i don't wish to beat this subject to death, but before i acquired a yamaha grand, i lucked into an absolutely gorgeous teakwood yamaha upright (a U-7). the store i bought it at easily had 75 upright pianos, maybe more, in this huge warehouse (they had another warehouse for grand pianos). after trying dozens of pianos there, and also having been to numerous other stores, i fell in love with this particular piano. the tone was so even from one end to the other, and when you sat down and propped up the lid, the opening was right at ear level- pure heaven. the action on grands use gravity instead of springs, but g-d was this thing nice to listen to. btw, a piano placed BEHIND your listening chair shouldn't resonate, as the dampers are sitting on top of the strings anyway. oh, one more thing- if anyone can explain to me how yamaha et.al. can make any money from selling these magnificient instruments, with the number of parts involved and the prodigious workmanship required to assemble them, as well as voice the things to make sure they sound good too, please let me know... ok, that is all. thank you and good bye!
OH NO, i HAVE to share this as well- i am going to be getting a (MINT) Stellavox SP-8 portable tape recorder! are these dinky little things any good? just kidding of course, but the only guy on audio asylum that also has one (or two) doesn't like to write me much. after burning a hole in my brain looking at nagras and stellas ever since bookmarking e-bay, i finally decided a picture of one wasn't good enough anymore. ANYONE who knows about stellavox's and/or nagra analog portables- PLEASE DROP ME A LINE! thanks again.
PS- for starters, i need a 7 inch reel conversion kit...

french_fries June 22, 2008 14:03

French Fries and Mtkhl567; i do have a piano (Yamaha Upright) in my home. my wife and daughter play. outside my room on the entrance wall have a few 'orphan' musical instruments as art. i don't play any of them. my opinion is that any stringed musical instrument sitting in an audio room will be harmonizing along with the music....maybe in a good way and maybe not. a piano sound board would likely have a significant influence in the sound of the room. again; could be good or bad depending.

i have had a few trumpet players play along with the music a few times; it was hard to tell reproduced from live.

mikelavigne June 21, 2008 21:39

Henry, thank you very much for that feedback. the Sooloos has got the world's best interface for music listening until they come up with a thought controlled interface.....i love it. i'm not surprised that the CDSD is better. i showed the Sooloos interface to my Network Engineer son and he is working on assembling a server based storage/PC Tablet interface for me to plug into the Playback Designs. i know it won't be as slick as the Sooloos; but i want hi-rez capability in a server. i heard that Sooloos is wroking on hi-rez, i suppose i could wait. anyway; thanks for the answer.

mikelavigne June 21, 2008 20:51

Ryder,

every room is different and the context of which RPG product would work the best would vary based on the whole room design. i spoke to Jeff from RPG about my particular application. i originally wanted a Skyline made from wood. he said that if i wanted wood; i would have to purchase the Omnifusers; but in my situation the Skylines would work better as they are the best approach for mid to high frequencies. my room has lots of bass traps built in; and there is already built in diffusion for the ceiling and sidewalls.

since i posted the pictures of the diffuser above; i did make a change. after much listening and experimenting; i removed the top 12" from the diffuser; it now has better focus and does scale and space better. i will post some pictures of the changes later.

mikelavigne June 21, 2008 20:45

French Fries; sorry for the delay in my response here....it has been a crazy 10 days. regarding the walls; actually about a year ago i added to Navajo carpets to each side-wall which my wife and i found on a trip to Sedonna, Arizona. it had taken me a long time to find 'the right thing' for the walls. now a year later i am still happy with them. they seem to have 'good feelings' in them.

sorry i have not yet included pictures of my reel to reel machines. the ATR-102 has been sitting along the side of my room since last November. the Technics RS-1500 is in another room. i am told by the Studer 'expert' that my Studer A-820 may join these other two 'shortly'.

i do have other some RTR news. this past week i got an opportunity to purchase a Tim deParavincini (EAR) modified Technics RS-1500 derivative (i'm not sure which model exactly). it will ship to me from the U.K. on Monday. it was one of those deals where i got an e-mail and had 1 hour to decide to buy it. so i did. i had spoken to Tim dPv for an hour or so at CES and was considering him doing my ATR. i just could not resist picking this up. i should have it the first week of July.

so that will make 4 RTR machines i own.

i also purchased a Technics SP-10 Mk2 turntable; which i plan on having installed in a custom plinth and buying a arm for. FYI, the Rockport is not going anywhere.

mikelavigne June 21, 2008 20:36

jeez, you guys!! if horowitz was happy playing a steinway,
it must have been a halfway decent piano. i was only kidding about the piano anyway, but it always helps to hear how a real piano sounds before spouting off about how good a stereo system sounds. as a piano owner i have no such delusions.
oh, and you can have a good laugh on me- i only have a Yamaha- gee, life is tough, ain't it? i heard on the BBC that the people in Somalia are starving from food shortages...
(when is this s___t going to ever stop?)

french_fries June 20, 2008 11:08

French_fries, to finalize the room with a grand piano I would figure Mike's taste would be more suited to a top Bosendorfer, or maybe, just maybe a Bechstein ....
either way, it would be interesting if the "system" could truthfully replicate the sound of a really good piano in the same room ...

Mike, ever thought of trying that...?

mtkhl567 June 13, 2008 18:22

Hey Mike, sorry for the late reply. Comparing Sooloos via the DCC2 vs. Metiner's own transport which I have....well I would loved to say no difference but it aint. Via the CDSD you get greater openeness and lively character to the sound which is a level up. Sooloos via DCC2 is really good, don't get me wrong, but there still remains a difference so on purely sound quality, using the CDSD is the clear winner. But the value proposition of Sooloos is different as mentioned earlier in my post. I use both obviously...sometimes just browsing and playing stuff via Sooloos gets me inspired, the whole re-disocovery thing, and then I pull out the CD and play it again via the cdsd. Whether this is due to cabling (I currently used an XLO digitial single ended for Sooloos), the fact that Sooloos only offers single ended digital out (no balanced, no optical), or the hard disc format (usually I find them perhaps too smooth?), I have no idea.

henryhk June 13, 2008 10:10

Are those RPG Skylines High Profile diffusors? I thought they were meant for the ceiling. The Omnifussors are more suitable for wall placements.

Looks like there is still room for further improvement although your high-end room is pretty much complete. I guess you must have fallen asleep on your couch. :)

ryder June 13, 2008 08:00

is that actual "artwork" i see on the side walls of your
"audio asylum"?? very tasteful. i see you have succumbed to
public pressure and done something about those bare walls.
just kidding, it really does look nice. but... where are those reel to reels? you haven't entered the promised land without one imho- sorry!
also, come to think of it, you need to add a Steinway for further sound enhancement- i think with that you will finally have "arrived" (smile). take care, dr.

french_fries June 13, 2008 06:23

tonight (actually last night now that it's past midnight) the new front diffuser is finally installed. it still needs a small bit of trim but it sounds phenominal.

here are some picture links....

close-up with the lights on

looks stunning at night....but sounds better than it looks

adds scale and a perfect sense of focus

i'm not sure when i'll make it to bed.

mikelavigne June 12, 2008 07:18

I only wish that I could say that my purchases over the past two years had been revenue neutral, but between the Triolons and the new Audio Note balanced Kegons, this just has not been the case. Nonetheless, I would like to think that by purchasing in the used market where possible and actively seeking good prices on new items, I could recoup a majority of what I have spent in most cases.

fcrowder June 11, 2008 15:26

one additional note on value; i'm not the most frugal audiophile; in fact, some would call me the poster child for excess.

but the facts are that i stay revenue neutral in my audio purchases by considering long term value. i could go on and on regarding how i've spent little on speakers, amps, preamps, and even vinyl for the last 10 years (i could now sell the Rockport for more than i paid for it 5 years ago).

even cables have been actually revenue neutral since the year 2000. my room investment has more than been returned to me in home value.

OTOH digital players have a limited shelf life; even the very best. so if you are betting on a $30k digital player retaining long-term value; that's a stretch regardless how flexible it is as a preamp (see; current cash value of a $14K retail EMM Labs DCC2 SE). today; i would value flexibility as a server DAC ahead of preamp ability in terms of long-term value for digital players.

a top-of-the-line full function preamp including a world class phono stage will retain considerable long term value.

these are just a few things to consider when seeing the big picture on the value side of the equation.

mikelavigne June 09, 2008 22:53

JF, you make some good points regarding the total price of the APL NWO 3.0 GO. i agree that it can potentially cover a few bases and justify it's considerable price.

the same case can be made for the dart preamp (which includes a world-class phono stage). i was able to sell my Lamm LP2 phono stage, my Placette balanced RVC and my custom built switchbox. i also sold 2 sets of Valhalla interconnects (1 a 7 meter set) and 2 power cords (the dart is battery powered and does not care about such things). i use Herve's BNC 'zeel' cables which are cheap, cheap, compared to any high quality interconnect.

the net cost of the dart pre was minimal to me in the big picture. obviously; someone without vinyl (perish the thought!) would not save as much as i did. the dart pre also allows some system flexibility which is lost when one box does everything. you are kind of locked into one digital source. one can have as long an interconnect (up to half a kilometer) as one likes from the pre to the amp without loss of performance.

not everyone needs or wants a world class full-featured pre-amp including a phono stage. but a case can be made for it's value to a system.

none of that matters if a product does not deliver the sonic goods. one needs to listen and decide.

mikelavigne June 09, 2008 18:26

i did get some updated info from Jonathan as my son is putting together a music server for me and we are trying to figure out the best approach. i have not personally confirmed this info.
at this time the USB input will only accept 16/44.

the RCA input (S/PDIF) will accept up to 196/24 PCM. you would need an 1/8th inch RCA (mostly every PC outputs from this type interface) to to fuill-sized RCA digital cable.

the Toslink will also accept up to 196/24.

the MPS-5 will then convert (with zero jitter it is claimed) the digital source to analog simply by selecting that input with the remote.

the manual has some helpful tips on optimizing the digital output of your PC along with a source for a driver to configure your PC to input to the MPS-5.

mikelavigne June 09, 2008 15:41

Underdog,

yes, i do optimize the adjustment pads for evaluation. most of the digital gear i listen to is between 25 and 35 pounds so it typically falls into the same compliance setup as my EMM did or that my Playback Designs does.

i do experiment with the single rear pad, as most gear sounds best with the read pad one step firmer than the front two. also; i put fresh pads in at least twice a year to make sure that is not a variable. Alvin specs the pads to last 12 to 18 months.

mikelavigne June 09, 2008 15:39

Hey Mike, I'm curious...When you demo/compare/evaluate equipment in your system, do you put the components on your GPA stands? If so, do you swap out the different rubber discs under the shelves to optimize the performance of the equipment? I know from experience that this can make a profound difference in overall performance.

underdog June 09, 2008 13:23

Henry,
yes, and you can also read this review: http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/aplhifi/uas1.html

That's what Alex said about it: "The Chinese amp is a little hybrid from a company named BADA. Model # is DC-222. It is $530 when new and it sounds quite horrible. I am completely re-designing it (based on my experience with my big hybrid amp I’ve designed a while ago) so it ends up with ECC99 tubes instead of the original12AU7 tubes. It has similarly specified output transistors like in the darTZeel, but 4 per channel instead of 2 per channel in the darT, so it has twice the current output capability. It is 90W/8ohm or 150W/4ohm."

For the moment I am still sticking with my Dart (but need to be more often in Japan to do some burn-in of the APL before doing a fair comparison). Another Dart user found the APL amp vastly superior (more accurate, less coloured, more linear...) and sold the Dart...

PS: btw, when you compare the price of the NWO3.0GO with any other CD player, you need to take into account that it works better without preamp (even better than with the Dart pre inserted...), and that you have a digital in, a analog bypass and even a phono in if you want... So it very much compares with the cost of the playback design + a pre... and we are back at more than 30k

stereotaipei June 08, 2008 19:45

JF - I'll have to read up a bit. Is that also where I'd find some technical info on the APL amp?

mtkhl567 June 08, 2008 04:32

Henry,
the 3.0GO is a very different animal than the 2.5... Both sound very differently, it is not a simple upgrade (go on the Forum of APL if you want to see how people compare them).
Will be fun to hear a comparison vs. the Playback design. Out of curiosity, I hope it will happen, whatever the result.

stereotaipei June 06, 2008 20:33

i have not heard the Accustic Arts hybrid tube DAC II.

mikelavigne June 06, 2008 13:46

Mike, I wonder if you ever heard the Accustic Arts hybrid tube DAC II. I have, and I found it quite good (vs the CDSA SE), in fact it was abundantly clearly better in many aspects, most importantly sounding very analog.

"...in any case; i think it's ready for all comers...". I'm curious to hear if there are any comers, would be so interesting to learn from.

mtkhl567 June 06, 2008 11:09

Henry, yes; the tweak is the same general approach as Brian Kyle. i have not heard Brian's product so i cannot specifically recommend it; but i expect that it should work well. i use a Tourmaline hair dryer modded by Andrew Kosobutsky and an Acoustic Revive RL-30 demag unit.

don't worry about the DAC issue; as there was no info out there so all you could do was guess. i asked Jonathan for clarification since there was lots of interest in how it worked.

the Playback Designs now has 100 hours on it (it has played continually since mid-day Saturday).....from now on i'll only play it for break-in. warm-cold cycles help too. there is amazing air and openness, the bass is fast and effortless. the music has this great flow and an emotional content i've only felt with vinyl up till now.

my ears tell me digital cannot get any better, that break in must be over.....my brain tells me just wait and there is likely a bit more to come.

in any case; i think it's ready for all comers.

tonight i did a quick comparison with a DAC which it's owner sent to me. i used the Playback Designs as the transport. it was not close.

mikelavigne June 06, 2008 05:55

Mike, that tweak that you recently discussed is that the same one as Brian Kyle is selling now?

mtkhl567 June 06, 2008 04:54

Mike, I apologize for my somewhat incorrect vs categorization, thanks for sharing that detail ... maybe JT can post some general technical specs on his website for everyone to read. So have you called Alex yet? You probably need some more hours on your player before any proper comparison.

Gary, I appreciate your sense of humor, especially in this hobby. All too often some audiophiles get too intense and serious about what products "sounds best". In your situation above, a bedroom alarm clock would have done it too :-)

I've only ever exchanged one email with Alex (and a couple with Brent), and his passion for what he does was shining through load and clear. I've nothing but admiration for him, and while I never had the chance to hear any of his products, all APL owners rave about them. Maybe one day...

But yeah, let's keep the fun part alive!!!

mtkhl567 June 06, 2008 04:48