I am back, folks. My system was the third most talked about system after Mike Levine's and Albert Porter's.
For some personal reasons I took a break from audio. But I am back with good news and not so thrilling news. The not so thrilling news is that the system is unchanged. And the good news is that it is so hard to improve it, regardless of the price -- I do not know what to upgrade, except may be cables -- as I hit the peak performance from my perspective. The sound thrills me still every time I listen. Still, 140plus tubes, embedded in the finest of amps and pre-amp driving a legendary speaker that can give a good run for money to speakers costing $100k plus, all making heat and magic at the same time. Wow, life is good.
Acknowledgements:
There are several people I wish to acknowledge who have helped me a great deal in building this system:
1. Charlie, who designed one of the finest preamps. Although, TRL Dude is marginally better, the Charlie X-2 will stay with me for ever and will continue to provide listening pleasures
2, Paul Weitzel of Tube Research Labs (TRL) for his helping on tuning the amps and on his feedback on many other technical aspects of the system at the micro and macro level.
3. David Royalty for building nice wooden battery casing for the TRL moded Sony CD player and also for numerous technical feedbacks.
4. Ivan Li of Hong Kong for showing me the insight into planar speaker placement.
5. Steve Dobbins of Xact audio for coming all the way from Idaho to install the tonearm and overall turntable tune up.
6. many visitors who have graced my listening room with their presence.
7. All audio friends who are not mentioned above.
8. Audiogoners who continue to post interesting and thought provoking comments here.
Chadeffect, There's undeniable irony here, after intimate experiences with multiple large, powerful and complex amplifiers. You've found such joy with a 2 watt Japanese ultra simple amplifier. You paid your dues. Many roads do in fact lead to Rome. Charles,
Gallant diva, The full range is the best sounding Apogee speaker and has the simpler crossover network, there has to be a correlation I'd have to assume ( other factors likely contribute no doubt). Charles,
I ask out of pure engineering curiosity, why do the Apogee require such a large and multi component crossover network? Could it not be simplified? Charles,
Hi Chadeffect, At some point reality does bite. Speakers that utilize multiple capacitors or very large value capacitors in their crossovers can become prohibitive for the Duelund CAST unfortunately. Charles,
Lissnr, A friend of mine has a similar Duelund pathway as yours. Lampizator Big 5 DAC, Absolare Passion Signature preamp and Absolare Passion PSET amplifier, all three components have Duelund CAST . The sound speaks for itself and certainly the CAST play a role in this performance. Charles,
Lssnr, The Duelund effect is cumulative because their contribution is in the direction of natural sound, how can a system sound " too" natural? They are exemplary is this fashion. They don't result in analytical-etched nor do they go the other way with redundant warmth. Natural and realism is what distinguishes their contribution. I have CAST in my DAC (front end) and speaker (final end). My amp and preamp have interstage transformers, other wise I'd have Duelunds in them as well. This isn't an attempt to make a case claiming perfection (doesn't exist). But rather to say one could do far worse with their money spent on other items in terms of return on equity. Charles,
Hi Dan, Believe me I spend my money cautious as a lot of High End audio can sometimes be hype and foolishness. Some products are worth their premium cost, Duelund is among this category. If you can comfortably afford the Duelund CAST I feel very comfortable encouraging you to do so. It's a superb capacitor that would improve any good SET amplifier's sound. Charles,
Bill, Here's my point, what other accessories or modifications are available for the same cost of the CAST that yield equally the musical/sonic results. Many products can alter the sound, not nearly as many improve the beautiful "natural" quality of the sound as convincing as the CAST in my opinion. Very few products are able to provide an improved naturalness and resolution concurrently, very few. Charles,
+1Chadeffect, I'd only disagree with one point you made. They aren't stupidly expensive, when you factor in their actual performance contributions to your components/system. Their impact is so apparent that I consider them a genuine value ppurchase. You could spend the same money for what the Duelund CAST cost and achieve less of a gain with other audio products. Chadeffect I also agree with the benefits of "natural" materials compared to synthetic alternatives , for example dielectrics applications. I suspect that there are very few people who've used Duelund CAST and felt they overspent after listening to them. Charles,
Chadeffect, A resoundingly yes to your description of the Duelund CAST.Fits my impression point for point, simply natural and realistic sound. What better compliment is there for an audio product? Charles,
