Sound Lab A3 PX electrostatic speakers, Ayon CD35 player, TRL Dude preamplifier, CAT JL1 Signature Monoblock Amplifiers, Wireworld solid core silver interconnects,speaker wires,power cables, 28 quadratic diffusers, dense lime stone stands under all componets, Sound of Eden brass footers under all components, Tripoint Troy ground unit and PS Audio P20 power conditioner.
The current ones are fixed at 2 NFB. The new ones will be selectable with the choice of 0, 2, and 3 NFB. It will be very interesting to see which settng will be the most desireable for me. The Dueland caps are starting (and I mean JUST starting) to get broken in. The really exciting thing is how poorly recorded music now seems to have more texture and less grain. I am now able to raise the volume and not get that listener fatigue.
Hi Doug, Thanks for your reply.Paul certainly seems to have the right design priciples intact for better sound. My 8 watt SET monoblock pair weigh 70 pounds(good transformers will add the pounds). If I were to ever go back to a push-pull amplifier TRL would get a serious look,that`s for sure.Congratulations on your system. Regards,
Paul typically custom designs transformers extra ordinarily quiet and 3 times larger than needed.The headroom is something else. Once you hear music with this kind of power you realize how compressed the sound was before.You have to remember amps such as Krell and the likes STILL send the music through small traces on a circuit board. Have you ever seen traces on a circuit board burnt in half? Look at how amps are supplied power. Huge power cables and then passed through a small trace of lead wire to protect it. Same principle with the music signal, much is lost. Paul protects the amps with a circuit breaker. How much better than a thin piece of lead is that for current supply? Yes they are heavy and well built. My Dude and GT200 are better than anything I have ever encountered.
Do these TRL GT series amplifiers have custom or over spec`d output transformer? I find it interesting that they out drive presumably more powerful amps(ASR and Krell). These GT amps must have extraordinary stout power supplies in order to do what`s been described.They must be quite heavy and well built. Regards,
Exactly Doug. The ASR Emitter I Blue Exclusive is an arc welder based on specs (doubles all the way down to 700 watts at 1 ohm) but could not make my speakers sing. I was mildly skeptical that the ST-100s would have enough juice. Well, I was WRONG. They drive the piss out of my speakers. An audio buddy was over last weekend and he paid the ultimate compliment: "this does not sound like a tube amp." The explosive dynamic range is really something....like live music.
That Jazz compilation CD was excellent. Thank you for that.
Have you tried Dueland cast caps in your Dude yet?
Agear,since I got the Dude and the TRL GT200's it has been a very rewarding time. My JM Labs Utopia speakers proved to be a hard load for the Krell FPB 650 mono blocks to drive. The GT200s smoked the Krells. They obliterated all the notions I had about tube amps.I truly am having the best of BOTH worlds.The audio fans need to give themselves a chance to hear these gems. Happy listening!
Buconero117, I have been told leather is good to have in a sound room and was actually preferable to other materials such as microfiber. Also, nearfield listening, whether dictated by choice or room geometry, can be very good. I have done it in the past, and I have two seasoned audiophile friends who cannot listen any other way.
Doug, I snagged a used TRL ST-100 after a brief sojourn with the ASR Emitter I Blue Exclusive. The ST-100 is spectacular. Not sure why more folks on this forum don't own Paul's tube gear.
Given the shown distance between the speakers, and the sitting area, you are missing really great sound. As a first step, put an acoustic screen in front of the entire TV screen. Second, get rid of the leather, as it is creating reflections that you don't really need to handle. Last, call Jim Smith and have him visit. Money well worth spending.
Jeffry and Vassilis, it was fun having you guys over last night. The new solid core power cable on the Dude has made an even larger improvement. I look forward to our next session.
Jeff it was a pleasure meeting you and I can tell that you are a great lover of music.I hope we stay in touch and trade knowledge of music. If you call Paul and tell him you listened to his recording he will give you several copies of classical at a price you can't resist.By the way I need your personal E-mail address so that I can get a hold of you.When I click on a persons Audiogon handle I can no longer get a hold of them (progress right?)
Doug, great photos of great gear! Thanks for sharing. Also, thanks for sharing the great tunes with me at AK Fest. After hearing your Concord 3-CD jazz compilation, "An Intimate Evening," I just HAD to have my own copy, which I ordered today from Amazon. Now to track down that Paul Weitzel CD ... Thx again. Jeff
