which is why i had an interest. my system can take full advantage of a big bold sound.The dammed thing sounds great though ! Big sound, probably great in your system !
someday. sigh.
Aesthetix Io Users Group
- Thread starter audioquest4life
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someday. sigh.
yes.......it will be interesting......if.....it ever happens.
my Io Eclipse arrived at Aesthetix in California on March 15th for the voltage conversion, addition of second phono input, plus upgrade to the output caps. my original expectations were that work would start fairly soon after arrival......but to be fair i had not pinned that down. but when i had contacted Aesthetix there was no warning of any long delay for this work. at that point i did specifically ask when the work would start i was told in about 30 days, mid-April. ok fine.
had not heard anything so inquired around April 25th (6 weeks later) how were things going? at that point i was basically told "we will get to it when we get to it"
a month later (mid May) i inquired but could not get an email answered or a phone call returned.
now........three weeks later i've heard zippo
i bought my unit in early March in good faith that i would get fair treatment from Aesthetix. so far i would say they are a train wreck. i've bought many things over many years and been as good a customer for every product i've ever owned as could be. referred hundreds of customers to dozens of companies. happily demo'd products for any company that asked me to. i'm the best customer most of these company's have ever had. i'm all in on the gear i own.
never had any experience quite like this. and to be very clear, i have never before publicly complained about service of hifi gear. professionally i'm GM of an auto dealership and handle all the toughest customer situations. so i get both sides of this sort of thing.
when (if) it does arrive, i will certainly report what i hear.
Welcome back, Mike!
yes.......it will be interesting......if.....it ever happens.
my Io Eclipse arrived at Aesthetix in California on March 15th for the voltage conversion, addition of second phono input, plus upgrade to the output caps. my original expectations were that work would start fairly soon after arrival......but to be fair i had not pinned that down. but when i had contacted Aesthetix there was no warning of any long delay for this work. at that point i did specifically ask when the work would start i was told in about 30 days, mid-April. ok fine.
had not heard anything so inquired around April 25th (6 weeks later) how were things going? at that point i was basically told "we will get to it when we get to it"
a month later (mid May) i inquired but could not get an email answered or a phone call returned.
now........three weeks later i've heard zippo
i bought my unit in early March in good faith that i would get fair treatment from Aesthetix. so far i would say they are a train wreck. i've bought many things over many years and been as good a customer for every product i've ever owned as could be. referred hundreds of customers to dozens of companies. happily demo'd products for any company that asked me to. i'm the best customer most of these company's have ever had. i'm all in on the gear i own.
never had any experience quite like this. and to be very clear, i have never before publicly complained about service of hifi gear. professionally i'm GM of an auto dealership and handle all the toughest customer situations. so i get both sides of this sort of thing.
when (if) it does arrive, i will certainly report what i hear.
Wow wow interesting turn of events
From my experience, these are the factors that favorably affect the Io:
- bass depth, power, control; soundstage depth/height and palpability
- change power supply EL34 to KT66
- add second power supply
- upgrade to Mk II -> Signature -> Eclipse (each adds on)
- background noise
- cleaning tube pins and sockets and all connectors
- upgrade umbilical with better wire and enhanced shielding
- tubes selected and graded for noise and microphonics
- higher output cartridge (requires less gain)
- new power supply capacitors (newer type used by Aesthetix)
- overall musicality, transparency and detail (the good kind)
- vibration control - tube dampers, chassis dampers, well constructed stand (eg HRS SXR)
- power cable upgrade (from factory stock cable)
- tuning cartridge loading
- direct connection to amp (Io with volume controls)
The above factors do interact, eg cartridge loading will affect frequency (especially bass and high end) and soundstage. A stock Io sounds wonderful. A tweaked and tuned Io is a sonic and musical delight.
And yes - I have been listening more and writing less.
Enjoy the music!
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Back to basics....
Thanks to Kcin, and others - we are close to agreeing on a "user item list", great!
Now, for THREE basic things that will improve the sound of the Io (and the system).
That you can do yourself, without too much cost.
1 Get a dedicated line. The Io (and the other quality parts of your system) will smile, each day after. It may be a bother to install, the electrician may be expensive, and so on - I did it, and I have never looked back. No comparison.
2 Support your system, especially, the record player, and the phono preamp. Avoid vibrations.
I live in a wooden house, with a floor that needs supports from below. I am lucky to have access to the cellar below. This is how I did it.
I hammered these beams into place, so they stopped floor vibrations. Result: I can jump up and down in front of the player. No mistracking.
3 Stop room reflections but don't overdamp. In my case, a fairly large room, side wall reflections are not so troublesome. There are some problems with the naked floor, and the plaster ceiling. Reduced by a carpet and some ceiling damping. I first "overdamped" the ceiling, but found that a smaller patch was better.
Thanks to Kcin, and others - we are close to agreeing on a "user item list", great!
Now, for THREE basic things that will improve the sound of the Io (and the system).
That you can do yourself, without too much cost.
1 Get a dedicated line. The Io (and the other quality parts of your system) will smile, each day after. It may be a bother to install, the electrician may be expensive, and so on - I did it, and I have never looked back. No comparison.
2 Support your system, especially, the record player, and the phono preamp. Avoid vibrations.
I live in a wooden house, with a floor that needs supports from below. I am lucky to have access to the cellar below. This is how I did it.
I hammered these beams into place, so they stopped floor vibrations. Result: I can jump up and down in front of the player. No mistracking.
3 Stop room reflections but don't overdamp. In my case, a fairly large room, side wall reflections are not so troublesome. There are some problems with the naked floor, and the plaster ceiling. Reduced by a carpet and some ceiling damping. I first "overdamped" the ceiling, but found that a smaller patch was better.
@Mike Lavigne
Very sorry to here about your experience. They were slow but not especially so when I did my Eclipse upgrade. They said 90days I got it back within that time frame. Who knows the situation over there. Nevertheless, communication , communication is key.
I am lucky as I have the Factory authorized tech for Aesthetix about a 20min drive from me if I ever need it. He is an excellent technician. On the other hand, the only problem I have had with the Io over many years of ownership was self inflicted with my tube rolling. Trouble free otherwise.
Hopefully it works out for you. Would love your perspective.
Kind Regards,
Very sorry to here about your experience. They were slow but not especially so when I did my Eclipse upgrade. They said 90days I got it back within that time frame. Who knows the situation over there. Nevertheless, communication , communication is key.
I am lucky as I have the Factory authorized tech for Aesthetix about a 20min drive from me if I ever need it. He is an excellent technician. On the other hand, the only problem I have had with the Io over many years of ownership was self inflicted with my tube rolling. Trouble free otherwise.
Hopefully it works out for you. Would love your perspective.
Kind Regards,
A couple thoughts-
Proceed with caution with floor supports if you live in an earthquake prone area. It is better to support the floor in the center, not at the edge or corners.
Along with a dedicated circuit, add a dedicated ground rod(s). I had a sub-panel with four 20 amp lines installed for audio gear. It has two ground rods just for the sub-panel. Nice and quiet. No ground loops.
I am just a nobody in this hobby. Let me share my experiences. I sent my Io unit to Aesthetix in October 2020 for an Eclipse upgrade and received it just before the holiday break in December. Prior to that, years previously, while I was stationed in Europe I had sent my unit back for a check up using the Armed Forces Post Office box (APO). This is essentially a means to mail via US carrier through New York to anywhere in the US. It took a little longer for me to receive the unit back to me in Europe, about 4 solid months. The wait was worth it…man, this blew away the ASR, Einstein, Burmester, Pass Labs, Octave, and Batt phono stages I had tested before settling on the Aesthetix. Those are my own listening impressions.yes.......it will be interesting......if.....it ever happens.
my Io Eclipse arrived at Aesthetix in California on March 15th for the voltage conversion, addition of second phono input, plus upgrade to the output caps. my original expectations were that work would start fairly soon after arrival......but to be fair i had not pinned that down. but when i had contacted Aesthetix there was no warning of any long delay for this work. at that point i did specifically ask when the work would start i was told in about 30 days, mid-April. ok fine.
had not heard anything so inquired around April 25th (6 weeks later) how were things going? at that point i was basically told "we will get to it when we get to it"
a month later (mid May) i inquired but could not get an email answered or a phone call returned.
now........three weeks later i've heard zippo
i bought my unit in early March in good faith that i would get fair treatment from Aesthetix. so far i would say they are a train wreck. i've bought many things over many years and been as good a customer for every product i've ever owned as could be. referred hundreds of customers to dozens of companies. happily demo'd products for any company that asked me to. i'm the best customer most of these company's have ever had. i'm all in on the gear i own.
never had any experience quite like this. and to be very clear, i have never before publicly complained about service of hifi gear. professionally i'm GM of an auto dealership and handle all the toughest customer situations. so i get both sides of this sort of thing.
when (if) it does arrive, i will certainly report what i hear.
Waiting a year for anything, pre COVID, wow, there must be some “hintergrund”, background as to why it took so long. I would feel just as bad as others who have waited so long for a product that can miraculously transform your analog listening experience to an event that is so realistic. I would be salivating waiting for my unit to come back knowing what it can do.
So, my experiences drove my expectations with regards to timelines. Note, that I am not complaining, as based on my first experience I already knew these items are handled with care once they are at the factory and require a certain amount of time to be tested. Endorsing that statement, I was told that the man himself, Mr. Jim White is the one who actually does some of the important technical upgrades to the Io units that are being built new, or being sent back to the factory for upgrades. To me, this is similar to companies such as Peter Ledermann at Soundsmith, or Allearts, Benz, or others where the “inventor” who created such product are the only ones who operate on such intricate instruments. For each of these companies one is aware up front that they need time to perform surgery on their flagship products.
I was also told to expect delays due to the normal reasons of COVID, and….that demand for Aesthetix products has been through the sky lately due to people hunkered down at home and buying audio gear. This is very similar with some other companies that have special audio products In their portfolio. They are often backlogged as well.
Not dismissing any frustrations regarding experiences of late, it could have been probably mitigated with expectation management and some further details about what is going on behind the scenes. I have owned my Aesthetix since 2006 and will never replace it with another phono stage. To me, the wait was worth it. As one colleague stated, it is so damn good.
I would give them a call and have a candid conversation to extract the facts. No matter who it is, or what experience level one has, the output to this equation will be determined by what’s happening at the “Wille Wonka Chocolate Factory”. Good luck, stay the course, you wont regret it.
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You have made major improvements with the tweaks you did. Thanks for posting the pictures of how you were able to add support beams below the floor to strengthen and reduce vibrations. Your listening spot looks inviting compared to my cave in the Basement. We have a very similar piano, Yahama gloss red.
Those Dream Makers look nice. Do these also have rear speaker level adjustments?
I've made Jim aware of this thread and Mike's dilemma--
he just replied he will personally contact Mike and sort his upgrade forthwith.
BruceD
he just replied he will personally contact Mike and sort his upgrade forthwith.
BruceD
Jim did reach out to me, apologized for the communication issues, and will be in touch with me this week to get this going.
excited to get the Io Eclipse in room soon. thank you Bruce.
I sent my Io in May 1 for a partial Eclipse upgrade fully expecting it back by mid-July which is when my new TT arrives. This was based on a conversation with Glenn before I shipped it. This timeline seems pretty unlikely based on these threads so I am cancelling the upgrade and will hopefully get it back in the next month.
I am in the group with "very long waiting times", almost one year, waiting for Aesthetix repair in 2018, yet I would not hold this, against the company. Part of it was trouble finding the exact cause of the problems, it turned out, the volume controls had to be changed. Also, shipment across the atlantic.
What I did, meanwhile, was to buy a good medium-low price phono stage. So I could play LPs while the Io was on repair.
I was amazed - the sound philosophy in the phono stage I bought, seemed to be very similar to what I had heard from the Io eclipse. This was the ASR mini basis mk2. After trying some less expensive phono stages, that did not make it, I paid ca 500 usd for the ASR (used). Here we are up in the medium class. This is an interesting and partly over-achieving phono stage.
The ASR mini basis helped me play LPs and overcome my worries, waiting for the Io to come back. But I should add: when the Io finally did come back, it said "hello" in a way totally beyond the ASR. Back to big brother. A much fuller representation of the music.
Oystein
What I did, meanwhile, was to buy a good medium-low price phono stage. So I could play LPs while the Io was on repair.
I was amazed - the sound philosophy in the phono stage I bought, seemed to be very similar to what I had heard from the Io eclipse. This was the ASR mini basis mk2. After trying some less expensive phono stages, that did not make it, I paid ca 500 usd for the ASR (used). Here we are up in the medium class. This is an interesting and partly over-achieving phono stage.
The ASR mini basis helped me play LPs and overcome my worries, waiting for the Io to come back. But I should add: when the Io finally did come back, it said "hello" in a way totally beyond the ASR. Back to big brother. A much fuller representation of the music.
Oystein
I agree about the ASR mini Basis, it is a sleeper phono stage and a bargain for the cost. Interestingly, I tested the ASR mini Basis years ago and thought it was a great little phono stage. The battery power supply is a fantastic idea.
Looking at the specs:
- Geräuschspannungsabstand: > 60dB (abhängig von den Einstellungen).
- RIAA Entzerrung: < 1dB Abweichung von 20Hz bis 20kHz
- Verzerrungen: < 0.01% Klirrfaktor.
- Transformator: 72 VA.
- Gesamte Siebkapazität: 200.000 uF
A listener test
Recently eight members of our informalt «music club» visited my home, listening to music on my system. We meet regularly at each member’s home, with selected theme for the music, everyone bringing the LPs they want to play, going round, one track each, going round among the participants. Some of these participants have very advanced systems, e. g., flagship Sonus Faber or Magico speakers. others are more mid-level.
What did they have to say, regarding the Io, and my system? Generally the opinion was very high. At least, no-one complained about the lack of pin-point imaging, in my «enveloping» Audiokinesis four speaker system. The possibly detrimental «bubble effect» of this system was not a matter of concern. They liked it, when seated at the dinner table, and continued so, spreading around the room, and finding that music sounded quite good from all over the room.
One of my friends, with Sonus Faber floorstanders, was especially impressed. «I have never heard it like this at home» he said, listening to Nick Cave Ghosteen.
Everyone had so many LPs that they wanted to play on my system that I never got the chance to play two recently acquired great LPs.
Recommendations for music are somewhat off topic in this thread but I hope exceptions are allowed. I want to draw attention to two great jazz albums that I recently bought on vinyl: Charles Lloyd: Tone poems, and Pharoah Sanders: Promises. They sound absolutely glorious, through the Io.
Recently eight members of our informalt «music club» visited my home, listening to music on my system. We meet regularly at each member’s home, with selected theme for the music, everyone bringing the LPs they want to play, going round, one track each, going round among the participants. Some of these participants have very advanced systems, e. g., flagship Sonus Faber or Magico speakers. others are more mid-level.
What did they have to say, regarding the Io, and my system? Generally the opinion was very high. At least, no-one complained about the lack of pin-point imaging, in my «enveloping» Audiokinesis four speaker system. The possibly detrimental «bubble effect» of this system was not a matter of concern. They liked it, when seated at the dinner table, and continued so, spreading around the room, and finding that music sounded quite good from all over the room.
One of my friends, with Sonus Faber floorstanders, was especially impressed. «I have never heard it like this at home» he said, listening to Nick Cave Ghosteen.
Everyone had so many LPs that they wanted to play on my system that I never got the chance to play two recently acquired great LPs.
Recommendations for music are somewhat off topic in this thread but I hope exceptions are allowed. I want to draw attention to two great jazz albums that I recently bought on vinyl: Charles Lloyd: Tone poems, and Pharoah Sanders: Promises. They sound absolutely glorious, through the Io.
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