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.
heard fred's system fri night, changes since last time are A) Emm XDS1 replacing Esoteric Xo1-d2 B) new rectifier tubes in the Audio Note amps
while the rig makes sacrifices that one would expect in any system limited by 20wpc, the 20 when applied to well recorded acoustic / vocal music is spooky, and got the illusion of 'live-in-the-home' about as well as i've heard it.
taking a deeper look into the AN amps reminds me of looking at a hand-made auto (ie 6-figures). art meets engineering objectives. ridiculous and remarkable at the same time.
no hard feelings meant; i do recall hearing your rig (champions forest, right?) years ago, and recall it being radical and easily the most complex thing i've ever heard, and did indeed remind me of being at a live event, but not like live musicians; you had no dynamic limits, but in that it reminded me of a live R&R concert w/ PA-type playback. but here's the thing: just b/c i write reviews doesn't mean i'm right. no one is right about how your rig sounds except you. if you like it, then everyone else can go screw as you've done what you wanted: you've create the art that suits you.
my life is out of control at present (i'm up at 4am to get to work and there til 5-6 regularly), but most appreciative for the invite. would very much like to make it for another visit, it just is a matter of finding the time.
i never stopped soldering anything. question is simply where gear increases in complexity (much like autos), modifying it gets prohibitively difficult for the half-time / half-assed hobbyist like myself. modding a 30yr old tuner that's $100 used is a diff situation than digging into a $15k preamp. your hand twitches with the latter when the iron is hot. and i've been inside the einstein preamp a # of times, and i still cannot figure out what they do with the volume control. that said, i still build all the cables i can (esp AC) and have built / modded my AC conditioners, but as i wrote in my transparent review, some things the DIYer cannot replicate, no matter how hard he tries.
i review gear b/c 1) i like listening to new gear, and 2) i am a very capable writer. so, brand me as you will: someone who gets gear at no financial obligation, but do note: i've not bought one thing i've gotten in for review to this date. i'm sure that will change someday, but for now, this is purely for fun.
the wavac was sold for 1 reason only: the 572 tube has a single mfg, and its out of production. nothing else; as a trader, i know to cut my losses when info changes and turns against you, and i wasn't about to watch a multi-thousand $$ investment go to zero if tubes went the way of the dodo. the wavac remains to this day the piece i am most trying to replicate. it was ravishing, and i & my friends in town still talk about it as the reference of sexilicious music. re: the joule, experience begets experience, such my statements evolve. when presented w/ new information, what do you do sir?
oh, that's right: you say that the accapella tweeter is "inefficient". curious evaluation, i must say. methinks you may have a tendency to rush to judgement, and not just w/ audio.
but don't listen to me. trust your own ears, i'll trust mine. though listening to uber-compressed slayer CDs, methinks you may find you'll need to rely on others for accuracy in audio reproduction.
got a chance to do some extended listening to fred's system last night, given his recent additions (esoteric XO1, Einstein Preamp, 2 new power cords which were still breaking in). couple quick impressions:
1) i gather no dynamic limitations associated with the equipment; any compression or less than full dynamic expression is solely a function of software. I've not heard this system's equal in this regard. Using The Decemberists "the Sporting Life" to test dynamic attack / transients and bombastic quality of drums / guitars, i was quite floored by what i was hearing.
i don't know if its the preamp, the CD player, or what, but fred's system is a revelation here. as m. mickelson of soundstage.com rightly noted, it is system dynamics that are often the biggest give-away that we're not listening to a live performance, but a reproduction. fred's system does not have this limitation.
2) staging is quite good, but not like reference level monkey coffins. one gets an excellent sense of stage location, tremendous (cavernous) depth, and with the right material (see Low: Time is the Diamond...it melts walls), the listening room and speakers disappear. however, holographic depth and density is not this systems strenght, nor its priority (a limitation of horns vis a vis cones IME).
3) fred's system is absolute reference level insofar as information density / microdetail retrieval is concerned. (nearly massless drivers in the mids & treble is certainly a boon).
4) biggest nit to pick (and this is very small, but i'm speaking in absolute terms) is a bit of coolness in the lower mids / upper bass, manifest often in male voices and some acoustical resonances (guitars, violas). Jack Johnson "Better Together" sounded wonderful, but would've liked a bit more depth in his voice. Similarly, the aforementioned Decemberists' singer needed a bit more complexity in his voice to be fully convincing. ---that said, female voices are spot on (!), as are pianos (though i'd have liked to hear a bit more tube-like decay as notes melt away; the sort of golden glow that is non-linear but perceived as being more accurate). it is only male voices that i take the slightest umbrage with.
5) bass impact / depth leaves little to be deisred. i question if fred will ever need his cabasse subs in circuit again (they were not last night).
6) i find it easy to listen at lower volumes to fred's system. that, in and of itself, is a powerful statement. as is my wife's comment "it sounds GREAT." ... she never makes such comments.
do understand i am being as critical as possible above. fred's system is an assault on the art and is getting quite close. my critiques are magnified for this commentary, but are really quite minor when taken in the context that this is easily the best system i've ever encountered.
my wife & i were able to listen to fred's system recently, the most recent additions being the pagode rack and some additional isolation & power tweaks (notably to the lindy 680).
to be extremely critical, i noticed a slightly diffuse center image w/ imaging drawn to 1-2ft inside the horns and getting more diffuse as you moved to the center. also, w/ the TG speaker cables, i noticed a slightly whitish character to the upper mids / lower treble.
NOTE: i am being extremely critical in the above comments. to be more practical in my evaluation, OMG! my wife stated that this was the best she ever heard recorded music, and i heartily agree. recorded dueling pianos were just wonderful, with all the venue info you could ask for.
stage & tone (given aforemention nit-picking), PRAT, dynamics, venue, attack / decay, inner detail, etc etc etc---fred's real close to the end of the line.
and i stand by earlier comments: the accapella tweeter is the standard in high frequency reproduction in home audio.
just listened to fred's system yesterday. as time has passed since he upgraded from the ESL-63 w/ crosby mods to the acapella speakers, his performance has gone up and down and every way between. in the past year, i believe fred has changed amps (wolcotts to the JC1s), speakers (as noted), digital (the G&D/entec setup to the lindy), ICs (to TG high purity), and all sorts of other stuff. well, its finally come together and just sounds wonderfully musical. the most recent change to the TG high purity ICs has finally given him the missing stage density / height / fill that was one of the most persistent problems he was having. those monstrous speakers almost, almost, vanish completely---a remarkable feat.
every component fred has is absolute SOTA and his system is finally sounding that way, through much experimentation with isolation & cabling. given the performance he's getting, it'd be hard not to issue a blanket "thumbs-up" recommendation on every individual component he's using (though a few words: the lindy needs coaxing to really sing, but sing it will; also, i can only assume that reviewers for BFS and TAS never heard the JC1s fully broken in, as these amps are NOT thin in the least--they're complete). in sum, a wonderful combination of unetched detail with liquid musicality. yup, i could live with it.
