Natural Sound

[Argonaut]

From the Aries Cerat web site.

” Signal attenuation in the Impera is achieved with a uniquely designed multi-tap input transformer, which has special bifilar winding as well, resulting in excellent performance both in frequency and time domain. The 26 separate taps are switched by small sealed signal relays.”

 

[Fishfood]

Thanks Fishfood. Be patient, the wait for that cartridge will be worth it.

That SL15 has no right to sound this good. I just bought a Well Tempered Simplex 2 to use for the next 6 weeks and it's sounds just lovely. That's the best way to describe it. A turntable/cartridge that cost me a total of $1250 is totally satisfying. Well for 6 weeks anyways.

 

[PeterA]

That SL15 has no right to sound this good. I just bought a Well Tempered Simplex 2 to use for the next 6 weeks and it's sounds just lovely. That's the best way to describe it. A turntable/cartridge that cost me a total of $1250 is totally satisfying. Well for 6 weeks anyways.

That video was actually recorded with my Colibri Elite cartridge, but the Ortofon SL15 is also superb. I’m sure you will enjoy it.

 

[PeterA]

Here is some Schnittke cello and piano for a different mood from my system:

 

[tima]

Here is some Schnittke cello and piano for a different mood from my system:

Fine sonics and musicianship. Thanks so much for exposing me to Smashing Pumpkins on bad acid.

 

[morricab]

Here is some Schnittke cello and piano for a different mood from my system:

My wife (Russian) and our friends (also Russian) introduced me to Schnittke ... hadn't hear this one though...he has other, shall we say more accessible, music as well. This sounds excellent however I would add!

 

[Fishfood]

That video was actually recorded with my Colibri Elite cartridge, but the Ortofon SL15 is also superb. I’m sure you will enjoy it.

Curious what SUT are you using with the SL15?

 

[PeterA]

Curious what SUT are you using with the SL15?

The one that was included in the box with the cartridge.

 

[Fishfood]

Interesting!

 

[PeterA]

Interesting!

I agree. It sounds excellent. I plan to experiment a bit and compare this Ortofon SUT to my Jensen external into the MM input but also to the Jensen internal into my MC input. Another day. The various gains differ also. I am new to this whole tube and SUT world and have a lot to learn. Right now I am just buying music and enjoying listening for pleasure.

 

[Fishfood]

Then you have a ton of fun ahead of you! Next to the Diatones, my biggest audio revelation since I gave up on CDs in 1999 was adding a SUT to my LP2.1. I agree with what someone else said on another thread I think, that you are operating at such a high level that maybe there isn't that much improvement left. Maybe that's the essence of what you're trying to achieve?

 

[PeterA]

Then you have a ton of fun ahead of you! Next to the Diatones, my biggest audio revelation since I gave up on CDs in 1999 was adding a SUT to my LP2.1. I agree with what someone else said on another thread I think, that you are operating at such a high level that maybe there isn't that much improvement left. Maybe that's the essence of what you're trying to achieve?

The Diatones were a bit of a revelation to me too when I first heard them at ddk's. He has the 16 ohm version and they were superb sounding driven by the rest of his excellent system. My local friend went out to visit him a few months ago and bought an 8 ohm version a week after he returned. He also just got a Lamm LL1 Sig and LP2.1 deluxe. Those Diatones are tremendous speakers. That is funny, I removed my CD player in the early 2000s.

There is not much I want to change with my system. Another cartridge perhaps, another experiment for my electrician with my grounding, but that is about it. David will be visiting to fine tune the cartridges. I still have something to learn there.

 

[PeterA]

A friend asked to hear the Schnittke with the Ortofon SL-15.

 

[PeterA]

I have learned about some wonderful music from various threads here on WBF. I thought I would share another videos and return the favor. Here is one of my favorite LPs: Virtuoso Clarinet (Bis LP-62 stereo). I attempted to learn the clarinet in boarding school in the late 1970s. I never got any good at it, but one thing that sticks with me is that big, airy, reedy tone from my old clarinet. I have always found this hard to reproduce, that rich, reedy sound and the air resonating in the wooden body. I think woodwinds in general are kind of tough to get the tone right.

Here are two wonderful short pieces by Ingvar Lidholm and then Bernhard Henrik Crusell of clarinet music with some piano in the latter piece. There is just so much music out there, and I am now in music exploration mode. Perhaps some will like this.

EDIT: I should add that the last few videos, in my opinion, do convey the character of the sound I am hearing in my room, in terms of balance and sense of energy. The sheer scale and resolution are a bit truncated, but still, there are sufficient hints. And this from a 60 year old cartridge that has never been used. Only forty hours on it so far.

 

[Tango]

I have learned about some wonderful music from various threads here on WBF. I thought I would share another videos and return the favor. Here is one of my favorite LPs: Virtuoso Clarinet (Bis LP-62 stereo). I attempted to learn the clarinet in boarding school in the late 1970s. I never got any good at it, but one thing that sticks with me is that big, airy, reedy tone from my old clarinet. I have always found this hard to reproduce, that rich, reedy sound and the air resonating in the wooden body. I think woodwinds in general are kind of tough to get the tone right.

Here are two wonderful short pieces by Ingvar Lidholm and then Bernhard Henrik Crusell of clarinet music with some piano in the latter piece. There is just so much music out there, and I am now in music exploration mode. Perhaps some will like this.

EDIT: I should add that the last few videos, in my opinion, do convey the character of the sound I am hearing in my room, in terms of balance and sense of energy. The sheer scale and resolution are a bit truncated, but still, there are sufficient hints. And this from a 60 year old cartridge that has never been used. Only forty hours on it so far.

There is adifference between a kind of presentation that transport us to the recording venue and the presentation that let us see the sound as a big 8k screen in front of us. With this piece, yours is the former I mentioned. Spectacular doesn't come up to my mind. Just great music to enjoy.

 

[ddk]

There is adifference between a kind of presentation that transport us to the recording venue and the presentation that let us see the sound as a big 8k screen in front of us. With this piece, yours is the former I mentioned. Spectacular doesn't come up to my mind. Just great music to enjoy.

He has a very special time machine in his room to Transport him to some amazing venues!

david

 

[jdza]

I have learned about some wonderful music from various threads here on WBF. I thought I would share another videos and return the favor. Here is one of my favorite LPs: Virtuoso Clarinet (Bis LP-62 stereo). I attempted to learn the clarinet in boarding school in the late 1970s. I never got any good at it, but one thing that sticks with me is that big, airy, reedy tone from my old clarinet. I have always found this hard to reproduce, that rich, reedy sound and the air resonating in the wooden body. I think woodwinds in general are kind of tough to get the tone right.

Here are two wonderful short pieces by Ingvar Lidholm and then Bernhard Henrik Crusell of clarinet music with some piano in the latter piece. There is just so much music out there, and I am now in music exploration mode. Perhaps some will like this.

EDIT: I should add that the last few videos, in my opinion, do convey the character of the sound I am hearing in my room, in terms of balance and sense of energy. The sheer scale and resolution are a bit truncated, but still, there are sufficient hints. And this from a 60 year old cartridge that has never been used. Only forty hours on it so far.

Funny old speaker, the Klipschorn. At first, one is appalled by how bad it is. Then you remove that tiny squawker and tweeter for a bigger horn and driver and tweeter. Then you find the tweeter adds only what is not heard in real life and you remove it. Then you replace the bass driver for better and you think it doesn't do much. Then you do nothing but little things to the rest of the system and suddenly one day you get goosebumps. What's more, your Apogee, Magnepan, and B&W buddies also get goosebumps. Oh, they never admit it. Just watch their arms.

Then one day you replace the whole thing and the sound gets better but goosebumps disappear.

Vitavox pretty much got British rights to build the Khorn. But they threw away the Squawker and tweeter and replaced the bass driver for better. Without even seeing but hearing Peter's first videos would scream Khorn midbass. Now he did (what he thinks) is little and there are goosebumps. Then one day Peter is going to replace them for "better" and the goosebumps will be gone. Such is life. But those that heard them will never forget it. What magazine was it that said of a speaker"True beauty lies in attractive imperfection"?

Well done!

 

[tima]

that rich, reedy sound and the air resonating in the wooden body. I think woodwinds in general are kind of tough to get the tone right.

I played the clarinet from grade school through undergrad - your video sounds good. It is harder to get the tone right in performance as well.

Clarinets especially, but all woodwinds, when played well can have a certain 'lit from within' quality. Where it gets interesting in orchestral music is identifying and distinguishing the different woodwinds in the same and different families -- all the various bassoons, is that an oboe or a cor anglais, an alto clarinet or a bassett horn, flutes too.

 

[PeterA]

Funny old speaker, the Klipschorn. At first, one is appalled by how bad it is. Then you remove that tiny squawker and tweeter for a bigger horn and driver and tweeter. Then you find the tweeter adds only what is not heard in real life and you remove it. Then you replace the bass driver for better and you think it doesn't do much. Then you do nothing but little things to the rest of the system and suddenly one day you get goosebumps. What's more, your Apogee, Magnepan, and B&W buddies also get goosebumps. Oh, they never admit it. Just watch their arms.

Then one day you replace the whole thing and the sound gets better but goosebumps disappear.

Vitavox pretty much got British rights to build the Khorn. But they threw away the Squawker and tweeter and replaced the bass driver for better. Without even seeing but hearing Peter's first videos would scream Khorn midbass. Now he did (what he thinks) is little and there are goosebumps. Then one day Peter is going to replace them for "better" and the goosebumps will be gone. Such is life. But those that heard them will never forget it. What magazine was it that said of a speaker"True beauty lies in attractive imperfection"?

Well done!

Thank you jdza. I appreciate that you have followed the progress of the system since the beginning and can hear the improvements come across over the videos.

The two obvious differences are the addition of the AS 2000 turntable and the vintage Ortofon cartridge, but there are some other important differences as well. The speakers being rather old needed time to settle. They have not been played for years and they were shipped halfway across the country. The vintage wires needed to break in. The whole system basically needed to settle in its new context. Finally, I have noticed that the sound does improve slightly in the colder months. The system arrived in April and May and those early videos were done last summer. The weather has broken and it’s now in the 60s here. All of this stuff has mattered.

I do not share your confidence that I will one day replace these speakers with something better and lose the magic. I am hard-pressed to think of a speaker better suited for this room and my tastes. And with very few exceptions, I tend to keep things for a while.

EDIT: The other big change in the last six months or so was the improvement to my power delivery: new panel, circuits, breakers and grounding. This added some energy, clarity, and body to the music, basically cleaning it up. It comes across on the videos.

 

[Ron Resnick]

I have noticed that the sound does improve slightly in the colder months.

In what way(s) does the sound improve slightly in the colder months?

To what do you attribute this phenomenon?