Took us long enough, huh?

Well, we had an excuse, with the huge horn speakers hogging all the space up until May.

Then Neli’s sorry excuse for a husband was under orders not to lift anything heavier than 25 - 35 lbs. for 6 weeks - which we determined actually did rule out 300 lb bass towers.

And then we had audition after audition - and everyone really loved the Audio Note Ongaku on the Kharma Mini Exquisites with the Jorma Prime cable. - so we were hesitant messing with perfecttion [but this system will be downstairs, so we’ll see how much the size of the room contributed to the sound - it IS a small system, after all]

We had some concern - and numerous, numerous, numerous to the point of ridiculousness - discussions about how to get the speakers up to the main room. How to wrap them, ho wmany layers, how dirty the blankets could be, using a hand-truck, going outside instead of up the stairs, I was about to die with all this talking - what is WRONG with me that I was the one who started the conversation half the time?

Here is the stairs we carried them up. Neli did great carrying the top of the speaker up, and we did take off the 40lb or so spiked feet - but otherwise we ‘just did it’, like Nike keeps telling us to do, though at least with the second bass tower, we wrapped the banister with towels to prevent any ‘accidents’ - which luckily we didn'’t have (whew! and yippee!).

We put the EDGE Reference amps on the main towers (800 watts on top, and the built in 2000 watts on the bottom - these boys go LOUD - so far I haven’t turned it up above -32 on the Capitole CD player - which is already over 100dB). Well, we wanted to wake up the speakers and this should do it.

Positioning still sucks.

And now starts the long journey to finding the magical combo of components that will make these speakers sing the way we know they can. This currently ain’t it, not the least reason of which is that the Capitole player needs vibration control bad - there is some serious BASS going on and it is just sitting on the Black Diamond Racing cones, right there next to the speakers, poor thing.

First off, daughter got successfully married to her first husband (hey, one can’t ignore statistics - or heredity , relatives have come and gone, and time to get back to work….

I’m writing this in Firefox, which has a built in spell checker, so if all goes well my posts will read a little more like English and less like Mikeish.

So… the ro0ms are pretty much the same as they have been…

We have the Kharma Mini Exquisites upstairs waiting to be tried with the Audio Note Ongaku, Driven by the Emm Labs CDSD/DCC2 (the CDSA is out on audition - for those that want transparency and musical truth, this is an amazing deal at $10K, the bar has been raised significantly).

The Mini’s are somewhat hard to drive, so we’ll see if the 25 watt Ongakus do it or not.

The dream system - Marten Coltranes driven by Audio Note Kegon amps and the Audio Note M10 preamp (with an Audio Note digital front end - CDT3 and DAC 4.1x Balanced). We’ve taken most of this system to Rocky Mountain Audio Fest shows - but not with the M10, which adds C-O-N-T-R-O-L. Kind of a Kegon++ type sound. A slightly rounder sound than the Lamm ML2/L2/Coltrane/HRS system/Jorma Prime - our other reference Coltrane system - we might take the former system to CES next year.

The equipment rack. Duh.

The Marten Supremes need to go upstairs - yes - at 300lbs for the bass units (includes the 50lb spikes on the bottom) Neli is pressuring Mike to get the to a gym…. but we might just hire some guys we know - who handled the Triolons several times and will be happy to see that these are REASONABLY-sized speakers for a change.

Finally, out smaller system room. The Audio Aero Prestige CD/SACD player into the Audio Note Otto integrated into Audio Note speakers. Very nice and immediate and uncompressed. Otto still breaking in though….

The closeup view…

The main listening room is the same as last week, with the Audio Note Ongaku driving the Audio Note AN/E SEC Signature speakers, but with the Emm Labs CDSD / DCC2 SE digital as source replacing the Audio Aero Prestige, which has moved downstairs…

This room did experience a major amp shootout, more in the next post about that…

The showroom #4 is also the same, with the Kharma MP150 amps driving the Audio Note speakers, which at 98 dB are very eifficient… with the Audio Aero Capitole CD player / linestage as source, this system sounds really good. I’d like to hear any other digital amp, or most solid-state amps for that matter, do that.

Showroom 2 has seen lots of changes…

First we had the Emm Labs CD / SACD player with built-in linestage driving the Audio Note Kegons into the Kharma Mini Exquisite loudspeakers. THAT was nice…

The we moved the Meitner upstaitrs on to the Ongaku (can you say transparency? separation? purity albeit not as warm and enaging as the Audio Aero Prestige, but more convincing. So many flavors.) and did the front end with the Audio Note DAC 4.1x Balanced and CDT3 transport and M10 preamplifier.

Much more control and control and, uh, control. Everything was as it was supposed to be. Unfortunately, the 18 watt Kegons have found their first speaker that they just could not get the hang of - at loud volumes - and we’ve driven just about everything here with the Kegons except the soundlabs. The 18 watt Lamm ML2.1 also has problems with controlling the Kharma speakers at loud volumes. Based on what we have found, they really sound best, if you want them to go loud, with the Edge Signature One and Kharma’s own amps (the MP 150) if you want transparency and openness and control, and the Lamm ML1.1, a 90 watt push-pull tube amplifier, if you want tube musicality and openness and control.

We have yet to try the all powerful Ongaku at 25 watts on these though…. Maybe tomorrow?

For showroom 3, which is in the same room as showroom 2, we have…

The Soundlabs taking a break, but not the Marten Design Coltrane speakers, Lamm L2 preamp, LP2 phono stage and Brinkmann turntable / Titan cartridge. Audio Aero Prestige is performing digital source duties.

This is one of our favorite systems. However…

We had to position the Coltranes in front of the Soundlab U1. Impromtu but it seems to work pretty well. I mean, needs lots of trweaking - but we think it will work! The Coltranes like being close to the front wall, and the Soundlabs are kind of a wall…

Now Neli wants to move the Supremes over here on this side of the room [and in front of the Soundlabs!?] , as the dedicated circuits on the other side seem like they are picking up FM radio, secret transmissions from Mars, and other weirdness on several different systems that have lived down at that side of the room.

I now think it is ghosts.

But Neli, if her expression is any indicator, thinks otherwise.

… have seen us iterate through a lot of different systems…

Main room with Acoustic Zen Adagio and Audio Note AN-E SEC Signature speakers and Ongaku amplifier, driven by Audio Aero Capitole

Listening room 2 with Marten Coltrane Supreme loudspeakers driven by Audio Note Ongaku amplifier and EmmLabs digital front end.

A close up of the components. This is the whole system, these 4 components. Nice and tidy for a change…

However, though this system reached a level of musicality and approached the sound that we are looking for this system have - it was too bizarre having two preamps in the loop, the preamp in the Ongaku serving to try and match the SPLs of the midrange to that of the bass amplifiers. It worked, but…. We might try this again - but for now….

… we changed this, we now have the Lamm ML1.1 push-pull amplifers on the Supremes.

… which will chaneg for an audition tomorrow, assuming they can get up the driveway and up the stairs - which is not a given anymore with this Monther of all Winters the world has on its hands.

Back upstairs again, after the unphotograhed step with the Acoustic Zen Adagios being driven by the Audio Aero Capitole amplifier…

We got the Audio Note Ongaku amplifier driving the Audio Note AN-E SEC Signature speakers, with the Audio Aero Prestige as front end this time. We spread the speakers wider apart also, to see just how wide a soundstage we could get and possibly get some reinforcement from the nearby wall and horns

But in either position, the Audio Note speakers filled the room nicely. The midrange even approached the capability of the big horns to fill the room, and the bass - once the horns are gone we can try to position the little guys much closer to the wall - the bass is decent and satisfying but does not match the 4 x 10 inch woofers in a sealed cabinet… yet.

In fact, we will likely have 3 kinds of bass in this room: the big relaxed bass of the horns [no we will not mention their brand name - they can do their own marketing for a change], the ultra accurate and ultra powerful bass of the Marten Coltrane Supremes, and the very natural sounding, horn-like bass of the Audio Notes. How cool is that!!!

We’re going to have to post sometime about how it is not about what is ‘best’, but about is most ‘insidious’, and particulary, the number of ways it can be configured to be ‘insidious’. Insidious in that it produces a sound that gets into your head and just takes over.

The Audio Note U.K. Kegons amplifiers are on the Kharma Mini Exquisites, with the Lamm L2 preamplifier and Audio Note digital front end (and Audio Aero Capitole as well, in shootout formation). We then put the Kegons on top of HRS platforms, which is how it sits tonight.

Tomorrow we may get a chance to put the Mini Exquisite speakers over on the Supreme system in an all Audio Note configuration - with the Kegons to start, and Ongaku later if our snow shoveling arms hold out.

Finally, we have the system in listening room 3, area #4, with the little Audio Note speakers with the Kharma MP150 amps driving them, the Audio Aero Capitole serving as CD player and preamp.

Kind of a hodge podge system as we are in the process of breaking in the speakers - but it sounds darn good….! Neli likes it and her office is across the way. These are high-efficiency speakers and they reveal that the 1st watt of the Kharma amps is really quite good sounding, regardless of it being solid-state, digital in fact.

Everything is currently unplugged, of course, in response to last nights storm and the storm expected tonight…

But there have been a few changes in the last few weeks…

Acoustic Zen Adagio loudspeakers, driven by Audio Areo Capitole amp and Audio Aero Captole Reference CD player

Kharma Mini Exquisite loudspeakers (with Soundlab Ultimate 1 speakers looming in the background), Lamm ML1.1 amps, Lamm L2 Linestage and Emm Labs CD / SACD CDSD SE transport and DCC2 SE DAC

Closer… That is a HRS MXR equipment rack.

Marten Coltrane Supreme loudspeakers, Audio Note Kegon amplifiers, …

…Audio Note M10 linestage, Audio Note DAC 4.1x Balanced DAC and CDT3 transport. Walker Proscenium Gold Signature turntable. That is a Rix Rax Grand Hoodoo equipment rack.

Marten Design Coltrane loudspeakers, Lamm ML2.1 amplifiers, Audio Aero Prestige CD / SACD player and linestage, Brinkmann Balance turntable and Lamm LP2 phono preamplifier. Acoustic Dreams equipment rack.

Acoustic Zen Agagio loudspeakers powered by Audio Aero Capitole 50 watt amplifier in main listening room

We wanted to test a theory of ours - that the Acoustic Zen Adagio speaker worked better with amplifiers that were more ’round’ and less detailed sounding.

We also wanted to see if the Adagios could fill a room that is 15 feet by 35 feet by 24 feet tall, which is more or less open on one side, with sound.

Not to mention whether the 50 watt Audio Aero amplifier at 50 push-pull KT88 into EL34-based amp could drive the speakers…

Finally, almost finally, we are looking at building some lower cost systems out of the Audio Note and Adagio / Audio Aero lines and this system, at roughly $24K + cables and rack, is definitely on the inexpensive side here at Audio Federation. Whether we continue in this direction or not depends on the response from our customers - but eventually we would like to have a system, in some as yet imaginary showroom, that is based on, say, Audio Aero Prima CD player and intergrated amplifier and Adagio which comes in at say $10K + cables and rack, tuned by Mike and Neli with special cables and isolation gear. Similary for a comparably-priced Audio Note system.

And, besides all that, we are running out of room and so why not put the Adagios in the least likely place?

Audio Aero Capitole Reference CD player on Rix Rax equipment rack.

Hey, it sounded pretty darn good!

Technically, and I have not listened all that critically yet but, it did not sound as accomplished as the system with the $70K Audio Note M10 and Emm labs CDSD / DCC2 driving Edge Signature One amplifiers, coming in at $130K, but this less expensive system captured more of the character of what these speakers do well: which is to create a satisfying, room-filling sound in a musical and very competant, balanced fashion. No tipped up mids and bass here, no collapse into mush at the first sign of complexity… not that we are point fingers at the, oh, I don’t know… perhaps the five most popular speaker brand’s speakers that cost less than, say, $40K? Nahhhhhh….

Yeah, there is a hump at the port frequency and a dip above it, like most ported speakers. But it is not overly prominent or distracting.

Listening from my office, which is off of the main listening room, it sounded different, but as enjoyable and nearly as emotional, as the much larger, soon to be shipped, system looming behind there in the photos. Considering the difference in cost and pain-in-the-ass factors, for casual listening one can’t help wondering why someone would want something more than this. But we are a store, so we do not wonder too awfully long.

Which brings us to in-room, critical listening.

Nordost Tyr speaker cable.

Next step is to put some vibration mitigation underneath the Capitole Amplifier, which is just sitting on its BDR cones on the carpet: most of the notes from, say, 1600Hz on down are muddied on the decay as their deliterious effects feedback upon themselves. I would like to go with a full out HRS Isolation Base and Nimbus Couplers - just to be able to get rid of these effects and be able to start probing for other weaknesses - but they are all on active duty here, so it would pain us to have to steal one from another system….We’ll see.

There is also a question about whether the less expensive Acoustic Zen cables would mate better with these speakers than the Nordost Tyr. If so, that will be a clear win in improving overall price performance.

Anyway…. This system is kind of fun to have up in this listening room, a room which is usually reserved for the big mutha systems we have here. Kind of nice to ‘travel light’ for a change.

Thought this might be interesting …

As we mentioned previously, we setup a number of systems for the guy who is purchasing our Triolon speakers. This audition occured over a three day period.

The different sounds of the different setups are somewhat illustrative of our approach here to High-End Audio System Optmization [sorry, it looks so much more highfalutin when it is capitalized ]. We started with a very good system, and slowly optimized it until it was, well, see below.

The first day I think we just played system 1 (below) and our Soundlab system, our Marten Coltrane system and our Marten Coltrane Supreme system. He had already heard Kharma speakers many times at shows, and our Audio Note system at this recent RMAF show.

He was very impressed by all the systems even though he had some (valid) concerns about the Soundlab system which was having some imaging problems on this new side of the room that we have recently put it on (we had the Adagios over there until a day earlier). Its always something that goes wrong… the walls went wrong in this case… Luckily everything else went very well.

System 1 [sorry, somehow we only got photos of about half the system setups]:

We started with the Audio Aero Prestige CD / SACD player with internal linestage running direct (no preamp) into the well-warmed up $140K Edge Electronics NL Reference ‘pyramid’ 800 watt solid-state amplifiers.We were using Nordost Valhalla interconnect and Valhalla speaker cable, Shunyata Anaconda power cords of all 4 kinds, with the Prestige sitting on a Fondato Silenzio platform and the amps sitting on Rix Rax ‘Outpost’ amp stands.

The Audio Aero adds a touch of warmth and drama and character to the tube-like big open sound of the Reference amps. The sound was big, juicy, with a very wide and very deep soundstage. All notes and dynamic swings were generated effortlessly. The downsides, if you can call it that, were that the imaging was fairly indistinct, the dynamics somewhat soft, from micro to mini to macro, and the overall resolution was good, but not great. This was as if the sound was painted with a big, gloriously colorful and fairly wet paint brush.

System 2:

A ‘minor’ change, we put the Prestige on the HRS M3 Isolation Base and Nimbuses. This is a reference system for us here on these speakers. The dynamics snapped into place and the imaging firmed up compared to the previous system setup. This system strikes a nice balance between naturalness and resolution, between a gargantuan soundstage and pin-point imaging. It is this balance that kind of keeps a listener off balance, never really believing that the system is going to continue to manage to paint such large pictures with such finness.

System 3:

Next the Edge NL Reference amps were replaced with Lamm ML1.1 90 watt push-pull amps sitting on HRS Isolation Bases with Nimbuses. We probably should have moved the big Ref amps out of the way, but they are a heavy 220 lbs, and we didn’t want to (aka plain forgot) move them then - and then later they were trapped as more and more equipment was brought up from downstairs. BTW, we do all the heavy lifting ourselves, even though every single one of our very courteous guests always offer to help - we are the hosts, they are the guests. And anyway, we need the workout… because guess who gets to carry all this stuff back downstairs?

We do not run the Audio Aero directly into the Lamm very often - thinking it might be too ‘tubey’ of a sound. But it was not all that tubey at all. There was good resolution, still a nice large soundstage, good depth. It was, however, the slightest bit soft on the top and bottom. In many ways, it was very much like the Edge NL Reference amps, the Lamm ML1.1 being most like the ‘Refs of any of the demo amps here - and probably of most amps out there as well. A very good balance of resolution and naturalness and dynamics.

System 4:

As planned, we swapped in Emm Labs SE CDSD / DCC2 transport and DAC pair for the Audio Aero Prestige. The Emm labs (Meitner) was run direct into the amps using its internal linestage. Now this system is starting to do things that are hard to explain. The solid-state digital source is a natural balance to the push-pull tube amps - and it works. All the truth, the unexpurgated yet unenhanced details and resolution are provided to the Lamm ML1.1, and it is up to the amp to decide what to do with it. We trust this amp to do the right thing with that information stream - and our trust is rewarded. Now we have big, open, with enough resolution to tighten up the imaging and define the toplogoies of the soundstage, added micro-dynamics that communicates more of the subtle characteristics of the music.

System 5:

As we were talking about the sound of the Edge Electronics Signature One 400 watt monoblocks compared to the big ‘pyramids’, we just said, hey, you can hear for yourself. So the Edge amps were swapped in for the Lamm ML1.1. The amps were cold so we played a CD or two in the background as we waited the hour or so for these amps to get to 95% or so of their optimal sound [actually, a number of components were added to the system cold - and this got to be a pattern: Isert component into system. Listen casually. Wait. Listen carefully. Rinse and Repeat.]. Now, this is not a system that we play too often - the Edge Signature One amps are a very smooth and detailed sound - very much like the Meitner / Emmlabs CD / SACD player we had in the system. So the balance was likely to be, and was, a little on the very detailed but somewhat uninvolving side. The soundstage was smaller, the images more pinpoint but not as 3D-like, much more resolution and micro-dynamics, but less midi- and macro-dynamics.

At this point the Favorite was the Audio Aero Prestige CD / SACD player with internal linestasge running direct to the Edge NL Reference amps. Second was the Meitner CD / SACD transport / DAC pair running direct to the Lamm ML1.1 amps.

System 6:

Now we start bringing in the big boys, so to speak. We keep a straight face as we hook up the Lamm ML2.1 18 watt SET amps in place of the Edge Signature Ones. ‘They have to warm up’ we say (they were warm but cooled off during the Edge Sig One stopover). Hee hee hee. Bamm, the sound-stage width and depth expands to equal, if not better, that with the Edge NL Reference. Solidity, presense, dexterity, integrity, naturalness, purity - the midi-dynamics in the midrange are memorable. Note envelopes are as smooth and hypnotizingly fluid as ocean waves, as Pulitzer-prize winning as the notes coming from the Meitner.

We let this system stay up for awhile - wanting to establish this system as a milestone as we traverse further into the audition. It was now the favorite at this point. There is always this certainty that our visitors have that we do this to, I mean ‘with’ , that, after this kind of Rush caused by hearing what was previously thought impossible, there is this deep subconscious questioning about why would anyone want anything better than this? Nothing can be significantly better than this, can it?

[Oops, somewhere in here we replaced the Valhalla interconnect that was running between the Meitner and the amps with Jorma Design ‘Prime’. This added another quantum step up in sound-stage definition and harmonic purity and resolution].

System 7:

The (very warm) 20 watt Audio Note Kegon SET amps are rushed upstairs to replace the Lamm ML2.1. This system, with the Meitner running direct to the Kegons, with INDRA interconnects instead of the Jorma Prime, was our primary reference system with these speakers. It is hard to describe all the things it does well, because we are SO familiar with it and we have described it so many times in the past. But, one of the most obvious differences now was the bass. It was VERY natural yet Impressive yet well-defined. These amps grip the speaker with an iron (make that Silver) fist at all frequencies, but it is most noticable in the bass, where other amps have the most difficulty.

This system was starting to pick up some ground loop hum, and so we replaced the Jorma ‘Prime’ with INDRA interconnect, correctly predicting that the WBT connectors on the Prime were picking up some nasties. The INDRA reduces the resolution and clarity and imaging somewhat, but has a purity that, in my opinion, works very well with the extreme purity of the sound of the Meitner.

At this point, there is an understanding now why we rave about these amps all the time. But, to get this sound, let us not forget the other players: the Meitner, the HRS bases, the Shunyata power cords, the INDRA and Jorma Design Prime and the Valhalla speaker cable.

But we rush to set up the next systems. Time is running out, it is the last day, and we want to spend the most amount of time with the system we think is the Most Optimized of them all…and we have a few more iterations to go…

System 8:

We add the Audio Note M10 linestage which replaces the internal linestage of the Emm Labs DAC. NOW we really have controlled bass. Never heard these speakers do this before. But before we enjoy it we have to deal with our ground loop hum, which is back again.

Do to the occasional (we hope) people who are very confused about electrical things yet get hired to do electrical inspections here in Wonderful Boulder County - the grounding of our dedicated lines are messed up. Yes, we can fix them sometime (it won’t be easy) but until then… Until then, Mike and Neli get to have a nice family discussion about cheatering (that would be me) and why not to cheat (that would be Neli) in front of our guest, and after messing some with groundwire we finally cheated and lifted the ground on the entire system.

We’ve said it before, the M10 is like having another Kegon, or maybe more like a Kegon with 40 watts instead of 20, or perahps like ‘no need to Bi-amp it, M10 it’. Everything is much more controlled, accurate, dynamic, well-formed, solid….

System 9:

Oh, wait, now we want to add back in the Jorma Design ‘Prime’ interconnect [I swear, I started getting blisters on the tip of my Switch-turning-off-and-on finger ]. It goes in and replaces the Valhalla. How can the Valhalla be called muddy? It can’t. But it was, in comparision!

Bamm, off everything goes again and another Prime goes in to replace the INDRA. Another increase in resolution and harmonic integrity - but not as much, leading us to put another checkmark in the box supporting the proposition that it is the first Prime that makes the most difference.

System 10:

Bamm, Neli tells me that they all want to replace the Valhalla speaker cable now with Jorma Prime and Jorma No. 1 speaker cable (this is a tri-wired system and we only have one bi-wire Jorma Prime at this time). OK. Fine. But it is getting dark quick, so flashlight in hand, Neli and I change the speaker cables to Jorma. Not quite fast enough, we have to move a lamp over to shed some light to tell which are the red and which are the black connectors… important things like that.

Before we headed out to load up on Indian food, to let the system warm up and settle in some, it was apparent (to me, anyway, but I think I was much more interested than they were in hearing this particular change, as I have been thinking a lot about the difference in the impact on a system’s sound of the Prime interconnect versus the speaker cable) - that the sound-stage and imaging RELAXED. It felt like there was an easier and much smoother transition as the musicans, or their sound-engineers, moved things around on the stage. That, before, the soundstage was blotchy, that images jerked from place to place and clung to certain spots. Now, the soundstage was no longer constipated.Now it flowed…

This increased sense of continuity was also somewhat apparent in the dynamics as well: whereas before it seemed like there were maybe, say, 100 different ways a note could go from soft to loud (and back again) now there were 1000.

There were other improvements as well - the resultant being that the system felt whole now, having everything be wired with 100% Jorma Prime (except for the Jorma No. 1 speaker cable on the bass towers) seemed to allow the Prime’s capabilities to shine through, all the way from source to speaker.

After Indian buffet dinner (the food was kind of bland,.. how can they make bland Indian food??? How embarrasing, since we picked the place. Seems like Mike and Neli need to catch up on where the good Indian food restaurants are again.. and add a few pounds in the process I bet ) we played a few songs from each of about a dozen CDs. Played it fairly loud, since it was our last night (volume set at ‘7′ for those who grok Audio Note volume controls, driving a high-gain amp on 97dB speakers ). It was kick ass.

Classical music was so much more realistically laid out, both dynamics and imaging - such separation and definition, not quite at Real, of course, but there was a lot of stuff now that we didn’t know that we were missing before this [we never had the Jorma Prime combined with the M10 here before].

Played some of Lady in Satin as well, the 3D nature of her voice and the way she moved - it was much more like being in a cabaret than sitting in a livingroom.

And…

We heard this same system for a few more days after our guest left and then performed the swapping out of the front end for the Audio Note digital to see what THAT would do [see previous post].

No, we did NOT try adding analog to system 10 - creating system 11. Have to save something for next time, right?

By then the M10 will be broken in (it is only 5 weeks old at this point).

And it will be the Marten Design Coltrane Supreme loudspeakers that we will use to navigate even further out into the Audiophile Gulf Stream, ….

… but tomorrow’s systems configuration may not be the same as today’s configurations.

Acapella Triolon Excalibur loudspeakers, Edge Reference amps, Audio Aero Prestige CD / SACD player / linestage.

In a few months the Marten Design Coltrane Supreme loudspeaker system will be moved here. But for now we get to learn about how the Supremes sound in a mostly enclosed room with a 8 foot ceiling.

Marten Coltrane Supreme loudspeakers, Lamm ML2.1 amps, Lamm L2 preamp and Audio Note CDT Three transprt and 4.1x Balanced DAC.

Eventually, this is where the Marten Coltrane and larger Kharma loudspeakers will live.

Soundlab Ultimate loudspeakers, Edge Signature One amps, Audio Note M10 preamp, Emmlabs Signature Edtions CDSD transport and DCC2 DAC.

The Soundlab Ultimate loudspeakers will live here for awhile. It is good to put these big guys somewhere where they do not block the Winter-time sun. They kick butt being driven by the Audio Note M10 preamp in this system at this time, but then again, so does everything else.

The Acoustic Zen Adagio speakers are here getting ready for a number of auditions for people who want to hear them in a large room. Wish we had another room here - and we are trying to think of ways….

Marten Coltrane loudspeakers , Audio Note Kegonn amps, Audio Aero Capitole CD player / linestage

The Marten Coltrane loudspeakers are here for both us and customers who want to hear how they do in a small 10.5 x 20 x 9 foot tall room. This is where the Audio Note speakers, smaller Kharma and Marten speakers and Adagio will live.

We appologize that it is taking us so long to get up and running (and finish the show report). We’ve had a few industry reps over (we don’t care if THEY don’t get the full impact of hearing all four of our systems running on all cylindars - the Acapella Triolon speaker, Edge reference ‘pyramid’ amp and Audio Aero Prestige CD / SACD player system IS, however, up and running), but, well, here is Mike & Neli’s October exercise program:

Step One: carry 2000 lbs of equipment down the stairs
Step Two: carry 3000 lbs of equipment up the stairs
Step Three: survive step one and step two

Listening room number three’s mess

Listening room number two South side mess.

Look Ma, no TV! Yes, it is true, no video with high-end audio for Mike until we get a front projector (90% chance it will be the Sony Ruby).

This is where the Marten Coltrane Supremes will go. You can’t tell it from this picture, but the view out the windows is very nice - the same view as our main room, but a little more intimate because it is closer to the ground and the trees block more of the view.

Putting the Coltane Supreme loudspeakers here will allow us to learn about how to setup these puppies in a more-or-less reasonably sized room (15 x 27 x 8 feet tall). The SoundLab Ultimate loudspeakers you see here are going to be moved to the North side of listening room #2.

Listening room number two’s North side mess. These crates are the crates for the Coltrane Supremes. Yay, we got them up the 30+ steps up from the garage to this lower level - and by just the two of us (with an extra push from an industry rep who shall remain namesless for the time being - it was great seeing you guys!).

Now comes the hard part, picking which racks to put where and which components to set things up with initially.

I want to put the double-wide RixRax here on the North side, but instead of in the normal configuration (which would trap a lot of space behind the rack because it is a doublewide and the wall is shapped like the end of a octagon) I want to position it so that it sticks out into the room - so that there is easy access to both the front (i.e. what would not be the left side) and the back (which would now be the right side). But Neli thinks I am crazy - especially now that I have proposed this non-standard orientation for the rack.

Anyone else think this is a good idea? All of you who do not post an opinion, I will try and convince Neli that you all think it is a good idea too……

…..yeah, I know, she won’t believe me even for a second…

As of last night, the proposed allocation of components to speakers goes like this:

Coltrane Supremes:
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Audio Note CDT Three transport and DAC 4.1x Balanced
Lamm L2 linestage
Lamm LP2 phono stage
Walker Proscenium Gold Signature turntable
Lamm ML2.1 amplifiers
[This system sounded so AWESOME on the smaller Coltrane loudspeakers - we are hoping this awesomeness transfers to the big boys].

Soundlab Ultimate 1 (with guest stars: the Kharma Mini Exquisites and Acoustic Zen Adagio loudspekaers)
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Emmlabs CDSD Signature transport and DCC2 Signature DAC digital source
Audio Note M10 preamplifier
Edge Signature One amplifiers

[We used this system to break in the M10, but it sounded so wonderful - the Soundlabs really sounding organic and warm enough to compete with speakers costing a heckuva lot more than the $31K that these go for].

Audio Note AN/E SEC Silver Signature (with guest star the Marten Coltrane loudspeakers):
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Brinkmann Balance turntable
Audio Note M8 full-function preamp
Audio Aero Capitole CD player
Audio Note Kegon amplifiers

[We want to try a turntable on the Audio Note spekaers and we want to hear how the Coltranes sound in this small, 10.5 x 20 x 9 feet tall room]

Of course, all this could change today as we move stuff around.

or “Round ‘em up, Head ‘em out”

or “We’re just going to pieces”

or “Break in Two Systems, Two Systems, Two Systems in one”

Breaking in Sound Lab Ultimate loudspeakers and Audio Note M10 preamplifier together - using the EDGE Signature One amps and Audio Aero Capitole CD player driving them over on the floor to the right [Oh, you can’t see it in this picture, but you can see the Nordost Valhalla interconnects snaking across the floor there].

This is all just a temporary setup. We are breaking in each notch on the M10 volume control. We got up to ‘5′ yesterday, but that was driving the little Kegons pretty hard - and the Coltranes were getting pretty loud.

But over here, on the still somewhat inefficient Sound Lab speakers - with a solid state amp… we are doing ‘6′ today and will do notch ‘7′ tomorrow. That ’should’ be enough, the Marten Coltrane Supremes (which made it through customs, yay!) are much more efficient than even the Coltranes, so notch ‘7′ should be plenty loud enough for the show…?

Every time we up the volume a notch, the M10 sound is bright and annoying for several hours and the pre lets off another waft of New Electronic Component Smell [Yummmmmm. Is this the only reason we buy TVs and computers and $50K preamps, to be able to experience this smell? Nahhhhhh].

This M10 + Sound Lab speaker-centered system sounds surprisingly good. The Sound Labs really like upstream equipment that errs on the warm side (as opposed to the more icey Parasound or Pass Labs soild-state amps, the former is usually shown witht eh SoundLabs at CES and the latter is to be at this RMAF show in the IsoMike room), and even warmish cables help - like the Pranawire Cosmos speaker cables.

The latest Sound Lab upgrade did seem to tighten the bass quite a bit and increase the midrange dynamics as well - adding perhaps 3dB? of efficiency. Still breaking in, but I noticed that the unfamiliar bluring of images in the soundstage that I heard when we first starting playing the SoundLabs after their upgrade has almost completely gone away.

The old Marten Coltrane system, going to pieces Time to box up most of this system, and move the Marten Design Coltrane loudspeakers to listening room 3. The Sound Labs are going to go over here, next, after the show - and how we get around them when we go up and down the steps is still to be determined.

The current state of listening room 3. Most of the system proper is going to the show, including the Acoustic Dreams rack.

We want to put the Marten Coltranes in here after the show - but they sound best with the Lamm ML2.1 amps and the HRS MXR rack. But the Kharma Mini Exquisites sound best with the EDGE amps… it will be hard to build a system that is optimized for two different speakers like this… not to mention the Acoustic Zen Adagio speakers.

And then there is the HRS MXR equipment rack problem, or rather lack of problem: we want a double wide on the Coltrane Supreme speaker system in listening room #2,and another one upstairs so we can play a turntable in listening room #1 (it is the only thing that will work on our very bouncy floor) - but we currently only have one rack….

So little time (and money) and such a long Wish List.