Visit to Marc C.'s (SpiritOfMusic's) House in England

[spiritofmusic]

Bob, I very much enjoy the image of your mum as minder to the prog lovers out there. If she is as you say she is (and I have no reason to doubt you), malcontents can only smile as she slaps them back into line.

I always roll my eyes when I hear prog criticised for only being self indulgent and bereft of melody. These badly informed folk obviously haven't heard Yes "Roundabout", Genesis "Follow You Follow Me", Tull "Aqualung", Floyd "Money".
And hundreds more.

So Bob, thanks for showing an interest here. I guess I can expect another paternal put down from Keith soon. Especially when I tell him I'm planning to install £4k worth of HRS Damping Plates on all my gear.

 

[NorthStar]

It's interesting that you noticed that I have an interest here. I sure do, it's one of my deep passions of my entire life ... the music, and everything else on the planet related, including my Mum and Jethro Tull.

Music is 99% of all moving pictures. Put sweet music with everything that moves and the world is a better place. Music also includes natural sounds ... the soft wind, the crickets, the humming of hummingbirds, flowers blooming (you can hear if you listen catefully without any noise in the environment system), the dragonflies, the rustic leaves dancing, the flying stars @ night.

What a lovely day.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Sometimes the simplest things can bring the best results. Had always struggled with a level of noise from my Nat tube amps, that whilst not too obtrusive was still not ideal, quite likely masking some delicacy and micro detail.

Started making some inroads on this w the installation of Tubulus Argentus DB-25 umbilicals btwn my Nat Utopia tubed preamp and it's SS psu.

And after running thru some quieter preamp 6n23p tubes that were frankly bland, grey and uninvolving (new production Tesla and Electro Harmonix), and some more involving (but ultimately noisy and unreliable) NOS Voskhod Rockets, I've struck absolute gold w Reflektor Silver Shields.

Quiet, seemingly reliable, a tad sweeter and warmer into the treble, and more pertinent in the bass, better all round than the Voskods. A total suprise.

A fantastic side effect of all this is lowering of veils and greater truthfulness in the sound. Critically, this is opening up my Zus to be more and more revealing and enjoyable on jazz, and especially classical.

For this reason above others, my compulsion to investigate horns is diminishing fast. My Zus really demonstrating the ability to be way more genre-agnostic than at any other time owning them.

My remaining sources of noise to be addressed soon. Getting Zu to mod my subs with change to grounding, and getting my balanced power transformer outside of the listening room.

 

[NorthStar]

Marc, Zu is he a Babylonian storm God? ...A black bird representation.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Storm God sums up Zu nicely.

On a survey of the great and the good, and their favourite Beatles songs, Steve Wilson's choice was "Blackbird".

Me, I'll go w "Taxman".

 

[spiritofmusic]

Coming up to three years at the chapel, my system in the new room, the total miracle of sympathetic room acoustics, and further refining and evolution. A little way to go.

I've had the good fortune to visit a dozen excellent setups since I've moved here, and they've all shown aspects I can improve my own sound upon.

But they've also shown that I remain 100% happy w my choices. And indeed in the areas of mids tone density and palpability, I wouldn't swap my sound for any that I've heard elsewhere.

This is the area that Zu, esp w triodes, has always been strong in, even in my old space and when things weren't dialled in as they are now.

Now I'm keeping my sound really cooking in the mids and upper bass, and have taken things on drastically in the bass and treble, timbral accuracy, imaging and staging, shimmer/air/microdynamics.

So much so that the times I used to return from stellar sounding demos and want to start from scratch are gone. I'm bullish my sound totally competes.

But, its taken a big effort. The room is the proverbial shot in the arm/million bucks upgrade/sonic step up that I could not have achieved w an open chequebook on components. It's that radical.

I would say to anyone with a chance of securing a good room, do it. You will not look back.

Sorting out tt/arm/cart/phono setup properly, extensively modding every component in lp replay (resulting in me quadrupling my initial $10k outlay on analog) and totally isolating my tt on Stacore/slate stand, has taken my slightly diffuse lp sound, previously in the shadow of my cdp, and promoted it well at the head of the queue. My cdp is now the lesser performer in my setup. Order has been restored to the universe.

My amps have become quieter and more detailed w the addition of the Tubulus DB25 cable and better preamp tubes.

Zus have transformed to become truly revealing and neutral, massively boosting enjoyment of classical and jazz, that were never their strong points in my old room. All thru careful positioning in room, the room itself, Revopods footers and Townshend supertweeters.

And the whole package upped a level or three w the help of totr Sablon cables, Westwick balanced power, Oyaide dedicated lines and Symposium racks.

The times I returned from AG, Cessaro, ML, Thrax, Wilson and Apogee demos, so in awe of what I had heard, and truly doubting my choices, are gone. Now I go to demos fully confident I'll hear things differently to here, but w no lack of confidence that my sound is just as relevant, and in many ways more magical in those areas I value most.

 

[roundhead]

Brushwood, I've heard the Chopins once (was more impressed than I thought I would be, but too small for my 18x48 space), and the Liszts 3x.

First time remains maybe my fave horns experience (excl non commercial Denman horn which is beyond anything I've heard in any demo experience), on Bakoon Class A, 15W. Other than some room node issues, a truly exhilarating thrill ride.

Second was in same room, but now Illusonic AD/DA to tt, and Mola Mola 700W Class D. As bland and antiseptic an experience as you can imagine. Were they even the same spkrs?

Third, in a bigger better room, full analog experience w Tron 211s. Impressive, but the magic of the Bakoon demo missing. A tad pedestrian.

Moral of my experience? The ancilliaries REALLY matter when it comes to horns. If you REALLY want the magic.

Well set up Liszts would be my lottery win spkr (can't fit them in my space so a mute point anyhow).

Well there's a paif of Lizsts now for 35000 euros on Audiomarkt which is a fraction of the price. That's a whole lotta speaker. I know what you mean but despite what a lot of people say i've heard horns with solid state and they sound phenomenal. A lot of solid states are super quiet whilst a lot of tubes can be noisy. My feeling is it takes a lot of money and expensive parts to make a tube work. I dont think you have to have a tube with a horn. The good solid states have a delicious midrange with oodles of colour and timbre.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Brushwood, I know the seller. It was his pair I loved on SS. That's a great price, and someone should snap them up. Unfortunately I don't have the funds or the right space for them.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Even this late in the day, small changes can be pivotal. Good and not so good.

In the evolution of my analog reinstall, I got around to buying and installing a vinyl periphery ring and lp weight. Seemed to be a subtle but useful addition. Despite logistical issues of rings and potential stylus accidents, the SQ uptick made me keep it in.

I subsequently beefed up isolation and support under my Stacore'd tt w another 50kg of slate.

All v nice and dandy, my lp sound by far the best it's been.

But I am one to revisit tweaks, take them out and reassess.

So yday and today I played lps sans ring and weight. Back to how my tt designer envisaged things ie lps not damped or secured. And the change is dramatic to say the least.

Another layer of euphonic warmth stripped away, less smear. Lps w lots of subtle cues sound way more open and revealing. Again, always some initial doubts that losing fatness in reproduced sound might make lps sound more sterile. Things always need a little mental resetting of parameters w dramatic changes.

But the sheer boost in dynamics, top to bottom eveness, opening up of low level detail and resultant emotion, has been jaw droppingly suprising.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Bocchino spades modded Sablon Reservas spkr cbls just returned and installed. It's so weird to have the sound stay principally the same ie tonal and timbral balance, but wow factor in spades (pun fully intended) on significant opening up in SQ. More evidence that the merry go round in wholesale system changes I used to subscribe to as a concept is behind me. There's so much potential in my system already, or more accurately: synergy of room and system. My 2die4 room acoustics are allowing me to tweak the recipe of my system w areas like these Bocchino upgrades to reveal hitherto hidden delights. Ditto Stacores, Tubulus DB25 to preamp, Revopods under Zus.

And there's more to come, I'm sure. Well, I still have seven Sablon Reserva Elite pwr cords to be Bocchino'd out for a start Lol.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Remaining list of things to do in 2019:

Install New Terminator air LT tonearm w Ikeda silver wire/Cardas silver cart tags/Bocchino RCAs.

Fidelity Audio UK mods to my Eera Tentation cdp.

Upgraded Zu Definitions 4 sub amps.

Move Stacore Plus isolation platform from under my Westwick 8K balanced power transformer, to under my Eera cdp.

Replace Stacore under Westwick w either Arya Audio Revopods or Taiko Daiza platform. Move Westwick outside listening room.

 

[bonzo75]

>> Move Westwick outside listening room.

This looks like very detailed planning, crossing the i's and dotting the Ts

 

[spiritofmusic]

Yep, I'm taking plenty of tips from the UK Departing The European Union team. No stone unturned.

 

[bonzo75]

Yep, I'm taking plenty of tips from the UK Departing The European Union team. No stone unturned.

So are you planning to do none of those things then

 

[spiritofmusic]

And you think we're not leaving? That DEXEU dept is worth bugger all, but getting nothing done is the key to Brexit. Need a pitch for the GE. Tories might win w Brexit. Cannot win without it.

It's Brexit w Tories. Or Remain w Corbyn. A real Hobson's Choice.

 

[spiritofmusic]

So are you planning to do none of those things then

All I can say is, I'm eternally grateful I'm not buying any big ticket items anymore from outside the UK post 31/10 or 30/1.

 

[spiritofmusic]

>> Move Westwick outside listening room.

This looks like very detailed planning, crossing the i's and dotting the Ts

Anyhow, I'm kinda touched you're keeping in the loop. That loop might be Dante's Circles Of Hell, but what the hey, I'm still touched.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Recent changes in my system are taking things a big stage on. I've finally started to properly address a little preamp noise I had semi resigned myself to never fully eliminating. First the Tubulus Argentus DB25 cbl from Nat Utopia tube pre to it's SS psu reduced a certain amount of hash. Then some playing around w preamp tubes, and I've hit upon way quieter Reflektor Silver Shield 6n23p variants.

I've also dispensed w the vinyl periphery ring and centre weight, this in the end proved more of a negative.

I also have a more foolproof way to ensure I've set up azimuth on cart correctly, and check VTA for each lp played.

Throw in the dramatic positives that correct analog setup and Bocchino connectors Sablon cables upgrades provide, and enjoyment of the system is at a new level.

Dare I say it, the Zus are properly transparent, neutral and delicate, to add to the sheer fun and immersive qualities they've always had.

 

[ack]

Unusual to do away with the center weight and periphery ring; sounds like there is noise from the platter being picked up?

 

[spiritofmusic]

Tasos, well this was an Eleventh Hour addition. The tt is specifically designed not to use any hold down at all. Indeed the lp sits on Delrin cones attached to the platter. It's the diametric opposite to vacuum hold down tts. And, true to the designer's word, ring and weight have proved deleterious.