Thanks Mike. I really appreciate your helpfulness. Alex

al2 May 30, 2012 02:55

hi Alex,

thank you for your kind comments. and you are always welcome to ask any question or bring my attention to another thread.

i had already seen your thread and posted, and for whatever reason your post above here was delayed in being posted on this thread.

in any case, best wishes to find the cartridge that best fits your system and preferences. any of the ones you have mentioned would be very nice. i do strongly prefer the Anna of the ones i have heard.

best regards,

mikelavigne May 29, 2012 16:30

Hi Mike, this is Alex from Germany, music and audio lover.

Congratulations on your new speakers.

I read your systems post for years.
Thank you so much for sharing your great passion and knowledge with us!

Your system is fantastic, especially your room, analog and tape machines.

Dear Mike, sorry maybe this is the wrong place but I started a thread here:

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?eanlg&1337907821&&&/Goldfinger-Statement-Lyra-Atlas-or-Ortof

I will be very thankful if you find the time to help with your broad experience.

All the best to you
Alex

al2 May 26, 2012 01:22

better,best, perfect to the right
worse, worst, intolerably awful to the left
good has enemies all around

uru975 May 18, 2012 16:42

I thought it was the "perfect is the enemy of the good": expressing the tendency to try for the impossible at the expense of the possible.

stanwal May 17, 2012 22:41

"better is the enemy of good.

gregadd May 17, 2012 20:45

once the MM7's are in house and have some hours on them, the designer, Kevin Malmgren, will visit and dial them into my room. Kevin already has the dimentions of my room and so will plot out a starting point for me to set them when they arrive.

there are two other local MM3 owners who Kevin will visit when he is here and dial theirs in too.

no speaker or any piece of gear is perfect. even the idea of perfect is not how one should think. OTOH things can be right, and finely designed and built to do a job exceedingly well.

audio nirvana? that would be a personal sense of satisfaction from the music media and system to express it. and in the last couple of years i feel i've been there....where i'm satisfied fully. not that something can't get my attention if it's clearly better....which is what the MM7's did when i was able to directly compare them to the MM3's. i didn't lust after the MM7's for some lack in the MM3's. i just decided to pay the price for a bit more of nirvana once i knew about it.

if tomorrow i changed my mind and kept the MM3's i know i could live with and be satisfied with them. i'm lucky to have the MM3's and appreciate the hell out of them.

mikelavigne May 17, 2012 00:21

I have staed eslwhere nothing made by man is perfect. Certainly at $200k there should be no compromises. I hope you have found audio nirvana.
Are you goiing to install them yourself? Or is a vist from the manufacturer eminent?

gregadd May 16, 2012 23:02

I seem to recall you were in hot pursuit of the VR 11. ANy comparison between that and the MM7?

6 years ago i owned and loved Von Schweikert VR9SE's. i had no thought to sell them. then a friend from HK made me an offer i could not refuse and i sold them. i had loved the VR11 when i heard them at CES; so i took that opportunity to order VR11's. this was in July 2006 or 2007.....and delivery was promised for 8-10 weeks later. then late that same month i was in San Diego on a business trip and visited Kevin Malmgren (designer of the VR9SE and VR11) who was finishing the final voicing of the MM3's. i loved what i heard, and decided to also order the MM3's.

to make a long story not as long; i finally recieved the MM3's 4 months later, and at that time Von Schweikert still had not even started the VR11's. the following June i finally cancelled my VR11 order (and they had not yet even been started). i'm not going to point fingers anywhere, i only report the facts.

i explain all that because i never really left the Von Schweikert speakers, they left me.

i see the VR11 as an awesome speaker but more an MM3 competitor than an MM7 competitor. i think the MM3's are mostly preferrable to my ears compared to my (now 8 year old) recollection of the VR11's. i prefer the Accuton ceramic midrange and ribbon tweeter to the VR11 or VR9SE mid and tweeter; and see the bottom end of both the MM3 and the VR's as a trade-off.

to my ears the MM7's go to another level at everything compared to any of those others. obviously; these are just my viewpoints....and until i live with the MM7's for awhile my impressions are very provisional.

all these speakers are Kevin's designs (part of the MM3's were not totally Kevin's), and the MM7 is his masterpiece.

mikelavigne May 16, 2012 21:11

I seem to recall you were in hot pursuit of the VR 11. ANy comparison between that and the MM7?

gregadd May 16, 2012 20:28

Greg,

back in March i was in Newport Beach at a business meeting and had the opportunity to visit Kevin Malmgren as he was completeing his design work on the new MM7 crossovers. i was able to hear them side by side with the MM3. you can read about that here and the subsequent posts.

the MM7's are due to arrive late August, so i just listed my MM3's for sale last evening.

the MM3's are no less awesome than they were before, there is now simply another step up.

mikelavigne May 16, 2012 20:10

The king is dead. Long live the king! The MM3 is for sale?

gregadd May 16, 2012 20:00

Jean-Fredrick, yes of course i remember you. and your visit as well as your ultimate plans to build a dedicated room once you were more settled in one place. are you building the room in France? or in Asia someplace?

in any case congrats on that finally happening.

i've not heard the Q7, but i like what i've read about it and it's much more amp friendly efficiency. congrats on those too.

my system is wired with #10 gauge Romex. so when i had the Equi=tech installed almost 2 years ago i did not change the wire in the walls as i would have had to rip out the walls to do it. my friend Bruce Brown did use JPS wire for all his in-wall wire.....which then forced him to actually solder all his outlets to his wire since it was so big. if i had it to do over again, i'm on the fence as to whether i would go with some sort of 'audiophile' wire for in wall. it could be better than the #10 Romex, but i'm very happy with what i hear.

as far as the Equi=tech 10QW wall panel system i am totally satisfied. in this country there is the issue of UL rating. there are no other high end panel systems that are rated. it sounds amazing to me. great build quality. it's not cheap but in the context of a room project it's not that bad. i'd contact Martin at Equi=tech and ask them how their panel meeets the codes of the country you are building in.

as far as dulpex outlets a year ago i switched from the Oyaide R-1's to the Furutech GTX-R and it made a big positive difference. the GTX-R uses pure copper contacts and then a stainless steel clamping system behind those copper contacts. this is much easier on the plating of your male plugs, and provides that perfect contact. other better plugs use an alloy for strength that simply is not as good as pure copper. also; the GTX-R is one solid chunk. if you drop it on a counter it just thuds. the R-1 sounds like it full of tiny lose pieces. this mechanical inertness gives you that really solid sound.

there are a few posts in this thread both about the Equi=tech (August-Septemebr 2010) and the Furutech GTX-R's (last spring as i recall) that get into more detail.

i'll look forward to some info on your room project as you go along. enjoy the process. and if you ever get a chance to hear the new Evolution MM7's i'd love to get your feedback on those too. maybe you can visit again here once i have them.

best regards,

mikelavigne May 10, 2012 13:55

Hi Mike,
Not sure if you remember me, I visited you from taiwan 5 years back. I am also going now through the process of building a dedicated room, fully treated. I will change at the same time my MM3 for a pair of Magico Q7 (actually, keeping the MM3 for a second system in a second home).
I have a small technical question: Which type of electrical wires did you use between your equi=tech panel and the power sockets? are you still using the Oyade sockets? would you still consider the equi=tech as the best power system (against competitive solutions like Torus)
thanks

stereotaipei May 10, 2012 09:07

for those interested; here is a link to a thread on vinyl compared to tape related to my above posts.

mikelavigne May 01, 2012 22:53

thank you Francisco, for the explanation.

i look forward to trying it in my system with amps without the BNC/50ohm circuit.

mikelavigne April 30, 2012 21:12

Mike,

It's nice to read that some audiophiles such as yourself are at the very bleeding edge of the art. I truly appreciate your willingness to share your experiences with the rest of us. I have learned much from the exchanges I've had on these forums and I'm sure I will continue to do so.

I'll stay tuned indeed.

peterayer April 30, 2012 02:32

The purpose of the T adapter with the 50 ohm terminator is to put a resistor of 50 ohm in parallel with the input of the amplifier. This way the Dartzeel preamplifier and cable will see the correct load at both extremes.

microstrip April 30, 2012 00:39

to be clear; i do feel that the very best master dubs will still better the best vinyl, the only question is by how much?

if i were to pull out my 5 or 6 very best tapes i expect they will sound better than the vinyl. the issue is not my RTR decks, it's the tapes themselves and all that makes them what they are.

but the bar has been raised as the very best vinyl seems to get better and better.

i have a 1/2" Studer A820 and a few 1/2" master dubs. i've ordered Series 3 of the Tape Project in 1/2". will my vinyl be able to keep up? who knows? stay tuned.

mikelavigne April 30, 2012 00:13

Peter,

agree that RTR has many levels as does vinyl. and the difference between your story and mine, is that i have spent 6 years heavily investing in RTR tape and optimizing that format performance. i influenced many to get into tape. and i've used tape as a reference for these past years.

the objective aspect of my story is Rich and both his experience over time in my system with my RTR playback, and then his playing these particular tapes in multiple systems prior to mine. and then other tapes in many systems over the years. this is a guy who knows tape and how it works in various systems. those here who know Rich know his expertise.

but still, as i wrote above, this event is just one data point and no proof. were these particular tapes perfect? apparently not if some reissue Lps better them easily. or maybe we have a vinyl playback system that has changed the rules of the game?

you yourself have asked me multiple times about what i think about my NVS and vinyl system performance. i tried my best to respond, and one thing i mentioned was how i thought that the vinyl was moving equal to and ahead of my tape. it seemed that today's experience would be helpful to illustrate that. but i only called it a small dose of objectivity.

mikelavigne April 30, 2012 00:03

Mike, I have almost no experience with R2R, but can share one of my anecdotal experiences. The first and only time I had the opportunity to directly compare tape to vinyl, it was not really close, the LP was better. This was at a friend's house and his system does not really approach the quality of yours, but the demonstration was very clear to me. I left wondering what this superiority of tape business is all about.

I'm a diehard vinyl guy and have listened to very few tape demonstrations, but I've heard some outstanding vinyl systems and I'm yet to be convinced that tape is always superior. I can relate to your friend Rich's experience. I'm not surprised. But then I don't really know much about the whole tape thing.

Congratulations on assembling such a satisfying vinyl source.

peterayer April 29, 2012 23:34

i've really been enjoying listening to vinyl lately thru the NVS-Telos-Anna-dart and today something happened that put things in a bit of perspective with a small dose of objectivity.

RTR tape lovers among us mostly know Rich B.. Rich collects (not to be named) master tape dubs, and he visits me every few months when he visits the NW tape mafia, and we play some of his tapes.

today he visited and played 5 of his tapes. i happened to have Lps of all these tapes which i played, and a couple were somewhat close, with the Lp better, the other 3 it was not really close....the Lp was much better. none of these Lps were original pressings; mostly they were MFSL and DCC re-issues. Rich agreed with my view, and was taken aback. a first time event for him. and Rich visits many high end systems with fine vinyl.

this proves nothing, and is anecdotal in nature. but it does speak to my previous opinions on just how and why i feel that i do about the NVS-Telos-Anna-dart.

Rich has been coming over for years with these tapes (which we play thru the Studer A820-King/Cello) and i've been playing the Lps of these tapes for comparison for years.

mikelavigne April 29, 2012 23:20

Hi Microstrip & ML,

What is the purpose of the T adapter?

nobrainer April 27, 2012 11:04

i did not use any BNC T adapter with a 50 ohm plug terminator with the BNC-RCA adapter. i'd appreciate if you could e-mail me a link for the parts to do that and i will acquire them.

many thanks for the tip. :-)

mikelavigne April 26, 2012 23:49

Did you use a BNC T adapter with a 50 ohm plug terminator with the BNC-RCA adapter? I found that it sounded great when I tried Krells with the Dart preamplfier.

microstrip April 26, 2012 20:11