Vintage + Contemporary = Soul

Owner

System edited: Added Edgarhorns to system. Position is limited by available space. Not even close to proper set-up. They are located outside of the Circes, almost at the sidewalls and 5 feet to the front wall, 10 feet to listening position. Exposed crossovers, wires everywhere, wooden horns temporarily supported by anything available, until furniture casing is built. My concern was not to lose the endearing strengths of the Circe, while gaining a sense of effortless agility and improving dynamic range. After getting past the kluged set-up and clutter, the first impression is promising. I'll keep it brief. Startling, effortless sound pressure gives a sense of aliveness and agility. The enitre room is pressurized with music information. This is not about loud, it's about loading the room in its entirety, even at low listening volume. Notes are separate, individual and organized. Still nice, round and warm rather than choppy and etched. Spatial information is about 80 - 90% of Circe - still very good. Room placement and optimization will take more lots of effort, based on size and weight. Much fun work yet to do!

skushino June 17, 2005 23:27

Drumroll please..........
.......waiting for feedback on those Edgar babies!

boa2 June 16, 2005 00:14

Owner

System edited: Edgarhorns arrived today.

skushino June 15, 2005 22:33

Owner

System edited: The Seismic Sub is in the system. This is my first experience using a sub-woofer. First, the tension bracing inside the back chamber had to be shaved for the 18" driver to fit properly. The amp arrived today, but w/o proper bass eq. Without eq, the sub system is not full-range, down to 20Hz. But does it really matter for music? Since the midrange drivers and horn haven't arrived yet, I am using the sub with my Circe speakers. My quick and dirty impression - small crossover and level adjustments have a large affect on sound. This will take some effort to optimize. Also, the mis-matched Welborne DRDs amps and Alon Circe speakers work better with sub reinforcement. It is 2:00am now, so it's time to get some sleep!

skushino June 10, 2005 08:50

Owner

System edited: Bruce Edgar called today. Finally, he is testing the Vitavox S2 driver integration with the rest of the system. Initial results are looking good. He described the S2 as sounding very different from the stock JBL 2441 drivers, being sweeter and smoother. This is just what I wanted! I asked him to continue evaluation, testing the limits of performance on large-scale symphony music, and other demanding material. After many months, there is light at the end of the tunnel!

skushino June 08, 2005 19:52

Owner

System edited: The Seismic Sub shell arrived yesterday. It ships in three separate pieces, so moving is easier than expected. Bruce is sweeping the 18" JBL driver, and plans to ship driver and Hsu plate amp this week. Also, I removed a free standing wood-burning fireplace from the listening room to make room for the sub. Bruce explained the tiled floor beneath the fireplace will provide an excellent boundary for the LF exhaust to enter the room.

skushino May 26, 2005 17:30

Owner

System edited: The Edgar Seismic sub is scheduled to be delivered later this week. I decided to remove a wood burning stove to make room for this huge sub-woofer. The floor beneath the stove is ceramic tile, which will provide a boundary and reinforcement for the downward firing low freqs. The 80 Hz straight horns arrived a couple of weeks ago. Bruce is working on throat adapters for the Vitavox S2 midrange drivers. Fane ST5022 HF tweeters are purchased. My girlfriend thinks I'm nuts, but I know that she will be pleased after she listens to these horns.

skushino May 23, 2005 19:44

Owner

Artg, Thanks for your comments! The Lamm works well for me. It has some issues - mostly some dynamic compression, upwards tonal balance, and two big chassis. These issues are balanced by super-precise spatial benefits. Positioning and sense of space are awesome! The Circes are my second Alon speakers. My first were Alon IIs purchased new in 1993. And I never feel the need to upgrade my little Meitner after listening to the Big Boys (DCS, EMM Labs, Lavry, Audio Aero, etc). It may not be the SOTA, but it's not embarrased either - it's a keeper...

skushino May 03, 2005 03:21

Owner

System edited: My Museatex Bitstream returned today after servicing by John Wright. The data connection was randomly dropping signal due to a loose connection, so I sent the unit to John for repair. While it was in the shop, John replaced some of the caps with Black Gates. My Bitstream was already modified to Data II status, and for my ears, it was essential for digital playback. It really "vinalyzed" music. I really missed it! Just put it back into my system this afternoon, so I will withhold judgement until after break-in. My main concern is the BG caps do not screw-up the beautiful "rightness" of the DAC.

skushino May 03, 2005 02:58

wow - love it! I've always been intrigued by the Lamm preamp, but im afraid it's a bit out of my price range. Looks darn good in your system though. Im also a HUGE fan of Alon and Meitner gear. You have very fine taste in gear, my friend!

artg April 29, 2005 18:56

Owner

I'm spending alot of time on the phone with Bruce Edgar. Super guy to work with. Yesterday, I reevaluated using the sealed-box sub, and am now leaning more towards the horn loaded Seismic Sub. Haven't quite figuerd out how to fit it into my room. Minor detail... This hobby is going to be the end of me!

skushino April 28, 2005 17:47

Owner

System edited: pictures added

skushino April 27, 2005 17:50

Owner

System edited: With the addition of the Welborne SETs, the system is in-between where it once was and where it's going. It was a high-power, conventional speaker set-up. Only now, the 8w Welborne amps have replaced the former amplifier. The result is a very nice midrange and HF, with wonderful harmonic texture and contrast. Surprisingly, the SETs are also much quieter in terms of hiss, hum and other extraneous noise. On the other hand, bass suffers, with loss of definition and power. There is simply insufficient power to driver the Circes. Over the past months, I have been gathering the components to build Edgarhorns. The project is now a priority, to regain system matching with the low-powered amps. So far, I have a pair of EV-M15L 15" upper-bass drivers, a pair of Vitavox S2 midrange compression drivers, and last week took delivery of the 80Hz bass horns. Practicality is forcing me to go with the sealed-box sub-woofer solution, rather than the amazing Seismic Sub. I just can't find the space for a refrigerator-sized sub-horn in my room... This is a compromise that I'm making very reluctantly. But Bruce assures me that the smaller sealed-box sub will perform satisfactorily, if not to the same level as the huge Seismic. The Vitavox drivers were sent to Bruce for evaluation and fitting to custom 350Hz horns, as the drivers are different from the JBL 2441s he specs. Also, my German cabinetmaker just left for a one month vacation back home, so I have to exercise patience until he returns. My expectations for the project are fun and learning, and I've decide to post my progress here, sort-of as project documentation, or diary.

skushino April 12, 2005 07:17

Owner

Owen, just checked in and saw your comments. Would love to speak with you further about your phono stage. I'll need another for my second tonearm/cartridge. Other than the Lamm, have you listened to other units? I'll phone you to learn more. Thanks for the input.

skushino April 08, 2005 20:01

Scott

I'm a little late on the response, you can email me if you want more info, but Nick Doshi has created a masterpiece with his X phono stage, in fact it spanked badly a Lamm LP2 in direct comparison. The Lamm sounded somewhat artificial where the Doshi was organic with just center of the earth bass and dynamics, larger soundstage and more differentiation of instrumental timbres and detail. The LP2 was sterile in comparison, overly smooth, though it was very "quiet". The Doshi just had tremendous energy and power behind it that is just at a completely different level

owl March 26, 2005 18:03

Owner

System edited: Another experiment - Added a pair of 8w/ch 300B SET amps to the system this weekend. This is part one of my move to a low-power high-efficiency system. Since I do not have high-efficiency speakers (yet), I am using my current low-sensitivty (87db/w/1 m). Still forming impressions on this change. Most obviously, this amp / speaker combination should NOT work whatsoever. The speakers are low sensitivty with complex crossovers - definitely not a good match for a SET cricuit. My expectations were low to none. But surprise... The combo produces sound, even some music. The biggest surprise is the pretty loud SPLs produced. Not surprisingly, the freq extremes are rolled off. But the midrange that remains is really pleasing. Especially on stringed instruments and vocals, there is so much harmonic texture and resolution. Piano lacks the lower fundamental tones. All in all, better results than expected. Now, I just need to get cracking on the horn speakers!

skushino March 14, 2005 19:03

Owner

Thanks for your input, Randy. Our listening rooms have similar dimensions. I agree that speaker positioning is critical with Circes. More so than any speakers I owned before, and there were a few: Alon Model II, Apogee Duettas, Vandersteen 2C and Klipsch Heresy. But, I am also a more critical listener now than before.

In any case, the current set-up is the best I have attained in my room for soundstage width and image depth. They were positioned all around the room, at one time or another. Using Cardas as a guide, the distance of the speakers from the front wall also is very close to a third of the length of my listening room. There was a pronounced mid-base resonance before, that was tamed with this lates position. I think they will remain here for awhile. As you know, the Circes are pretty hefty...

The Counterpoint is almost 20 years old, and was used to drive all my speakers, even the Apogees, with grace. It's still breezing along, no problem...

skushino March 02, 2005 00:06

So you have your Circe's roughly 7 feet apart? That's about the same configuration that I have in a 14 x 20 room, except that the Circe's are along the long wall. Each speaker is very slightly toed in. They are about 5 feet from the back wall (measured to the front of the cabinet). Right now, the sound I am getting from the Circe's is really breathtaking. It's only taken me 3 years to acheive this kind of sound, with power cord and interconnect upgrades and tweaking of the setup. I thought when I switched from the CLS's to the Circe's that the latter would be easy to setup. Boy was I wrong.

Looks like you have an excellent system. I bet that the Counterpoint amps must mate really well with the Circe's. I run mine with Audio Research Classic 120's. Althought that combination works really well, sometimes I wonder if a little extra power is in order.

It's great to see someone else taking pains to make these speakers really sing as they are capable of.

Randy

norfish February 28, 2005 15:51

Owner

System edited: Last week I changed speaker positions, based upon Cardas' method. Now they are located 6'10" from the front wall and 4' from each side wall in my roughly 15' X 18' listening room. Listening position is equidistant from the speakers, forming an equilateral triangle for nearfield listening. Compared to the old positions (speakers not as far into the room), a resonant base node is better controlled and imaging depth has substantially improved. Next, I want to measure room response with ETF or another suitable tool, for final calibration.

skushino February 25, 2005 21:47

Owner

System edited: Added TX103 step-up transformer. Custom hybrid copper primary / silver secondary windings.

skushino February 23, 2005 03:18

Owner

System edited: Added Hagerman Cornet tube phono stage.

skushino February 16, 2005 02:42

Owner

Owen,

Nice to hear from you. The Venustas is a cable that I am becoming vey familiar with the past year. I like it. It seems to do the job of transferring signals w/o too much damage, in a natural manner.

When you have a moment, I would like to learn more about your "special" phono stage.

scott

skushino January 16, 2005 20:27

Owner

Mike, glad to hear from you, and it was a pleasure being a guest at your home. No, I can't take comfort in your misfortune, but I'm not surprised to learn that this happened to others. Analog is a very delicate hobby!

skushino January 14, 2005 20:19

Scott,

Looks like things are coming together for you nicely. Thanks for posting your system up here. How do you like the Venustas cabling by the way?

Owen

owl January 14, 2005 20:08

Scott; if it helps at all....'be there, done that'.

the day i first got my Sirius III, i was so excited i allowed the vdH Colibri to slide off the edge of the lead-in groove (the platter and arm were not fully level).....this slightly bent the caneliver.....i tried to 'nudge' it back.....SNAP!! went the canteliver.

not very much fun.

i hope my (very expensive) tale of woe brings a little comfort.

mikelavigne January 14, 2005 14:53

Showing 126 - 150 of 153 posts

Description

Components Toggle details

構えの大きい主要主題 (A Majestic Theme) Loudspeakers

Danley Sound Labs TH-SPUD subs (pair)

Lamm Industries ML-2 (> 75hz)

Bryston 4B-ST (< 80hz)

Lamm Industries L-1

Velodyne SMS-1 ULF processor

Micro Seiki SX-8000 Turntable

SME 3012R / Ortofon SPU-85 Limited (Stereo)

Micro Seiki MAX-282 / Ortofon SPU Mono (Mono)

EAR 834PT (Thorsten-ized) Phono Stage

Sony SCD-1

Museatex BiDat Plus DAC (modified)

Purist Audio Design Dominus (ICs and speaker wires)

PurePower APS PurePower 2000+

Solidsteel H-5

Comments 153

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