Are SOTA systems worth the effort?

[PeterA]

Someone once told me that a good stereo should sound great and last a long time. I took that to heart. I don't like having to tweak things to get it to sound right and I don't. IMO/IME it should be plug and play

I agree with that in general but optimal cartridge set up is certainly not plug-in play. Belt attention can also make a difference. I would Add speaker set up too.

 

[Atmasphere]

I agree with that in general but optimal cartridge set up is certainly not plug-in play. Belt attention can also make a difference. I would Add speaker set up too.

I dunno. I got the Triplanar and the arm is so easy to set up since everything is so adjustable. Takes 10 minutes. But I agree setup is the Achilles heel of analog. I've been running a belt drive (Atma-Sphere 208) for the last 20 years and not had to pay attention to the belt other than giving the platter a spin at start up. The platter is pretty massive and you'll fry the belt if you give it a bump because the motor has so much torque. But its been replaced by the Technics SL1200G with a custom armboard and the Triplanar.

My speakers weigh about 270 pounds each but they are easy to move on their footers (I have sliders that allow them to be moved without damaging the hardwood floor). They could only go in one place in my new listening room so really it was just a matter of how much toe-in. But I get you're point- if you don't have a horn midrange speaker placement can be a lot harder!

 

[microstrip]

My main objection to the edifice systems isn't merely cost, is that they are inflexible and cumbersome. It's like a heavy piece of sculpture, and if you don't like it the way it is, then too bad.

I can't exactly understand how edifice systems are related to SOTA - and surely a system that incorporates SOTA equipment needs critical assembly and set up. But theycan be very variable and diverse.

Also, SOTA is a constantly shifting commercial sand. Just wait, it won't be SOTA for long.

It is part of the definition of SOTA. But even after they are no more the current SOTA most of them are still excellent equipment for long. Steve X2's or my XLF's are still great speakers.

It doesn't matter how much they cost or what they sound like, your ear brain system will identify their specific characteristics after a while, get used to them, and find something to object to.

It depends on us. If we are sensitive to the denigrating of audio forums or other forms of negative bias it will happen very fast. I move because I enjoy the game, not specifically because I object to previous equipment - I would happily return to the ESL63, Soundlab's or the Sonus Faber Aida's.

Crawling around changing cables to 'tune' them isn't my idea of a good time, or flying in a crew to haul them around, or having a guy come over for the weekend to adjust a turntable, arm or cartridge. Or the repairs and shipping when something goes wrong, and something ALWAYS goes wrong. I like flexibility and the ability to handle a certain amount of the inevitable gremlins and electrical storms without the cavalry.
ll that stuff erodes listening time. I'm fine if somebody else wants them and sets them up for pride or ownership or whatever, and I can go listen to them once in a while. I want to listen more than fuss at this point. I don't want to be a curator for the toe stubbers and their mythologies. Some guys like being curators and that is fine, too.

Yes, we should live the hobby the way we enjoy. But what is the relation between it and SOTA? For me, if some equipment is intrinsically unreliable it is not SOTA.

I was offered a couple of years ago a pair of Avalon Osiris speakers to 'store' for an audiophile who wanted to buy them, and he said I could install them and listen to them in my main system for the year or three before he wanted them back. I declined just because I didn't want those massive things in the listening room. I'm sure that they are wonderful speakers in the right setup, just not what I want to have around.

The great Avalon Osiris need a large space and two powerful amplifiers and are really big. I would have not declined the offer, once I listened to them using four conrad johnson Premier 8.

I often asked myself why people who object to the presence of the speakers do not hide them behind an acoustical transparent curtain, like Alastair Robertson-Aikman did in the SME listening room.

I have so many ways of diversifying my system with amps, tubes, equalization, surround modes etc. there is no reason for things to ever sound exactly the same for the nervosa disease, and I can lift and carry all the items myself. I can change things out easily and quickly. The main system is intoxicating already, fills me with wonderment and joy, and I have heard quite a few systems at this point at all costs and sizes.

 

[PeterA]

Do we have any examples of a SOTA system here on WBF? What would people nominate and why?

Do people think that a SOTA system must sound the closest to live music or is it really just a snapshot of the best of what the industry is currently producing? Does the SOTA always improve overtime or can the industry go backwards?

 

[stehno]

Someone once told me that a good stereo should sound great and last a long time. I took that to heart. I don't like having to tweak things to get it to sound right and I don't. IMO/IME it should be plug and play.

Funny. I've yet to hear a plug'n play system worth listening to regardless of cost. As far as I can tell, high-end audio is exactly like any other performance-oriented industry.

IOW, extreme results can only occur from extreme efforts. Never by token or half-assed efforts and certainly never by no efforts.

 

[Atmasphere]

Funny. I've yet to hear a plug'n play system worth listening to regardless of cost. As far as I can tell, high-end audio is exactly like any other performance-oriented industry.

IOW, extreme results can only occur from extreme efforts. Never by token or half-assed efforts and certainly never by no efforts.

It took three people to get my speakers in the house. But I literally just hooked everything up and the system was making music. I didn't have to do anything to the amp, nothing to the preamp. The turntable and preamp do have their own anti-vibration platforms, ensconced in a custom-made Sound Anchors stand but as far as I'm concerned that stuff is part of the system. Others might regard it as a massive 'tweak'....

 

[Bruce B]

i'm contemplating some sort of downsize myself;

I'm so glad I did.... I downsized.... NOT downgrade!!

 

[Bruce B]

Do we have any examples of a SOTA system here on WBF? What would people nominate and why?

The only one I've heard is Winston Ma's system/room. I was able to master a few of his albums in that room in record time because I could hear exactly what was going on and fix it to his standards....

 

[stehno]

It took three people to get my speakers in the house. But I literally just hooked everything up and the system was making music. I didn't have to do anything to the amp, nothing to the preamp. The turntable and preamp do have their own anti-vibration platforms, ensconced in a custom-made Sound Anchors stand but as far as I'm concerned that stuff is part of the system. Others might regard it as a massive 'tweak'....

Rats. It only took two people to get my speakers into the house. You do realize that you make no mention whatsoever of electrical? Which IME is by far the biggest performance bottleneck every last one of us faces. Also, you make no mention of anything being done at the amps or pre-amp and whatever vibration mgmt already comes with your other gear is already good enough without bothering to try other products / methods.

No doubt some here might regard this as a massive tweak but might it be that a few others regard all this as a miniscule tweak?

I can't speak for others but I prefer to treat this as a performance-oriented hobby which I think was its original intention when they coined it hi-fi or high-end audio. Whatever happened to balls-to-the-walls, pedal-to-the-metal type strategies? Or are those strategies and mindsets only applicable to other performance-oriented hobbies?

 

[christoph]

I'm so glad I did.... I downsized.... NOT downgrade!!

Please elaborate

 

[morricab]

Do we have any examples of a SOTA system here on WBF? What would people nominate and why?

Do people think that a SOTA system must sound the closest to live music or is it really just a snapshot of the best of what the industry is currently producing? Does the SOTA always improve overtime or can the industry go backwards?

Aren't they all SOTA here?

 

[Kingrex]

I bet if 10 people here were to define SOTA, we would get 10 different answers. All maybe beating around the same bush. But different to each person.

Is there a what is SOTA thread here. I bet it's 20 pages long.

 

[bonzo75]

Do we have any examples of a SOTA system here on WBF? What would people nominate and why?

This forum is named What's SOTA? Please not another thread asking that.

Does the SOTA always improve overtime or can the industry go backwards?

Another modern vs vintage?

Do people think that a SOTA system must sound the closest to live music or is it really just a snapshot of the best of what the industry is currently producing?

This is where Ron will ask you to refer to his list of 4 points

 

[Al M.]

I bet if 10 people here were to define SOTA, we would get 10 different answers. All maybe beating around the same bush. But different to each person.

Is there a what is SOTA thread here. I bet it's 20 pages long.

SOTA is SETs and horns. We all know that. Any more questions?

 

[PeterA]

This forum is named What's SOTA? Please not another thread asking that.


Another modern vs vintage?


This is where Ron will ask you to refer to his list of 4 points

Sorry, I am just trying to understand what is being discussed. Shame on me for asking the question.

 

[PeterA]

SOTA is SETs and horns. We all know that. Any more questions?

I’d have thought it was D’Agostino and Wilson or CH precision and Magico. It seems there is no consensus and so we are talking about something that none of us agree on. I’m not sure I understand the point of the thread anymore.

 

[Atmasphere]

You do realize that you make no mention whatsoever of electrical?

You're right. And I replaced the receptacles with Hubble units with the brass strap on the backside when I moved in and added another outlet on the right side of the room that had its own line back to the breaker box. I just did that because the house had some really old AC outlets and since I was doing it, might as well do it right.

 

[Bruce B]

Please elaborate

The house is just less square footage... but still with all the high-end amenities....

 

[Kingrex]

I don't even know the words defineing the acronym for SOTA.
I always associated it with some sort of most magical best system. Usually very expensive. But in my mind, i don't know why someone wouldn't call a single driver in the right room with the right amp and front end SOTA when playing chamber music or small jazz. That could knock your socks off too. Especially if its what you enjoy for music. Your friends might scoff, but your the one listening day in and day out.

 

[dcathro]

Do we have any examples of a SOTA system here on WBF? What would people nominate and why?

Do people think that a SOTA system must sound the closest to live music or is it really just a snapshot of the best of what the industry is currently producing? Does the SOTA always improve overtime or can the industry go backwards?

Manufacturers usually define SOTA as the best that they know how to produce based on their phylosophy - the cutting edge. So for Magico that would the M9, for Wilson it would be the WAMM or XVX, for Tech Das, the Air Force Zero, etc. If you purchase all SOTA components and put them together as a system will it be SOTA in terms of sound? Probably not, as you would need a SOTA room with SOTA acoustics, SOTA power, SOTA isolation, then hire a SOTA sound engineer like Jim Smith to get it to sound good.