Ron's Speaker, Turntable, Power and Room Treatment Upgrades

[Zero000]

Here we go Ron, since I think I brought the AM's to your attention a while back, it is only fair to point out these should you wish to save a penny or two, or try them and re-sell if you no likey.

Worldwide shipping. Not sure about US import tax, though, so it might not be such a great buy.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AUDIO-MUSIC-833-mk2-silver-wired-SINGLE-ENDED-MONOBLOCKS-EX-DEMO/282850848108?hash=item41db396d6c:g:iL8AAOSwUiBahw0K

Besides the sonics, they do look fabulous in the flesh. Well, I think so!!!

The seller is good. Ked passed his Ayon's on to these guys.

 

[microstrip]

Here we go Ron, since I think I brought the AM's to your attention a while back, it is only fair to point out these should you wish to save a penny or two, or try them and re-sell if you no likey.

Worldwide shipping. Not sure about US import tax, though, so it might not be such a great buy.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AUDIO-MUSIC-833-mk2-silver-wired-SINGLE-ENDED-MONOBLOCKS-EX-DEMO/282850848108?hash=item41db396d6c:g:iL8AAOSwUiBahw0K

Besides the sonics, they do look fabulous in the flesh. Well, I think so!!!

The seller is good. Ked passed his Ayon's on to these guys.

I have seen them before, particularly as I have bought from this UK seller before and I always got excellent deals. Do you know of any web page link where I can see pictures of the interior of the amplifier and information on parts and built quality? IMHO it is mandatory.

 

[Ron Resnick]

Here we go Ron, since I think I brought the AM's to your attention a while back, it is only fair to point out these should you wish to save a penny or two, or try them and re-sell if you no likey.

Worldwide shipping. Not sure about US import tax, though, so it might not be such a great buy.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AUDIO-MUSIC-833-mk2-silver-wired-SINGLE-ENDED-MONOBLOCKS-EX-DEMO/282850848108?hash=item41db396d6c:g:iL8AAOSwUiBahw0K

Besides the sonics, they do look fabulous in the flesh. Well, I think so!!!

The seller is good. Ked passed his Ayon's on to these guys.

Thank you for pointing this out. I actually saw this ad some time ago. Thank you for thinking of me!

 

[Ron Resnick]

I have seen them before, particularly as I have bought from this UK seller before and I always got excellent deals. Do you know of any web page link where I can see pictures of the interior of the amplifier and information on parts and built quality? IMHO it is mandatory.

No, not on these amplifiers. I know he is very proud of his custom silver wound output transformers.

But the designer’s preamplifiers have garnered excellent reviews and some of those reviews include photos of the internals of his preamplifiers.

 

[microstrip]

No, not on these amplifiers. I know he is very proud of his custom silver wound output transformers.

But the designer’s preamplifiers have garnered excellent reviews and some of those reviews include photos of the internals of his preamplifiers.

Unfortunately none of these reviews carry measurements. Although they do tell little about the sound of SETs, they can mean a lot for technical reasons.
BTW do you know what type are these uCap capacitors?

 

[GMKF]

Don’t be silly. There is no reason to take anything back. I simply had not had a chance to reply yet.

I always appreciate suggestions. You proposed a great, simpler system.

I wince a bit when I think about six (6) Aesthetix boxes festooned with tubes. I wonder if I will lose in transparency whatever I gain in dynamics by using the Callisto, and dividing gain responsibilities between the Io and the Callisto, rather than relying solely on the Io as I did happily (or so I thought) for 18 years.

So all suggestions/critiques/musings/comments are welcome! This system will be a collaborative effort!

How about some Lamm Hybrids (http://www.highperformancestereo.com/power-amplifiers/lamm-m1-2-reference.html) or Ypsilon Hybrids (https://www.audiogon.com/listings/l...orized-dealer-w-warranty-mint-obm-solid-state) just to spice it up a bit ? Like Mike Lavinge is doing with his Lamm/DarTZeels

 

[Zero000]

Bing! Your wish is my command.

It is Chi-Fi. Therefore, they don't use recognised Western Block foo like Dueland, Jupiter etc. I wouldn't let that put anyone off too much, though. They still use hand made copper foil caps, these, in fact. Just that they don't have Western Block foo prices.

The construction quality internally and externally appears excellent, TBH. I took this pic at Silverstone 2014.

 

[Zero000]

Here are all the pics I took at Silverstone 2014, of varying quality.

IMHO the construction quality looks better than a lot of US or UK built kit. It is just hard to place faith in components we aren't used to seeing.

I use a Cayin preamp that has bespoke Chi-Fi caps in. The unit sounds excellent.

 

[Zero000]

75.4 KG per monoblock (2 units per channel). Substantial amps no question for 130 Watts SE.

I will say in 2014 they were £24K for the silver wired version here. They must have gone up a lot recently.

 

[Ron Resnick]

How about some Lamm Hybrids (http://www.highperformancestereo.com/power-amplifiers/lamm-m1-2-reference.html) or Ypsilon Hybrids (https://www.audiogon.com/listings/l...orized-dealer-w-warranty-mint-obm-solid-state) just to spice it up a bit ? Like Mike Lavinge is doing with his Lamm/DarTZeels

Thank you, but I think I decided against the Alieno (which I like very, very much!) because I am going to stay all-tube.

 

[Ron Resnick]

Thank you very much for posting those photos, User211!

PS: A friend of KeithR recently got some Chinese DAC for like $2,000 and the metalwork and the machining quality was excellent on an absolute level and crazy high-quality relative to what $2,000 normally gets you in this hobby.

 

[Ron Resnick]

SET 833 versus Jadis Class A push-pull is going to be a darn fascinating shoot-out, I expect!


And it is winner-take-all! The loser goes back to its home country!

If for some reason neither amplifier gets an "A" in the drive or dynamics or authority departments then I will turn to VAC 450 iQ, ARC Reference 250 SE and 750 SE and VTL Siegfried II).

 

[LL21]

SET 833 versus Jadis Class A push-pull is going to be a darn fascinating shoot-out, I expect!


And it is winner-take-all! The loser goes back to its home country!

If for some reason neither amplifier gets an "A" in the drive or dynamics or authority departments then I will turn to VAC 450 iQ, ARC Reference 250 SE and 750 SE and VTL Siegfried II).

BTW, Ron, what does Dato Han say? He has lived with his Pendragons for some time now, and seems to really like his Vitus Masterpiece References. I absolutely understand your desire for pure tubes...just curious if in his journeys he ever ran his Pendragons with such mega-tube amps.

 

[Ron Resnick]

Danon Han is still using Vitus. I do not know if he knows of anyone using tubes on Pendragons or Kodos.

Gryphon has on its website a photo of an audiophile in Russia driving Poseidons with Wavacs.

 

[LL21]

Danon Han is still using Vitus. I do not know if he knows of anyone using tubes on Pendragons or Kodos.

Gryphon has on its website a photo of an audiophile in Russia driving Poseidons with Wavacs.

Mihalis used his Wavac 833 Mk II for years intermittently with his Gryphon Colosseum monos on his Poseidens. He also has moved over to Vitus Masterpiece Refs as i recall.

 

[microstrip]

Mihalis used his Wavac 833 Mk II for years intermittently with his Gryphon Colosseum monos on his Poseidens. He also has moved over to Vitus Masterpiece Refs as i recall.

Did you get any recent information on his system? The last time I remember reading something about his system was almost 10 years ago.

 

[LL21]

Did you get any recent information on his system? The last time I remember reading something about his system was almost 10 years ago.

Actually, his Marten Coltrane Supremes are now on the market as he has moved from Singapore apparently. So I have no idea what his current system is.

 

[Ron Resnick]

Jim White can wire my Io for two phono inputs. This obviates futzing around with an input switching device. It also makes it difficult to resist setting up two competing cartridge/tonearm combinations!

 

[audioguy]

Ron: I just noticed in your equipment description that your room is 20x25x15, all of which are divisible by 5.

Those dimensions prompted me to take a quick glance at the REW room simulator app. Doing so suggested that you could end up with some very large bass boost in the high 30Hz to high 40Hz range. There are a lot of variables in that simulator that I don't know (e.g. surface absorption characteristics) but even adjusting listener position, bass tower position, and making a few other assumptions, it most certainly appears that you will be spending lots of time trying to get the smoothest bass response in your room. Bass traps will help a small bit but it will be interesting reading the process you go through to deal with this situation.

I am sensitive to this particular area since I have had to deal with it in two very different rooms. In both of them the ONLY way I finally able to substantively address the issue (one of those rooms had over 30 Tube Traps) was for some sub EQ. The most excellent news for you is that you have separate bass towers so positioning them separate from the mains tower can facilitate some improvement.

Should be fun to watch. And FWIW, I used that portion of Room EQ in my current room and it was incredibly accurate. Not perfect but more than useful enough that my real measurement and its forecast were pretty close. And it saved me LOTS of time (and energy) moving a bunch of subs around in my room.

Have fun!!

 

[Ron Resnick]

Thank you for performing this analysis!

I rounded up those listed dimensions, and the wall design will apply another haircut.

The actual, interior dimensions will be about 19’ wide, 24’ long and 14’ high. The rear third of each of the left side wall and the right side wall are completely open to other rooms.

Does that change your analysis?