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.
Johny_1: Thank you buddy for the kind comments. The room is 26 by 16. You asked the most important question, that is speaker placement. Basically, I view speakers and room as one entity -- they must be in total harmony and in complete synch with each other in order to generate optimal audio performance. This is particularly true for planar speakers. It took me many years to figure out the optimal speaker placement.
Sadly, most audiophiles do not pay attention to it even though they know it is important. They are willing to spend thousands of dollars in cables and other tweaks but won't be open minded about experimenting (liberally) with the speaker placement. I wrote an article about it a few years back, if you are interested.
My speakers are currently at 15 feet from the front wall. Their outer edges are about 6 inches from the side walls. There is no toe-in. My listening seat is about 2 feet from the back wall, and hence about 9 feet from the hypothetical line between the edges of the left and right speakers.
Itch: hahahaha, $900,000? You gotta be kidding me, man. There is no way the price of my amplification can be that. You missed 2 zeros at the end my friend.....think of $90,000,000. The amp chassis are made of pure gold, and tube sockets made of ivory, and caps made with special oil extracted from the center of Africa inhabited by a tribe that abandoned cannibalism only a decade ago.
All wiring is done with pure rhodium obtained from the bottom of the Pyramids in Egypt. The tubes manufactured in 1942 and plugged from the equipment used in first atomic explosion. I had them cryogenically treated at- 10,000 degrees to get rid of any remaining contamination. The base of the amp is made from marble left over from Taj Mahal (that the king had hid but was recently excavated). The spikes of the amps are made from casting the iron that was discovered with Tereracota warriors in China. The tube rings are special ones from Japan and were worn by nineteenth century Sumo wrestlers (you know which part of their anatomy, right?) I was hesitant to try them but I was assured they have been clinically cleaned. Moreover, I have a private jet which can bring Paul Wetzel of TRL, Steve Dobbins of Xact Audio, and Graz of Apogee Acoustics, any time any maintenance is required. That is only a part of the cost my friend. Your math needs some adjustment, pal.
Will do...help me zero in on the type you like; I have a quite a bit and if you give me a category I can point you to some great recordings (IMHO of course!)....
Wow, what a system! What is the dimension of your room? What is the distance the Apogees are from the front wall, how far are you sitting from the speakers?
I suppose a lot of folks around here will say "you rule"! I think you're sick in the head. Anybody that spends $900,000 on amplification needs to have their priorities examined.
I remember seeing this system on Audiogon together with Lavigne's and Porter's and a few others and thinking WOW(!) what an amazing hobby & obsession this is and the different directions people take on their road to audio-nirvana. Your system always impressed me and the threads were incredibly active and packed with great info....all I can say is WELCOME BACK!!! You still have an AMAZING system! Happy Holidays!
I hate to beat my own drum and that has never been my intention but cannot help share my joy with all of you nice audio buddies. The sound is so damn musical. It is like magic, with holographic images everywhere in the room including the side walls in front and rear of the speakers. Continue to listen with full resolution for hours and hours and there I no listening fatigue. It gives goose bumps every time I listen.
In sharing my joy with you -- hope you bear with me -- I will be mentioning some wonderful pieces of music.
last night I was listening to the Soundtrack of "1492" by Vangelis. What pieces of music that is, both sonically and musically. I kept playing it over and over, as I left I had been transported back in time and was sailing on the ship with Columbus, hahaha
Gallant_diva Albert: I have been in touch with audiogon technical support to see if my old system could be restored, along with all the threads (which is really the wealth of information) but sadly it could not be done.
Nice to hear from you.
That is sad, I would be depressed beyond belief. The history and words of Audiogon members over the years is a treat for me. I visit many systems and enjoy the progress and changes we all experience.
I hope Audiogon can find a back up somewhere. They are very organized, lets hope it happens.
Mallen123: Big mistake you made. My Apogee Fullrange with go with me to the grave. It is not a speaker that you wanna get rid of. But it (and other planar speakers) does require extremely careful placement. Most of the Apogeee owners have it wrong and hence do not know what they are missing.
Albert: I have been in touch with audiogon technical support to see if my old system could be restored, along with all the threads (which is really the wealth of information) but sadly it could not be done.
I did own the Jadis JA-500 for 2-3 years and totally enjoyed it. It is a great amp, may be among the best. The sound has high resolution, and the amp excels in every area including sweet midrange, silky highs and powerful bass.
I have also listened to JA-500's bigger sibling the JA-800 and the smaller sibling, the JA-200. I think the JA-200 is sweeter and better sounding than its bigger siblings, perhaps it performs in all Class A mode (though the JA-500 has a switch to choose between class A and AB). If you choose any of these Jadis amps you cannot go wrong. They are marvelous. They all have 3D holographic sound.
However, the Jadis amps cannot stand up to the Tube Research labs amps ... but then which one does? The TRL GT-400 outperforms the Jadis, while the GT-800 is in even a higher league. Overall, the Jadis is probably the second best sounding tube amp in my experience.
