Zero Distortion: Visit to Rhapsody Dallas

[Lee]

As mentioned in my report the videos don't grab the bass and the density of the stage. behind.

That said, I think with videos if it sounds very good, it should be auditioned. If it sounded bad, that was another thing. Most seem to think these videos were good, it is quite obvious in person they will get much more insight. No one should click buy after listening to a video unless it is pocket change for them. But they should expect to enjoy even more in person. And I have my words accompanying what I heard, but I can understand some people will say off with the bottom of the report just leave the words in.

Ron picked up a brilliant passage of play to say wow that sounds real. To my point on the other thread, if you play good passages you can know if it is not real pretty quickly. When someone tells me they need one month to evaluate (set up time not taking into account, in which case even a few months is too less), I wonder what they are listening for. With Britney Spears and Spice Girls you can listen as long as you like and evaluate forever. If with Oistrakh's, Szeryng's, Kogan's or Heifetz's bow one cannot make out how it sounds at least in the violin range, they should just buy sorting on the sticker price. If it sounds real similarly for other instruments vocals orchestra in a few LPs, beyond that is stress testing.

I think the best thing to do is create downloadable hires PCM files to listen to. A simple ORTF setup of microphones does very well. We tested this in my listening room and also in the Synergistic Research reference room (I designed their recording setup: 2 AKG 414s with a Sounddevices 722).

 

[mtemur]

Intriguing that the mk ii push pull Gakuoh is ‘only’ 20 watts while the Gakuoh mk I push pull amps are 30 watts.

20watts at %5 THD. I’m not sure but if you expand limits to %10 THD they may deliver 30watts. AFAIK Kondo does offer parallel SET Gakuoh II upon request.

 

[Steve Williams]

And now the Carnegie's are in place. I love when I turn on new speakers out of the box for the first time and in 10 seconds I think "I love them". But I was convinced after hearing them at Munich this year.
View attachment 115453 View attachment 115454

Beautiful looking speaker Bob and I bet it sounds as good as you say. Best of luck with the new line

 

[Rhapsody]

Beautiful looking speaker Bob and I bet it sounds as good as you say. Best of luck with the new line

Thank you Steve. Sorry I thought I was posting the Odeon pics in the Rhapsody thread, I posted them here by mistake. I am moving them over to the correct thread.....ugh.

 

[itay123]

Some thoughts feelings that I must add on the subject
Regarding the quality of video recordings.
And some what, the absurdity that there are people who think and are even sure that there is some credibility and transparency in a spontaneity recording a video.

A monophonic video recording is compressed and limited in its reception and abilities, the quality of the recording itself (tempting filming a video), noises in the background, of course they cannot beat a STUDIO playback or can perceive and capture the ability of the changing dynamics at a given volume / gain,
nuances and impact and slam of lower Range of frequencies.

Yes, the video, as far as can be understood from it, can perhaps telling us, where the Setup's Results goes,

between

A bright, squealing garish, thin, narrow, hollow and sometimes aggressive sound that in some cases doesn't feel like there is or isn't a connection between the lower and upper range,

Or

Balanced sound *in the entire scale of the frequency range*, the MID-HIGH sounds well, harmonies, velvety in the sound signature, MAGIC, feeling and Emotions.


I have a feeling and I have already spoken of this, that those who try to "produce" manipulation of the sound, with EQ or digital manipulations, are actually fooling themselves, and perhaps choosing equipment that is not suitable, whether it is the quality of the equipment and/or its fit and location in the room.

 

[bonzo75]

Some thoughts I fell that I must add, Regarding the quality of video recordings.
And some what, the absurdity that there are people who think and are even sure that there is some credibility and transparency in a spontaneity recording a video.

A monophonic video recording is compressed and limited in its reception and abilities, the quality of the recording itself (tempting filming a video), noises in the background, of course they cannot beat a STUDIO playback or can perceive and capture the ability of the changing dynamics at a given volume / gain,
nuances and impact and slam of lower Range of frequencies.

Yes, the video, as far as can be understood from it, can perhaps telling us, where the Setup's Results goes,

between

A bright, squealing garish, thin, narrow, hollow and sometimes aggressive sound that in some cases doesn't feel like there is or isn't a connection between the lower and upper range,

Or

Balanced sound *in the entire scale of the frequency range*, the MID-HIGH sounds well, harmonies, velvety in the sound signature, MAGIC, feeling and Emotions.


I have a feeling and I have already spoken of this, that those who try to "produce" manipulation of the sound, with EQ or digital manipulations, are actually fooling themselves, and perhaps choosing equipment that is not suitable, whether it is the quality of the equipment and/or its fit and location in the room.

as mentioned before, the pros and cons of videos have been discussed many times over five years. Please read those threads and familiarise yourself with all that’s been discussed.

 

[itay123]

I will look and read them.

 

[Skanda]

Great write up. I noticed some comments around video quality and thought I'd chime in here and share a recent video I made.

I have heard the roma triode with kondo and in a post I made about my visit to rhapsody in fort green, I called it the best system I had ever heard. I listen to wide variety of music and can say that all the traits that make the diesis great for classical and acoustic make it excel at many (possibly any) genre. It depends on what you listen for.

I bought the Roma SE for one of my homes and pair it with perlisten d212 subs and power it all with a simple CH Precision I1 and run a full loom of clarus crimson including their power conditioner. I hope to soon add a taiko and timbernation shelf but have been traveling too much recently to settle in. I am regularly drawn to the dynamics, sheer projection, size of sound, and flow of vocals from the diesis.

The video here is a Kanye West track called Wolves with this section being sung by Sia. It is being streamed from tidal via roon. I was reading and this track came up on shuffle and I put my book down to rewind this section a few times - it sounds so good. Video taken with an iphone 14 pro max but hope it gives those curious a sense for the texture, staging, and flow of the diesis sound.

New video by Osho Jha

photos.app.goo.gl

 

[bonzo75]

I am regularly drawn to the dynamics, sheer projection, size of sound, and flow of vocals from the diesis

interesting choice of words, because dynamic range, projection, open baffle are three of the words I have used to justify why a speaker does not have to be big or tall to do the size of sound. When the size is there on the record, the Diesis will project it.

 

[Skanda]

interesting choice of words, because dynamic range, projection, open baffle are three of the words I have used to justify why a speaker does not have to be big or tall to do the size of sound. When the size is there on the record, the Diesis will project it.

yes, in my case the size of sound is by design and by room. my room has some odd 25ft tall ceilings. I also noticed that changing the global to local feedback ratio changes the sound significantly, at 0-20% I get a wall of sound but a bit too diffuse and mushy for my liking. In this recording I was at 80% which really tightens up the sound stage. I find 60% to work well for what I like. I love that between my two systems I have 2 very different flavors of sound and hope that the taiko can bring in some of the detail I'm missing here (its not a fault of the speaker its a fault of roon as I discovered through endless testing with the taiko and xdms in my NYC rig that runs magico m2s). i also love listening to music that has huge staging (think of artists like Burial for example).

my first experience with diesis was the the auras. they did not wow me for whatever reason, i just didnt get it. but after raving about the alsyvox and thinking the botticelli x could be my next speaker I wanted to compare it with the bayz since I had enjoyed the MBL sound in the past but wanted something more efficient and to work with Bob again since I have had good experiences with him and so I went to Fort Green. The Diesis Roma on VAC stunned me but I knew I needed some more low end so we ventured to the basement where he had the Roma Triode with some REL subs and we used a little aurender instead of the mighty taiko - and my god, that staging and those dynamics were something to behold. For what its worth, I also watch tv and movies through this system...its hard to tell in the video but thats an 85" screen to give and impression of size of the speakers and stuff - and they work beautifully for that. I couldnt be happier with this rig.

the one thing I wanted to replicate in this rig was the mega sizing stage and impact of the wilson chronosonic xvx which is a very large speaker. i'm able to get that in this diesis system though i wouldnt call the Roma's a small speaker by any stretch so I would respectfully disagree with your assessment that you don't need a big speaker with the caveat that while a little speaker can image great and be dynamic the sheer visceral nature of a big speaker adds a dimension to the sound that some of us crave.

i think we are both in agreement that there is something very special about the diesis Roma and Roma Triode

 

[MRubey]

Rhapsody Dallas – The Hamleys for Audiophiles – Zero Distortion

zero-distortion.org

Amazing weekend with Chris. Had a good feel of all three set ups over two days to listen to he Magico M9s, Alsyvox, and the Kondo Diesis system with a compare of three Kondo amps.

My new favorite Youtube channel to binge on for a bit.
Excellent sound!
Thank you sir!

 

[bonzo75]

My new favorite Youtube channel to binge on for a bit.
Excellent sound!
Thank you sir!

And in case it helps, I never talk on there

 

[Audiohertz2]

And in case it helps, I never talk on there

 

[LL21]

yes, in my case the size of sound is by design and by room. my room has some odd 25ft tall ceilings. I also noticed that changing the global to local feedback ratio changes the sound significantly, at 0-20% I get a wall of sound but a bit too diffuse and mushy for my liking. In this recording I was at 80% which really tightens up the sound stage. I find 60% to work well for what I like. I love that between my two systems I have 2 very different flavors of sound and hope that the taiko can bring in some of the detail I'm missing here (its not a fault of the speaker its a fault of roon as I discovered through endless testing with the taiko and xdms in my NYC rig that runs magico m2s). i also love listening to music that has huge staging (think of artists like Burial for example).

my first experience with diesis was the the auras. they did not wow me for whatever reason, i just didnt get it. but after raving about the alsyvox and thinking the botticelli x could be my next speaker I wanted to compare it with the bayz since I had enjoyed the MBL sound in the past but wanted something more efficient and to work with Bob again since I have had good experiences with him and so I went to Fort Green. The Diesis Roma on VAC stunned me but I knew I needed some more low end so we ventured to the basement where he had the Roma Triode with some REL subs and we used a little aurender instead of the mighty taiko - and my god, that staging and those dynamics were something to behold. For what its worth, I also watch tv and movies through this system...its hard to tell in the video but thats an 85" screen to give and impression of size of the speakers and stuff - and they work beautifully for that. I couldnt be happier with this rig.

the one thing I wanted to replicate in this rig was the mega sizing stage and impact of the wilson chronosonic xvx which is a very large speaker. i'm able to get that in this diesis system though i wouldnt call the Roma's a small speaker by any stretch so I would respectfully disagree with your assessment that you don't need a big speaker with the caveat that while a little speaker can image great and be dynamic the sheer visceral nature of a big speaker adds a dimension to the sound that some of us crave.

i think we are both in agreement that there is something very special about the diesis Roma and Roma Triode

Fantastic...and great to read about scale. By any chance, would you consider the Bonham Tribute, their 21" sub as well? Just curious.

 

[Skanda]

Fantastic...and great to read about scale. By any chance, would you consider the Bonham Tribute, their 21" sub as well? Just curious.

its a really cool sub but i think 2 of them would be too visually imposing in my room. additionally i believe they are passive only but i might be wrong about that.

i am really happy with the perlisten d212s - they just do everything right and with the app they come with i am able to make any adjustments for testing/fun right from my seat. sometimes for movies i'll crank it up more. it has an autocalc setting so you can set it and forget it - i used that for a while but recently spent a fair bit of time adjusting the crossover and slope by ear to my liking. the subs are very fast and able to keep up with the open baffle woofers on the diesis. i opted for the 212 over the 12 or 15 because the company recs those for home theater and the 2xx series for music though both do either pretty well from what i read. i prefer sealed bass to ported so maybe thats part of why these just sound right for me.

interestingly i've found that the best results for me are crossing over fairly high. i have them crossing at 140hz and have tried everything from 30hz to 150hz and the autocalc. according to the roma manual the speakers naturally cross over to the woofers at 120hz so i tried that too but found myself preferring the meatiness of the 140hz. 50-90hz crossovers sound fine at first but when you really crank the volume the subs do fine but the diesis woofers start to "thump" too much. whenever i try a new setting unless its really offputting at first i'll let it stay that way for a few days or weeks to let my ears adjust before changing it.

 

[LL21]

Thanks for taking the time...very interesting! Regarding the Bonham Tributes, I think you are right...passive. The box in the pictures I presume is the crossover. As to your Perlistens, if they can stay with your Dieses at 140hz, then they are indeed pretty special subs which is entirely consistent with what I have read about them. Good to know about the 212 series for music by the way.

 

[LL21]

And in case it helps, I never talk on there

Your recording of the Vyger, Sparrow Cessaro Zeta and Traformatic Elysium system particularly intrigued me. I have heard extremely good things about the Traformatic amps and have seen them in person though they were not set up. (I was there to hear the Robert Koda system which was there and setup.) Despite it being a recording, there was just something about the playback that seemed unusually nuanced.

 

[bonzo75]

Your recording of the Vyger, Sparrow Cessaro Zeta and Traformatic Elysium system particularly intrigued me. I have heard extremely good things about the Traformatic amps and have seen them in person though they were not set up. (I was there to hear the Robert Koda system which was there and setup.) Despite it being a recording, there was just something about the playback that seemed unusually nuanced.

A lot of that is the analog, the recording, the performance. Followed by it being transparent SET horn system that is letting you appreciate just the music. Vyger Red Sparrow is the most nuanced I have heard on classical and jazz playback, alongside the DaVa field coil cartridge. Very diiferent styles though

 

[LL21]

A lot of that is the analog, the recording, the performance. Followed by it being transparent SET horn system that is letting you appreciate just the music. Vyger Red Sparrow is the most nuanced I have heard on classical and jazz playback, alongside the DaVa field coil cartridge. Very diiferent styles though

Thanks...what recording was it?

 

[bonzo75]

Thanks...what recording was it?

@No Regrets should comment. He chased me for it after that video and then bought one himself. I did not know him before that but I was quite impressed by him picking that one out and chasing it