Field Coils for Audio Systems

[dcathro]

Hi DetroitVinylRob,

Speaking of Tungars, John stopped by my house and helped setup the T 1.5s. They survived the one-year hibernation in storage, yeah. I took out the horn section and kept those with me in the apartment and brought them with me in a U-Haul along with other audio equipment and special edition records. It took about a good 1.5 - 2 hours to get the speakers reassembled. We had to unpack the speakers first and remove all of the shipping protection that John sent me to protect the speakers prior to them getting loaded on the moving truck and stored for nearly a year. These are huge beasts, but they fit nicely in the new room which is larger than the last room. The new room dimensions are 32 X 22 X 10. Those were the dimensions before double 5/8 drywall, Greenglue and resilient channel throughout the entire room, floor to ceiling.

John also brought a brand-new pair of Tungars. How can I say no. These were brand new in the box so I got to witness opening the boxes and installation of the tubes. These Tungar power supplies are very heavy. After tube installation, we moved them into the listening room to wire them to the T 1.5s. The BK Precision PS connection is different than the Tungars and the T 1.5s had to be reconfigured to be able to power both the mids and bass separately for use with the Tungars. It's easy and the T series are ready for a dual power supply option. I guess you know that based on your experimentation of the two BK Precisions PS for each speaker and I assume you had to rewire yours the same way to be able to power the midrange and bass drivers separately.

John and Mike left before I was able to cable all of the audio components and begin testing. I tested each component individually before I connected everything in a chain. One Mcintosh amp needed a set of new tubes because it went into fault mode when the plate power grid would power up. I will isolate the bad tube once I can locate the tube tester. The house is in chaos from all of the moving boxes and with stuff not in the rooms that they are supposed to be in.

Sound with the Tungars: Oh my!!! All I can say is from initial play to a warmed up system. The clarity in the mids and depth of the bass was just incredible after the entire system was warmed up. It was a total night and day difference. Some of that is atypical of tube warm up, especially in the Aesthetix Io dual power supply setup, we all know that song, but things seemed different this time. It seemed as though the music was effortless in its ability to play back vocals and capture the venue with more presence. My wife said that it seemed as if the acoustic space was more realistic. We were playing Joe Bonamassa release "Live At Carnegie Hall" and the song we chose to sample was "Drive".

I had to remind her that the room is not measured and treated yet and the room is larger. We both agreed that despite the current state of the room and not being able to play my better turntable, arms (SME/Transrotor), and cartridges (Hyperion/Opus 1), the Transrotor Dark Star with Hyperion Sussaro MKII was really a good shoe-in to test the Tungar power supplies and it all sounded great to us. The same voltage was used for the mids (15vdc) and bass (18vdc) as what John recommended for dual BK Precisions power supplies on each speaker. I only had a few hours of listening, but it was a great start and no noticeable increase in room temps despite all of the tubes, 64 of them. The Tungars felt tube warm but not hot.

As a wrap up, I would say that powering each of the field coil drivers in the Classic Audio T series is well worth the upgrade due to the sonic improvements. The depth of bass was seriously something that I noted. I walked out of the room and closed the door, left the volume to run the amps around 30 watts with 100 watt peaks, the sound was loud and clear in the room but outside it was as if I had turned on a subwoofer. I know the 18" downward bass driver could do bass well at my last house but this seems different as the drums and bass were definitely deeper outside the room. No, not a muddy bass like some car stereo blasting windows out and bass resonance galore, this was super deep bass that was as if I had turned on a subwoofer. I like it. Going back to the mids and highs, I tweaked the mid and high pots on the speakers to straight up as a starting point. I left the pots at those settings throughout the listening session and I felt that that was probably the ideal setting with the Tungars. Just to reiterate, the midrange presence appeared to have way more depth adding to the space of the venue. When Joe sings, it reverberates throughout the room with the ambient live feeling that you get, well, at a live venue that has ambience.

Using Shunyata Sigma NR2 on the Tungars and on most source equipment. Each Tungar is plugged in their own 15 amp circuit.

It would be interesting to get together to compare these two setups. Enclosed are some pics. I am north of Grand Rapids in small town USA, LOL. We could meet at Classic Audio for a demo day as well. 2 hours for me one way to Brighton.
View attachment 116814 View attachment 116815 View attachment 116816 View attachment 116817 View attachment 116818 View attachment 116821 View attachment 116823 View attachment 116824 View attachment 116825

Love your walk in "wardrobe"

Did you compare the power supplies in your new room?

 

[adrianywu]

Hi DetroitVinylRob,

Speaking of Tungars, John stopped by my house and helped setup the T 1.5s. They survived the one-year hibernation in storage, yeah. I took out the horn section and kept those with me in the apartment and brought them with me in a U-Haul along with other audio equipment and special edition records. It took about a good 1.5 - 2 hours to get the speakers reassembled. We had to unpack the speakers first and remove all of the shipping protection that John sent me to protect the speakers prior to them getting loaded on the moving truck and stored for nearly a year. These are huge beasts, but they fit nicely in the new room which is larger than the last room. The new room dimensions are 32 X 22 X 10. Those were the dimensions before double 5/8 drywall, Greenglue and resilient channel throughout the entire room, floor to ceiling.

John also brought a brand-new pair of Tungars. How can I say no. These were brand new in the box so I got to witness opening the boxes and installation of the tubes. These Tungar power supplies are very heavy. After tube installation, we moved them into the listening room to wire them to the T 1.5s. The BK Precision PS connection is different than the Tungars and the T 1.5s had to be reconfigured to be able to power both the mids and bass separately for use with the Tungars. It's easy and the T series are ready for a dual power supply option. I guess you know that based on your experimentation of the two BK Precisions PS for each speaker and I assume you had to rewire yours the same way to be able to power the midrange and bass drivers separately.

John and Mike left before I was able to cable all of the audio components and begin testing. I tested each component individually before I connected everything in a chain. One Mcintosh amp needed a set of new tubes because it went into fault mode when the plate power grid would power up. I will isolate the bad tube once I can locate the tube tester. The house is in chaos from all of the moving boxes and with stuff not in the rooms that they are supposed to be in.

Sound with the Tungars: Oh my!!! All I can say is from initial play to a warmed up system. The clarity in the mids and depth of the bass was just incredible after the entire system was warmed up. It was a total night and day difference. Some of that is atypical of tube warm up, especially in the Aesthetix Io dual power supply setup, we all know that song, but things seemed different this time. It seemed as though the music was effortless in its ability to play back vocals and capture the venue with more presence. My wife said that it seemed as if the acoustic space was more realistic. We were playing Joe Bonamassa release "Live At Carnegie Hall" and the song we chose to sample was "Drive".

I had to remind her that the room is not measured and treated yet and the room is larger. We both agreed that despite the current state of the room and not being able to play my better turntable, arms (SME/Transrotor), and cartridges (Hyperion/Opus 1), the Transrotor Dark Star with Hyperion Sussaro MKII was really a good shoe-in to test the Tungar power supplies and it all sounded great to us. The same voltage was used for the mids (15vdc) and bass (18vdc) as what John recommended for dual BK Precisions power supplies on each speaker. I only had a few hours of listening, but it was a great start and no noticeable increase in room temps despite all of the tubes, 64 of them. The Tungars felt tube warm but not hot.

As a wrap up, I would say that powering each of the field coil drivers in the Classic Audio T series is well worth the upgrade due to the sonic improvements. The depth of bass was seriously something that I noted. I walked out of the room and closed the door, left the volume to run the amps around 30 watts with 100 watt peaks, the sound was loud and clear in the room but outside it was as if I had turned on a subwoofer. I know the 18" downward bass driver could do bass well at my last house but this seems different as the drums and bass were definitely deeper outside the room. No, not a muddy bass like some car stereo blasting windows out and bass resonance galore, this was super deep bass that was as if I had turned on a subwoofer. I like it. Going back to the mids and highs, I tweaked the mid and high pots on the speakers to straight up as a starting point. I left the pots at those settings throughout the listening session and I felt that that was probably the ideal setting with the Tungars. Just to reiterate, the midrange presence appeared to have way more depth adding to the space of the venue. When Joe sings, it reverberates throughout the room with the ambient live feeling that you get, well, at a live venue that has ambience.

Using Shunyata Sigma NR2 on the Tungars and on most source equipment. Each Tungar is plugged in their own 15 amp circuit.

It would be interesting to get together to compare these two setups. Enclosed are some pics. I am north of Grand Rapids in small town USA, LOL. We could meet at Classic Audio for a demo day as well. 2 hours for me one way to Brighton.
View attachment 116814 View attachment 116815 View attachment 116816 View attachment 116817 View attachment 116818 View attachment 116821 View attachment 116823 View attachment 116824 View attachment 116825

Thanks for the feedback. Glad to hear you appreciate the PS. I am quite surprised someone is still producing Tungar bulbs. I wonder if there are other users besides audiophiles. One of the original bulbs burned out after two months, so I bought another six from Taobao. The boxes are old, so I wonder if they are NOS. But they are cheap, about US$9 a piece.

 

[audioquest4life]

Love your walk in "wardrobe"

Did you compare the power supplies in your new room?

Thank you. The “walk-in wardrobe”, aka Library of Congress for records, was a project that was part of the house build. i asked my contractor to build custom shelving for all of the records. The wardrobe will be full once I open the other 15 or so boxes of records. The woodworker never built shelves like these and is quite proud. I told him I will invite him and the prime contractor back To the house for a listening session.

I did not compare the BK power supplies against the Tungars.

 

[audioquest4life]

Thanks for the feedback. Glad to hear you appreciate the PS. I am quite surprised someone is still producing Tungar bulbs. I wonder if there are other users besides audiophiles. One of the original bulbs burned out after two months, so I bought another six from Taobao. The boxes are old, so I wonder if they are NOS. But they are cheap, about US$9 a piece.

You are welcome. The tubes are Chinese and are very old. I got two spares with each power supply.
Is Taobao a tube vendor? Two months is not a long time.

I guess it is safe to say that powering the mids and bass field coil system separately adds more robustness and vibrancy to the sound but ignorance is bliss. I love the sound of the field coil system with one power supply. In this hobby sometimes extracting the most from a system does entail experimenting and listening for differences. I am also one that normally thinks that incremental enhancements that add costs are generally not worth the price of admission. However, there are exceptions.

 

[audioquest4life]

Love your walk in "wardrobe"

Did you compare the power supplies in your new room?

I did not compare both power supplies due to time constraints. I just used the Tungars without first using the BK precision power supplies because the speaker designer brought the Tungars for me to test.

 

[DetroitVinylRob]

Hi DetroitVinylRob,

Speaking of Tungars, John stopped by my house and helped setup the T 1.5s. They survived the one-year hibernation in storage, yeah. I took out the horn section and kept those with me in the apartment and brought them with me in a U-Haul along with other audio equipment and special edition records. It took about a good 1.5 - 2 hours to get the speakers reassembled. We had to unpack the speakers first and remove all of the shipping protection that John sent me to protect the speakers prior to them getting loaded on the moving truck and stored for nearly a year. These are huge beasts, but they fit nicely in the new room which is larger than the last room. The new room dimensions are 32 X 22 X 10. Those were the dimensions before double 5/8 drywall, Greenglue and resilient channel throughout the entire room, floor to ceiling.

John also brought a brand-new pair of Tungars. How can I say no. These were brand new in the box so I got to witness opening the boxes and installation of the tubes. These Tungar power supplies are very heavy. After tube installation, we moved them into the listening room to wire them to the T 1.5s. The BK Precision PS connection is different than the Tungars and the T 1.5s had to be reconfigured to be able to power both the mids and bass separately for use with the Tungars. It's easy and the T series are ready for a dual power supply option. I guess you know that based on your experimentation of the two BK Precisions PS for each speaker and I assume you had to rewire yours the same way to be able to power the midrange and bass drivers separately.

John and Mike left before I was able to cable all of the audio components and begin testing. I tested each component individually before I connected everything in a chain. One Mcintosh amp needed a set of new tubes because it went into fault mode when the plate power grid would power up. I will isolate the bad tube once I can locate the tube tester. The house is in chaos from all of the moving boxes and with stuff not in the rooms that they are supposed to be in.

Sound with the Tungars: Oh my!!! All I can say is from initial play to a warmed up system. The clarity in the mids and depth of the bass was just incredible after the entire system was warmed up. It was a total night and day difference. Some of that is atypical of tube warm up, especially in the Aesthetix Io dual power supply setup, we all know that song, but things seemed different this time. It seemed as though the music was effortless in its ability to play back vocals and capture the venue with more presence. My wife said that it seemed as if the acoustic space was more realistic. We were playing Joe Bonamassa release "Live At Carnegie Hall" and the song we chose to sample was "Drive".

I had to remind her that the room is not measured and treated yet and the room is larger. We both agreed that despite the current state of the room and not being able to play my better turntable, arms (SME/Transrotor), and cartridges (Hyperion/Opus 1), the Transrotor Dark Star with Hyperion Sussaro MKII was really a good shoe-in to test the Tungar power supplies and it all sounded great to us. The same voltage was used for the mids (15vdc) and bass (18vdc) as what John recommended for dual BK Precisions power supplies on each speaker. I only had a few hours of listening, but it was a great start and no noticeable increase in room temps despite all of the tubes, 64 of them. The Tungars felt tube warm but not hot.

As a wrap up, I would say that powering each of the field coil drivers in the Classic Audio T series is well worth the upgrade due to the sonic improvements. The depth of bass was seriously something that I noted. I walked out of the room and closed the door, left the volume to run the amps around 30 watts with 100 watt peaks, the sound was loud and clear in the room but outside it was as if I had turned on a subwoofer. I know the 18" downward bass driver could do bass well at my last house but this seems different as the drums and bass were definitely deeper outside the room. No, not a muddy bass like some car stereo blasting windows out and bass resonance galore, this was super deep bass that was as if I had turned on a subwoofer. I like it. Going back to the mids and highs, I tweaked the mid and high pots on the speakers to straight up as a starting point. I left the pots at those settings throughout the listening session and I felt that that was probably the ideal setting with the Tungars. Just to reiterate, the midrange presence appeared to have way more depth adding to the space of the venue. When Joe sings, it reverberates throughout the room with the ambient live feeling that you get, well, at a live venue that has ambience.

Using Shunyata Sigma NR2 on the Tungars and on most source equipment. Each Tungar is plugged in their own 15 amp circuit.

It would be interesting to get together to compare these two setups. Enclosed are some pics. I am north of Grand Rapids in small town USA, LOL. We could meet at Classic Audio for a demo day as well. 2 hours for me one way to Brighton.
View attachment 116814 View attachment 116815 View attachment 116816 View attachment 116817 View attachment 116818 View attachment 116821 View attachment 116823 View attachment 116824 View attachment 116825

Congratulations. Nice pic’s.

Yes, so much to compare and talk about. Your description of the Tungar listening experience very closely mirrors ours with the quad of BKs in most general respects. And of course words can never really cover all the nuances that we can experience with a good listening session. Let’s message each other and discuss details.

As you may know, from other threads here and comments of mine, my Brinkmann Balance is coming into two of the most serious stereo cartridges I’ve ever owned. So I need to work through an adjustment/break-in period and probably by mid to late October, the two will be fully flushed out and creating their individual magic.

Coincidently we have a daughter living in Grand Rapids. We visit Frederick Meijer Gardens quite often and will probably be out there for ArtPrize.

 

[adrianywu]

You are welcome. The tubes are Chinese and are very old. I got two spares with each power supply.
Is Taobao a tube vendor? Two months is not a long time.

I guess it is safe to say that powering the mids and bass field coil system separately adds more robustness and vibrancy to the sound but ignorance is bliss. I love the sound of the field coil system with one power supply. In this hobby sometimes extracting the most from a system does entail experimenting and listening for differences. I am also one that normally thinks that incremental enhancements that add costs are generally not worth the price of admission. However, there are exceptions.

Taobao is probably the largest on line marketplace in the world. They operate outside China as Alibaba.com, but with only a fraction of what is available in China. Many manufacturers sell direct to customers there. Very useful if you are looking for difficult to find parts etc. Lots of tubes direct from the likes of Psvane and Linlai. Line Magnetic has a shop there as well. I can send a CAD file and a schematic to one of the electronics manufacturers and get a printed board within 3 days. Same with chassis. And I have been able to find non-standard (or no longer standard) fasteners, connectors etc. for restoring vintage equipment. Really useful.
The bulb that burned out, which came with the power supply, left a glue like substance on the connector. I needed to scrape off the stuff before I could loosen the screws to disconnect the wire from the anode. I see that there is glue between the anode pin and the glass, and part of the glue has melted, which probably led to leakage. When I look at the bulbs I bought separately, I do not find the glue; the pin is sealed directly by the glass. It might be due to different batches. Take a look at your bulbs and be aware of the problem. I could detect a burning smell a few weeks before this happened.

 

[Zeotrope]

Hi DetroitVinylRob,

Speaking of Tungars, John stopped by my house and helped setup the T 1.5s. They survived the one-year hibernation in storage, yeah. I took out the horn section and kept those with me in the apartment and brought them with me in a U-Haul along with other audio equipment and special edition records. It took about a good 1.5 - 2 hours to get the speakers reassembled. We had to unpack the speakers first and remove all of the shipping protection that John sent me to protect the speakers prior to them getting loaded on the moving truck and stored for nearly a year. These are huge beasts, but they fit nicely in the new room which is larger than the last room. The new room dimensions are 32 X 22 X 10. Those were the dimensions before double 5/8 drywall, Greenglue and resilient channel throughout the entire room, floor to ceiling.

John also brought a brand-new pair of Tungars. How can I say no. These were brand new in the box so I got to witness opening the boxes and installation of the tubes. These Tungar power supplies are very heavy. After tube installation, we moved them into the listening room to wire them to the T 1.5s. The BK Precision PS connection is different than the Tungars and the T 1.5s had to be reconfigured to be able to power both the mids and bass separately for use with the Tungars. It's easy and the T series are ready for a dual power supply option. I guess you know that based on your experimentation of the two BK Precisions PS for each speaker and I assume you had to rewire yours the same way to be able to power the midrange and bass drivers separately.

John and Mike left before I was able to cable all of the audio components and begin testing. I tested each component individually before I connected everything in a chain. One Mcintosh amp needed a set of new tubes because it went into fault mode when the plate power grid would power up. I will isolate the bad tube once I can locate the tube tester. The house is in chaos from all of the moving boxes and with stuff not in the rooms that they are supposed to be in.

Sound with the Tungars: Oh my!!! All I can say is from initial play to a warmed up system. The clarity in the mids and depth of the bass was just incredible after the entire system was warmed up. It was a total night and day difference. Some of that is atypical of tube warm up, especially in the Aesthetix Io dual power supply setup, we all know that song, but things seemed different this time. It seemed as though the music was effortless in its ability to play back vocals and capture the venue with more presence. My wife said that it seemed as if the acoustic space was more realistic. We were playing Joe Bonamassa release "Live At Carnegie Hall" and the song we chose to sample was "Drive".

I had to remind her that the room is not measured and treated yet and the room is larger. We both agreed that despite the current state of the room and not being able to play my better turntable, arms (SME/Transrotor), and cartridges (Hyperion/Opus 1), the Transrotor Dark Star with Hyperion Sussaro MKII was really a good shoe-in to test the Tungar power supplies and it all sounded great to us. The same voltage was used for the mids (15vdc) and bass (18vdc) as what John recommended for dual BK Precisions power supplies on each speaker. I only had a few hours of listening, but it was a great start and no noticeable increase in room temps despite all of the tubes, 64 of them. The Tungars felt tube warm but not hot.

As a wrap up, I would say that powering each of the field coil drivers in the Classic Audio T series is well worth the upgrade due to the sonic improvements. The depth of bass was seriously something that I noted. I walked out of the room and closed the door, left the volume to run the amps around 30 watts with 100 watt peaks, the sound was loud and clear in the room but outside it was as if I had turned on a subwoofer. I know the 18" downward bass driver could do bass well at my last house but this seems different as the drums and bass were definitely deeper outside the room. No, not a muddy bass like some car stereo blasting windows out and bass resonance galore, this was super deep bass that was as if I had turned on a subwoofer. I like it. Going back to the mids and highs, I tweaked the mid and high pots on the speakers to straight up as a starting point. I left the pots at those settings throughout the listening session and I felt that that was probably the ideal setting with the Tungars. Just to reiterate, the midrange presence appeared to have way more depth adding to the space of the venue. When Joe sings, it reverberates throughout the room with the ambient live feeling that you get, well, at a live venue that has ambience.

Using Shunyata Sigma NR2 on the Tungars and on most source equipment. Each Tungar is plugged in their own 15 amp circuit.

It would be interesting to get together to compare these two setups. Enclosed are some pics. I am north of Grand Rapids in small town USA, LOL. We could meet at Classic Audio for a demo day as well. 2 hours for me one way to Brighton.
View attachment 116814 View attachment 116815 View attachment 116816 View attachment 116817 View attachment 116818 View attachment 116821 View attachment 116823 View attachment 116824 View attachment 116825

Great writeup!

I personally don't use Tungar tubes because they have mercury vapour and with small kids I don't want to risk a health mess if one breaks. I did have this beauty custom made, which I unfortunately sold for this reason:

Try adding a Seismion active vibration isolation base under the power supply and be prepared for another step up in performance! I certainly experienced this with my WVL power supply.

 

[Zeotrope]

My custom made Wolf von Langa 4 coil field coil power supply works great!
I grounded it to a Shunyata Altaira Signal Hub and it's sitting on a Taiko Daiza and Seismion active isolation base. Each brought significant improvements to the sound.
Absolutely no comparison to a lab/benchtop power supply.

 

[adrianywu]

Great writeup!

I personally don't use Tungar tubes because they have mercury vapour and with small kids I don't want to risk a health mess if one breaks. I did have this beauty custom made, which I unfortunately sold for this reason:

Try adding a Seismion active vibration isolation base under the power supply and be prepared for another step up in performance! I certainly experienced this with my WVL power supply.

Tungar contains argon, not mercury. You are thinking of cold cathode rectifiers.

 

[Zeotrope]

Tungar contains argon, not mercury. You are thinking of cold cathode rectifiers.

There are Tungar mercury tubes.

 

[adrianywu]

There are Tungar mercury tubes.

Not according to the dealer I bought the spare tubes from.

https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z09.2.0.0.b4112e8dadtBwB&id=538008243586&_u=l2q1j5i10ac6

The site is in Chinese, but these are Argon filled tubes.

 

[Zeotrope]

Not according to the dealer I bought the spare tubes from.

https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z09.2.0.0.b4112e8dadtBwB&id=538008243586&_u=l2q1j5i10ac6

The site is in Chinese, but these are Argon filled tubes.

Ok great. Just saying that some are, not all.

 

[morricab]

Tungar contains argon, not mercury. You are thinking of cold cathode rectifiers.

There are types with argon only but types with argon and mercury and types with just mercury…they serve different purposes.

 

[adrianywu]

Ok great. Just saying that some are, not all.

I thought you were referring to the Classic Audio Tungar PS. I wonder if the two types are interchangeable, in which case you can consider using the Argon type. In my experience, Tungar PS is sonically worthwhile despite the expense and inconvenience.

 

[Zeotrope]

I thought you were referring to the Classic Audio Tungar PS. I wonder if the two types are interchangeable, in which case you can consider using the Argon type. In my experience, Tungar PS is sonically worthwhile despite the expense and inconvenience.

No, I was saying with my PSU the tubes had mercury in them. Mercury is fine, as long as the tube doesn’t break!

 

[audioquest4life]

Some additional updates. I was able to spend some time configuring more audio components and doing some test spins. I had to get longer IC's between the amps and preamp so I purchased 16-foot Shunyata Sigma's and a pair Mogami Platinum. The Mogami's for testing. The original IC's I had been using were custom made Tempo Electric pure silver 16-gauge wire with silver WBT's. The new cables all have XLR connections. I figured for the longer distance; It might be better using XLR. I am still going to order another set of the Tempo Electric ICs with the same WBT connectors. You know, for experimentation, LOL.

Now, for the sound impressions. With the new cables in place, I did not think I could provide an accurate overview of the new Tungar power supplies, due to that dreaded break in period, so I went back and forth between the Shunyata Sigma's and the old Tempo Electric. This was a lot of work as I had to move the amps to the left every time I used the Tempo cables while testing the Tungar's. I know my system well, despite the new room, and sub optimal room treatments for now, my familiarity with the system was there in spades, and the Tungar's imparted a naturalness to the music, a more at ease display of the musical spectrum, but at the same time seeming more lifelike. I went back and forth between the two cables, never touching the Mogami's because these were both great cables. I fell in love with the music all over again. The enchantment, the holographic portrayal of the acoustic space of the venue and liquidity of the voices just causes one to be mesmerized. The Tungar's added more to these elements that I describe, because again, I know my system. No matter what cable I used, my recollection of the previous field coil power supplies prior to using the Tungar's was not quite as enchanting as I am describing now, although they were still good. I think the Classic Audio Loudspeaker Tungar power supplies are something that one gets when their system is highly optimized or wants to maximize their speaker system. Either way, it is part of one's rationalization in the decision-making process.

Compared to my previous room and with the previous power supplies, the Tungar's also seemed to make the music more dynamic as well but in an easy way. I guess this might be something like Neo in the Matrix, very fast but fluid and deliberate movements which seemed to be at ease compared to the hyper moves of agent Smith. The original power supplies satisfied my musical needs for several years and if I had never demoed the Tungar's on my system, I would have not known what extra capabilities my speaker/system had with regards to music playback. The Tungar's bring out and enhance musical connections that one might not know are missing. Ignorance is bliss some say. Bass notes seems to have more depth and realism compared to the other power supplies...bass flows more effortlessly. Not a smack you in the face type of bass or boom note, but a natural and rich bass tone which makes you want to home in on what instrument is playing. The upper tones, especially the mids seem to me to be the most audible difference. That difference is the way in which the voices seem to just emanate from a given space or when instruments have that extra overtone and resonance adding to the realism. Wood thwacks and guitar picking really shine here with these power supplies.

Some of the music selected was mix of Fleetwood Mac, Dream LP, Al Dimeola Friday Night in San Francisco, Santana, Black Magic Women, Miles Davis Sketches of Spain, and James Bond Theme music. The last record I played was an original pressing of Richard Wagner Siegfreid recorded live at the 1955 Bayreuth Festival. Wow!! The vocals and instruments are a command performance. I never really listened to this type of music before. Now, it enthralls me and with the Tungar's, the ambience of the venue can be heard as well as felt, yes, I play loud. The Tungar's brought this type of music to life. I know the other power supplies would be great as well, but as I stated, the Tungar's are what you use to achieve the best from your system. Sometimes it is a subtle difference, other times not so.

For years, the standard power supply has been an effective part of the Classic Audio Loudspeaker field coil speaker magnet solution. I truly believe these refined Tungar power supplies are worth the effort to add to one's system if they want to optimize the musical qualities of their field coil speaker. I am firmly in the camp that believes additive and incremental improvements enhance the overall enjoyment of listening to music. My motto is named so, audioquest4life = the pursuit of musical enjoyment forever. Both the dog and I were exhausted after setting up and testing various times. He wanted to chill out while I was working, and he was waiting anxiously to listen to music and move to the comfortable theater seats. I can't wait to play Animals LP from Pink Floyd and listen to the track "Dogs" to see how he reacts in this room. He barked the last time I played it in the other house. I will find the time soon to install my other tonearms and luxury cartridges on the bigger turntable. Can't wait to hear what that will sound like. Record room is nearly complete.

 

[dcathro]

I am firmly in the camp that believes additive and incremental improvements enhance the overall enjoyment of listening to music. My motto is named so, audioquest4life = the pursuit of musical enjoyment forever.

OH, I had assumed that you were a big fan of the cable brand

 

[dcathro]

Some additional updates. I was able to spend some time configuring more audio components and doing some test spins. I had to get longer IC's between the amps and preamp so I purchased 16-foot Shunyata Sigma's and a pair Mogami Platinum. The Mogami's for testing. The original IC's I had been using were custom made Tempo Electric pure silver 16-gauge wire with silver WBT's. The new cables all have XLR connections. I figured for the longer distance; It might be better using XLR. I am still going to order another set of the Tempo Electric ICs with the same WBT connectors. You know, for experimentation, LOL.

Now, for the sound impressions. With the new cables in place, I did not think I could provide an accurate overview of the new Tungar power supplies, due to that dreaded break in period, so I went back and forth between the Shunyata Sigma's and the old Tempo Electric. This was a lot of work as I had to move the amps to the left every time I used the Tempo cables while testing the Tungar's. I know my system well, despite the new room, and sub optimal room treatments for now, my familiarity with the system was there in spades, and the Tungar's imparted a naturalness to the music, a more at ease display of the musical spectrum, but the at the same time seeming more lifelike. I went back and forth between the two cables, never touching the Mogami's because these were both great cables. I fell in love with the music all over again. The enchantment, the holographic portrayal of the acoustic space of the venue and liquidity of the voices just causes one to be mesmerized. The Tungar's added more to these elements that I describe, because again, I know my system. No matter what cable I used, my recollection of the previous field coil power supplies prior to using the Tungar's was not quite as enchanting as I am describing now, although they were still good. I think the Classic Audio Loudspeaker Tungar power supplies are something that one gets when their system is highly optimized or wants to maximize their speaker system. Either way, it is part of one's rationalization in the decision-making process.

Compared to my previous room and with the previous power supplies, the Tungar's also seemed to make the music more dynamic as well but in an easy way. I guess this might be something like Neo in the Matrix, very fast but fluid and deliberate movements which seemed to be at ease compared to the hyper moves of agent Smith. The original power supplies satisfied my musical needs for several years and if I had never demoed the Tungar's on my system, I would have not known what extra capabilities my speaker/system had with regards to music playback. The Tungar's bring out and enhance musical connections that one might not know are missing. Ignorance is bliss some say. Bass notes seems to have more depth and realism compared to the other power supplies...bass flows more effortlessly. Not a smack you in the face type of bass or boom note, but a natural and rich bass tone which makes you want to home in on what instrument is playing. The upper tones, especially the mids seem to me to be the most audible difference. That difference is the way in which the voices seem to just emanate from a given space or when instruments have that extra overtone and resonance adding to the realism. Wood thwacks and guitar picking really shine here with these power supplies.

Some of the music selected was mix of Fleetwood Mac, Dream LP, Al Dimeola Friday Night in San Francisco, Santana, Black Magic Women, Miles Davis Sketches of Spain, and James Bond Theme music. The last record I played was an original pressing of Richard Wagner Siegfreid recorded live at the 1955 Bayreuth Festival. Wow!! The vocals and instruments are a command performance. I never really listened to this type of music before. Now, it enthralls me and with the Tungar's, the ambience of the venue can be heard as well as felt, yes, I play loud. The Tungar's brought this type of music to life. I know the other power supplies would be great as well, but as I stated, the Tungar's are what you use to achieve the best from your system. Sometimes it is a subtle difference, other times not so.

For years, the standard power supply has been an effective part of the Classic Audio Loudspeaker field coil speaker magnet solution. I truly believe these refined Tungar power supplies are worth the effort to add to one's system if they want to optimize the musical qualities of their field coil speaker. I am firmly in the camp that believes additive and incremental improvements enhance the overall enjoyment of listening to music. My motto is named so, audioquest4life = the pursuit of musical enjoyment forever. Both the dog and I were exhausted after setting up and testing various times. He wanted to chill out while I was working, and he was waiting anxiously to listen to music and move to the comfortable theater seats. I can't wait to play Animals LP from Pink Floyd and listen to the track "Dogs" to see how he reacts in this room. He barked the last time I played it in the other house. I will find the time soon to install my other tonearms and luxury cartridges on the bigger turntable. Can't wait to hear what that will sound like. Record room is nearly complete. View attachment 119198 View attachment 119199 View attachment 119200 View attachment 119202 View attachment 119203

Thanks for your informative post!

I really have to try some Tungar supplies.

 

[audioquest4life]

OH, I had assumed that you were a big fan of the cable brand

LOL. Just a coincidence. I do like the short AudioQuest IC's, but strategically placed after testing them in locations.