System #3: Marten Coltrane, Lamm ML2.1, Jorma Prime, HRS MXR
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! 🙂 🙂 🙂
I just heard this system yesterday, with all the updates. I’ve heard the Coltranes with just about every combination of equipment Mike and Neli have tried on them over the last 15 months or so, so I’d say I’m pretty familiar with them. This was mind blowing. I knew the Coltranes were good, but I didn’t know they were *this* good.
Dear sir,
May I know what is the burn in time of the Prime interconnect? How would you describe the treble of the Prime relative to the Indra?
Hi Linnman,
Even though Jorma Design also does some burning-in of their cables at the factory, the burn-in time, on the new Nordost ViDar burn-in device, here, was about 10 days to 2 weeks. A long time, I know – but we took it off at about the 7 day mark and it wasn’t done yet. Not done yet means that the frequencies are not treated equally across the spectrum – with the midrange being more prominent than it should be. But be patient, this does go away!
In the treble, well, in all frequencies, the Prime has much more resolution than the INDRA. The INDRA has a purity of tone and just kind of gets out of the way of the music. Very much like the older Emm Labs gear, and some people think that this is too little resolution/detail, although we are not one of them.
We like details as much as the next person – but we do not like to sacrifice anything to get it. This is why we think Emm Labs is at the top of the heap of digital players – everything else has … side effects… to our ears. [And now, with the Signature Edition, we get everything 🙂 ]. So, to put an end to this long story, this is why we think the Prime is so killer: resolution like nothing we ever heard and we didn’t have to sacrifice anything, or have to live with any nasty side-effects, to get it.
Add to that an ability to reveal the real richness and subtlties of the harmonic content, at all frequencies, [and this is one of the areas that the INDRA excels at, but takes a back seat here…], and you get an inkling of the why we are raving about these cables. A lot of “We didn’t know the speakers could even DO that!” and “The voices, The Voices!”
Specifically, the improvements in the treble, in comparision to the INDRA, go to help solidify imaging and position things more evenly across the soundstage and away from the speakers. As far as ‘air’, I think the two are about equal.
Hope this helps and I didn’t leave anything out…
When we had the Audio Note $50K M10 pramp here, which has many of the same characteristics of the Prime – added resolution and the ability to communicate the harmonics with 2020 vision – we thought this needs to be in an all Prime system (and on an HRS rack – all those tubes! They are so sensitive to every… single… vibration).
… Whew! Just thinking about it ….
Thank goodness this stuff is still legal.