I've Gone From Color Me Skeptical To A Card Carrying Member Of The Lunatic Fringe
Well having moved from the SF Bay Area back to Southern California last year and then taking almost 8 months to plan and build my new dedicated listening room and being so happy with the way things turned out I was prepared to spend my golden years drifting off into stagnant complacency as I really felt there was nothing more I wanted to do to my system (except for my annual New Year's resolution for the past 10 years of wanting to get back into vinyl). I knew there was an upgrade to my Wilson X2 Series ll speakers but I was loving what I was hearing in my new room and by all reports this new room eclipsed my prior by a large step. I felt my Lamm ML3 Signature LL1 Signature amp and preamp was as good as it gets and I loved the synergy between the Lamm and Wilson. I use Valhalla cable and PC's through 90% of my system and was keenly aware of step ups in the Nordost chain. Nonetheless I was still very happy with my room. My room has 10 completely dedicated 20 amp lines and 2 dedicated 30 amp lines for my ampsEach dedicated line has a Furutech GTX-D?R/G) receptacle with each line direct to its own circuit breaker in a dedicated subpanel.Overall once again I was pleased with what I was hearing and even though I knew there were many paths for to follow if I got "up-grade-itis". I just didn't have the urge. In the past I had looked into an Equi=tech balanced power for my dedicated room but there was no ideal place for the panel box so I let that idea pass. I was ready to coast into the sun set with what I had no questions asked.
For the record when it comes to cables I have always remained somewhat neutral on the subject and when it came to power cords, well you can color me skeptical. I use mostly Valhalla PC's i my system and have always liked them when compared to other PC's I demoed. In other words I was reluctant to admit that different power cords could result in significant system changes.
I read many of the reviews in the big rags as well as the ezines so I feel I am up to date with what is going on in the industry. Further, here at WBF there are many members with exceptional systems and gear who regularly post reports on new gear they own.
Several years ago at CES I remember vividly walking into the Shunyata room where none other than Caelin Gabriel (who is a member here at WBF) was giving a fascinating demo on the newly introduced Shunyata cable with Zitron technology and how it normalized a sine wave when compared to other cable. Heretofore I must admit that Shunyata was a name well known to me as it is frequently discussed on most of the online forums but beyond that I had never critically evaluated any of their products.
Over the past few months here at WBF there have been several members who have done glowing reviews on Shunyata signal cables as well as power cords.The comments they were making sounded almost "too good to be true". Several of these members also had Shunyata Hydra Triton and Hydra Typhon in their systems for noise reduction and the reviews seemed to be even better. I spoke to several of these members to get their feelings on the Triton/Typhon and every one of them commented that they could never listen to their system without these products ever again. That caught my attention.
So as Michael Corleone in Godfather lll said "just when I thought I was out......they pull me back in"
And so with that notion I was determined to see what if any change in my system I would hear when I introduced Shunyata PC's and Triton/Typhon gear. I will say right now that I went into this truly believing that I would emerge still quite content with my Valhalla PC's and no changes would be forth coming. Simply put, "I was not prepared for what I heard in my system"
Initially I added the following for my front end components.........
Anaconda 20A PC from wall to Triton.I also added an Anaconda (stacked) Umbilical running from a Typhon into the Triton. Plugged into the Triton therefore I have
Typhon via Anaconda umbilical
Playback Designs MPS-5
Studer A810
Lamm LL1
Doshi tape head preamp
When I turned things on it sounded very good out of the box but I was warned that after that the next week could be a teeter totter ride until the Triton/Typhon burn in as well as the Anaconda cables. Usually 200 hours is suggested but YMMV. I didn't want to hear any of the bad and all I did was have all components turned on. Apparently no signal is required but merely the components on. This was fortuitous as to timing as my family was flying back to the SF Bay Area where my daughter was getting married. So I would be gone for almost one week.
BTW, I was also not prepared for the size and weight of the Triton and Typhon and I took off the stock feet to each unit and replaced with Shunyata SSF where the Triton is spiked onto the Typhon using the supplied brass plugs. The Typhon is spiked onto a Zoethecus rack with granite shelves. I stacked the units and hence the "stacked" umbilical was used. Land (or lack thereof) in my room is always an issue. I didn't want to or have the room to place the units side by side.
So here is a photo of the Triton on the Typhon (SSF are difficult to see)