This system has given me heaven and hell. When I first unpacked my Acapella Violon they did not sound as in my dreams. I must really point out that you have to give your system time to evolve.
After eleven years with the Acapella Violon I bought the Marten Mingus Quintet and a new journey is started.
I've always had a turntable in my system, but this year I went a litle bit further to draw more music out from my system. I've got the vinyl under my skin now, it sounds so wicked. But why stop with one turntable? The Bergmann Magne was irresistible. Then I also needed a new cartridge and my choice was Kuzma Car-40.
I do not know the best way to describe the sound of my system.
It's fast and dynamic with high resolution, they low is controlled, 3D and depth of soundstage are good, maybe I lack a litle with if I should criticize anything. The ion tweater give you a very lifelike presentation.
Since I've changed to Marten Mingus Quintet the soundstage has grown and the bass is improved. The ion sweater is good, but I do not feel that I miss it. I'm still in break in process. It feel like this is going to be really good!
My friends who are not intrested in music and hifi, there first comments was "Now I undesrtand why you are so hooked on good sound reproduction". This is one of the best mark I can get for my system.
Hi Mickep, I haven't visited your page for a few months. Good to see your new changes. I have made a number of major changes to my system, and it has really fixed the bass. I have a set of upgrades on the way - new CDP, crossover, SS amp, new valves. Should hopefully arrive this week or next.
By the way, I took a picture of my Violons exactly the same as what you have :) Pity AudioGon did not let me keep it on the front page ... hehe.
I am planning to get a pair of subwoofers custom made with a very low total Q in a sealed enclosure. Even if it fails for music, it should be good for HT.
I am still trying to decide what vinyl front end to get!
Mickep thank you for your observations and for mentioning Audiodata - I will look them up. My own listening room is HUGE - the system is set up in one corner of an open plan area with kitchen, dining, and living area in the same space, measuring the full length and width of the house.
I have the Acapella silver power cord - it was supplied with my Violons along with the standard power cord. I swapped the two and can NOT hear a difference. I mentioned this to a friend who said that the effect of power cords is negligible if I am getting good power in the first place. I have never heard a difference with power cords on any of my other components.
Mickep don't worry I am sure your English is a lot better than my Swedish :) I had to do a double take when you used the decimeter unit ... we never use that here! From the measurements you have given, it seems as if your speakers are too close to the side walls but I suppose that can't be helped.
Try this experiment: the Violon allows you to hook up one driver at a time. Now take turns hooking up the tweeter, midrange horn, and woofer. Now walk around the speaker and listen VERY carefully, you will hear that the tweeter has a narrow cone of radiation. The midrange horn, less so. It is the woofer which has the widest cone of radiation.
Given that the woofer outputs up to 800Hz I was quite concerned about first point reflections. Before my shelf "grew" to its current height I had the first point reflections tamed with a piece of strategically placed acoustic foam.
By the way, my friend and I have measured the speakers flat till 200Hz. Below this, the room starts to influence the frequency response in a big way. However, it definitely goes down to 30Hz and then drops steeply off at about 24dB/oct below this.
30Hz - 800Hz is a lot to ask of a single driver! To put it in perspective, that is six octaves of music ... compared to 4 octaves that the midrange horn has to handle, and 3 octaves for the acclaimed plasma tweeter (if we assume we can't listen beyond 20kHz). So in other words we are asking the cheapest driver in our speaker to handle the widest frequency range of music. That cannot be good.
So I am planning to add a custom made subwoofer which will relieve the woofer of duties below (say) 80-100Hz. That should clean up the lower midrange quite a bit.
Thank you for your response Mickep. I think that amp matching with the Violons is pretty critical - on one hand it likes a lot of power, but on the other it is so revealing that any second rate amplification will stand out like a sore thumb.
I see that you have your Violons positioned very similarly to mine - out into the room, with plenty of clearance from the side walls. I have also found that they sound better when listened up close. I was afraid that they would lose coherence (given that the drivers are spread a fair way apart) but they gain even more depth! At the moment, my Violons are 1.5m from the front wall, and 2m from my listening chair, in a 8m long listening room. Just as an experiment, try pulling your chair closer and let me know how you go :)
Another Violon owner! Welcome to the club! That makes it four of us on A'gon (Kellyhighendaudio, Kotjac, EliotSwede, and myself). Brian Ackerman's system seems to have disappeared from A'gon.
It is interesting to see what amps people are using to run the Violons. So far on A'gon I have seen: Jadis JA-80, Jadis JA-200, Jadis SE-300B/Belles 350A (bi-amped), Wavac HE-833, and my own (first used Cary CAD-805AE, then now Cary CAD-211AE). Yours is the first system I have seen running off solid state amplification. How does it sound? And have you tried other amps with it? What cables are you using?
