Zero Distortion: Tango Time

[Ron Resnick]

Thank you for this report, Tango.

When we visited Jack I know that he liked his EMT. The flexibility certainly is very attractive.

 

[bonzo75]

I agree, it is only turntables, cartridges, and food dishes we should have different flavors of. For phono stages and tonearms we should always reorder the same flavor

 

[pcosta]

Tang have you rolled the tubes in the EMT to see if you could get a little more juicyness out of the mids?

 

[Audiophile Bill]

I have tried a few phono stages in my system, CH P1, Ayon Spheris and its new prototype top version, Allnic 5000, Soulution 755, etc. My personal conclusion is the EMT JPA66 MkII is my choice of phono stage. Sonicly what I like most from the EMT is its transparency and tone. Some people say ss phono has top transparency. I say this EMT gives me the clearest sound from all phono I tried in my system. Its tone doesnt emphasize any particular region. The high is exceptional. There is no accentuation in the mids. Their low is also excellent but I have found some other phonos could do deeper more substantial low. The mids are not as beautiful as Allnic. Absolutely no obscurity (is there such word?) in details. The sound stage is not really my priority. However, it gives me all the depth and width dictated by different recordings. I found both CH and Soulution gave more expansive sound stage. It has the "drive", pop" and "liveness" of the best tube phonos. I had an itch to try both Lamm LP1 and Thomas Mayer phono. Both ddk and the General gave me a generous offer to send them for me to try. The LP1 would give a good synergy to the system if I move to Lamm. Bill said the General had both TM and EMT. Their opinion is the TM sounds even better. I never took the offer. Instead I ordered another EMT and have them customize inputs specially for me. Once you live with the EMT you will find that it is so flexible with various adjustments. With these adjustments it could practically match to any change you may have up and down the line. Some records you could do better with some curve adjustments. Some cartridges the output of left and right are not quite balance you could also adjust them at the phono. Gain matching with both cartridges and amps is zero problem since it is adjustable for each input plus there is a master volume adjustment to match with the preamp. It has four inputs. Each input has continous loading adjustment. Power cord makes only small differences in sound with this phono so you dont need to spend more. Some phonos I found totally unmatch to my system no matter how excellent they work in other people systems. Comparability and flexibility is something I put a lot of priority on because I never stand still. The EMT has it all. Highly recommended.

View attachment 46774 Kind regards,
Tang

The EMT is mind bendingly good, Tang. Very jealous.

 

[audioquattr]

Nice report, thanks!
I would like to hear one sometimes.

 

[Tango]

Tang have you rolled the tubes in the EMT to see if you could get a little more juicyness out of the mids?

I like the tone of EMT as is. A bit raw, vivid and lucid. Doesnt make Billie Holidays sound pretty. Not a Japanese tube sound. Tube rolling is beyond my knowledge. I leave that to our European friends in this forum.

Kind regards,
Tang

 

[Steve Williams]

IIRC I heard the EMT phono stage several years ago in my trip to Manila where JackD201 and his brother Jim each had one and it was truly a special sound. I seem to recall that the EMT uses 3 pair of 12AX7 as both Jack and Jim were each using 3 pair of the Holy Grail NOS Telefunken ECC803S tubes

As for the Lamm LP1 Signature it too is special but IMO derives it's full benefit when played with the Lamm ML3/LL1,1 Signature amp/preamp. For my system and my ears these are lifers in my system. Bear in mind Tang that the Signature series is 3 components but comprises 11 separate boxes

 

[Tango]

Bear in mind Tang that the Signature series is 3 components but comprises 11 separate boxes

Yes Steve, I complained about too many boxes with David. Maximum I can go are ML3.1 and the LL1.1.

Tang

 

[Steve Williams]

The Signature series is very special Tang. In fact Vlad discourages tube rolling in the components. As I have said many times I am not a tube roller however with one exception....I also use the Holy Grail NOS Telefunken ECC 803S in my ML3, That is the only tube I have ever rolled

 

[microstrip]

(...) Bear in mind Tang that the Signature series is 3 components but comprises 11 separate boxes

Can we know why not 12 boxes? Is it an unlucky number in some part of the world?

 

[Tango]

LAMM makes rack makers happy. dCS makes cable makers happy. Both LAMM and dCS make dealers very happy.

Tang

 

[microstrip]

LAMM makes rack makers happy. dCS makes cable makers happy. Both LAMM and dCS make dealers very happy.

Tang

I think that multi-arm turntable users make dealers them even more happy ...

 

[Steve Williams]

Can we know why not 12 boxes? Is it an unlucky number in some part of the world?

the amp and preamp are dual mono dual power supplies (4 boxes) whereas the LP1 is 3 boxes (2 power supplies)

 

[Mike Lavigne]

LAMM makes rack makers happy. dCS makes cable makers happy. Both LAMM and dCS make dealers very happy.

Tang

and CH Precision makes both look like pikers.

7 boxes for 'uber' digital source (9 with transport), 6 boxes for uber phone stage, and that is not even a preamp or amps.

this is more industrial engineering and audio art than their considerable (even awesome) hifi performance.

 

[Tango]

and CH Precision makes both look like pikers.

7 boxes for 'uber' digital source (9 with transport), 6 boxes for uber phone stage, and that is not even a preamp or amps.

this is more industrial engineering and audio art than hifi performance.

Dear Mike,

How big is your audio box storage now. I have to build a room on my office rooftop to house audio boxes. I redicule myself sometime.

Kind regards,
Tang

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Dear Mike,

How big is your audio box storage now. I have to build a room on my office rooftop to house audio boxes. I redicule myself sometime.

Kind regards,
Tang

Dear Tang,

my barn is 45 feet long. the upstairs has a 45 foot x 14 foot rec room where i have a pool table, an area where i watch sports, my workout area, and my photo processing desk.

my box storage area is under the sloping roof line next to this rec room. so it's 45 feet x 9 feet with a sloping roof. it also holds my HVAC air box and some of the ducting in the tightest part.

sounds like a big space? right?

even with all that storage space, for my Evolution Acoustics MM7 speaker shipping crates; which were 14 large wooden crates (holding 3500 pounds of speakers); i had to recycle them because even broken down they would have either filled up a whole bay of my garage, or filled up almost all of my storage area. i estimated the 10 year storage costs and figured it would be equal value to buying new crates and getting them shipped to me.

every action requires a reaction.



best regards,

Mike

 

[microstrip]

(...) even with all that storage space, for my Evolution Acoustics MM7 speaker shipping crates; which were 14 large wooden crates (holding 3500 pounds of speakers); i had to recycle them because even broken down they would have either filled up a whole bay of my garage, or filled up almost all of my storage area. i estimated the 10 year storage costs and figured it would be equal value to buying new crates and getting them shipped to me.


best regards,

Mike

My dealer warehouse is only 100 km away from me and part of the buying agreement is that he must store the empty boxes for free . He does so, always complaining that I am taking too much of his space, particularly when they check their inventory at the end of the year ...

 

[Mike Lavigne]

My dealer warehouse is only 100 km away from me and part of the buying agreement is that he must store the empty boxes for free . He does so, always complaining that I am taking too much of his space, particularly when they check their inventory at the end of the year ...

i know we are taking this thread off the rails, but it's Tang's thread and he did it, so must be ok?

thank god i have only changed speakers once in 14 years. the last speakers, the MM3's, only had 6 crates, and i did break those wooden crates down and store them in my space. but 14 crates was just too much.

as far as my dealer storing these crates; he already has so much stuff stored not sure we would ever find them again if he had them.

the most likely occurrence for me is that it will be my kid's problem to ship my speakers to a new owner, so i suppose i will leave instructions.

 

[bonzo75]

I agree Mike, you are one guy who does not need to join the others swapping out for horns

 

[pcosta]

The Signature series is very special Tang. In fact Vlad discourages tube rolling in the components. As I have said many times I am not a tube roller however with one exception....I also use the Holy Grail NOS Telefunken ECC 803S in my ML3, That is the only tube I have ever rolled

Vlad usually provides better tubes than most when you buy them from him.