Life with the Felines | Virtual Listening Room

Description

My priorities had been for products that have a midrange bloom with great follow-on harmonic structure and decay. How notes decay and float in space is what has caught my attention. This can be experienced with a trip to a piano store: hit a key on a Kawai, then a Yamaha, then a Kimball, and then to the back room: the Steinway. The note carries on much longer with the Steinway. This is what I have chased with refinements to the audio system.

In time, I have become more attentive to tonal neutrality and resolution. And I have sought more of a "back-at-the-speakers" rather than "out-in-the-room" presentation. With improved top-end resolution mainly due to the Aria WV, I have a greater appreciation for percussionists. And with the CAT amps, I have dynamic contrasts and attack that I simply never heard before in my audio system. The recent addition of the CH Acoustic cable products to the system has brought the clarity to a new experience.

The music system is in a dedicated basement room with dimensions: 13.5'W x 18.5'L x 7.5'H. The A1 speakers lived in the basement room for nearly 15 years. They were a foot from the side walls. This allows them to be almost 10' apart (center-to-center) with very little toe-in needed. Due to issues with severe bass peaks in the room, they are 6' from the front wall. This does not remove the peaks entirely but reduces them enough to not be tempted to insert an "equalizer" into the chain, which I did, the Rives PARC; that resolved the bass peaks but also removed much of the magic in the system.

Am now running the Vapor Audio speakers in the basement with great success thanks to the CHA products.

Room Details

Dimensions: 18’ × 13’ Medium
Ceiling: N/A

Components Toggle details

- Triangle Art Signature Turntable
Using the external Walker Motor Controller
- Schröder Reference SQ 11" Tonearm
Special late model version of this highly-respected tonearm.
- Phono Cartridges: Shelter Harmony, AQ 7000, Shinon Red
Currently running Shelter Harmony or rebuilt Audioquest 7000 by Andy at Needle Clinic. Andy's work here with internal cleaning and diamond retip is outstanding. The Harmony is phenomenally detailed and dynamic with the AQ a bit more mellow and lush. Both of these cartridges reach deep into the bass with the Schroeder arm.
Also play with the Shinon Red from time to time when I need a higher output mc but this is not as resolving like the others.
- Zanden Audio 1200 Mk 3 Phono Stage
Right out of the box with new EH tubes throughout, this unit brings out harmonic layers and structures that I had not heard before on LPs I have played 100s of times over the last 20-30 years. Changing the rectifier and 7308 audio signal tubes as recommended by Brent Jesse, the unit took on a level of musicality that matched what the reviewers of this product have been writing for years. And this phono stage, like all Zanden products, is a beautiful work of art.
- Lampizator Big L6 DAC
And 5 years later, with some efforts on tube rolling in audio and PS, this unit continues to impress. It will likely cost $10k or even $15k to significantly improve upon this, and I just don't want put that out.
- Aria Audio (Michael Elliot of Counterpoint) WV5 XL Tube Full Function Preamp
Full-function, fully-balanced preamp. Has one MM and one MC input, three line inputs and one HT pass-through. The latter does not require the preamp to be powered on. The MC input uses a pair of Sowter 8055 step-up transformers. Options here are the silver wiring for the umbilical and the Vishay TX2575 resistors.
- Convergent Audio Technology CAT JL-3 Signature Mono Amps
16 power tubes (6550 or KT88) per amp, 150w (way under-rated!) mono blocks. Big and heavy and .... they double as floor heaters, but hard to let go. They are truly special.
- Symphonic Line Kraft 300 40th Anniversary Stereo Power Amplifier
Single-ended inputs only. Effortless dynamics and clarity. I bounce between this and the CAT JL-3 amps.
- Symphonic Line RG-1 Power Amplifier
This medium powered amp does a mighty fine job to drive the Sound Lab A1, but I use it along with a Symphonic Line RG-11 in a home theater setup. Outstanding tonal coherency and clarity with air around the instruments that gives a hint of the great tube products. The RG-1 is one step above the bottom model (RG-11) but this amp holds its own against a number of competitors that I tried. Mr Rolf Gemein, the man behind Symphonic Line, has one impressive product line.
- CH Acoustic X20 Interconnect
A recent (2019) audition in my system. What a discovery! Great tonal coherency, very lively with strong dynamic contrasts, amazing amazing detail, low-level detail, retains the 3D that far too few cables do ..... and wow, great bass authority. A big and bold presentation. There might be a temptation to fully load the system with this cable (if I could afford to do), but I imagine it would be too much of a "good" thing. The Jade Audio Ref, TA and Silent Source cables bring on a nice balance. Not a big fan of the use of the word, synergy, which often implies compensating for tonal coherency issues elsewhere in the system.
- Jade Audio Reference Platinum/Gold Interconnect
Have owned this cable for 15+ years, in various lengths, RCA and XLR, and its performance in my system connecting sources to the line stage has been stellar. Outstanding portrayal of space and tonal coherency with very good frequency extreme coverage.
- Transparent Audio Reference MM2 Interconnect 6m
This is the Ref MM2, one level down from the Opus. This is not to be confused with the Reference with MM2 technology, which is down two more model levels.

I needed a 20-foot minimum length cable which limits the playing field dramatically.

This cable surprised me so much, that I bought it. Got dealer loaners of the Ref MM2 and the next lower level model Ref XL with MM2. They were neck and neck in tonality, but the Ref MM2 had such a huge improvement in clarity, ambiance, especially with piano which was severely smeared by the XL, that there was no going back to the XL. I have no doubt that moving up to the Opus could have a similar improvement, but the price starts to get seriously crazy at that point. On the hunt to find a 6-7m IC at the next level of performance.

I had a 1.5m of this cable. Directly compared to the CHA X20, this TA is no match to the X20 in clarity and delineation. But the bloom factor with the TA can be addictive. The X20 was the keeper.
- CH Acoustic X20 Speaker Cable 6'
I never heard a speaker cable bring on such refinements like this product. Nice flat tonal coherency like my long-time reference cable, the Silent Source Music Reference. Whereas the SS has a mellow laid-back presentation, the X20 is lively, bold, dynamic, great clarity.
- Vapor Audio Speakers: Model: Joule Black
Got these speakers as part of a trade in summer 2023. Been running these in the basement music system for several months with impressive results. Very very resolving, great bass, outstanding imaging and depth but somewhat lacking in the richness, ambiance and bloom. These remind me of the Proac speakers I auditioned 20+ years ago, same qualities, only these Vapors are far more refined. I need to move some furniture and equipment around to get these farther back into the room and a bit farther apart and see if I can get more 3D magic out of these.
- Duntech Speakers: Model Sovereign 2001 - Late 1980's
Recently (summer 2023) acquired these as part of a trade. Coming off the Sound Lab A1's, the Duntechs have a big presentation but it was immediately apparent that detail and clarity with the Duntechs were severely lacking. It was evident that a rebuild of the crossover boards was inevitable. A complete crossover rebuild was completed (Dec 2023) with phenomenal results which is another discussion altogether. These are currently used in the main floor HT system.
- Sound Lab Speakers: Model A-1
These are currently on the sidelines as I play with and learn about the Vapor Audio speakers.

These A1's are an older pair with wood cores. Upgraded back panels (2015) with latest transformer. After being a Magnepan fan for a decade or so, and not a huge fan of ML Electrostatics, though the Stax were impressive back in the 80s, it took only a few seconds after hearing the SL's that I knew I wanted this speaker. It is rough to return to a dynamic speaker after living with these for nearly 20 years now (2023).
- Running Springs Dmitri and Haley Power Conditioners
Power Line Conditioner used for Lampizator DAC, Zanden phono, TT Motor Controller and Aria WV5. I got a killer price on this a few years ago. I use the Crown Jewel (CH Acoustic X15) power cord here.

One of the great finds 15 years ago was the RS Haley. It shamed a number of power conditioners a friend and I had owned that costed much more. Again, and again, it's all about clarity. What a incredible value! The Haley is now used for the HT setup. One of these days, I will try another product line if one gets my attention. But for now, the RS products serve the system well.

As an experiment, I tried the preamp with an X20 power cord directly into the wall and much magic was lost. So back into the Dmitri it went.
- CH Acoustic (CHA), Dream State Power Cords
I went through the NBS Statement, Purist Audio Dominus, Kubala/Sosna Emotion, Stealth Dream, but upon trying a few Dream State products, this became my long-time (15 years) power cord brand. My music system was fully loaded with these. But I have recently auditioned some CHA power cords to determine where these might work well at various links in the Music system.

Comments 4

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Jafox nice system welcome to the Lampi family. I have the big 5 which I received in March. It is the best digital I ever had in my home. You need to put 400 hours of break in on it. Right out of the box it sounds great but the bass is rather anemic. When you hit 100 hours bass comes in but then the sound becomes a little rolled off. When you hit 200 hours the sound opens up and the detail comes. I can suggest NOS tubes if interested and digital cables as I have tried many. Enjoy Jeff

jwm May 08, 2014 09:04

Owner

System edited: Just added the Lampizator Big L6. First system change in
4 years, I may not sleep for days!

jafox May 01, 2014 20:32

Really nice system - bet it sound beautiful. Love the 4 Cats! Intrigued by the SA-2 and Aria pieces. Sure wish Mike would have stuck it out.

barrysandy September 01, 2012 12:33

Hi Jafox,

I totally agree with you about decay and harmonics. One can have details and extension, but without decay and harmonics, it isn't believable.

For some reason, it seems like 4 out of 5 things I try not only lack the decay, but can also kill whatever decay other components may bring.

I could recommend Beethoven's Piano Sonatas by Peter Takacs. His technique is all about decay. This is amazing and inspirational stuff not to be missed.

rtn1 May 01, 2012 14:42

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