The End Of A 35 Year Journey ---Zellaton -The Reference Ultra Final Frontier

[ray-dude]

Steve we had a delightful evening! Facinsting to hear a carefully curated first class listening room evolve over time (I learned a tremendous amount, thank you)

I will post some more cogent thoughts in a bit when I’m back at laptop, but for now here is my demo Qobuz playlist

Open Qobuz

open.qobuz.com

We played some classic Chesky tracks (Traveler, Ephemera), a lovely 2L track (Magnificat), one of my favorite piano tracks from Cookie @ Blue Coast Records (Case of You) and several more

I describe what I listen for in many of these tracks in part 1 of my Taiko Extreme review from several years ago https://audiophilestyle.com/ca/revi...the-taiko-audio-sgm-extreme-part-1-of-5-r907/

The Zells have marvelous speed and control, and do an amazing job recreating the space the performance is happening within. I’m a sucker for this immersion experience with music.

More in a bit when I have a bit more time to digest/share, but I’m so excited to be along for the ride as Steve takes this next step in his journey!

 

[Steve williams]

a few points of clarification. .....The Plural Evo, Reference Klassik and Reference Ultra are from 3 different Zellaton series and therefore there is a big disparity between price point and performance. Yet having said that Ray commented how good the PE was. He did seem to prefer the Reference Klassik at Taiko headquarters but IIRC that speaker is at least twice the cost of the PE. Ray is anxious to hear the Reference Ultra and IIRC it is over 3x the price of the PE. Further each speaker has its own unique set of drivers and crossovers so there is comparison and contrast yet there remains the Zellaton signature as the drivers are all made in house by Zellaton. The Ultra series also has different Duelend capacitors as well as crossovers and drivers from the Klassik series. The Klassik drivers appear silver color whereas the EVO and Ultra series are black. Bottom line, just like any speaker mfr, there is a sonic signature yet every model or series brings something more and/or something different to the table. That's why Im hoping ray will find some time (or maybe even Emile) to comment about the Klassik vs EVO series

 

[Steve williams]

When I have guests over I always ask what type of music they like so I can play a few of my demo tracks but as guests their tastes are different and they are used to hearing what they know and for me that makes for a better opinion of what they heard. So typically I only play 3-4 tracks and once done I pass them the tablet and let them play what they know. For me that always proves to be a great learning experience and enlightens me as to new music to add to my library

I usually initiate a session by demionstrating, the timbre, tone and dynamics of the speaker and then pass them the tablet. Last night because of time concerns I played the following to elucidate the above as well as incorporating male voice, female voice and dynamics

What I played we have all heard ad nauseam but again because of time constraints it gave a solid starting point for Ray and Vassil

1. First song I heard last year at THE Show in Ken Songer's room and I almost fell over in my seat. It is now heard in just bout every room as are my others I played
SOUND OF SILENCE by The Ghost of Johnny Cash

2. Annette Askvik who Philip O'Hanlon brought to THE Show 2 years ago and is now played everywhere.......LIBERTY

3. WHO KILLED COCK ROBIN -Greg Brown, Super voice and air around the guitar strings

4. This next one I heard at Jerry Yacobellis house and it is fabulous for speed and attack of the drum TAHE FIVE by Joe Morello

5. My all time demo introduced to the audio world about 20 years ago by none other than member KeithR here. who played it in every room at the show. The entire track will speak volumes about the ability of one's system but for me the first 30 seconds will tell you how low your speakers can go with the bass guitar DUENDE by Purple Light Syndrome. ---The Zellaton resolves that bass guitar right down to the last chord without any muddiness or breakup. It's the first speaker Ive heard that can do this

 

[dbeau]

. Bottom line, just like any speaker mfr, there is a sonic signature yet every model or series brings something more and/or something different to the table.

May I ask, if $$ were crucial, would you acquire the PE vs. your Wilsons? I own WA X1 and am tempted and value your judgement. THX

 

[Steve williams]

May I ask, if $$ were crucial, would you acquire the PE vs. your Wilsons? I own WA X1 and am tempted and value your judgement. THX

As you know I owned Wilson for 35 years and truly enjoyed them . Having said that I can say that the Plural Evo at half the price of the X2 Series ll outperformed it in every way. Case in point was the first 30 seconds of Duende with that bass guitar. Wilson could not resolve that last chord and yet they are said to go down to 16Hz

The PE was truly an eye opener in my system. Everyone was betting that my 32 wpc Lamm ML3 would be insufficient to power the speaker. Ill let Ray and Vassil comment on that

 

[Steve williams]

Like most here it's always good to learn about new music and add to one'slibrary

Recently I have found a stash of great music that I commented on in a Lampizator thread......

If you are in Roon open Qobuz and scroll to the bottom of PLAYLISTS. to Hi-Fi Partners. Fred's (LampiNA) is superb but the one I really love as it is so large and so filled with great music is MTEK

there are Playlists there from WADAX and all of the big companies. It is always fun to play on your system what you hear them playing at audio shows

 

[jbrrp1]

Like most here it's always good to learn about new music and add to one'slibrary

Recently I have found a stash of great music that I commented on in a Lampizator thread......

If you are in Roon open Qobuz and scroll to the bottom of PLAYLISTS. to Hi-Fi Partners. Fred's (LampiNA) is superb but the one I really love as it is so large and so filled with great music is MTEK

there are Playlists there from WADAX and all of the big companies. It is always fun to play on your system what you hear them playing at audio shows

I don't see these referenced Playlists there, only a single Qobuz list. Does one have to add them? And, if so, how? TIA!

 

[ray-dude]

Open Qobuz

open.qobuz.com

I think this is the one (you can search for playlists on Qobuz and add as a favorite)

 

[jbrrp1]

OK, I see the Lampizator list on the Qobuz website, then. But how do I access this in Roon (as well as MTEK, WADAX, perhaps others...)?

 

[ray-dude]

I have my Qobuz available in Roon. When I add the playlist as a favorite in Qobuz, I have it available in Roon (usually after a modest delay). I can’t speak to other players and how they integrate with Qobuz, but I suspect it is similar

 

[Steve williams]

When I am in Roon , I click on Qobuz and when it opens along the top you wil see PLAYLISTS. Click on this and scroll to the bottom and you will see hifi audio partners

 

[Steve williams]

At the right you’ll see MORE.

Click on it to open all the play lists

 

[Steve williams]

 

[Steve williams]

 

[Steve williams]

The MTEK playlist has over &0 hours of music

 

[jbrrp1]

I have my Qobuz available in Roon. When I add the playlist as a favorite in Qobuz, I have it available in Roon (usually after a modest delay). I can’t speak to other players and how they integrate with Qobuz, but I suspect it is similar

Got it. I was trying to do this in a browser login to Qobuz. I opened the Qobuz app on my PC (probably the second time ever, so....) and added MTEK to by list there. I expect it will populate eventually in Roon.

 

[Steve williams]

Got it. I was trying to do this in a browser login to Qobuz. I opened the Qobuz app on my PC (probably the second time ever, so....) and added MTEK to by list there. I expect it will populate eventually in Roon.

The MTEK playlist is fabulous I have played almost all of it as of yesterday. There are some great tracks to test just about any part of one's system

 

[Holli82]

Thanks so much for sharing the playlists. I’m sure they will get a lot of exercise when the new speakers arrive.

 

[Kbh57]

Thanks, Steve.

 

[MylesBAstor]

a few points of clarification. .....The Plural Evo, Reference Klassik and Reference Ultra are from 3 different Zellaton series and therefore there is a big disparity between price point and performance. Yet having said that Ray commented how good the PE was. He did seem to prefer the Reference Klassik at Taiko headquarters but IIRC that speaker is at least twice the cost of the PE. Ray is anxious to hear the Reference Ultra and IIRC it is over 3x the price of the PE. Further each speaker has its own unique set of drivers and crossovers so there is comparison and contrast yet there remains the Zellaton signature as the drivers are all made in house by Zellaton. The Ultra series also has different Duelend capacitors as well as crossovers and drivers from the Klassik series. The Klassik drivers appear silver color whereas the EVO and Ultra series are black. Bottom line, just like any speaker mfr, there is a sonic signature yet every model or series brings something more and/or something different to the table. That's why Im hoping ray will find some time (or maybe even Emile) to comment about the Klassik vs EVO series

I’ve had the chance to audition the Plural Evos and the Stage and Statement Klassik speaker lines at Gideon’s old shop using either FM Acoustics and Goldmund electronics and either the Transrotor or Linn tables as sources using my reference albums. While there’s no argument that the two latter speakers excelled at resolution and transparency (see here Jimmy Page’s playing on the Classic Records’ one cut, single side, 45 rpm release of Stairway to Heaven), the Plural Evos were more musical (read here less artificial sounding and didn't draw attention to themselves), warmer and midrange centric. The PEs just had a relaxed quality about them that allowed me at times to suspend disbelief and engulfed in the musician’s playing. As Marty observed when he heard the PEs years ago here, they just totally disappear (and they sound infinitely better now with changes to the system).

What I will also say is the PEs have a high performance ceiling too. You’ll find along the way audio products that hit a wall at a certain point with changes elsewhere in the system. Not here. The sound of PEs continues to improve with changes to electronics, sources, cables, etc. And they are, too, high resolution capable when played with different source material eg. Tape, LP, or CD/Sacd. They must be heard to be believed when used with the best tapes available today.

Of course the new Ultra line is a different beast.