Natural Sound

[bonzo75]

The Juilliard on Columbia sax is brilliant for Mozart string quartet but a few hundred dollars. Barylli on Westminster is brilliant. Also Suske on eterna.

 

[morricab]

I love this music. When I read Jeffrey's write-up mentioning Mozart this is the first album that came to mind. Then I re-read and he said 'quartet' so maybe not - but yes! The above is an excellent album - part of a 3 record set. Scored for a quartet with an extra viola. The Grumiaux group's rendition is superb and the recordings are excellent.

View attachment 79568

1991 - Philips 6500 619, 6500 620, 6500 621 also a box set 6747 10

The version I like the best is the Alban Berg Quartet in the mid-1970s on Telefuken (later Teldec). Very good performance and excellent sonics. I have them in a 5 LP box set.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Alban Berg Quartett, Wien - Die 10 Grossen Streichquartette / The 10 Great String Quartets / Les 10 Grands Quatuors À Cordes

View credits, reviews, tracks and shop for the 1979 Vinyl release of "Die 10 Grossen Streichquartette / The 10 Great String Quartets / Les 10 Grands Quatuors À Cordes" on Discogs.

www.discogs.com

 

[MadFloyd]

I had the pleasure of visiting PeterA’s system last week for a listening session with the added of bonus of meeting MadFloyd for the first time. We had a great listening session and went to lunch in the beautiful Marblehead harbor.



Finally, we listened to Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the moon. I was eager to hear this as it was such a big disappointment the last time I heard it at Peter’s house. I’m just going to cut to the chase: this was the BEST reproduction of Dark Side I’ve ever heard on a stereo. We cranked this up very loud and we were not disappointed. From the huge bass rush at the beginning of the album, to the vocal solo in the Great Gig in the Sky, we were treated to fantastic effortless sound. No strain, no compression, no harshness, just music. This system plays vocals like I have never heard in my life. I turned to Peter and said: “you have now treated me to the worst, and now the best playback of Dark Side I’ve ever heard.” And dare I say, Ian was there with me too.

I WAS 'there' with you - it totally did justice to that recording. As much as I'm a Pink Floyd fan, and that IS one of my 'desert island' albums, I hardly ever play it - at least not on my system. And quite frankly, now I probably won't. There's just no comparison! My very 'polite' 10" woofers try to make a delicate ballet out of that music!

It wasn't just the bass though; it was the scale and how certain elements - not just the sound FX, but vocals - just popped and were HUGE. Easily the best I've heard David and Rick's vocals sound!

 

[PeterA]

I WAS 'there' with you - it totally did justice to that recording. As much as I'm a Pink Floyd fan, and that IS one of my 'desert island' albums, I hardly ever play it - at least not on my system. And quite frankly, now I probably won't. There's just no comparison! My very 'polite' 10" woofers try to make a delicate ballet out of that music!

It wasn't just the bass though; it was the scale and how certain elements - not just the sound FX, but vocals - just popped and were HUGE. Easily the best I've heard David and Rick's vocals sound!

Floyd is Mad for 15" paper cones, loaded by the corners of the room, hahaha.

Next time you visit Ian, sit on the sofa. David will have also been here by then, so you may feel the urge to get up and dance. Now that is an image. I hear Al giggling in the background.

 

[Al M.]

The version I like the best is the Alban Berg Quartet in the mid-1970s on Telefuken (later Teldec). Very good performance and excellent sonics. I have them in a 5 LP box set.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Alban Berg Quartett, Wien - Die 10 Grossen Streichquartette / The 10 Great String Quartets / Les 10 Grands Quatuors À Cordes

View credits, reviews, tracks and shop for the 1979 Vinyl release of "Die 10 Grossen Streichquartette / The 10 Great String Quartets / Les 10 Grands Quatuors À Cordes" on Discogs.

www.discogs.com

View attachment 79586

Yes, the Alban Berg Quartet plays GREAT Mozart!

 

[tima]

Tima you’re killing me by listing the number, too easy to buy! Now off to eBay for the boxed set.

I'm a big fan of including a catalog nbr for any record mentioned. Good luck. I think I also saw some on discogs.com.

 

[bonzo75]

Is it possible to please have a video of the Reiner Scheherazade 2nd movement, around first 5 to 6 mins

 

[PeterA]

Is it possible to please have a video of the Reiner Scheherazade 2nd movement, around first 5 to 6 mins

Bonzo,

Do you want me to post it here or in your Bar Brawl thread? That seems to be the place for incitement and the celebration of all things un-natural.

Sure, posting it is possible, but I don’t know when. I’m waiting for the rack to be delivered and to work some more on set up and some fine-tuning. I just pulled out the Reiner reissue for Jeff which I never listen to because I prefer the original Mehta I have on Decca.

 

[Bobvin]

Peter, it does get a little more natural than this... the bass is amplified, but none of the other instruments—but no hall sound, just raw and "natural". (forgive my video making skills and abrupt termination, it was just a quick iPhone snip)

We have a little restaurant we frequent, down south of Portland there's not much available in terms of live music, and I won't go into Portland at night so we're limited. But, a great little venue and on a warm summer night its great to have some supper, some wine, and enjoy the music. (This was last Friday night, just as the "heat dome" was forming. Temp in the low 90s.)

The proprietor books a lot of local talent and with the pandemic fading they are all so eager to play to a live audience.

Here's a link to the raw video, not altered by YouTube:
https://www.purewatersystems.com/personal/images/IMG_3559.MOV

 

[bonzo75]

Bonzo,

Do you want me to post it here or in your Bar Brawl thread? That seems to be the place for incitement and the celebration of all things un-natural.

Sure, posting it is possible, but I don’t know when. I’m waiting for the rack to be delivered and to work some more on set up and some fine-tuning. I just pulled out the Reiner reissue for Jeff which I never listen to because I prefer the original Mehta I have on Decca

You can post here or at the end of this thread as it has various systems playing that piece

What do you think of this video

What do you think of this video. And this is not directed to those who think every mobile phone video is trash, thanks. Please listen to the end for the brass and the woodwinds

www.whatsbestforum.com

 

[PeterA]

My new rack (48"W x 20"D x 29"H) plus two amp stand platforms were delivered a couple of days ago. They are made of Sipo wood stained a dark mahogany. The top shelf is 3" thick, the two lower shelves are 2". I am in the process of grinding and polishing the 1" stainless plates to a pretty high standard. Note the reflection of the Vitavox in the amp stand. There are nine plates total. The rack weighs about 200 lbs. It will support seven steel plates weighing 600 lbs plus 400 lbs of gear. The 225 year old floor is reinforced with a steel column in the basement directly below each of the front legs. The rack is extremely strong and solid. Leveling on my uneven floor boards will be achieved with matching wood square/flat shims of varying thicknesses.

This rack and stands will fit in with the decor of the room. The rack is larger than my existing rack which I built for the Pass gear, but 2.5" shorter. I wanted a horizontal look, so it is low and wide. This needs more clearance for the Lamm tubes, so it has three shelves instead of four. I will set everything up next week when David visits.

It will be nice to regain some floor space and get the gear up off the floor and the temporary platforms on to a proper rack.

 

[bazelio]

That's a beautiful rack, Peter. I've never heard of Sipo wood, and I used to build hardwood furniture as a hobby. How did you select this particular wood species for the rack and who built it for you? Are there any leveling feet under the rack legs?

 

[PeterA]

That's a beautiful rack, Peter. I've never heard of Sipo wood, and I used to build hardwood furniture as a hobby. How did you select this particular wood species for the rack and who built it for you? Are there any leveling feet under the rack legs?

Thank you Brian. Sipo is in the Mahogany family. Similar grain and color. It is more available and half the price of genuine mahogany. It comes from Africa. It was fairly difficult to get these dimensions in single slabs and it was not possible to get them in mahogany. I also considered walnut and cherry. I like The slightly red hue to the brown.

I found an extremely good furniture maker who runs a high-end architectural millwork shop and will build custom furniture for people on the side. He also happens to be a musician and loved the sound of my system and was one of the guys who evaluated my system during the changes particularly the Lamm amplification. As I got to know him I designed the rack and asked him if he could build it for me.

I told him the requirements for the various loads on each shelf and he recommended the Sipo wood particularly because it is so strong and stiff. The top shelf has to support 500 pounds for instance with a 4 foot span. I did the drawings and then he built it for me.

There are no leveling adjustments on the rack. I had adjustable spikes on my other rack and it weakened the structure and made it less stable. He cut wooden blocks from 1/8” to 1/2” thick in 1/32” increments. David and I will position the rack and then put the blocks under each foot as needed until it is absolutely level. The turntable and motor also have adjustable footers but I am hoping they will not be needed.

The polished 304 stainless steel plates look very good on the wood. I learned from my previous experiments that mass loading the wooden shelves with the steel plates is a very effective solution.

 

[Andrew S.]

You Peter, are not a man who does things by halves!

I’ll be very interested to see how it all comes together upon David’s visit. Fascinating so far.

love the photos - thank you. Big shout out to your cabinet maker.

 

[bazelio]

@PeterA , I looked it up and I've known this wood as Utile in the past. You found some nice boards as it looks quite similar to genuine Mahogany in the pics. And it's going to look right at home next to the Vitabox speakers. If you know, I'd be curious to know the joinery technique he used at the shelf-leg joints. It looks like the legs might be slotted but I can't quite tell. Good idea on the wood shims. Best to level the rack and not need to level the table as you said. I look forward to seeing everything in its final resting spot.

 

[PeterA]

@PeterA , I looked it up and I've known this wood as Utile in the past. You found some nice boards as it looks quite similar to genuine Mahogany in the pics. And it's going to look right at home next to the Vitabox speakers. If you know, I'd be curious to know the joinery technique he used at the shelf-leg joints. It looks like the legs might be slotted but I can't quite tell. Good idea on the wood shims. Best to level the rack and not need to level the table as you said. I look forward to seeing everything in its final resting spot.

We discussed the joinery extensively and settled on the simplest solution: basic notches on each corner leg/post and cut outs in each corner of the lower shelves. They were then glued and clamped for drying. When I went to inspect progress, we did a dry fitting and the entire rack was put together up on a table and then flipped 90 degrees and placed on the ground. The dry joints were so tight that they had to be lightly tapped into place and then the rack simply rested on the ground without clamps or anything and it could support weight. The tolerances are truly exceptional. The top shelf is different and fully isolated from the rack below because of the turntable. The top is removable but fixed in position. The whole thing is very simple and straight forward, but it is build to a very high standard and I presume it will be extremely functional and will have minimal impact on the sound. The idea is for no deadening or dampening of the sound and no enhancement either. That is where the steel plates and various other design features learned from my previous experiments come into play. At least, that is the goal.

Here are some more photos from the workshop before final assembly, gluing and staining:

 

[Mikem53]

We discussed the joinery extensively and settled on the simplest solution: basic notches on each corner leg/post and cut outs in each corner of the lower shelves. They were then glued and clamped for drying. When I went to inspect progress, we did a dry fitting and the entire rack was put together up on a table and then flipped 90 degrees and placed on the ground. The dry joints were so tight that they had to be lightly tapped into place and then the rack simply rested on the ground without clamps or anything and it could support weight. The tolerances are truly exceptional. The top shelf is different and fully isolated from the rack below because of the turntable. The top is removable but fixed in position. The whole thing is very simple and straight forward, but it is build to a very high standard and I presume it will be extremely functional and will have minimal impact on the sound. The idea is for no deadening or dampening of the sound and no enhancement either. That is where the steel plates and various other design features learned from my previous experiments come into play. At least, that is the goal.

Here are some more photos from the workshop before final assembly, gluing and staining:

View attachment 79825

View attachment 79826

Elegant simplicity.. Beautiful, nicely done!

 

[morricab]

We discussed the joinery extensively and settled on the simplest solution: basic notches on each corner leg/post and cut outs in each corner of the lower shelves. They were then glued and clamped for drying. When I went to inspect progress, we did a dry fitting and the entire rack was put together up on a table and then flipped 90 degrees and placed on the ground. The dry joints were so tight that they had to be lightly tapped into place and then the rack simply rested on the ground without clamps or anything and it could support weight. The tolerances are truly exceptional. The top shelf is different and fully isolated from the rack below because of the turntable. The top is removable but fixed in position. The whole thing is very simple and straight forward, but it is build to a very high standard and I presume it will be extremely functional and will have minimal impact on the sound. The idea is for no deadening or dampening of the sound and no enhancement either. That is where the steel plates and various other design features learned from my previous experiments come into play. At least, that is the goal.

Here are some more photos from the workshop before final assembly, gluing and staining:

View attachment 79825

View attachment 79826

I like it unstained...I would have just impregnated it would oil/wax to deepen the natural color...but beautiful nonetheless...

 

[assessor43]

so what kind of speaker cable to you use in this setup?

 

[Audiophile Bill]

We discussed the joinery extensively and settled on the simplest solution: basic notches on each corner leg/post and cut outs in each corner of the lower shelves. They were then glued and clamped for drying. When I went to inspect progress, we did a dry fitting and the entire rack was put together up on a table and then flipped 90 degrees and placed on the ground. The dry joints were so tight that they had to be lightly tapped into place and then the rack simply rested on the ground without clamps or anything and it could support weight. The tolerances are truly exceptional. The top shelf is different and fully isolated from the rack below because of the turntable. The top is removable but fixed in position. The whole thing is very simple and straight forward, but it is build to a very high standard and I presume it will be extremely functional and will have minimal impact on the sound. The idea is for no deadening or dampening of the sound and no enhancement either. That is where the steel plates and various other design features learned from my previous experiments come into play. At least, that is the goal.

Here are some more photos from the workshop before final assembly, gluing and staining:

View attachment 79825

View attachment 79826

Thanks for sharing these details, Peter. What did they do exactly for your top shelf then? Dowels or something?