[Tmij]

Quote:

Dude, I noticed your analog set up. Wicked! How good is the Dynavector XV 1S?

Among the better carts in the market, I believe it can hang with the top Zyx, Transfiguration and Lyras. As you go up, certain brands (like those three), tend to sound more alike. Or put another way, you hear less "objectionables". Then with other brands, e.g. Allaerts, Koetsu, maybe Benz, you pay for a specific sound.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jahn /img/forum/go_quote.gif Gorgeous listening room! But have you noticed your acoustic guitars having sympathetic resonance to your speakers? Mine did, so I had to take them off the racks and back in their cases. I keep the Les Paul up tho - solidbodies don't ring loud enough acoustically for me to pick up of course, hehe.

Thanks Jahn, and yes I sometimes hear sympathetic resonance from the guitars but this is far an annoyance compared to road noise from the FDR! But then I prefer playing live-levels loud so that's masked as well

 

[robm321]

Welcome Tmij, sorry about your wallet.... oh wait. I guess in your case, your wallet is doing just fine

Glad to have you around. The PS-1 is a wonderful headphone to get assuming that you don't listen mainly to symphonies. The HE-90 is at the technical pinnacle of headphones IMHO (it's a stat), but not necessarily everyone's preference.

I think the K-1000 is about as good as you will find. BTW, I like the HP-2 better than the PS-1 bassed on liking more accuracy and less euphony.

 

[Tmij]

Thanks for the welcome, Rob, and the reason that I'm considering a PS-1 instead of its HP brethren is that I haven't heard either HP-1K or HP-2. I did hear the HE-90s at the meet and wasn't blown away as much as, say, the Sony R10s... but then it was under show conditions, I didn't get to play my music (unlike the R10s) etc.

As for playing symphonic on the PS-1s, I've imagined that won't be its strong suit. And while I do listen to much classical, I prefer the conventional rig for that. Then again, if an HP* shows up, I'll be seriously tempted.

 

[vcoheda]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tmij /img/forum/go_quote.gif

sweet setup!

 

[Michael Crespo]

Audio Technica cartridge? That seems sort of out of place in your rig- does it punch way above it's belt?

 

[Tmij]

Thanks vcoheda. And Michael, yes, the OC9mkII is a good cart, I'd say performing at least on the same level as a Dyna 20XL. I could live with this cart and not feel shortchanged... [size=xx-small]just not indefinitely, but then same goes for almost all carts[/size]

 

[Tmij]

Well, the speaker I called the "long lost brother" of the AKG K1000s (the Duevel Bella Luna Diamantes) have now moved on to their new owner. I've also given up my hunt for the Grado PS1s a few months back as a couple feeding frenzies in eBay made me feel like a wee guppy swimming amongst sharks

Then again, I also blew my budget with another pair of speakers which, I think are unique and revolutionary, Proclaim Audio Work's DMT-100--

Click below for more pictures:


Some features of the DMT-100 (copied from my post in another forum):
Each enclosure is quite inert (made of double layered fiberglass with a proprietary sand damping mixture in between); virtually no cabinet resonance results in excellent resolution not just from mids on up but also from lower mids to low bass. I normally listen to loud/live levels and these speakers allow me to play very loud and very clean.

The tweeter and midrange drivers are independently adjustable mechanically by positioning them using the articulating arms. This makes it easy to "time align" the speakers if you're predisposed/sensitive towards that. It's also easy to change "presentation," for example, if I wanted a "higher" soundstage, I can raise the mid ball, if I wanted tighter imaging, I can position the tweeter balls on the inside, etc.

The external crossover has L-pads that allow you to adjust the midrange and tweeter drivers to compensate for room irregularities (e.g. you have a wall on one side and open area on another side causing a boost on the side with the wall) or even partial hearing loss. BUT if you're not happy with using L-pads it's easy to use a voltmeter to read off their value and bypass them using audiophile grade resistors.

These speakers allow me to tweak them in so many different ways so that they work easily in my room. Sweet spot isn't narrow at all, dispersion is almost as good as an omni (the spherical shapes help reduce diffraction) and considering I move relatively often, i.e. 4 times in the past 7 years, with these speakers I don't have to worry too much whether they'll work in my next apartment

***

Today during lunch, I invited over a good friend who's very well known in this forum. He's a tube amp manufacturer that I'm trying to convince to build a (conventional) high power SET amp. Unfortunately, my tube amps are out of commission-- the Komuro 845 PP I have here needs some repair and my Silvertone 3.2 300B isn't powerful enough to drive the Proclaims to my listening levels.

Instead, we listened to my back-up solid-state amp, a 250wpc Linar that's Class A for the first 25 watts. The tracks I played for my guest were: The Childrens Hour (Mephista/Black Narcissus/CD); Meu Amigo (Paquito D'Rivera/Brazilian Dreams/CD); West Side Blues (Hilton Ruiz/El Camino/LP); Barrio San Miguel (Gino D'Auri/Flamenco Passion/XRCD); Moon is a Harsh Mistress (Radka Toneff/Fairy Tales/LP); The Water Is Wide (Jubilant Sykes & Christopher Parkening/Jubilation/CD).

Afterwards I asked my guest for his impressions. He said: "Dynamics are there... but it sounded too dry for me." Fair enough, as I miss not having a tube amp in use and that's never been the case at my showroom, er, apartment

At any rate, thank you for dropping by, Jack Wu!

Now, how about a Woo parallel SET GM70? Just kidding, man, I know you're super busy

Thanks for reading!

 

[robm321]

Thank you for sharing. While I haven't heard those speakers, I do have to say they are amazing to look at. I'm glad that you are enjoying them.

Beware of having so much to tweak with the speakers, while it can be fun... it can also drive you crazy and never let you settle...

 

[johnsonad]

Say Hi to Jack for us and I second your desire for him to build a high power SET amp. I was thinking of sending him a note about that earlier this week

 

[Tmij]

Quote:

Originally Posted by robm321 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Beware of having so much to tweak with the speakers, while it can be fun... it can also drive you crazy and never let you settle...

Thanks, robm321, in my case what prevents me from going nuts is that everytime I have a guest come over the first thing they want to do is touch and move the balls around.

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnsonad /img/forum/go_quote.gif Say Hi to Jack for us and I second your desire for him to build a high power SET amp.

Wouldn't it be great if there were a few more of us?

I've spoken to him about this project on a few occasions but I also understand their need to stay focused.

 

[kugino]

that's an amazing setup!

 

[fran]

How do you find the simon yorke vs the kuzma?

Fran

 

[Tmij]

Thanks, kugino. And to answer your question, fran, the Kuzma Stabi S holds its own very well compared to the Yorke S7. Both use AC motors and measuring their speed using a LYS strobe made me appreciate the Kuzma's belt-driven subplatter.

If the SY has a weakness, it's that thin rubber belt that contracts/expands very slightly as it turns the platter causing a touch higher standard deviation from perfect speed compared to the Kuzma's thicker belt which is snugly coupled to the subplatter. As both TTs use AC motors, there is some degree of "drift" (although I also use a Walker ultimate controller).

In terms of background noise spectra and were we to consider extremes, e.g. massively loaded turntables as having completely black backgrounds and, say, the suspended Linn LP12 as having a "brownish" signature, I'd say the SY has a "dark gray" background vs the Kuzma's "dark brown". But then again, my SY in on a MinusK isolation platform, so the playing field ain't necessarily level

Comparing tonearms between both tables, the stock S7 is on another league. Having said that, I would've lived happily ever after with a Stabi, although probably would've considered mounting an Airline on it

 

[jigster]

How did the K1Ks sound out of the Silvertone. Thinking of checking them out. Wonder if there's a discount for locals

? (Me living in Singapore)

 

[Tmij]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jigster /img/forum/go_quote.gif How did the K1Ks sound out of the Silvertone. Thinking of checking them out. Wonder if there's a discount for locals ? (Me living in Singapore)

Hi jigster, compared to the Silvertone I preferred the K1Ks with the BAT VK60 monos I had then only because I was driving the Duevels at the same time. Whenever I used the K1Ks on the Silvertone (without the Duevels, the amp wasn't capable of driving these speakers to levels I listen to) I was missing the speaker's ambient bass. Unfortunately, I mostly listened to the K1Ks with the speakers playing at the same time.

Since you're local, I think it's best if you gave Silvertone a visit to audition. The amps themselves are excellent although not too well known. Then again if you wanna use it as a dedicated headphone amp, it might be a bit overkill price-wise.