Tidal La Assoluta system
- Thread starter Audiocrack
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Hopefully these pictures give a good impression of my two La Assoluta loudspeakers in pyramided mahogany veneer.
Hi Audiocrack,
So this is the link to the cable which Paul customized for the Zanden umbilicals. https://zaxisaudio.com/sl-777/
There is no information on it, but it was something that we worked on as part of my speaking with him about the Zanden and where I thought his thinking about design and extraordinary attention to nuance, detail could really move the Zanden's performance even further (and significantly) forward in a way that remained entirely true to my understanding of the Zanden way.
As part of this, there is also the following i2s cable which Paul kindly designed during our discussions about cables/umbilicals and Zanden. I know that you no longer use the Zanden DAC now that you have the Wadax Reference. But with Waversa and these umbilicals, the Zanden has received a new life entirely in keeping with the Zanden sound, but remarkably more powerful, more nuanced and quieter.
- Reference I2s SL-D Cable 1-3m
The point being that Z:Axis umbilicals may at some point be something you wish to investigate further...perhaps their AES cable to your Wadax and the Transport umbilicals.
Miguel of Tripoint Audio has been working hard lately to complete inter alia the completely new Tripoint Audio Emperor statement cable, Tripoint Audio’s state of the art grounding cable. This cable is so difficult - and as a consequence time consuming - to built that it is not an official Tripoint Audio cable and will only be available on special order. Currently only two of them have been produced.
I had originally planned to add one Emperor statement grounding cable - in combination with the new Emperor NG ‘ground’ station and several ‘regular’ Tripoint Audio grounding cables - to my LA system but … having heard, albeit only over the phone, several times what this extraordinary grounding cable is doing I have decided otherwise. I am going - once again and hopefully for the very last time - ‘totally crazy’ and have decided to add three Emperor statement grounding cables (in short lengths) to the LA system: one of them is to be connected to the Wadax reference server, the second one to the Wadax reference dac and the third Emperor statement grounding cable will be hooked up to the Kondo G-1000 linestage. This new step naturally implies a delay as regards the delivery of the various Tripoint ‘goodies’. However, if my ears have not fooled me these new state of the art grounding cables will be well worth the wait.
I had originally planned to add one Emperor statement grounding cable - in combination with the new Emperor NG ‘ground’ station and several ‘regular’ Tripoint Audio grounding cables - to my LA system but … having heard, albeit only over the phone, several times what this extraordinary grounding cable is doing I have decided otherwise. I am going - once again and hopefully for the very last time - ‘totally crazy’ and have decided to add three Emperor statement grounding cables (in short lengths) to the LA system: one of them is to be connected to the Wadax reference server, the second one to the Wadax reference dac and the third Emperor statement grounding cable will be hooked up to the Kondo G-1000 linestage. This new step naturally implies a delay as regards the delivery of the various Tripoint ‘goodies’. However, if my ears have not fooled me these new state of the art grounding cables will be well worth the wait.
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I have realized how many years you have been exploring the outer boundaries of the universe of grounding. On a more earthly scale, I have just changed a number of the binding posts on the Entreq Pluton system (Tungsten-based metallurgy), and it continues to hone the sound in purity and surprisingly dynamic range...enabling much greater nuance at the micro level and also greater snap/slam upward at the macro level.
Someday would still like to see what happens in taking out the Tripoint Signature and replacing with one of Miguel's new SOTA NG grounding boxes. Bet that would be amazing.
I was just reading up on your speakers...it indicates a fairly flat response all the way down to 8hz. Tidal is pretty serious about their measurements generally...not every room can deliver that level of bass response but I am curious...how deep does your LA go in your room in comparison with the massive Genesis with its dual woofer towers (all 12" cones)?
Good to read Lloyd that we both enjoy the benefits of grounding in our systems. And yes, I am sure that replacing your older Tripoint signature ‘ground’ station by any of the new NG ‘grounding’ boxes is going to amaze you. The NG units are so much better sounding than the previous / discontinued units.
As regards my Tidal LA‘s bass response in comparison to my Genesis 1.1’s bass response: one of the criticisms I hear now and then on the various Tidal loudspeakers is that they do not go deep enough or that their bass response is somewhat reserved or reticent. However, in combination with the Wadax Reference DAC/ server combo and the Tripoint grounding I do not perceive any lack of bass in my LA set up. Does the LA’s low end (with two 30 watts push pull tube amps) go as deep as the servo-driven (3000 watts) separate bass towers of my Genesis 1.1 loudspeakers? No, it does not. But the LA’s low end response is so fast, agile and superbly integrated with (in particular) the diamond midrange units that it is very satisfying indeed. I am totally happy with it and I am pretty sure you will be impressed by it as well.
Can the low end response of my LA’s be bettered? Of course: the LA system offers the opportunity to add two separate Tidal woofer towers. However, I never tried this because I know that my listening room (4,5 meters wide) is not big / wide enough for such a step.
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Here is a link to the 20th anniversary Tidal La Assoluta edition with it’s two dedicated woofer towers. In a room that is large / wide enough this four tower LA system will undoubtedly sound amazing.
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Thanks, Audiocrack. Very very interesting. Our room is only slight wider where the main speakers (Wilson XLF) are...although it opens up behind to around 5.5m. So Sub towers are indeed difficult to think of. The closest in dual towers I could see are Evolution Acoustics (System 7 or 9) which is a massive change...or possibly the Goebel Baforce towers. But it still eats into width which is not practical.
So for us, the opposite corner single sub makes sense. hence thinking about all-out custom design there.
In any event, always fascinating to hear about such unique speakers from owners. Very very rare indeed!
So for us, the opposite corner single sub makes sense. hence thinking about all-out custom design there.
In any event, always fascinating to hear about such unique speakers from owners. Very very rare indeed!
Based on my (many years of) listening experiences I do not believe (anymore) that the latest version of a certain audio component is (automatically) better that it’s previous version. However, the listening impressions of Kedar (Bonzo) with the Kondo Kagura and Kondo Gakuoh mk ii amps in Dallas made me curious enough to try the following: compare my Gakuohs mk i to the Gakuohs mk ii amps in my LA system. If everything goes according to plan next Friday I will be able to achieve this. Let’s see how this comparison turns out next week.
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Wow! That is exciting. Look forward to reading all about it. The system here is starting to settle in again after updating some of the grounding posts for the Entreq Pluton (Tripoint remains as usual) and some new experiments on using Artesania damping plates in the back of the XLF to good effect.
The ongoing finetuning of the system is quite a fun pursuit...making the absolute most of each component and realizing there is more to be extracted from a fundamentally good design. Like the Zanden, the Robert Kodas.
The one I am really starting to hone in on now is this QSA stuff...their LAN jitters and power jitters...more to come. Have you ever tried them?
What I have learned ‘on the job’, Lloyd, is that our audio equipment is much, much better than we think provided we are able to get rid of the nasty distortion the various audio components create by themselves. That is the reason why I go all out with grounding. In my LA set up (Tripoint Audio) grounding makes a fundamental difference for the better with all components. And I really mean all components, that is not only the electronic devices but also the loudspeakers and the - in my case pure copper - platforms on which the audio equipment is placed. So yes, I totally agree with you that getting the best out of an audio set is “quite a fun pursuit”.
And no, I am not familiar with the “QSA stuff” and their LAN and power jitters. Really looking forward to your experiences (hopefully you will share those with us).
Indeed custom made out of (very) pure, untreated, oxigyn free copper. All slabs are 2,5 cm thick and are sanded to a mirror finish. I place two of these slabs on top of each other (as you can see on the pictures that I uploaded earlier in this thread) to create for each audio component one platform of 5 cm thickness in total. And because each copper slab is very heavy - for example the smallest ones I am using under the Wadax Reference server and Wadax Reference dac are 25 kg each (so the platforms for both these components are 50 kg) - I am able to create a platform with real mass. In the back of the top copper slabs - that is all the copper slabs on which the audio components are directly placed - a whole was drilled in order to be able to insert a binding post that is also made out of pure copper. This makes it possible to ground all the platforms very effectively
Interesting...so you are also grounding them to the Tripoint...intriguing. I know Entreq have created their entire equipment rack system with binding posts on every shelf. In fact, that is a huge part of the design of their system in terms of noise reduction.
So you have custom designed your own all-out isolation system both physically plus grounding capability.
Yes I did, all this in close cooperation with Miguel of Tripoint Audio. And as I mentioned earlier, I hope and expect - in addition to the 21 copper slabs I am currently employing - to add another 19 copper pieces in the second half of this month.
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