Doctor's Orders-Part Two-The New Listening Room Of Steve Williams

[Steve Williams]

I only just was able to sit down and listen to music without jet lag

I heard this album in Manila thanks to both Phil and Jim who not only played it for me at their houses but also made sure I had the record to take home.

Terrific music and worth a listen..

 

[16hz lover]

I read most of the 159 pages and it was great fun. Thanks for all the photos and great explanation of your enjoyment with this marvelous system. I'm listening now to Mahler's 5th by Bernstein(for the first time) that was referenced long ago.

 

[Steve Williams]

I read most of the 159 pages and it was great fun. Thanks for all the photos and great explanation of your enjoyment with this marvelous system. I'm listening now to Mahler's 5th by Bernstein(for the first time) that was referenced long ago.

Thank you for the kind compliments. I listened to Mahler's 5th again last night

 

[Albert Von Schweikert]

Whew, what a great story! I loved Bonnie's work and the entire setup looks pretty fantastic! Good job, Steve. I can't wait to visit and hear your system. I've got some very good vinyl and will bring a few of the ones you may like. See you soon!

 

[hvbias]

It has been a few years since I've logged into WBF and I see Steve has a turntable, amazing! A belated congrats.

 

[Steve Williams]

It has been a few years since I've logged into WBF and I see Steve has a turntable, amazing! A belated congrats.

Thank you.

It has been a while as I've had the turntable for just over one year

 

[jeff1225]

Not really, just a different presentation

Steve,
I have an unused SME S2 headshell if you want to try the Anna on the SME 3012R to see if it's the arm or the cartridge you like better!

 

[microstrip]

Steve,

Do you have the original JL Audio Fathom F113 subwoofers or the latest version with the Digital Automatic Room Optimization (D.A.R.O.)?

 

[jadis]

I only just was able to sit down and listen to music without jet lag

I heard this album in Manila thanks to both Phil and Jim who not only played it for me at their houses but also made sure I had the record to take home.

Terrific music and worth a listen..

View attachment 28720

Glad you're enjoying the record right in your home, Steve. I don't get tired of it listening to it for many many years now. Such melodic blending of voices.

 

[Steve Williams]

Steve,

Do you have the original JL Audio Fathom F113 subwoofers or the latest version with the Digital Automatic Room Optimization (D.A.R.O.)?

I have the original version which is fine for my room

 

[Steve Williams]

Steve,
I have an unused SME S2 headshell if you want to try the Anna on the SME 3012R to see if it's the arm or the cartridge you like better!

Thanks Jeffrey

 

[Steve Williams]

Glad you're enjoying the record right in your home, Steve. I don't get tired of it listening to it for many many years now. Such melodic blending of voices.

I have played it many times as well Phil

 

[microstrip]

I have the original version which is fine for my room

Thanks. Do you have similar settings on both subs or different ones in the left and right? Our JL Audio distributor come to visit me and told that in their system the Digital Automatic Room Optimization (D.A.R.O.) picks different setting for each of them.

 

[Steve Williams]

Thanks. Do you have similar settings on both subs or different ones in the left and right? Our JL Audio distributor come to visit me and told that in their system the Digital Automatic Room Optimization (D.A.R.O.) picks different setting for each of them.

Thats a good question as I optimized each sub separately so I am assuming different settings

 

[Steve Williams]

For those of you who know me and my system, you also know that I am a tube lover and have been tightly associated with Lamm gear in my system. Having said that I am not a tube roller especially withal equipment as Vladimir IMO knows how to select and match his tubes to his components. The only tubeI have ever rolled has been the 12ax7 tube on each of my amplifiers and for the past 8-9 years have been using the Holy Grail of 12ax7's the NOS Telefunken ECC803S which has served me well. Over the past 6 months I have been searching for a replacement pair of ECC803S for my amp and this has proved to be virtually impossible......until now

Used single ECC803S typically sell anywhere from $1200 to $2000 if you can find them and then once you do you have to worry that it is a knock off tube out of China. Then once you know the tube is real the other matching tube does not exist and here the search continues.

Well count my blessings as I received a tightly matched pair of ECC 803s's that IMO look virtually new as the boxes in which they came felt as if they had never been opened

 

[Steve Williams]

I felt the need to search out another pair of these tubes as I have been noticing that I require more gain from my preamp to get the sound to where I am used to it. My sound was IMO just as nice as always but I noticed the fall off in gain and that the sound was somewhat recessed

Well after having a listen to many songs I use to demo I then put in the new tubes.

Wow. What a shock. It was like listening to new amplifiers. My sound was so much more detailed with a 3D image. There was a huge amount of ambient detail that I was noticing as well. The big change however was that previously I was in the center orchestra. Now I was in the first 3 rows of the center orchestra. The sound was brought so much further forward. It was absolutely engaging. I hadn't heard sound like this in quite a while.

These tubes are the real deal. If anyone uses a 12ax7 and wants to roll one of these beauties, be prepared to be in your sound room for extended periods. They are truly a great tube and I was blessed to find this pair as I bet there are all too few floating around these days

the biggest change from the sound now much more forward in presentation but there is so much more meat on the bones of the music as so much more detail is now heard

I still have my old pair as back up as they do have so life left in them but not to the degree that these new tubes bring to the party

 

[Steve Williams]

Over the pst few days I have spent endless hours in my sound room as I have discovered what JackD201 calls his and brother Jim's second best kept secret (the first being the use of Critical Mass Systems racks). When I recently visited Jack and Jim in Manila I was gobsmacked by their systems. I have never heard anything as real and natural as Jim and Jack's systems. Both use Von Schweikert speakers with Jack having the VR11 Mk ll and Jim the one off VR 111 SX. Both systems are world class with Jim's IMO being the greatest system I have ever heard in my life.

Well what could be contributing to these systems to make such amazing sound. This is when Jack told me about their second best kept secret and that was the use of full looms each of Master Built Cable. There have been a few threads here over the past few years on Master Built cables but nothing that proclaims this cable superior to anything else....until I did my due diligence and researched the cable.

The cable is however well known to many users of Von Schweikert speakers and are sold to customers all of whom have gone gaga over this cable.

Talking to Albert, Damon and Leif from VSAudio they are bringing to market their Ultra Series speakers which have much technology based on Jim's one off VR 111 SX. All of the new and soon to be released Ultra 9, Ultra 11 and the VR 101 are internally wired with Master Built Ultra cables. In fact I am told that there are over 200' of MB Ultra cable wired inside Jim's speakers

I have thought long and hard about both of these systems to the point that I reached out to Leif S (member here) from VSAudio and enquired about auditioning these with my Wilson speakers. To the best of my knowledge this cable seems to be used most by VS speaker owners. Leif was more than generous as he too expressed a similar interest as he commented that he has great respect for Dave Wilson and his knowledge in speaker design but at shows he has always been disappointed because the speakers are shown with networked MIT or Transparent cables which for Leif has resulted in less than optimum sound

 

[jeff1225]

I wonder if there are some Ultra 11's in your future Steve?

 

[Steve Williams]

Leif lives less than an hour from me and was nice enough to come by 2 days ago. He had a long listen to my system with the Nordost Valhalla speaker cables

Leif brought 3 sets of cables

1. A pair of Ultra power cords which I used one for each amp

2. A pair of Ultra speaker cables

3. A pair of Signature interconnect from my Playback Designs to my preamp

What Did We Hear?

I wasn't prepared for what I heard as I had made a promise to myself that I was not going to descend into the rabbit hole of audio cables but here I was

I hate to be histrionic but it was like listening to a totally different sound system. There was so much detail especially at the top and bottom end. In fact I have never heard so much top and bottom detail in my system ever.I was hearing things I have never heard, There is absolutely no filters or devices on theses cables. The makers think cable directionality is bogus and they will never put anything in the signal path that will distort or color it. What goes in comes out. I was flummoxed as to what I heard. In fact initially while listening to the analog side of my system I had to turn the gain control 2-3 clicks on my preamp as what we heard was so much louder than when we listened with my cables

Now here's the real kicker. When we switched to digital to make use of the 1 meter Signature interconnect I found that my previous cable must have been severely restricted because with the new cable honest to goodness I had to turn my gain control down 9-10 clicks as there was so much more to hear.

I will have more to say about these cables over the next few days before I have to return them

To Jack and Jim, this Master Built cable is truly a well kept secret. I have never heard my speakers sound as good. There is absolutely no coloration. What goes in comes out. The cable makers state that their cables are absolutely neutral and I believe that

For those interested in this master Built cable it is a fascinating story as to how these cables that are made by aero space engineers and are used in the CERN Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland, These cables come in 4 levels
Purple
Reference
Signature
Ultra

Needless to say I am shocked at these cables. They are extremely well built but what they do to my system is so extra ordinary that I can say that I am going to do a complete cable loom switch to my system

I found the MB website for those interested. To Jack and Jim. I hope you don't mind my revealing your second best kept secret

www.masterbuiltaudio.com

 

[KeithR]

Interesting they do ABX testing for their cables..."pure" copper with teflon dialetric and good connectors does seem to be keeping it simple. (well, other than the belief in bi-wiring imo)

how much do they cost compared with your Valhalla? there is no pricing online (or US distributor).