Octave Jubilee Amplifiers

Willgolf

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Jul 21, 2019
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Does anyone have any experience with the Octave Jubilee 300B mono amps and or Pre-amp? I am getting the bug to try something different. I have Canary Audio Grand Reference 300B mono amps with 16 Western Electric 300 B tubes and a C1800 Pre-amp. I have Viking Acoustic Grande Voix Dual horn speakers at 98db with a Lampi Pacific DAC and Lucas Audio Music server.

I have a friend who has the Octave Jubilee Pre-amp and he swears by it. I have no ability to listen locally. Information is rather sparse on Octave. I would appreciate any feedback from Octave owners.
 
I have the octave jubilee preamp and it is wonderful. By far the best sounding preamp I have ever owned or tested. I think I have reread Anthony Cordesman‘s review of the Jubilee amplifier and preamps A dozen times. These are truly reference products.


I previously owned the Octave 500SE preamp and Octave MRE 130s with Super Black Box and they were also good. I have since sold both the MRE 130 and HP500 SE. I miss that preamp as it was my first tube preamp that I owned. I now have McIntosh MC2301 300 watt tube amps. Now, considering the new MC3500 350 watt amps, that’s another story. Their claim to fame is being used at Woodstock.

My MC2301s were driving B&W 800s, but sold the B&Ws and now have giant Classic Audio LoudspeAkers T1.5 reference field coil speakers.

Other preamps I tried were BAT, Einstein, ASR, and others that escape me. A friend of mine in Europe had both the Jubilee amps and preamp driving B&W 800s. The sound was great and the B&Ws were sounding awesome.

The Jubillee amp is still a great amp, but I am not sure that over the years that other tube amps are finally catching up in performance. Perhaps the reason for new Octave 300b amp.

Anyway, a Jubilee preamp or Jubilee amp used by themselves or together, is well, audio bliss. When I auditioned the Jubilee amp in Europe and heard the Mcintosh MC2301s, I was torn by the sound. Both wonderful sounding, but slightly different. The Jubilee amps at the time were only a few thousand more euro than the 2301 amps. At the time, could not afford either.
 
I have the octave jubilee preamp and it is wonderful. By far the best sounding preamp I have ever owned or tested. I think I have reread Anthony Cordesman‘s review of the Jubilee amplifier and preamps A dozen times. These are truly reference products.


I previously owned the Octave 500SE preamp and Octave MRE 130s with Super Black Box and they were also good. I have since sold both the MRE 130 and HP500 SE. I miss that preamp as it was my first tube preamp that I owned. I now have McIntosh MC2301 300 watt tube amps. Now, considering the new MC3500 350 watt amps, that’s another story. Their claim to fame is being used at Woodstock.

My MC2301s were driving B&W 800s, but sold the B&Ws and now have giant Classic Audio LoudspeAkers T1.5 reference field coil speakers.

Other preamps I tried were BAT, Einstein, ASR, and others that escape me. A friend of mine in Europe had both the Jubilee amps and preamp driving B&W 800s. The sound was great and the B&Ws were sounding awesome.

The Jubillee amp is still a great amp, but I am not sure that over the years that other tube amps are finally catching up in performance. Perhaps the reason for new Octave 300b amp.

Anyway, a Jubilee preamp or Jubilee amp used by themselves or together, is well, audio bliss. When I auditioned the Jubilee amp in Europe and heard the Mcintosh MC2301s, I was torn by the sound. Both wonderful sounding, but slightly different. The Jubilee amps at the time were only a few thousand more euro than the 2301 amps. At the time, could not afford either.
Thanks for your thoughts. Now I have added Solid State amps to the equation. I am looking at Block Audio Mono amps and Pre-Amp. I have always had tube amps so it would be quite the change from my 300B mono amps. I wonder if I am crazy? LOL
 
I have the octave jubilee preamp and it is wonderful. By far the best sounding preamp I have ever owned or tested. I think I have reread Anthony Cordesman‘s review of the Jubilee amplifier and preamps A dozen times. These are truly reference products.


I previously owned the Octave 500SE preamp and Octave MRE 130s with Super Black Box and they were also good. I have since sold both the MRE 130 and HP500 SE. I miss that preamp as it was my first tube preamp that I owned. I now have McIntosh MC2301 300 watt tube amps. Now, considering the new MC3500 350 watt amps, that’s another story. Their claim to fame is being used at Woodstock.

My MC2301s were driving B&W 800s, but sold the B&Ws and now have giant Classic Audio LoudspeAkers T1.5 reference field coil speakers.

Other preamps I tried were BAT, Einstein, ASR, and others that escape me. A friend of mine in Europe had both the Jubilee amps and preamp driving B&W 800s. The sound was great and the B&Ws were sounding awesome.

The Jubillee amp is still a great amp, but I am not sure that over the years that other tube amps are finally catching up in performance. Perhaps the reason for new Octave 300b amp.

Anyway, a Jubilee preamp or Jubilee amp used by themselves or together, is well, audio bliss. When I auditioned the Jubilee amp in Europe and heard the Mcintosh MC2301s, I was torn by the sound. Both wonderful sounding, but slightly different. The Jubilee amps at the time were only a few thousand more euro than the 2301 amps. At the time, could not afford complete
i thnk i am the friend in europe , kaiserslautern you mentionend:) see my porsche ...i still own the system but reduced to pure analog one, and strong modifed,.. tuned speakers frequency seperating filter replaced by silver coils and condensators , hugh push towards other dimensions .. regarding pre amp jubillee definetly one of the best worlwide..the mono amps upgraded now with KT 150 . they will burn in next months...
i often visit high end in munich,.. and listen to other systems .. i always return with a smile ...
..the monos shows more details, keep always absolt contol. as far you can say so in relation to the 300 B.. which i prefer
the best is the midrange , violin solos etc , i prefere classic and jazz of 50 , 60 ths , its georguos, a lot of dealers visit me and, left speachless.. .....:), acoustic tuning of room... very important!!!! without this,.. you lost ... in annex some pics..
regards thomas
 

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i thnk i am the friend in europe , kaiserslautern you mentionend:) see my porsche ...i still own the system but reduced to pure analog one, and strong modifed,.. tuned speakers frequency seperating filter replaced by silver coils and condensators , hugh push towards other dimensions .. regarding pre amp jubillee definetly one of the best worlwide..the mono amps upgraded now with KT 150 . they will burn in next months...
i often visit high end in munich,.. and listen to other systems .. i always return with a smile ...
..the monos shows more details, keep always absolt contol. as far you can say so in relation to the 300 B.. which i prefer
the best is the midrange , violin solos etc , i prefere classic and jazz of 50 , 60 ths , its georguos, a lot of dealers visit me and, left speachless.. .....:), acoustic tuning of room... very important!!!! without this,.. you lost ... in annex some pics..
regards thomas
Hello Thomas,
Wie Gehts?
Yes, Nick here. I remember our listening session, it was great.

I like what you did with the crossovers for the 800s, I am sure they sound marvelous.

Do you still own the Transrotor Tourbillion? What arm and cartridge now? I ordered the Transrotor TRA9 in gold and may order the Tourbillion in a few months. I love the Apollon but the FMD seems to be better. Have a Soundsmith Hyperion on one of the SmE v arms, a Benz LPs on the other. My Dark Star has a Soundsmith Sussaro MKII.

The Jubilee preamp brings everything together in a good way. My phono amp, the Aesthetix IO Eclipse with two power supplies works perfectly with the Jubilee. The McIntosh Amps are powerful.

How many watts do you have with KT150 tubes in the Jubilee mono amps? I bet loud enough for your room, LOL.

I changed out my B&W 800 speakers to custom designed Field coil speakers. Classic Audio T1 reference field coil speakers.


Glad you still are enjoying the Jubilee system. It truly is a system for life. Some pics from of mine.

Oh, was going to order a GT3, but now have an order for a C8 Z06….three year wait.

Nick
 

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Hello Thomas,
Wie Gehts?
Yes, Nick here. I remember our listening session, it was great.

I like what you did with the crossovers for the 800s, I am sure they sound marvelous.

Do you still own the Transrotor Tourbillion? What arm and cartridge now? I ordered the Transrotor TRA9 in gold and may order the Tourbillion in a few months. I love the Apollon but the FMD seems to be better. Have a Soundsmith Hyperion on one of the SmE v arms, a Benz LPs on the other. My Dark Star has a Soundsmith Sussaro MKII.

The Jubilee preamp brings everything together in a good way. My phono amp, the Aesthetix IO Eclipse with two power supplies works perfectly with the Jubilee. The McIntosh Amps are powerful.

How many watts do you have with KT150 tubes in the Jubilee mono amps? I bet loud enough for your room, LOL.

I changed out my B&W 800 speakers to custom designed Field coil speakers. Classic Audio T1 reference field coil speakers.


Glad you still are enjoying the Jubilee system. It truly is a system for life. Some pics from of mine.

Oh, was going to order a GT3, but now have an order for a C8 Z06….three year wait.

Nick
dear nick , great i found you here in this really amazing forum ... i like to read and find some different views regarding optimizing my gear..
i remember our sessions,.. still have the vinyl you used for reference .. and your corvette....!!! fast beast indeed.. i still have the tuned 993 bi turbo , make big overhaul last year , beside i ran a new porsche turbo s 991.2 convertibale. and a modified ferrari f 430 by novitec.. so a lot to care ...beside my bike collection of ducati..but thats another topic..
regarding your question . i use the transrotor aquilla, still but modified ..the cable in the tonearme is replaced by kondo silver cable ..cartrige after my koetsu rosewwwod signature which we listend i upgraded to airtight spc1 suprme , this was big step forward..now i will test the opus the top system in comparison . after modifiedtubes are burned in the power with KT 120 is 420 W per bloc ..so more like enough.... its about the controll and soundimpact
the phono preamp i have upgraded 3 times with pass,.. from xono to xp 25 now xp 27...great gear fits also in m gear , connected to turnable with kondo, cables.. also..great kombo ..special for classic ..what i like.. ..
your speakres also looks great including phono pre amp... must say.. but have no deeper knowlege about it ..ronny our ex dealer did the modification in the speaker by the way...

take care my friend , looking forward hearing from you ......
thomas
 
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Hello Thomas,
Wie Gehts?
Yes, Nick here. I remember our listening session, it was great.

I like what you did with the crossovers for the 800s, I am sure they sound marvelous.

Do you still own the Transrotor Tourbillion? What arm and cartridge now? I ordered the Transrotor TRA9 in gold and may order the Tourbillion in a few months. I love the Apollon but the FMD seems to be better. Have a Soundsmith Hyperion on one of the SmE v arms, a Benz LPs on the other. My Dark Star has a Soundsmith Sussaro MKII.

The Jubilee preamp brings everything together in a good way. My phono amp, the Aesthetix IO Eclipse with two power supplies works perfectly with the Jubilee. The McIntosh Amps are powerful.

How many watts do you have with KT150 tubes in the Jubilee mono amps? I bet loud enough for your room, LOL.

I changed out my B&W 800 speakers to custom designed Field coil speakers. Classic Audio T1 reference field coil speakers.


Glad you still are enjoying the Jubilee system. It truly is a system for life. Some pics from of mine.

Oh, was going to order a GT3, but now have an order for a C8 Z06….three year wait.

Nick
What a stunning system.congrats
 
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dear nick , great i found you here in this really amazing forum ... i like to read and find some different views regarding optimizing my gear..
i remember our sessions,.. still have the vinyl you used for reference .. and your corvette....!!! fast beast indeed.. i still have the tuned 993 bi turbo , make big overhaul last year , beside i ran a new porsche turbo s 991.2 convertibale. and a modified ferrari f 430 by novitec.. so a lot to care ...beside my bike collection of ducati..but thats another topic..
regarding your question . i use the transrotor aquilla, still but modified ..the cable in the tonearme is replaced by kondo silver cable ..cartrige after my koetsu rosewwwod signature which we listend i upgraded to airtight spc1 suprme , this was big step forward..now i will test the opus the top system in comparison . after modifiedtubes are burned in the power with KT 120 is 420 W per bloc ..so more like enough.... its about the controll and soundimpact
the phono preamp i have upgraded 3 times with pass,.. from xono to xp 25 now xp 27...great gear fits also in m gear , connected to turnable with kondo, cables.. also..great kombo ..special for classic ..what i like.. ..
your speakres also looks great including phono pre amp... must say.. but have no deeper knowlege about it ..ronny our ex dealer did the modification in the speaker by the way...

take care my friend , looking forward hearing from you ......
thomas
Thomas,

Glad to hear back from you. Your system has definitely matured over the years. Happy to hear Ronny is still providing technical support. He is a genius. I miss having technical discussions with him.

That is an interesting comment you made about the Octave Jubilee 300B compared to the Octave Jubilee mono‘s where you described the mid range of the Jubilee monos having better midrange and control Over the 300B.

Hmmm, I wish I could test both the 300B and Jubilee monos with my 16ohm speakers. 101 db efficienz.

Here are a few videos of the speakers I bought. I spent a few years looking and listening to many other speakers. First a little history of the field coil speakers and where mine are made, Michigan.







These Octave Jubilee amps, either 300B or Monos only have 2 and 4 ohm speaker posts. How would they work with an 16 ohm speaker, besides, giving more power?

Has Andreas Hoffman continued to host Octave listening days, well, maybe not with Corona. I was at the Capital Audio Fest but did not see any Octave rooms or did not know if anyone was representing Octave.




take care,
 
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Thomas,

Glad to hear back from you. Your system has definitely matured over the years. Happy to hear Ronny is still providing technical support. He is a genius. I miss having technical discussions with him.

That is an interesting comment you made about the Octave Jubilee 300B compared to the Octave Jubilee mono‘s where you described the mid range of the Jubilee monos having better midrange and control Over the 300B.

Hmmm, I wish I could test both the 300B and Jubilee monos with my 16ohm speakers. 101 db efficienz.

Here are a few videos of the speakers I bought. I spent a few years looking and listening to many other speakers. First a little history of the field coil speakers and where mine are made, Michigan.







These Octave Jubilee amps, either 300B or Monos only have 2 and 4 ohm speaker posts. How would they work with an 16 ohm speaker, besides, giving more power?

Has Andreas Hoffman continued to host Octave listening days, well, maybe not with Corona. I was at the Capital Audio Fest but did not see any Octave rooms or did not know if anyone was representing Octave.




take care,
dear nick,

thx for the interesting links , a pity now you back in the states..
we would spend somevery interesting time listening with our systems ..

ronny is no longer in the shop,
... richard took over , you may know , but his technical knowledge is still superb, and he still carry out some jobs , like tuning for the speakers..

andreas hofmann did not carry out at time being these listening days ,
related to corona,
i just takled with him 2 weeks ago via phone , he changed location to a bigger building not far away from old one .
...
i dont know if you have plans to return to germany for holday etc, however , if so, let me know ...a meeting would be great!

take care
thomas

p.s what was the name of your girl friend at these days , i rememeber her and her sisiter , she trainds also in the baracks at army terrain
 
Last night was the Octave rollout at Paragon. The food and drink were great as usual, and so was the company of people that showed up.

Full disclosure, I am not a fan of Wilson speakers, and Sonus Faber is better but has only one model I would consider owning if I had an extra 20k burning a hole in my pocket.

There were three rooms:

Room-1; The "Big Room" this is where the big and bombastic equipment struts it's stuff. The room is cursed with supersizing everything but often you cannot help but be impressed.

Room-2; The medium sized room, this can be the best room for intimate recordings and yet big enough to get your groove on. My most memorable experiences might be in the big room, but most enjoyable were in room-2.

Room-3; Another medium sized room usually reserved for McIntosh only, has been an effective platform for illustrating speaker wire and interconnect differences, and slightly less effective for enjoying music.

Room-1 review: The $140,000 Octave amps (mono-blocks) driving some mega sized Wilsons, did what you can expect. However handicapped with music selections that showcased the dynamic range and not music enjoyment was a hurtle to leap over. There was no music, only sound. The owner of the company spoke before and after but didn't open up with personal passion and golden salesmanship of a few others I have seen - seemed like a good guy though.

Room-2 review: The $30,000 Octave (mono-blocks) driving some trash bin sized Wilsons had better music to work with and overall better presentation. I did find my foot tapping, but I never got into it deeply and relaxed. Did not truly enjoyed the music - it was just as soulless as Room-1.

Room-3 review: The lower line stereo amp, probably integrated (didn't care at this point) was sounding very stereo-like in the less formal breakout room #3 with Sonus Faber speakers. The salesperson left so others could sit, and I started sketching in my note pad again, which started a conversation with the guy next to me, a member of the Ford audio club and quick fixer of reel to reels plus tape decks (for a hobby). We agreed that the full range of sound was there but it lacked flow. He observed that it was over-controlled, especially in the bass and that's why the music wasn't opening up. Then about 4th or 5th track we both halted our stereo geek talk simultaneously shortly after a Simon song started. We were both listening in lieu of talking and 1/4 way though the song I said "now that doesn't sound bad", he said "isn't that Carley Simon?", I said "yes". We let the song finish and were perplexed why only one track sounded like music.

Conclusion: Perhaps something was going sideways with the music servers that day, as we heard no CD's, and no vinyl was spinning. Perhaps the quality or mix of the recordings are hyper critical. Perhaps my dislike of Wilson and temperamental tolerance of even the finest box speakers by Sonus Faber colors my opinion (I'm a panel guy). However chats and short comments walking in between the rooms were universal, there was mass disappointment, but everyone was polite and professional to our hosts (except the one guy that yelled "why did to play that, it was torture to my ears with all that panning"). Some people just speak their minds, he was funny.

To the Octave owners, is there a ritual warmup or critical match-up required to make these amps and preamps more listenable? They were using Transparent cable and wires, would that make a difference?

I did enjoy and respect the Octave owner's analogy that; An amp is like a car it not only has to accelerate, it has to brake, have control, handle well, and even the tires are important.

That said, I think a computer is driving that car, not the driver, and it's an automatic not a manual transmission.
 
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I am glad you had the opportunity to listen to some Octave Audio equipment, albeit; under not quite ideal listening arrangements. If the presenter is not passionate about the equipment, or even the music, than that feeling can be transmitted back to the listener which may cause an inherent loss of interest.

As with any equipment, there seems to be a minimal amount of optimization to make all the components harmonize with each other in order to convey the essence of the capabilities of the equipment in totality.

The realization you experienced when listening to different systems is the same as I get when I enter a listening room if it does not sound right to me. It either sounds good or not. There should be no straining to validate the sound. No shame in pointing that out…it is what it is and it is a brutally honest assessment of the listening environment including the hardware and room.

Not to get into a rabbit hole with cables, but there is for sure a certain level of synergy of some cables with audio equipment, and to find the right mix, is like trying to find the holy grail. I have had enormous listening success with custom made Neotech copper wires with WBT connections (banana and RCA) which was my reference for years, often compared to many pricier cables. I guess the analogy here is, once you get the recipe right, you get the best flavor. That’s all the matters. Lots of trial and error and each of us have our own flavor reference point.

From practical ownership experience with Octave Audio gear, MRE130 with Super Black Box, and Octave Jubilee preamp, and Octave HP500SE (still my favorite work horse Octave preamp), and tube audio equipment in general, I feel that at least 30 minutes is needed to enable all of the electronics in tube gear to begin to stabilize to their proper operating temperature environment. Colder tubes will definitely sound amiss. You don’t notice this with solid state gear as much. If each room had multiple amps being demonstrated, were they plugged in from a cold start and just fired up and played? If that was the case, perhaps coming back later on when the amps and equipment were warmed up might have changed the listening perception. If your listening perceptions were not altered after coming back later, well, as you described, these just did not sound right and could be related to any of the scenarios I described above. Obviously, clean power and room acoustics will play a role in auditioning audio equipment in any listening environment.

Beyond all that, what was your impression of bass control of the Octave Audio 30k and 140k amps? Did the amps seem to be able to provide deep thunderous bass or did it seem as if bass was a little light?
 
RE: .....what was your impression of bass control of the Octave Audio 30k and 140k amps? Did the amps seem to be able to provide deep thunderous bass or did it seem as if bass was a little light?

The bass was amazingly controlled (to the point of being over controlled), I could say get these amps if you have a ported bass enclosure that gives you grief. The warmness of bloom that I think is more a live quality than recording studio is absent 99%. The bass does not have slam that involves you, too controlled for that - like the parking brake is on but you have 500hp and do not notice. No lack of dynamics or frequency extension, just no texture or depth, as if it's been sanitized/computerized out or something.

The highs had the ability to jump out and pierce your eardrum, not rolled off at all but on what I assume was a poor recording had sibilant harsh associated with a below mid-level stereo system. I'm pretty sure it was just amplifying what it was being fed in the 3rd room because the other rooms had no such hash. Plus the Carly Simon recording was so pure and absent of coloration or artifacts.

Attaching the flyer list below that I just found in my sport coat pocket. If you spot something that would explain what people heard that would be great. I think the jokester in Room-2 that said the panning torture his ears - why did you pick that recording, was frustrated and just vented it. I think were were all a little disappointed.

Paragon 062124.jpg
 
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Thanks for posting that flyer. I wish I could have attended as I know Andreas and have been to many listening events that he sponsored at his facility in Germany when I was also living in Germany. I know his presence at this event meant that he was fully dedicated to ensure that his products were being demonstrated and played at a level equivalent to the quality of his products.

One thing that stands out to me, is the measured Stereophile test of the Wilson Audio Chronosonic XVX speaker.

From Michael Framers Stereophile review (2021, April 23), Atkinson’s measurements leads me to believe that the measured low ohm rating of these speakers was at the lower limit of the Octave Jubilee Ultimate mono amps with regards to power output and distortion in extreme ultra low ohm situations. This is not the measured ohm ratings that Octave provides with each of their amps, but below that curve.

I think this is depicted by Atkinson, J. (April, 2021) in Stereophile in his “Fig.1” display which indicates that “Wilson's impedance magnitude (solid trace) and electrical phase angle (dotted trace) measured with Dayton Audio's DATS V2 system. The magnitude remains between 2 and 4 ohms for almost the entire audioband, with a minimum value of 1.5 ohms between 310Hz and 340Hz—roughly consistent with Wilson's specifications. Using an Excel spreadsheet to calculate the EPDR (footnote 1), the resistive load that gives rise to the same peak dissipation in an amplifier's output devices as the loud speaker, revealed that the XVX is a very demanding load, with EPDR less than 1.1 ohms between 52Hz and 66Hz and between 197Hz and 287Hz, with minimum values of 0.91 ohms at 450Hz and 0.94 ohms at 3250Hz. The Chronosonic XVX should be used with amplifiers like MF's darTZeel monoblocks that don't have problems driving loads of 2 ohms and lower..”

The Octave Jubille Ultimate Mono amps may have been at their outer reaches in terms of driving some low ohm frequency bands with the speaker measurements going down to 1.5 ohms, less than 1.1 ohms, and between .91 and .94 ohms in some instances. While the Jubille has incredible performance at 4 ohms to 2 ohms, it is clear that you perceived something was amiss. Both of these products are among the best in their category (okay, subjective), but somehow, there were personal perceptions of incongruities in their performance in a combined listening session.

I think some fact finding needs to occur for sure. It’s like doing an after action report (AAR) after some military activity or big event happens. Trying to decipher what went right or wrong and what can be done better to improve performance next time. Did the listening audience provide feedback to the host as to their listening experiences?

As you stated, perhaps the source equipment did not lend a hand in formulating a good listening impression or opinion. I thought it might be helpful to provide other information which could be interpreted as a counter-factual insight to your perceptions, and others who exhibited the same responses.

Lastly, according to the Octave Jubilee Ultimate user manual, at least 20 minutes are needed for the amps to reach optimal operating efficiency.
 
RE: Did the listening audience provide feedback to the host as to their listening experiences?

Well, as I said the frequency extension of highs and lows were impressive, and power and control unquestioned. What it lacked was a sense it was trying to make music, no flow, no depth and did I mention lack of center stage? I find most people/stores like their speakers as far apart as possible for the broadest soundstage. I like a cohesive soundstage with a prominent center stage, so I'm at odds from most set-ups and admit that.

Ya know what, this may seem implausible, but it has happened before - OUT OF PHASE!

Story: I was in Paragon maybe 15 years ago and they had some speakers they were auditioning. They allowed me to listen to them, and I posted the results here in this forum. Larry the owner of Paragon was a little upset with me and asked me to remove my post, which I did but I kept my drawing/cartoon up that represented the soundstage.

This event resulted in them sending the speakers back to the manufacturer (Larry heard what I heard FYI) where the manufacturer discovered one of the speakers was wired out of phase and was collapsing or swallowing out the center stage - something that I've admitted I'm sensitive too.

The comment of "an engineer with a tin ear is so typical" has stuck with me, cannot say who said it or where I read it, but it made me wonder if engineers listen as critically as others if the measurements already tell them it's going to sound good. Meaning do they trust their ears over their measurements? Are they prone to dismissing what they hear because the readouts are good?

Some recordings are out of phase, maybe the Carly Simon one was and therefore was the only song that sounded good.

I just cannot believe three different set-ups all had the same out of phase flaw, but my ears are telling me so.

To answer the feedback question, the staff at Paragon must have over heard their patron's/customer's chatter. Most certainly the customer in RM-2 "torture my ears" was blaming the music selection, "why would you pick that?". Also in RM-3 the staff person was in the doorway and must have overheard at least part of my conversation with the Ford audio club guy.

I'd like to give Paragon some friendly feedback, but my standards of professionalism demand that I just don't complain and dump a problem in someone's lap. I've been taught to treat everyone like a customer and have two or more solutions lined up and offer a choice. This is my preferred method, but I just do not know enough to figure out what went astray that evening.

Out of phase, sure would answer a lot of question, but how could that of happened 3X's over?

EDIT:

My post in 2010 on out of phase wired speaker (an early Janzen prototype), looks like I did not take most of it down. I recall describing it as a really nice in-between for those who like box speaker solidity and panel speaker openness despite the soundstage anomaly sketched out.


EDIT-2:

As I recall the connections were balanced not RCA, this question was asked early on in Room-2
 
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