Tidal La Assoluta system

[Audiocrack]

You know Lloyd, I am still extremely happy with my Tidal LA’s. I will not let them go in the near future. But I have been seriously thinking about adding two LA woofer towers; however my room is not wide enough for such a step. In addition the Tidal LPX xover is only available in balanced mode and that will not work ideally with my Kondo tube amplifiers.

The Sunday G3 loudspeakers are indeed somewhat less wide than my LA’s but this difference is relatively small. If I take the costs into consideration - only the main Sunday G3 loudspeakers cost already usd 450 000,- and two separate Sunday G3 woofer towers will undoubtedly require another serious amount - going the ‘Sunday G3 route’ is not a real option for me.

 

[Audiocrack]

Thank you! Very interesting. I wonder if the Sunray G3 to La Assoluta is the XVX to the WAMM. Sounds like it could be. In any event, the sensitivity point is an important one...the G3 is around 89 db or 1db higher than the Sunray G2 I believe. Whereas your La Assoluta appears to be around 94db or so (the website says La Assoluta is 6db higher than the Sunray...which at the time (G2) was 88db.)

I have heard great things about the Akiras which appear to be 1/2 of the La Assoluta.

Yes indeed, the Tidal Akira’s are (in my view) still great sounding loudspeakers but they are much smaller than the LA’s and are therefore not capable to impress with large classical symphonies in the way the LA’s can.

 

[LL21]

You know Lloyd, I am still extremely happy with my Tidal LA’s. I will not let them go in the near future. But I have been seriously thinking about adding two LA woofer towers; however my room is not wide enough for such a step. In addition the Tidal LPX xover is only available in balanced mode and that will not work ideally with my Kondo tube amplifiers.

The Sunday G3 loudspeakers are indeed somewhat less wide than my LA’s but this difference is relatively small. If I take the costs into consideration - only the main Sunday G3 loudspeakers cost already usd 450 000,- and two separate Sunday G3 woofer towers will undoubtedly require another serious amount - going the ‘Sunday G3’ is not a real option for me.

I wonder timing-wise, whether you could get the towers slightly behind your main speakers? So your main speakers are partly in front of the woofer towers? I know Genesis sets them up that way on purpose. That could give you a bit of width back in your room.

On the crossover, you could use an adaptor. We used CJ SE-only preamps into Gryphon Balanced-only amps for 10 years and actually both Jeff Fischel of CJ and Flemming Rasmussen did not object when I asked them about. Yes, not ideal, but not a deal breaker when the main sound overall was fantastic.

In your case, you would get all the power and majesty of the dual bass towers and the minor unknowable of going SE to adaptor to LPX crossover and having the adaptor in there.

 

[Audiocrack]

I wonder timing-wise, whether you could get the towers slightly behind your main speakers? So your main speakers are partly in front of the woofer towers? I know Genesis sets them up that way on purpose. That could give you a bit of width back in your room.

On the crossover, you could use an adaptor. We used CJ SE-only preamps into Gryphon Balanced-only amps for 10 years and actually both Jeff Fischel of CJ and Flemming Rasmussen did not object when I asked them about. Yes, not ideal, but not a deal breaker when the main sound overall was fantastic.

In your case, you would get all the power and majesty of the dual bass towers and the minor unknowable of going SE to adaptor to LPX crossover and having the adaptor in there.

I talked / apped in the past and also quite recently with Jorn about placing two LA woofer towers in my listening room. In his view the room is not wide enough for such a move. So he actually advised against it. But sometimes I am still dreaming about a four tower LA set up … maybe I should move and find another house with a wider listening room

 

[Audiocrack]

Btw, Lloyd, I have the following ‘plans’ to raise the level of my LA system in the near future:
- Adding a - third - Tripoint Audio emperor statement grounding cable so that I can ground my Wadax reference dac. I know this will make a profound difference for the better: the sonic benefits I have experienced after connecting this Tripoint top of the line grounding cable to (first) my Wadax reference server and (secondly) my Kondo g-1000 linestage are huge.
- Arrange for Miguel to come over to the Netherlands (hopefully) somewhere this year in order to implement (inter alia) his following idea: grounding the three diamond drivers in each LA loudspeaker (separately: the internal LA baskets used for the LA’s xovers are already being grounded at the moment). Miguel has experimented with grounding the ribbon tweeters in his loudspeakers employing different grounding cables. I have heard over the telephone how this benefitted the performance of his loudspeakers in a very significant way.,

 

[LL21]

Amazing and you should definitely do this. I was just speaking off-line with a fellow WBF member here, and he has Tannoy speakers which have been designed with grounding posts for decades...and I remember being told by 40-year veterans of the industry that grounding the speaker makes a BIG improvement.

In your case, you are adding more grounding to an already grounded speaker so that will be very very interesting. There is a lot going on EMI/RFI-wise in a speaker, but I wonder how much still is in your speaker if most components inside are already connected physically...and you have grounded the baskets and crossovers.

 

[Audiohertz2]

Btw, Lloyd, I have the following ‘plans’ to raise the level of my LA system in the near future:
- Adding a - third - Tripoint Audio emperor statement grounding cable so that I can ground my Wadax reference dac. I know this will make a profound difference for the better: the sonic benefits I have experienced after connecting this Tripoint top of the line grounding cable to (first) my Wadax reference server and (secondly) my Kondo g-1000 linestage are huge.
- Arrange for Miguel to come over to the Netherlands (hopefully) somewhere this year in order to implement (inter alia) his following idea: grounding the three diamond drivers in each LA loudspeaker (separately: the internal LA baskets used for the LA’s xovers are already being grounded at the moment). Miguel has experimented with grounding the ribbon tweeters in his loudspeakers employing different grounding cables. I have heard over the telephone how this benefitted the performance of his loudspeakers in a very significant way.,

Could you be more specific, what is Miguel Gnding , the tweeter frame ? The crossover? what do they connect the gnd wire to ..?

 

[Audiocrack]

Could you be more specific, what is Miguel Gnding , the tweeter frame ? The crossover? what do they connect the gnd wire to ..?

Yes indeed, Miguel is grounding the ribbon tweeter frames of both his loudspeakers. He attached the grounding wire to a screw in this frame and connected this wire to his top of the line Emperor NG ‘grounding’ station.

This new top of the line Tripoint Audio ‘grounding’ box is something very special indeed and currently only three of them were made. They are very labour intensive pieces and quite difficult to produce. Just to give you a basic idea: the emperor NG weighs more than 100 kg and contains four silver (plated) filters which are completely isolated from each other and 25% larger than the copper filters Miguel employed in the past.

As mentioned before, I heard an a/b comparison - the same pieces of music with and without grounding the ribbon tweeters - over the phone and the differences for the better were very impressive indeed.

If you look at my LA’s - and it is the same with for example the Tidal Akira’s and the Sunray G3 loudspeakers - Jorn avoids using screws on the outside of his transducers. Therefore attaching a grounding wire to a screw is not possible with my Tidal LA’s. But Miguel has some very clear ideas how to ground my six diamond drivers (in total). That said, these ideas need of course to be tested in practice once he comes over to my place.

 

[LL21]

Hi Audiocrack,

I think the question (for me) is if Jorn already has designed for his speakers to be grounding via a grounding post that he has installed...how is Miguel then further grounding the speaker? Would Jorn not have connected all of the key elements inside the speaker so that they all connect to the grounding post?

 

[Audiocrack]

Hi Audiocrack,

I think the question (for me) is if Jorn already has designed for his speakers to be grounding via a grounding post that he has installed...how is Miguel then further grounding the speaker? Would Jorn not have connected all of the key elements inside the speaker so that they all connect to the grounding post?

Hello Lloyd, please be assured I talked about this additional grounding of the LA’s extensively with Jorn and Miguel.

I am sorry but I cannot share on this forum proprietary Tripoint grounding information.

However, Miguel is willing to talk to you individually about grounding (my) loudspeakers (because the both of you know each other personally and you are a Tripoint customer).

 

[alex3]

Hi Audiocrack,
I am extremely grateful for your guidance on how to wire the copper platforms and Troy NG into the system to make it work most efficiently. Music has never sounded so natural and impressive!

 

[Audiocrack]

Hi Audiocrack,
I am extremely grateful for your guidance on how to wire the copper platforms and Troy NG into the system to make it work most efficiently. Music has never sounded so natural and impressive!

I am very glad for you that things turned out so well. Happy that I could be of some help!

 

[Audiocrack]

I raised the level of my Tidal LA system in a profound way in say the last two years. I am not going to repeat all the changes in the system; see my previous comments in this thread.

In the past three months I - I am more or less finished by now - played in a new component. This component made a really important (to say it in an understated way) attribution to the LA system. I will comment on this change soon.

Last week I replaced one my trusted (two) powerstrips - I have been using these strips for at least 8 years now -, that is the strip for my analog components (the Kondo linestage and the Kondo poweramps). For my digital components I am still employing my ‘old’ powerstrip. I have this brand new strip (so no playing hours before I actually inserted it in my LA set up) on loan and my (first) sonic impressions (at the moment I have played this new powerstrip for about 60 hours) are quite positive indeed.

An interesting ‘bonus’ of all this is that some of my recordings - recordings that I just found ok in the past - turn out to be sonically much better than I initially thought them to be. One of these great sounding recordings is (the attached link contains also a review):

HRAudio.net - Schoenberg: American Symphony - Stern

High Resolution Audio

www.hraudio.net

I play it in the native 24/176.4 mode. Listen for example to the first piece - Finding Rothko, for chamber orchestra -: recording engineer Keith O. Johnson did his usual great ‘recording job’. The dynamics in particular the third piece called ‘Red’ are very impressive indeed.

 

[Audiocrack]

And the brand new powerstrip I am currently listening to is the Acoustic-Revive RTP-4 EU Absolute. See for a review the next link: https://highfidelity.pl/@main-882&lang=en#:~:text=It delivers an incredibly fast,layers, and not individual sounds.

 

[Audiocrack]

I have added last week a second Acoustic-Revive RTP-4 EU absolute to the LA system. This second powerstrip - unlike the first one that is being used for my analog components - is an ‘used one’ and therefore (fully) broken in. The two PSU’s of my Wadax reference dac, the reference PSU of my Wadax reference server and the PSU of my switch are connected to this second powerstrip. As a consequence I have replaced temporarily all my ‘original’ powerstrips.

The Acoustic-Revive RTP-4 EU absolute strip is clearly better sounding than my ‘old’ powerstrips: more serinity, more refinement, more fluidity, added transparency as well as superior dynamics.

However, if I am informed correctly Acoustic-Revive will stop - or has already stopped - producing the RTP-4 EU absolute powerstrip. It is currently unclear, at least to me, if Acoustic-Revive will introduce a new powerstrip in the near future. So I am not sure yet what to do in this regard.

 

[Audiocrack]

The main reason I love large loudspeakers such as my Tidal La Assoluta’s is that I adore classical symphonies / large orchestral works from composers like (for example) Shostakovich, Mahler, Debussy and Ravel.

One of my (other) favorite composers is Anton Bruckner. Recently I acquired his 7th Symphony, played by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Manfred Honeck. I opted for the dxd version in 32 bit: a beautifully played as well as gorgeously recorded piece of music. To my ears the SoundMirror (recording) team has outdone themselves this time, which is quite an achievement because all their Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra recordings are very impressive indeed. Here is a link: https://www.audiophilia.com/reviews...gh-symphonymanfred-honeclreference-recordings

Please keep in mind that the reviewer listened to this Bruckner recording in sacd mode, while the original recording is in dxd. If you like Bruckner’s 7th symphony and have the opportunity, get it in the 32 bit/dxd version. Likely it is going to be one of your best sounding classical recordings!

 

[Audiocrack]

I have been playing with the new Acoustic Revive RTP 4 EU absolute strip for nearly 400 hours now. As mentioned earlier the second Acoustic Revice RTP 4 EU strip is an used one and does not need to be burned in anymore (and by now that second powerstrip has settled as well in my LA set up). These strips sound very impressive indeed: on the one hand they display a calmness / serenity that I had not experienced before while at the same time they are so dynamic and transparent that the LA system sounds more (i) powerful, (ii) dynamic and (iii) transparent than ever before. The most important aspect for me however is that this strip sounds very organic and liquid - or if you wish non-mechanical - and while doing so attributes significantly to the purity of my Kondo g-1000 linestage and Kondo Gakuoh amps. In other words: the purity of the Kondo amplification shines as never before.

In https://highfidelity.pl/@main-882&lang=en#:~:text=It delivers an incredibly fast,layers, and not individual sounds - the reviewer nailed the core qualities of this Acoustic Revive powerstrip.

So I have decided to keep these two strips. Because I need more than 2 x 4 outlets for all my audio components I must add a third Acoustic Revive RTP 4 EU powerstrip to the LA system. Luckily I have been able to trace a third - and completely new - one. I expect to receive this third strip in about a week.

 

[Audiocrack]

And here is a link to the (same) review in Positive Feedback: https://positive-feedback.com/revie...ustic-revive-rtp-4eu-absolute-ac-power-strip/

 

[Audiocrack]

In post 336 I mentioned that the latest recording of Manfred Honeck conducting the Pittsburgh SO in Bruckner’s seventh symphony is to my ears even more impressive - sonically speaking - than the already impressive sounding earlier recordings (in dxd format) by the SoundMirror team of this conductor and orchestra. Apparently I am not the only one who sees it that way: https://positive-feedback.com/reviews/music-reviews/recent-finds-25-nativedsd/

 

[Audiocrack]

As mentioned earlier in this thread the Tripoint Emperor NG ‘grounding’ station and Tripoint Emperor reference statement grounding cables are state of the art. In order to finance my next Tripoint move I am thinking about selling my Tripoint Thor se grounding cables. They are the current Tripoint Thor se models with the separate drain cables (clearly superior to the former Thor grounding cables). I have three Thor se full silver cables and one Thor se hybrid cable (made out of a combination of copper and silver) available. Please pm me if you are seriously interested.