Thanks for the review Mike. I have been on the fence with this box set. I guess I better get off. :-)

yes...you should.

mikelavigne June 08, 2014 23:19

after the last few days with the new pre-production (one only in existence) darTZeel preamp, I'm not looking forward to the 'separation anxiety' when it has to ship out. the line stage clearly has a profoundly lower noise floor, noticeably greater dynamic punch, and a 'see into and walk around' sort of presentation in greater degrees of realism that goes ,up to this point in my experience, to unheard of levels. and this is in comparison to my much loved 8 year old (but with the latest upgrades and fresh batteries) original NHB-18NS.

the phono stage is a revelation and takes the advantages of the better line stage, and then takes the performance up even a notch more than that. certainly the best I have heard (for what that is worth). of course; you cannot separate the dart pre from the dart phono in terms of what is exactly causing what.

overall; the music simply is more real, and the desire to listen increases. it casts a spell you don't want to stop. on all kinds of music. it completes the picture that recordings want to portray.

I cannot wait until my own new dart preamp arrives.

in the meantime i'll be shipping this beauty back to Switzerland, reinserting my own current model (excellent sounding) dart pre, and enjoying some music........knowing where things are headed. it was helpful having 7 other listeners this weekend and hearing their comments as we listened.....just to balance my own expectation bias to some degree.

if you have the current dart pre you are going to want to do this upgrade when offered. it's a no-brainer.

mikelavigne June 08, 2014 22:47

Thanks for the review Mike. I have been on the fence with this box set. I guess I better get off. :-)

rockitman June 07, 2014 18:46

Mike, I was up in Redmond for 14 years but never heard your system. We moved down to Portland in December and I'm finally getting around to putting my room together. I know I am going to need(want) some acoustical help with a remodel of my room to make it more isolated from the rest of the house, and improve sonics. Who did you work with and would you go back to them today? (Or recommend a PNW outfit.) Considering you have added diffusion to your walls, are you disappointed the original design did not account for this?

bobvin June 07, 2014 17:14

Texas Hurricane; SRV 45 rpm box set, 1st listen

it was supposed to be released on June 10th, but I happened to be looking at the Acoustic Sounds website on Wednesday night and there it was 'in stock'. I have not purchased many Lps over the last 6-9 months; and this is likely the only real anticipated release on my radar....I've literally been waiting for a few years for this. so I ordered it and paid for the overnight shipping since I have some friends coming over this weekend to help me listen to the new dart pre. the box set arrived today.

I probably have 3 or 4 different pressings of 'Couldn't Stand The Weather', and 'Tin Pan Alley' is one of my all time favorite cuts. I have multiple digital copies of it too. I might even have a 15ips 1/4" master dub of it someplace (I know I've heard a master dub on tape). so I'm all in on SRV.

right now I'm listening to 'Tin Pan Alley' (thru the new dart pre) and it is the best I've yet heard it. it's a very good recording to begin with. just like most all of the QRP pressings I have experienced, it's flat, quiet, and nicely done. the bass is even deeper, more impactful, and tonally richer than any I've heard previously. I'm really enjoying it.

as I listen to more of this album I notice there is a relaxed ease to these pressings (typical of better 45rpm pressings) that compliments the music and draws me in. some of the intense guitar work of SRV can get a bit harsh.....but not here....you get the bite but it's not in your face.

Voodoo Child (Slight Return) and Cold Shot are sweet!

I'm listening to 'Riviera Paradise' now, very nice, relaxed, no edge. very good bloom and decay. it's a digital recording and not quite as spacey as the 'Tin Pan Alley' but very nice on the 45 and certainly spacious.

later i'll explore this whole box more deeply.

nice job Chad!

Texas Hurricane Box Set, SRV 45 rpm

mikelavigne June 07, 2014 14:14

sometimes stuff just works out. God smiles on you and you thank your lucky stars!!!

looks like i'll have the one-in-the-world, 'pre-production', newer than new, darTZeel NHB-18NS preamp in my system this weekend. at the Newport show this past weekend I was able to somehow talk Herve into diverting it to my room on it's way back to Switzerland. it will arrive tomorrow and i'll ship it back to Herve early next week so he can complete the work needed to get production started.

i cannot get the grin off my face and can't wait to insert it into the big rig.

mikelavigne June 05, 2014 04:02

hi Rick,

Kevin did spend time on the speaker positioning which is very very important; but it's doubly important when you have 2 massive towers which are time and phase coherent. that is a lot of firepower which when not exactly right it will tell you that.

but I think the bigger issue is the 4 adjustments of the bass EQ in each powered 2 driver group, of which their are 4. that is 4 x 4 different dials with almost infinite possibilities of combinations. this is where the majority of Kevin's time and focus was.......getting precise room balance along with correct coherency.

it's similar (but not the same) for your VR9SE's which Kevin also designed. getting the bass adjusted for ultimate room integration and coherence is the main issue.

as for the tapes, email or audiogon ping me and we can discuss it. i'll do what i can to help.

regarding using a server and dac to stream digital; these days it can be fairly straight forward. assuming you want dsd or 2xdsd capability, you first need a dac which can input those formats......typically over USB. personally i'm partial to Playback Designs, and all of their disc players and dacs can do this. you then need a computer/laptop/tablet to act as a server that outputs USB (most current one's do) and you are good to go.

my son the network engineer put my server together, so i'm not the best person to 'splain' all the details. but when you contact me about the tapes i can give you more info if you still need it. search for 'dsd downloads' and you should find lots of info.

mikelavigne May 19, 2014 22:57

HEY THERE MIKE,
happy to hear that your system is still "improving" and you are having a great time listening as well. but without divulging any details, did Kevin merely move the speakers around, or also make adjustments on the back while he was doing this? If you remember, i have a pair of Von Schweikert VR-9's (which BTW i upgraded two years ago to Mk.2 status), and i really only adjusted (attenuated) the front tweeter a bit since i am not all that fussy. I imagine the Ev.Acoutics also have some adjustability as well.
but enough about my puny girly-man system. I still get excited not so much by your nice "record player", but by the Studer's over on the other side of the room. you wouldn't happen to have any nice tapes i can "borrow"?
let me know.... and once again, happy listening. D.
P.S.- if i get a USB or Firewire input for my CDP, i still don't know quite what to feed the DAC inside with. i know i am a complete dumbass for asking, but what
exactly do you "stream" or whatever...? thanks!

french_fries May 19, 2014 15:35

further thoughts about the results of the set-up after a few days of listening.

this is a considerable shift in the presentation of my system, for the better. I've been going thru lots and lots of digital files which have been references for years.....hundreds of them. when I said above that the system is now 'rounder' and less 'hifi'......the implications of this change has become much more clear to me. to put it simply, everything has more body and completeness.....with seemingly perfect frequency balance. voices are spot on natural and correct. piano, cello, violin, guitar, and horn, pretty much every instrument is degrees more real. tonally complete.

there were two particular recordings which have been touchstones for me over the years which hit this home like a ton of bricks. both female vocal.

first is very well known as 'track 12 from Burmeister II', Anne Sophie Von Otter', 'Mariengesange'. I first heard this track back when I purchased this demo disc at the Stereophile Show in L.A. in 1998. the disc was brand new then, I remember bringing it back to our local audio club meeting and blowing people's minds with the demo cuts off it. everyone had to have a copy. I've likely listened to this track at least 5000 times on all sorts of systems and many dozens of times every time I've tested any gear since.....for 16 years. I think most people have this etched in their brains and I don't have to explain it. it's a very challenging female vocal recording. any degree of less than spot on tonal balance, smearing, or less than coherent mid-bass will jump out at you as you move toward solving this challenging recording. it is now fresh and new to me. all the niggles and nits I thought were in the recording are gone. it soars and stays solid and true thru every note for the first time to my ears. harmonically complete and clear as a bell.

it's true what they say; the only way to identify distortion is to remove (some of) it.

really the same type of thing with the second recording; although it's not nearly as widely known.....and I've only used this one since 2005......and maybe only listened to it 3000 times.....it's even more challenging and even a better recording technically.

it's Anna Netrebko, track 11 from the SACD 'Sempre Libera', Donizetti's 'Ardon gli incensi'. this is a very, very vigorous aria with lots of soprano fireworks and a very difficult to reproduce glass harmonica which compliments Anna with interplay during the most vigorous parts of the cut. this cut will separate the men from the boys, the pretenders from the accomplished. with every step forward in my system development this cut has taken a clear step forward. when I do any sort of gear comparisons this cut is my 'litmus test'. there is no place to hide. again; listening to this now, after Kevin's work, the cut is at another level and I think reached it's honest rendition. both Anna's voice and the glass harmonica are limitless with openness and clarity. based on years of going to this cut in my and many other systems it was a revelation.

basically all the cuts I've enjoyed in the last few days are like this; full, fleshed out, right, real. no stress, no edge, just music. I've realized that these recordings and even the formats are not the issue; it's being able to get the system and room from intruding.

sure; the bass impact and macro dynamics are now at ridiculous levels of performance, but to me it's being able to get the basics correct which make a system right......and musically involving. of course; over-the-top capability in dynamics and bass performance do have important contributions to the nuances of the music too.

mikelavigne May 18, 2014 04:45

at last; final set-up of the MM7's.

Kevin Malmgren, the designer of my MM7 speakers, and Jonathan Tinn, his partner with Evolution Acoustics, arrived at my home Monday night and with the planned technical set-up for the MM7's starting Tuesday morning we listened to 'mostly' vinyl until almost 2 am to get a base line for where things were before the work.

Kevin started in on the set-up process Tuesday morning around 9am or so; first setting up his tools for his measuring protocol, and then measuring things. he spent all day with this process of measurements and listening. moving the speakers and repeating the process. 4-5 years prior, when i had my MM3's, i had supplied Kevin with room plans and room measurements, and at that time he plotted out 12 potential speaker positions for the room. so he had already crunched the numbers before for the room. he did meticulously measure the actual dimensions of the room......which for my room with all the bumps and built in diffusion is difficult since almost no parallel walls exist.

i came home for lunch to see what was going on, and mostly it was white noise and grimacing.

i returned after work and they were still hard at it. then Jonathan, my wife, a friend and myself went to dinner and Kevin kept going with the process. we returned about 9pm (with some food for Kevin) and Kevin had just sat down to start listening.....he was done. Kevin went in the house to eat his food and we sat down and started listening. we ended up listening until 12:30pm.

before i get into my initial perceptions i want to mention that I'm not going to get into details on Kevin's methodology. first; i don't sufficiently comprehend it to properly explain it. second; it is his personal process and not mine to share. I'm not saying there are secrets about it, but that is for Kevin to deal with. if one gets ahold of the owner's manual for the Evolution Acoustics MM2/MM3 there are explanations there for some of his design philosophy and detail on how the speaker adjustments work.

it's now Wednesday evening; Kevin got on his plane.....Jonathan on his train, and i have been listening for 4 hours tonight in a relaxed way with my go-to records and enjoying myself.

i was already pretty stoked at what i had been hearing prior to this visit; but we have gone to another level now. the speakers have ended up in essentially the same place they were to begin with, although tweaked in exact positioning, as was my listening position essentially in the same place. that original position was based on Kevin's original spot for the MM3's.....so that is not any accident.

what's different? and by what degree?

it's rounder, like music.....less hifi. the music projects further into the room....more holographic. there is more impact and articulation both in the bass and simply more energy behind each note. there is greater tonal weight and tonal richness. there is more detail and textural nuance. there is better delineation of musical threads in the soundstage.....so easy to follow the flow. harmonic complexity is more life like. the music stands up and moves me with greater forward thrust, flows better. things are tighter and more focused. every improvement is in an area where i had previously considered it already superior. so this is about increased degrees of goodness.

the emotional content of the music has risen perceptibly. it's more alive and real. it gets into your body and moves you. the increased musical connection really hit me on a few of the cuts, one in particular is the Beethoven Later Quartets (Philips Lp) by Quartetto Italiano. that increase in the tonal richness, roundness and energy just pushed all my buttons. wow!!! mikey likey.

these individual changes are all a little more than subtle, but less than profound changes......in and of themselves. but considering where it already was to my ears, in total it's a big step up toward the ideal ultimate musical immersion.

how can 4 huge 7' tall towers, weighing approx. 700 pounds each (2800 pounds total...in room), sound so coherent and fully disappear? impressive. how can they sound as big as a huge concert hall, or as intimate as a small jazz club? amazing!

these thoughts are after 4+ hours of listening at my pace. we will see how I'm feeling in a week or so. it has been a long road to get to this place in my audio path. I'm very happy (ecstatic actually) but trying to stay grounded and be open minded. we will see whether coming back fresh to this every day for a week with uncover any niggles.

thank you Kevin and Jonathan for this fantastic product and your considerable efforts to get it optimized in my room

mikelavigne May 15, 2014 07:13

hi Mike,

thanks for the detailed reply. i have a few sets of these a10-u8 footers under my preamps, & they seem to "get out of the way" pretty well (I mean this in the best possible way).

thinking of trying them under some of my heavier (>50lbs) & lighter (<6lbs) components.

by the way, congrats on the beautiful Durand Telos Sapphire tone arm!

Alex

11flat6 May 04, 2014 05:51

hi Alex,

regarding the A10 U8 footers, I have found that over 50 pounds that I got better results with 5 or 6 than 4. (my dart pre and dart 108 amp) and that if I'm using them underneath heavy gear that once a month or so it helps to 'massage' them (squeeze the tops to stir up the ball bearings inside) to get optimal performance. particularly if the gear gets hot (dart 108 amp), they seem to 'settle' slightly and lose just a bit of their decoupling magic.

and also that under 15 pounds that I get better results with 3 than 4.

however; I also find that moving the A10 U8's around underneath gear can be more the issue than the weight per se. sometimes getting the A10 U8 under a particular spot makes a difference. every piece of gear is unique and with resonance control it's hard to apply any solution blindly. one needs to be open to what actually happens.

mikelavigne May 03, 2014 14:47

hi Mike, do you know if the Wave Kinetics a10-u8 footers are most effective within a certain load? if so, any idea what this load might be?

11flat6 May 03, 2014 08:56

some months ago I posted about getting the prototype version of the Durand Telos Sapphire which I have been enjoying since.

http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showth...l=1#post221730

yesterday Joel Durand installed the final version of the Durand Telos Sapphire tone arm on my NVS tt. the final version has a composite arm wand and new base.....compared to my prototype version. Joel has been working for over a year on the composite arm wand.

I've been quite impressed with the prototype version. the addition of the composite arm wand with the final version lowers the noise floor (reduces distortion/noise) and as a result everything improves. what stands out is the overall ease and projection of energy, increase in texture and detail, increase in harmonic complexity/richness, increased solidity on musical peaks, and the music projecting out further into the room. these were all strengths of the prototype version and so this is an improvement in degrees on all fronts. not night and day differences compared to the prototype, but significant and when you are already at this level quite remarkable. the improvement in enjoyment and musical immersion is what I'm loving at the moment.

the additional pull of the music is across musical boundaries; rock, pop, jazz, classical.....female vocal, solo piano, string quartet, small combo jazz. the projection of musical energy and artistic nuance is hard for me to describe. explosive is a word I would use to describe the energy level.....unlike anything outside of tape I have heard.

last night I listened to many of my reference cuts for 5-6 hours and I was blown away that there was this much more potential in the format beyond where I was.

now tonight I'm listening to a drum solo with the Telos Sapphire......"the Great Jazz Trio Direct From L.A.", EW 10005, cut 1, side 1, 'A Night In Tunisia'.....Tony Williams on drums. the whole album is really fine.

the Sapphire Telos/Ortofon MC Anna/NVS --> dart 458's --> MM7's. those -4- 11" ceramic woofers per side (not to mention the -4- 15" powered subs per side too) only having to do 30hz to 250hz at 96db, 6 ohm. minimal excursion with such driver area keeps things so linear. and what that can do for drums is remarkable.

explosive hardly covers it.....you have to add effortless and life-like too. no overhang, no smearing, immediate, impactful.....delicate, expressive, tonally rich and complete.

revelatory.

I think the Durand Telos Sapphire is beautiful and love how it looks with the NVS.

Telos Sapphire
base and bearing tower
cartridge end close-up
head-on view with Ortofon MC Anna

mikelavigne April 29, 2014 05:32

Hi Peter,

Mike had been so busy we had not been able to schedule the visit for final placement and tuning.

I think it will happen within the next 4-6 weeks or so. I am sure there will be dramatic improvements.

All the best,

Jonathan Tinn
Evolution Acoustics

jtinn March 20, 2014 03:22

Jtinn,

Do you know if Mike had his MMSevens positioned into their final locations or voiced to his room yet? I'm really curious to read if the superior performance that he has been experiencing with his new speakers can be further improved with the professional room set up by the designer himself. Thanks.

peterayer March 19, 2014 15:40

HI Joey_v,

Mike has been extremely and I am sure is not looking to ignore your question.

If I remember correctly, he is about 11 feet away from his MMSevens.

jtinn March 19, 2014 03:37

mike - how far do you sit from the speakers?

joey_v March 13, 2014 08:58

Hi Mike,

It has been a long time!

Wanted to to send you a CD (or DSF/DFF files) with some recorded vinyl. Please email me whenever convenient, and if interested, of course.

Have a happy and prosperous New 2014!

Best wishes,
Alex Peychev
APL Hi-Fi

aplhifi December 29, 2013 10:45

Mike, haven't seen your system/room for a while now. I can only imagine its like a dream. You think you might benefit from a larger room now?
Henry

mtkhl567 December 08, 2013 20:07

Mike, has the MM7 designer been to visit to fine tune the positioning of your speaker system? The speakers should be well broken in by now.

Have you been reading about the TechDas products - record clamp, 2 turntables, cartridge? They have been getting some good user reviews over on WBF.

peterayer November 05, 2013 00:28

I think mike is busy listening to music :)

jtinn November 04, 2013 04:11

Did Elvis leave the building? Mike hasn't posted here in quite a while...
Carry on.

whart October 17, 2013 14:23

Hey Mike
For people that have not had a chance to listen to some music at Mike's place recently would be in for a very big surprise.
These large speakers disappear which is truly a feat as the speakers are huge in stature. The music hits you in the chest when needed and are as light on their feet as a ballerina when asked. Mike played DJ for hours and regardless of the music or source it was simply stunning to listen. Really special.
Mike thanks for a great time and hope to see you soon.

rugyboogie October 12, 2013 13:52

jasonparmenter... I won't hijack this thread, but let me just say I can take toxic water that would do you great bodily harm and make it taste amazing just by running through some granular activated carbon. One should never confuse taste with purity. For record cleaning one wants extremely low ionic mineral content (total dissolved solids, or TDS) so those same mineral ions are not left behind when the water evaporates. Rain water, in theory, meets that requirement but only diagnosis of resistivity would confirm.
[back to regularly scheduled program]

bobvin October 05, 2013 14:43