This system is a culmination of many years of realizing what I value most in music. With audio, the only way to move forward is to know what you want and then work your way to achieve your goal. With that in mind, every component in this system was chosen to deliver what I value most in music. I strongly believe that the first step in any system is to choose the speaker that delivers what you want, and then choose all upstream electronics to make the speaker work.
The Acapella Violon delivers what I want. The plasma tweeter is simply without equal. It works by ionizing air from a high voltage electrode so that the air is sufficiently energized to erupt into a ball of glowing plasma. The size of the plasma flame is modulated to produce sound. No moving mass, no inertia, no coloration from cone material. This tweeter sounds like nothing. There is no metallic ring like you would get from a metal dome tweeter, and no softness associated with textile tweeters. Sound simply emerges fully formed, the speed and dynamics is unmatched. It just sounds real. This is without doubt the best tweeter technology in the world.
The midrange horn very nearly keeps up with the tweeter. It covers a large range from 500Hz-5kHz with shallow (-6dB/oct) slopes either end. The dynamics from the horn match the tweeter, and it excels in delivering instrumental timbre and loads of inner detail.
The weakness in the system is obviously the woofer. The overall quoted sensitivity is 91dB/W/m, and I am certain that the horn and tweeter were padded back to match the woofer. The drivers are 10", and arranged in a pseudo-isobaric configuration. Strangely, the external woofer is run from the crossover (500Hz, -6dB/oct), but the internal woofer is run directly from the speaker binding posts - i.e. full range. The bass is muddy, sluggish, and there isn't much of it. It obviously sounds disconnected from the horn and tweeter.
Furthermore, the speaker exhibits a wicked impedance curve with 600 Ohms for the tweeter, 8 Ohms for the midrange, and down to 2 Ohms for the woofers. This further exacerbates bass problems when run with valve amps.
I was obviously aware of these problems when I bought the speaker, so why did I choose such an obviously compromised speaker? The answer is - I strongly believe that midrange and treble should be gotten right first. If your midrange and treble are not right, you will spend endless sleepless nights trying to fix a problem which may not be fixable. Bass, in contrast, is relatively easy to fix.
I am about to embark on an adventure to fix the bass on my speaker. The first step is to purchase a solid state amplifier to bi-amp. The next step is to purchase a DEQX to control the phase response and group delay of the individual drivers. After this, I will remove the crossover in the bass unit (converting the speaker to active), and change the woofer to a more suitable driver. Finally, I will build a custom crossover to go before the midrange/tweeter, which will prevent the ADC/DAC stage of the DEQX from contaminating the all-important midrange and treble.
Last but not least, I will return to an analogue source, but such a purchase is still very much on the horizon.
Watch this space.
Previous entry ---
Thanks to AudioGon, I became aware of this speaker. After salivating at some of the nicer Acapella setups here I had to go have a listen. Boy, was I captivated. The most revealing speaker I have ever heard. The plasma tweeter is something else!
I am currently also upgrading from the Cary CAD-805AE to the Cary CAD-211AE, which should allow me to control the Violons a little bit better.
I named this system "Southern Lights" after Eliotswede's Acapella Violon system ("Northern Lights"). After all, i'm in Australia!
-- Old description below --
Years ago I became aware of the sweet combination of Cary amplification and ProAc speakers. It has been my intention for a long time to replicate this system and I finally got the opportunity to build my dream system from scratch.
3 way speaker with plasma tweeter, horn midrange, and conventional woofer. The most astonishingly natural sound I have ever heard. Sounds seem to emanate from thin air, free of distortion and coloration. This picture was taken next to my old ProAc D38's.
Cary Audio Design SLP-05
This is an outstanding preamp with faultless sound. It takes forever for the tubes to run in. The first time I powered it up it was shockingly harsh and unmusical, but this settled down after 24 hours and is now gone.
Cary Audio Design CAD-211AE
110W of push-pull triodes. Incredibly grunty.
Marantz RC-9500 universal remote
The HT and 2 channel systems are tied together with this programmable remote. One press of the button starts a macro which ensures that all the correct settings are chosen.
Acrolink Mexcel 7N-S9000
Simply unbelievable transparency
Acrolink Mexcel 7N-A2070 XLR
Astoundingly transparent. With my last cable I was wondering where the midrange had gone. Well, now it's all back :)
Microseiki BL-99v
Micro-Seiki BL99V turntable with vacuum hold-down.
Lyra Lyra Dorian
Lyra Dorian cartridge
SGR EL30S
SGR EL30S solid state stereo amplifier, 300W. For bass duties only.
JL Audio F110
Pair of JL Audio F110 subwoofers.
DEQX HDP-3 preamp/processor
The DEQX HDP-3 is used to measure the system and will be removed from the loop as soon as development is done.
I will email you some photos of the Basis turntable. I have removed my system until such time that it moves into the next, and quite possibly final, phase (famous last words). The concepts will remain the same (very efficient single driver speaker augmented in the bottom octaves, single ended triode amplification, vinyl source) but some of the gear will be different.
No worries Keith, happy to help out wherever possible. I can't get very excited about the DPS2 turntable I must admit but it is the only thing Murali can offer besides the big Continuum Criterion so no real surprises there.
The rest of his recommendations are pretty solid although I suspect the RCM Sensor Prelude IC phono stage at $2950 will match the Einstein phono blow for blow and at less than half the price. The RCM gives an original Peter Mares Connoisser Definitions phono stage a very good run for its money. A shootout could probably be organised in your system when the time comes if Murali is willing to take part in the exercise and if you are willing to buy the one that truly sounds better to your ears. Heck, we could even do it double blind if you like.
If you wanted a suspended turntable I may be willing to part with my Basis 2800 vacuum at the right price. It sounds great on any stable platform thanks to its oil damped suspension pods. The vacuum platter will take care of any record warps and guarantees a super low noise floor and provides an ideal flat tracking surface for any cartridge. I am sure the boys from Continuum could make up an adapter to marry the Copperhead with the Basis or you could track down a Graham tonearm which would be a plug-and-play scenario.
I wouldn't be too concerned about a turntable manufacturer not being represented here in Australia, there isn't a huge amount that can go wrong with them. Just be sure that the company provides excellent customer service in the unlikely event that anything does go astray (motor or bearing issues).
Other turntables, besides Acoustic Signature Mambo, which personally interest me include the Brinkmann Balance (see Reference AV in Melbourne for this), TW Acustic Raven AC from Germany, Red Point Audio Model D from the US and Kuzma Stabi XL from Slovenia (the latter three still not represented here in Australia to the best of my knowledge).
It is worth taking the time to get it right first time around rather than upgrading in the future, especially in a country like Australia where the resale value is typically poor.
I feel your pain regarding the Schroeder waiting list, was almost going to join it at one stage. Judging by my last visit to Continuum they are well and truly on top of production now. The wait time should be minimal, a good thing if you have a gorgeous turntable and other toys sitting idle.
The other advantage of the Copperhead over the Schroeder, leaving any sonic issues aside for now, is the fact that the Copperhead can easily accomodate a wide range of cartridges whereas the Schroeder seems a little bit cartridge specific from my understanding, perhaps I am wrong here.
Also, the ability to easily adjust a tonearm's various parameters (VTA, VTF, azimuth, antiskating, etc) is very important, even if you only ever do it once. The Copperhead appears to have the edge in this department.
Unfortunately, I don't have any experience with the Audio Research phono stage paired with the AirTight cartridge. I am sure that the flexibility of the Audio Research phono stage will more than accomodate this fine cartridge but whether or not this is truly optimum you will not know until you try a few alternatives, not always easy to do in our part of the world.
I am lucky in that my cartridge and phono stage come from the same manufacturer (ZYX) so the synergy is about as good as it gets and quite possibly so is the sound as a result.
I am quite confident that the AirTight is a fantastic cartridge but in my experience the performance difference between the very best MC cartridges is less significant and more a matter of personal taste than finding an appropriate phono stage for your particular cartridge.
If I was in your shoes right now and assuming that getting maximum pleasure from acoustic music (particularly classical) is your number one priority I would go for high-mass, non-suspended turntable with excellent speed accuracy/stability, a Continuum Copperhead tonearm, a top of the range naked body ZYX cartridge and a ZYX Artisan phono stage. I would locate the small phono stage very close to the rear of the tonearm and use a single short run of cable from cartridge clips to a pair of the best RCA plugs (Xhadows). This avoids the heavy shielded cable braid and cable mounting block and the run of low level signal cable is as short as possible (a very good thing in my book).
According to one keen analog fanatic the aforementioned rig when setup both in my system and in his system (with a cheap Jelco tonearm in place of the mighty Copperhead I might add) was MILES ahead of an SME 20, SME V, cheaper Clearaudio cartridge, Audio Research phono stage rig which was set up at a well known dealer's showroom. He ended up buying the SME which proves that performance isn't always the single deciding factor.
Sorry for the long and unavoidably biased post, but if I felt dissatisfied with my own analog choices then I would be on the hunt for something else and not strongly recommending it to those I count as kindred hi-fi spirits.
I am sure you will achieve amazing sound whichever way you go but just be sure you don't spend more than is necessary to get there since that money could go towards the purchase of more music or perhaps proper support for your new analog rig.
Definitely go for the vinyl rig doc. I would personally choose the Continuum Copperhead over the Schroder tonearm but that is based on having spoken to the Continuum designer at great length and a lot of experience with the sound of that particular product. Continuum have used the Air Tight cartridge for a number of shows so the synergy is well proven. You can't go wrong either way and soon you will be enjoying a sound unlike any digital source extant.
Mickep, I believe that the Kuzma cartridge is an OEM from ZYX of Japan so I am not surprised that you are in love with the sound.
Nice evolving system Amfibius. Are you using Acrolink interconnects and power cables as well as their speaker cable? Sometimes the effect of these cable changes is cumulative and a system-wide approach is best, albeit expensive.
