Speakers are Focal Grande Utopia EM in black finish
Analog music sources,
Technics SP10 MK3 with two Kuzma 4 Point 14" arms. Koetsu Blue Lace on one and Air Tight Opus One in the other. Studer A820 half track tape machine with three sets of cards, each rebuilt by Studer electronics experts so I can compare upgrade performance.
Digital
music source is Aurender W20 Special Edition into Soulution 760 LEEDH. THe best input for music so far is Purist new USB cable and AES/EBU close second place.
Soulution 725 preamp, Soulution 755 phono stage Soulution 760 LEEDH and Soulution 701 mono block amps for electronics. See image posted Nov 18, 2022 to see how it looks.
Cable is 100% top tier Purist Audio design. All latest 35th Anniversary, all ten AC cords are the new Purist 35th Anniversary AC.
My space is 18 X 31 and
acoustically treated with RPG panels, tube traps and fiberglass acoustic treatment
over triple reinforced walls and ceiling. The floor is lamination beams
over steel plates to concrete pier and beam. Two sheets of 5/8 epoxy
lamination sheets make up the floor with two inches of
concrete topped with India multi color slate.
Whisper Wall
rail system and fine textured acoustic cloth covers the work, making everything appear as a normal room of
painted sheet rock or decorative cloth covering.
The room acoustics were conceived by RBDG
and the entire space was torn out to bare dirt under the foundation and
bare studs in the walls. The combo of all new electrical and acoustical treatment resulting in best sound I’ve ever had.
The best offering from Focal, shown with Stillpoints Ultra 5. Ultra 5 was an amazing upgrade for the speakers !
RPG Acoustics QRD 734 (variation)
On front wall, now obscured by acoustically transparent cloth, is floor to ceiling RPG (similar to QRD® 734) in foam, so it's partially absorptive.
Studer Studer A820
Found a near mint A820 at a production studio in Illinois. I was so excited about it's condition I had it driven here in the back of an SUV, covered with moving blankets.
Head block sent to John French and all cards at Soren Wittrup who worked for Studer. This is the machine I spent more than a decade searching for.
Technics SP10 MK3 Rosewood with Stillpoints Ultra 5
Technics SP10 MK3 Panzerholz with African Ebony lumber (no Veneer). This is the original design by John Semrad and myself, copied to death now.
TTM Stainless Mat and Oil Damp Weight
Japan, TTM Stainless mat (6.61 pounds) plus TTM oil filled record weight.
TTM record stabilizer TTM three piece set
Very hard to find, grateful I was able to purchase this last week. Three piece TTM record stabilizer replaces my previous single piece unit.
Air Tight Opus
Air Tight top of the line phono cartridge
Mutech Hayabusa
Excellent MC cartridge, retail about $4500.00
Koetsu Blue Lace Platinum
Top tier stone body Koetsu, perfect alternate to Air Tight Opus One
Soulution 725 preamp
725, Soulution best preamp, shown in system
Soulution 755 phono
Soulution best phono stage, unbelievable amount of adjustment for cartridge including channel balance to 1 DB
Soulution Soulution 760 LEEDH
Soulution top tier DAC, really pleased with performance of this DAC.
I still prefer analog but many recordings that were digital to begin with (and vinyl cut from CD master) are better on Soulution than on turntable.
Soulution 701 Mono Block Amplifiers
Soulution top tier 2KW solid state amps from Switzerland
ORB-DF03 USA version DF03
Excellent LP flattener, simple to use and so far perfect result
Aurender W20 Special Edition
Aurender music server, model W20 SE with 16TB solid state storage on board.
Vibraplane 2212-01
Under my Technics MK3, powered by Silentaire DR-150
Degritter MK2 Ultrasonic LP cleaning machine
From Estonia, very powerful ultrasonic LP cleaning machine. The MK2 version is better than the original which was already the best I’ve heard
Degritter and ORB LP flattner Degritter and ORB LP flattner
View of two important pieces to maintain LP collection
Milbank Transocket three phase 750 amp
750 amp meter base. Pass through design, three phase power is a huge benefit in conjunction with our dedicated transformer.
Porter Port Cryo outlets 20 Amp
14 of these in my system, each to a dedicated breaker in copper based electrical box
Furutech NCF Booster
New NCF Booster added to majority of AC cords in system. Easy to see against light colored wall, arrow points to NCF Booster to my (previous) owned Allnic M-5000 amp.
Purist Audio Design Focal EM Supply cable
New four conductor cord, replaces stock Focal supply cord from EM drive box to back of speaker. Amazing upgrade
(1) Soulution 725 preamp to Soulution 701 mono blocks
(1) Soulution 760 LEEDH DAC to Soulution 725 preamp
(1) Studer A820 to Soulution 725 preamp
Purist Audio Design 35th Anniversary Bi-Wire
1.5 meter Bi-Wire, Soulution 701 mono blocks to Focal Grande EM
Purist Audio Design 35th Anniversary AC Cables
New STUNNING cable from Purist Audio, silver and seven stage network box. This cable brought so much dynamics, resolution and transparency to my system it qualifies as a main component.
Leica Disto D2
Super laser measuring tool. Indispensable for setting distance and alignment of your speakers
What I forgot to say: From my experience I would infer, that the ADS is superior to must other cleaning systems, including steam, which I've tried, in LOOSENING dirt from a LP but not the best in REMOVING it. Hence I find that the combination of ADS and in my case the Loricraft is hard to beat. Wonder Albert, what your findings will be....
The Audio Desk is very cleverly set out and the cleaning fluid is refiltered after every use so that you can use it for quite a while. However I found, that after using the Audio Desk, a quick rinsing job on my Loricraft did indeed improve performance. To a better level mind you, compared to using the Lori by itself. So using both systems is not overkill and Aaron has made an excellent point in my view. And yes, I agree with Albert, the VPIs are pretty dammned good and I only bought the Lori, when my VPI died on me after probably about two decades of use. (I started out with the hellishly expensive Keith Monks, which didn't even last a year!!)
Thanks for your kind answer. You must know,I am a stator fan, having discovered the Quad 57 many decades ago, later stacking them, etc.,etc. and finally ending up with the big Sound Labs, reinforced with the a-Capella plasma tweeters and the big Rel Studio sub to make up for the typical stator drawbacks. So my ears are biased. I listened to two complete mbl setups at private homes. What I found irritating in both cases was:
1. A plucked guitar string had the size of a Mack truck, instruments were much too big to be realistic. 2. The sound was too analytical for my ears with an unnatural emphasis in the upper midrange-lower highs 3. Worst of all, the placements of instruments was "wobbly", there were phase instabilities, because of which instruments were not represented threedimensionally, so that you could not "walk around them", an absolute prerequisite I have on every good system.
From what you write, I now tend to think, that it must have been a setup-room interaction in both cases not expertly carried out. (Sorry Albert, for stealing some of your space (((: ) Cheeers and happy listening, Detlof
Thanks for the information Albert, I'll go and research and will certainly suffer the same dilemma. (: P.S.: Wished I could hear your system and that you could hear mine. But who knows, perhaps one of us gets bitten by the travelling-bug and hops the pond.
Albert, "Just enjoying it as another listening tool." Alas, that's exactly it. I went to the link and there is a US order form. I don't know if you noticed. If I can help you out, please let me know. The music they are offering however, at more than a 150 bucks a piece for non members to me at least seems rather obscure.
Albert, I also went to the German site Tuchan has mentioned and found nothing of the sort as well. I would be interested, should you strike lucky. Congrats regarding the Studer. It is a great machine, the best I think for our purposes. Did you have it modded?
Mapman, I am intrigued by what you have said about your mbl experience. I do not doubt your ears, but whenever I heard their gear I was disappointed. Probably the set up was bad. Where did you hear them sounding so good?
Otherwise I completely agree with what was said of tapes versus vinyl. I own a few more prerecorded tapes than Albert has mentioned, but can think of only one or two which clearly bettered good vinyl on my highly modded Goldmund Reference. In a shoot-out between shaded dogs of the Chicago Symphony with Reiner and RCA's early two channel tapes of the same takes I found it difficult to say which I liked better on my rig.
Sorry Nrchy, but Sean already patented the name of Frankenstein for my "weird ass system" as Robert Stein of the Cable Company once called it. Albert's system is far more civilised, rather the work of a Renaissance man and artist, compared to my wild bouts of experimentation. (:
Greg, Abert, this colleague of mine knows his maths, he's got an astute mind, too astute for a shrink I feel, must have been an unconscious death wish on his part (-;.....well, that's what colleagues are for: As the old saying goes....."medicus medicum odet". Wonder if this holds true for audiophiles too, namely that under the veneer of politeness and helping cameraderie we jealously compare our gear and if we fall flat, would hate each others guts. Would be food for thought and worthy of another thread, though hardly a politically correct one.(-:
Greg, Abert, this colleague of mine knows his maths, he's got an astute mind, too astute for a shrink I feel, must have been an unconscious death wish on his part (-;.....well, that's what colleagues are for: As the old saying goes....."medicus medicum odet". Wonder if this holds true for audiophiles too, namely that under the veneer of politeness and helping cameraderie we jelously compare our gear and if we fall flat, would hate each others guts. Would be food for thought and worthy of another thread, though hardly a politically correct one.(-:
albertporter on All Out Assault