by Hifier

The view out of the main listening room has changed a little


We got some serious wind a few days ago…. and one of the trees, one that was dead anyway… decided to lay down for awhile.

This tree has been in most of the photos of our main listening room (and listening room/showroom #2). Then it died a few years – but its bark turned an interesting red color and so it still contributed to the ambiance of the scenery outside.

If you look closely, you can see the silhouette of a Kharma Mini Exquisite loudspeaker through the window on the left…

The root system sure wasn’t much to look at… Glad it went THAT way through the fence and not through the window…

But it landed on another dead tree – a cool looking one at that – so we have this abstract branch sculpture to look at if we get bored…. So it still contributes to the ambiance – just a little more chaotically. 🙂

in High-end Audio HiFi and Stereo 0 comments
 by Hifier

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…

in Audio Note / Emm Labs / High-end Audio HiFi and Stereo / Showroom 1 / Showroom 2 / Showroom 3 / Showroom 4 0 comments
 by Hifier

HE 2007

I have been seriously under the weather here for several days – the irony of the timing being coincident with home entertainment aka the stereophile show cannot be lost on us – so this is the first time I have been on the net in what seems like for-ev-er.

And before this it was comcast being down for two weeks… but that seems to have resolved itself (knock mice).

So, as you can gather, we did not make it to HE 2007 this year. We will be posting to links to the reports that look like they have something to offer. Hopefully there will be a few.

And still waiting for those photos from Neli for Line Star Audio Fest. One can only pester one’s wife so much… and i assure you I am not holding back any of my perstering firefower…. 🙂

in High-end Audio HiFi and Stereo 0 comments