A Visit to AudioArts - NYC to hear CH Precision - FM Acoustics - Zellaton

[gian60]

Gryphon is my favourite brand after CH in transistor amp.
I had more than 10 years ago also Sonata Allegro with Antileon Signature stereo.
Preamp good but i found sound little dark for me and Antileon i always founded fantastic.
In the shop of my friend,20 minutes from my home,you can see in web,www.fonartix.it,
they have a system with Kronos Sparta, cd Esoteric Grandioso,with speaker Tad R1,Wilson Alexia and Rockport Cygnus,and now they have in the shop
CH L1,P1,A1 and M1,Pandora and Mephisto stereo,Esoteric grandioso C1 and M1 mono,Convergent,Rowland Criterion and 925,Pass Xs and Xs 300,Krell evo 2 and evo 400 mono.

I listen everything well always with my records and CH L1 and M1,was absolutly the best in every configuration,sound more free,more out from speaker,more fast and dynamic and more natural.After Pass and gryphon,with different sound but very good both,Convergent good,Esoteric little dark and too much bass,for me and the last Rowland.
Tecnician of CH told me M1 and A1 have the same sound,ampli are exactly the same,M1 have more transistor,could be 1 more,transformer more big and 150 A instead 100 of A1
Viola bravo i listen a lot at home of my friend,is very good,but if i dont listen in my home or in the shop in comparison with other i cannot give one judgment,because there are too many variable.
I see you have also Zanden,is very good company,i listen only in exibition because italian distributors is in the south of Italy at 1.200 kg far from me.
Regards
Gianluigi

 

[LL21]

Gryphon is my favourite brand after CH in transistor amp.
I had more than 10 years ago also Sonata Allegro with Antileon Signature stereo.
Preamp good but i found sound little dark for me and Antileon i always founded fantastic.
In the shop of my friend,20 minutes from my home,you can see in web,www.fonartix.it,
they have a system with Kronos Sparta, cd Esoteric Grandioso,with speaker Tad R1,Wilson Alexia and Rockport Cygnus,and now they have in the shop
CH L1,P1,A1 and M1,Pandora and Mephisto stereo,Esoteric grandioso C1 and M1 mono,Convergent,Rowland Criterion and 925,Pass Xs and Xs 300,Krell evo 2 and evo 400 mono.

I listen everything well always with my records and CH L1 and M1,was absolutly the best in every configuration,sound more free,more out from speaker,more fast and dynamic and more natural.After Pass and gryphon,with different sound but very good both,Convergent good,Esoteric little dark and too much bass,for me and the last Rowland.
Tecnician of CH told me M1 and A1 have the same sound,ampli are exactly the same,M1 have more transistor,could be 1 more,transformer more big and 150 A instead 100 of A1
Viola bravo i listen a lot at home of my friend,is very good,but if i dont listen in my home or in the shop in comparison with other i cannot give one judgment,because there are too many variable.
I see you have also Zanden,is very good company,i listen only in exibition because italian distributors is in the south of Italy at 1.200 kg far from me.
Regards
Gianluigi

Hi Gianluigi, once again thank you! Very interesting to know. I will have to make sure to listen to CH at some point in the future. As for Gryphon, i owned the Antileon original and then upgraded to Colosseum. I am told their Pandora preamplifier is truly excellent and much better than their earlier preamps.

One of my favorite speakers is the Rockport Arrakis...i have also heard the Altair. Like you describe the CH amps, the 'sound is the same' but with the Arrakis it is more, better, more effortless, more powerful...but the tonal balance is nearly identical.

 

[BruceD]

Molto bene Gianluigi!-- well it seems in spite of the Ides of Gloom surrounding the Italian economy it appears the Hi End Audio side is flourishing!

As with your shaky neighbours--Greece across the ditch--just look at the Audio Club of Athens-- also riding the worries with superb Vinyl playback systems!

Go for it I say!-- you can't take it with you

Luv ya gears G--great listening !


Bruce D

PS: I have a friend in Italian Audio sales--Luca Natali--have you heard of him?

 

[gian60]

Ciao,
Italian Economy is disaster because factory are not competitive and there are the tax highest in the world and every day close a lot of company.
Also hi end audio market is near stop,but there are the usually 40 /50 people in italy that can buy hiend.
market is near stop so you can find very very good price in hi end
Luca Natali and his brother marco i know very well because are among the 3 big distributors in italy
I bought from his father in 1993/1997 Audio research sp8,Counterpoint SA 2,Audio research sp 10 and 2 ARC D 250 and apogee duetta,first arrived in italy

I am 56 years old and first system i bought in 1973,then i become crazy for music and hiend,unluckily

Audio club of Athens i know well because i see on web

Ciao

 

[tunes]

Gian,
Nice CH system. I am a CH user as well.
I've been considering Zellaton speakers on my shortlist if i upgrade. Have you heard Zell's? Mono&stereo have another gorgeous photo spread of a Loft system with Zellaton Emotion, FM and Meridian.
http://www.monoandstereo.com/2016/04/audioarts-nyc-installation-with.html?m=1
At this level, personal taste/hearing/and system goals give us audiophiles lots of incredible options. Like CH and Gryphon, FM is top-tier gear. I look forward to a chance to hear FM at Audioarts this June when i visit NYC.

 

[gian60]

I know Zellaton because italian distributors,oz sound ,is my friend and i went to Chicago exibition in 1990 with him.
About speaker i have an old Electrovoice sentry III with yamamura supertweeter and one italian speaker very very good,MONTAGNA,you can see website,old foto and thereisnt new speaker,but is similar,www.hiend.it

Is a 3 way all hand made with magnet in maxalco that is alnico V with crystal oriented,with around 100 db efficiency,box in carbon fiber and ergal,and network very simple at 6 db and instead use big capacitors like Mundorf for exemple,has 480 very small capacitors for mid and 240 for tweeter all on copper base to have sound more fast.

About CH this evening i will try at home of one my friend phono P1 and Kondo GE1 with transf. Silvercore mc pro,because my friend has an Einstein and want to change with P1 or Kondo

 

[JackD201]

Greetings Gian

It is interesting that both you and I like SETs and CH precision. I have said here before that to my ears the highs of CH amps are the solid state that most sound like a strong pair of RCA 2a3s in a good circuit.

Best

Jack

 

[gian60]

I have L1,C1,X1 and 2 A1 in mono.
I also have Kondo M7,phono GE1 and 2 Kondo Souga in biamp with 2A3 and silver transformer,but when i listen CH seems to listen Kondo natural sound with more details on highs

 

[tunes]

Those heading to Munich will be able to check out the launch of Zellaton's newest flagship speaker. Sircom was giving hints about it already in HiFi+
http://www.hifiplus.com/articles/meet-your-maker-zellaton/

 

[Hyperion]

Those heading to Munich will be able to check out the launch of Zellaton's newest flagship speaker. Sircom was giving hints about it already in HiFi+
http://www.hifiplus.com/articles/meet-your-maker-zellaton/

This will be it: https://www.facebook.com/PerfectSen...5376815953838/596899680468214/?type=3&theater

 

[tunes]

Lohengrins are second gen. CH really lets them run.

Very nice speaks Kinch! Tempted to do the upgrade to "S" series of your lohengrins - new crossover and isolation bases?

 

[wisnon]

Gideon now carries Swisscables. I use them and they are excellent and reasonably priced. Inspired by vintage Western Electric type of cable construction.

 

[kinch]

Yes on the isolation bases, but can't countenance parting with them for xover install for now.
Wrt CH L1, as my previous post was lost in the site update, it is revelatory.
I am now running CH L1 + C1 + X1. The C1 is hooked up to X1 to beef up the source and let L1 pass it through. With the C1, fluency of musical themes was highlighted, on instrument and compositional levels. Adding the L1 was an order of magnitude change in soundstage depth and lateral spread. Amazing musicality is added by the L1, with lots of air up top at high hat and cymbals. Most notably, the mid bass power region has robustness with snap. Its like the entire tonal balance has changed with this added dimension that can compress you back in the chair like dropping into third gear on a sports car. Overall, the L1 has added such sweetness, ease, and mid bass power that I am floored. How this will measure up to the new FM 266? I hope to make in into AA next year to find out...

 

[rsorren1]

Yes on the isolation bases, but can't countenance parting with them for xover install for now.
Wrt CH L1, as my previous post was lost in the site update, it is revelatory.
I am now running CH L1 + C1 + X1. The C1 is hooked up to X1 to beef up the source and let L1 pass it through. With the C1, fluency of musical themes was highlighted, on instrument and compositional levels. Adding the L1 was an order of magnitude change in soundstage depth and lateral spread. Amazing musicality is added by the L1, with lots of air up top at high hat and cymbals. Most notably, the mid bass power region has robustness with snap. Its like the entire tonal balance has changed with this added dimension that can compress you back in the chair like dropping into third gear on a sports car. Overall, the L1 has added such sweetness, ease, and mid bass power that I am floored. How this will measure up to the new FM 266? I hope to make in into AA next year to find out...

Thanks for sharing. I too am considering an L1. Your comments are very relevant to questions I have about adding an L1 to my D1/C1/A1/X1 set-up. Please keep them coming!

 

[rsorren1]

I made my fourth visit to AudioArts this week and thought I would share the experience. This time we heard the Zellaton Stage, ASR Integrated with battery supply, Thoress tube phono stage, updated Garrard 301/Schroeder/Jan Alerts turntable. The only constants are the Zellaton Stage speakers. I've heard them on all four visits. Everything else was a first for me. This session was all analog. This set-up produced outstanding results. We started with Johnny Hartman's "The Voice That Is", "Sunrise, Sunset". Johnny Hartman's voice was absolutely beautiful; full, rich, lifelike. Soundstage depth was excellent too. Next we listened to a few tracks from Charlie Byrd and Laurindo Almeida. The tone of both guitars was realistic with a perfect blend of highs/mid/bass. Bite of the strings was reproduced. Again excellent soundstage depth and placement of the two guitars. The conclusions I drew were: the Zellaton Stage speakers are outstanding paired with a variety of electronics since this was the third set of electronics I've heard with them and each time I was impressed with the results. The turntable/arm/cartridge and phono stage produce a warm rich presentation. Good detail too. Finally, the ASR integrated performs admirably when compared to CH Precision and FM Acoustics. I thought the overall tonal balance to be more rich, rounded, less detailed than the CH Precision and FM Acoustics. I preferred the CH Precision but could easily understand how someone could pick the ASR. Nice combination all the way around. The better comparison is the FM Acoustics amp/pre/phono, Sperling turntable, Fuuga combination. It was more lifelike, dynamic as I recall from three visits ago. Clearly the better analog set-up. I did not ask but assume the FM/Sperling/Fuuga is quite a bit more expensive.

 

[CKKeung]

May I know : Does X1 benefit L1 too?

Thanks!

 

[kinch]

CK: yes adding X1 to L1 should be beneficial, maybe Gian can chime in.
Rsorren: thanks for you AA report. You're listening to a lot of different gear- great to get feedback. Is this fact finding or planned additions to your CH rig? At this level it's likely personal preference and music material tastes that'll dictate decisions. For me, in a large room with full scale orchestral music and 80-90 db averages, the L1 is simply stellar. It's refined and nuanced and has added that midrange bloom with realism and speed that I love from the Jadis days.
Wisnon: thank you for bringing up Swisscables. I will certainly look into them as upgrades from current Ensemble PC. What have you compared them to? I am intrigued by the Schnerzinger product line, would appreciate any opinions.

 

[wisnon]

Kinch, I am no cable guru...but I was explained in depth how it was developed and what the design principles are. LumenWhite Designs. Furthermore Dirk Sommner did an indepth review for a top German mag. The review is linked at the website. Www.swisscables.com

I really what they do in my system. I have not tried the Reference plus line, but I hear that is even better.

Where are you located? I am near Geneva, so have great contact with some of the top Swiss makes...like Dartzeel/CH/Illusonic/Golmund/Stenheim/klangwerk/LumenWhite/Heil AMT/Rowen and a little bit FM Acoustics/Manufacture LeSon/Audio Consulting/SoundKaos and Weiss. Quute a lot of big names in a small circle. There are still many brands I am not familiar with here.

 

[kinch]

The circle of audio manufacturers in your area is impressive; any update about your listening sessions and any FM Acoustics experience would be appreciated! I'm near Seattle and in NYC occasionally allowing a listen at AA, "the Swiss embassy" (the angelic Goldmund 383 paired with Gmund dialogues is still playing in my second room). The CH L1 continues in its resounding mid bass authority on both Bach cantatas and Neil Young "Le Noise"...best,

 

[kinch]

erratum: older goldmund in my second room is the mimesis integrated 390, paired to goldmund dialogues with fm acoustics forcelines.
Trying out Schnerzinger wiring will check back soon,