More mooks, awesome tweaks

bonzo75

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Yes I think below the AR amps you might not get as much benefit. Mind you shun mook does not have a float everything on our product philosophy like stillpoints do.
 

Argonaut

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The resonator affect was certainly evident on the stereo amplifiers, however Giants did not prove an exponential improvment over Ultra's in that application, hence my purchase. Worst case scenario I will use them as Steroid'd M'pingo Discs
 

Audiophile Bill

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The resonator affect was certainly evident on the stereo amplifiers, however Giants did not prove an exponential improvment over Ultra's in that application, hence my purchase. Worst case scenario I will use them as Steroid'd M'pingo Discs

Ha. They are bloody good at steroid'd discs for sure :D
 

Argonaut

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Ha. They are bloody good at steroid'd discs for sure :D

Good evening Bill.

How much would it cost to replace your disc hoard with Resonator's lol.

Seriously considering replacing the acrylic shelving on my SP rack with an organic solution as close to Mpingo as is feasible !
 

bonzo75

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Good evening Bill.

How much would it cost to replace your disc hoard with Resonator's lol.

Seriously considering replacing the acrylic shelving on my SP rack with an organic solution as close to Mpingo as is feasible !

I have their ebony board and a maple board. You should get the big mook rack - no idea how it sounds too, and don't want to know
 

spiritofmusic

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I'm going to be setting up my system from scratch in my new dedicated space after nearly 12 months of no music , and one of my first fascinating a-b's after a period of settling in, will be how my set of Giants will change things under either linestage or cdp...or maybe even my 150lb 8kVA balanced power transformer
 

Argonaut

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I have their ebony board and a maple board. You should get the big mook rack - no idea how it sounds too, and don't want to know

Lol, Bill Y is of a similar persuasion , however I am still impressed by the combination of SP tech in combination with the organic approach of Mook's
 

Argonaut

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I'm going to be setting up my system from scratch in my new dedicated space after nearly 12 months of no music , and one of my first fascinating a-b's after a period of settling in, will be how my set of Giants will change things under either linestage or cdp...or maybe even my 150lb 8kVA balanced power transformer

Hmmmm, in the same vein as my amplification experimentation, the efficacy of your Giants may be somewhat wasted on your BPT as compared to the effect that they will lend to your source or line stage components, I would suggest that a set of ultra's or even super's may prove to be an excellent compromise in that application.
 

spiritofmusic

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When back in London, I had them under my BPT and they were pretty effective
Even under my Entreq Silver Tellus there were marked effects
Harlequin, why are you skeptical re Giants under my BPT? It is 18" X 16" and weighs in excess of 150lb, surely ideal for Giants?
 

spiritofmusic

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I refuse to listen to an I phone
Does NWA in my friend's van count?
 

Argonaut

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When back in London, I had them under my BPT and they were pretty effective
Even under my Entreq Silver Tellus there were marked effects
Harlequin, why are you skeptical re Giants under my BPT? It is 18" X 16" and weighs in excess of 150lb, surely ideal for Giants?

Not sceptical per say spirit, merely that my own experimentation with power amplification and power delivery (Isotec Titan) proved the Ultra's to be say 80% as effective as Giants in that application, whilst the Giants proved to be expidentially more effective than Ultra's when applied to source or pre componants, ymmv of course.
 

bonzo75

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spiritofmusic

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System up and running soon Ked, so 'phones not needed
Did a lot more live music incl classical this year, so not totally music free
But certainly gagging to get my sound back
Coincidentally, I've followed a suggestion you always made, about quitting one's house sound for an extended period, recalibrating with a diet of live acoustic/classical, returning to the home system, and gauging the comparison
Harlequin, fascinating that you have this rule of thumb
In effect I've only ever heard a couple of sets of Giants Resonators in my rig (bought just the one set), and have no comparison v Ultras Resonators to compare
 

bonzo75

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System up and running soon Ked, so 'phones not needed
Did a lot more live music incl classical this year, so not totally music free
But certainly gagging to get my sound back
Coincidentally, I've followed a suggestion you always made, about quitting one's house sound for an extended period, recalibrating with a diet of live acoustic/classical, returning to the home system, and gauging the comparison
Harlequin, fascinating that you have this rule of thumb
In effect I've only ever heard a couple of sets of Giants Resonators in my rig (bought just the one set), and have no comparison v Ultras Resonators to compare

I have not done a compare of ultras vs Giants under amps, assuming giants would sound better, because they do on source and pre.

Where were the classical shows? I heard superb amplified jazz last week when I watched the Aladdin play. Magnificent music

Regarding forgetting your sound, resetting your reference on live concerts, there is an important step before going back to your own system :) - checking out other systems. If you assume that live is 100, and once reference is set to 100, you need to know where yours is relative to others on the 10 to 80 scale.

And indeed, if reference does get reset, most likely previous preferences will change to some extent, and if they remain the same, either there was no experience to be gained, or emotions are too much in play.

That stereophile link is interesting. I heard that headset in Munich. It can reproduce other rooms after calibration, and play back those settings. In the test done at Munich, we had to take our headphones on and off as the music played - when we took the headphones off, the sound would come from the speakers, and when we put them back on, it would come from the headphones. We could not make out if the sound was coming from headphone or from the speakers, it was that seamless.

What it means is that I can calibrate an Atmos, Auro 3d, the best rooms I have heard, your London room, and play it all back by choosing the setting, through an headphone of my choice.
 

spiritofmusic

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Ked, I just do not have the time to travel to other systems esp abroad
I'm happy to calibrate according to a small number of varied tube and SS, box, horn, stat and planar systems, and live obv
My last remaining comparison point needs to be Apogees, having heard good tt/digital/SS/tube/box dynamic/horns/stats, elsewhere
Still awaiting invites from Jon, Henk, and UK Divas owner
 

bonzo75

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Ked, I just do not have the time to travel to other systems esp abroad
I'm happy to calibrate according to a small number of varied tube and SS, box, horn, stat and planar systems, and live obv
My last remaining comparison point needs to be Apogees, having heard good tt/digital/SS/tube/box dynamic/horns/stats, elsewhere
Still awaiting invites from Jon, Henk, and UK Divas owner

Apogees don't fit your room except duettas, and while they will sound great, won't utilize the length and breadth of your room optimally. Trios with bass horns will, Because you will be able to place them as wide as required and sit wherever you like, letting you use that whole room as a concert hall. So will WE 16A with its subs.

To do an Apogee demo you will have to go to Henk, because he can show you how in a big room, duettas can sound when placed in a small nearfield circle (as they will be in your case). When I heard the duettas at his, they were 4 ft apart, and I sat at less than 10, though moved about. His room is almost 10m by 6m. There are some positives listening that way. The stage then goes far back, and there are no first reflections. Tone is better than trios. Depends if you like the scale you get when you sit nearfield yet the speakers soundstage, or when you have speakers placed far and wide like trios will be for the ultimate slam and dynamics and width .

The UK diva owner has a massive room. He is also on vacation till Nov. He is a great guy who owned Soundlabs, then Apogees, and stayed with them for years. Also he has an SME and you will get to hear a TT on an apogee which you won’t at Henk’s. But then he has the room for apogees and they will sound very different at yours.

if the Advance 7 can do what the Duettas can much better, it will be interesting to see if the improved nearfield sound can trump the bigger scale of wider space
 

Argonaut

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Harlequin, fascinating that you have this rule of thumb
In effect I've only ever heard a couple of sets of Giants Resonators in my rig (bought just the one set), and have no comparison v Ultras Resonators to compare

Spirit....Were you to acquire a set of Ultra's in place of your GDR's, utilizing the latter with your source or Pre, what little you would loose on the swings you would more than recoup on the roundabouts IMHO .
 

spiritofmusic

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Ked, there's a whole world of live music outside London
Maybe not as prestigious, but no lack of classical, jazz and of course rock, at Kings Lynn, Ely Cathedral, Norwich
I have the best of both worlds, with London accessible to me on Saturdays, and Eastern England provinces the rest of the week
I'll also be able to return to my big love of playing live myself a lot more easily out here
No way am I claiming this is quite like Barbican, RFH etc on my doorstep 365 days a year, but I'll have no shortage of choice

Re Apogees, Jon, Diva guy and Henk know I'm a serious potential customer, ball is in their court re invite
I've been in contact w Jon for 12 months now, but nothing has materialised
Henk says he will email, but timing depends on customers' willingness to delay delivery for me to travel, and this generally unlikely
With my room, I will be able to space Duettas easily 8-9' apart, or closer, w unlimited distance to front wall, and listening position
Duettas and Trios are same height, so ergonomics of install pretty similar
Divas are more compromising for spacing

Harlequin, you've really done a/b comparisons of Ultras v Giants?
You definitively believe Giants best on cdp, dac, streamer, tt, linestage, and Ultras best suited to pwr amps and other non source components like bpt, even Entreq maybe?
 

bonzo75

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Oh that’s good, if you can space them 8 to 9 ft. apart.

You should understand, Henk and Jon and these apogee guys are hobbyists in their own way (thankfully). Not driven. More relaxed. I used to check up on Henk, when he had the Duettas, I happened to have emailed him, and booked a ticket within a week (80 quid).

Just to clarify, on source and pre both are effective, Giants are clearly better, but I prefer them only if the component has sufficient size to space them out (don’t want them bunched up). You will have to experiment on your NAT Utopia and Eera to see if there is sufficient space for the Giants. On Nat Magnetostat or Harlequin’s AR, those are broad enough to fit
 

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