Picture of entire system with Kharma Mini Exquisite speakers, Lamm ML2.1 amplifiers and Audio Aero Prestige CD/SACD player on HRS M3 isolation bases and MXR equipment rack. Cabled by Nordost Valhalla and either Elrod Statement power cords or Shunyata Anaconda Alpha Helix power cords.

Kharma Mini Exquisite from above.

Sonically, this isn’t a blow-us-away system compared to the same system with the Marten Design Coltrane speakers. It is very nice and enjoyable - but not surprisingly so. Maybe our expectations were too high. Is it wrong to be so spoiled? At what point does our addiction get so out of hand that we no longer represent the average guy or gal? Oh, you are saying we passed that point a long, long time ago? Oops.

We still have to work on the positioning - and we are planning on moving the EDGE solid-state amps over on this side of the room - they being so successful on the other side on these Mini Exquisites, and switching back and forth.

Speaking of switching back and forth….

The power cords powering the ML2.1.

The power cords are the Elrod Statement III (the big ones) and the Shunyata Anadonda Helix Alpha (the red ones). The speaker cables are the Nordost Valhalla. This could be abstract art if it wasn’t so functional.

The Shunyata lends the system detail. The Elrod body and bass. If we are being picky we switch them for each song, depending on what we think will sound best. Though waiting for the Lamm amps to restart after switching power cords - waiting through their 90 second power-on cycle - is long enough for husband and wife to get a chance to talk to each other……

TheHRS MXR equipment rack is looking a little empty. And missing the top shelf. That Audio Aero is doing source and premaplification duties - what used to take four shelves now just takes one.

The top isolation base was out on loan - and now that it is back it is being repurposed elsewhere we are going to move the Brinkmann Balance turntable over on to the MXR equipment rack…. leaving just the Walker Proscenium Gold Signature TT on the RixRax / SoundLab system.

Finally, we are anxiously awaiting the conclusion of our Jorma Prime interconnect burning in on the Nordost Vidar burner.

Tick tock tick tock….

Our first Harmonic Resolution System MXR equipment rack, in gloss black, arrived just before the HE 2006 show. So we assembled it, taking lots of photos, played it for a few days (yes, it is just like a component), and then were subsequently inundated with reports to write: From the HE 2006 Show Report, to the VTV 2006 Show Report, to the Cogent True-to-Life horn loudspeaker tour.

So finally, without further delay, we have finally posted to the website (oh, please no! Not more photos! Yes, more photos) the Tour in Gloss Black, the Pictorial Odyssey through the Process of The Assemblage, the Celebratory Victory over the Vibrating Elements of the Sound Dimension, The….

Assembly of the HRS MXR Equipment Rack

This is an equipment rack whose sonic impact on our system in listening room number two Blew Our Minds. We thought it would sound a little better - and look better by hiding all those cables.

And the feel of this rack is like that of a Mercedes - with tolerances few turntables can match - and a truly Impressive impact on the sound - especially dynamics along with much improved evening out, a cmore correct proportioning of all sorts of sonic properties across the frequecny spectrum, top to bottom.

Kind of a loss for words here - everybody expects that a $50K preamp and a $20K pair of speaker cables are going to sound pretty dran good, right? But a 15K equipment rack?

Yes! Yes, Yes!

The Lamm ML2.1 amplifiers now had SLAM on the Marten Coltrane loudspeakers…….!

…… all because the Lamm L2 preamplifier, the Audio Note CDT-Three transport and the Audio Note DAC 4.1x Balanced were on the MXR rack instead of on the Acoustic Dreams equipment rack - no slouch itself in the vibration control department either, at least compared to the rest of the competition.

What, with the Jorma Design Prime cables, the Audio Note M10 preamplifier, and this HRS MXR equipment rack - we have heard a lot of stuff in this last month or so that KICK sonic booty -

that dramatically improve the sound of already state-of-the-art systems,

that really go one step beyond what are reasonable expectations for what a pile of resistors and spun metal can do to one’s mind,

that can open doors into new dimensions of visualizations and sounds to which we attach the dramatically understated label ‘music’, ….

i.e. they kick some humongous sonic booty.

How deep to you want to go today? Red pill or blue? Or gloss black?

Me, I’ll take gloss black.

It arrived right before we left for the HE 2006 Show and we left it playing while we were there, and for the weeks we have been back.

Still changing on a day-to-day basis…

It looks great on the piano black Harmonic Resolutions Systems’ MXR rack with the gloss black Audio Note 4.1x Balanced DAC and matte black Lamm L2 linestage and power supply.

Soon now we are going to tear apart this very synergistic, or is it synerblisstic, system replacing the front end with the Audio Aero Prestige CD / SACD player.

Why?

1. In order to be able to put the Brinkmann over on the HRS rack with the Lamm LP2 phono preamplifier

AND

2. to put together a 100%, well 90% because we do not have any Audio Note cables here right now, a 90% complete Audio Note system:

Audio Note CDT Three transport
Audio Note 4.1x Balanced DAC
Audio Note M10 preamplifier
Audio Note Kegon amplifiers
Audio Note SEC Silver Signature loudspeakers

and eventually we will have to find a way to get a turntable into listenng room #3 in order to add:

Audio Note M8 Phono preamplifier
Audio Note AN-S4 step-up transformer

All this to ‘Hear What it Sounds Like’.

Ain’t life fun?

The System: Marten Coltrane speakers, Lamm ML2.1 amplifiers, Jorma Prime speaker cable, HRS MXR equipment rack. Also Lamm L2 preamplifier, Audio Note CDT-Two and DAC 4.1x Balanced. Nordost and Shunyata cabling.

We mentioned how amazing this was sounding in our review of the Jorma ‘Prime’ interconnects.

What does does amazing mean?

Here is what amazing means:

The Coltrane speakers are so freakin revealing… The Jorma Prime cables are slightly more forward than their No. 1 and even the Valhalla, and this new effect was already taking hold. Now, with HRS’s MXR rack [we set it up yesterday, much more on this later ] in place of the Acoustic Dreams, the system sound is even more ‘present’.

We kind of take it for a given that the Coltrane speakers are a little laid back - given the highest quality, completely neutral components up front. But maybe not…

Witb these two new, admittedly over the top, additions to the system… the sound is much more of a engulfing, in the room type of experience.

Our good Canadian friend, Dave H., [you there Dave? Missed you in Monteal] used to talk about how he wanted the sound to come to him, to not have to focus on listening to what was being played, to have the sound ‘take control’ [my words] as it were.

The system was already subtley sinister in the way it would sneak up on a person and make one stop mid sentence, whether one wanted to or not, as the music Took Control.

But now, …

It is hard to move, much more hard to get up.

It is like ‘if I miss this next note, my life will have been worthless and empty’… ‘I must hear this next note!’

I think this house is going to be much more quiet now… because if we start playing any music, we aren’t going to get ANYTHING done.

[Though I am much more disclipined than Neli, and this system is on the same floor as her office. She, she is doomed. So if you can’t get her on the tele as easily as you could before today, you’ll know exactly why!]

And the new Audio Note CDT-Three transport just arrived. We are doomed!

In order to better serve audiophiles who are interested in HRS products and who may not have a local dealer, Audio Federation, in partnership with and under the aegis of HRS, now offers a 20 day trial period for Harmonic Resolution Systems products.

Under this factory-authorized performance guarantee program, HRS products can be purchased from Audio Federation and auditioned in your system for 20 days. This allows you to experience the significant improvements these products will make in your system and provides you with a money back performance guarantee.

HRS is the only vibration control product that we have tried that not only consistantly improves the quality of the system it is in by a signifiacant amount, but also does not have the unpleasant side effects that, to our ears, the other vibration control products seem to have.

The offer is only available in the U.S. at this time.

If interested, here are the details about the joint Audio Federation - HRS Performance Guarantee Program.

Before we get to the comparisons…

We put the Prestige up on the HRS Nimbus ‘’feet’ which helped dial in the Prestige as it was sitting on the HRS M3 Isolation Base.

Here is the Prestige up with the 3 black diamond racing cones that come with the Prestige as their standard feet lying in front of the Prestige.

More pictures of the Prestige and the HRS Nimbuses, which in this picture were put under the place where the Black Diamond Racing cones usually go, abd you can see that the screws that stick out and screw into the cones are now sticking into the Nimbuses.

We changed this in the current configuration to put the Nimbuses in a configuration so that they would not get stuck… But we haven’t done a sonic comparison to determine any differences besides the aesthetic.

The Audio Note Kegons are also up on Nimbuses…

Just an FYI, here are the controls on the left side control panel of the Prestige

And on the right side…

Sonically, this improved the clarity, lowered the noise floor tremendously, and made the Prestige competitive with the Meitner, albeit with an entirely different sonic flavor. More on the comparison next, and as we moved the Prestige downstairs in preperation for the weekend’s (and Monday’s (today)) guests, replacing the Audio Aero Capitole with the Prestige in the SoundLab U1 / EDGE system, we can now also report at some length on the differences we hear between the Capitole and the Prestige.

OK, we could / should really get some custom HRS (Harmonic Resolution Systems… now you know why everybody abbreviates their name ) amp stands for the big 220(!) lb EDGE NL Reference ‘pyramid’ amplifiers… But we got these really cool Rix Rax Outpost amp stands and we want to use them. The problem is the Outputs do not have all that much intrinsic vibration control (none except for spikes and the nearly 2 inch think maple tops).

What to do, what to do.

Kind of by accident, we tried putting HRS Nimbus Coupler’s underneath the Ref’s feet at the RMAF 2005 show - and lo and behold it helped even out the frequency response in the hotel room very nicely. In that situation the Ref’s were on the carpet because we did not bring down the big amp stands to the show - there is only so much room, you know, in a minivan and station wagon - when you’re full, your’re full.

So, the inspiration struck once more and we decided to try them again, only this time with the Nimbus Spacers too (we did not bring the Spacers with us to the show… why, because at the time we couldn’t find them.

OK, OK, everybody raise their hand who has so much audio… equipment and tweaks… that half the time they can’t find what they are looking for when they need it. Thought so.

Here we see two Nimbus Coupler’s and one (double height) Nimbus Spacer

Here they are in context to a standard (good) CD.

Here is the big EDGE amp

Here is a Nimbus (Spacer plus two Couplers) under one of the feet. No it isn’t exactly centered. You want to liff this 220lb thing to try to get that last 1/32 of an inch? Not me either.

Here is another picture of the HRS Nimbus’es under the feet. Notice the dust under the amp that the added height now reveals. Everyone knows half the fun of having all this beautiful equipment is dusting and keeping it clean, right? Right?

Hurrumph. And it is not as if we can trust anyone else to clean it either. What a predicament. What a predicament.

Next … the Effect of Dust Bunnies on Soundstaging….

Oh, and the sound here with the Nimbus’ under the EDGE NL Reference feet is the same we experienced at the show - a more even treatment of the frequency spectrum, removing some of the edge and glare we were experiencing with bad recordings, especially DVD video.