this room and system is the result of 10 years in High End audio. my
system has been stable for a couple of years (except for transport and
amplifier upgrades within the same brand). the room has been in the
planning stage for about 18 months and i actually moved in a little over
a month ago.
my audio philosphy is to have the system get out
of the way of the event. i like as pure and simple a signal path as
possible and, at this point, prefer passive to active gain stages. i
love all the formats and enjoy having lot's of music.....vinyl is my
favorite but i listen to at least 60% digital. the new room really
reveals the benefits of SACD over redbook.
the system and room
truely allow the event to be recreated before me. i love the way the
speakers disappear and i am transported to another place/time.
i have choosen my cables, sources, amps, speakers to have as little of their own sound as possible.
recently, i upgraded my digtial transport from the modified Philips
SACD 1000 to the new emmlabs CDSD.....this was a significant step upward
in performance.
i have written an article in Positive Feedback regarding my room building experience.....here is a link;
new version of these cables, a big step over the amazing TRSC model i have used for 10 years. fantastic performance.
WADAX SA Reference DAC
Wadax Reference Dac----state of the art dac with 2 separate power supplies. the best dac i have heard by a good margin. below is a link to a thread about my Wadax experience.
Arya RevOpod isolation footer (32 used under the 5 Wadax Chassis).
height and tension adjustable. the Wadax dac, server, and server power supply chassis all use 8 footers, so it's critical to be able to adjust height and tension to have an even support for optimal performance. RevOpod's are unique in those attributes making them ideal for this use.
https://www.arya-audio.com/revopod
CS Port LFT1 turntable w/arm
air bearing platter and air bearing linear tracking arm; string drive with zero feedback dc motor, low pressure, low flow air system with zero noise air box.
world class musical flow, nuance and delicacy, combined with authority and ease. serves the music completely.
Esoteric T1 Turntable
magnetic drive/rim drive idler turntable with torque adjustment.
with the deletion of my NVS turntable, i was able to move the Taiko Tana active isolation shelf to under the Esoteric T1. this has upgraded the performance of the T1 significantly. objectively small changes, but musically quite profound up tics in realism and immersion. more nuance, greater music focus, better bass articulation.
https://www.esoteric.jp/en/product/t1/top
Esoteric G1X Master Clock
Master Clock Generator for speed improvement for the T1 turntable. significant improvement in music realism.
https://www.esoteric.jp/en/product/g1x/top
Durand --Tosca tonearm.
gimbal bearing design. Tosca is on the Esoteric T1 turntable
Primary Control 12" FCL tone arm
Field Coil Loaded uni-pivot tone arm. with power supply. mounted on the Esoteric T1 turntable. amazing natural and very high resolution tone arm. link below.
12 inch tonearm, stainless steel. used for the Sumile mono cartridge.
https://glanz.tech/e/collection/mh1200s1000s900s/
Experience Music/Intact Audio phono corrector + silver wound MC Trio SUT combo for three different tonearms.
bespoke tubed phono preamplifier. silver wound, with custom dual power supplies.
https://myemia.com/LR.html
LFD -3- Phono Cables DIN to RCA
3 sets of very high performance phono cables. amazing performance. built by Dr. Richard Bews in the UK.
one cable uses a DIN to RCA short Dongle + an RCA to RCA interconnect. the Dongle improves the performance of the DIN connection. details at the link below.
two Etsuro Golds, ---a pair of Reference MC Phono Cartridges.
duraluminim (A7075) body, 24 carat 'Kinpaku' Gold Leaf finish, diamond cantiliver. .3mv output, 4 ohms. these are both special versions of the Etsuro Gold.
one is mounted on the CS Port linear tracker.
one is mounted on the Primary Control FCL arm.
finest cartridge i have heard by a significant margin. WOW!
Audio Technica MC-2022 60th Anniversary cartridge
uses the unified stylus cantilever design. which results in extreme lack of distortion and linearity. remarkable neutrality and ability to dig out detail and keep it natural and musical.
https://www.audio-technica.com/en-us/at-mc2022
Murasakino Sumile Mono phono cartridge
MC cartridge for mono records, .04mv output. tracking force 3gms. finest monaural cartridge i have heard. competes on musical refinement with the top stereo cartridges.
Ampex twin ATR-102----one 1/4" and one 1/2" reel to reel master recorder
hot rodded by ATR Service Inc----Andrew Kosobutsky. significant upgrades over stock. each interfacing with hot rodded Ampex MR-70 preamps. the new tape deck performance standard in my opinion.
active isolation under 5 separate components: (1) the NVS turntable, (2) the MSB dac, (3) the darTZeel preamp, (4 + 5) both darTZeel mono block amplifiers. custom modifications by Taiko Audio add a linear power supply plus panzerholtz top layer + Daiza platform to provide full frequency resonance attenuation to each platform.
Taiko Audio Daiza isolation platform--22 used in the system
Panzerholtz Platform with spiral cutouts reducing mid and high frequency resonance while retaining life and energy and not changing tonality.
22 Daiza platforms in the system of various sizes under every piece of the signal path.
Evolution Acoustics 'system' power cables
a new version of the TRPC model i used on my darTZeel 468 mono blocks for the last 10 years. a big step up.
Sablon Audio King power cord
used on the Wadax Reference Server power supply.
https://www.sablonaudio.com/power
Absolute Fidelity power interfaces
power cords specifically designed for either motors (tt and tape decks), amplifiers, and components. 11 in the system.
Tripoint Audio Troy Signature
Grounding box for chassis grounding the darTZeel 458 mono block amplifiers + grounding the passive main towers of the Evolution Acoustics MM7 speaker system.
Tripoint Audio Elite
Tripoint Elite grounding box. this does chassis grounding for my sources. it uses a a pair of Tripoint Thor SE Master Reference ground cables for my dart preamp and the MSB Select II dac. there are also 4 Signature Silver ground cables to the two arm boards of the NVS tt, the power supply of the NVS tt, and the SGM server.
Equi=tech 10WQ
10kva balanced Isoltion transformer and distribution panel.
Furutech GTX-D NCF Rhodium duplex outlets
10 in the system. used with 10 Furutech covers and frames. uses NCF (nano crystal formula) material to reduce noise by emitting negative ions.
Wave Kinetics A10 U8 decoupling footers
8 sets-of-4 in the system for individual tuning of each piece of gear.
Auralex T-Fusor diffusers
i use 20 of these. 6 each on the front side walls, and 4 each front ceiling and rear ceiling.
Klaudio Record Cleaning System
automatic record cleaner
Acoustic Revive RL-30 mKIII CD-LP demagnatizer
for demaging any disc.
Furutech DF-2 LP disc flattner
will remove warps from Lps
Audiodharma Cable Cooker, Anniversary Ed.
will cook any cables
Winds ALM-01 Stylus Force Gauge
easy accurate, repeatable, measurments.
i-Tower by Koncept LED floor lamp
(3) are used. best audio light ever. 2 'warm', 1 'cool'.
Quietrock THX 545 drywall
specialized drywall with a 1/4" metal layer. used in my front sidewalls to establish proper room boundaries.
i would be very skeptical that 20 watts would do it in the MMicro 1's. it would likely depend on the size of your room. sometimes 'tube' watts can surprise you thou.
i'd think more like 50 'tube' watts would get up and boggie pretty good. at RMAF i did hear the Absolare 845 SET monoblocks briefly on the MMicro 1's and that seemed to work well....about 50 watts. of course, the Absolare was $40k+ retail and ought to sound good.
I never knew the Dartzeel had such a simple straight forward circuit design, that explains a lot. I find it to be very pure and natural in character similar to a good SET tube design. It lacks the more electronic-mechanical vibe I get from many SS amplifiers.The Dartzeel has 'life' and emotion, it is`nt sterile and dry. Nelson Pass follows a very simple approach with his First Watt for a natural sound(especially with his latest S.I.T. amplifiers).For the large and powerful Datzeel monblocks to adhere to that simple circuit is good news. Regards,
The DartZeel 108 and several other amplifiers go on playing at reduced and somewhat distorted level for some minutes after you switch them off because they have large capacitance in the power supply, a modest bias current, a simple circuit and no relay's in series with the input or the output. Most amplifier's disconnect the speakers or mute the input immediately after you switch it off.
I am not as patient as Mike - after a minute I have no problem changing any cables and I never went in trouble - the Darts are really reliable. There is also one aspect you should be very careful when using amplifiers with simple output paths - avoid short circuits in the output!
BTW, I have no experience with the 458 in my system - my findings report to the 108. And yes, in my humble experience and opinion 99% of amplifier faults are due to audiophile cable swapping!
with the 108, when i turn on the preamp and play a source thru it before i turn on the amp i can hear music faintly thru the speakers.
maybe this is not unusual, but i've not been aware of other amps that work like that. and maybe there is a problem with it. i'm no circuit designer.
that's what a low parts count and minimal protection will get you. it's no accident that the dart's sound so natural and less mechanical than other ss amps.
yes; the MM7's (and MM3's) are adjustable both in the bass and the tweeter.
i share your enjoyment of Copeland and Podger's recordings.
as far as Reference Recordings i have many of them and play them frequently. i have all the HRx 176/24 recordings on my server, and i think three of the Tape Project 15ips 1/4" master dubs are from RR. i have likely 15-20 RR lps, including all the recent pressings. i am disappointed that Keith Johnson will not allow the new RR Lp's to be mastered from the analog tapes. they are 176/24 sourced. i likely have 80% of the RR CD's. great recordings and mostly great music.
i do not stream music from the internet at this point, but i'm open to trying it. i just have so much of my own stuff here i have not got around to thinking about it too much.
thanks. and no, i don't charge admission....however my wife thinks i should. :)
btw, i had forgot to comment on your Nephew, Victor, you mentioned a few months back. i do not recall ever meeting him. the dealership group he worked for in the Seattle area was part of our group prior to 1991, when our's split away. we did have close ties with that group after that but we were not the same company. i've worked for this same dealership for 32 years.
you comment on the BMW is interesting; last year i considered getting a Porsche Turbo or other exotic car but figured since i drive a demo every day when could i enjoy it unless i went to the track. so i backed off that particular dream and focused on my system. no regrets. i can go warp factor 9 in my system any time i want.
we all have choices to make to find passion and have fun.
i do hope next time you get to this area that we can connect.
the method for switching cables i use on my stereo dart 108 is to turn it off while the music is playing. i listen for the music signal to drop very low before i will switch any speaker cables or interconnects. this insures that the amp has discharged. it also shows just how unimpeded the signal is that even turned off the music continues for almost 5 minutes.
Thanks for posting that technique - makes a lot of sense. 5 minutes is pretty amazing.
Hey Mike, thanks for your response. it looks as though you are not into a defensive mode regarding your stereo, my stereo, or Joe X's stereo, so that's where i'm at too. i hope you realize however that when Fremer describes a dramatic burnout of an esoteric product under review, that no one can avoid focusing a great deal of their attention on that part of the article no matter what else he says. Just as he stated the levinson amps were fatiguing to listen to. they are not in the least. they are vivid and dynamic and super clean. not everyone is going to take to that presentation, but there are no false artifacts that i can detect (now that i have had them for 6 months). Plus i have a secret weapon anyway- the Von Schweikert VR9's have a tweeter attenuator so that i can (and do) turn them down just a notch (with my previous amps also). this closely mimics the sound my Eggleston Andras used to make. Are the Evolution Acoustic speakers tunable as well? i would imagine so given their forward-thinking design. so getting to the important stuff- what albums do you reach for lately? could you list one or two? I am still heavily into classical music, including baroque, organ, and the SACD's on pentatone with Julia Fisher (violin) or Rachel Podger. i love Ravel and am collecting more and more Aaron Copeland. Do you like any Reference Recordings? Prof. Johsnon is so good at what he does, it is totally amazing. I need to find out how you stream internet music too. that is my next project. anyway, keep the volume down- you know what happened to Peter Townsend...! regards, D.
just to clarify your point on the 'one of them blew smoke' issue that Fremer had; darTZeel amps have minimum parts count in the signal path. they avoid redundant protection in search of ultimate purity.
the method for switching cables i use on my stereo dart 108 is to turn it off while the music is playing. i listen for the music signal to drop very low before i will switch any speaker cables or interconnects. this insures that the amp has discharged. it also shows just how unimpeded the signal is that even turned off the music continues for almost 5 minutes. if i forget to do this i just need to replace a fuse. not a big deal....and easy to do.
with the big 458 mono blocks this is a more critical issue. the capacitors hold 750 joules of energy at startup. which along with the simple signal path is what gives the 458's such breathtaking energy. OTOH all that energy must be respected. on the 458's there is no on/off switch. you plug it in and it's in stand-by, then you switch it on. so when you want to switch interconnects or speaker cables you simply switch it to stand-by and pull the plug firmly out in one motion. and wait 2 minutes. that is it. not complicated.
i've lived with dart amps for almost 6 years. this is not a big deal to live with to get this close to the music.
what did Fremer do to cause a problem? he is a reviewer and does not have the same sort of awareness or concern or fear of loss that normal gear owners might have. he is always switching stuff. he knows if he breaks something it's not his problem. it's someone else's problem. so the odds are he just did what he always does, forgot about the coaching and instructions, and something went poof.
just for the record, whatever problem he had he still spent his own money to buy those amps.
Beautiful system, all I can say is WOW...do you charge admission? Makes me have second thoughts about purchasing my bmw m3 and investing in a better system. Need to move back to the states before i do that. Enjoy the music.
you need to simply forget about Fremer's review. put it out of your mind. this is suppose to be fun and so filter out the crap that messes with your head.
if you like the ML #53's in your system that is all that matters. we all like to have stud reviewers like our choices, but that's not always going to happen for many reasons.
i bought my dart 458 amps many months before Fremer's review based on my personal listening to these amps in my room. i did not ask anyone their opinion about it....since it did not matter to me.
Funny, but i feel the same way about my system, too. only Stereophile stated my amplifiers (Levinson #53 reference monoblocks) sound like S__t. a year ago however they thought the #532H Levinson stereo amp sounded wonderful and gave them an unequivocal Class A rating, at 1/5 the cost. Fremer loved your amps even though one of them blew smoke at him (after "carefully following all of the instructions") and they cost $145,000. So who then is the ultimate authority on what sounds like "straight wire with gain"? Stereophile, or you, or me, or Stereophile, or Joe Blow down the street with a ghetto blaster? i am sure your system sounds wonderful, sublime, enticingly like the real thing. but of course it's not. but the fact that your room is so DEAD QUIET and doesn't suppress or accentuate any particular frequency band(s) could have more to do with it than anything else (IMHO). ONLY make sure to wait at least AN HOUR after uplugging your amplifiers before touching anything they are connected to. you never know, especially if you're the world's authority at a particular magazine on the most expensive equipment they care to review- and can't tell a piccolo from a pea-shooter. Oh i forgot- do your amps sound as good as the $300K five-box WOLCOTT amplifiers that M.Fremer raved about years ago? or only half as good...? Put on some nice music and relax. that's what i'm going to do.
a recently frequent poster to my thread, Whart, is moving from the Northeast to Austin Texas in the near future and there has been some back and forth between him and i about Austin related to his move. so Austin has come up frequently; particularly when he had a trip planned to go to Austin and he stayed home instead to watch over things during the big storm Sandy.
so i can see how you might connect me to Austin.
the 458's build on the refinement of the 108 and then go to a whole new level of nuance and realism. not just a clear window to the music, no window with direct connection.
i've contemplated simply avoiding trying to describe the sound and just allowing visitors to my room to relate what they hear. i'm not sure people want to hear how i really feel about what i'm hearing.
it only seems to be limited by what a microphone can record and the media and mastering process can then communicate.
unfortunately; when i had these amps almost 3 years ago, that was when i was doing the work on the room (removing the front bass traps) so things were not ideal.
now it is ideal. and as good as the MM3's were, this is much more.
and yes, the industrial design and level of finish on the mono blocks is unmatched in my experience. in person they are almost intimidating with their projection of perfection. i have to pinch myself to make sure it's not a dream.
and then there is how they sound.
all i'll say for now is that last night they started out brand new cold at a place where they were the best amps i ever heard after 5 minutes. and all thru the night they kept getting better and better. i finlly shut it down at 1:45 am very reluctantly. i'm pretty tired today but the smile from last night is still on my face.
yes, lots of cables. and lots of exactly the right cables for the jobs they are doing.
hi Mike, sorry, I must have misread on some forum which you live in Austin. I see your new marvel. They are really amazing. I bet they also play wonderfully. Tey still have the refinement of 108?
They look amazing Mike, congrats. Nice to see it all come together for you. Can still remember when I listen to them with you last time with MM3. Will have to see how they can make the 7's dance. Happy listening and see you soon.
