Tidal La Assoluta system

[Audiocrack]

I am not someone who believes that a newer model is always / necessarily better than the former one. For example, I compared many moons ago the - at the time - new Kondo m1000 mk ii to my Kondo m1000 mk I preamp and I definitely preferred the latter to the former. So I kept playing with and enjoyed tremendously for many years the M1000 mk i.

On the other hand I also disagree with the audiophiles who - like for example Roy Gregory seems to do: see https://www.theaudiobeat.com/letters/letters_june_2021.htm - consider models dating from Kondo San era superior to the current models. I wonder whether these audiophiles actually made an a / b comparison under controlled circumstances.

Lately I did such an a / b test with the Kondo Gakuoh mk 1 versus the (current) Kondo Gakuoh mk ii (push pull) power amps (as I did before with the Kondo m1000 mk i and the current Kondo G-1000 linestahe). I described my experiences with regard the Gakuohs earlier in this thread. To my ears - but also according to all my friends who joined me at the time (including a professional Dutch audio reviewer) - the new Gakuoh mk ii amps were clearly superior to the mk I version. This could be established even while the Gakuoh mk ii amps I listened to in the past were far from broken in at the time.

This experience has prompted me to buy the Kondo Gakuoh mk ii amps. After 400 hours of playing I replaced all stock tubes with nos tubes (including 2 x 2 gz34 metal base rectifiers) with one exception: my mk ii amps were supplied with Kondo / Takatsuki made 300b valves. I think these 300b tubes sound marvelous so naturally I kept those valves in place. Currently I have played for about 1200 hours with the Gakuoh mk ii amps.

In addition I rearranged my audio set up and removed my two Tripoint Audio Elite NG as well as my Emperor NG ‘grounding’ stations from my listening room and placed those in the conservatory behind my listening room. Furthermore I added one copper slab to the two copper slabs under the Wadax reference server and Wadax reference dac: both these units are now supported by three slabs of oxygen free, high quality copper platforms (as mentioned earlier: these platforms are ‘untreated, that is no coating was added in order to maximize (i) the sonic effects of these copper slabs and (ii) the grounding possibilities).

I attach a picture for those who are interested to have a look at it.

 

[Audiocrack]

And here is a picture of the audio components standing in the conservatory: behind the Kondo linestage (the two black boxes in the listening room) you see the two Acoustic Revive RTP 4 absolute powerstrips that I recently added to the LA system (these strips are placed in the conservatory).

 

[Audiocrack]

The main reason I acquired the Tidal La Assoluta loudspeakers years back was the fact that each transducer employs three - that is unlike some other speaker manufacturers - real diamond drivers: one diamond tweeter and two diamond midrange units per La Assoluta loudspeaker. I always loved these diamond drivers, inter alia because they sound so pure and utterly transparent.

And I knew (instinctively) that this purity (as well as high efficiency) of the LA’s would be a great match with (the purity of) my Kondo amplification.This purity is one of the reasons why I clearly prefer the Kondo Gakuoh mk ii amps to the Kondo Gakuoh mk i amps: due to the higher built quality of the mk ii version and the use of better components inside the mk ii amps this new version not only sounds purer (or less mechanical if you want) but also more transparent than the mk i version. In my LA set up these differences for the better are not small.

All our audio components, including the loudspeakers, suffer severely from EMI and RFI pollution. In say the last ten years or so of my ‘audio journey’ I learned the hard way that this pollution is very significantly holding back the performance of our audio systems: in this period I followed the evolution of the Tripoint Audio ‘grounding’ stations and grounding cables. Every time the various Tripoint Audio components became better the LA system as a whole started to sound (inter alia) purer and more transparent.

I have always grounded my LA’s with the help of the dedicated grounding binding posts on the back of each of these loudspeakers. But after being prompted by Miguel (of Tripoint Audio) to investigate this issue specifically and after consultation with Jorn (of Tidal Audio) I found out that the six diamond drivers in my two LA’s are not separately grounded when using the two dedicated grounding posts of my LA’s.

Because grounding the tweeters in his own loudspeakers made such a profound (a better word is: huge) difference for the better Miguel urged me to do the same with my LA’s. Last Friday I provisionally connected two Tripoint Audio Thor se grounding cables to my LA’s in such a way that not only the two diamond tweeters but also the four diamond midrange drivers are being grounded.

And the sonic effects? In all honesty I am stil completely dumbfounded! The purity of the sonic presentation was raised to a level that I have never experienced before in my (audio) life, while at the same time the (i) pinpoint precision, (ii) transparency, (iii) speed, (iv) fluidity, (v) density, (vi) serinity and (vii) dynamics are off the charts.

To maximize these stunning sonic results I am seriously thinking about ordering two higher quality Tripoint Audio grounding cables (than the Thor se’s) to ground all my diamond drivers.

 

[LL21]

I have long been told and read that grounding speakers is well worth doing. What exactly is the difference between how the LA speakers were originally designed to be grounded...and how you are doing it now? Thanks for the clarification.

 

[Audiocrack]

I have to open up the LA’s in order to find out how Jorn grounded my loudspeakers exactly. I never did this so I am not sure how he did this. What I do know is that the drivers are not grounded separately through the dedicated grounding posts on the back of the LA’s. This is what I have changed now: that is I am grounding the three diamond drivers per LA separately. And although the grounding via the LA’s binding posts made a profound sonic difference for the better, the sonic impact of grounding the three diamond drivers (as I am doing right now provisionally) is much more impressive.

If you wish Miguel of Tripoint Audio can inform you more in detail.

 

[Audiocrack]

Apart from replacing the Kondo Gakuoh mk i amps by the Gakuoh mk ii version, rearranging the set up as described earlier, adding two Acoustic Revive RTP 4 EU absolute powerstrips and grounding all six diamond drivers in my Tidal La Assoluta loudspeakers separately I have done a few other things the last two months or so: a. I replaced the three brass cones under my twoTripoint Audio Elite NG mk ii and Emperor NG ‘grounding’ stations by 3 x 3 RevOpods and b. I added a third Tripoint Audio top of the line Emperor statement NG grounding cable to the LA system. This last statement cable is grounding the (top) copper platform on wich the Wadax reference dac is standing, while the other two Tripoint Audio Emperor statement grounding cables are connected to the Wadax reference server and the PSU of my Kondo g-1000 preamp.

I believe (and from a financial perspective I hope as well) that I am nearly at the end of fine tuning my LA set up. The last few steps might be replacing the two Tripoint Audio Thor se grounding cables - which are being used for grounding all the diamond drivers - by higher quality grounding cables and adding a few more copper slabs. All the changes casu quo additions I just mentioned made sonic differences for the better although some steps were obviously more important than others.

 

[Audiocrack]

Imho my countryman Brendon Heinst is one of the most gifted recording engineers at the moment. On https://trptk.com you can find more information about his label TRPTK and the more than 100 recordings they have released so far.

This weekend I bought the following TRPTK recording: https://trptk.com/shop/downloads/viriditas/

Additional information about the recording venue and set up of the mics can be found under the heading “Behind the Scenes: Recording Viriditas”.

It was recorded in dsd 11.2mhz 1 bit and mastered in pcm 352.8kHz 64 bit. In such situations I find it always difficult which format I should choose: the original (dsd) format or the mastering (dxd) format? This time I opted for dxd 32bit version, inter alia because TRPTK does not offer this Viriditas recording in dsd mode (although you can acquire the Viriditas recording in (inter alia) dsd 256 mode through the native dsd website).

Anyway, in the dxd 32 bit format this in a beautiful recording indeed. I love the music (inter alia from Hildegard von Bingen) and the recording sounds absolutely exquisite: ultra pure and ultra transparant. Do yourself a favour and listen for example to the voice of Kristia Michael, the recorder and percussion: so palpable!

 

[Audiocrack]

Btw, I am not the only one who loves the aforementioned Viriditas recording. I refer for example to the review by Rushton Paul in Positive Feedback: https://positive-feedback.com/revie...5-nativedsd/?highlight=Rushton paul viriditas

 

[Audiocrack]

As mentioned last week I inserted the previous week a third Emperor statement cable. I connected this top of the line Tripoint Audio grounding cable to the (top) copper platform on which the Wadax reference dac is standing. Although this third Emperor statement cable was burned in by Miguel for about (i) a week (main cable) and (ii) three days (drain cable) on his cable cooker and was additionally played for more than one week in his audio system, this cable turned out to be unstable.

So I disconnected it and connected this Emperor statement NG cable to my own cable cooker. I burned in the main cable for another two days and the drain cable for about (an extra) four days. I just re-inserted the cable in my LA system and now need to find out how this additional ‘cooking’ will influence the sound quality.

 

[Audiocrack]

Here is a picture of the third Tripoint Audio statement Emperor NG grounding cable after is was re-inserted:

 

[Audiocrack]

I have always greatly admired women who in the - men dominated - baroque age proved to be formidable artists on their own. Two of these women stand out for me:
- (i) Artemisia Gentileschi: a baroque painter who was (initially) inspired by Cavaggio (who btw was a friend of her father/painter Orazio Gentileschi) and created some fabulous paintings.
- (ii) Barbara Strozzi: a lute player, singer and composer who left our world with quite a few beautiful compositions. Recently I acquired the following recording with music of Barbara Strozzi: https://www.nativedsd.com/product/lwc1333-donna-barbara/

Like the voice of soprano Berit Norbakken very much while the lute playing by Solmund Nystabakk is beautifully captured by the LAWO engineer Thomas Wolden.

 

[alex3]

Apart from replacing the Kondo Gakuoh mk i amps by the Gakuoh mk ii version, rearranging the set up as described earlier, adding two Acoustic Revive RTP 4 EU absolute powerstrips and grounding all six diamond drivers in my Tidal La Assoluta loudspeakers separately I have done a few other things the last two months or so: a. I replaced the three brass cones under my twoTripoint Audio Elite NG mk ii and Emperor NG ‘grounding’ stations by 3 x 3 RevOpods and b. I added a third Tripoint Audio top of the line Emperor statement NG grounding cable to the LA system. This last statement cable is grounding the (top) copper platform on wich the Wadax reference dac is standing, while the other two Tripoint Audio Emperor statement grounding cables are connected to the Wadax reference server and the PSU of my Kondo g-1000 preamp.

I believe (and from a financial perspective I hope as well) that I am nearly at the end of fine tuning my LA set up. The last few steps might be replacing the two Tripoint Audio Thor se grounding cables - which are being used for grounding all the diamond drivers - by higher quality grounding cables and adding a few more copper slabs. All the changes casu quo additions I just mentioned made sonic differences for the better although some steps were obviously more important than others.

Hi Audiocrack,
What is the difference between changing the Tripoint copper cones to RevOpods?

 

[Audiocrack]

Hi Audiocrack,
What is the difference between changing the Tripoint copper cones to RevOpods?

Hello,

Just to avoid any misunderstanding : the Tripoint Audio ‘grounding’ stations are not delivered with (three) copper cones but come with (three) cones made out of brass.

As regards your question: in comparison to the brass cones the RevOpods have a more lineair frequency response and sound smoother through the entire frequency range. To my ears the sonic differences for the better are significant. Therefore I have not only replaced the brass cones under my Emperor NG but also under my two Elite NG mk ii units.

Btw, the sonic superiority of the RevOpods is also recognized by Miguel. For example - and unlike my own Emperor NG ‘grounding’ station - the latest Emperor NG ‘grounding’ box was (recently) delivered to a client in the USA with the RevOpods. And Miguel also added three RevOpods to his own Emperor NG ‘grounding’ station.

 

[alex3]

Hello,

Just to avoid any misunderstanding : the Tripoint Audio ‘grounding’ stations are not delivered with (three) copper cones but come with (three) cones made out of brass.

As regards your question: in comparison to the brass cones the RevOpods have a more lineair frequency response and sound smoother through the entire frequency range. To my ears the sonic differences for the better are significant. Therefore I have not only replaced the brass cones under my Emperor NG but also under my two Elite NG mk ii units.

Btw, the sonic superiority of the RevOpods is also recognized by Miguel. For example - and unlike my own Emperor NG ‘grounding’ station - the latest Emperor NG ‘grounding’ box was (recently) delivered to a client in the USA with the RevOpods. And Miguel also added three RevOpods to his own Emperor NG ‘grounding’ station.

Sorry. Brass cones, of course.
Thank you very much! This is a really valuable experience.
I have 6 RevOpods. I'll try it later today to see if the adapter screws included with the RevOpod are good for the Tripoint bottom thread. Or does it need a special adapter?

 

[Audiocrack]

Hi Audiocrack,
What is the difference between changing the Tripoint copper cones to RevOpods?

Hello,

Just to avoid any misunderstanding : the Tripoint Audio ‘grounding’ stations are not delivered with (three) copper cones but come with (three) cones made out of brass.

As regards your question: in comparison to the brass cones the RevOpods have a more lineair frequency response and sound smoother through the entire frequency range. To my ears the sonic differences for the better are significant. I have not only removed the brass cones under my Emperor NG but also under my two Elite NG mk ii units.

Btw, the sonic superiority of the RevOpods is also recognized by Miguel. For example - and unlike my own Emperor NG ‘grounding’ station - the latest Emperor NG ‘grounding’ box was recently delivered to a client in the USA with the RevOpods. However,

Sorry. Brass cones, of course.
Thank you very much! This is a really valuable experience.
I have 6 RevOpods. I'll try it later today to see if the adapter screws included with the RevOpod are good for the Tripoint bottom thread. Or does it need a special adapter?

No need at all to say sorry.

And yes, you need a M6 x 10 adapter.

 

[alex3]

Hello,

Just to avoid any misunderstanding : the Tripoint Audio ‘grounding’ stations are not delivered with (three) copper cones but come with (three) cones made out of brass.

As regards your question: in comparison to the brass cones the RevOpods have a more lineair frequency response and sound smoother through the entire frequency range. To my ears the sonic differences for the better are significant. I have not only removed the brass cones under my Emperor NG but also under my two Elite NG mk ii units.

Btw, the sonic superiority of the RevOpods is also recognized by Miguel. For example - and unlike my own Emperor NG ‘grounding’ station - the latest Emperor NG ‘grounding’ box was recently delivered to a client in the USA with the RevOpods. However,

No need at all to say sorry.

And yes, you need a M6 x 10 adapter.

Hello,

Just to avoid any misunderstanding : the Tripoint Audio ‘grounding’ stations are not delivered with (three) copper cones but come with (three) cones made out of brass.

As regards your question: in comparison to the brass cones the RevOpods have a more lineair frequency response and sound smoother through the entire frequency range. To my ears the sonic differences for the better are significant. I have not only removed the brass cones under my Emperor NG but also under my two Elite NG mk ii units.

Btw, the sonic superiority of the RevOpods is also recognized by Miguel. For example - and unlike my own Emperor NG ‘grounding’ station - the latest Emperor NG ‘grounding’ box was recently delivered to a client in the USA with the RevOpods. However,

No need at all to say sorry.

And yes, you need a M6 x 10 adapter.

Great! There is an M6x10 adapter in the package!

 

[Audiocrack]

Great! There is an M6x10 adapter in the package!

Well then, go for it. Pretty sure you will be delighted.

 

[alex3]

Well then, go for it. Pretty sure you will be delighted.

The thread is not M6, but 1/4".
Fortunately, there is also such an adapter.

 

[Audiocrack]

The thread is not M6, but 1/4".
View attachment 137098Fortunately, there is also such an adapter.

Although you should be able to hear a sonic difference immediately, please keep in mind that the RevOpods need some time to settle. So give them say around 24 hours settling time before making a final judgment.

 

[alex3]

Although you should be able to hear a sonic difference immediately, please keep in mind that the RevOpods need some time to settle. So give them say around 24 hours settling time before making a final judgment.

Astonishing!
Everything fell exactly into place.
It's hard to put into words, perhaps the best: This is it!
In this case, you don't speak, you just listen!
Thank you very much, Audiocrack