Audio Federation's large system

MrAudioFederation

Well-Known Member
Thanks!

A more recent photo with the Acapella Audio Arts "Campanile 2" loudspeakers and the Audio Note U.K. Kegon amplifiers.

The rest of the gear consists of the Audio Note TT2 Deluxe turntable, Fifth Element / Fifth Force DAC and M9 Phono preamplifier all on Harmonic Resolution equipment racks.

The CD mess? That is all Neli and Mike. :)

Acapella-Campanile-2-and-audio-note-uk-IMG_20180713_181854.jpg
 

MrAudioFederation

Well-Known Member
Quite a few changes since our last photo last February.

The system is now composed of...

Acapella Audio Arts Apollon speakers, the big brother of the Campanile speakers we had previously (in these same colors!). These have a larger horn, larger cabinet, and two isobaric woofers per speaker in addition to the four front firing woofers. And, of course, the same ION (plasma) tweeters.

Acapella Audio Arts La Musika integrated amp (we've shown this for awhile, a large number of fine sounding hybrid watts). You may had heard these recently at Capital Audio Fest or the California Audio Show.

Audio Note U.K. GAKU-ON amplifiers. We haven't had these amps in for a long time (we're kinda hoping they stay awhile. If you order a pair, you can wait like we had to :-/ ). These are 211 amps that kick all other tube amp's ass (in our experience). We thought these would be similar to our Audio Note Kegon 300B amps, but just sounding more like a 211 than the 300B, right? Our Kegons that we went through all sorts of shenanigans to keep with us for 15+ years (though we recently had them rebuilt). But nooooooo..... The amount of music that comes through these... call it harmonic and dynamic resolution, call it supreme but gentle applied absolute control of the signal. Call it whatever... it is just so darn WELCOMING to the listener, so inviting.... it is like it is alive...

Audio Note U.K. M9 Phono preamplifier. 2 boxes. With the updated volume controls. This pre is kind of the secret sauce (like most excellent pre's!).

Audio Note U.K. DAC 5 Signature. We finally have another one of these. Newer. Better. And still breaking in! You may have heard this also at Capital Audio Fest earlier this month.

Audio Note U.K. CDT Five Transport. You may have heard this at any number of shows. This is an excellent sounding trooper that has seen more show hotel rooms...

An old used Auralic Aries on the bottom shelf there. Yes we have Roon and Tidal and our goal is to make Tidal sound better here than digital and analog does on most other systems, anywhere. Sounds stupifyingly great going directly into the Audio Note Fifth Element and Fifth Force (after this photo was taken) which we are breaking in here these last 2 weeks. So I think we will get there :).

Emm Labs DV2 DAC with volume control. Performing high-res duties, and sounds like Emm Lab's trademark "solid-state that sounds like music" sound. Good to have them back in the system.

Triangle Art Master Reference turntable and controller. Very high-quality sound in an attractive package. We use their tonearm and cartridge and just wish the rack was a wee bit shorter (Neli is 5'4").

Harmonic Resolutions System VXR equipment rack. A precision engineered no-nonsense (i.e. uses the scientific method) approach to vibration control. It is also very, very heavy. We set it up so we can stand behind the rack (Neli better than I!) and connect and tweak things, so that is nice.

As you can see, Neli put up curtains behind the system to help with the in-room reflections as well as the overall visual appearance of the system. Audiophile wives. What can I say? :)

What we have here, in our opinion, stuffed into perhaps a room that is a wee bit smaller than what we would want (ha ha), are speakers that seriously rivals (and to our surprise betters in most ways!) any speaker $500K and below (and if you know us, you know what we are talking about) [these are currently selling in the $165K range., but don't quote me. Neli is the one that has everything memorized]. Clearly the best sounding tube amplifier (back-in-the-day, we thought the Lamm ML3 took the crown w/r to resolution - but no longer. Time marches on - it has been 10 years - and Audio Note keeps improving things on almost a weekly basis). Then there are the best sounding DACs in terms of something a person might actually want to listen to AND marvel at.

Blah blah blah... this is all to say we are really happy and kind of taken aback. We didn't even try and position the speakers until last week - so enchanted by the actual sound we paid no attention to the soundstage etc.. [Kind of embarrassing and I am sure Neli will smack me for saying this. But it is the only explanation I have for the fact that we listened for several weeks with one speaker an inch or so further from the wall and toed out quite a bit more than the other.....Look at the photo closely :)]

Oh, and the feet? Just chillin' one fine Fall evening. I am the one on the left. ;-)



chillin-IMG_20191011_190807_PerfectlyClear.jpg
 

gfroman

Well-Known Member
Dec 28, 2012
463
552
1,150
Emm Labs DV2 DAC
Mike - I have this unit and love it.
Can you tell me if I can play SACD into it from my Oppo, or do you have to have the proprietary EMM cable going to the dedicated Emm Labs transport??
 

MrAudioFederation

Well-Known Member
Emm Labs DV2 DAC
Mike - I have this unit and love it.
Can you tell me if I can play SACD into it from my Oppo, or do you have to have the proprietary EMM cable going to the dedicated Emm Labs transport??

Hey gfroman,

Oppo should work (wish they were still with us!). We use our Audio Note CDT-Five transport (redbook) and works great.
 

gfroman

Well-Known Member
Dec 28, 2012
463
552
1,150
Hmmm
I can play a hybrid SACD/CD disc as a CD 44hz display on DV2
But if I change the settings on the Oppo to SACD it will not read on the DV2
I tried both coaxial and Toslink cables
 

mrsaudiofederation

Well-Known Member
Jun 5, 2019
24
11
85
United States
audiofederation.com
Hi Gfroman,

Yes, we use our Audio Note UK CDT Five transport with our DV2 -- but that's not a SACD transport.
I thought I remembered that the single bit formats only worked on the Optilink and USB inputs, but a glance at the DV2 specs tells me that my memory is really not that great:

Digital inputs:
  • EMM Optilink (CD/SACD)
  • AES/EBU, 2x S/PDIF Coax, 2x S/PDIF, TOS & USB up to 24bit/192kHz and DSD
  • USB also supports 2xDSD, DXD (352/384kHz) & MQA®
At first glance, I would think that SACD from the Oppo would be the same as DSD -- but maybe the SACD copy protection is getting in the way.

Looking at the (online version, googled) Oppo 105 manual (page 19, in the Note section at the bottom of the page) , they say:

-- Due to copyright restrictions, SACD audio cannot be sent through the coaxial or optical digital audio output. To listen to SACDs, please use the HDMI or analog audio connections.

:-(

I thought this might be a problem on the DV2 input end, and that very well might be true -- but it looks like the Oppo isn't sending the bits down the pipe either, so to speak. In my memory, this SACD copy protection scheme is also why one vendor's SACD transport can't be used with another vendor's SACD DAC -- there's some kinda licensing code, I think.

If we want to play the SACD layer on our SACDs with the DV2 ... then we'll need an emmLabs transport.

I have heard that some very old versions of the Sony Playstation are able to rip the SA layer into DSD, but we have not gone down that path. I also heard that there is some codebreaking software to accomplish this same task, but similarly, I don't know of any details, or if this is wishful thinking.

We have about 50 single layer SACDs here, and well more than that dual-layer, yeah, it would be good to have a solution other than buying another copy of the DSD file. One has to wonder if this tight coupling prevented the larger success of the SACD format.

Kind regards,
-neli
 

gfroman

Well-Known Member
Dec 28, 2012
463
552
1,150
Wow - Thanks for the lengthy advice, really informative!

"If we want to play the SACD layer on our SACDs with the DV2 ... then we'll need an emmLabs transport."

That is what I initially thought also!
Thanks again!
Gregg
 

SCAudiophile

Well-Known Member
Sep 11, 2010
1,156
435
1,205
Greer South Carolina (USA)
That's a great looking system; you both have always put together great looking systems, clearly another to add to that long list!

I just saw that you are no longer Denver...Palo Alto; that's a big change! I work for a company HQ'ed there so will make an appt in 2020 on next trip to the West Coast.
 

mrsaudiofederation

Well-Known Member
Jun 5, 2019
24
11
85
United States
audiofederation.com
Thanks for your kind words. We'd love to have you visit! Please let us know when you'll be out this way so that we can plan some time.
 

nirodha

Well-Known Member
Aug 11, 2010
679
298
975
Heard an Acapella speaker for the first time last week and was blown away. I have heard many during the last 40 years but this was something else. The tweeter puts every other tweeter on earth to shame. I've got an invitation to go to Duisberg and listen to the high cellini. It is out of reach finacially at the moment buy hey.... it is never a bad thing to have a goal. Mr and Mrs Audiofederation, love your posts on youtube :)
 

LL21

Well-Known Member
Dec 26, 2010
14,411
2,509
1,448
Heard an Acapella speaker for the first time last week and was blown away. I have heard many during the last 40 years but this was something else. The tweeter puts every other tweeter on earth to shame. I've got an invitation to go to Duisberg and listen to the high cellini. It is out of reach finacially at the moment buy hey.... it is never a bad thing to have a goal. Mr and Mrs Audiofederation, love your posts on youtube :)
Which Acapella speaker? Would be interested in learning more about what you heard...sounds interesting!!!
 

nirodha

Well-Known Member
Aug 11, 2010
679
298
975
Which Acapella speaker? Would be interested in learning more about what you heard...sounds interesting!!!
Hi, I heard the Cellini. This is the entry speaker if you want the plasma tweeter. What did I hear... I heard tremendous extension of high frequencies without any harhness. I heard a big sound without any shift in middle and high frequencies (best you look up why this is on the Acapella site). The bass was tout without any delay. And to top it all off... NEVER did I hear slam like with this speaker. For me the search has ended but it is still too early for me financially. These speakers are totally unique. I have heard the big Magicos, Wilsons, Avalons etc. etc and they all sound technical in comparison. Maybe the best way to compare these speakers is to the sound of the top of the line Audio Notes: analogue, organic, transparant and true to tone. Hope this helps.
 

Raimund Heubel

Well-Known Member
Apr 2, 2021
1
0
68
Quite a few changes since our last photo last February.

The system is now composed of...

Acapella Audio Arts Apollon speakers, the big brother of the Campanile speakers we had previously (in these same colors!). These have a larger horn, larger cabinet, and two isobaric woofers per speaker in addition to the four front firing woofers. And, of course, the same ION (plasma) tweeters.

Acapella Audio Arts La Musika integrated amp (we've shown this for awhile, a large number of fine sounding hybrid watts). You may had heard these recently at Capital Audio Fest or the California Audio Show.

Audio Note U.K. GAKU-ON amplifiers. We haven't had these amps in for a long time (we're kinda hoping they stay awhile. If you order a pair, you can wait like we had to :-/ ). These are 211 amps that kick all other tube amp's ass (in our experience). We thought these would be similar to our Audio Note Kegon 300B amps, but just sounding more like a 211 than the 300B, right? Our Kegons that we went through all sorts of shenanigans to keep with us for 15+ years (though we recently had them rebuilt). But nooooooo..... The amount of music that comes through these... call it harmonic and dynamic resolution, call it supreme but gentle applied absolute control of the signal. Call it whatever... it is just so darn WELCOMING to the listener, so inviting.... it is like it is alive...

Audio Note U.K. M9 Phono preamplifier. 2 boxes. With the updated volume controls. This pre is kind of the secret sauce (like most excellent pre's!).

Audio Note U.K. DAC 5 Signature. We finally have another one of these. Newer. Better. And still breaking in! You may have heard this also at Capital Audio Fest earlier this month.

Audio Note U.K. CDT Five Transport. You may have heard this at any number of shows. This is an excellent sounding trooper that has seen more show hotel rooms...

An old used Auralic Aries on the bottom shelf there. Yes we have Roon and Tidal and our goal is to make Tidal sound better here than digital and analog does on most other systems, anywhere. Sounds stupifyingly great going directly into the Audio Note Fifth Element and Fifth Force (after this photo was taken) which we are breaking in here these last 2 weeks. So I think we will get there :).

Emm Labs DV2 DAC with volume control. Performing high-res duties, and sounds like Emm Lab's trademark "solid-state that sounds like music" sound. Good to have them back in the system.

Triangle Art Master Reference turntable and controller. Very high-quality sound in an attractive package. We use their tonearm and cartridge and just wish the rack was a wee bit shorter (Neli is 5'4").

Harmonic Resolutions System VXR equipment rack. A precision engineered no-nonsense (i.e. uses the scientific method) approach to vibration control. It is also very, very heavy. We set it up so we can stand behind the rack (Neli better than I!) and connect and tweak things, so that is nice.

As you can see, Neli put up curtains behind the system to help with the in-room reflections as well as the overall visual appearance of the system. Audiophile wives. What can I say? :)

What we have here, in our opinion, stuffed into perhaps a room that is a wee bit smaller than what we would want (ha ha), are speakers that seriously rivals (and to our surprise betters in most ways!) any speaker $500K and below (and if you know us, you know what we are talking about) [these are currently selling in the $165K range., but don't quote me. Neli is the one that has everything memorized]. Clearly the best sounding tube amplifier (back-in-the-day, we thought the Lamm ML3 took the crown w/r to resolution - but no longer. Time marches on - it has been 10 years - and Audio Note keeps improving things on almost a weekly basis). Then there are the best sounding DACs in terms of something a person might actually want to listen to AND marvel at.

Blah blah blah... this is all to say we are really happy and kind of taken aback. We didn't even try and position the speakers until last week - so enchanted by the actual sound we paid no attention to the soundstage etc.. [Kind of embarrassing and I am sure Neli will smack me for saying this. But it is the only explanation I have for the fact that we listened for several weeks with one speaker an inch or so further from the wall and toed out quite a bit more than the other.....Look at the photo closely :)]

Oh, and the feet? Just chillin' one fine Fall evening. I am the one on the left. ;-)



View attachment 59147


Acapella Audio Arts Apollon speakers, the big brother of the Campanile speakers we had previously (in these same colors!).
Quite a few changes since our last photo last February.

The system is now composed of...

Acapella Audio Arts Apollon speakers, the big brother of the Campanile speakers we had previously (in these same colors!). These have a larger horn, larger cabinet, and two isobaric woofers per speaker in addition to the four front firing woofers. And, of course, the same ION (plasma) tweeters.

Acapella Audio Arts La Musika integrated amp (we've shown this for awhile, a large number of fine sounding hybrid watts). You may had heard these recently at Capital Audio Fest or the California Audio Show.

Audio Note U.K. GAKU-ON amplifiers. We haven't had these amps in for a long time (we're kinda hoping they stay awhile. If you order a pair, you can wait like we had to :-/ ). These are 211 amps that kick all other tube amp's ass (in our experience). We thought these would be similar to our Audio Note Kegon 300B amps, but just sounding more like a 211 than the 300B, right? Our Kegons that we went through all sorts of shenanigans to keep with us for 15+ years (though we recently had them rebuilt). But nooooooo..... The amount of music that comes through these... call it harmonic and dynamic resolution, call it supreme but gentle applied absolute control of the signal. Call it whatever... it is just so darn WELCOMING to the listener, so inviting.... it is like it is alive...

Audio Note U.K. M9 Phono preamplifier. 2 boxes. With the updated volume controls. This pre is kind of the secret sauce (like most excellent pre's!).

Audio Note U.K. DAC 5 Signature. We finally have another one of these. Newer. Better. And still breaking in! You may have heard this also at Capital Audio Fest earlier this month.

Audio Note U.K. CDT Five Transport. You may have heard this at any number of shows. This is an excellent sounding trooper that has seen more show hotel rooms...

An old used Auralic Aries on the bottom shelf there. Yes we have Roon and Tidal and our goal is to make Tidal sound better here than digital and analog does on most other systems, anywhere. Sounds stupifyingly great going directly into the Audio Note Fifth Element and Fifth Force (after this photo was taken) which we are breaking in here these last 2 weeks. So I think we will get there :).

Emm Labs DV2 DAC with volume control. Performing high-res duties, and sounds like Emm Lab's trademark "solid-state that sounds like music" sound. Good to have them back in the system.

Triangle Art Master Reference turntable and controller. Very high-quality sound in an attractive package. We use their tonearm and cartridge and just wish the rack was a wee bit shorter (Neli is 5'4").

Harmonic Resolutions System VXR equipment rack. A precision engineered no-nonsense (i.e. uses the scientific method) approach to vibration control. It is also very, very heavy. We set it up so we can stand behind the rack (Neli better than I!) and connect and tweak things, so that is nice.

As you can see, Neli put up curtains behind the system to help with the in-room reflections as well as the overall visual appearance of the system. Audiophile wives. What can I say? :)

What we have here, in our opinion, stuffed into perhaps a room that is a wee bit smaller than what we would want (ha ha), are speakers that seriously rivals (and to our surprise betters in most ways!) any speaker $500K and below (and if you know us, you know what we are talking about) [these are currently selling in the $165K range., but don't quote me. Neli is the one that has everything memorized]. Clearly the best sounding tube amplifier (back-in-the-day, we thought the Lamm ML3 took the crown w/r to resolution - but no longer. Time marches on - it has been 10 years - and Audio Note keeps improving things on almost a weekly basis). Then there are the best sounding DACs in terms of something a person might actually want to listen to AND marvel at.

Blah blah blah... this is all to say we are really happy and kind of taken aback. We didn't even try and position the speakers until last week - so enchanted by the actual sound we paid no attention to the soundstage etc.. [Kind of embarrassing and I am sure Neli will smack me for saying this. But it is the only explanation I have for the fact that we listened for several weeks with one speaker an inch or so further from the wall and toed out quite a bit more than the other.....Look at the photo closely :)]

Oh, and the feet? Just chillin' one fine Fall evening. I am the one on the left. ;-)



View attachment 59147
Hello Neli and Mike!
What IS the color of the horns in your Acapella Audio Arts 'Apollon' speakers (and in the previously shown 'High Cellini')?
I am asking because I have just yesterday ordered myself a pair of Acapella speakers in the same white cabinet and cover but have not yet decided about the horn color.... and I really like what I see in above picture.;)

Best Regards,
Raimund
 

LL21

Well-Known Member
Dec 26, 2010
14,411
2,509
1,448
Hi, I heard the Cellini. This is the entry speaker if you want the plasma tweeter. What did I hear... I heard tremendous extension of high frequencies without any harhness. I heard a big sound without any shift in middle and high frequencies (best you look up why this is on the Acapella site). The bass was tout without any delay. And to top it all off... NEVER did I hear slam like with this speaker. For me the search has ended but it is still too early for me financially. These speakers are totally unique. I have heard the big Magicos, Wilsons, Avalons etc. etc and they all sound technical in comparison. Maybe the best way to compare these speakers is to the sound of the top of the line Audio Notes: analogue, organic, transparant and true to tone. Hope this helps.
Thank you...very interesting. I will make sure to take the opportunity to hear some of the bigger Acapellas when the opportunities arises.
 
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Amir

Well-Known Member
May 3, 2021
803
620
160
45
Tehran, Iran
www.amiraudio.com
Thanks Mike I hope you and Neli are well
 

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