Gian 60 is back,Kalista,Acoustat,clearaudio

gian60

Well-Known Member
Apr 17, 2016
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Dear all,
After one year and half of my bad situation for my job in textile business due this stupid Covid,i was very quiet,but now finally situation is very very good,so i start to think to music and hifi with clear mind and happy heart.

I had Quad Corner Ribbon,few used because havent a good amp to match and have no corner to put this speaker because wall of my room are long 9 meters.
My friend living 5 minutes from my home with some trade took Acoustat X like new,only one owner,with amp perfect and bought 16 new tube Sylvania like original,8 to use and 8 to keep in stock,but never used Acoustat because has 6 system at home,big WE,Kondo 3 way speaker,Audiotekne,was mine,Yamamura Dionisio,old Goodmans, a 3 way horn with Yamamura woofer,mid we 555 and tweeter tad,and always liked my Quad because are exclusive and old product and wanted to put in a small room in the corner with ongaku amp so we trade and give some money to me over the Acoustat.

I have a lot of product in some corner that i dont use,like Radford Sta 15,Albarry,Decca jubilee and Audiotekne carts,Schopper 124,Koetsu arm,Leica camera,earphones,ARC D52B,ecc,ecc, so i trade with 2 friend and i took from my friend distributor Kalista Dream Play One,absolutly the best digital i listen in my life,very natural and dynamic and seems vinyl.
I had Burmester 969/970,Cec TL0 with Kondo dac and ANK 5 signature,DCS,Wadia S7I,CH D1 with Burmester 969 transport,but no one had this beautiful sound..
Ked already proposed me to to use Kalista like transport with Lampi,was sure first thing he could tell me.

Then i founded from another friend at a very very good price Clearaudio phono statement,that can use also like Line preamp and i took changing with other products i dont use.
This phono Statement is a 2 chassis,34 kg weight,with external battery power supply.
You can use only phono connected to a line premp and can change gain and put impedance 5,20,50,100,250,500,1000,47.000 ohm and has an equalizer,that you can put on or off,where can increase or decrease of 6 db,60,6000 and 10.000 hz.
I tried this phono in CH/Montagna system with Lambda sl and sound was very good.
Very similar to CH P1/X1,CH is little more natural and magic on mid.
Now i am using only like line preamp with Acoustat X that has own otl amp,and sound very well.
Sunday i tried CH L1 in this system,but CH sound better in every parameter.
So i found this Clearaudio statemet exceptional like phono and good in line.

Why Acoustat?

I had Acoustat 2+2 in 1983/87 with Arc sp 10 and D 250 and Jadis 80,but my dream was Acoustat X with his own otl amp or Monitor,exactly same but with 4 panels instead 3.
I listened this speaker only 2 times 40 years ago and was very impressed,and was courios after 40 years if liked a lot or not.
In 1978 i visited one man one hour from my home because was selling TT Mitchell Prisma and i went to see and to buy and he changed with Gale and when i enter in his home i saw his system,ML1 with Acoustat X,i listened and was shocked,and one year later in a shop in Milan i listened with ARC SP 6 and then never saw and listened.

But now how they sound?
I am shocked like 40 years ago,could be more because with Kalista,Clearaudio Statement and Vyda cables the result in incredible.
I had Soundlab A1 with 4 ML 20 bridged and Yamamura TT,but sound was slower and darker than this and less transparent,I had Quad 57 and 63,could be little better mid,but high,dynamic,power,bass and high extension no comparison,i had Acoustat 2+2 but this are better and more real sound,could be the interface of Acoustat 2+2 was not very good and ARC i used was not a good match,I had Audiostatic 300,very transparent but lack this body and this natural sound of instrument,listened many time Stax 83,i was very near to buy,but not as good like this,only fantastic voice,so here the sound is very transparent and natural and i liked a lot
Ked will put some video,even if video cannot listen the reality of instrunment.
This i can say is also a very natural system.

If you think can use a decent cd,an AGI preamp with 600 usd and this speaker can find in italy around 3500/4500 euro now,depend if are perfect or not and i guarantee sound is better of many system i listened at 100/150K
 

MRJAZZ

Industry Expert
Jan 20, 2014
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here some photos
Very Cool Gian......I had many Acoustats back in the day, including the DD Tube units. Some of the very best sound that I have ever experienced....fond memories indeed. The Acoustat Monitor 4 with the DD Tube amps were my favorites. Enjoy....
Cheers.....
 
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gian60

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Apr 17, 2016
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This was one of my dream in 1985/1977 together with mark Levinson
I remember in 1974 my father bought a Mercedes 2000 at cost Lira 3.200.000
In 1974 proce of this Acoustat was
Lira 4.194.000
I have the magazine Suono that review this speaker in 1974 with price 4.194.000
 

LL21

Well-Known Member
Dec 26, 2010
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Fantastic update...most importantly...good to see you are BACK!
 

Kcin

VIP/Donor
Mar 27, 2016
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Nice!, I had Acoustat X and Model 3 .. should of kept the X. They are fabulous. People complain about beaming and one single spot- it is true- however, at this level there is only one best spot to listen to a system -in my opinion. Wandering around is not what a high performance system is routinely asked to do.

Directly driving electrostatics, is what I am convinced is necessary, to get the drive and Volt-amps necessary to bring them alive. I now use direct drive Beveridges. You mention the purity of the Quad ESLs- I agree- very difficult to surpass for any speaker in the midrange.


Have fun.
 

Solypsa

Well-Known Member
Jun 7, 2017
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www.solypsa.com
...but now finally situation is very very good,so i start to think to music and hifi with clear mind and happy heart.
This is wonderful news. A happy heart is good medicine :)
AGI preamp
This one is new to me- thanks for the tip.

I heard once a Dayton Wright SPS mk3 preamp that is from similar era and price that also was quite good...
 

mullard88

Well-Known Member
Jun 5, 2010
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I remember my pair of Acoustat 2+2. With the Counterpoint SA 20 hybrid amplifier, it was my first experience of hair raising realism from the sound of hi fi . Sadly, the Counterpoint SA 20 was not a dependable amplifier. The two other amplifiers I tried with the Acoustat 2+2 were the Spectral DMA 200 and the FM Acoustic 300A. Neither was as synergistic as the Counterpoint SA 20 amplifier with the Acoustat 2+2. I parted with the Acoustat 2+2 and started my Spectral audio adventure.
 
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bonzo75

Member Sponsor
Feb 26, 2014
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Winterreise video - acoustat X

 

bonzo75

Member Sponsor
Feb 26, 2014
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Jazz video - acoustat X

 

gian60

Well-Known Member
Apr 17, 2016
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Fantastic update...most importantly...good to see you are BACK!
I never left,but no money for hifi,and little stress,now much better,but big problem i would like to buy all what i couldnt buy in last 2 years
 
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gian60

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Apr 17, 2016
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This system is an old sound system,like Beveridge,Stax,old Altec and Jbl,but very musical and cheap,so you can have a second system to enjoy at a cheap price but very musical and pleasant.

My system with CH and Montagna is really at another level,but this is very pleasant
 

Audiophile Bill

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Mar 23, 2015
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Congrats, Gian. Those videos sound superb. Makes a very strong case for getting such a system and spending rest of budget on great software.
 

Audiophile Bill

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Mar 23, 2015
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JackD201

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
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A Happy Gian 60 makes for a Happy JackD201 :)
 
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microstrip

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May 30, 2010
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This system is an old sound system,like Beveridge,Stax,old Altec and Jbl,but very musical and cheap,so you can have a second system to enjoy at a cheap price but very musical and pleasant.

My system with CH and Montagna is really at another level,but this is very pleasant

The Metronome CD players and transports help a lot creating a very pleasant sound. IMHO a good example how the proper amount of judiciously tuned jitter can add a vinyl like sound to digital.

For some recordings I miss the Metronome's rich and sometimes bigger than life sound. They were great for the SoundLab's. Curiously the great looking acrylic and chrome massive transport was not a good match with the dCS Vivaldi.
 

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