the sound of tao - some video shares

spiritofmusic

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Nice sounding videos Graham, next time with lights on please:).
david
Yes, but only if you can avoid Ked's "Groin-O-Vision" photography.
 

the sound of Tao

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Amazing ! My iPad has never sounded this good before !:)
Milan I only ever listen to my system on my iPad as well... I’m at that point sometimes I even forget where I put my system :D
 
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the sound of Tao

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spiritofmusic

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Some of us need to go to the next level of Social Distancing.
 
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the sound of Tao

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Many thanks Peter, the energyTrifonov and Gergiev (driving the Mravinksky) bring into the Tchaikovsky is a part I very much enjoy about this performance. Daniil Trifonov was from memory just 19 at the time of this and still intent on announcing arrival and when I hear this I just sit back and think oh those Russians... they come at this music like brilliant riding Cossacks and it is effortless fearlessness.

In the second piece that trumpet of Dave Douglas is so laid bare and poignant and I’m really happy with its sound when it plays at home but also the way his expressiveness and the dynamic shading are coming through as they are qualities I use when I’m trying to reference system changes... but it is also a piece of music I love and come back to for listening just for its own sake. I find it possible to connect to the spirit of this and in the honest way he exposes moments of his grief. It really has a soulfulness and the quintet just flow through this without any sense of anything other than just being purely enmeshed in feeling.

It’s great to be able to share and just know that we all come at this together as works in progress and it is a supportive atmosphere. I hear qualities in others systems and that gives me glimpses at some of what might be possible. That we use the real thing as a reference and also then sounding natural as an aim and even with flashes and brief moments of almost realness are such a surprising thing. It’s good to have some wonder in our lives.
 
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the sound of Tao

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The voyage: Scheherazade - The Sea and Sinbad's ship...


Following the lead of all the fearless who have gone with an iphone drop and the Scheherazade before me. I racked up the volume a touch on replay at midnight... just far enough I hope. I was unsure to go with Reiner or Beecham but went Living Stereo... just streaming redbook via Tidal.
 
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cjfrbw

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Looks like the power demand barely tickles those VU meters.
 
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the sound of Tao

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Sometimes when I go for a bit of electronic dance the 48 watts in the LM Set can make the 15 inchers in the horns fill the room just a bit and thankfully the meters remind me of that nicely.

But I have largely been unceremoniously banished to the room down in the garden for the duration :oops:
 

the sound of Tao

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Thanks Hieukm,
I’m in the downstairs these days due to my excessive night recordings ;). That and we’ve had storm damage here recently and so I’ve had to pack away my other speakers till we can get some roof repair work done.

So I’ve got pureaudioproject horns downstairs now which I’ve just got them properly dialled in and these have modded external crossovers and silver hookup cables.

It’s a Line Magnetic LM805ia amp that has duelund and mundorf upgrades with a Microzotl Mz3 and I’m running with the Antipodes cx + ex as server and a Chord TT2 mScaler combination plus the other bits that are in my setup that’s down in my signature. iPhone 6 doing the recording duties.

The speakers are near to mid field setup. The room is 5200mm x 7600mm. I’d love to go a larger room but lucky to have what I have at the moment.
 
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Hieukm

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Thanks Hieukm,
I’m in the downstairs these days due to my excessive night recordings ;). That and we’ve had storm damage here recently and so I’ve had to pack away my other speakers till we can get some roof repair work done.

So I’ve got pureaudioproject horns downstairs now which I’ve just got them dialled in and these have modded external crossovers and silver hookup cables. It’s a Line Magnetic LM805ia amp that has duelund and mundorf upgrades with a Microzotl Mz3 and I’m running with the Antipodes cx + ex as server and a Chord TT2 mScaler combination that’s below in my setup that’s in my signature. iPhone 6 doing the recording duties.

The speakers are near to mid field setup. The room is 5200mm x 7600mm. I’d love to go a larger room but lucky to have what I have at the moment.
Might i know which cables you using? Please include all the digital cables.

Have you ádded linear PSU to your Hugo and HMS??
 

the sound of Tao

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All the signal cables are Wireworld platinum so scs ics Ethernet digital cables and the usb. I’ve Linear supplies for everything including the switch but am just using the supplied psu to the chords as they unfortunately threaten warranty void... but I have replaced the wire and connectors in the Psu and everything is wrapped and shielded.

I’ve just ordered a 1500 watt Lifepo4 Li-ion power station that I’ll be able to plug my digital into and try how they sound offgrid but that is also about future proofing against the next bushfire season here so that I can keep my music going... but keen to see if that is also better serving day to day duties for the digital stack and I’ll just have amp and pre on their own circuit.The horns are much like my maggies and they let me know fairly quickly if I do a retrograde step.
 
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Hieukm

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All the signal cables are Wireworld platinum so scs ics Ethernet digital cables and the usb. I’ve Linear supplies for everything including the switch but am just using the supplied psu to the chords as they unfortunately threaten warranty void... but I have replaced the wire in the Psu and everything is wrapped and shielded.

I’ve just ordered a 1500 watt Lifepo4 Li-ion power station that I’ll be able to plug my digital into and try how they sound offgrid but that is also about future proofing against the next bushfire season here so that I can keep my music going... but keen to see if that is also better or not serving duties for the digital. The horns are like my maggie 20.7s so they let me know fairly quickly if I do a retrograde step.
Looks like you have plenty of room to improve. Please focus on the linear power supply for Hugo and HMS. According to my experience, it will be the best jump. I have got one to replace the default PSU in my Chord Dave. The battery should also be good but improved areas are different.
 
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the sound of Tao

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I have a dual rail Vinshine psu for my other Microzotl and it’s great so I have considered getting 2 more of them to run @ 15v but just don’t want to leave a paper trail that says warranty voided :eek:

The battery power station is regulated and can do peaks of 3000 watts and gives me 2 x 240 volt gpo plus a couple of 12v and 5v rails so thought it was worth a shot... I’m telling everyone I bought it to keep the fridge and laptops going in power outages if it doesn’t sound any good lol
 
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the sound of Tao

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A few posts of system pics along the way to help give some context to where my system is now at.

Images of the recent audio journey... since about 2010

I designed and built my last home back by the lake in 2000 so I had the opportunity to shape my listening rooms... a few proud pics of my wonderful baby!

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Falling initially heavily for the Maggie 20.7s upstairs and then the Harbeth 40.2 downstairs. So panels and boxes in... that just left horns to complete the journey. Uhmm and yes, I like rocks... but mostly love jazz and classical.

But I've also trialed some other rather lovely gear along the way...

There were those cheeky Monkeys that hung around for Christmas...
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Then there was that bit of Wilson Benesch thunder down under
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and some very bespoke bits
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There was a very lovely stint with some little harbys
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and also some time listening to the big tunes... a good mate leant them to me for a few months :) plus was tempted by the Aqua Formula with Diva transport and an Aurender. The EL34s were fine, 300B set monos and 300B Manley pre were a better fit... but would loved to have had the LM805ia MZ3 combination back then. The Animas however set my goal towards horn migration.
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Will post some more next on the move to the other side and on building me some new horns...
 

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the sound of Tao

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The journey continues...

Since selling our home and moving across to a property adjoining my mum's place to also be able to offer some support living close by in her maintaining independent living rather than her ending up in assisted or aged care (she is a rather independent soul)... so back to another beginning and my listening spaces are back to being early works in progress.

Especially given the horror that aged care has become in 2020 this last move has proven an especially thankful one.

Except for my (not so new sigh) listening room of course (which is not bad at 5200mm x 7600mm)... but the building is however a blonde 70's brick house :eek: but my new assigned listening room is a space downstairs that while it isn't what I would perhaps choose in design is in a garden overlooking the lake and thankfully I can play music at a reasonable level late at night without impacting on anyone so I am happy.

Step 1: unpack and start making horn.

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which kind of gets me up to date with the pap horns... I will get some additional pics of the Antipodes twins and other upgrades that have happened since then.

Loving my new room... not as pretty but still sounds pretty good :)
 
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manisandher

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the sound of Tao

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Thanks Mani,
It was a considered labour of love, the garden was just getting its age up to but I enjoyed nearly twenty years of escape and serenity... returning to a new phase of living with some different goals now... DIY horns potentially included. Am still haunted by the Animas though :) ... though I am not probably telling you anything that you don’t already know.
 
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the sound of Tao

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The nos input valves in the LM805ia are just starting to settle in... still sounding forward but the great recession has at least begun and some depth is starting to return... but these 1944 RCA VT-231 do seem more forward than the Sylvanias but I will know more in a week or two I spose.

One of my favourite pieces of chamber music is Prokofiev’s cello sonata... enjoying the performance of Bruno Phillipe and Christoph Eschenbach and also liking the tonal balance that Harmonia Mundi have achieved here.

Last night I returned again to Brahm’s German Requiem. I have a few but the Klemperer is hard to go past. Both Schwartzkopf and Fischer-Dieskau were such extraordinary artists. This movement of the requiem features the great baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.

Then finished with something a shade more now from Gregory Porter.
 
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