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.
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.
Chris, are you saying you tried a 6SN7 in place of the 6EM7? They are NOT comparable tubes. The 6EM7 is what is sometimes called a dissimilar tube; it has two triode sections but they are different from each other. One of the 6EM7 sections is a high-gain low-current tube very similar to a 6SL7. The other section is a low-gain high-current tube more similar to a 2A3 or 45 output tube. A 6SN7 has two identical triode sections that are medium-gain medium-current. Very different tubes and not interchangeable.
Charles, sorry for interrupting your system comments.
Charles, I just posted a follow-up note on my system page about the Ocellia power cord. It turns out to be much better than I realized. It just needed a better sounding IEC inlet on the preamp it was plugged into. It's a shame these Ocellia cable products are no longer readily available in the U.S.
Oops, I made a mistake. The vibes player on "San Francisco Scene" is actually Warren Chiasson, not Gary Burton. Burton is on a couple other Shearing albums such as "Rare Form" and "Jazz Concert." No matter. All of these live Shearing albums feature great vibe accompaniment as well as excellent sound quality.
During the time I had the HF CT-1 interconnects, they were not a good match with my system---too dark in the upper mids and highs. It's possible that these loaner cables (from the Cable Company) needed more time to break in fully, but I doubt it. The entry level model supposedly doesn't need the very long hours that the higher level models require.
I have to add that the absurdly tight RCA plugs made the CT-1 a non-starter for me. With a single dedicated input on my linestage, I occasionally unplug my cables in order to switch input sources. If the CT-1 was my main input cable, I would be concerned about damaging the RCA jacks on my equipment.
Charles, by the way, I need to thank you for recommending the Ocellia Silver Reference interconnects. I have been using a set for the past month or so and they are really nice sounding. They have all the good things about silver without the bad. Many silver cables have colorations that bother me after a while, but not the Ocellia.
Dan, thanks for bringing up Shirley Scott. I haven't listened to her for a some time, so I pulled out some of my LPs and listened to most of the selections. I like her style--bouncy and energetic. My favorite of the 4 albums I have is "Blue Flames" with Stanley Turrentine (who she later married).
Let me recommend a Coleman Hawkins recording from 1957---The Hawk Flies High. It features a true all-star lineup: J.J. Johnson on trombone, Idrees Sullivan on trumpet, Hank Jones on piano, Oscar Pettiford on bass, Jo Jones on drums, and one of my favorite guitarists Barry Galbraith. The music is sublime!
Charles, the reason I asked is that I put together a very simple common ground box this morning and I noticed the sound changing a bit from record to record. That didn't surprise me since some of the wiring is new and some hasn't been used for a couple years. But when I left everything powered up for 5 hours in between sessions I didn't notice any change. Hence my question.
The ground wires running from the box to each component are going to be pretty important sonically since they are basically in parallel with the ground lead on the interconnects between components. At least they will be if the components do not have ground buffer resistors. So I can understand how the cable breakin would be faster with music playing.
So far I have to say I am quite intrigued by what I am hearing with the common ground box. Of course, I am sure a Troy would take what I am hearing to a much higher level given all of the time and care that Miguel has spent on it. (Plus my primitive box doesn't even have any filtering inside.) Unfortunately, a Troy is pretty much out of my price range.
Agear, thanks for the note re Ground Zero. Charles, good to hear the Tripoint Troy is doing what you hoped. Following up on what Atmasphere said about the Tripoint in another Agon thread, I am curious whether your electronics (preamp, amps, DAC) have any ground buffer resistors. Do you have a DVM? If so can you measure the resistance between each component's chassis and the ground collar of an input or output jack on the component (without the Tripoint connected to it)? This will tell us if there is a buffer or not. A buffer will cause a reading of 10 ohms or so, perhaps more. Close to zero ohms means no buffer. This is important because the Tripoint would seem, from the somewhat vague descriptions, to be defeating any buffer resistors in a particular component.
Does anyone have an idea how the Granite Audio Ground Zero or the Acoustic Revive RCC-24 compare to the Tripoint Troy or the EntreQ? It seems that the Ground Zero, the Acoustic Revive and EntreQ are not connected to the wall socket ground, whereas the Troy is. So they seem to operate with some different principles but I am curious if anyone has actually compared the different units. The Ground Zero and Acoustic Revive are much less expensive than the Troy or EntreQ.
That speaks well for the Coincident power cords. I will look forward to your comments on the Tripoint. I had not heard of it prior to your note, but from my reading since it then it seems quite interesting.
I ordered a set of Ocellia Reference interconnects and I am looking forward to hearing them in my system. I gather that the Ocellia power cords are also highly regarded. Have you tried them? What AC cords are you using?
Thanks for reply re Ocellia. I do have one other question as it turns out. Are the RCA plugs difficult to insert or remove? The ones on the CT-1 are so tight that I was seriously afraid I would damage the jacks on my equipment when I tried to unplug them. That's a serious problem for me because I do change my equipment from time to time.
Thanks for the guitar recommendations. I am familiar with several of them from hearing them on the radio but I don't have any recordings.
Lots of enthusiasm for single-ended amplifiers, which is great!
Let me move to another subject---cables. Charles, I notice you're using Ocellia Reference for i/c and speakers, and High Fidelity CT-1 Ultimate for digital. Have you ever compared the CT-1 i/c or speaker cables to your Ocellias? I have a CT-1 i/c on loan that I am fairly impressed with but I would like a bit more top end air and liveliness. Maybe it just needs more hours.
I had never heard of Ocellia cables before but after reading the 6Moons review they seem pretty interesting. Is there some place that lets you demo them? I don't see Ocellia listed at the Cable Company which is where I get most of my cables.
Thanks for the Roger Kellaway suggestion. It would appear it's only available in CD format so I will have get it that way.
I first tried SET amps back in the mid-90s after hearing some Cary amps at a dealer. I built a pair of 300B monoblocks that I call the "mules" since I kept changing them to experiment with different driver circuits and power supplies. I tried something like 20 different circuits in those amps, and the best of them had some very attractive qualities. Eventually, however, I decided the 300B was not the tube for me and I traded down power-wise to the 46 which puts out a bit more than 1 watt. The 46 has the speed, detail and refinement I like, and for some reason a 46 sounds a lot more powerful than 1 watt so this isn't as crazy as it may appear.
In any case, I still have my feet firmly planted in two camps---both single-ended and push-pull. Depending on the music, my mood and how loud I want to listen, I go back and forth between the two. I find the SE 46 is best suited for smaller scale music that is more introspective. It is ideal for early morning listening. If I want to play orchestral music with wide dynamics or large jazz ensembles like Stan Kenton, Ellington or Basie and feel like I am actually in the venue, then I go with the Emotive push-pull amps. They can create a wall of sound with sometimes spooky transparency that can make me feel like I am there. For me each set of amps has its own strengths.
I couldn't agree more about "Night Lights." That is certainly one of my favorite Mulligan albums. By the way, do you happen to have his "Feelin" Good" album from 1965? It includes something called "The Lonely Night" which is a reworking of the same tune, but what's really interesting is that Gerry plays clarinet. Not surprisingly, he can really swing on clarinet as well. There are a couple other tracks on the same album with him on clarinet but this appears to be a one-time trial. I haven't been able to find any other recordings with him on clarinet.
I have the Carmen McRae album also but not the Billy Eckstine. I will keep an eye out for it.
Since your "night Lights" recommendation shows you are a man of impeccable taste, let me offer a couple others that you may find of interest:
1. "Live at the Half Note" with the Art Farmer Quartet including Jim Hall
2. Marian McPartland's "At the Festival"
3. Johnny Lytle "Swingin' At the Gate"
Not coincidentally, these are all live recordings. A very high percentage of my favorite jazz albums are live. Sometimes the sonics may be lacking somewhat (not on these though), but the excitement in the music makes all the difference.
Charles, I do understand your feelings about the Yamamoto DAC and I am sure it sounds as good as you say. In my case, my CD collection is minuscule compared to vinyl so digital is not an option for regular listening.
Today I am enjoying a number of 1950's LPs while comparing three different amplifiers each of which uses a 46 output tube. The circuit topology is basically the same in all of them but they have different driver tubes (Western Electric 417a in two of them and WE 403b in the other) and different rectifier tubes (5R4GY and 280) as well as different interstage transformers (Intact Audio vs. Lundahl). All of the amps use the same Electra Print silver output transformers with dedicated 16 ohm outputs. It's a real treat to have all of these on hand at one time. Lots of fun! Needless to say, the music sounds great through each amp, but each one has its own special qualities.
Charles, Congatulations on a very well-thought through system! There's no question that you know the sound of your system, and each component in the system, very well, which allows you to get a good read on each change you make. I share your views on the critical importance of getting the proper weight and tone density. That is something missing from so many systems today, at least judging from what I hear at audio shows.
I also share your love for acoustic jazz. That's been a lifelong passion for me. I just played one of my favorite LPs which I highly recommend----"2 Degrees East, 3 Degrees West" by John Lewis, Percy Heath, Chico Hamilton, Bill Perkins and Jim Hall. Recorded in 1956 in glorious, full-bodied mono. Phenomenal music and wonderful sound. I don't know if it was reissued on CD but it is worth seeking out if it was. Of course, if you added a turntable, just think of the great music that would then be available!
