One thing regarding the MB cables. My experience is that even if they're fully conditioned, they will take days to settle in. Also, if you move them even to switch sources, it may take an hour to get back to peak sound. I recently converted my controllers/attenuators to battery power (big improvement that) and ended up rerouting power cables and interconnects. It took several days for the sound to get back to cruising altitude.
Doctor's Orders-Part Two-The New Listening Room Of Steve Williams
- Thread starter Steve Williams
- Start date
The problem is that sooner or later someone will quote prices in the net, probably incorrectly, and people will believe them, creating wrong expectations in consumers. Some US brands have public price lists in their country, stating clearly that those are local prices and are supposed to be different in other countries, due to distribution costs and local taxes.
Wow you have double KR Kronzillas? How do you Spectrons hold out against them
Hi Steve,
On post #1651, I had been bitten. I know I'll suffer more bites when I take the listening seat. One of super Mario's kids described it as "an out of body experience". Yesterday Jack sent me two pairs of ultra ICs to try.
If I may ask, what Master Built cables have you ordered?
Sam
On post #1651, I had been bitten. I know I'll suffer more bites when I take the listening seat. One of super Mario's kids described it as "an out of body experience". Yesterday Jack sent me two pairs of ultra ICs to try.
If I may ask, what Master Built cables have you ordered?
Sam
I have ordered Ultra SC's at 12' length
I plan on ordering
1 meter SE Ultra
2 meter SE Ultra
I haven't made up mind on the 2 PC's as I also need an 8 meter run of XLR and I don't even want to tell you how much but that will be the final cable I will order and will probably be Signature
I plan on ordering
1 meter SE Ultra
2 meter SE Ultra
I haven't made up mind on the 2 PC's as I also need an 8 meter run of XLR and I don't even want to tell you how much but that will be the final cable I will order and will probably be Signature
hello Steve
doc it's good to hear there is excellent synergy with your Lamm , wilsons and vsa-mb signatures /ultra cables
There are very few of us who have used an entire loom of mb- ultras! ( not signature....I have used vsa signature cables many years ago) in their system.....most notable is jim and jack
I do agree fully with Robert .They ie vsa-mb ultra cables , should come with a warning many many hours of burnin time and their positional / lay of the cables.....every time you change or fiddle with the connections or change the position of the cables( ICS/SC)...it takes quite awhile to breathe again!
The ultras are an absolute aural delight for recorded playback music in an already optimised system. This magic you've personally begining to hear at home and seen and heard Infull in jack and jims place
Doc , for the calibre of the gear you have in your customised room a complete loom of ultra !!! IC/SC/PC.....is what the doctor ordered.....music will come so close to real life.....almost palpable and may surpass what ever you've heard before!
Steve , I have no association or invested interests or financial obligations to any of the brands I use and have used in the past,
just the love of listening to music....
I haven't altered or changed any connections for the past year....thoroughly enjoying listening to recorded music with just a click of button.
here's a link I did many years ago with the use of ultra cables....pictoral montage with a lateral view of the ultras
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=131803.0
cheers
Sam
doc it's good to hear there is excellent synergy with your Lamm , wilsons and vsa-mb signatures /ultra cables
There are very few of us who have used an entire loom of mb- ultras! ( not signature....I have used vsa signature cables many years ago) in their system.....most notable is jim and jack
I do agree fully with Robert .They ie vsa-mb ultra cables , should come with a warning many many hours of burnin time and their positional / lay of the cables.....every time you change or fiddle with the connections or change the position of the cables( ICS/SC)...it takes quite awhile to breathe again!
The ultras are an absolute aural delight for recorded playback music in an already optimised system. This magic you've personally begining to hear at home and seen and heard Infull in jack and jims place
Doc , for the calibre of the gear you have in your customised room a complete loom of ultra !!! IC/SC/PC.....is what the doctor ordered.....music will come so close to real life.....almost palpable and may surpass what ever you've heard before!
Steve , I have no association or invested interests or financial obligations to any of the brands I use and have used in the past,
just the love of listening to music....
I haven't altered or changed any connections for the past year....thoroughly enjoying listening to recorded music with just a click of button.
here's a link I did many years ago with the use of ultra cables....pictoral montage with a lateral view of the ultras
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=131803.0
cheers
Sam
The Krons are highly modified Kronzilla DM's. I (well the engineer that designed it) replaced the driver stage with a high speed differentially balanced one that really extends the top end, adding speed and more air (though the Krons already had a very nice top end). The engineer also found that a pair of 300BXLS tubes have exactly the same electrical characteristics as one of the "thermos bottle" 1610T tubes. He also added external bias control which after the first month, I've not needed to tweak. Each amp uses a quad of those 300's via socket adapters. If you look at a 1610T, there's actually two tube elements inside. The problem is that tube matching can only be done after the tubes are evacuated. This means that the internal tubes elements can't be matched. I love the sound of the 300BXLS and they have more than enough power for the M/T drivers in the VR100's.
I use the Spectron monoblocks on the 100's bass drivers and they are fantastic in that role. The Spectons' output impedance is miniscule so they control the 7" ceramic/magnesium drivers (four per side) like a vise. The Krons' bass is lush and full of harmonic richness, but just doesn't go deep enough to send much of a signal to the XS-15 subwoofers which take their signal from the tower's woofer inputs (integrating the input signal and the woofers' back-EMF). Also, with the output transformers, the output impedance is higher, so they don't keep the bass as locked-down which is needed to keep those bass drivers as fast and controlled as the (again, ceramic/magnsium) midrange drivers.
So, configuring the system to let each amp do what it does best results in a system with a beautiful midrange/treble that you get with a single ended amp and the fast, controlled bass that extends down to the water table. You might not expect it, but the integration of the bass and mid/treble is seamless. I like being able to adjust the bass level to nudge it up a db for those labels that need it (like Naxos) or for lower volume listening.
Not to get too far off topic, but the secret sauce of it all is a pair of Tortuga passive LDR (light dependent resistor) controllers. One, the LDRxB serves as the main controller with the ability to switch inputs and toggle the absolute phase (via remote) along with another, the LDR1B ahead of the Spectrons that manages level matching. Both controllers have the ability to select source input impedance from 2k to 200k, again from the listening position. Suffice it to say that I'm extremely happy with the Tortugas. They're the first and only passive controllers that have all the bass power and punch that you would want and that handle the signal passed to/from the MB Ultra ICs with the highest fidelity. These are the units that were just converted to battery power which provided a big jump in my system's realism.
Apologies if I drifted off topic,
Robert
way to go doc with your ultra order!
I did a strange ultra sc order....decided to run 4 seperate single runs of cables per side of amplication ....ie true biwire configuration ....does take it to the limit
Don't forget the true magic of the ultra comes to full light if you use ultra ICS/ SCS and the all important ultra power cables
Make sure Albert kooks them to kingdom come ....so that time it's hooked up at home it comes to maximum life within a week
looking foward to your feedback
enjoy Steve
Sam
I did a strange ultra sc order....decided to run 4 seperate single runs of cables per side of amplication ....ie true biwire configuration ....does take it to the limit
Don't forget the true magic of the ultra comes to full light if you use ultra ICS/ SCS and the all important ultra power cables
Make sure Albert kooks them to kingdom come ....so that time it's hooked up at home it comes to maximum life within a week
looking foward to your feedback
enjoy Steve
Sam
This caught my eye:
Given the stratospheric prices, as it was put to me, why wouldn't they do the burn-in for you?
Hi Robert, not OT at all, that is extremely insightful. That is only your 8th post on the forum, but clearly shows you as someone who has done a lot of research, and while I haven't heard the MB cables before, I have a lot of respect for KR, and I salute you as someone who, apart from finding an excellent amp has taken a component and worked on it instead of just plunking it in. So obviously that adds a lot of weight to your MB recommendation as well, in addition to Steve's and Jack's, so well on topic.
What is the sensitivity and impedance of your speakers?
Hi Sam
Thanks for your comments
For me it is very heartening to know that I am not the only one to be hearing these things as others are reporting the same aural feelings as mine
You guys that own Ultra PC's all I can say is God bless you
I will. This will be my initial stab at it. I wish I could afford that 8 meter IC in ultra but Signature will be quite good I am sure
http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showt...Steve-Williams&p=412907&viewfull=1#post412907
I don't
Hi ack,
The cables that were sent to him were raw. Shortly after that we had a custom cable cooker made for us. Now all the cables are shipped out after the cables have been cooked.
The cables will still require a few days to settle but other than that they should be very close to full break-in.
Leif
P.S. I believe if memory serves me correctly, those were the very first Ultra speaker cables.
ack
I did a strange and very special biwire speaker cable order....decided to run 4 seperate single speaker cables per side of amplification.....apparently Albert said he had burnt his cable cable kooker trying to kook all 8 wires at one time.....remember he promised to cook them for a minimum of 500 hours....and it would take quite awhile for his new industrial kable kooker to come in
Hence instead of waiting I decided to kook the myself......was a very long but very interesting year! no regrets....whatamistake!...just a joke, ack
I must say ....really enjoyed the year cable burnin and music listening
Ack, especially the last year I really have not touched my system ...just to power it on a listen...and listen
still enjoying listening to music
Sam
I did a strange and very special biwire speaker cable order....decided to run 4 seperate single speaker cables per side of amplification.....apparently Albert said he had burnt his cable cable kooker trying to kook all 8 wires at one time.....remember he promised to cook them for a minimum of 500 hours....and it would take quite awhile for his new industrial kable kooker to come in
Hence instead of waiting I decided to kook the myself......was a very long but very interesting year! no regrets....whatamistake!...just a joke, ack
I must say ....really enjoyed the year cable burnin and music listening
Ack, especially the last year I really have not touched my system ...just to power it on a listen...and listen
still enjoying listening to music
Sam
What really is evident to me at least is that these cables become "lifers"
Luckily, all my components are quite close to each other including amps and speakers. I'm now checking prices with my local dealer on ultra PC, IC and SC.
Get them to send a few loaners and introduce one by one and listen to the changes in your system. I think you'll be astonished at the detail
that's very true leif....I probably was the first to use the ultra speaker cables ...especially the 8 wire true biwire format....you were the one who shipped them in for me
Don't take me wrong about the burnin ....I was the one who told Albert (Albert and nick had warned me about it in detail and was very true) , I would run it in ....was a long but beautiful trip of listening with anticipation for the cables to bloom...worth the ride , it's a very special product
cheers
Sam
Don't take me wrong about the burnin ....I was the one who told Albert (Albert and nick had warned me about it in detail and was very true) , I would run it in ....was a long but beautiful trip of listening with anticipation for the cables to bloom...worth the ride , it's a very special product
cheers
Sam
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