Hi Mike.  Paul from TRL told me Winston's health was failing.  Very sad.  He is as they say a true "scholar and a gentleman."  What a loss that will be.

agear January 07, 2016 06:23

Yes, yes Charles. You are right. I read this crap late at night. Mike, have you heard Ma's room?

agear August 05, 2015 18:13

Mike, what will you do differently in your CO home? Who is going to run point on the design?

Have you ever heard Winston Ma's room. That is a fairly serious affair as well....

agear August 04, 2015 15:22

yes you are.....:)

agear July 31, 2015 17:33

Miguel mentioned it....are you not?

agear July 30, 2015 03:10

Mike, are you still getting a Tripoint Troy? I am going to get one soon....:)

agear July 29, 2015 18:24

Congrats Mike. Audio is a humbling hobby indeed.

Did u know Rives went out of business fairly recently?

agear July 18, 2015 02:54

Good experimental data Mike. I know the active approach is not new. Norm/Tbg played with it before concerting to Stillpoints.

I do know mechanical grounding and isolation products make a substantial difference in my limited experience. It would be interesting to compare and contrast them. I have fiddled with Stillpoints, Sistrum and Equarack.

agear June 30, 2013 12:55

A video component should be a part of every system thread. Great idea and fun to watch. You live in a beautiful part of the country.

Gallant, I was wondering what happened to you. I tried to find your system page a while ago and could not. Welcome back....

agear February 18, 2013 22:28

Power is uber important IMO, and it looks for all intent and purposes that Mike has chosen a SOTA option. You can spend more on single box solutions (I have). The burning question is what works best. I was steered away from the isolation transformer route for various reasons, some of which I am sure are myth. If I had known about the Equitech option, I might have gone with that instead. One of the most interesting and impactful areas for power isolation and conditioning is digital. This is an excerpt from the Equitech 10WQ review in 6Moons:

"Although I am a committed vinylphile, balanced power offers solutions for the digital side as well. While hum is often the noise indicator for analogue sources, it’s a little different for digital with the inherent noise from its power supplies, HF pulses and jitter. Jitter is distortion caused by timing and deviation issues in the high-frequency digital signal stream. Martin adds that "digital jitter is caused in part by high-frequency electrical interference approximating the bit stream rate of the digital signal." Specifically he compares digital jitter to intermodulation distortion in the analog realm where each piece of digital equipment cumulatively adds to the jitter problem.

The claimed improvement from balanced power is startling. Martin claims that the Equi=Tech system reduces average jitter by up to 50% and peak jitter by up to 66%, with the only variable being the change from standard to balanced power. The high-frequency noise reduction claims are equally as dramatic. "... nulling low-frequency harmonic current in essence 'knocks the legs out from under' the high-frequency harmonics in the AC system. Everything collapses." Bold claims to be sure and I have no way to prove or disprove them but Martin cites tests in both audio and technical environments. Oak Ridge National Laboratory was having significant problems with an electron microscope blurring the images of silicon atoms. The cause was tracked to minor timing errors in their digital data stream. The change to balanced power reduced jitter and cleared up the images."

The Oak Ridge reference is interesting but anecdotal. Nordost has co-developed software that measures changes in jitter following system changes such switching out cables:

(http://www.stereophile.com/rmaf2010/nordost_and_vertex_measurements/index.html)

That software could obviously be used to quantify things. My conditioner was used recently in a preliminary study on MRI image quality with positive results.

Mike, you stated:

stand alone power conditioning boxes are like toys in comparison. i respect that stand alone power conditioners can improve things in systems, and not everyone can logistically install a whole system isolation transformer. but many times stand alone power conditioners can end up being trade-offs reducing dynamics while lowering noise particularly on amplifiers since they can't store enough energy.

Given that the nature of this hobby seems to be additive, there is only one way to find out if that statement is true. I heard a demo of the Tripoint products after hours at Axpona last year, and it was impressive. Mike, it might worth checking out the Troy grounding box. I plan to. I believe a phile in your neck of the woods has one now and his mind is blown. As a disclaimer, I have no affiliation with Tripoint...

agear December 10, 2012 19:05

Just when you thought it couldn't get any sweeter. Congrats....

agear December 07, 2012 02:08

You can find threads here where people found the Dart stuff lacking in various areas (body, dynamics, etc). Obviously, it is a matter of system matching much like the ASR.

agear June 23, 2012 13:11

The Emitter is an interesting beast. Gregm, you definitely put it through its paces. That was wise and Spirit, you should obviously do the same if you can. As you know, Gary "Glory" Anderson converted from the 75W Tenor OTLs to the Emitter I Exclusive due to OTL heat issues in FL. I thought there was no way in hell a tube-o-phile like Gary was going to groove on SS feeding a 101 dB efficient speaker. I was wrong.

ASR caveats: the battery is a plus. Adds great sound staging depth, etc and makes it more SET-like in addition to tombstone quiet. I did multiple A+Bs with two different SET amps before buying mine, and it held its own. No dryness or lack of soul at all.

The ASR is VERY sensitive to cabling and conditioning. Due diligence is in order. Many former owners miss the mark in this area. Marshall Nack was one of the few reviewers who figured that out in his piece for Positive Feedback. He ended up using Kubla cabling. Argento and Teo are two other good options. Nordost is a bad idea. I use Dale Pitcher's stuff to good effect.

As for conditioning, ASR tells people that the unit does not need it and that conditioning would parasitize dynamics. While this may be true for most conditioners, I found it to be very beneficial. I have Dale Pitcher's latest unit, and it was transformative. Others have had success with the RSA Dimitri.

Spirit, if you want SS with a low noise floor, and a complete absence of mechanical glare, the ASR is a good option. Used, it is a lot cheaper than Dartzheel and other top tier offerings.

agear June 23, 2012 11:42

Mike, I did not realize the MMs utilized a series xover. After having experienced a series 1st order xover in my current speaker, there is nothing I like more.

agear April 13, 2012 09:52

Spirit, agree 100% on the power issue. I also "hear" what you are saying about the Zus. A lot of audiophile speakers suffer from old man dynamics and cannot replicate live music faithfully IMO. The conversation about live jazz above initiated by Charlesdad is very apropo. I guess the question rattling around in my head pertains to the how and why. Being xoverless is obviously not the sole issue. I too briefly owned a xoverless design that used used a large single driver for the majority of the musical spectrum (Emerald Physics). Yes, they were dynamic and did some things well. I now own speaker based on a minimalist, mechanically grounded, series xover and transmission line, and the dynamics are excellent. I think one of the key issues people forget about is mechanical grounding. Energy or vibration management in speakers is an afterthought largely due to time and expense. I know that Starsound technology (sistrum) has experimented with mechanical grounding of the drivers, cabinet, etc and said the resulting dynamics are surprising. I also owned Dale Pitcher's Gamma Summits for several years, and they used mechanically grounded stands based around Stillpoints to very good effect. Reading about the MM7s, with their laminated birch construction and asymmetric internals, it is clear they are thinking along the same lines....

agear April 12, 2012 09:38

Spirit, single driver-based speakers have their strengths and weaknesses just like anything else. The idea that a traditional x-over is inherently parasitic is not necessarily true. Is there measurable data to substantiate that statement? Furthermore, there is an ocean of difference between "hearing" something and living with it. Our brains often make snap judgements particularly when innately subconscious, tribal, pride is at stake. Plop the MM3s or 7s in your house (if there is room) and then let us know.

agear April 11, 2012 09:54

Dynamic or "ambient energy" is one of my main system objectives. Without it, things don't sound real. Do the MM7s have more of that (even without a state of the art room)?

agear April 07, 2012 01:16

interesting Mike. I have that CD. It does have great depth and soundstaging, but is ever so slightly dry or thin sounding. So I guess I need to get a turntable....

agear January 12, 2012 10:50

Dertonarm, I understand your intent, and the Wavac does sound tantalizing if it does what you say it does in terms of dynamics while maintaining SETness.

In reviewing the Wavac reviews, it does seem to possess innovative circuitry (capacitorless in places). Fremer's review of the 8-box SH unit did reference a certain bloat or fatness in the bass and a sense of being rolled off in the highs with a slight tilt towards euphony. Atkinson's measurements bore these observations out. Any comments?

agear January 10, 2012 19:51

Dertonarm, how much does a 833 replacement tube cost?

It seems that one of the standard dictums of the SET world is "less is more." In speaking with Mike, he felt that the low powered 2a3s did things that the Lamm, Wavac and others did not (in his system). In my brief experience with SETs, the lower wattage beast seemed to have more of that luminescence and purity that is the essence of SET land. The flea powered stuff is addicting. One of my favorite rooms at Axpona was the Voxativ single driver speaker driven by a 3W SET.

In an ideal world, Mike and the rest of us would have multiple systems. If cruel logic dictates Mike's decision, and presuming the 2a3s are king, horn speakers would be in order. On the other hand, having more than one amp for his current speakers would be swell.

All that being said, unless the room and power is truly dialed in, it is hard to hear the best from your equipment, leading to soulless searching on Audiogon.

agear January 05, 2012 11:23

Hi Sam. Thanks for catching my funny. In the heat of all the tribal scuffles, humor is lost. On that note, Unoear gets 5 stars for his funny. You can see the same humor throughout his system page (for ex., "Mama's favorite in Desert Silver, however still rolling around on the casters" is the caption to describe his Wilsons...)

Mike, I share your basic sonic philosophy. I just read through the PF article on the creation of your room, and again, you are to be congratulated on your attention to detail. I am starting the same process now with the help of the Starsound gang, and it is quite an ordeal. My prego wife (9+ months) has ZERO tolerance for all the neurotic hand wringing, especially since the room is being completed in the context of finishing a basement. The room has become a stumbling block to "progress." What a surprise. She has a fairly low opinion of audiophiles (and audio manufacturers in particular), and if any one of you ever feels inspired to visit, be prepared to be viewed with a jaundiced eye....

agear January 01, 2012 17:54

I have a subset of friends who have graduated onwards from SETs for similar reasons to Glory. One made the analogy of watching television on an old CRT versus a LED flatscreen. He now owns Ypsilon which would be on my shortlist if $ were no object. They produced the best sound at Axpona in Atlanta.

Listening bias is strong. There was a recent study in the news where British researchers found that wine tasting was influenced by ambient music. The adjectives used to describe the same wine changed based on music chosen. So, here we are. Music taste and listening style (quaint old man with his cognac and cigar versus Maxell man and his martini glass being blown over). To each his own....

agear December 30, 2011 22:04

Glory, you are right on the money about the dark side of audio. It's funny. Whenever my wife sees the Audiogon yellow on the computer screen, she groans, and says "so you're looking at audio porn again."

Mike, spectacular room aesthetically and I am sure sonically. As a percentage, what contribution does room (and power) contribute to your sound? I have heard quite a few people say the room contributes 60-70% since it really is THE SPEAKER.

Regarding your amp quest, what exactly are the DarTZeels lacking? You mention the DarTZeels not having the same "breath of life" as the big tube amps. For me, that variable is #1. Scale, visceral presence, something you can put your finger into. I have never heard SETs pull that off (even with appropriate speakers). I cannot imagine your new SETs will do the trick with the MM3s, and I predict they will not last in your system.

agear December 30, 2011 16:58