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.
Dear Sam, Thanks for your kind comments. Of late I find that I am very selective in whose comments I read in Audiogon. Yours are one of the few that I always read and enjoy.
I am currently in the process of breaking in a Jorma Prime power cord which I intend to use on the Einstein phonostage. Will let you know the final results, but Jorma more than most manufacturers has a consistent sound that seems to run through their wire products. These cables are an excellent match for my system and for other systems in which I have heard them. Unfortunately, their current pricing is extremely high and will serve to limit the access of many audiophiles to these cables.
You might want to also consider the new MSB Technology Signature Platinum DAC IV and the partnering Platinum Data CD IV transport. There is an optional resistor stepped attenuator for the DAC and two analog inputs (balanced on XLR and single ended on RCA) which can accommodate the output of your phono preamp and tuner. I have found the stepped attenuator to be vastly superior to my former Bent Audio TAP transformer volume control in tems of transparency. The DAC is truly differential in all respects and drives the outputs directly with no output stage with its potential for sonic degradation.
My associates compared the MSB Signature Platinum DAC III and CD III combination to an Esoteric X-03SE and the former had the edge in terms of resolution and lack of digital artefacts. A friend also purchased the MSB combination after hearing it in his own system and at my place. He also auditioned the Playback Designs unit and decided that the MSB better ticked all of his boxes.
I have no affiliation with MSB or any of their distributors, just a very happy owner of their equipment after a long search for something that would put a smile on my face comparable to that provided by my analog front end (see in my system page).
As usual you have cut to the heart of trhe matter. I think that this will be dependent on the system (particularly whether it is tubed or solid state and on the listening preferences of the owner of the system. At this point, I think that in most systems, the PD would be the winner and I have sold the X01. The real unknown is the XSD1. Ideally, I would prefer in my system a unit that has the strengths of both the P03/D03 and the PD but which suffers from none of the trade-offs of either.
While I have not received the EMM yet, I have extensively compared the PD with the X01-D2 and the P03/D03/G0. How one responds to either unit is to a certain extent a function of th remainder of your system. The Esoteric gear is absolutely tops in extension at the frequency extremes, particularly the bass where it has superior extension and control. The PD has more bloom at the bottom and is quite pleasing. The PD can also sound a bit soft at the extreme top. Not lacking in detail but missing the extreme highs although this may be a lack of distortion. Likewise the Esoteric has better dynamics and superior ability to retrieve detail. The PD can at times sound a bit confused particularly from the midbass through the lower mids. The PD on te other hand has a natural warmth and harmonic richness in the midrange and upper bass which can at times make the Esoteric sound a bit clinical. In some ways the PD is like a very good SET amp, sacrificing the frequency extremes for the midrange, the Esoteric like a very good transistor unit. In a system which is already warm and tubelike, the PD can be a little too much. In a transistor system, the PD can be a superb match. I had the opportunity to sell my X01 at a favorable price so did so. The question at this point is what will replace it. I would prefer the single box approach but am considering other options. thoughts?
Let us know what you think about your digital shootout of the MPS-5 vs XDS1 vs Esoteric. I have auditioned both the MPS-5 and XDS1 (along with Ayre C5XE-MP, Krell Standard 3, Linn Akurate DS). I'm very curious to see if you hear the same things I did. My system is probably not as resolving as yours.
I have not gotten around to trying the Slvr HiFi Tuning fuses in other locations but certainly intend to do so given the extremely positive results with the Einstein. These fuses differ from those normally sold as replacements both in the silver caps and in the fact that the fuse bodies are ceramic rather than glass. In terms of effects, one of the most startling was that the gain of the Einstein appeared to increase by 2-3 db. I have encountered this same effect with power cords and gnerally find that it is predictive of other benefits. In addition, the noise floor decreased, dynamics increased, distortion seemed to be reduced, bass was tighter with greater impact. On the minus side, the sound may be somewhat less warm, although this may have been qa coloration.
While I have yet to reach a point where I am completely content with the sound of my system, I am spending much more time listening to music and less obscessing over the next thing to change. I have done some tweaking to my vinyl set up which has paid major dividends. The least expensive of the changes was the substitution of a HiFi Tuning silver contact ceramic fuse for the stock fuse in my Einstein phonostage at a cost of $40. This resulted in an audible improvement in resolution coupled to a reduction of grunge or haze. A second tweak involved the substitution of first a Stage III Zyklops power cord for an Isoclean Super Focus on the Einstein followed by a Jorma Power cord with top of the line Oyaide connectors replacing the stock ends and finally, the insertion of a Bybee Millenium power cord. While each had its advantages and disadvantages, the Jorma was the clear winner in this particular application. I found this interesting as the Stage III was the clear winner on my digital gear. Finally, I have purchased but not yet installed an Ortofon MC90 cartridge to replace my Lyra Titan i.
On a separate note, I have been auditioning a Playback Designs SACD player vs my Esoteric X01-D2 and a friend's P03/D03/G0. I am hoping to have the new EMM Labs XDS1 shortly to further confuse things.
I spent much of last weekend listening to different tubes on my Balanced Kegons. While I was able to improve the sound, I would categorize the changes as evolutionary rather than revolutionary. I first changed the factory supplied Shugang 300B's to Western Electric NOS with about 400 hours on them. This resulted in across the board improvements including further extension at both frequency extremes, lower distortion and better imaging. Next I substituted a Haltron 5U4G for the stock EH. This actually resulted in a higher degree of improvement than the change to WE, particularly with respect to presence and complexity of the harmonic structure. The last change was thew driver which went from a Sylvannia NOS to a Hytron. The sound was certainly warmer and stringed instruments were rendered with fuller body: however, the Hytron seemed to spotlight the soloist bringing them forward on the sound stage. The Sylvannia was to my ear more linear, so I reinserted the original Sylvannia. In the next weeks I am hoping to try other regulators as they seem to have a major impact on the sound. I hace heard that NOS RCA's with double getters are quite good in this circuiy. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Not only does, Fred, Fcrowder, have a "World-Class" system as it is plain and simple to see from his component line-up on his system page, but he's also an audiophile who's pursuit of audio nirvana also parallel's and approaches my own. And although we are now both embarked down two radically different paths, our goals and objectives are the same.
Furthermore, thanks to a visit to Fred's, I was actually able to give plasma, ionic, tweeters a new and different audition than what I had had in Shanghai, China. This was definitely a different take, one in which the Acapella Ionic/plasma tweeters were able to show and bear their "true" magic. It was a real ear opener in a sense of the word.
Why the contrast you may ask? Well I think that the plasma tweeters level in Shanghai were set to allow good integration, but it failed as they did not sound efficient/loud enough to integrate well with the rest of the drivers; Whereas at Freds house the levels were set to allow the ionic tweeters to shine on their own and that is exactly what I heard. I know that Fred and others have communicated and believe that the plasma tweeters integrate with the rest of the drivers on the Triolons to produce a coherent presentation, I must respectfully disagree. And while much of the criticism from others has been the integration of the tweeters, which you can clearly see is challenging if not impossible, to my ears the biggest offenders where/are the big midrange horn.
Now lets put this all in perspective, this is just nitpicking on a very good sounding system. In general I had a very pleasant impression of Freds system.
OK, Please forgive me for not completely reading your system equipment. I just read about the subs you have. 136db at 100hz is very loud I think. And you indicate that you have two of them? Do you find that those treatments work well in taming the insane, and I mean that in a good way, levels of low bass you should be getting? Even calibrated you room could be pounding if not treated correctly.
Yes, that is quite the system you have there. I am sure it sounds impressive. Can I ask you about the Synergistic Research Acoustic Resonators ART? I use my system as a 2ch/HT setup due to lack of space. I have it setup know that it really does sound quite good for listening to music. Movies sound very good as well. But, I have no room treatments at all. My dealer turned me on to these treatments. He is very impressed with them. My only concern is that because I use my system as a HT as well that these may not address the issues that come with a HT. I have a very small room but a very powerful sub woofer in the room. I am wondering if more traditional treatments like from GIK or Tube Traps would be better for me. I would really appreciate any feedback, before and after, what has improved etc, that you may be able to share with me. Thanks
Given the pricing of the Zyklops, most of us are unlikely to purchase more than one or two for our systems. With respect to my system, I have found that the best "bang for the buck" results when the single Zyklops is placed on my X01-D2 player. Last weekend, a friend borrowed several of my different power cords and did extensive listening tests. In his system which includes the Esoteric P-03, D-03 and G-0 clock, the piece that benefitted most from the Zyklops was the transport, although the DAC also benefitted to a lesser degree. My friend also had on hand the less expensive ASP Vortex Prime and the Isoclean Super Focus and Supreme Focus power cords for comparison. In his words in direct comparison to the Prime the Zyklops was "more refined", had better dynamics, better soundstaging and more space and air; however, the degree of difference was much more pronounced on his transport than on other front end pieces in his system, say 30% improvement on the transport vs. perhaps 15% on other pieces. More interestingly, he felt that the Prime on the same scale was probably a 50% improvement over the Supreme Focus. I think that what all this suggests is that the Vortex Prime at about one third the price of the Zyklops may represent a relative sweet spot in the ASP power cord line.
In addition to substituting the Zyclops power cord for the Mexcel on my Esoteric X01-D2, I decided to also purchase an additional pair of 1 meter balanced Jorma Prime interconnect for the X01-D2 to replace the Mexcel that I have been using. The combination is stunning retaining much of what made the Mexcel special but improving the tonal balance (here read warmer with greater solidity of images). Note that to a certain extent this is more a question of taste and system balance than any fault with the Mexcel. It does seem a bit strange to have spent as much on cables and the Halcyonics base as the cost of the Esoteric.
The visit came off without a hitch. Brian was a superb host and very open to switching out equipment and making comparisons. As with other systems of this complexity and resolution, when everything is right, the sound is worldclass, but if anything, even speaker toe-in is even a bit off, it has a significant negative impact on the sound. I hope to detail the comparisons at length in a future article for www.Dagoggo.com; however, I do have a few observations. The Triolons are a highly resolving and highly coherent speaker, They act as a window for other equipment in the chain, often magnifying any weaknesses. The Einstein electronics are a very synergistic match for the speakers. Although not perfect it is hard to find a better match for the Triolons than an Einstein preamp, OTL amps and SACD player connected with Acapella speaker wire and power cords and isolated with Acapella couplers and Fondato Silenzio isolation platforms and damping blocks. Having said that, the Lindemann SACD player is a credible substitute which in comparison to the Einstein has more detail retrieval and transparency but at the expense of a leaner tonal balance. Given my personal preferences, I would probably lean toward the Lindemann but both are very good. Likewise, the new ASP Reference cables, particularly their Zyklop power cord and Gryphon interconnect are excellent and extremely neutral and work well in this system. It was clear that the Zyklop was superior to the Isoclean products on hand, certainly more neutral. The icing on the cake was getting to hear the Ypsilon Transport and DAC. My first real exposure to these Greek products was at CES where I heard their hybrid monoblocks and their stereo SET amps driving Andy Payor's Rockport speakers with good effect. Brian is now the importer for the line. He did not have the amps available to switch into his sytem but has promised a pair of the new SET tube monoblocks for review this summer. Based on what I heard at the show, these should be a killer combination on the Triolons. What I did hear over the weekend was the transport and DAC, each of which had very little breakin. Nonetheless the combination when properly sited and connected with Ypsilon's proprietary cabling was by some margin the best digital set up that we heard. The DAC is tube based and transformer coupled with workmanship that is beyond reproach.
I am visiting Brian Ackerman the importer for Acapella, Einstein, Ypsilon, Isoclean etc. this weekend for two days of uninterrupted listening to his Triolon based system. Given that he has undergone major treatment of his room and spent considerable effort on his electrical service, it should be quite interesting.
I visited friends Saturday evening for an impromtu power cord shoot out. They had previously decided that the place in their system that was most sensitive to electrical changes was the cord which powered their Bybee AC filter which provides power to all their low level components. Changing this particular cord did have the advantage of being very audible. The disadvantage was that it required that the entire system be shut down for short periods. We began the listening with their Black Sand Violet and then progressed through Mexcel (Acrolink), Nordost (Brahma and Valhalla), an older Stage 3 Heighliner, the current Stage 3 Zyklop and the Isoclean Super Focus. The two Nordost cords had many similarities with the more expensive having less of the edge that I associate with their AC cords. Both were a bit thin for my tastes but did excel in the top end. The Zyklop and Super Focus were clearly the best of the cords by some margin. One other learning of the session was that the Zyklop improved significantly after being plugged into the wall with current running through it for at least an hour (think of this as settling time). The Isoclean seemed less perturbed by repeated plugging and unplugging.
Based on some of the lessons learned during my earlier listening session with the Lindeman, I once again borrowed my friend's balanced Jorma Prime interconnects to do some futher listening. Again I was struck by how "right" the Prime sounds when inserted into my system and the rather large cumulative impact of having the Prime from the source all the way through the speakers. In addition, I was able to substitute the new Stage 3 Zyklop AC cord for the older Stage 3 AC cord which I had been using. The effect was pretty dramatic suggesting a rather significant synergy between the Stage 3 and the Jorma Prime. The soundstage became wider and deeper but with much better localization of instruments and voices and a better sense of listening to a real space. Noise level was audibly lower with a resultant increase in low level detail and ambience. Bass was tighter with greater impact and subjectively the volume seemed to increase by 1 or 2 db with better dynamics. There was also a clear increase in treble energy. I was impressed enough with the Zyklop to purchase it.
