Description

I like the WP 8's ability to reproduce whatever the Joules can send their way. Speed, they can handle the Joule's lighting fast attack transients. The wonderful harmonic textures, decays and inner details the Joules reproduce are handled deftly by the WPs. The bass is strong, tight, detailed and textured.
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    • Basis Audio 2500
    Active suspension with oil and spring.
    • Basis Audio Vector 3 Tonearm
    The 3 is less congested providing more inner detail with more extended hi's and bass. It has a VTA micrometer that will help with finer adjustments.
    • Basis Audio Signature motor
    Had original motor upgraded to Signature. The new Signature is quieter with less cogging.
    • Basis Audio Revolution Belt
    "It occurred to A.J. that the belt itself may be playing a role. He measured a range of the belts on hand, selecting the most accurate (consistent thickness), and found that the tighter the tolerances, the lower the speed variation and better the sound. So how to increase tolerance was the question. A.J. embarked on a crusade that eventually led him to design his own process and apparatus which grinds the belt and to an astonishing accuracy of one-ten-thousandths of an inch!"
    • Basis Audio counterweights
    Lighter main weight with two smaller fine tuning weights positioning larger weight as close to pivot point as possible should result in a quicker reaction time.
    • Walker Audio Ultimate Precision motor controller
    With Valid Points and Control Discs and upgraded teflon circuit board. The improvement in the total presentation is impressive, smooth and clear were the first impressions. The bass seemed more pronounced and better defined; the highs were smoother resulting in a .."more natural sound".
    • Air Tight PC-1
    Just a fantastic cartridge!!!! Loaded at 240ohms, VTF @ 2.1grams. "Like most vinylphiles, I've listened to a lot of fine moving-coil cartridges over the years. The Air Tight PC-1, TAS' 2006 Phono Cartridge of the Year award-winner, is, IMO, the best yet in nearly every aspect of phonographic reproduction - the most complete." - Jonathan Valin, 2007 Golden Ear Award Winner, The Absolute Sound Issue 173, August 2007 "In plain English, the PC-1's magnets produce a much stronger magentic field, greatly lowering noise and coloration and greatly increasing resolution in every regard. Details are clearer, timbres are truer, air is more plentiful, dynamics are more lifelike, and stage width, depth, and height are expanded... a leap forward in moving-coil design." - Jonathan Valin, 2007 Golden Ear Award Winner, The Absolute Sound Issue 173, August 2007
    • Koetsu Urushi Black
    Warm with detail.
    • Koetsu Rosewood
    I need to remount this cart and find if my recollections are correct!!
    • GamuT CD-3
    The best player I heard at my pay grade in my system, coupled with the Joule LAP-150 Mkll it produces an enjoyable sound.
    • Joule Electra LAP 150 MK ll
    The top unit is the separate power supply, the bottom is the pre/phono. Me likey!!!! Changed the tubes to: 3 x Amperex 7025 '66 in 5751 sockets 2 x Amperex JAN 7308 '62 in 6DJ8 sockets
    • Joule Electra VZN-160 Grand Marquis MKV Musicwood
    OTL immediacy/speed, wonderful inner detail, dynamic, delicate, attack matched by incredible decay AAAAA+++++ piece of gear!!!! A privilege to own a joy to listen through!!! The amp themselves can be tuned by adjustments to the voltage with the variacs, biasing the 6C33CB's between (25) to (33) and with a dial provided for adjustments of negative feedback creating the sound you prefer. Presently running Amperex Holland 7025's and Amperex Holland 6DJ8's.
    • Wilson Audio WATT Puppy 8
    I've been changing positions and tuning by ear only. I measure at the top outside rear corner of the Puppy for both back and side wall numbers. This allows a fixed point for side and back wall numbers while toe in is adjusted, this corner being the easiest spot on these speakers to permit this for me. My normal listening db level is 72db to 83db so I'm optimizing the placement for this volume range as I think the boundary distances are dependent on the db level. The outside rear corners are now at 39 3/4" to back wall and 23 3/4" to lt side wall and 23" to rt side wall. The celling rises from 9 1/2' at lt wall to 10 1/2' at rt wall. The tweeters are 101" apart and my ears are 120" from the tweeters with a sliver of the inside of the WATT visible. This is the best sound I've had in my room!!!
    • Purist Proteus Provectus I/C pre > amp
    All copper
    • Purist Proteus Provectus S/C amp>speaker
    Copper
    • Purist Aqueous 20th Anniversary P/C CDP
    This is has been moved from the CDP to the LAP-150 Mk ll.
    • Purist Musaeus P/C pre-amp power supply
    Using to the Joule LAP-150 Mk2 power supply. Will try different cords eventually. This pic is when it was connected to CDP.
    • Purist 20th Anniversary P/C wall to VZN's
    To the tube section of the amps
    • Purist Musaeus P/C 15A to Walker control
    Cable upgrade for TT motor controller.
    • Solid Tech Rack of Silence 4
    Quieter and much nicer to look at than my old racks.
    • Black Diamond Racing The Shelf (2)
    Two 21" X 19" X 3/4" shelves one under TT and one under the pre amp give quieter backgrounds with much greater detail "Made entirely of BDR’s proprietary Carbon Fiber Composite materials and finished with clear acrylic on both sides for an elegant and understated appearance, the BDR Shelf is massive and extremely non-resonant, absorbing enormous amounts of vibration: a BDR Shelf is only ¾” thick, yet it is 25x less resonant than an 8” thick granite slab and has 4 times the vibration absorbing power of 2” thick MDF!"
    • Black Diamond Racing The Shelf (2)
    Two 19" X 15" X 3/4" shelves one under the Joule LAP-150Mkll's power supply and one under GamuT CDP. "Made entirely of BDR’s proprietary Carbon Fiber Composite materials and finished with clear acrylic on both sides for an elegant and understated appearance, the BDR Shelf is massive and extremely non-resonant, absorbing enormous amounts of vibration: a BDR Shelf is only ¾” thick, yet it is 25x less resonant than an 8” thick granite slab and has 4 times the vibration absorbing power of 2” thick MDF!"
    • Solid Tech Rack Of Silence ROS 1
    Amp stands with cross braces suspended by springs and amps feet sitting on Sims Novcom pucks.
    • Solid Tech Rack Of Silence ROS 1
    This is a picture of the ROS 1 Ref without the spring suspension. Currently set up with 1.6
    • Acoustic Sciences Corporation Tube traps
    (2) 16" Supertrap tube traps, (2) 11" Tube Traps, (2) 9" Tube Traps,(2) half round 11", (2) half round 9"
    • Real Traps Mondo Traps
    (4) traps at first and second reflection points
    • GIK Acoustics 242 & 244
    (2) 244 on top of the record cases, (3) 242's on front wall, (1) on wall behind chair
    • Mint LP Mirror protractor
    Fantastic tool for checking stylus alignment
    • Cable Isolators ESD
    Made of Electro Static Dissipative Polyurethane. The jury is still out on the effect these have on the sound but they have helped separate and organize the cables.
    • Sims Vibration Dynamics Navcom silencers
    Used between Rack Of Silence and BDR shelves under preamp and CDP. They are also under the acrylic shelves under Direct satellite box and Walker speed controller shelf.
    • Purchasing Department I-Mac & inter net
    Without this tweak the rest would have been near impossible, at best very difficult and a lot slower.
    • Hickok 539 b
    Roger Kennedy digital mods and calibration. A must have for matching sections, power tubes and to protect equipment.
    • VPI 16.5
    This was a great buy it really make record cleaning a snap!!!!
    • Digital Tachometer no name
    Reads strip of tape on the side of the platter.
    • PHONIC PAA2
    The PAA2 can perform full acoustical analysis using its real-time spectrum analyzer. Thirty-one, one-third octave bands are displayed on the screen real-time with selectable response times (35ms, 125ms, 250ms and 1 second) and weighting options (Flat, A and C). The operator needs to select the SPL (Speaker Pressure Level) range (30-90 dBSPL, 50-110 dBSPL, 70-130 dBSPL) for the test being run. The user can select any of the center frequencies and display the level that was measured with the numbers displayed above the real-time graph. The peak level can also be displayed for reference. There are a total of sixteen memory locations for storing data. The measured spectrum data can be stored to any one of ten memory locations. Averaged data from any or all of the ten memory locations can be stored to the remaining six memory locations.

Comments 268

Owner
System edited: Added Joule VZN-160 and Purist I/C's and S/C a move from hi-fi to hi-end!!!!

samhar

Owner
Put the Purists in this afternoon and right away they were fantastic!!!! Naturalness with detail, inner detail rosin detail wood soundbox detail guitar harmonic detail harpsichord strike detail piano note fullness detail, so much full natural detail and just plain beauty that I'm going to go back to listening.......

samhar

Owner
The Atmosphere mono's use 800 watts a side continous a little more than I'm willing to deal with. The Joule's use 500 watts a side continuous, I can deal with that, I hope my house can!! They are getting shipped tomorrow so I should have them "soon" Pa > Ca !
Tomorrow I receive 3 Purist cables; 2 sets Proteus Provectus I/C's and full range Proteous Provectus S/C's. I want to hear the system with copper cables and go from there.

samhar

Those are sweet amps, synergistic with Merlins, should be really nice with Sophias. Atmasphere also makes some nice OTLs.

sns

Owner
Thanks for the all the suggestions before I could check anything out! I had the opportunity to try an OTL amp so I took it and bought a Joule Electra VZN -160 MKlll Grand Marquis OTL!!! I figured it's winter our house is cold so the heat would be a bonus on top of the excellent sound! Are you familiar with Joule or any other OTL amps? Everyone I've talked to has said the Joule's sonics are gorgeous so I'm extremely excited. I guess I'm a 6C33CB kind of guy now (I have no idea what that REALLY means)

samhar

That's funny, the Manley Neo Classic 250's were on my list of buys prior to getting my Art Audio Carissa Signature. I really like the EL-34 tube in push-pulls, the CJ MV60 should also be on your list.

There are a number of 845 SET manufacturers to choose from. These include the Art Audio, which of course I own, they come in stereo and monoblock versions. Other companies include Sophia, DeHaviland (I've heard their monoblocks, pretty nice), Antique Sound Lab, Audio Space (heard their monoblocks, pretty nice as well), Viva and Bel Canto. I'm sure I'm missing some. Still, I love my Art Audio, seems a little more extended on top than the other 845's I've heard. They do their transfomers a bit different than the others, the Signature version also also supplies more current than most others. This higher current is what could make your Sophias compatible.

I would suggest listening to a wide variety of amplifiers, they all have their fine points. I've listened to many and owned quite a few. My favorites are El-34, 2A3 (very low powered) and 845 based. I would still like to hear more of the 300B based amps, although I don't think these amps will drive Merlins or Sophias.

sns

Owner
I was considering Merlins but was afraid of my ability to get them set up "correctly". Another factor was the Sophia 1's were 45mins away and a pair of Sophia 2's were 20 mins away. After much pondering I decided the 1's were a better fit for me so I drove, auditioned, bought, packed, loaded into my Element, drove,unpacked (2 200# boxes), set up and was listening in 5 hrs!!!! None of the worries associated with long distance transactions, relatively instant gratification
!!! I was more mid fi then I had imagined, it's a humbling experience in my case.
The improvement is similar to my first pair of distance glasses, I thought I was seeing everything perfectly but there was no fine inner detail by comparison.
Who makes 845 based SET amps?
I've been considering Manley Neo Classic 250 and Jadis 200.

samhar

Loudspeakers with high resolution and coherence change the whole equation, I was just sort of mid-fi until I put the Merlins in my system. Now, if you're really into experimenting, try one of the higher power SET amps out there, the added immediacy and 'lit from within' sound may just knock you out. I'm pretty sure 845 based SETs can handle the Sophias. I almost pulled the trigger on Sophias some years ago, ended up getting the Merlins only because some used ones came up for sale before any Sophias.

sns

Owner
Sns The Sofia 1 has changed my whole system, I thought the V-4's weren't detailed but it wasn't them!!! I was hot to change the V-4's "caps" but now I think I'll wait and listen to the ARC VS 115 before I mod them.
As to the digital it's as if I have an all new collection, there is so much more of everything inner detail, dynamics imaging etc. etc. The system is now "Emotive"!!!!!

samhar

Owner
System edited: I think I'm in love with my therapist!! OK heavy like!!!!

samhar

Owner
System edited: Moved from "Opinions Please" and changed name from "Getting Tubed". I think I'm in love with my therapist!!! OK, maybe just a heavy infatuation!

samhar

Good to hear you're enjoying digital sound. Many times the problem with digital is some other part of the system. I think analog may be more forgiving of weaknesses in other parts of the system. And so now I guess I just wrecked my theory about how much easier digital is to synergize within a system!

sns

Owner
System edited: Added Wilson Sophia 1's these are just amazing!!!! All those CD's I thought sucked don't!!!! Classical is .....it will make you tear up it's so beautiful!!! I'm shocked by how good the Quicksilver V-4's are performing, the combo is a very pleasurable, more detail than I expected! The soundstage is wide, holographic and airy with precise imaging. You can hear the strike at the beginning of a note the harmonics are............!..........!..........! A huge step!!!

samhar

Owner
System edited: Added pic of the Quicksilver V-4's to the equipment list.

samhar

Owner
System edited: Rolled Quicksilver V-4 back into system and am finding I like their warm tubey sound also. They aren't as detailed or dynamic as the VS 115 but have a relaxed listenability the ARC doesn't. Added a picture of the Hickok 539b Roger Kennedy digitally modded and calibrated. Much easier to dial in with digital readout line voltage and bias meters.

samhar

Owner
System edited: Just picked up my Hickok 539b from Roger Kennedy calibrated and digitally modded!! Much easier to "dial in" and more accurate! Put the Quicksilver V-4's back into the system and am finding I really like their "warm tubey" sound !!! They aren't as detailed or dynamic as the ARC 115 but just as good in their own way. The Srereophile Test Disc #1 helps adjusting the subs "Q" & db settings when rolling amps, it's a great tool for simple adjustments and quick evaluations!!

samhar

Owner
Luckiedevl,
Thanks!!! I did use the X-2 filers first but I don't remember the change, it's been awhile. Monday I'll insert 1 X-2 filter and A-B the two and let you know my impressions. I'll be doing this with a set of Quicksilver V-4's, I removed the VS 115 to listen to the V-4's(my old amps) for awhile.

samhar


You have a VERY nice setup. I was wondering if you used Vandy's x2 filters on the 2wq's prior to the M5-HP? If so, would you describe the change in sound. Was it worth the cost?

luckidevl

Owner
Thanks Pat it's nice to get positive feedback!!! I still need to find a light material (soundboard?) to place over front surface of the flat screen and in front of the wood below it per our discussion. When a thick blanket is over the screen and a dense pillow is in front of the wood the sound is better. The ARC VS-115 has 440hrs on it now and seems to have gone through it's biggest changes, hopefully I won't be rolling tubes in the Calypso as often to compensate for changes!!! The VS-115 has taken the system to a higher level with it's speed and dynamics, I'm extremely happy with this addition, it showcases everything around it and has made the system much better!!

samhar

Samhar
You've done a great job with the system
Very impressive I bet it sounds as good as it looks

musicfile

Owner
The 3A Sigs were in the system before the subs with a Pass X2.5 pre and X-150 amp. First I tried one 2W sub because it was available locally (L.A.) for $300.00, just couldn't pass up the chance to try it out! Long story short I turned it into an amp stand and bought a used pair of 2Wq's. The improvement is worth the price, with the Pass amp the bass was quick and powerful. The 300 watt amps in the subs take on the main amps characteristics so the subs were similar sounding to the speakers bass but more of it. As good as the 3A's are they're better with the subs or more correctly the system is better when the main amp/amps don't have to produce the low Hz. The 3A Sigs sound opened up,seeming more lively and the amp was faster as if the X-150 wasn't fast enough already.
The next amps paired with the 3A Sigs were Quicksilver V-4 mono blocks, the differences between subs and non subs sound were more apparent in this configuration, the V-4's becoming noticeably less congested and much faster, I liked them a lot more with the subs.
The ARC VS-115 is still breaking in so I can't speak about the new sound.
Two weeks ago I listened to the Wood Quatro with all ARC front end, they sounded similar to the 3's&2W's in my system. I like my system slightly more it's a fuller sound more alined with the 5A's, 3 8" drivers vs 2 8" drivers in the Quatro. The Quatro sounds leaner and faster and comes in a nicer more convenient package.
I too use Banana Pancakes rain to check differences when I make changes!!! I grew up with Jack's dad & mom in Manhattan Beach CA, we were best friends back then.

samhar

You're right, our set ups are similar, right down to the colors on the walls.

Did you have the 3a Sigs before the subs? If so, what kind of difference did you notice when you added the subs? I've been curious about them for a while, just not sure if it would be worth it or not. The price of two subs, plus the 3a Sigs gets you pretty close to the price of Quatros. I talked to Richard Vandersteen about them. He told me either use two or none.

ecruz

Owner
System edited: Switched Amperex 7308's US PQ to Amperex 7308 Holland PQ, the Holland tube retains the detail of the US tube and is a little warmer. Changed some photos and descriptions to stay as current as posable.

samhar

Owner
System edited: Rolled Amperex Pinched Waist then 7308 White PQ's in the 6922 socket. Sticking with the fuller mids of the 7308's for now. AQ Big Feet Sorbogel footers placed under the Calypso, this was a WOW factor improvement!! Metal points put under the CD3 this tightened everything up some! These were very productive tweaks, the system's sound improved tremendously the most obvious being the Sorbogel Calypso combo!!! The high end fuzz was knocked right out!!!

samhar

Owner
System edited: First rolled Amperex PQ Pinched Waist then 7308 White PQ's into the 6922 socket,keeping the 7308 for now, it's a very clean tube with slightly fuller mids than the PW! AQ Big Feet Sorbogel pads were placed under the Calypso cleaning up the highs, this is a 'WOW" factor tweek for the Calypso!!! Metal isolation points were placed under the CD3 there affect was to "tighten" everything up!!! A 1 1/2" maple amp shelf was added cut down vibration and sweeten the highs. This was a very successful group of tweeks the system's sound quality was raised by dampening vibrations, simple but very effective!!!

samhar

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