Current state of things
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…
What is the valve complements on the Kegons, and do You prefer the sound of the Kegons or the Ongaku?
Best Regards
Hi bambadoo,
Neli will hopefully post the detailed valve compliment – but generally we use Sophia 300B’s, a random power rectifier tube (doesn’t seem to matter), and a red base RCA up front…
As for sound… I have been trying to decide that myself.
The Ongaku is more magical – there are more subtle cues and things going on that I do not yet understand, but which cause more engagement and enchantment.
The (high-gain) Kegon seems to have more chutzpa – more slam in the bass – more youthful energy. More yang to the Ongaku’s yin.
But, you know, we still have a lot more experimenting to do. I was laid up for awhile – so there wasn’t a lot of lugging of equipment up and down stairs… but, as they say, stay tuned!
Thanks,
Mike.
Thanks alot for your reply. I currently own a couple of Conquests (some upgrades though), and have spent some time testing tubes.
I have TJ premium mesh 300b tubes, and have tested alot of NOS 6sn7 tubes, including rca 5692 red base.
The best there is (and by quite a big margin) are Tung-Sol vt-231 round plates.
I personally preferred CBS hytron brown base 5692, Sylvania vt-231, Sylvania 6sn7w and JAN smoked glass before the RCA 5692 red base.
The Tung-Sol vt-231 round plates do make some magic to the sound of these amplifiers. Of course the Kegons are alot better than mine, in spite of the same circuit.
Sincerely