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

[Tango]

I also have arranged to purchase a second Studer A820.

May I ask why two Studers?

Kind regards,
Tang

 

[Ron Resnick]

Ron,

congrats on these significant decisions. I know these were big things on your mind and hopefully you can get some peace of mind from having these parts settled.

I applaud the 2nd Studer A-820, the VTL Siegfried II's, the Taiko Tana, and Io Eclipse. great products all.

those VTL's should eliminate any concern for power with your Pendragon's.

cheers,

Mike

Thank you very much for your support and kind words, Mike! And thank you, also, LL21!

I am happy to have made these decisions.

 

[Ron Resnick]

Move-in day must be getting close, congrats Ron!

david

Sadly, David, no. We are now thinking we will not be in the house until October or November.

 

[Ron Resnick]

Nice choices across the board. Glad to hear VTL will be your amplifier. I think it’s the best choice to match with the Aesthetix preamps’s.

Thank you, Dan. I personally have found Aesthetix and VTL to work well together.

Why do you feel the VTL amps are a good match with the Aesthetix pieces?

 

[Ron Resnick]

Awesome Ron. I see no weakness. The kind of system that only comes from extreme knowledge and methodical due diligence.

Thank you, Paul. I do not know anything about any extreme knowledge or any special due diligence. All I know is that I have been happy with the Aesthetix to VTL match in the past, and I assume I will be happy with the Aesthetix to VTL match with upgraded components in the future.

 

[Ron Resnick]

Great amplifiers. There is a pair playing beautifully less than 2 miles from me! When do you expect to to move the complete system to your room?

Literally the only piece which is in my actual, physical possession is the cartridge. If the year has an "8" on the end of it when we move in I will be okay.

 

[Ron Resnick]

May I ask why two Studers?

Kind regards,
Tang

Tang, I hope to get deeper into the tape club (cult? ) In general, I just think tape sounds amazing. And no VTA to adjust per LP (haha Peter! ) Also I have learned the potential value of being able to dub from one machine to another.

At Mike's I saw again the amazingly gentle way the A820 handles tape. That is reassuring for tapes that cost $450 per reel and up!

I have ordered a lot of tapes from Leslie Brooks over the last couple of years. I also ordered three of Chad's tapes, and I am sure I will order more as his library grows. I hope to get deeper into the master tape sourcing world (underworld?).

Finally, once the system is set up I really expect that more than a third of my listening will be to tape. I would not be surprised if, over time, I listen 60% to LP and 40% to tape, or maybe even half and half.

Since my musical knowledge and interests are pretty limited (I have maybe 10 favorite classical pieces and maybe 10 favorite jazz pieces) I already have a fair fraction of my favorite classical and jazz music on tape. I even have some of my favorite 1970s and 1980s rock and pop stuff on tape already.

Mike has taught me the sonic value of 45 rpm. As Classic Records did 33 rpm reissues and then 33 rpm reissues on special vinyl and then 45 rpm reissues, and then single-sided 45 rpm reissues, I bought every iteration each step of the way. I will want to sell all of the earlier variants and keep only the 45 rpm versions of albums of which I have multiple iterations.

 

[rockitman]

Ron,

unless you have many, many tapes...you will get board with the same music over and over. That's where vinyl kicks in.....so much more variety and not far from tape sonically.

 

[Ron Resnick]

Ron,

unless you have many, many tapes...you will get board with the same music over and over. That's where vinyl kicks in.....so much more variety and not far from tape sonically.

Yeaaahhh . . . maybe . . . well . . . possibly . . . but I don't. I have had the same breakfast almost every day for the last five years.

Many people have learned that I can listen to the Bill Henderson "Send in the Clowns" (Classic Records/Jazz Planet) over and over and over and over -- you get the idea.

 

[ddk]

Sadly, David, no. We are now thinking we will not be in the house until October or November.

Sorry to hear it’s still so far away .

david

 

[Hi-FiGuy]

Ron
What was the problem with the hillside that started the rebuild process?

 

[dan31]

Thank you, Dan. I personally have found Aesthetix and VTL to work well together.

Why do you feel the VTL amps are a good match with the Aesthetix pieces?

The VTL series II has been upgraded to a fully balanced topology. The input impedence is complimentary to your long cable run from the preamp. You can switch between the various modes and feedback to tailor the sound to your liking. Enjoy. At this price I would consider the Boulder 2160 but I understand you are a tube man all the way.

 

[Tango]

Tang, I hope to get deeper into the tape club (cult? ) In general, I just think tape sounds amazing. And no VTA to adjust per LP (haha Peter! ) Also I have learned the potential value of being able to dub from one machine to another.

At Mike's I saw again the amazingly gentle way the A820 handles tape. That is reassuring for tapes that cost $450 per reel and up!

I have ordered a lot of tapes from Leslie Brooks over the last couple of years. I also ordered three of Chad's tapes, and I am sure I will order more as his library grows. I hope to get deeper into the master tape sourcing world (underworld?).

Finally, once the system is set up I really expect that more than a third of my listening will be to tape. I would not be surprised if, over time, I listen 60% to LP and 40% to tape, or maybe even half and half.

Since my musical knowledge and interests are pretty limited (I have maybe 10 favorite classical pieces and maybe 10 favorite jazz pieces) I already have a fair fraction of my favorite classical and jazz music on tape. I even have some of my favorite 1970s and 1980s rock and pop stuff on tape already.

Mike has taught me the sonic value of 45 rpm. As Classic Records did 33 rpm reissues and then 33 rpm reissues on special vinyl and then 45 rpm reissues, and then single-sided 45 rpm reissues, I bought every iteration each step of the way. I will want to sell all of the earlier variants and keep only the 45 rpm versions of albums of which I have multiple iterations.

My tape front might not be at the highest level of friends’ in this forum. But For the type of music I normally listen to, I don’t find tape any more tasty than vinyl “except” for Jonathan’s IPI tapes. For 50’s 60’s jazz in general I think vinyl rules. It just sounds so alive...more living. And when you dig into mono, it almost like transporting you back to the past. May be it is just me that like variety and different sounds...just like eating. Unless tape machines can give me variety in sound I would just stick to one machine. My thinking is live with one machine first and if you are really into it then buy another one.

Kind regards,
Tang

 

[Ron Resnick]

You have an amazing tape set-up. You have A820 + Doshi tape preamp. Many people consider that to be the best set-up these days.

Mike played for me on tape some very convincing jazz.

 

[Ron Resnick]

The VTL series II has been upgraded to a fully balanced topology. The input impedence is complimentary to your long cable run from the preamp. You can switch between the various modes and feedback to tailor the sound to your liking. Enjoy. At this price I would consider the Boulder 2160 but I understand you are a tube man all the way.

I understand now. Thank you.

 

[Ron Resnick]

Ron
What was the problem with the hillside that started the rebuild process?

Two weeks after I set up my long-term system in the space you see in all of the photos the painter came by to do some touch up work and noticed that the sheetrock on the concrete retaining wall on the inside (the front wall of the listening space) was wet. This location is, on the lower floor, about 20’ below street level.

A lot of forensic water testing indicated that the concrete retaining wall holding back the hillside under the street above from demolishing the house was improperly waterproofed. So the entire retaining wall –– 120 feet long and 22’ below street level -- had to be excavated and re-waterproofed.

It was like they were building a coal mine deep under the street. That phase of the project started five years ago.

 

[DaveyF]

Two weeks after I set up my long-term system in the space you see in all of the photos the painter came by to do some touch up work and noticed that the sheetrock on the concrete retaining wall on the inside (the front wall of the listening space) was wet. This location is, on the lower floor, about 20’ below street level.

A lot of forensic water testing indicated that the concrete retaining wall holding back the hillside under the street above from demolishing the house was improperly waterproofed. So the entire retaining wall –– 120 feet long and 22’ below street level -- had to be excavated and re-waterproofed.

It was like they were building a coal mine deep under the street. That phase of the project started five years ago.

Very unfortunate circumstance. One question, did you not have a physical and a geological inspection before buying this property?

 

[Ron Resnick]

yes

 

[DaveyF]

yes

Hmmm??

 

[microstrip]

You have an amazing tape set-up. You have A820 + Doshi tape preamp. Many people consider that to be the best set-up these days.

Mike played for me on tape some very convincing jazz.

I appreciate a lot the convenience and look of the Studer A820. But addressing just the sound quality and tape handling for playback a well cared A80 is equivalent to an A820. And much cheaper and easier to service ... The Doshi tape preamplfier is great - it has a solid state IC buffer followed by tubes.

BTW, one my never tried projects is changing a few components in the equalization of my Audio Research Phono REF3 SE to play the TapeProject tapes. I heard that Ralph Karten last version of his MP1 preamplfier can be used as a tape preamplifier - Vladimir Lamm could also do it easily to his phono preamplfiers as they have step-up transformers.