This rig is the cumulation of building my system for over thirty-five years. The Threshold SA-1 monoblocks are true classics and still sound great powering the bass panels of the MG-20s!I love this system's combination of details,natural timbres,and soundstage. I sit about 14 feet off of the MG-20s so I get a great blossoming of the soundstage in a very real and natural way.I named the system "The sound of Jazz" because I'm a serious jazz buff who listens to swing,be-bop,hard-bop and soul-organ styles about 99.99% of the time! Most of my collection was recorded in analog so it has that organic/musical sonic sense to it which sounds great when played on this system. It's a wonderful treat on a daily basis tohear the great players in the history of Jazz play in my house.Nothing is like live music but this system gives a great illusion of the real thing.I can honestly say that my goal was to enjoy the beauty of music I love and this system allows me to do that, without feeling that I'm missing out on some important aspect of the experience of sound that we humans call music.
Silver and crome reference piece. Weighs over 80 pounds.
Concert Fidelity DAC-040
Non up or over sampling DAC that uses NOS DAC chips and NOS tubes.
Concert Fidelity CF-080
Hand built linestage built on the philosophy of having the shortest signal path possible.
Pass Labs XA-60.5 monoblocks
The latest generation of the XA series amps.
Lawrence Audio Cello
The Cello is a floorstanding five driver 3.5 design using Air Motion Transformer and ribbon drivers with Carbon fiber cones.
Martin Logan Depth I
The Martin Logan Subs are designed to be able to intregate with panel speakers. The Depth uses three 8" drivers and goes down to 20HZ, but is fast and quick enought to blend with the MG-20's. I'm using two of them in my system
Stealth Cables Varidig Sextet Digital reference
Designed to be a mate with the Indra reference. BNC to BNC connections.
Stealth Cables Indra
The cable with the "infamous" amorphous conductor.
Stealth Cables Metacarbon
A carbon with metal flakes cable that is Stealth's answer to the sonics of it's much more expensive Indra cable. Three pairs.
Stealth Cables Dream Petite & Ultimate Ribbon
The Dream Petite is one step down from the reference Dream and the Ultimate Ribbon is used for the bass panel.
Running Springs Audio Dmitri
This companies new reference AC power conditioner, along with their new HZ power cord.
System edited: Well, it took me close to 20 years to find a speaker that would really be an upgrade to my tweaked out bi-amped MG-20's! The Lawrence Audio Cello speakers are now my new reference in my system. For a detailed account of way I made this move you can go to the website that I'm a staff reviewer for, hometheaterreview.com,and take a look at what I heard/experienced with the Cello that lead me to make the change.
Yes, for me it offers across the sonic spectrum higher performance. For details take a look at the review here on the GON that I wrote about that describes the differences in details.
System edited: After enjoying my AA reference Tube Hybrid DAC for over four years, I finally found a DAC that is clearly on another sonic level, the Concert Fidelity DAC-040. Just wrote a review on it and submitted AudioGon,so I hope they except my review. It will give the details why I made the move.
Talk2me, thanks for your kind words regarding my writing here on the GON. Congrats on your new baby the CF-080 LS/X. I'm glad that you are totally enjoying it in your system. If you want E-mail me regarding the tubes that I have found out are really special in the CF-080, these revolve around 5814's, 5963's, and 6189's for details on the sonics of these tubes.
Doggrell3000, to directly answer your question regarding if I have ever auditioned either tube power amp you are interested in is no. My position regarding powering my own rig is that I can get most of what I want from tubes with a great tube preamp in front of great SS amps. Therefore I by pass the hassles, retubing the power tubes, having to turn off the tube amps, the heat big tube amps generate, since I never turn my system off.
In my review I shared that my dear friend Mike Kay had the the ML-CLX's, he recently drove them with the new stereo Ensemble hybrid amp instead of monoblock tube amps and thought the combination was terrific sonicly. You might want to contact him for details and to set up an audition. This amp sells for around $10k, a lot less then the very fine tube monoblocks that you are interested in and might sound just as good if not better.
System edited: Just upgraded to the MBL 1621 reference from its baby brother the 1521. I knew it was going to be better, but I'm quite surprized how much better. The sonics across the board are at least 15 to 20 precent improved, the liquidity/warmth, the microdetails/transparency, image density, and finally the low end is much more extended and powerful. It's really a great sounding piece.
System edited: No piece of equipment,including the CF-080, is the "BEST" in the world, but this linestage ranks with the best I have ever heard. It's my new reference replacing the Eklipse, which is still a great sounding linestage, but the CF-080 costs $15000.00 more then the Audiovalve piece.
Hi, Barry if you take a look at my review of the XA-60.5's it explains that they power my 20's much better then the XA100's, at best the XA-100's were putting out 50 watts at four oms. The XA-60.5's double down as impedence drops so they are putting out 120 watts with much more current. So, no I have no problems playing at 90/95dB levels into a very large room.
I totally agree with what you say about Grant's great stands, I have them and also wrote a review of them here on the GON that he uses on his website.
Crisbrav, I have never tried any Virtual Dynamics cables/wires in my system. However a very good audiophile friend replaced all his VD cables with a combination of Stealth Indras, Metacarbons, and Dream speaker wires/power cords because he thought they were superior sonicly to the VD wires and were much more manageable to use then the VD.
Hi, Kevin thanks for the kind remarks regarding my system. When we built are new house, which is a post and beam{over 30 posts and beams}totally open design with 30 foot ceilings, it turned out to be a great acoustic environment for my system. I'm far enough from the sidewalls, frontwall, and backwall that I get no nulls or peaks as far as I can tell.
I have heard the Berkeley DAC in a high end system that I was familiar with music I brought,thought it quite good, but not better then my AA DAC. Also, have auditioned the PS Audio music wave transport and DAC, again very good on redbook which is the most important to me, but not the as good as the AA DAC and MBL transport.
System edited: I'm kinda astounded at the amount of improvement these monoblocks are over the XA-100's in my system. Nelson Pass is genius! I'll be posting a review with all the details.
System edited: Just added the Running Springs Audio Dmitri to my system and for right now all I want to say is WOW!. I'll be righting a review here on the GON when I collect my thoughts.
System edited: I just added a pair of Martin-Logan Depth I subwoofers to my system with beautiful results. I'm amazed not what they did for the very bottom end, but what they did to the soundstage depth and width, the air between players, more of a 3-D quality to the individual players, and finally the whole system has more liquidity and an easyness to its overall sound. As far as I can tell so far I'm not aware of any down side at all!
Hi Scar972, thanks for the compliment regarding my system. I had at one time audtioned a Joule Electra and found it was not my cup of sonic tea, at least in my system.
Your correct regarding the different inputs, no worries, just experiment and see which sounds the best. So far this the best preamp, with the right tubes, that I have ever had in my system. So, congrats on your Eklipse, let me know how you like in your system.
Hi Hotbird, you always share new and informative information. Thanks.
If Audio Valve's reference Conductor preamp takes the performance level of the Eklipse to another level, all I can say is that would be a beautiful sounding piece of stereo gear. Besides, I just got the Eklipse and am totally enthralled with its performance, also the Conductor is a totally balanced design. I cannot use XLR cables coming out of the preamp in my system because I go into a single ended Bryston crossover before the two sets of monoblocks into the MG-20's. So, the benefits of the fully symmetrical design might be negated in my system. But, I'm sure the Conductor would still be fun to hear in my system.
Congratulations on your new transport! From the pictures it sure looks like "eye candy" and I bet it sounds wonderful with your Ref tube DAC. Hotbird, I would love to audition and compare the MBL to the AA, however it will be very difficult for me to set this up. The new importer is a hell of a nice guy, but I don't think he's going to ship me one without purchasing it for auditiong reasons. Nobody I know in the Chicagoland area that I live in has either the AA Tube DAC or the new reference transport. If you want to come over with your new toy, your more then welcome!
System edited: Just replaced my Antique Sound Lab Flora EX DT preamp with the Audio Valve Eklipse linestage. I wrote a review on the Eklipse here on the GON with all the details on this great piece.
Chris, I have not heard the Lavry piece, if you have or will please share how this DAC sounds compared to the AA Tube Hybrid DAC. Congrats, on your new monoblock amps! I have listened to a few different DACS and still am very content with the AA DAC and my new MBL transport.
Chris, thanks for the congrats regarding the transport. Please let me know what you think of the AA Tube hybrid reference DAC, I found it to be one of the most musical of all the digital front ends I have ever heard and with the MBL transport just a pleasure to listen to.
To answer your question regarding a silky/smooth treble with my Pass Labs XA-100's and MG-20's, YES with very natural timbres/resolution/speed. I have tried tube amps, including, VTL's, in the past and still like the XA-100's better.
System edited: I have replaced the Accustic Arts MKII transport with the MBL 1521a because it's sonic performance was on a much higher level and brought the sound of my total system another step towards the illusion of real music. I will not write a formal review of the 1521a because a terrific one was already written by Marshall Nack for Postive Feedback Online, Issue 33, which I total agree with regarding his experience with this wonderful transport. Some of the highlights that Mr. Nack describes are such things as,"huge amount of muscical detail without losing the integrity of a single line... textured controlled bass... frequency response is a model of linearity... tonal platette is warm and rich". I would add an expanded soundstage with more space and 3D around each player and a liquidity/easyness without a loss of punch and dynamics. The bottom end is a real killer with this transport regarding extension, pitch, and speed.
Hi Sherod, I'm quite pleased with what the Dream Petite wires are giving me in my system. I was and still am a great fan of Acoustic Zen wires, however compared to the AZ Absolute the Dream Petite offers a much higher level of:
1) Transparency/clarity which equates alot more microdetails.
2) The AZ speaker wires are great at throwing a large open soundstage, the Dream Petite does not out do it in the size of the soundstage, but in more precise layering and air around individual players.
3)The Stealth wires are much "faster" in my system, so my overall PRAT has picked up. I call this the jump factor that gets you into the music more easly.
4) The bottom end is not deeper, but has more natural timbres to compared to the AZ.
So, I'm very happy camper, just remember it took a cable that is almost three times more expensive then the AZ wires to get to a higher level of performance, so that's a compliment to the ratio of cost/performance in AZ cables.
System edited: Just replaced my Acoustic Zen Absolute and Satori with Stealth Dream Petite and Ultimate Ribbon. When the new speaker cables are fully burnt in and I have collected my thoughts regarding their sonics I will post a review. However, right out of the box and 12 hours later the Dream Petite is offering a terrific sonic performance already in my system.
Puerto, I do not have MYE stands on my MG-20's. I have them on Goldmund cones and find these do a very good job of tightning the bass and offering more transparency then without them.
System edited: Just added the Indra and two more pairs of Metacarbon to the system. The total effect is just amazing and brings the whole system to another level of "musicality and liquidity" then before.
Chris, I have heard the MBL DAC/transport on a couble of occasions, found them quite good, but not better then my Accustic Arts combo, and was not motivated to do a home audition. The MBL pieces were not the reference combo, but the pair that sells for around $15000.00. I never have heard the MBL 1521A, but would suggest you post on my thread, entitled, Reference DACS: An overall perspective for information on this piece. I would also recommend you put on your audition list the AA CDP MK-2 which offers great performance in the price range of the MBL player.
Dev, we totally agree on the Stealth wires, they really offer something special in the system that they are placed in.
Yes, I have heard the WB ACT speakers and found them quite good, open, very detailed without being "edgy", and musical. As far as their bass extension, it seemed fast, and accurate, but I don't know how deep they go.
I know no that has ever tried the Oracle transport. I have read postive reviews of the Oracle CDP, but nothing on the transport. So, if you have a chance to hear your friend's with the DAC1-MK4 in your system, please share what you hear compared to the DRIVE1-MK2! I will say all the Oracle pieces are beautiful "eye candy".
System edited: Just added the Stealth Metacarbon between the Accustic Arts DAC1-MK4 and the Bent Audio Tap linestage. It's a great cable and raised the level of my total system to another sonic level, just like the Stealth digital cable had done before.
Mitch4t, my MG-20's are 10 feet apart with the ribbons on the outside. In my old house the speakers were about 7 feet apart with the ribbons on the inside because I was much closer to the side walls and found I got a better soundstage with more percise layering this way. Now, in the new house my soundstage is much wider and deeper, but I still get great layering with the ribbons on the outside.
Mitch4t, I have moved into a new home that is a total open design. My MG-20's are six feet off the back wall, which is the short wall of 30 feet and I sit about 12 feet from the speakers with the back wall another 35 feet away. The ceiling is 30 feet high with many posts and beems running through out the total house. It's the best acoustic environment my rig has ever been in.
Asradict, again you have asked a question which I cannot answer because I bi-amp my system not bi-wire. I would recommend you call Acoustic Zen and talk to Mr. Robert Lee, who has always answered my questions regarding his wires in a honest and very helpful way in the past.
Asradict, sorry I can't help with this one because I have never auditioned the Absolute PC's at all in my system. When I did my auditioning of PC's, tried several different house brands, I liked the Harmonix cords so much better then the others they became my reference throughout my system. At this point I'm not very interested in exploring the Acoustic Zen PC's because I'm very happy with the Studio Masters PC's. However, someone who's ears I trust has auditioned the Absolute PC's and thinks they are terrific, but has never tried the Studio Masters, so we don't know which would sound better in his system.
Mike, if you already use the Acoustic Zen family of wires, Silver Ref II, Matrix II, and Satori, your getting about 70% to 80% of the performance of what Mr. Lee's reference Absolute wires have to offer already. As I often say that last 20% of performance often is very expensive to get, but does make a real difference sonicly.
In the past, I have tried reference wires from Nordost, AudioQuest, and high range Transparent Labs and find the Acoustic Zen wires to be much more "musical", built to a high standard and more reasonable priced then many other highly respected house brands.
Hi, Mike seems like your putting together a fine sounding system. To answer your questions:
1) I bi-amp in my system so I use two pairs of Absolute speaker wires and not Double Barrel.
2) If you like the Acoustic Zen Silver Reference II, you would diffently like the Absolute IC's and speaker wire in your system. For alot of details regarding how they sound compared to the Silver Ref II's go to my review here on the GON and see if the information posted gives you a good perspective regarding the sonics of the Absolute wires, if you still have questions, let me know and I will try to answer them. Good luck.
System edited: I just got through with a round of auditioning different linestages and found the Bent Tap linestage to be a little more "organic/musical" then my Placette Active linestage, so the Tap is my new reference. I'll post a review here on the GON in the next few days.
Chris, my experience with digital cables would confirm your assumption, just because a cable is 75 ohms does not always lead to excellent sonic performance.
The two cables that you were seeking information on regarding their sonics I have never personally heard, so I can't be helpful, sorry about that.
As you know, by looking at my system and reviews, my reference is the Stealth Sextet. I virtually never call any piece of gear the "BEST" in the world, however if the Sextet is not the best digital cable around today, it ranks right at the top of a very short list.
Aball, thanks for the interesting question. I would like to answer it in two ways.
1) My most important priorities regarding specific sonic attributes are the following in rank order:
Natural/accurate timbres
Macro-dynamics/speed
Transparency/details
A wide/deep soundstage with air around the different players and a natural layering in the stage
Extension on the top and bottom
These are the factors, especially the first three, that I am trying to obtain in the overall sonic signature of my system because it allows me a good taste of the "real thing" with the greatest amount of ease to get into the music. It's like my brain does not have to work as hard to enjoy the music.
I find that even if a system's overall sonic signature contains things like great bass, razor sharp details, great speed, but offers up these virtues with any degree of harshness/etch/brightness or without having what I call very subjectively "musicality/liquidity", I find the overall experience either unpleasant or I can admire it on an intellectual level, but not enjoy or ease into the music. On the other hand, I have listened to system's that are so euphonic, totally extreme Type 2 flavor, that the music has no PRAT or aliveness and it sounds like its stick in molasses.
Now, that my overall perspective has been articulated, on to the specific pieces in my system that get me the overall sonic signature I'm listening for.
Mg-20's being planar speakers with one of the greatest transducers of all times, their ribbon tweeter, offers a slightly type 2 sound, with great details and a natural soundstage which sounds very much like real music. They do not offer pinpoint imaging, but a very natural perspective compared to most box enclosure designs.
The Pass Labs XA-100's are almost a perfect match of the warmth/natural timbres/liquidity of a type 2 flavor, along with great dynamics/transparency/speed of the best of type 1 virtues.
The Placette preamp is dead in the middle of the two flavors, and just let's the music flow without adding or subtracting anything that's not already upstream in the system.
The Accustic Arts combo, along with Stealth Sextet digital cable, are very detailed and with great speed, but has a slight to medium type 2 flavor overall.
The line conditioners, both on the front end of the system and the back end offer great transparency,virtually no noise floor and very powerful dynamics, so I would say these virtues are more a type 1 set of flavors.
Finally, all the wires in my system, including the power cords, are slightly type 2 flavors, but offer enough clarity and details, so I don't end up with what I would call a "fat or overripe" sonic signature.
So, like everyone else, I want the best of both type 1 and type 2 flavors in a totally perfect balance in my system, well, I can at least dream about it, and that's been my goal as I learned what sonic factors would lead to what I was seeking from my system.
Hope, that's helpful, and that I answered your question in a way that is clear and precise
System edited: This transport is the new Accustic Arts reference and was built by Accustic Arts to bring out the best performance out of the DAC1-MK4. I will share later on how much of a difference it made in my system, compared with the Ensemble transport, after it has a chance to break in.
System edited: The new Accustic Arts Transport is the partner to my Dac1-MK4, it brings out the best performance out of the DAC. I will share later on how much better/different this transport sounds compared with my older Ensemble transport in my system.
System edited: The new Accustic Arts DAC1 MK4 has replaced its older sibling, the MK3, because it's sonic signature is on a higher level and brings my total rig's performance to another level of naturalness/musicality.
System edited: A major move to replace my Pass Labs X-350.5 with a pair of Pass Labs XA-100 monoblocks to power the midrange and ribbon tweeters of my MG-20's. I'll post a review shortly on these great sounding monoblocks.
System edited: I have just replaced my Pass Labs X-350.5 with pair of Pass Labs XA-100 monoblocks to power the midrange and ribbon tweeters of my MG-20's. I'll be posting a review shortly with the details concerning the sonics of these monoblocks.
System edited: I have replaced my Pass Labs X-350.5 with a pair of Pass Labs-XA 100 monoblocks to power the midrange and ribbon tweeters of my MG-20's. These are the best sounding amps I have ever had in my system. I'll be posting a review on the details regarding their sonics, shortly here on the GON, after I collect my thoughts regarding what makes them so special/pleasing to me.
Chris, to directly answer your qusetion, I have no experience or knowledge regarding using a output coupling transformer between a DAC and pre-amp. Sorry.
Regarding your digital front end, are your Accuphase pieces, from about the late 80's or early 90's, or are they later more recent offerings from Accuphase? I used to have Accuphase reference digital gear years ago, and found them "warm/musical", but lacking details/dynamics/prat.
I believe the new Digital gear around today is a vast improvement over the older gear and is very competitive with analog these days.
So, maybe what you are experience is not a technical problem, but your digital end possible showing its age compared to newer gear.
If, I'm confusing your digital pieces with older models, then what you are concerned over sonically might be something more with synergy in your system. Let me know what happens.
System edited: Just got through auditioning the Jaco AC line conditioner built by Running Springs Audio and it totally surpassed my Richard Gray pieces, so its my new AC conditioner. I will post a review here on the GON to share what this piece added to my system. Its quite terrific in its effect on my system's overall sonic signature.
System edited: Just got through audtioning the Stealth Varidig Sextet digital reference cable, and it bettered my old Artistic Arts Vacuum Digital reference, so its a keeper! I will post a review here on the GON to share what I heard. It's a fantastic cable.
System edited: Just did a two week audtion of this DAC and found it to be better than my old reference (Ensemble HI-DAC). Its a keeper! In the near future I will write a formal reveiw for the GON.
System edited: Just audtioned the new Acoustic Zen reference wire the Absolute. Brought the whole system to a higher level,so their my new reference in my system.
Thanks for your succient kudo about my system.I have totally replaced my extensive vinyl jazz collection with Cds which now total about 3500 to 4000 disks.If your serious about purchasing the Lps let me know,we can work something out.It was not necessary to use an attenuator to match the gain in my system.My room is length=38 feet,width=15 feet, and ceiling height=half the ceiling is 8 feet, the other half goes up to 20 feet in a gentle slope.
Scar972, yes you can hear the top end extension being rolled off in the secondary inputs. The RCA clear tops are much better then the stock crappy tubes, but if you want to the Eklipse "sing" try to obtain either NOS Amperex long plate G-getters 12AU7's or NOS Mullard long plate
Scar972, to answer your question, yes, the other inputs effect the highend with their limited bandwith. Your RCA clear tops are a vast improvement over the stock crappy tubes, but when you can, obtain either NOS Amperex 12AU7 long plate G-getters or NOS Mullard 12AU7's long plate
