Absolare Integrated

Rhapsody

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Rhapsody.Audio
If you are ever in NY, Rhaposody (rsvinta) has the Kaisers. Probably still does. Right note in Bath had a model as well, don't know if they still do

As Ked says, we have the Kaiser Kawero Classic and Chiara models available for demonstration at Rhapsody in Manhattan. There are two words that comes to mind with Kaiser speakers......"Natural Sounding".
 

HHdutch

New Member
Mar 12, 2017
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Changing tubes results.

I heard the integrated in Munch in 2016. I knew already that this amp was something special.
Now I have my Absolare Integrated now for about 5 months. To be complete, mine is honey with brown stitches. It replaced my Devialet D-premier monoblocks. I can only agree to all the remarks related to the Absolare and the Devialet.
What I did not read is that the Absolare Integrated Signatre is called signature because it has Echole Signature cabling inside. This is probably why the setup benefits even more with Echole cabling.
Just started with experimenting with the tubes. Now I have one RT and one Brimar tube in use. This is more dynamic and pressure in the low frequencies as two RT tubes. Two Brimar tubes is to much low and pressure for my setup.
Anyone has some advice or experiance in selecting tubes?
 

jep123

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Dec 23, 2012
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Good to hear that your are happy.

The Signature edition have the cable you mentioned, but also better parts elsewhere in the amplifier. I can recommend Echole cables, I use their Passion powercord and I find it very good.

Regarding tubes; I have had my amp now for app 9 months and have not changed the tubes yet. Mine have some French tubes that were delivered with the amp and they sound very good and have 0 noise. I am sure you can change the sound with other tubes, but the ones Kerem delivered with my amp are just great. They are called RT and not too expensive either. You can check them out, the letters on them are in green. Good luck.

JP
 

GuillaumeB

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Mar 10, 2014
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I'm currently running a pair of RT 12AU7WA with D Getters from the late 50s which I sourced from a specialist on eBay... sound very good. I understand from Vincent at Totaldac that the JJ tubes work well if you want a warmer sound.

I also use a couple of Duende Ciatura tube rings. I strongly recommend these. Very easy to A/B whilst the music is playing.

I agree with previous posts re Echole cabling. Since this doesn't come cheap it does push up the TCO of the Absolare Integrated proposition considerably.

Guillaume
 

sujay

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May 5, 2012
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Singapore
As Ked says, we have the Kaiser Kawero Classic and Chiara models available for demonstration at Rhapsody in Manhattan. There are two words that comes to mind with Kaiser speakers......"Natural Sounding".

Hi, I will be in NY 22-24 April. It will be great to connect. Should I PM you to fix a convenient time?

Thx
 

Rhapsody

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Hi, I will be in NY 22-24 April. It will be great to connect. Should I PM you to fix a convenient time?

Thx

Greetings Sujay,

Thx for reaching out!

That's quite the trip from SA to NYC:) Would really enjoy meeting you and maybe having a listen together. Please feel free to just email me at bob@rhapsodynyc.com so we can directly communicate and set up a meeting time once you are in the city.

Also during your planning for your NYC visit or when you arrive if you have any "city questions", just give me a shout and I would be glad to be of any possible assistance.
 

sujay

Member Sponsor
May 5, 2012
516
219
955
Singapore
Greetings Sujay,

Thx for reaching out!

That's quite the trip from SA to NYC:) Would really enjoy meeting you and maybe having a listen together. Please feel free to just email me at bob@rhapsodynyc.com so we can directly communicate and set up a meeting time once you are in the city.

Also during your planning for your NYC visit or when you arrive if you have any "city questions", just give me a shout and I would be glad to be of any possible assistance.

Fabulous! Likewise, it will be great to meet with you and listen to some good music? Actually, while it does sound like the other end of the world, its a direct 14 hours flight from Johannesburg, which is imminently more forgiving than traveling all the way from south east Asia. I will connect offline through email.....looking forward

Cheers

Sujay
 

Rhapsody

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Fabulous! Likewise, it will be great to meet with you and listen to some good music? Actually, while it does sound like the other end of the world, its a direct 14 hours flight from Johannesburg, which is imminently more forgiving than traveling all the way from south east Asia. I will connect offline through email.....looking forward

Cheers

Sujay

I see, I thought it would have been even a longer flight than from SE Asia.....not saying it's easy, but a nice direct flight is doable. Look forward to meeting you.

It's good you are NOT coming this week.....this is our forecast for this Tuesday.

National Weather Service
Hazard types: Heavy Snow and Blizzard Conditions. Snow accumulations: 12 to 18 inches ... Winds: Northeast 20 to 30 mph with gusts 40 to 50 mph ... gusts up to 60 mph ...

By the time you arrive the snow will all be gone and the flowers and trees will be blooming:)
 

sujay

Member Sponsor
May 5, 2012
516
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I see, I thought it would have been even a longer flight than from SE Asia.....not saying it's easy, but a nice direct flight is doable. Look forward to meeting you.

It's good you are NOT coming this week.....this is our forecast for this Tuesday.

National Weather Service
Hazard types: Heavy Snow and Blizzard Conditions. Snow accumulations: 12 to 18 inches ... Winds: Northeast 20 to 30 mph with gusts 40 to 50 mph ... gusts up to 60 mph ...

By the time you arrive the snow will all be gone and the flowers and trees will be blooming:)

(-: am I glad I am not there this week. Anyway, hopefully, it gets warmer in April as you say. And by the way, any travel beyond 14 hrs will test my sanity...

Look forward to meeting you

Cheers
 

jep123

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Dec 23, 2012
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Absolare and Kaiser is a great match. I will very soon receive my Kawero Classic and I have heard them with the Absolare several times. You have every reason to look forward to your trip to NY Sujay :).
 

Rhapsody

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I will post this as to not ask Sujay to explain later:)

Sujay and I talked offline and were all set for Sujay to come and visit on April 23rd and then the light bulb went on.....I will be at Axpona exhibiting the exact same week that Sujay will be visiting. So Sujay will be in NYC and so will the Absolare integrated and Kaisers, but he will NOT be able to hear them because I will be in Chicago.....very sorry Sujay, I was looking forward to meeting you and our visit. Hopefully you will return to NYC in the future and we can visit then.
 

sujay

Member Sponsor
May 5, 2012
516
219
955
Singapore
I will post this as to not ask Sujay to explain later:)

Sujay and I talked offline and were all set for Sujay to come and visit on April 23rd and then the light bulb went on.....I will be at Axpona exhibiting the exact same week that Sujay will be visiting. So Sujay will be in NYC and so will the Absolare integrated and Kaisers, but he will NOT be able to hear them because I will be in Chicago.....very sorry Sujay, I was looking forward to meeting you and our visit. Hopefully you will return to NYC in the future and we can visit then.

Hi, no sweat at all, Bob. It's not your fault. Yes, it's a pity we can't meet this time but I will look forward to doing so the next time i get to NY. Have a great show.....
 

sujay

Member Sponsor
May 5, 2012
516
219
955
Singapore
Absolare and Kaiser is a great match. I will very soon receive my Kawero Classic and I have heard them with the Absolare several times. You have every reason to look forward to your trip to NY Sujay :).

I agree it would have been quite something to be able to listen to the Absolare with the Kawero. I've heard them both in independently in different settings and I quite liked the Kawero to be honest.....
 

butler

Well-Known Member
Mar 26, 2013
41
0
311
I'm currently running a pair of RT 12AU7WA with D Getters from the late 50s which I sourced from a specialist on eBay... sound very good. I understand from Vincent at Totaldac that the JJ tubes work well if you want a warmer sound.

I also use a couple of Duende Ciatura tube rings. I strongly recommend these. Very easy to A/B whilst the music is playing.

I agree with previous posts re Echole cabling. Since this doesn't come cheap it does push up the TCO of the Absolare Integrated proposition considerably.

Guillaume

Hi Guillaume, good timing on your mention of the DC tube rings, I actually order a pair Saturday then saw your comments on Sunday……thanks for the positive confirmation. By the way, your excellent pics earlier here led me to them.

Regarding NOS tubes, like JP my amp arrived with an RT pair, which are excellent. Curious as to what you are hearing with different RT’s, and whether they are more than just a different `flavor’ of the RT sound or something more? Also have you paired an RT with other tube brands such as Mullard, Brimar, etc?
 

GuillaumeB

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Mar 10, 2014
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www.boyeraudio.com
Hi Guillaume, good timing on your mention of the DC tube rings, I actually order a pair Saturday then saw your comments on Sunday……thanks for the positive confirmation. By the way, your excellent pics earlier here led me to them.

Regarding NOS tubes, like JP my amp arrived with an RT pair, which are excellent. Curious as to what you are hearing with different RT’s, and whether they are more than just a different `flavor’ of the RT sound or something more? Also have you paired an RT with other tube brands such as Mullard, Brimar, etc?

I'm no expert at tube rolling but yes you can tweak the sound of the Absolare quite easily by changing the valves. Actually the ones that Kerem chooses for each amp are perfect really but it's still fun to try other stuff. I would like to try a pair of Mullards at some point and am on the lookout for some NOS early models. Telefunken/Siemens are supposed to be pretty amazing too.

Last night I went back to Kerem's RT tubes and thought I preferred the sound of his. ;)

The DC rings are highly recommended to any that haven't tried yet.

Guillaume
 

HHdutch

New Member
Mar 12, 2017
12
0
0
I have some single tubes, that were ordered balanced. I did some quick testing with one tube, and leaving one RT tube that came with the amp from Kerim. This because the RT tubes are very neutral, and perhaps the most true.

Combinations:
RT with RT gives a neutral nice result without emphasising the bass.
RT with Brimar gives more pressure in the low. With a DC ring the extra pressure is a bit less, and better.
RT with Electro-Harmonix also gives neutral result, much like two RT tubes.
RT with JJelectronic gold gives also more pressure in low. Not as much as Brimar.
RT with Telefunken gives most detail in high. Very musical. I can understand Telefunken is very populair as tube.
RT with RCA gives a loud sharp bass. Not realy nice.

Since I like bit more bass in my music, I stay with the combination RT and Brimar with DC rings.
Harry
 

butler

Well-Known Member
Mar 26, 2013
41
0
311
I have some single tubes, that were ordered balanced. I did some quick testing with one tube, and leaving one RT tube that came with the amp from Kerim. This because the RT tubes are very neutral, and perhaps the most true.

Combinations:
RT with RT gives a neutral nice result without emphasising the bass.
RT with Brimar gives more pressure in the low. With a DC ring the extra pressure is a bit less, and better.
RT with Electro-Harmonix also gives neutral result, much like two RT tubes.
RT with JJelectronic gold gives also more pressure in low. Not as much as Brimar.
RT with Telefunken gives most detail in high. Very musical. I can understand Telefunken is very populair as tube.
RT with RCA gives a loud sharp bass. Not realy nice.

Since I like bit more bass in my music, I stay with the combination RT and Brimar with DC rings.
Harry

Hi Harry, thanks for documenting your experiments with RT + other tube combinations. Since I too am a bass guy, I’ll likely try the Brimar once my amp is fully broken in. Have also heard really good things about the Telefunken as you have verified, and I could use as much detail in the highs as I can get these days since my ears (along with all my other parts) are getting old……any comments as to the bass via this tube? Thanks, and keep us posted if you continue to experiment.

Butler
 

HHdutch

New Member
Mar 12, 2017
12
0
0
Hi Harry, thanks for documenting your experiments with RT + other tube combinations. Since I too am a bass guy, I’ll likely try the Brimar once my amp is fully broken in. Have also heard really good things about the Telefunken as you have verified, and I could use as much detail in the highs as I can get these days since my ears (along with all my other parts) are getting old……any comments as to the bass via this tube? Thanks, and keep us posted if you continue to experiment.

Butler

I did test again the Telefunken. This tube gives more detail in high, but also gives more low then the RT tubes. With the DC rings on the tubes low is reduced, and fine. Low frequencies are now so low, you can't hear them, but already feel them.
I think because of the more detail, the sound is less black in the quiet parts of music. Also there is less dynamic in loud and quiet. It seems as if the higher frequencies are on a ligher volume level. I think the Telefunken has more gain than my Brimar tube.

I have a second Telefunken tube comming, so I can test with two Telefunken. I also tested some double combinations already.
Harmonix + Harmonix gives neutral sound, much like two RT tubes
Brimar + Brimair gives to much low, even with DC rings.

Testing is done with fully Echole Obsession/Signature cabling on Hansen Knight speakers.

Harry
 

butler

Well-Known Member
Mar 26, 2013
41
0
311
Interesting observations on the Telefunken's, Harry, especially the part about more detail/louder volume in the high frequencies yet perhaps less dynamic overall. Sounds like bass is prominent also, especially if you can feel it (a positive as far as I'm concerned). Can't help but wonder what would happen if you combined the Telefunken with the Brimar....would it be too much or the best of both worlds? At any rate, thanks for the info and please continue to keep us updated on your tube rolling adventures, it is very interesting.

As soon as I can get to it, I plan to pull a Mullard CV4003 out of my old EAR preamp and try it with the RT........
 

jep123

VIP/Donor
Dec 23, 2012
293
106
908
Norway
Interesting observations on the Telefunken's, Harry, especially the part about more detail/louder volume in the high frequencies yet perhaps less dynamic overall. Sounds like bass is prominent also, especially if you can feel it (a positive as far as I'm concerned). Can't help but wonder what would happen if you combined the Telefunken with the Brimar....would it be too much or the best of both worlds? At any rate, thanks for the info and please continue to keep us updated on your tube rolling adventures, it is very interesting.

As soon as I can get to it, I plan to pull a Mullard CV4003 out of my old EAR preamp and try it with the RT........

Those Mullard CV4003 are very good tubes. I have not tried them in the Absolare yet, but in other preamplifiers. I will buy a pair as well.

JP
 

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