleansed power into batteries from which the actual signal to my components is pulled, it seems to be the case that using a good versus "SOTA" power cord on the PurePower yields substantial and sufficient differences and is good enough "for now". At present I am using a reasonably priced power cord on the unit as well as the same cord on my digital clock and transport and am quite happy. If the opportunity presents itself in the future, I will in all likelihood also try an Elrod Statement Gold PC on the PurePower and ultimately on my transport and digital clock (in that order of precedence) as the Elrod offerings have transformed the system as a whole in ways and to an extent that I could only have hoped for...

zephyr24069 November 21, 2011 10:53

Owner

Thanks! I've had the 20/20s, later the Focus HDs (simultaneously in the same HT/2-ch hybrid system, the 20s make a great surround speaker!) and over the past 1 1/2 years, the SEs. I fell in love with the musical versatility and price/performance/value delivered by Bill's speakers across the board in the Focus 20/20, HD and SE as well as the Mist IIs, Studio-Is, SilverScreen II and HD and the Victoria LE (an amazing speaker). They've really outdone themselves with the Focus SE design; my current cabling and power cabling choices are showing me just what these speakers are cable of.

The Esoteric separates bring (to my ears) the best combination of accuracy, nuance, musicality and analog-like playback (n the context of my total system) that I've heard. Grounding, cabling and power quality are all mutually linked topics that I've found had to be 'right' in order to get the Esoteric gear and the rest of what I own to sound the way it does today however the transformation of the system over the years and all the success (and trial and error at times) along the way has taught me alot with the help of some great audio enthusiasts.

I heard the Whispers back in 2006-2007 and loved the panel-like imaging they delivered; I also heard the latest Whispers in April and had similar admiration for what they deliver. The Whisper DSW (no ICE amps) is about the only upgrade path I see for myself until the Helix incorporates the new mids and ribbons that are present in the HD and SE Focus line today (and I hit the lottery!). I cannot say enough good things about what I hear on a daily basis that inherently comes from the drivers that Bill has brought to the market and matched perfectly with just the right crossover, cabinet design, etc...Any potential 'next step' speaker would have a long way to go however to beat the Focus SEs speed, accuracy, musicality and price/performance ratio. More importantly, with the range of music I listen to, deep and articulate bass is a key foundation I must have; the Focus SEs deliver all this and more.

Thanks for the feedback; I look forward to continuing the discussion....

zephyr24069 October 31, 2011 12:20

Owner

Thank you all for your comments! The system is sounding more natural, has much more energy and realism than ever before. You are all welcome for some dedicated listening! I look forward to sitting back, relaxing and seeing how the system has matured!

zephyr24069 October 27, 2011 09:07

Audiogon

Forum

Bluebook

Merch

Description

Room Details

Components Toggle details

Overall Photos System Views....

Overall cable layout Elrod, Shunyata Research & Tubulus cables...

Legacy Audio VALOR

Legacy Audio Wavelet V2

Townshend Audio Seismic Isolation Podiums

Esoteric Audio Master SoundWorks C-02X Preamplifier

Esoteric S-02 Master SoundWorks Stereo Amplifier

Esoteric S-02 Master SoundWorks Stereo Amplifier

Esoteric Audio Grandioso P1 Transport and P1PSU

Esoteric Audio Grandioso D1 Dual Monoblock DACs

Cybershaft OCXO OP21A Type2 Premium Ltd V2 10 mHz Master-clock

Shunyata Research Everest 8000 with Chassis Ground plane

Shunyata Research TYPHON T30

Shunyata Research Altaira SG-NR Signal Ground Hub (Zone1)

Shunyata Research Altaira SG-NR Signal Ground Hub (Zone2)

Shunyata Research SIGMA v3 SGC/CGC Ground Cables, STIS v3 terminations

Shunyata Research VTX-ag Ground Tails, various connectors

pArtScience QRD64 2D 3-inch SpaceArray Diffusor Wood Panels

Adona Corporation Master Reference Zero GX3, GX2 and GX Racks

Composite Audio CF-2010 Platforms

Avatar Acoustics AfterBurner8 Duplex Outlets...

Harmonic Resolution Systems DPX Damping Plates

Elrod Power Systems Statement Gold Speaker Cables

Shunyata Research OMEGA CLOCK-50 50-ohm BNC:BNC 1.5-meter

Shunyata Research SIGMA v2 XC Power Cable 3.5m

Tubulus CONCENTUS HDMI 1.5 meter

Elrod Power Systems Master Series Diamond Interconnects

Elrod Power Systems Diamond XLR Interconnects

Elrod Power Systems Statement Gold XLR Interconnects

Shunyata Research Anaconda Zitron XLR (with KPIP process)

Elrod Power Systems Master Series Statement Gold Y-Cable (custom)

Elrod Power Systems Masters Series Diamond SE power cables

Elrod Power Systems Masters Series Statement Gold power cables

Audio Art Cable AAC Statement e2Plus Cryo power cables

Revelation Audio Labs Passage Cryo-Silver Reference XLR3-XLR5 DC Umbilical

HDPLEX 300 Watt Quad-Rail LPSU (LT3045-enabled)

AudioHiFiSolutions Audio HighWire Cable Elevators with extenders

Music Collection Many Genres CD XRCD/2/24/K2/DXD/UltraHD SACD

PRIOR 2-channel: Legacy Audio CaliberXD, Foundation, Wavelet, Esoteric, Cybershaft, Elrod, Shunyata

PRIOR 2-channel: TAD R1 MK2s, Esoteric, Cybershaft, Elrod, Isotek

PRIOR 2-channel: with Legacy Audio Aeris, WAVELET Esoteric, Cybershaft, Shunyata & HDPlex

PRIOR 2-ch with Legacy FocusSE

PRIOR 2-channel: Legacy Focus HDs biamped...

PRIOR 7.1 HT & 2-channel: All Legacy Audio

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