With all due respect I sat in the perfect chair at Circuit City the other day. It is an auto massager. I don't know the name of it, but I would consider marrying that chair. I hope I can get a second date. Then I can give you more information.

gregadd May 04, 2007 11:03

Joey_v: While the Eames chair is beautiful (I own one but would never use it in the audio room), it is not good as an audio listening chair. Although the headrest might seem to impede the sound, the truth is that if you are taller than 5'9" your head would be way above it and it would be more of a neck rest. The other major factor is you would probably be sitting too low.

Good luck!

jtinn May 04, 2007 05:00

Dusty, yes....i have two $600 Barcelona 'knockoffs'. they work well in the room. are reasonably comfortable, and are sonically neutral as they don't have much mass.

Joey, there are many different 'perfect chairs'. mine is from the Relax-the-Back store from 1999. it uses visco-elastic foam so the heat from your body forms the foam to your body for no 'hot spots'. there are chairs that are cushier in the short term; but any other chair puts pressure on your spine and after a few hours becomes uncomfortable and causes a stiff back. i can and have sat in my chair for 12 straight hours.

the Eams chair has a headrest that cups the sound; about as poor a listening chair as you can get. OTOH the Eams chair is elegant and quite comfortable.

mikelavigne May 03, 2007 21:47

Mike,

I sat in the Perfect Chair PC6, I think the model after yours, and I was very surprised that I didnt find it too comfortable, or atleast as comfortable as they advertise it to be. The leather was a little stiff also.

I really wanted to spring for the Perfect Chair and have it as my end-all of listening chairs so to say that I'm bummed is an understatement.

Now, the Barcelona chair... is it comfy?

Also, do you have experience with the Eames chair?

joey_v May 03, 2007 17:45

Kent, both the Nova Be and 801D are excellent speakers; i likely would prefer the Nova as the more refined speaker to my ears between those 2. more coherent and smoother in the mids and highs.....more musical. but i've heard the 801D's sound very good.

after 4 months i am completely happy with the Evolution Acoustics MM3's. they are 'silly good'. now that they are completely broken in i hear a continuousness and coherence that mimics live music....beyond anything i have heard.....they completely disappear. for a 73 inch tall, 575 pound speaker to be so 'not there' still grabs me. i've had other speakers that are very good in this area but none like this.

other speakers with bass and high frequency extention typically call attention to themselves in some way....not the MM3's. the mid-tweeter transition and the high frequency extention are a wonder. i've had the diamond tweeter of the Kharma Midi Exquisite and the 3 tweeters of the VR9's in my room for extended time periods......the MM3's are simply on another level. i hear mid-range detail i have never before heard.

while i loved the bass slam and dynamic grip of the VR9's the overall bass performance of the MM3's is more articulate and 'of a piece' than that or any other speaker i have heard. it's like a single driver speaker but from 10hz to 75khz. the bass performance can be 'tuned to taste' if you want it to stand out more. my taste is that the bass should serve the music and not be highlighted. OTOH i do enjoy great bass. the MM3's have great bass!

the micro-dynamics and transient snap of the MM3's are as 'correct' to how real live music sounds as any speaker i have heard. there is no 'enhanced' or 'cookie-cutter' crispness that some speaker do that is distracting.....yet the 'boogie-factor' is amazing. i have yet to hear a speaker show differences in recordings like the MM3 and yet retain naturalness.

initially i felt a single 100 watt per channel darTZeel stereo amp was only adaquate in my large room......i no longer feel that way. since the drivers have broken in.....which particularly allowed the bass is attain that 'liveness' and 'ease' which had initially caused me to desire more power......i am completely satisfied with the single dart. a big difference turned out to be those Oyaide duplex outlets.....which really turned up the dynamics in the system.

i now feel that i am getting the musicality and listenability of the very best, most refined, low SET based type system combined with the best deep bass, high frequency extention, clarity, detail, and overall ease of a high powered, full range system.

the MM3's are halographic, they are alive, they speak to me on an emotional level and yet do all the checklist stuff with ease. they are beautiful and built like a tank.....and are likely the best dollar value out there in an expensive speaker.

i'm certainly happy and highly recommend them.

mikelavigne May 03, 2007 13:51

Is that a Barcelona chair next to your lounge chair? Those are such great chairs. Classy, comfortable, and approachable.

heyitsmedusty May 03, 2007 13:42

Hi again Mike,

How do you like the Evolution Acoustics speakers? I've never heard them before. They look very nice and could very well be a potential candidate for my future listening room as I am going for a truly full range system. At this point I am leaning between Focal-JM Lab Nova Utopia Be and B&W 801D. However, nothing is in stone and I won't make any decision without comparing different speakers in my future sound room.

kentb May 01, 2007 20:26

Afb284; i appreciate the nice comments.....and it is always my pleasure to host fellow music lovers.....of which there are many i have had the great pleasure in meeeting from Vancouver. i hope to see you again.

as much as it means to me to have people support me; i would prefer that we 'go on' from that episode and leave Lox alone. i want no conflict with him or anyone else.

mikelavigne April 27, 2007 13:30

Kent; thanks for the reference to the Foundation Reasearch power cords. i looked at the website concerning the LC-1 and LC-2 power cords with in line conditioners. they indeed are similar in concept to the Jena's. after quickly scanning the Bound for Sound review from 2003 it sounds like they do similar type things for a system......they are about half the price of the Jena's. likely a good value.....whether they measure up to (or surpass) the Jena's.....i cannot say.....but it sounds like they 'do it' for you. i do think that the idea of isolating each component both from outside noise and eliminating (to a large degree) any component adding noise to your power grid is the way to go.

thanks for the info.

mikelavigne April 27, 2007 13:17

Loxodrome is an vivid inventor and interpretor of Mike's rationale behind his music. I live in Vancouver Canada and was personally invited by a friend who knows Mike, to go to Washington State and visit Mike, who not only shared his love music but bought us pizza and treated us not like equals, but better than himself. Loxo you are so wrong and I pity you.

afb284 April 26, 2007 22:48

Hello Mike,

Have you ever tried or heard of Foundation Research? They make incredible power cord/filters similar to the Jena Labs you use. I've tried them in my setup and have heard them in numerous other systems. They are by far the most effective filtration components I and many others have experienced. I think your jaw would drop if you heard them in your system especially if all your gear had it's own cord/filter! They really are that good (no sh*#)! They haven't had alot of mainstream advertisement yet so you may not know of them. Don't take my word for it try them out!

Sincerely, Kent

kentb April 26, 2007 19:19

Kent; i agree that the YBA has a similar design approach to the darTZeel in using mid-power ss with a focus on naturalness and listenability. i have always enjoyed YBA gear.

i have not done a dart-YBA comparison.....i would expect them to be more the same than different. yes; i find A/B'ing gear to be mostly fun. actually.....the most fun is re-listening to all your favorite music when you find big system performance gains. every cut is fresh and new.....it's always the music that gets you.

regarding optimizing your new room; my room was so revealing it challenged my system to improve since everthing mattered so much. when the room is not muddying things up there is no place for distortion to hide.....it will be in your face....which makes hearing differences easier but puts more demands on true performance. the good news is that better performnance is not always more expensive......and getting the basics right makes the biggest differences.

mikelavigne April 20, 2007 05:28

Hello again Mike,

Thank you for the info on the Opus cables. Have you ever compared Dartzeel pre and power amp to any YBA Signature models? It would be a "fun" a/b IMO because they share some similarities (solid state, 100wpc, very high current output). I've never had the pleasure of hearing Dartzeel as of yet, but would like to at some point in the future. I can't wait to start auditioning gear when I have my room built!! I guess sometimes it's probably good to have a little fun with our hobby/obsession.

kentb April 19, 2007 18:37

hi Kent, thanks....and best wishes with your 2-channel room project.

regarding the Opus; the price is hard to justify from many perspectives. 7 years ago when i bought my first set of Opus speaker cables; my dealer simply wondered whether i would like to try it. i took it home without any intentions. then i heard what it did (made the music more real and alive) and spent the next 6 months trying to find a cheaper alternative. when i couldn't find anything close i ordered a set but still could return it if was not satisfied. when it arrived i had a few friends over to help me resist it's lure. i had a few other sets of (at the time) SOTA speaker cable on hand. when we inserted the Opus (with one day of breakin on them) there was no dispute that the Opus was a whole new ballgame. needless to say; i kept the Opus.

since that time i've had 20-25 different sets of speaker cables in my system to compare. i have yet to prefer anything else. to be fair; i have not compared many in the last couple of years.

the Opus is beautifully built, the network pods weigh around 30 pounds each, and are enclosed in carbon fibre. i'm not sure what the network pods do; but i think they resolve impedence issues and eliminate resonance. whatever they do the Opus has the most articulate bass and smoothest treble of any speaker cable i have heard. they are totally open and yet are without etch. they simply get out of the way of the music.

one might wish that the Opus was just hype so that you could throw stones at it and find that performance at a more modest price.......unfortunately the Opus does perform. whether it's price is justified is a personal matter. speaking for myself; i'm not sure the price is justified but after hearing it i had to have it.

mikelavigne April 19, 2007 13:49

Hello Mike,

Very, very nice room and system! I can't wait to have my sound room constructed! In about 2-3 years I am having a house built with a dedicated two channel room. Respectfully what is it about the Opus speaker cables that justifies their extreme price? I've always been impressed with Transparent, so I am curious how much more the Opus gives you over other cables available?

kentb April 19, 2007 02:40

i admit that some rap (more the hip-hop stuff with a bit of R&B flavor) can be enjoyable......but those are rare exceptions. i'm not 'hip' enough to connect with most of the lyrics.....and it's likely just as well that i can't understand them mostly either.

i do like Shaggy...if that counts. but then; most of Shaggy actually has notes.

i'll be cautious with your list...thanks.

mikelavigne April 15, 2007 03:59

I know it is a too nice system for a garage... but don't want to sell it as I am "emotionally attached" to it as my first good system (built it during my student years... had to teach a lot of math private lessons and resell a lot of hifi systems to other students to pay for it!)

Regarding CD recommendation, I will post the list of my favorite CDs as soon as my HD with my FLAC database is out of the moving container from Taiwan to Japan. If I would be you, wouldn't buy from my list of French music, as you miss a large part of pleasure if you don't understand the lyrics.

There is a lot of impressive jazz over the last 20 years, often resulting from a fusion with different type of music

Regarding rap, while like you I am not a big fan of US ghetto rap, I have been surprised by the quality and diversity of some of European rap, with often much more work on lyrics (MC solar, grand corps malade= poetry) or fusion between rap and other musics like reggae (massilia sound system), latin music (some of articolo 31 CDs) or jazz (Julien Loureau: more a jazz player but with drum n'bass and rap influence on several CDs)

PS: remember you promised me to post one of these days a list of your favorite CDs with really good recording

stereotaipei April 15, 2007 00:04

JF, that's a pretty good system sitting there in your parent's garage.

mikelavigne April 14, 2007 19:39

sorry for the delay in my response....i've been out of town for a few days.

thanks to Henri (Mtkhl567), HenryHK, and JF for the music recommendations. i've made my list and will be heading out to see if i can find any of those at the local CD store. i expect that i'll end up finding most of it on the web.

i am absolutely open to all types of (non-rap) music and would rather buy something and risk disappointment than miss something.

i do find that the music of the 80's and 90's is less profound than the previous decades but not that there are not many examples of great music from those decades. it's more a matter of how much of that period's music will still be played in 30 to 50 years compared to the 50's, 60's and 70's. 1955-1975 was a 'Golden Age' of pop/rock/jazz that will not be equaled any time soon.

that is just my view from where i stand.

mikelavigne April 14, 2007 19:37

Henri,
My system is not posted as I am still waiting for it to be delivered...
When I moved to Asia 3 years ago, I left in the garage of my parents in France the system I bought 10-15 years ago:
- Infinity IRS Epsilon speakers
- Sunfire amplifier for bass
- Gryphon Antileon for mid-tweeter
- Wadia 20 + Wadia 25 source (used also as a pre-)

Now, I am building up a new system. I have ordered:
- Evolution acoustics MM3 (supposed to be delivered in 2-3 months, I will be the first in Asia). I hesitated a lot with buying a pair of Magico Mini (and decided for the MM3 after hearing to Mike's system)
- APL NWO2.5T CD player (to be used also as pre-amplifier)
- Dartzeel amplifier (bought it from Mike)
- Evolution acoustics speaker cable
- APL digital cable
- my old Kimber KCAG interconnect (until I have time to listen to other interconnect)
- AC power cable still not decided (will probably be Jena Labs one or Jtinn's new power cord)
- Slim Devices transporter (feeding the NWO2.5T)
- 3 Critical mass devices platforms (2 grand master, one reference)
- plenty of bass traps (still to be decided between Real traps and ASC)
- no conditioner

In the meantime, I am listening to music on my home theater or, when I am in my Taipei studio, on a mini system with a squeezebox, a pair of Usher loudspeakers and 2 Vincent monoblocs...

Regarding the (few) french music I hear (like Cabrel, for most of them you need to understand the lyrics to enjoy it fully):
- Grand corps Malade
- M
- Alain Bashung
- Sinsemilia
- Carla Bruni
- Mc Solar
- Benabar
- Tete
- Serge Gainsbourg
However I listen mostly to jazz and classical music.
JF (= Jean-Frederic)

PS: you assembled also an impressive system! I see that you have a pair of Jena: on which components are you using them? Which power cable are you using for the other components? (buying 5 Jena is hard to swallow...)

stereotaipei April 13, 2007 14:34

JF (read Jean-Francois?), where is your system posted. I'm curious.

Btw, my wife loves Sardou, Cabrel, Kaas...well she would, being French as two of my three kids! Any other french musicians you can recommend?

A+
Henri

mtkhl567 April 13, 2007 10:47

Mtkhl567,

Thanks for the recommendations of music. Sorry to give you headache... personally I like to try to understand what I buy... as this business is full of marketing bullsh**... And I would love to find more post where I learn something on the way my system is working.

PS: As a French guy, I hate Sardou... and agree with you that Une ombre a l'autre is the best CD from Cabrel.
cheers

stereotaipei April 12, 2007 17:57

good call...music...some of my own recetn discoveries that I highly recommend

Antione Herve "Road Movie" and Gianluca Petrella " Indigo 4"...surprisingly I find some of the best jazz today comes from Italy..and check out Kenny Werner "Lawn Chair Society"....very investive stuff. Dave Douglas and Chris Potter, Scott Collet join in and its just incredible.

henryhk April 12, 2007 14:12

Mike/JF...!!!

If Mike is having problems following JF, what about the rest of us? I use the Jena One PC's, but what is being discussed above goes way over my head (...and probably 99.9% of ML's regular blog readers).

Let's get back to the music, Mike a while ago you mentioned about being open to all sorts of music. Here are some of my favorites:

Kari Bremnes (Norwegian), amongst others Svarta Bjorn (1998), Over en By (2005) and if you don't understand norwegian Norwegian Mood (2000). Not that you need to understand the langyage to enjoy her amazing voice and some typical Nordic musicality (Label is Kirkelig Kulturverksted)

Richard Bona (French African), Munia the Tale (2003) by Verve. The first track is an amazing spatial acapella!

Paolo Conte (Italian) if you like a rusty Italian voice, works for my wife(!). He's published many albums, try Reveries, came out in 2004. But his earlier years are the best.

And if you can stand French, then I could recommend Michel Sardou (Du Plaisir 2004) where he also has a duet with the infamous Garou (yes, also french singer). Or french guitar player/songwriter Francis Cabrel. His 4 disc recordings Une Ombre a l'autre is a great set of live recordings issued in 1991, from his tour (de France) late eighties.

I could go on, but I'd probably hit the letter count limit for posting a response :-). Hope there's something in there for you.

Who ever said in an earlier blog that the 80s and 90s were a musical wasteland must surely have made that comment from a very narrow personal perspective...music is like wine, there is simply good stuff everywhere waiting to be discovered, just move your boundaries. Especially in recent day-and-age fame does not neccesarily mean quality. With that, I get of my soapbox, and wish you Mike and everyone reading your blog happy listening and the eternal pursuit of finding great music (and ofcourse equipment to play it on...)

Long live the music
Henry

mtkhl567 April 12, 2007 00:49

Mike,
sorry for giving you headache...
I am trying to keep it simple. There is unfortunately a lot of marketing in this business, when most of the time it comes back to basic physic rules.

what you say is correct.
I would add that a filter always bounces back the hash. That why it should be combined with something (typically a capacitive or inductive power cable) that will transform this hash in heat...
Your Jena provide a "brick wall" as they have an integrated filter. The box on the cable prevents noise from the network to go in, but also the hash from the equipment to go back to the grid (a filter always works two ways). Same principle as for the main AC filter.So basically, if for example your Icepower amplifier generates a lot of HF noise, this noise is trapped between the amplifier and the box of the Jena. That why the cable itself needs to have also absorbing capabilities, otherwise all noise will accumulate on the equipment side!

If the Jena are high quality filters, the transformer shouldn't bring a lot as the Jena filters already noise from the grid.
When you try to put the transformer into the system, you should play at the same time with different type of power cables (and even with a different cable from the main breaker to your outlets...). A cable and a filter work always in combination: filter= "brick wall", cable= noise absorption (noise is transformed into heat)

PS: I would add that the power supply of your rockport needs also to be isolated from your analog equipment (it must contain a motor which generates noise...)

stereotaipei April 09, 2007 01:25