this room and system is the result of 10 years in High End audio. my
system has been stable for a couple of years (except for transport and
amplifier upgrades within the same brand). the room has been in the
planning stage for about 18 months and i actually moved in a little over
a month ago.
my audio philosphy is to have the system get out
of the way of the event. i like as pure and simple a signal path as
possible and, at this point, prefer passive to active gain stages. i
love all the formats and enjoy having lot's of music.....vinyl is my
favorite but i listen to at least 60% digital. the new room really
reveals the benefits of SACD over redbook.
the system and room
truely allow the event to be recreated before me. i love the way the
speakers disappear and i am transported to another place/time.
i have choosen my cables, sources, amps, speakers to have as little of their own sound as possible.
recently, i upgraded my digtial transport from the modified Philips
SACD 1000 to the new emmlabs CDSD.....this was a significant step upward
in performance.
i have written an article in Positive Feedback regarding my room building experience.....here is a link;
new version of these cables, a big step over the amazing TRSC model i have used for 10 years. fantastic performance.
WADAX SA Reference DAC
Wadax Reference Dac----state of the art dac with 2 separate power supplies. the best dac i have heard by a good margin. below is a link to a thread about my Wadax experience.
Arya RevOpod isolation footer (32 used under the 5 Wadax Chassis).
height and tension adjustable. the Wadax dac, server, and server power supply chassis all use 8 footers, so it's critical to be able to adjust height and tension to have an even support for optimal performance. RevOpod's are unique in those attributes making them ideal for this use.
https://www.arya-audio.com/revopod
CS Port LFT1 turntable w/arm
air bearing platter and air bearing linear tracking arm; string drive with zero feedback dc motor, low pressure, low flow air system with zero noise air box.
world class musical flow, nuance and delicacy, combined with authority and ease. serves the music completely.
Esoteric T1 Turntable
magnetic drive/rim drive idler turntable with torque adjustment.
with the deletion of my NVS turntable, i was able to move the Taiko Tana active isolation shelf to under the Esoteric T1. this has upgraded the performance of the T1 significantly. objectively small changes, but musically quite profound up tics in realism and immersion. more nuance, greater music focus, better bass articulation.
https://www.esoteric.jp/en/product/t1/top
Esoteric G1X Master Clock
Master Clock Generator for speed improvement for the T1 turntable. significant improvement in music realism.
https://www.esoteric.jp/en/product/g1x/top
Durand --Tosca tonearm.
gimbal bearing design. Tosca is on the Esoteric T1 turntable
Primary Control 12" FCL tone arm
Field Coil Loaded uni-pivot tone arm. with power supply. mounted on the Esoteric T1 turntable. amazing natural and very high resolution tone arm. link below.
12 inch tonearm, stainless steel. used for the Sumile mono cartridge.
https://glanz.tech/e/collection/mh1200s1000s900s/
Experience Music/Intact Audio phono corrector + silver wound MC Trio SUT combo for three different tonearms.
bespoke tubed phono preamplifier. silver wound, with custom dual power supplies.
https://myemia.com/LR.html
LFD -3- Phono Cables DIN to RCA
3 sets of very high performance phono cables. amazing performance. built by Dr. Richard Bews in the UK.
one cable uses a DIN to RCA short Dongle + an RCA to RCA interconnect. the Dongle improves the performance of the DIN connection. details at the link below.
two Etsuro Golds, ---a pair of Reference MC Phono Cartridges.
duraluminim (A7075) body, 24 carat 'Kinpaku' Gold Leaf finish, diamond cantiliver. .3mv output, 4 ohms. these are both special versions of the Etsuro Gold.
one is mounted on the CS Port linear tracker.
one is mounted on the Primary Control FCL arm.
finest cartridge i have heard by a significant margin. WOW!
Audio Technica MC-2022 60th Anniversary cartridge
uses the unified stylus cantilever design. which results in extreme lack of distortion and linearity. remarkable neutrality and ability to dig out detail and keep it natural and musical.
https://www.audio-technica.com/en-us/at-mc2022
Murasakino Sumile Mono phono cartridge
MC cartridge for mono records, .04mv output. tracking force 3gms. finest monaural cartridge i have heard. competes on musical refinement with the top stereo cartridges.
Ampex twin ATR-102----one 1/4" and one 1/2" reel to reel master recorder
hot rodded by ATR Service Inc----Andrew Kosobutsky. significant upgrades over stock. each interfacing with hot rodded Ampex MR-70 preamps. the new tape deck performance standard in my opinion.
active isolation under 5 separate components: (1) the NVS turntable, (2) the MSB dac, (3) the darTZeel preamp, (4 + 5) both darTZeel mono block amplifiers. custom modifications by Taiko Audio add a linear power supply plus panzerholtz top layer + Daiza platform to provide full frequency resonance attenuation to each platform.
Taiko Audio Daiza isolation platform--22 used in the system
Panzerholtz Platform with spiral cutouts reducing mid and high frequency resonance while retaining life and energy and not changing tonality.
22 Daiza platforms in the system of various sizes under every piece of the signal path.
Evolution Acoustics 'system' power cables
a new version of the TRPC model i used on my darTZeel 468 mono blocks for the last 10 years. a big step up.
Sablon Audio King power cord
used on the Wadax Reference Server power supply.
https://www.sablonaudio.com/power
Absolute Fidelity power interfaces
power cords specifically designed for either motors (tt and tape decks), amplifiers, and components. 11 in the system.
Tripoint Audio Troy Signature
Grounding box for chassis grounding the darTZeel 458 mono block amplifiers + grounding the passive main towers of the Evolution Acoustics MM7 speaker system.
Tripoint Audio Elite
Tripoint Elite grounding box. this does chassis grounding for my sources. it uses a a pair of Tripoint Thor SE Master Reference ground cables for my dart preamp and the MSB Select II dac. there are also 4 Signature Silver ground cables to the two arm boards of the NVS tt, the power supply of the NVS tt, and the SGM server.
Equi=tech 10WQ
10kva balanced Isoltion transformer and distribution panel.
Furutech GTX-D NCF Rhodium duplex outlets
10 in the system. used with 10 Furutech covers and frames. uses NCF (nano crystal formula) material to reduce noise by emitting negative ions.
Wave Kinetics A10 U8 decoupling footers
8 sets-of-4 in the system for individual tuning of each piece of gear.
Auralex T-Fusor diffusers
i use 20 of these. 6 each on the front side walls, and 4 each front ceiling and rear ceiling.
Klaudio Record Cleaning System
automatic record cleaner
Acoustic Revive RL-30 mKIII CD-LP demagnatizer
for demaging any disc.
Furutech DF-2 LP disc flattner
will remove warps from Lps
Audiodharma Cable Cooker, Anniversary Ed.
will cook any cables
Winds ALM-01 Stylus Force Gauge
easy accurate, repeatable, measurments.
i-Tower by Koncept LED floor lamp
(3) are used. best audio light ever. 2 'warm', 1 'cool'.
Quietrock THX 545 drywall
specialized drywall with a 1/4" metal layer. used in my front sidewalls to establish proper room boundaries.
That's a beaut, Mike! Sonny and I heard your table/arm set-up at T.H.E. Show in California, recently...I think the cart may have been an A-90 -- FABULOUS.
Jonathan was hitting on all cylinders, we thought...one of the top two rooms at T.H.E. Show :-)
Is one of your Durand arms reserved for the Olympos?
although it will be hard to beat the rockport i reckon
actually, it won't. although 'beat the Rockport' is not the way i would describe the situation. the Rockport has it's own magic when you consider the high mass, the isolation and air bearing, the vacuum holddown and the linear tracker. it has a solidity and 'rightness' that is unique. but the NVS prototype i heard last year is quieter, and equally speed accurate. and i believe pivoted arms are getting better and i decided i only wanted one turntable and 2 arms.
do i expect the NVS to surpass the Rockport?
my NVS is the first production unit as far as i know. i'm told the prototype has been improved considerably since the last time i heard it last fall. and this production unit is even better than the prototype.
that's the power supply in the upper corner. there is only an on and off switch on the power supply so it can be down on the floor out of sight. logistically helpful for rack space and switching speeds and stopping and starting the platter.
the (de-coupling/isolation) tray that goes underneath the NVS was not finished yet, it's coming in the next few weeks. the Wave Kinetics shelf system is likely some months away. since the legs of the Grand Prix rack do not accomodate large items i've got a different rack coming later today; a 4 shelf Adona GX rack, which will have space for the NVS to look forward and fit on top.
it kind pisses me off that those EA BNC's sounded so good, but they do.....and agree they are like upgrading the components. you may already be on this issue; but for years i've used my Nordost CBID1 for cable breakin. i understand that the Cable Cooker from Audioexcelence is much better, so i ordered one, it's on the way. the EA BNC's do take lots of break-in to sound optimal. i'm looking forward to the performance improvement from the Cooker.
you look for minimum output and mimimum gain to get the job done for the very best sound. more output on a cartridge typically costs you with a loss of nuance, too much gain adds noise.
I just wanted to mention that I finally decided to go with the EA BNC link. I'm using it between my amp and pre. I recently hooked it up and simply could not believe what I was hearing. It was like I never really heard what the dart combo is capable of. Music exploded in every way (in all dimensions and both micro and macro dynamics) with tonal colors and textures that were exposed by the removal of multiple veils. All this with zero hours of break in!! One of the most dramatic improvements I've ever experienced with one component. I can't imagine how they will sound after break in.
BTW - My Talea is awaiting the Wave Kinetics table as well which should be here very soon. Hope to see you at Rocky Mountain.
I heard it at T.H.E. Show Newport recently in JT's room and was blown away when JT put on "Sad Lisa" 45rpm test pressing. The fact that he was only using the $2,200 Micro One, I can only imagine how good it'll sound with MM3.
forgot to comment on your specific gear; i'd say you should have no issues with gain with an A90 unless for some reason your amp and speakers had low gain, which would be unusual. the 63db of phono gain and the ML380S should work wonderfully.
i've used both my darTZeel NHB-18NS preamp, which has 2 separate phono cards, and the Allnic H3000 phono preamp with the A90 in my system.
presently i have the darTZeel phono card i use for my A90 set at 63db gain and 47k loading for the A90 and it rocks. i had used the same settings for the Lyra Olympos SL which had .17mv output, and that was marginal with some pressings.
on the Allnic either the top or next down settings both worked great on the A90, i mostly used the 'next one down'. with the Allnic it's not strickly a particular db of gain as the loading and gain settings are interactive. in any case, the .27mv output of the A90 typically is in the sweet spot of the better phono preamps for optimal performance. you look for minimum output and mimimum gain to get the job done for the very best sound. more output on a cartridge typically costs you with a loss of nuance, too much gain adds noise.
the A90 seems perfect in this respect.
as far as the Feickert Protractor and an indentation on the top of the 'pivot point' on the Talea, it's a non-issue. the Talea goes one better. it provides a nice substaintial aluminum template rod that fits over the spindle and under the pivot point onto a cast disc for a snug fit for perfect pivot to spindle distance. you simply can't do it wrong.
i own a Feickert protractor and it does work nice on the Reed since the Reed has that dimple above the pivot point. however, there is still slop in the measurement process so it's not quite as exact as the Talea.
but yes; you can choose to use the Feickert with the Talea, but why would you? i don't recall that there is a dimple for the Feickert to rest in or not.
as far as the actual stylus adjustment as good as the Feickert tool is, the Mint Lp is a more accurate tool for that issue. and whether you use the Feickert or the Mint Lp, at that point you are not dealing with spindle to pivot distance as your arm is locked into position. it's only the cartridge body you are adjusting.
Can you tell me if my current phono-pre and main pre-amp have enough gain to properly drive the Ortofon A90 (.27mv) ?
My Phono Pre: Clearaudio balance+: 63dB MC gain
Main Pre: Mark Levinson 380S: +18.9dB gain
Also, can I use the Feikert Protractor for aligning my zenith angle instead of the paper cut protractor ? I like being able to lock the protractor to the pivot point on top of the pivot point column of the tonearm. From the picture of the Talea, there appears to be an indentation on top of the tower of the pivot point that the Feikert could lock into....is this correct ? Thanks again.
Thank you very much for sharing all that detailed information and opinions. You have a very eloquent way in describing the musical experiences with each arm. You should write for a mag...
Now I have the Talea in my crosshairs too. I need to read up on the advantages/disadvantages (if any) between gimbal (like my Clearaudio Universal) and the unipivot of the Talea. I love my Universal/Shelter Harmony combo, but my table allows for one more arm...LOL I would like a different flavor option when listening and it cuts down on stylus wear splitting groove time between the two...Cheers !
in terms of ease of use, quality of build, and beauty the Talea likely has a few advantages, as it should be expected to for it's higher cost.
the Reed is very nicely built, and everything is first rate. there are upgrades to higher finishes which get closer to the Talea.
the Talea is like a swiss watch in it's fit and finish. remarkable. stunning.
the Talea has dynamic adjustment of azimuth. the Reed 2P has optional azimuth adjustment on the headshell. the whole azimuth issue is somewhat controversial. my ears tell me this is an advantage of the Talea over any other arm.
the Reed Q has a laser used for a reference for VTA....which may have some merit...i've not used it.
to me, the big deal in any arm is the bearing and bearing design. the Reed is gimbaled, the Tale is a uni-pivot. i 'hear' advantages in this area for the Talea.
as far as mounting and setting both arms up; neither have any issues. the Reed comes with a wood box, the Talea is a spectacular wood box....full of tools, and extra screws and bits. you feel pampered. it even has a nicely made aluminum spindle to pivot template that takes the worry out of getting that essential measurment anything be spot on perfect.
first, this is just one guy's perspective and opinion about subjective performance perceptions in my particular system.
for the last 9 months i've had 2 10.5 inch Reed 2P's and a Talea 1st gen and a Talea 2nd gen in my system. a 2P and Talea 1 on the Garrard 301, and a 2P and Talea 2 on the Beat. prior to that, for a year, i had a 2P and Talea 1 on the Dobbins Technics SP-10 Mk3 and a Reed 2A on my Dobbins Garrard 301.
this is about degrees of good, not good and bad. until i heard the original Talea prototype 2 years ago now in my room the Reed was the best pivoted arm i had heard in my room or anywhere. at that time i also had a Triplaner VII, and a little before that i had a Schroeder Ref SQ. and all during this time (for the last 8 years until a month ago) the Rockport sat there as a reference.
mostly i used two Ortofon A90's in comparing the Reed arms to the Talea arms, although i did have the Lyra Olympos SL on the Rockport. i used the Allnic H3000 mostly with both arms having identical A90 cartridges into it; so it was about as objective an environment as possible.
basically what the Talea does is have lower distortion than other arms; and the Reed arms seemed to have lower distortion than the Triplaner. my experience watching Joel Durand develop the Talea level by level has been a tutorial in how much lowering distortion improves performance in an audio component; and how much an arm dominates the sound of a vinyl setup. every step forward allows more of the information to emerge from the noise floor of distortion.
this process with the Talea paralleled the maturation of my system and room where i found issues, fixed them, and as a result of lowered distortion the system came alive.
so what do i actually hear different with the Talea?
again, more degrees of good. with the Talea 1st gen, it is a matter of less sense of a reproduction process, more note development, more tonal richness and inner texture, more sparkle and life, more transient snap and microdyanics, increased depth, less strained, greater ease,. in direct comparison between the 2P and Talea 1st gen, the 2P has a slight bit of congestion and blunting of transients. it makes you aware of the fact there is an arm and a turntable. between these 2 arms it is not night and day, but it is a clear, easy to hear, difference.
stepping up to Talea 2nd gen, more of everything, especially micro-dynamics.....with this one the music explodes from the grooves and gets up and boogies. the music is released from the reproduction chain and becomes a living breathing entity. you go to a higher plane.
the Talea 1 and 2 have a character (or lack thereof) in common, which is neutrality, vivid clarity, and inner life and energy. nothing is blunted or warmed over, yet it's easy to listen to and natural. it gets out of the way.
i'm not sure this thread is the place to get into why i prefer the Talea arms over the Reed, ask me that on my system thread or a new thread and i'll be glad to get into it....with all due respect
Hi again Mike...I was pretty set on the Reed 3Q in the upcoming month's...I was not even aware of Talea until you mentioned them.
I have a Clearaudio Innovation table that I use with their top of the line Universal radial arm with a Shelter Harmony cart. I have one more unused arm pod so I am trying to find a great arm that sounds different compared to my current arm/cart which I love. Having sound flavor options is always nice.
Any input you can provide (pro's/con's) of Reed versus Talea would be appreciated....both with sound, adjustablity. ect. Thanks.
the Equi=tech i had installed is 10WQ wall panel system. i also added the EMI-RFI filter option to three of my circuits, and the OFC option for oxygen free copper to be used all thru the assembly.
posts about the Equi=tech installation process start here and continue for a few posts after that.
and....yes. i've not been good at updating my system info, sorry about that. prior readers of my system page might notice a significant change on my page as of friday, i changed the name of my system page from "Siriusly, the Rooms the Thing" to "Mike Lavigne's system". why would i do that? well......the Rockport Sirius III is now gone. it left 3 weeks ago to a new owner, this morning i understand it is up and running at it's new place.
in any case, in the next weeks i promise to update my page info.
Mike, which Equi=Tech do you have? I went back a few pages and didn't see it yet, and your system's description appears to be out of date (also missing the A90's???). Thanks
Thanks Mike. The information you provided me on your isolation transformer is very helpful. I'll let you know my perception of the change after I install one in my system.
