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, 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,
50 hours of break in on the CAST caps gives you a sense of where things are going and is better sounding than 4 hours for sure. I have not experienced the need for 400-700 hours on the smaller values for electronics. 200 hours is good on a .22 uf Duelund cap. Burn in will be slower for a larger value cap as part of a speaker crossover!
One change at a time is always good. Let things settle to really know if you are stepping in the right direction or not. The only mundorfs worth anything IMHO are the Silver/in oil and the Silver/Gold in oil. Unless you want to talk power supply caps?
I found the Duelund to sound different to the other caps I have tried. I think the word I would use is organic. Maybe another is analogue.
The Mundorf SG in oil is a very good cap. But there is something slightly hyped and artificial in direct comparison to the VSF and Cast caps.
In my Apogees xovers I liked the Silver gold in oil because they helped bring a little life, more air and detail. But once you hear the natural, organic, solid, layered presentation of the Duelund it will be hard to go back.
Don't go thinking you will put them in and have an instant audiophile orgasim! There is a slight waiting game. They can sound bland, muted and flat dynamically for a while. Probably 50-100 hours run in. But soon the texture and harmonic structure starts to come to life as they open up.
The only fly in the ointment is the duelunds very high price. In Apogees it will be painfully expensive. Hence my great hope for the Rike!
Yeah, I am waiting for those new Jupiters to arrive in the marketplace. I'm hoping for an introductory price discount. Do you know who is expected to carry them (maybe Partsconnexion)?
One other thing. Jupiter is three weeks away from selling a capacitor that according to all the beta testers sounds better than the Duelund CAST and a lower price. We will soon see if that is true. Values for electronics up to 1 uf.
The flat stacked version for speakers are said to be a couple of months away.
Yes, be careful around those big blue caps as without bleeder resistors they can hold 400 volts for many, many days. The same is true in your Dude with the large can cap on that tube regulator. Be careful and bleed the caps as you mention. Oh my, you are fortunate the 400v did not do more harm to you. Thank God.
The Duelund caps in your Dude will improve the Dude's resolution and give a black, black, background from which the music will emerge like never before. It's as if you have rid your system of noise you thought was never there. All aspects of your music will improve with instruments sounding more real and natural. Highs will soar higher and will do so with ease and natural tone.
You are in for a treat. Start burning them in now in a second system or using a $5 used boom box. They will take 50 hours to relax and 200 hours or so to fully burn in.
Agear, thank you for the kind words. I know you got a Dude. But am curious what is your rest of the system.
If you are in Texas, let me know and we will arrange a listening session at my place.
GD, my system has been in a state of flux for close to 2 years. We finished our basement just recently and I had the opportunity to construct a dedicated room which is almost completed and I will document at some point on AG. We have a two year old and more coming, so in my paranoia I sold my TRL ensemble (Dude and ST-100) and Gamma Summit Intuitive Design speakers for safety concerns. The ST-100s were a marvel and I will return at some point when it is practical. The speakers were 100lb granite monitors that were potentially mobile on still points. I am awaiting a new floor stander from Dale Pitcher in the next 4-6 weeks. As for amplification, I farted around the an ASR Emitter I Blue Exclusive, and then NeoDio integrated both of which were very good but did not hold my interest. My new speaker is going to be a much easier load (8 ohm and 93dB) and thus I wanted to experiment with SETs. I picked up a Viva Solista used and its very, very good but again a potential menace to the little people. Dale is designing a class A amp with line level xover that will fit into the dedicated speaker stand, and that is most likely where I will land.
I agree with your statement about the importance of source, and I have spent quite a bit of psychic energy on that topic. Paul at TRL was always harassing me to go down the master tape trail, but its not practical. Even though I am a child of the digital generation and don't own or pursue vinyl, it is still better than digital IMO and everything I pursue is simply to create a sonic analog of analog! Computers bring with them a rat's nest of problems, and it takes considerable time and energy to get things right. I am actively looking at purchasing a Lampizator L7 tubed dac along with a computer-less transport of some sort (preferably wireless) that can be feed via a NAS.
GD, if my memory serves me correctly, isn't computer science your background? Thoughts? I am sure of a lot of audiophile flailing in this arena amuses you.....:)
And yes, I will be looking you up if I am ever in Dallas for a conference....
Richard (Klinerm): Thanks for the invitation. I do not have plans to visit Charleston but might visit Greenville sometime in March. I guess it is a 3 hour drive from there so I might be able to find time. I am curious to hear the Scintilla with tubes. My Scintillas were driver by Musical Fidelity 1K monoblock amps, which Michael Fremer of Stereophile used to rave about and called his best amp. It is just a good amp with smooth sound and virtually unlimited power but the sound is pretty flat and boring. The MF 1K amp is nothing compared to the TRL GT400, let alone the GT-800. I wondered if this guy who wrote so many reviews had ever heard to a decent system.
Speaking of these stupid magazines (which I stopped reading 5 years ago), my depressed days in audio were when I had Apogee FR and 2 pairs of GT-400 and the sound was still not very musical. The reason, Stereophile rated A+ SONY SACD player, which is total digital crap. This all changed when Paul sent me his modified Sony DVP NS900V CD player (stock price only $400). I was also happy to et rid of my $13k Meridian Flagship CD player. Believe it or not after speakers, the next most important component in audio is your source, more so than the amp or pre-amp.
BTW, you also have the invitation if you are in DFW area.
Chadeffect: Thank for the input. You know I value your opinion. I would be curious about the Rike caps. I suppose I can get them from Mouser. However, I follow the audio commandment of making one change at a time. I have to first try the Duelands in the DUDE preamp, then I am going to try the Duelands in my passive speaker level crossover and may be then I can compare them with Rike.
My system is very revealing and it will quickly show me the characteristic of the caps change in any one component. Also, my ears are very tuned to the system and I can discern even if there is a fly sitting on a wire (although the room is usually super clean and a fly entering there is unlikely).
In the past I tried the regular Mundorf caps (at the recommendation of a trusted friend, whose name I won't reveal) in my speaker level crossover. But the sound was very disappointing even after the break in period. I was so relieved to hear the sound of the Mundorf Silver & Oil. The difference was huge. I ended up throughing away the regular Mundorfs.
How much difference did you feel between the Duelands and Mundorf SG in oil?
Knghifi: That means 60 caps for my GT-400 and GT-800, and ordering that would probably increasing the stock price of Dueland manufacturer, hahaha
Seriously, I can replace the caps in the amp myself without Paul's help.... by the way I have been once zapped by the GT-400 and probably would have permanently disappeared including from audiogon. Not Paul's fault but mine because I thought the caps must have been cold 2 days after shutting off them amp. But they still had 400 volts as I found out :) I should have discharged them. Luckily I only used my finger, not tongue to taste the cap.
At another time I had a runoff with the amp when I tried to solder something thinking the amp was off. This time the speaker yelled at me very loud.
Booboobaer: I am definitely gonna replace my DUDE caps with the duelands. In fact I got my Duelands a few months back but have not had the time to install them. Will do soon though. Could you be very specific please on the sonic differences. Thanks.
Thanks, Gallant-diva, always ready to hear more stories. If you're ever in Charleston, SC, please look me up, love to have you come listen and offer advice.
Klinerm: I have many stories of Apogees to tell (and they are real) because they connect with my own journey in audio.
Your Scintillas and my FR share many characteristics. They both use first order slopes which always sounds better than 2nd order slopes like the one used in the Diva. But I made these discoveries in a hard way. Following the ill advice of many non-experts (it is hard to tell who really knows the stuff) online, I have tampered with the crossover in many many ways, only to found myself going back to original Apogee specs. Of course, I improved upon the components. Online forums can be very misleading, just like everything else, so you have to make your choices carefully even if some people sound very convincing.
The Scintilla and FR also use pure ribbons, without the Kapton backing. Kapton backing was added to subsequent Apogees for increasing their impedance, and hence was a compromise.
The sound of the Kapton backed ribbon is like wearing a condemn, and the sound of pure ribbon... you know what I mean. More later, Apogees with Kapton back ribbon were improved. One example is the Stage which has special material etched to the ribbon but sounds great. The second example is the 5-trace ribbon in the Centaur Major/Minor and the Slant series -- I love their midrange and highs.
I also learned that equating a lighter ribbon to better sound is a myth. There is certain optimal weight of the ribbon that must vibrate between the ribbons without distortion, presumably mathematically determined by the strength of the magnetic field.
I also dislike active crossovers including the DAX but that is another story....some other time.
I hope you don't mind me chipping in? If you are thinking of duelund caps, which are great in my experience, it could be worth trying Rike caps. They are said to be slightly better than duelund and much cheaper! Whatever "better" means?
I have some Rike arriving to try in my xovers which are currently duelund which replaced Mundorf SG in oil.
Rike worked out much cheaper. So if you were after 20 or 30 caps, I would imagine a large saving.
I like the Mundorf silver in oil. The Mundorf silver/gold in oil having greater detail and slightly more air in the treble. Although the golds will show up recordings more. I guess due to their transparency. But the duelunds make those lovely Mundorfs sound a little hifi or etched by direct comparison. The duelund is just so natural. All the detail, but not stuffed down your throat. So if the Rike cap is "better" god help us! I will post something once I have installed and let the Rike caps settle. I live in hope.
Agear: I have listened to, owned many many preamps, and have even had built one using a very special technique and extremely regulated power supply (named X-2 by Charlie). But I think the DUDE is best preamp that I have listened to and I would venture to say possibly the best that exists out there, regardless of the price. X-2 comes very close (and I love it dearly) and is marginally more transparent than the DUDE but the DUDE wins the contest overall.
Knghifi: My speaker level crossover is made up of Mundorf Silver in oil caps (I built it myself). I am also planning to try the Duelands in there. Upgrading the amps with Duelands is an expensive proposition and I am not sure if I can afford that. Paul is not coming to upgrade the amps.
Knghifi: Yes, Paul is planning to visit Texas at my invitation. The fist purpose is to eat some good Steaks here....he does not believe Texas has better steak than Washington, so I am gonna show him that we have better steaks. Second, he is going to listen to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's (NFAK) music. The last time Paul visited me, we played over 200 different kinds of music. But the one that hit Paul the hardest was that of NFAK. He was almost hypnotized by the music and did not speak for a few seconds, hahaha.
So we are gonna listen to NFAK, then Peter Gabriel and if we get time then Bach and others.
The third purpose is to make some addition to the DUDE. I have got the Duelands for the DUDE and can install them but Paul is going to make some additional changes including some crazy ones that I have conceived. For example, I am thinking of putting my passive line-level speaker crossover inside the DUDE, hence eliminating an extra box, cables and lousy switch.
Paul is also going to tune up my Scully Tape Deck.
mapman, I like King Crimson too. My musical collection is pretty decent and spans many different genre. There are lots of music geniuses. It is just not fair to compare musician of different genre and then declare the one you like to be the "right" one. The comparison proposition is just laughable.
