The system has evolved over a 20 year period and will probably continue to evolve. It is in a dedicated room that is approximately 19' by 27' by 10' with oak floors and oriental carpets. I also use a minimal number of diffusers on the wall behind the speakers and eight of the 16" ASC Tube Traps. The room has 5 dedicated circuits for the audio.
There have been a number of evolutionary changes over the last year, primarily with respect to the power cords, speakerwire and interconnect and one rather dramatic change, the replacement of the EMM Labs XDS1 with the Esoteric P-02/ D-02. This yielded lower noise and increased detail and bass control while maintaining the musicality of the EMM Labs. I would consider the Esoteric pieces breakthrough products. Funny how you sometimes deviate from your plans. My system seems to go through extended periods without major changes, then have a number at the same time. I do have my eyes on a new cartridge and perhaps a new preamp.
I purchased an early Sirius from Andy Payor thinking that I had purchased the ultimate turntable, only to spend the next five years updating. The updates have included the air isolation base, a series of different motors and tonearms, an outboard power supply for the motor, a 50# platter, new arm wiring and a variety of different belts culminating in a custom aramid fiber belt. As currently constituted, I think that it combines the high definition of the Sirius II without its tendency toward coldness.
Einstein The Tube Mk II
Similar in many ways to the CTC Blowtorch but harmonically richer and more complex with greater dynamics and significantly better image density. Phenomenal bass, ultra quiet, very extended upper octaves.
Yamaha CT-7000
Ebony with black faceplate. Particularly nice top end coupled with an ability under the best circumstances to recreate a three dimensional soundstage. After owning a number of Magnum Dynalabs, this has been a real eye opener.
Acapella Triolons
The Triolons are an imposing sight. Two woofer towers, each 14" by 28" by 7' tall, each weighing 650# plus a cross piece holding a plasma tweeter attached to the woofers and a sword bearing two horn loaded speakers, one horn 30.5" in diameter, the other 18.5" in diameter. The Triolons can be driven by a single amps of 18 watts or higher power but must be triwired and have an efficiency of 97 db. Each side weighs 850# total. The crossover points are 200, 700 and 5000 hz. The sound from 200 hz up to 40,000 hz emanates as a spherical wavefront. The Campanile Highs are similar but crossover to their woofers at 700 hz, use the plasma tweeter plus a single horn and are much lower in efficiency (92 db). The Triolons are typically a 6 ohm speaker but have an impedance at 30 hz of 28 ohms. The same is true of the Campaniles. Neither is a particularly easy load for an amp to drive; however the greater efficiency of the Triolons does open up the possibility of driving them with the right low power amplifier. Unlike the ribbon tweeter of the Magnepans, the Acapella's tweeter does not over shadow the other drivers. Extremely dynamic.
Jorma Prime
The Jorma Prime, either in balanced or single ended configuration is superb, particularly between amp and preamp but also on other inputs. I still use the balanced 7N Mexcel on the X01 and the Valhalla on the TT but otherwise have switched to the Jorma Prime.
Finite Elemente Pagode Master Reference
5 shelf version installed as well as the amp stands. Again a nice and very audible improvement. Amazing the things that you blame on the equipment until you solve the resonance problems. Basically a no brainer. More improvement than changing a major piece of equipment.
Jorma Prime
I have been mildly dissatisfied for a number of years with my JC-1 amps when used to drive the Acapella speakers but have yet to find something that combined the ability to drive the speakers and give me the other characteristcs that I desired although I have been much taken with some tubed amps (small, single ended or OTL within their power limits. Let's just say that the insertion of a combination of Bi-wire and single wire prime has cused me to re-think the amp question. The Primes are simply the most musical natural top to bottom cables that I have ever encountered.
From what I've read, your cartridge and preamplification are top-notch. One thing that we have in common is that we both owned a CTC Blowtorch at one time.
Why did I go the Mastersound route rather than the Kondo? 1. Money. 2. I could audition Mastersound in my home but not Kondo.
The Mastersounds are the best amps I've heard in my home but, then again, there are lots of great 300b amps that I've never heard in my home, including the Kondo amps.
A couple of Kondo folks that are 'in the know' have told me that the greatest strength in the line-up are the cartridge, SUT, phonostage and linestage.
P.S. I have a Kondo IO-M cartridge coming next week(!)
Wonderful. Congratulations on building what must be a fantastic system. I look forward to hearing about the Audio Note amps when they arrive. Do you know which model of 300Bs you will be using? I humbly suggest Sophia Electric™ S.E.T. Princess™ 300B Mesh Plates. They are the cleanest, least distorted, most effortless and airy tube that I've come across. I have no idea, however, how well they would do driving the 4 woofers. My guess is that this will be determined more by the output transformers in the amps than the model of 300B tube that is used.
I get a sense of shared space with the performers but the performance occurs mostly in front of me as well. It's not so much that there needs to be images out in the room; what is required is that the music propels forward from the images in front of you so much so that you feel the music 'on you.' A friend of mine once said of a good system, 'I had to pick the notes off my sleeve.'
With other systems there is no shared sense of space; you can really sense that there is an invisible plane at the fore-edge of the soundstage that separates you from the performers and the music coming from their instruments.
I once had a system like this. I could play it at 98db and still the music would sit behind the speaker plane. It's as if the rest of my room was silent, completely void of any musical energy.
Yes, room acoustics are a factor as is speaker placement, and listener position. I consider my room to be part of my system and I prefer to listen along the long wall, in the nearfield.
I've had speakers in my house that fill the room and others that don't. The room and the listening position was the same in all cases.
In real life sound comes to us. In the majority of systems I've heard, we go to the sound.
In real life there is a shared sense of space when we sit 10' from a musician and her instrument. In the majority of systems I've heard, the musician and her instrument are in one space, "the soundstage," and we are in another.
My system isn't perfect in this respect and certain recordings will never sound the way I want. The fact that the lead-in groove presents itself as it does, however, is quite satisfying.
Earlier in the thread you said that the soundstage in your room ends at the speaker plane.
I've read a few reviews and general comments from folks who have heard Triolons and say that they 'fill the room.' I take this to mean that the speakers have good 'fore-depth.'
I heard them once and they didn't fill the room (it was a very large room, however).
One of the easiest ways I've found to determine 'fore-depth' is to listen to a noisy lead-in groove on an LP at high volume. In my room the hiss and bearing noise (yes, my table isn't perfect) are just "there" / "everywhere" and as a listener I am completely immersed in the noise. The energy of the noise is around me and even 'in' me (as if I had headphones on). It fills the room. I can't point to the speaker or any area behind the speaker and say "the sound is there."
When the record starts the musicians generally appear to line up behind the speaker plane but the music comes out and fills the room.
When you say that the soundstage in your room ends at the speaker plane are you saying that your speakers don't fill the room or only that the performers appear to line up behind the speaker plane?
I'd be interested to know what you experience on the lead-in groove. (Though I don't expect that you hear any noise from the bearing. :-)
In Ryan Coleman's review of the Triolons he noted that: "The Acapella's throw a stage that mimics reality not and the audiophile parlor trick 3-D stage." My question is: where is the fore-edge of the soundstage with these speakers? Is it essentially along the speaker axis? I'm currently using MBL 101Es and the fore-edge of the soundstage is behind the listening seat. In other words, the room is the soundstage and the soundstage is the room. Thanks.
