Visit to Detlof' place - Techdas, Kronos, you name it

[Frank750]

I really enjoyed reading your experience Bonzo, great writing.

As one who has had a brief exchange with Detloff while selling some cables a year or two ago, I can tell you in no uncertain terms, he is a true Gentleman. Our hobby would benefit greatly were more like Detloff involved in it.

 

[bonzo75]

On the other hand you've seen and experienced the extremes of high end hobby from simple SET horn installations to the other side of the seesaw with Apogee Grands and Detlof's German Physics!

david

Yeah I am trying to be picky - you know you go to a good restaurant, if the restaurant is local fine, you can go back, but else you can't have all the dishes on the menu in one go. I hate that.

 

[bonzo75]

Ked where was the Kronos hidden

Hi look at my second pic in Post 3, you will see it two components to the left of the AF1

 

[bonzo75]

I really enjoyed reading your experience Bonzo, great writing.

As one who has had a brief exchange with Detloff while selling some cables a year or two ago, I can tell you in no uncertain terms, he is a true Gentleman. Our hobby would benefit greatly were more like Detloff involved in it.

+1

 

[MadFloyd]

Another great report as usual, Ked, thank you!

 

[bonzo75]

Nice read Ked and somewhat reassuring to learn that there are audiophiles out there with (even) more components than me.

AC, I think you have another room building exercise starting in about ten years

 

[Rodney Gold]

great write up
Detloff sounds like a very interesting guy with a very interesting system..I would love to hear it

 

[rockitman]

Wow thanks for the report...and I thought I had equipment space issues...

 

[microstrip]

Also a special shout to Ralph. The mids with the Atmasphere were sounding excellent and Detlof was full of praise for Ralph and his customer service.

Thanks a lot for this very enjoyable report. Is Detlof using the Emperor standard crossover? And yes, I really missed the Ma2's midrange and treble when they left - they were something special. We can see tube dampers in the 40 6AS7s and in the 6SN7s- serious stuff!

 

[Audiocrack]

AC, I think you have another room building exercise starting in about ten years

Well, I have been thinking seriously about a dedicated listening room but I probably need to move to another property to realise this. Surely no plans on the short term but who knows in ten years?

 

[Zero000]

I've heard 3 different GP setups, and I prefer MBLs in all cases so far.

Nonetheless this looks like a kickass set up, and I haven't heard the big GPs present here. Could well be awesome.

BTW Apogee refurbs all sound different because they are like custom cars. They have different design parameters modified due to the restorer's and customer's build preferences, as you must be aware. They are audio experiments, essentially, with no real standardisation. In a sense it is quite a risky business as you don't really know what you'll end up with soundwise if you go playing deeply with how to build a pair for the supposed better.

 

[Jazzhead]

Super read Bonzo .... Alladin 's cave indeed !!! Luv the sprightly , jumping over wires and bending down part ... More power to Detlof !

 

[bonzo75]

I've heard 3 different GP setups, and I prefer MBLs in all cases so far.

Nonetheless this looks like a kickass set up, and I haven't heard the big GPs present here. Could well be awesome.

BTW Apogee refurbs all sound different because they are like custom cars. They have different design parameters modified due to the restorer's and customer's build preferences, as you must be aware. They are audio experiments, essentially, with no real standardisation. In a sense it is quite a risky business as you don't really know what you'll end up with soundwise if you go playing deeply with how to build a pair for the supposed better.

The MBLs I don't like at all. Real music is not thin and transparent. It is transparent and dense. GP does that. Also these kind of set ups can't be heard at shows.

Agree with the apogees, so one has to make an offer for a speaker he has heard.

Chat later guys, about to watch Rattle and the LSO do symphony fantastique (berlioz)

 

[rockitman]

How many Hi-End systems in private homes from around the world have you heard Ked ?

 

[andromedaaudio]

Fantastic system/room detlof , thats what you call " all out assault" , never heard those speakers interesting design.not very efficient though iirc
Thanks for bringing it to us bonzo. , from listening to different systems rooms you learn a lot i suppose

 

[bonzo75]

How many Hi-End systems in private homes from around the world have you heard Ked ?

Lol. Not many Christian, but I pursue some angles...for example, right now I am trying to investigate analog, wool start investigating some DIY horns, and some apogee set ups. It is become a fun hobby though, there is so much you can gain. I used to do that in the UK, then Steve once posted that a guy in NJ had a great room despite using DRC. I couldn't believe that, like many others, and so visited Marty, and since then, decided there is a lot of value in traveling and listening to systems, as that challenges some of the incorrect prescriptions formed by listening to mainly our own system and a few others.

I also don't like judging based on HiFi shows, so private dems help

 

[bonzo75]

Thanks a lot for this very enjoyable report. Is Detlof using the Emperor standard crossover? And yes, I really missed the Ma2's midrange and treble when they left - they were something special. We can see tube dampers in the 40 6AS7s and in the 6SN7s- serious stuff!

Lol well spotted on the tube dampers.

He did mention they were external crossovers that came with the speaker. He is tweaking them using DBX

 

[NorthStar]

That was a fantastic read. The humor was also very intelligent. And the music from angels falls into the realm of my own sharing taste...a verisimilitude.
Everything looks and sounds like an audio porn flick. Even the room looks like a harem from Alibaba.

Did you ask the genie from the lamp for any naked women?

 

[marty]

Ked,
I'm looking carefully at the photos and am compelled to ask: The guy appears to be a passionate, detail oriented fanatic with bases upon bases and feet upon feet for his gear. So I wonder if you had any discussion about the placement of his various statues and figurines. Are these for sonic benefit or are they purely aesthetic?

BTW I was also impressed with his lair of Stealth cables. Not sure of the models but i tried a few recently and they are both insanely expensive but also extremely good, particularly the Sakra V12. I first heard these to good effect at Philip O'Hanlons (he uses them to hook up his analogue tape machine to his preamp, although they were the Indra model. Still quite excellent.
Marty

 

[morricab]

Hi we are talking different levels of scale Ron.

I think stats are excellent on a VFM perspective. What you get from Acoustats and Quads, is impossible to beat until you reach a certain level. I have yet to hear a smaller Apogee I liked, and each restore sounds different. The Analysis Omegas sound better to me, when modded, than corresponding Apogees. But then you get the Full ranges, which restored by Henk sounded delightful and well over any stat or Analysis I heard, and costing, actually, the price of a Summit. And I have yet to hear well-restored Divas. Then is the jump to the big league of the Grands, and these German Physiks retail at more than twice the cost of the grands, though their street price will be closer to the Grands. And there is a whole raft of horns in between, each one sounds different, so I really cannot treat a Horn as a generic category.

For your transparent tastes of stats and MBLs, the Acapella is similar. My taste, as you know, also requires fullness and density, which I find in Apogees, and Detlof's GP had it in spades. You should know that Henk's Apogees were driven by much lower level of electronics compared to what I heard today - difference being roughly the cost of the GP itself. That said, I think the GP are capable of better mids. For a room the size of Detlof's it is a no-brainer. Apogee Grands just won't do well there. In a bigger room too, the mids between the speakers due to the way those midbass drivers center it in between, will probably be better. But then the Grands will be faster and slammier and I love their integration.

The WE 16A will still remain a special speaker, because what it can do, nothing else can.

I really don't know the answer to how Detlof integrates the Plasma tweeter, but it does not come into play much. He said it does during jazz.

Interesting report! I think you are right about the acoustats and you should have heard mine with big Silvaweld OTLs, the experience was nearly psychedelic.

What I still need to hear is the first Acoustats, which were actually direct drive from built-in OTLs and no transformers. I think you might find that hard to beat at any price.

I personally think the Grand sounds ultimately flawed because it's electronic xover colors the sound in a destructive manner and limits the overall system potential.