Back to Solid State(No More!) I missed the musicality, 3 dimensional sound stage and the "in the room realism" of my VAC tube electronics and sold all my solid state equipment and returned to the magic of Kevin Hayes at VAC and Kevin Malgrem at Evolution Acoustics. I am listening to music again. Winning the EAR DAC in a raffle allowed me to add the magic of tubes to my digital front end. The sleeper component in my system is the Snake River Audio cabling; it offers the uncanny ability to provide all the inner detail and nuance we want in a musical way without being analytical. Snake River Audio is one to consider.
System edited: New pictures of Audio Research Reference 5 Line Stage and Audio Research PH7 phono and upgraded Krell SACD to MKIII. Soon to enter a 12 step program to stop my upgrade here and just listen to music!
Hey Jfrech, I noticed your system comments and your comment to move my sound diffusers up higher! Coincidently, I did that last weekend and it did make an amazing difference. The first position was below the highest mid range driver on the MAXXs and when I moved the up diffusers higher; another foot or two it really smoothed out the sound stage and sharpened up the imaging! Had I not already tried it I would have heeded your suggestion. The Criterion turntable is amazing and makes it very hard to not want to listen to records all day and night! Thanks for your kind comments.
Wow couple of fantastic upgrades! I know the drill, sometimes it's hard to sneak something in without the wife seeing it:)
I bet your system sounds amazing!
On my Maxx's, I moved my sound treatments up. Not sure if you pic is still accurate, but might be worth trying your behind the speaker treatments up 2 feet or so. Really helped clean up the soundstage for me, surprisingly nice improvement.
System edited: Continuum Criterion w/Copperhead tone arm and Lyra Titan i has taken my system to a new level of performance and musicality that will make any future change minimal. You must listen to this table; it is unbelievable!
System edited: Sometimes you can't pass up a great deal and I am glad I didn't when it came to buying MAXX 2's in perfect shape from a local audiophile! It's good to have the detail and slam of MAXX's back in my listening room. The 2's are a huge improvement over the MAXX 1's. Next upgrade coming; Audio Research LS 26 and if I can keep my wife from noticing, bigger, more powerful monoblocks to make my Wilson's come alive.
I can tell that, you guys are great friends, enjoy music together, well that how it should be, very nice system, life is to shot, leave well... best to all......
The Rowland's are musical and I wasn't interested in something with less power just in case I try different speakers someday. Also, with lousy AC despite dedicated lines, the battery power supplies are a benefit to the noise floor.
Very interesting system progression.. Only thing is it had to sting giving up status of Wilson and Krell in your house, cause anybody in hollywood would be impressed, now nobody accept the 1% on this website knows anything about your system! Many times the simpler the better! Audio is one area that technology does not rule the latest and greatest when it comes to sonic satisfaction. Although in storage,convenience, and portability technology can help :-)
Sherod, yes, my VAC 220's are for sale and I believe are sold at this point. I have absolutely loved the VAC sound, but with 101db efficiency don't need 220 watts a side. I am considering what to play with next and have the PHI 2.0 pre for sale too.
I see that you still have your VAC 220 Phi monoblocks. I remember reading in another thread that you were possibly thinking of "downgrading" to the VAC 160 monoblocks as you didn't need the extra power of the 220's. Are you still considering this change in amps?
System edited: Loved the Caravelle and sub, however with kids 9,7,5,3 dancing in the room and bumping stands was unsettling. Moved to Definitions for kid protection and for more room in front of speakers. The Definitions fill the room a tad better than the Caravelle/Sub system and is the most musical system I have ever owned.
System edited: Swapped out the Krell KPS-28C for a Krell SACD Standard to take advantage of SACD collection. Swapped out the Caravelle monitors and Velodyne Subwoofer for the Zu Audio Definition Standard to make more room in my room. Decided to keep the Zu Audio LIBTEC speaker cable as the synergy was better with their speaker. Lastly, added an old Tice Power Block and Titan to plug my mono amps into to reduce noise from my dedicated AC lines.
Daiwai; I am slow to respond to your post as I don't check it that often. I haven't sacrificed much bass in my room because I added the Velodyne Subwoofer; DD-15. Because of the placement of the sub(it is 4 feet further away from my ears than the woofers on the MAXX) I am actually hearing lower notes than I could from my MAXX due to the smaller room I am in and the fact I sat so close to the MAXX. So, to answer your question, I haven't sacrificed bass. I haven't tried the BAT preamp, so I am not a good source to comment on what might mate well with Krell or Pass. I am surprised you found the KCT analytical; to me it was by a long shot the most quiet, dynamic and musical Krell Preamp I ever owned.
The change your made is really interesting. So are you letting go the deep bass by using a pair of small monitors? I was using Krell 350mcx and KCT but then later sold the KCT because I find the overall sound a bit too analytical (but I love Krell's dynamics though). What preamp would you recommend me to try? Is BAT VK-51SE good or Pass Labs X1 good with Krell power? Your advices are very appreciated! Thanks!
A friend of mine has a pair of the big Magnepan 20.1's and I want to get a pair of them. However, the bass does not go deep enough for my taste. My friend has tried several subs to augment them, but he swears none of them are quick enough to keep up with the speed of the Maggies.
The Imperial Walkers were very menacing 45 foot tall armored tanks that walked and were used by the evil empire to attack Luke Skywalker and the good guys. Being 45 feet tall, they had huge feet. Your stands remind me of the feet of those monsters. Paste the links below into your browser to take a look at them. Whenever you've got a couple of hours to kill, rent the DVD and you'll have loads of fun.....turn on your sub and let the Imperial Walkers stomp all over your listening room!!
Mitch, I'll have to check out the Empire Strikes Back and compare to my stands that are standard with the Caravelle. Although, Robert has mentioned there will be a newer updated stand soon. Yes, I am amazed at how effective the sub is with the monitors. The Caravelle get down faily low for their size and the Velodyne DD-15 is easy to match to the Caravelle with the self Equalization microphone and software. It keeps up fine. After hearing this set up and how good it did sound, I dumped my MAXX in favor of it!
System edited: Replaced the 20ft Horizon microphone cable with a 5 meter XLR Purist Audio Design Venustas interconnect and so far am pleased with the additional reduction in the noise floor of the sound stage and overall musicality of the cable.
Irish65, the newer Caravelle stand is far superior to the stands my friend initially had with his Caravelles. The speakers rested on top and were not coupled to the bottom of the speaker. The new stand is more rigid and couples very nicely to the bottom of the speaker and there is no movement at all. The stainless rods are filled with micro bearing and actually vibrate as music is played through the speaker to dispate the resonance from the sound stage. Robert at Star Sounds has mentioned this new stand is very expensive to manufactue and produce and they are trying to re design it to be as functional, but not as expensive to build. I hope that helps.
