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.
Unfortunately I have no clue regarding what makes one power cord better than another.
I understand the concept of power conditioning and the need to be able to deliver clean power of sufficient wattage for the task, but that is about as far as my sense of urgency goes on that topic. I would defer to the expertise of others exclusively on this topic.
Having never heard MBLs (would love to), I can see from your pictures how your system and the setup would lend itself to the "one space" experience you describe.
The pseudo-omni Ohm 5s in my system provide a listening experience similar to what you describe with yours, however, with my room (L shaped) and setup, I get a sense of shared space with the performers as you describe, but the performance occurs mostly in front of me, regardless of how I adjust the perspective control to "close" or "far". Setting to "close" does result in a soundstage that is more forward and not as much behind the plane of the speakers, but still largely in front of me.
The Ohms sit in the base of the "L" and face straight into the length of the room (about 30' deep). I sit anywhere from 5' in front or further back.
The public venue I've been in most like it in terms of room proportions, performer location and resulting acoustics is the Village Vanguard Club in NYC, if you've ever been there. The Village Vanguard, though certainly significantly larger than my listening room, is also somewhat narrow and deep and I recall a similar listening experience.
Things get really interesting when I crank up a large scale symphonic piece in my little cubby hole of a listening room.
Wouldn't room acoustics be a major factor for the effect you identify?
The bottom line is that, with 2 channel stereo, unless significant reflected sound reaches your ears from behind you, the sound stage will appear to be mostly in front of you.
Speaker dispersion patterns relative to the listening position would also come into play with this I would think.
I've heard the immersion effect as you describe occur in certain "hotter" listening rooms with various speaker designs, conventional box and electrostats included.
THe larger Ohm Walshes (300 + 5) are full range , take whatever power you throw at them and pretty flat down to 20-25hz or so. No need to supplement the bass that I can hear.
