I took these photos yesterday - and already things have changed quite a bit, with a few pieces going out on audition and Thursday another shootout will mix things up some more

We have had the Audio Note Kegon Balanced amps on the Marten Coltrane Supremes for a few months now. It is very nice and for some reason produces more bass than any amp we have had on these speakers [so we just turn down the bass on the crossover. We also can move the speakers out from the wall a wee bit more if we decide we are missing something. Haven’t felt that way so far though…]

We are running the Brinkmann Balance turntable and EMM Labs CDSD and DCC2 digital through the Audio Note M9 Phono preamplifier.

We are using the little S4 step-up for the Titan cartridge on the M9. Works pretty dang good, considering it wasn’t really made for this kind of thing. Heck, running the Titan direct sounded pretty dang good, although very quiet. The point being that the Phono in this preamp has a qualitative depth that is really fun to explore - it is very open, very harmonically complex, with very good dynamic resolution.

Downstairs…

This is the exact same system that we took to CES: Audio Note everything: Ongaku integrated, SEC Signature speakers, SOOTTO interconnects and SOGON speaker cables, with Nordost ODIN and AcroLink power cords.

Except the placement is kind of … different. A future post will talk about this weird placement that really works very very well … for octagonal rooms anyway.

A couple of turntables share the Lamm LP2 phono.

The Kharma Mini Exquisite speakers are being driven by the big EDGE reference amps. We swap between these and the Lamm ML2.1 amps, which A. underdrives the speakers something awful, but B. sounds very very wonderful in the midrange. About half the people only care about A and half only care about B. I think Neli and I are both B - because B is so gooood - but we understand the A point of view too

The EDGE from above. ODIN speaker cables and interconnects.

The 3rd room. We take new visitors to our store/home/showroom here first. I’d say about 60% convince us it is the best sound they ever heard.

Then we take them to hear the other systems.

This system is good enough that we tend to spend way longer here than we probably should - given that there are 3 systems to go we often spend 30 - 40% of our visitor’s time here.

Ooops - Tour three got posted before two.

Well, not much is happening on this floor. Two nice systems. The EDGE is still on the AN speakers - where we are performing some macro-dynamic shock treatments and seriously braking them in, using solid-state so we do not have to waste any tube life on the somewhat contrived process.

Some shots of the Audio Note and Walker turntables. No phono-preamplifier down here yet - so these sit here, appreciated only for their good looks.

The Marten Coltrane loudspeakers [on consignment] on the Lamm ML2.1 and Audio Aero Prestige

It has been foggy and rainy here - I took these yesterday - but today is much the same.

The latest change upstairs is the Audio Note Kegon Balanced 300B-based amplifiers on the Marten Coltrane Supremes. In comparison to the Lamm ML2.1 amplifiers that have been there for about 6 months, the albeit 3X more expensive KB’s are:

1. more dynamic, removing most if not all [that I can hear] of the reticence ceramic drivers have at the peak [most dynamic part] of the notes
2. More bass [we think we have to move the bass towers away from the way - hopefully just an inch or so]
3. More ‘macro’ separation - the instruments are more separated in sound and on the soundstage, micro separation is actually less than with the ML2.1, but this seems more natural [to me] and less artificially ‘etched’
4. More harmonically rich.

So, all in all, the Lamm ML2.1 held up quite well, considering the price differential - but at the same time we were very happy with the improvements we got with the KB’s.

We have been using Nordost ODIN for the crossover-to-amp connection for awhile - although in this case we are using a Cardas single-ended to balanced doohickey that likely degrades the sound - but it will have to do until we get a balanced ODIN interconnect.

We are also using ELROD power cords and Jorma Design PRIME speaker calbe on the main towers and their No.1 [bi-wire… the double run helps improve the bass noticeably] on the bass towers.

Here you can see the fog outside, as well as the KB’s in their enclosures. They look better [I think ] with the tops off of the chassis - but we have been picking up radio frequencies lately - and this seemed to help? [We haven’t heard anything for a day or so].

We are running the Emm Labs CDSA CD player through the Lamm L2 Reference preamplifier. We had out other ODIN interconnect between these two - and it KILLED - but now I think it is back on the back of the Brinkmann Balance turntable - where it also KILLS [though I think as soon as we get our Audio Note PALLAS interconnect back - we will put it on the turntable instead because, although it is not as good when you total up all aspects of the sound as the 4X more expensive ODIN, it is a lot closer to the ODIN - in the turntable spot - than the other cables were to the ODIN on the CDSA -> L2 link].

I am not completely sure that cabling this system with all ODIN [should we be able to afford it - we got that 8 meter run of Valhalla that also needs replacing] would be the best possible sound we could get on this [any] system [although we have lots of evidence that supports this hyposthesis] - but it sure would be nice to try it - and to be able to add in other cables when, if and where necessary for any flavoring that might be required.

The cool-looking equipment racks are the (HRS) Harmonic Resolution System’s SXR [left] and MXR [right]. The SXR is very flexible - and sounds 80-90% as good as the MXR - but the MXR just feels like quality - it is such as pleasure to touch it and be around it [and that extra 10% of performance is definitely worth the higher price in over the top systems - focusing on the turntable first].

The Edge Electronics amps on the Audio Note AN/E SEC Signature speakers actually sounds pretty good [and the AN SOGON bi-wire speaker cable helps some too ] - but the real achievement for us, here, is that we found a positioning of the speakers -in this octagon room - that actually seems to work. Finally. Still needs tweaking - none of the walls are symmetrical, nor are the beams located directly across from each other - so one speaker still seems more forward than the other … but only on certain frequencies! What a pain.

The front-end is Audio Note: the CDT Three transport and DAC 4.1x Balanced. They are running into the baby AN M1 preamplifier which, when our M9 gets here a-n-y d-a-y n-o-w, I want to snarf for my office system to use instead of the Lexicon DC-1 I am using now [for TV and computer]. I anticipate a vast improvement in musicality. Lexicon - phooey. After my $6500 MC-1 died, and it cost more to repair than to buy a used one - and the fact that it did not work right to start with [DTS], and there is no digital in [hello?] - I am happy that I have learned enough about this industry to know what is good value. It does make me spend a lot of time wondering about and analyzing what motivates people [like me] to buy X instead of Y.

Oh, I digress.

The rack is the Rix Rax Grand Hoodoo. The turntables, the Walker and the Audio Note, are not hooked up for some reason. It is always something that needs doing with 4 systems. And we are always running out of what seems like would be the Purrfect power cords and cables for a given situation. ODIN cables seems especially hard to free up around here

The Marten Coltranes loudspeakers, on consignment, on the Lamm ML2.1 amplifiers driven by the Audio Aero Prestige CD/preamplifier. A nice system - but it needs a little optimization - A HRS platform for the Prestige would work wonders, I think, but all 12 are in use elsewhere. The Kharma Mini Exquisites speakers are taking a breather - but can be easily swapped into either of these two systems in this room.

The small system room. We are going to eventually move this system a little higher in the rainbow of high-end audio. Not that we [especially me] do not like this system - but people come here expecting the stars - and they are not [usually] all that interested in the moon.

… here is how they look, well, how they looked a couplea days ago, anyway.

The Lamm ML2.1 are still driving the Marten Coltrane Supremes loudspeakers. That is Nordost ODIN interconnect connecting the amps to the Marten crossover box. We have the Jorma Design PRIME speaker cables on the main towers, and a bi-wire [i.e. double run] of Jorma Design No. 1 speaker cables on the bass towers. The bi-wire run sounds much beefier than the single wire run on the bass towers.

The rack : HRS MXR on the right and SXR on the left. Lots of good good black things here. The Nordost THOR power distributor being the silver outlier [oh, and the Meitner CDSA. That’s what I get for not looking at the photo while I type]

We put the Nordost ODIN on the back of the Brinkmann Balance turntable, connecting it to the Lamm LP2 Deluxe phono stage. In a quick test of the Audio Note PALLAS cables in place of the ODIN - the musicality was very ‘right’ and the soundstaging was more evenly laid out, I thought, but the uber-resolution and detail [I have a hard time writing about details without clarification after that last post ] and uber separation of the ODIN was really awesome. Neil Young sounded edgy AND emotional AND listenable - and if you are a Neil fan [we we are] you know this is the promised land.

That said, at 1/4 the price, the PALLAS is a contender with the big boys hangin’ out in the $10K+ category and these need to be heard if your cables play in these leagues. Good deals in this business don’t stay around for long….

After some optimization, we ended up with a real potpourri of power cords. We got the big ELROD supplying power to the THOR. This really opened up the soundstage and at the same time made the sound more forward [in a good way] and immediate.

Then we have the old Acrolink 7..N.. something [how are we supposed to remember all of these numbers? Kind of like the Acura cars these days. Anybody remember the Legend? That was a name I could remember] running into the Lamm L2 Reference line stage power supply. This added a level of refinement that was juuuuust right.

Let’s see, we have the Valhalla power cord on the Lamm LP2 phono stage and the smaller ELROD on the Emmlabs CDSA. I forget how we got to these and what they contributed. Something good no doubt

Downstairs we have the Kharma Mini Exquisite speakers on the Edge, driven by the Audio Aero Prestige CD/SACD player using Nordost ODIN speaker cables and the Audio Note system at the other end of the room [that was yesterday. Today we moved the Kharma back to the other side of the room for an audition because we are still playing too much with the AN speaker placement in this here non-symmetric octagonal room. Actually we are still struggling with the Kharmas placement too We have just been struggling longer with the Kharmas and are more confident that we are much nearer perfection].

These are our Audio Note SEC Signature speakers on the Audio Note Kegon Balanced amps and Sogon speaker cable.

We still have our little AN M1 Phono preamp in the loop - so sounds are a little muted, and we can’t use balanced cables to the Kegons… but it sounds pretty good and in some ways nothing here sounds better. But… lots of work to do on this system p the upstairs system has been scarfing up all the good power cords and cables and vibration control too, the stingy thing ].

Always one system looks like we are snubbing it… but, hey, we got to face one way or the other - so we will always be treating one of the systems with No Respect… I think all of our systems have a Rodney Dangerfield attitude sometimes….

Closeup of the Edge / Audio Areo.

Finally the smaller system. The system that it is just fun to sit and listen to. We slipped in some SOGON interconnects (about $3K on a system that is about a $15K system) and it sure makes it easy to just hang out and chat. Sometimes we forget that we can chat in the other rooms too

… and system Three has none.

Both RixRax equipment racks are now over on the second system. We wanted the added capability to compare two turntables, two phono stages, and the Audio Note Ongaku to the Kegon Balanced to the Kegon.

We put the Kehon Balanced amps on the Kharma Mini Exquisites.

The tops have been off so we can stare at the internal electronics for awhile But the tops will be back on soon enough… 1) they take up a lot of room just laying around, 2) the safest place for the tops of the chassis is on the chassis, and 3) just to get the aesthetic effect of a system that does not have exposed tubes.

Since our Audio Note M9 Phono preamp is still to arrive, we are using the Audio Note M1 phono preamplifier to drive the Kegon Balanced. We also had the M1 on the Ongaku integrated for awhile, to get a feel for the sound of the M1 in the system that we are so very familiar with.

The M1 is a very nice pre and I, personally, want to keep it here forever. At the price it sells for on Audiogon sometimes, $700, it sounds more like a $5K to 10K pre - and it always surprises me.

All the low-end AN gear surprises me - I keep expecting a more discordant and harsh sound - like the low end of every other line of equipment. But nooooo, this has more harmonics and warmth than the top-of-the-line, which is more neutral and detailed and transparent and realistic.

The end of the rack is now ALFULLY close to the speaker. But we figure the trade-off is worth it - that we can configure some great sounding systems that we wouldn’t otherwise be able to hear.

The Audio Note Kegon Balanced on the Kharma loudspeakers.

The Audio Note Kegon Balanced. On first blush, the M1 pre + Kegon Balanced amps is very, very competitive with the Ongaku integrated amp.

I would say more neutral [OK, nothing has that 211 sound except 211-based tube amps and the Kegons are 300B-based amps] and more transparent - more separation …and solidity?

We’re still listening…

The Soundlab system without a rack looks pretty darn cool itself. The Audio Aero Prestige is sitting on a Rix Rax amp stand.

Yes, that is a Nordost ODIN between the Prestige and Edge Signature One amps.

The Ongaku is now in System Four in Listening Room Three (L3). We haven’t hooked it up yet - this is still a AN Oto integrated-driven system.

Just an update as we finally, for the first time since the lightning strike, have all 4 systems powered up at the same time. A little worrisome… but it is a good feeling.

The main system, with Lamm ML2 amplifiers, Nordost ODIN and Jorma Design Prime and ELROD doing the cabling

Digital for the front end, Audio Note and Lamm.

The Brinkmann Balance turntable is not hooked up, no phono preamp and no shelves, we purloined them for a system downstairs for a bit.

The Kharma system with the Audio Note Ongaku integrated and EMM Labs CDSA SE Upgraded.

The Walker Proscenium Gold Signature turntable - also for sale up on Audiogon. The Audio Note TT3 Reference turntable and Lamm LP2 phono preamplifier.

The Soundlab system driven by the EDGE Signature One amps and Audio Aero Prestige CD/SACD player with linestage.

The little Audio Note system with OTO integrated amp.

We’ve been spending most of our time downstairs.

We set up the Audio Note TT3 Reference turntable next to the Walker Proscenium Gold Signature turntable.

It has been back-and-forth, Walker –> TT3 –> Walker –> TT3 ….. both through the Lamm LP2 phono stage into the Ongaku integrated amp and the Kharma Mini Exquisite loudspeakers.

How do they compare, you may ask? In raw terms, the Walker is an audiophile’s dream come true and the TT3 is a music lover’s dream come true. Since we are music loving audiophiles, we can’t really talk about one being the ‘winner’. The TT3 is more dynamic, more lively, more engaging… more youthful. The Walker has a lower noise floor, is more accurate top-to-bottom, a more mature sound.

In fact, the idea would be for us to make them sound a lot more alike [which we have to some extent already] - to get a more musical cartridge for the Walker [we are using the Blue Magic Diamond - not so bad obviously, but there are better, unfortunately more expensive ones out there that are generally considered better]. And conversely, to dress up the TT3 with a rack with more vibration control, to correspond to the Walker’s air suspensions [even though the RixRax with HRS platforms comes close, HRS’s MXR rack still laughs at this setup].

Upstairs we still have the EDGE amps on the Coltrane Supreme loudspeakers, with the Lamm ML2.1 amps waiting for us to get our act together and replace the EDGE.

We have our new HRS SXR 3-shelf rack next to our HRS MXR 4-shelf rack.

Look at all that black!

Neli cleaned everything up, but this is two days later and already some Rocky Mountain dust has found its home on our stuff again.

We’ve appropriated some platforms / shelves for our playtime downstairs.

The Brinkmann Balance turntable.

Right now, we only have one phono stage, which the TT3 and Walker share. Even after our Audio Note M9 Phono arrives, we will only have two phono stages. But we have THREE turntables [well, four, but the little TT2 uses the little Audio Note Oto integrated’s phono stage].

We also do not have rack space for digital on the RixRax equipment rack in listening room 2.

What this means is that our Walker is up for sale on Audiogon [Neli is still glaring at me, because this was really my decision]. If anyone is interested…. be sure to think it over… it is not like they appear on Audiogon everyday [in fact, almost never. And for a good reason].

Next : Audio Note SOGON interconnect versus Audio Note SOOTTO interconnect versus Audio Note PALLAS interconnect. And a CES 2008 retrospective.

Teck, from Singapore, played a female vocals CD in our room, and likely a few lucky other rooms as well, at RMAF, and kindly and generously sent us a copy of it:

And, uh, it is surprisingly difficult to render well. The second track, specially, the singer has lotssssssss of sssssss’s in her ssssssinging that can caussssssse ssssssibliance when played back [i.e. sharp S sounds instead of delicate, sweet s sounds]. Luckily, the completely optimized system we took to the show played everything perfect, but some of our experimental systems, that otherwise play flawlessly [more or less] have difficulty here, and truth to tell, the playback in general on this CD could be better.

I think the answer will turn out to be a combination of the fact that we are playing it LOUD [what? L-O-U-D!!! Anybody else have these strange conversations when the music is loud? That usually end in “Forget it. I’ll Tell!… You!… Later!…”. “WHAAAAT!?”], the equipment is sitting very nearly right in front of the speakers, and the bass needs adjusting because the room is so large - we got used to using an integrated, and I do not think we have used solid-state on the main towers for over a year.

So we struggle, changing power cords, cleaning the CD, changing cables etc. to try and figure out what thing[s] are responsible. Everything to avoid having to move things or put a rack between the speakers [on the other hand, Neli is happy as a clam to have Mike move things, including racks, to and fro, fro and to].

System 1

Lamm L2 linestage’s power supply

Lamm L2 linestage. Just about everything is on HRS M3 Isolation Bases.

Emm Labs CDSA CD / SACD Player.

Anyway, that is what’s happening here. The Vidar has not yet arrived so we are not burning in anything that needs to be burned in. So, we are circling the field waiting to land.

System 2

Audio Note Ongaku integrated amplifier

Audio Note DAC 4.1x Balanced

Audio Note CDT Three transport

And, yes, Teck, your other CD arrived to [Thanks SO much!]. But, uh, I accidentally left it in the Emm Labs CDSD SE which, uh, is unplugged and at the moment away from an outlet, and I need to find a power cord for it somewhere [can I use a stock $2 Belden power cord? Of Course Not ] and plug it back in so I can eject the CD [See, I TOLD you all that I do this ALL THE TIME. Don’t know what it is… some kind of curse because I ‘let’ Neli clean all the CDs (and records, too) or something… ]

We like the CDs. We are certainly playing them a lot. The soundtrack is a little like the Gladiator soundtrack… I mean, doesn’t it seem like soundtracks have their own genre -they’re not classical and they’re not pop. Cool depth of field though, and amazing drums.

As you can sort of see, we have the Emm Labs CDSA player going into the Lamm L2 (Lamm L2 power supply is on left, L2 linestage in center), and from there into the Marten active corssover and into the Edge Signature One amps.

This is a pretty good sound. We haven’t heard it enough to really understand it yet (busy here on the phones, etc.). One thing is obvious, these speakers will love as much as you can give them: resolution, micro-dynamics, harmonics, …

We Are Unworthy! [anybody else like Wayne’s World? Anybody? Bueller?]

OK, downstairs we have the Audio Note CDT3 transport into the Audio Note DAC 4.1x Balanced DAC into the Audio Note Ongaku integrated amplifier into the Kharma Mini Exquisites.

The cables here are interesting: we have regular Valhalla RCA interconnect for the digital cable, Audio Note SOTTO interconnect and Jorma Design No. 1 speaker cable. The SOTTO only has about 12 hours on it [but our Nordost Vidar cable burner should be back soon from the factory - it was happily burning cables in when the lightning struck].

The midrange makes me want to cry. It is so involving. [Now THAT is something I am too much of a boy to say out loud, but I feel I can say it in writing. Alan Alda may have made it OKAY for men to cry - remember that anyone? Bueller? - but just about important things. Not about how beautiful music can be. That, that, if someone comes into the room, I have to kind of look away and think about the economy or something. Tears dry right up. Though the economy is getting to the point where I might start crying harder… $1.46 per Euro]

Been moving things around some.

We are trying to setup things so that we have two systems we can wire with all Nordost ODIN cables [hopefully here next week], with 2 interconnects and one speaker cable [we are ignoring the Coltrane Surpreme’s bass tower speaker cables, at our own ear’s risk, of course - but our pocketbooks and wallets thank us].

Edge Signature One solid-state amps driven directly by Audio Aero Prestige, with Brinkmann Balance turntable and Lamm LP2 phono plugged in to one of the inputs on the Prestige.

Unfortunately, the limitations of the $14K Prestige’s built-in preamp [linestage] is evident, things being a little muddier than what we are looking for [especially in comparison to the pre in the $85K Audio Note Ongaku we were using before ]. The Prestige’s built-in pre is fine for things up to, say, $40-50K speakers, at which point the decision on whether to get an outboard preamp has to be made on a speaker by speaker basis - and the size of one’s wallet. The Kharma Mini Exquisites like a little more oomph of the extra pre, the Marten Coltrane speakers do well with either.

I’m sure the Audio Note M10 linestage on the Kegons would be great, as well as the Lamm L2 linestage on their ML2.1 amps, but then we are talking about 3 interconnects for digital instead of 2, and so no 100% ODIN setup.

Downstairs, we have the Emm Labs CDSA driving the Lamm L2 linestage into the Audio Note Kegon amplifiers. Interesting mix of brands, I know, but it sounds re-e-e-e-al good - and it allows us to swap in different amps for demos.

But, since that demo has been postponed, and in the interest of limiting this system to just 2 interconnects as well, we will setup the Emm Labs CDSA player [and/or Audio Note CDT3 transport and 4.1x Balanced DAC] connected to the Audio Note Ongaku integrated into the Kharma Mini Exquisite loudspeakers.

If we just had ONE more pair of ODIN interconnects… and another speaker cable for the bass towers on the Supremes [probably open up their bass something wonderful], … but, no, we can’t go there. That way lies madness.

A final shot of the Audio Note amps.

We hope to have an 100% Audio Note Sogon cabled system - with some of their SOTTO thrown in as well before too long. I anticipate completely different sounds from these systems using these different cables And we already did the 100% Jorma Design Prime system [at the RMAF show].

It will be so much fun hearing all the differences.

This is what life is all about: enjoying the differences this world has to offer, and experiencing the fruits of expert craftspeople in the pursuit of excellence.