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 Michael

Showroom 2 and 3 swapped their speakers…

We moved the Marten Coltrane Supreme speakers over to in front of the Soundlab U1 speakers and the Marten Coltrane loudspeakers over behind the Kharma Mini Exquisite speakers. The ‘Supremes’ are slowly making their way upstairs.


The Marten Coltrane Supreme speakers driven by Lamm ML2.1 amps and Lamm L2 preamp. Source is the Brinkmann Balance turntable with Lyra Titan cartridge and Audio Aero Prestige CD / SACD player / linestage.


The system sounds good – at the volumes we play it at (i.e. below 100 dB) the bass tower’s rear-firing ports did not seem affected by the proximity of the SoundLab speakers. The main towers, being sealed, also did not have too many adverse affects [we still need to move the bass towers farther back, away from the front of the main towers – which improves imaging significantly].

The thing about these speakers, which has been unexpected, is how ‘intimate sounding’ they are. Unlike most (all?) other speakers that produce a large soundstage, which have a somewhat dominating influence, distancing the musicans from the here and now in some way that is hard to explain right now – the listening experience here is more like listening to monitors. Like the musicians are playing music Just For Me.

Still don’t know what to make of this – or whether other people will appreciate this or not. But there is a lot more ‘affection’ for the music in this context – it is much more approachable.


On the other side of the room, behind the listening chairs, is the now sparsely settled showroom 2 with the Marten Coltranes waiting behind the Khamra Minis. This will be the configuration we will use, along with a pair of Audio Note speakers standing by, when the ‘Supremes’ make it all the way upstairs into the big showroom #1.

in High-end Audio HiFi and Stereo / Marten Design / Showroom 2 / Showroom 3 0 comments
 by Michael

Current Showroom Setup

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.

in High-end Audio HiFi and Stereo / Showroom 1 / Showroom 2 / Showroom 3 / Showroom 4 0 comments