Soundlab Audiophile G9-7c: a 30-year odyssey fulfilled

[godofwealth]

Here’s an experiment to try with your loudspeaker. Walk up to it and try to listen to it at one foot or six inches or your ear against it. The huge SL G9-7c with 9’ x 4’ if radiating surface area sounds as composed at normal listening distances of 12-14’ as it does at one foot or six inches. Surreal. There’s no drop in tonality. No change in balance. Just the same sound. But the apparent immersion changes.

Rocking to the beat of Dylan. I wonder if he’s ever heard his music on big electrostatic speakers?

 

[godofwealth]

We now turn to listen to one of the most iconic jazz musicians of all time, Charlie Mingus in his famous album Ah Um remastered on SACD. This is far from an audiophile album. It’s raw and uncooked like Mingus’ music. Close-miked and hard-driving from the opening track Better Git it in your Soul. The album had much quieter tracks, like Goodbye Pork Pie Hat.

It sounds better than I’ve ever heard this album on any speaker I’ve owned in the past 35+ years. The Mingus albums tended to sound too bright on my former B&W 800 Diamonds I owned 15 years ago — their tweeter could be merciless. Here the sound is altogether more refined. The close-miked alto sax, tenor sax, trombone, combined with piano and drum kit and Mingus’ double bass are reproduced with a richness that belies imagination. So, this is what this album is supposed to sound like. Wow! Who knew?

 

[godofwealth]

And finally we come to the end of our musical SACD evening with an album recorded by one of the most iconic labels of all, Mercury Living Presence. The entire MLP oeuvre was digitally remastered under the watchful supervision of Wilma Cozart Fine who was of course the recording director of the original recordings on tape and the series set a high water mark not only for sound, but also for presentation with incredible liner notes. A few were reissued on SACD, including this famous one Charbrier.

The success of MLP was simple and yet hardly anyone took notice and followed in their stead. Use a simple three microphone setup straight through to a high quality mixer and open reel tape. Record always in an actual hall. Never touch the gain control or equalize in any way. Record with the best musicians. And finally choose the repertoire with care. This album personifies all these qualities.

It was recorded from 1957-59 in the Ford Auditorium in Detroit and used three Telefunken 201 microphones into a 3-track half inch tape recorder. The ensemble was the Detroit Symphony Orchestra led by Paul Paray. The composer was Chabrier beginning with his delightful Espana.

What a luxurious and sumptuous recording it is. The ambience of the hall is here in spaces. Strings are rich and warm. The brass sounds like it does in a concert hall with considerable heft. The bass drum thwacks are not compressed. On the big SL driven by the ARC 750SE, the recording comes across better than I have ever heard it with not a hint of brightness. I could have played this at much higher volumes but since I’m listening in the late evening some consideration must be given to others. Gorgeous way to end a musical SACD soirée. Good night!

 

[godofwealth]

Had a minor setback with my electrical outlets tripping with the big ARC 750SE’s. Till my sockets are upgraded, I’m back to listening to the SL’s with the Mola Mola electronics! No matter, the show goes on.

First up today is a delightful set of cello duos by Offenbach. He’s generally know for his frothy can can music for vaudeville dances, but he was a cellist who wrote some delightful music in that genre. Cellos are hard instruments to reproduce properly. Moving coil dynamic speakers get into conniptions with the bass due to cabinet vibrations. The big SL’s sound effortless here, getting the body of the instrument and its lyrical qualities. Great music to add to your playlist. Streaming from Qobuz.

 

[godofwealth]

Chamber music is a great way to test for midrange coloration in loudspeakers. Most speakers have great difficulty getting the tonality of instruments correctly. They can play loudly, but cannot reproduce a clarinet or violin to save their life. Here we have a delightful album featuring Bruch’s sublime set of eight pieces for clarinet, cello and piano. The big SL’s get the sound of the clarinet correctly, without brightness or harshness. The cello as usual is reproduced without bass overhang from a cabinet. The piano sounds woody, not tinkly. In short, great music that soothes the soul without bombast, reproduced without unnecessary emphasis of low or high frequencies. Naxos is a budget label but often produces albums that hit it out of the park like this one.

 

[godofwealth]

And we end with my favorite big band jazz album, Duke Ellington’s Jazz Party. And what a party it is. The opening track separates the great loudspeakers from the also ran. It’s a raucous medley of percussion, vibes, brass and piano, recorded up close and rowdy it sounds. But in the wrong loudspeaker hands, it can sound bright and overbearing. Not here! The big SL’s excel here at reproducing all the subtle percussive trills and tinkles and the big brass moments, without a trace of harshness. A memorable album that can tell you whether a loudspeaker is worth the money you spent on it. This one album convinced me more than any of the above that the Audiophile G9-7c is worth every penny (and you need to save a lot of pennies). But this album tells you why. A desert island disc.

 

[Argonaut]

Congratulations on your acquisition of the Sound Lab transducers , for my part I ran a pair of A1’s for the best part of two years and very much enjoyed their individual set of attributes , and I have some familiarity with your current journey having transitioned from Quad 2905’s .
You have been listing a number of excellent recording of late together with some images of your system , however , If I might suggest that one or two iphone ( or similar) recordings of your new system ‘In Play’ would help in contextualising your system ‘sound’ , particularily for members who have no experience of Sound Lab transducers , especially as paired with some relatively rare valve amplification .

 

[godofwealth]

Here’s a lovely DSD recording of classic Cuban music. If you know of Ry Cooder’s breakthrough recording Buena Vista Social Club, the opening track should sound familiar. That recording is a bit coarse compared to this much more refined one from the German audiophile label DG (not the well-known gold label!).

The big SL’s capture the voices in a natural way with no unnecessary sibilant effects. The percussion and guitar and flute float out from the panels seemingly suspended in air. DG’s patented multichannel recording is meant to be heard on a six channel system but sounds nice with just 2 channels.

 

[godofwealth]

Paul Desmond’s playing was famously described as having a dry martini. Under the terms of his exclusive contract with Dave Brubeck he was not allowed to record with any other pianist. He ended up making a lot of albums with guitarists featuring “mood music” such as this one. The title describes this music well. Nothing here is intended to offend, surprise or get alarmed by. It’s a calm relaxed outing that can give you a pleasant diversion. In limited portions, this is OK, but jets face it, you’re not getting the brilliance of Coltrane, Ellington or Mingus here.

The big SL nail the smooth suave saxophone of Desmond and the accompaniments. This is an average recording, but rendered fully listenable by the large panels that minimize the limitations of the recording technology. I’m guessing the original analog vinyl sounded better.

 

[godofwealth]

Edward Elgar was Britain’s most famous composer who wrote ravishing melodies. It is reported that when his famous Pomp and Circumstance March was first performed in concert, the audience demanded an encore and then another, making it virtually impossible to go on with the concert. Here we have some of his most famous works, beginning with the Cockaigne Overture. David Zinnan and the Baltimore Symphony give a stirring performance helped by a brilliant Telarc recording.

The strings sound ravishing on the big SL’s. In the opening Cockaigne Overyure, which begins gently, the famous tune is rendered in chocolate cream on the strings. Then midway the brass picks it up and the orchestra roars out the melody and all hell breaks loose. The enormous power of a symphony orchestra is beautifully revealed by the massively large panels. On the Enigma Variations, Elgar’s most famous work based on musical caricatures of his friends, the Nimrod variation may be one of the most beautiful melodies of the 20th century that leaves your heart aching.

On the final piece, Salut d’Amor, Edward Elgar heard a panhandler playing this piece on his violin on a London street corner and threw a shilling in his tin cup saying, “There, you made more money from this tune than I ever did!”

What gorgeous music reproduced magnificently by the massive Soundlab G9-7c with their 3100 square inches of radiating surface per transducer. Music like this makes you forget the depressing times we live in.

 

[godofwealth]

We come to the end of our musical journey tonight with the fifth symphony of Gustav Mahler, recently popularized by the movie Tar. The first movement, the Funeral March, is one of Mahler’s most famous. His first four symphonies included vocal accompaniments, the middle three were mainly instrumental including this one. Mahler composed this symphony at his lakeside villa at the height of his success, although his health was already failing. He had severe hemorrhaging and came within an hour of dying according to his physician. Some of that is undoubtedly reflected in this opening movement. It is scored for a huge orchestra as detailed here:

Symphony No. 5 (Mahler) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

We listen to a recent recording featuring Ivan Fischer snd the Budapest Symphony, not most people’ ls first choice of a Mahler conductor. Bernstein or Bruno Walter, Mahler’s close friend, or Georg Solti would be safer choices. This is a high resolution 24-bit 192khz recording on Qobuz. It sounds splendid on the big Soundlab with the opening trumpet sounding beautiful and not in the least bright or jarring. The climaxes are nicely rendered and thrilling. A great symphony that fully deserves its popularity. Don’t see Tar, Kate Winslet notwithstanding, hear this 75 minute symphony instead.

 

[WillBthr]

"... I might suggest that one or two iphone ( or similar) recordings of your new system ‘In Play’ would help in contextualising your system ‘sound’ , particularily for members who have no experience of Sound Lab transducers , especially as paired with some relatively rare valve amplification ."

With respect, this is an exercise that will prove to be useless in every respect.

 

[godofwealth]

I’ve seen numerous attempts to capture the sound of systems using smartphone videos. Obviously there’s a huge load n fidelity but perhaps it give some idea of the components. Not something that I’d consider doing in any case.

Meanwhile here’s a lovely atmospheric jazz recording featuring two jazz legends, which actually has a sense of ambience. The big SL’s reproduce the dynamic contrasts in this album well, which goes from sift to pretty loud in several places. Great music.

 

[godofwealth]

One change I made in my setup is to move the speakers out from the back wall a bit more, which gives them room to breathe. I’m now sitting about 11.5’ feet away, and the panels are a little over 3’ from the back wall. I find this heightens the sense of immersion in the music and enhances the sense of ambience.

Scheduled an electrician to come install two 30 amp dedicated sockets for the big ARC 750SE’s. That’s going to take two weeks or more, so we will have to be patient. In any case the Bay Area is now sizzling at 105+ degrees in a late fall heat wave that’s shattering records all over the local area. Good to wait till cooler weather comes our way in mid to late October before firing up the big amps. Till then, the petite Mola Mola Kalugas will hold the fort.

 

[godofwealth]

Wonderful DSD recording of chamber music from some great composers. Beethoven’s clarinet trio is not heard often but represents the master at his lyrical best. On my earlier Quads, this recording came off as a little hot and the clarinet’s fortissimos could sound a bit piercing. On the big SL’s, the recording sounds much more natural without any brightness. It’s amazing how the big SL’s are causing me to reevaluate my entire library of music, and my components as well. The Mola Mola preamp with its built in Tambaqui DAC and the Kaluga monoblocks really sound so much better on the big SL’s.

 

[godofwealth]

Another great jazz recording from Bags (Milt Jackson) and Wes Montgomery. Lots of bouncy tunes. We have a typical closely miked recording. The drum kit on the right channel can sound overbearing on some speakers, particularly Quads. On the big SL’s, you hear the drums, but less of a in-your-lap sound. Harry Pearson many decades ago wrote a critical review of the Quad 63s where he laid some of the blame on its cheap electronics. Hearing the SL’s, I feel some of the glare of the Quads is definitely because of corners cut on the transformers. Here the toroidal transformer used in the SL’s pays dividends in a more natural balanced sound that’s always controlled and less in your face. Despite the size of the panels, they never sound overbearing, which is a remarkable achievement.

 

[godofwealth]

And we end with one of my favorite jazz recordings, a meeting of two great minds, Paul Desmond and Gerry Mulligan. Desmond’s on the left channel, and Mulligan on the right, both recorded up close, with the drum kit and bass in the center. Warm and beautifully recorded in the typical jazz ensemble style. On the big SL’s, the horns sound warm and full and there’s a vivid sense of being on the room with the performers. Desmond’s somewhat dry martini style is given an adrenaline boost by playing with Mulligan, who truth be told, outshines him every time he come in IMHO. Great music, great album.

 

[godofwealth]

Slimmed down my setup since I’m waiting for an installation of a higher amperage utility sockets later this month. System is now just a Mola Mola Makua preamp/DAC driving the Kaluga monoblcks. Sometimes simplicity tells you something interesting. The experience of driving the big SL’s with these Dutch electronics has considerably increased my respect for them. I could imagine living with these and nothing else.

 

[godofwealth]

Listening to the sublime music of Stile Antico, one of my favorite early music groups from the UK. This Harmonia Mundi recording shows off their many virtues. Choral music is an incredibly revealing test for evaluating loudspeakers as there’s no place to hide. The voices need to sound pure with no midrange brightness or treble glare. The SL’s pass with flying colors.

 

[godofwealth]

And now we turn to listen to some classic rock and roll. First up is CSN, a band I listened to quite a lot as an undergrad (um, like 45 years ago, gasp!). It’s a hoot to hear this album on the big SL’s, a very far cry from my primitive dorm room system. This is the remastered 24-bit 192khz mastering on Qobuz. The voices are initially clustered narrowly in the center, but later in the album, voices are split across the left, center and right. Instruments float out of the left and right speakers. The recording has a pleasing analog warmth. Takes me back many years. Never imagined in the late 70s that I’d be listening to the same music almost 45 years later. Wow!