Taiko Audio SGM Extreme : the Crème de la Crème

Steve Williams · Dec 19, 2020

ray-dude said:
I resisted getting into power line conditioning for a VERY long time, although trusted ears like Roy's have been pointing me in that direction for a while. I wanted to be sure that the rest of my system was stabilize and optimized before going there. My fear was using PLC to tune around other issues in the system, and then having things out of balance once I had sorted those issues out.

After a very long process, finally at the place where I'm really diving into power (more on that later). The PGI TT7 and Extreme is everything Roy highlights about speed and impact is real. I'm just surprised how much of an impact it has, with the baseline of a dedicated circuit and killer power cord like the Sablon King.

As always, power tweaks are very system dependent. For all I know, I may have a neighbor with an arc welder, and a TT7 makes more of a difference for me than others, but this is a very pleasant early Christmas surprise!

I've known Jim Weil for 15-20 years and have used many of his products over the years. In fact Jim came to my house many times, when I lived in the SF Bay Area, to set up iterations of his products. Best way to describe Jim is like listening to a 33 1/3 rpm played at 78 rpm. He talks so fast that many time I had to have him slow down as he was already 2 sentences ahead of me. The other interesting thing about Sound Application is that Jim does all of the unit builds. It is his wife Connie, however, who is the brains and designer of all of his products. She has a degree in electrical engineering and IIRC acquired all of her knowledge while in the navy

2ndLiner · Dec 19, 2020

Congrats, Ray-Dude! I tried the TT-7 Reference and was amazed at the liveliness, dynamics, and greater sense of music being played in front of me by live musicians. However, I made the "mistake" of allowing Jim & Connie to leave the TT-7 PGI for me to hear in my system. It did everything the Ref did but better and once heard is difficult to un-hear. Given that they live a few hours away they have stopped by which was a delight. I look forward to their next visit but that could prove dangerous as there is a unit above the PGI...

ray-dude · Dec 19, 2020

In for a penny, in for a pound...I have the 120V PGI. The step up 240V PGI (works with 120V) is arriving next week for a bake off. It has a different circuit topology so it will be very interesting to compare.

Looking forward to post Covid days so audio road trips to Northern California are an OK thing again. For now, very grateful to be hunkered down and safe in San Diego, able to enjoy these amazing musical performances every night. Hope everyone is doing the same!

onlychild · Dec 20, 2020

ray-dude said:
Folks here may not consider good news to hear (and apologies in advance to your wallets), but I just purchased a Sound Application PGI TT7 power line conditioner. Even though I already have a dedicated 30A circuit and Sablon King for my Extreme, the step up in speed and openness and transparency going through the TT7 is non trivial (to say the least).

A lot more experimentation to be done over the break, but the Extreme continues to HANDSOMELY reward high quality inputs (in

Let’s just say that if you don’t plan on buying a TT-7, don’t listen to it.

Interestingly, I did not care for the C-7 (entry version of TT-7) so I sold it and kept the Extreme on the Stromtank with the rest of my equipment.

Once I heard the Extreme on TT-7, there was no going back. My setup now has the LPS (DC-4) of the DAVE and LPS of the network equipment powered by the Stromtank and the Extreme and Amp (Rivera AFC-10) powered by the TT-7.

This is now the best my system has sounded and i believe it boils down to two things.....the TT-7 doing its magic on the Extreme and Amp and keeping the DAC powered completely separate with the Stromtank.

Powering the Extreme, amp, and DAVE all from the same TT7 did not sound nearly as good.

cat6man · Dec 20, 2020

ray-dude said:
Folks here may not consider good news to hear (and apologies in advance to your wallets), but I just purchased a Sound Application PGI TT7 power line conditioner. Even though I already have a dedicated 30A circuit and Sablon King for my Extreme, the step up in speed and openness and transparency going through the TT7 is non trivial (to say the least).

A lot more experimentation to be done over the break, but the Extreme continues to HANDSOMELY reward high quality inputs (in this case, power)

is this with only the extreme plugged into the power line conditioner, or together with other components?

Steve Williams · Dec 20, 2020

onlychild said:
Let’s just say that if you don’t plan on buying a TT-7, don’t listen to it.

Interestingly, I did not care for the C-7 (entry version of TT-7) so I sold it and kept the Extreme on the Stromtank with the rest of my equipment.

Once I heard the Extreme on TT-7, there was no going back. My setup now has the LPS (DC-4) of the DAVE and LPS of the network equipment powered by the Stromtank and the Extreme and Amp (Rivera AFC-10) powered by the TT-7.

This is now the best my system has sounded and i believe it boils down to two things.....the TT-7 doing its magic on the Extreme and Amp and keeping the DAC powered completely separate with the Stromtank.

Powering the Extreme, amp, and DAVE all from the same TT7 did not sound nearly as good.

I’m curious that you’re using the power conditioner for your amps. Personally I never plug my amps into anything except the wall.

nenon · Dec 20, 2020

Steve Williams said:
I’m curious that you’re using the power conditioner for your amps. Personally I never plug my amps into anything except the wall.

The Riviera AFC-10 he is using is a headphone amp that does not consume a lot of power.
The TT-7 works pretty good with amps. Contrary on other power conditioners it improved the sound with my amps connected to it. I have four SET monoblocks connected to one TT-7. Also, according to Jim, drawing more power from a TT-7 improves the quality for all components connected to the TT-7

@Steve Williams - if it has been more than a year or two since you've tried Jim's stuff, it has improved a lot. I recently tried some of his older products and his newer stuff is just so much better!

I think every Extreme owner should try a TT-7 fed by a 20A Sablon King. That coming from a DIY guy who tries to make everything in his system before spending big bucks should mean a lot! I ended up buying a TT-7 myself after listening to one. It's hard to resist! Just like other people say - don't try one unless you are ready to buy it

.

2ndLiner · Dec 20, 2020

Vicariously excited, @ray-dude! The greatly desired year, 1PC, will bring much relief to many on a multitude of levels. The return of the ease and safety of sharing this passion for music and sound systems in person with other audio "zealots" can't come soon enough! I look forward to having you for a visit when the time is right and also look forward to hearing what the 240V PGI delivers. Best to you and your family!

2ndLiner · Dec 20, 2020

I echo the findings of @onlychild and @nenon. My VAC 200iq’s which sounded wonderful going into dedicated lines in the wall came more alive when run through my PGI. I also have my Extreme with a Sablon Prince connected to it with excellent result...

Kingsrule · Dec 20, 2020

sbo6 said:
Thanks for your feedback. If you wouldn't mind sharing details it would be appreciated (App - ROON, other?. any other details)..

Roon, file storage in Extreme

ray-dude · Dec 20, 2020

cat6man said:
is this with only the extreme plugged into the power line conditioner, or together with other components?

Together with other components: the two bass units of my Voxativ 9.87 speakers (200W Class AB amps), a Sean Jacobs DC4 power supply for my Chord DAVE DAC (more on that later), and the Extreme. Extreme was the last component I added, and the step up surprising. More experimentation to come.

The TT-7 is actually said to perform better the bigger load you put on it. I know several folks that have big amps hanging off of it, and prefer that to going direct to the wall. I drive my speakers direct from my DAC (104dB sensitivity, 2W from DAC), so I don't have big power hogs on my TT7 to validate that.

Steve Williams · Dec 20, 2020

Let’s agree to disagree. I personally would never use a power conditioner for amps. I’m a believer that they go into the wall

Gregadd · Dec 20, 2020

Steve, I've been meaning to ask you, ask you is your system solar powered? Many power conditioners act sort of a pwer bank and a conditioner

onlychild · Dec 20, 2020

Steve Williams said:
I’m curious that you’re using the power conditioner for your amps. Personally I never plug my amps into anything except the wall.

In my two week demo quest to answer the question, do I really need a $10k power conditioner, I tried many different combos, including one where the amp was plugged directly into my dedicated line. It sounded night and day better on the TT-7.

Also, I believe most of the TT-7 owners are plugging their speaker amps into the TT-7

Alrainbow · Dec 20, 2020

Steve Williams said:
Let’s agree to disagree. I personally would never use a power conditioner for amps. I’m a believer that they go into the wall

A passive power conditioner has a place especially with a grounding scheme in place. Consider one

Alrainbow · Dec 20, 2020

Is there a link to the power conditioner spoke of here ?

2ndLiner · Dec 20, 2020

Here is the website though it has not been updated in some time and does not reflect what is currently offered...

Sound Application | TT-7

soundapplication.com

matthias · Dec 20, 2020

Alrainbow said:
Is there a link to the power conditioner spoke of here ?

Some listening impressions with Extreme from @romaz :

Taiko Audio SGM Extreme : the Crème de la Crème

@romaz - keep up the good work! We all have learned so much from you and your experiments. One of my concerns when I heard you purchased an Extreme was that you would be done (end game) and your amazing experiments and reports would stop (and you will finally start listening to music :)). But it...

www.whatsbestforum.com

Matt

SaiteiMan · Dec 20, 2020

Yep, once you go TT7, you never go back.

heebrog · Dec 21, 2020

SaiteiMan said:
Yep, once you go TT7, you never go back.

Is that the latest TT-7 PGI? The outputs look raised in the photo.

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