SET bliss/Jazz Haven (In my home).

by charles1dad on Done For Now
Music Retreat.
All heart and soul, beautiful!
Jazz trumpeter Dwight Adams mastering his horn.
The late and great Roy Hargrove
Coincident Frankenstein 300b SET mono block.
SET realism
Amplifier flavors.
Pro-Ject RS2T
Abbas 3.2SE DAC Interior.
Abbas 3.2SE DAC.
Excellent audio signal chain
Frankenstein
Abbas3.2SE DAC
Live jazz in a friend’s living room.

Description

My objective is to duplicate the sound of a good jazz venue as best I can. I'll never match it but getting close is fine. I've had various audio components through the years and tubes particularly DHT tubes/ASSET have gotten me the closest.  So this is where I will settle down and appreciate.
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Components Toggle details

    • BPT Signature 3.5 plus
    Balanced AC power is fantastic !! 1800va balanced isolation transformer/conditioner.  All aspects of music reproduction are improved for every single component.
    • Tripoint Tripoint Troy.
    A wonderful grounding box component. When added to my system it increased the sense of natural sound quality and emotional engagement. The Troy has a humanistic and “soulful “ quality to it.
    • Coincident Speaker Tech Total eclipse 2
    This wonderful speaker is transparent,open and involving. It`s large yet completely disappears as the source of sound within the room. Very easy to drive,94db and 14 0hm impedance (Minimum 10 ohm). I replaced the stock Solens capacitor with the Duelund CAST in the crossover.
    • Coincident Statement linestage
    Superb performance. In my opinion , a masterpiece by Israel Blume. As would be expected, a wonderful match with its sibling the Frankenstein MK II.
    • Coincident Speaker Tech Frankenstein mark 2
    A terrific 300b SET amplifier that is the foundation of my system. The EML XLS 300b tubes are a superb match with this amplifier.  

    Acquiring these 300b SET mono blocks changed the course of my music listening experience. They elevated the emotional engagement, tactility and “breath of life “ realism.
    • Yamamoto YDA-01
    Wonderful music lover's DAC that has a very natural/organic sound quality. Duelund CAST addition(output coupling capacitors) makes it sound even better. It has a very minimalist circuit/design that was implemented well.
    • Ocellia Silver Reference IC
    Very natural and pure sounding with excellent tone and timbre preservation.
    • Ocellia Silver Reference Speaker Cable
    Same qualities/ comments as the IC.
    • Star Sound Technologies Sistrum Apprentice component platforms..
    These Star Sound platforms are mandatory in my system. Effectively managing resonance and vibration leads to a very noticeable sound improvement with every component and especially the speakers. Excellent product.
    • High Fidelity CT1 Ultimate Digital cable
    A highly impressive digital cable that mates beautifully into my system. Contributes to the natural sound presentation.
    • Pro-Ject Audio Systems CD Box RS2T
    This is a superb Redbook CD playback transport. It’s both high resolution and impressively natural.

    . I’m  using the  excellent Fidelizer Nikola II LPS. Splendid pairing.  
    • Lavricables Grand and Master series Power Cables.
    Pure silver wire and unshielded power cables. These are used with all of my audio components. They are very open, transparent, high resolution with beautiful natural tone and timbre presentation.
    • Abbas Esoteric Audio 3.2SE
    Built by renown Ukrainian Abbas Zulfugarov. NOS DAC utilizing the classic Phillips TDA 1541 multi bit chip. Two 6080 tubes in the analog stage. 5 various rectifier tubes in the power supplies.

     3 separate toroidal transformers (And 2 chokes ) for the power supplies.A very serious and successful upper tier DAC implementation. Using with the Abbas SPDIF and power cable.
    • Frankenstein tubes.
    Tube complement 
    EML XLS 300b output.
    RCA 5U4G rectifier (1953)
    RCA 6EM7 driver (1960s).

Comments 1960

Showing all comments by philipwu.

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thanks Charles. i understand & appreciate your concern that truly wish me good in getting a suitable pre for my needs.
i understand there isn't a Perfect pre out there that will be good in every attributes that i seek. all i can do is to try to sought info about potential pre which i come across especially when much a crowd rave about Dude, plus somewhere here in forum i had read the similarities share between Dude & CSL. i haven't decide yet as i'm willing to trade bit of the quality from CSL if another has better bass, more volume steps etc..but still retain the large scale airy etc.. one important thing i like is fine left/right balance control, i need it due to listening condition of my room plus hearing issues,which i did not mention which i apologise.

philipwu

hi Charles,
i'm fortunate to have many constructive comments & suggestion in my thread, and i thank you especially for sharing your experience & enthusiasm about CSL.
i wonder if you can describe your earlier post on CSL vs Dude as "CSL is more transparent and open with more air,nuance and inner detail(the Dude has these qualities also but to a slightly lesser degree"
is the dude missing some details when compared to CSL or is it softer but audible without straining ? do both have the airyness presentation but dude a tad lesser ?
it seems no one is selling dude at A'gon, which i might try if cost is O.K. Thanks & regards -P

philipwu

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