My system has been evolving over a period of over 10 years but I have been interested in hi-fi since the 70's.
This is foremost an analog system and I see my records as an integral part of the system. I have about 3000 records, mostly classical from the 50's and 60's. I have most of the sought after Decca's, EMI's, Living Stereos and Mercury Living Presence of that era.
This is a very dynamic system and the dynamics (both micro- and macro), is the same over the whole frequency spectrum which gives an uncanny feeling of "being there". The plasmatweeter is fantastic but visitors are usually mostly impressed by the solidity and weight of the bass. This version of the Acapella Violon (mk II) uses a bassreflex with an opening below the iontweeter.
Cables, Powercord and Powerconditioner are under investigation....at the moment all cables are custom made in Switzerland.
Simon Yorke Designs Zarathustra S4 with external powersupply. The external powersupply has been modified and the original recordweight has been replaced by a customdesigned record clamp (c.f. figure)
Eminent Technology ET-2.5
It is an air-bearing, straight-line tracking tonearm. Its operated by an airbrush compressor with a constant pressure 2.5 bar (36psi). The counterweight is redesigned and the tube reinforced for the higher pressure. A monochrystaline silvercable is soldered directly into the stepup-transformer
Lyra Clavis (prototype)
It's naked
Primare DVD30
A multinorm DVD player that plays CD, SACD and DVD-Audo as well as DVD's
Convergent Audio SL-1 Ultimate mk II
The preamplifier includes phono. I'm using a stepup transformer "The Head" TX4 by high end audio devices, i.e. Tim dePavaricini
Jadis JA-80
60 W class A monoblocks with KT90 tubes
Acapella Audio Arts Violon
Hornloaded loudspeaker with plasmatweeter
Dillenhöfer Sound Systems NL-5
Powerbar
Harmonix X-DC Studio Master
I'm using this powercord for the Jadis JA80 power amps as well as for the CAT Ultimate preamp.
Acapella Audio Arts Fondato Silenzio Base
Isolation Platform The resonances are diverted to the aluminum surface via three "new" improved LaMusika Pucks. From this surface, the resonances go immediately into layers of plumb and felt and will finally be eliminated within a layer of finest quartz sand.
VPI db-5
The VPI Brick is best placed over the transformer in order to suppress RF and EMI. I'm using it on top of the CAT powersupply. It's quite heavy and weighs about 3kg. It's not made anymore - similar devices are the "HiFi News Fluxdumper" and the Shakti Stone.
By addressing the problems of electromagnetic interference (EMI), the Shakti Stone uses ferrous and non-ferrous materials and quartz crystal oscillators in combination with a low-level magnetic field to absorb EMI energy and dissipate that energy as heat. Shakti stones are put on top of the transformer of the monoblock amplifier
The Original Cable Jacket The Kable Jacket
8 pieces wrapped around powercords and loudspeaker cords
Audiotop Stylus
Special Cleaner For Diamond Cartridges
Audiotop Vinyl
Record Cleaning Kit / 3 step o Vinyl 1: Special purpose record cleaning detergent for use with vacuuming record cleaning machine / 1000 ml. o Vinyl 2: Fluid for relaxation of record surface-tension / 50 ml. o Stylus: Special cleaner for diamond cartridges / 10 ml.
Audiotop Connect Workstation
A three stage cleaning set (workstation) used to improve the conductivity of electrical contacts, accessories included.
Audiotop Digital
Special cleaner for CD, SACD and DVD Cleaning with Audiotop Digital, the laser scanning is optimised, substantially improving the resolution and the dynamics of the Audio and Video signals.
Shunyata Research Model-2
Powerdistribution (2 outlets) connected with Shunyata Taipan Alpha Powercord to the walloutlet
Hi Northern Lights, I am running an ET-2 on my Nakamichi 1000. I am looking for a very quiet compressor cause I intend to use it in the same room as the table is running. Is your compressor very quiet and which brand is it? thanks for answering.
Thank you! My previous preamplifier was an early version of CAT SL1 from the middle of the eighties. It began to shut itself off then the powersupply got hot so I started to look around for a replacement. The shortlist included the Jadis JP80 MC and the CAT SL1 Ultimate Mk. II the former being a preamplifier I heard many times during my time in Switzerland and it had been a favorit of mine.
Unfortunately I had no possibility to listen and compare them in Sweden but a person owning both preamplifiers stated in a forum (Audiogon?) that he kept the Jadis because Jadis bettered the CAT in one area but with the Ultimate Mk. II that was no longer the case, the CAT now beeing better in all areas. I listen mostly to vinyl and with my stepup and cartridge it was just about right and with the CAT I just had to replace the old with the new and it worked immediately. Needless to say, the new version was much better: higher resolution and more extended frequencies, especially going much deeper in the bass.
A CAT is made for eternity but after 20+ years the electrolytic capacitors in the powersupply needed to be replaced and after that my old preamp was like new and it is now working nicely in a friends system.
Eliotswede, Réne's cables are amongst the best in the world. As you probably know, it is not only his design, but also his workmanship, which is second to none and which makes all the difference. He has in fact shown me the difference in how a good and a bad solder joint in a cable will sound. We have compared top of the line Purist and Stealth cables in my highly resolving system and the differences are slight at best. The top of the line cables had just a touch more homogeneity along the entire audio range and were hence just a tiny touch more neutral if you listened really hard. The differences were slight at best. Just go figure! Renè's ics had a very tiny peak in the upper highs, which gave wonderful presence and a more forward placement of instuments, which many audiophiles prefer. I am using his wires between my carts and my phono preamps with excellent effects, easily beating Timachev's bests efforts here, which sounded harsh and disjointed in comparison.
Througout my system I am using cables designed by my friend René Etter at Audioforum in Zürich and the speakers are bewired. The only exception are the powercords from Harmonix which I used for the pre- and poweramps. Two years ago (this post is long overdue!) I got an updated version of his powercord and I replaced the old ones. I still prefered the Harmonix X-DC Studio master for the monoamps but replacing the Harmonix for the preamplifier bettered the spatial resolution leaving everything else the same.
In Sweden many buildings, if they are a little older, do not have grounded power sockets. I had an electrician put in new thicker wires (2.5mm diameter) with a ground wire. Unfortunately the sockets on the left side of my living room was on a different fuse than the sockets on the right side. Due to the length of the Harmonix powercords the monoblocks had to be connected to the sockets of opposite sides of the living room causing a ground loop with hum as a result. In order to eliminate the hum I bought a Shunyata Hydra-2 with a Shunyata Taipan Alpha powercord connected to the one side of the room. The Hydra-2 has two outlets and feeds both poweramps.
The initial tests proved promising: it got rid of the hum and no loss of dynamics. After having used the Shunyata Hydra for a year I took it off and made a comparison with and without and now it was obvious that the Shunyata made a much larger contribution than first estimated. This agrees well with statements from friends who have said that the improvements will come with time....
System edited: I have not been updating my system here on Audiogon for a long time but I have been improving my system step by step over the last couple of years. I could not find my system on Audiogon even though I had not changed anything and my system was "Public". This time I'm only adding a picture of my living room as it looks now with a widescreen TV by Loewe on a stand designed by the french designer Philippe Starck which I had been wanting for a long time. It is ofcourse not optimal to have such a large and obstructive peace between the speakers but I could not here any influence. I will add more photos and comments as soon as I see that my thread is up and running
Your system looks great! I'm also using an ET tonearm and was going to wire the cartridge directly to the phono pre... sort of like how you wired yours to your step up.
My only concern was possible RFI due to the longish run of unshielded tonearm wire. Have you had any trouble with RFI, and what, if anything, have you done to minimize it?
Really nice system and impressive record collection. Interested in the Zarathustra, maybe it's something for me... Heard the Acapella, a top class speaker for the listener.
Simon Yorke S4 turntable, interested in the power supply modifications; the custom "base" of the motor unit. Does it allow motor height adjustments? Custom fabricated? Looks great! I have a Manley-Zarathustra S8 table with an S3 arm and am looking to "upgrade" its performance. Any suggestions?
hi please look my classical lp's to ebay http://cgi.ebay.com/DGG-18095-96-LPM-TOSCA-FIRST-PRESS-GERMANY-RARE-LP_W0QQitemZ4755818659QQcategoryZ306QQcmdZViewItem
I love the $50k-$100k in audio equipment and music with a $50 TV sitting on the floor between the speakers! You've got your priorities right, that box will rot your brain. ;)
System edited: I have added more information and pictures to my system. - The latest addition to my system is the powercords from Harmonix which gives my system a substantially deeper bass. Going back to the original setup it seems almost vealed in comparison. I couldn't imagine that powercords could do that much....
Hi Kuzibri, your comment about silvercables versus coppercables agrees fully with what I've read and what I've been told by Alfred Rudolph (the constructor of the Loudspeaker). However, my system was put together by a guy who is quite amazing in getting the most out of a system and he said that he would be able to get at least the same result with his combination of cables. Remember, that at the time of my purchase no extra subbass was available and I followed the guidelines of my "guru" that there existed better things to put my money on ;-) In your case, I think you made a wise choice!
- It could very much be that the new version requires more power! I know that my dealer in Switzerland has stated that the Violon sounds quite amazing with a pair of JA200....
But you know how it is, if you haven't heard it, you will not miss it ;-)
I, indeed, have the version with the sealed box. Regarding the silvercables, it depends mostly on the accompanying equipment what the result will be. Combination with, for instance, loudspeakercables that consist out of copper, is a very bad combination. Combine it with cables of silver and/or gold and the result will be amazing. I,ve tried a lot of poweramplifiers on the Violons, including SET of 80 Watts - Double Kronzilla, etc, and found out that the Violons do love power very much, hence the JA200. Regards,
Hi kuzibri, my version of the Violons is a couple of years old and it uses a bassreflex in contrast to the latest version which uses a sealed box. My dealer in Switzerland is a very large dealer in Acapella loudspeakers and he does not approve of the silvercables of the highviolons.... The Jadis JA80 has in my opinion enough power - but I haven't heard JA200 in my system. My amplifier is the KT-version using KT90 output tubes - which in my opinion sounds much better than the 6550-version. Especially the bass is much more solid! Regards,
Very nice system indeed, have a question re: the Shakti stabilizer stones. What is it, That they actually accomplish? I also use Jadis amplifiers. But, I must admit I'm not familiar with these. Please tell me more. Thanks Craig
nice system! I also have the A Capella's. Which model do you have? The Violon, the High Violon or the High Violon Suboktav Bass?? The high Violon is about 30 kg heavier than the "normal" Violon and the Suboktav bass version has a second woofer inside the cabinet which acts as a passive subwoofer. Does the Jadis JA80 have enough power to drive the speakers??
