Help Refine this system, please!

[audiopie]

Audiopie, somehow I look at your collection of fantastic audio...and I hate to see you break it up into a protracted game of Tetris...constantly flipping, substituting, re-shaping a system of already great components.

The issues you identify do not pinpoint a particular 100% dead-certain weakness...but I do look at your amp/speaker combination and wonder whether you might try 2 very simple options FIRST just to see if this inter-link is where you wish to focus in the chain:

1. Try a Class A beast in your existing system. Gryphon comes to mind as another member said
2.Try a more efficient speaker with your existing system. Goebel Noblesse at 95db 4ohms? Rockport Lyra seems intuitively like a great sound here....but I dont know if (even at 90db efficiency) you are going to be able to really test drive them to their fullest with the Bernings.

I would like to try Gryphon.
Noblesse is an amazing speaker, with an amazing price to match. I do have to keep form factor in mind also as we will move in two years or so and I want something easily accommodated and easily moved without too much hassle. I don't remember whether or not I have heard the Lyra, but I have heard the Atria II, Avior II and Cygnus (many times). While very fine speakers, they just didn't give me the goosebumps that others do. I'm not sure I could tell you exactly what it is about them, I just know that they weren't for me, at least not with the electronics used in the demos (Boulder most often, but others also) I'm not alone in this opinion, several others, who's ears I respect, were of the same opinion. Maybe the Lyra is differennt.

 

[audiopie]

Are you used to videos or are you of the opinion many things in video suck?

Yes, I listen to far too many you tube videos. I understand the limitations. I never said it sucked. I listened again, the recording quality is not so great but presentation is impressive. I could never live with a huge setup like that, that is the main issue with some of these horn setups. But, I do want to spend more time with horns. Past experiences weren't that great, I always got the "shouty" coming from a bull horn kind of feeling. Other aspects of horns were usually very impressive. Don't take some of these comments too seriously, I may not always use the correct "audiophile" terminology when describing things.

 

[audiopie]

More importantly, let's hope he has ears to hear, eh?

I'll bet dollars-to-donuts his primary performance bottleneck is incoming electrical. It most always is for everybody anyway but I'm guessing especially in this case.

Like most people in their late 60's, I do have some high frequency hearing loss (not extreme) and some tinnitus, again not extreme. I can still tell what sounds good and what doesn't. Electrical could certainly be an issue. We always make sure that nothing is running when we listen. Like last night, no washer/dryer, no A/C, no tv, no dishwasher etc. The only thing running was the refrigerator and a freezer. Last night they system sounded pretty damn good, unlike a few nights ago when I felt is sucked. Electrical is suspect when that happens, but it is also affected by mood and which bottle of wine we opened, the last being more important than most realize
Last night it was easy to hear the that the room was an issue, but I still think that the amp/speaker combo is the weak point, as many have suggested.

 

[bonzo75]

Yes, I listen to far too many you tube videos. I understand the limitations. I never said it sucked. I listened again, the recording quality is not so great but presentation is impressive. I could never live with a huge setup like that, that is the main issue with some of these horn setups. But, I do want to spend more time with horns. Past experiences weren't that great, I always got the "shouty" coming from a bull horn kind of feeling. Other aspects of horns were usually very impressive. Don't take some of these comments too seriously, I may not always use the correct "audiophile" terminology when describing things.

I asked only because some don't like videos and didn't know your background.

There are many good horn videos on the forum I will put up some links

 

[Argonaut]

I asked only because some don't like videos and didn't know your background.

There are many good horn videos on the forum I will put up some links

May I contribute a rather well sounding iteration...

 

[bonzo75]

May I contribute a rather well sounding iteration...

These were the Animas at their best. I an @sujay were listening together here that Munich.

However, I don't think this video does justice to how great they sounded with those amps. I tried to search online if anyone had recorded something really good.

 

[bonzo75]

Like most people in their late 60's, I do have some high frequency hearing loss (not extreme) and some tinnitus, again not extreme. I can still tell what sounds good and what doesn't. Electrical could certainly be an issue. We always make sure that nothing is running when we listen. Like last night, no washer/dryer, no A/C, no tv, no dishwasher etc. The only thing running was the refrigerator and a freezer. Last night they system sounded pretty damn good, unlike a few nights ago when I felt is sucked. Electrical is suspect when that happens, but it is also affected by mood and which bottle of wine we opened, the last being more important than most realize
Last night it was easy to hear the that the room was an issue, but I still think that the amp/speaker combo is the weak point, as many have suggested.

Cello Videos

There hasn't been a video thread for a long time. So cello focused only If you put videos in search, and check the Search Titles Only box, you will find the other interesting threads on videos

www.whatsbestforum.com

Videos - oomph, tympani, menace, power

Show me if you got the power

www.whatsbestforum.com

Videos: Show me MALE vocals

From the defenestration series: following rock and drum, and the female vocal videos, this is mainly male. Duets with good male vocals allowed Testing testing

www.whatsbestforum.com

Post your female vocal videos

Since we have a rock and drums videos thread, and many classical videos, thought I would collate female vocal videos and people could post theirs here

www.whatsbestforum.com

Rock and Drum videos thread

No classical on this thread. Videos of systems playing rock and Drum

www.whatsbestforum.com

Trumpet videos

Just thought it would be nice to get some trumpet videos out there as I love jazz (and classical) trumpet. Here is one: Would like to hear from others!

www.whatsbestforum.com

Violin videos: solo or with small ensemble

Some Itzahk Perlman

www.whatsbestforum.com

 

[christoph]

These were the Animas at their best. I an @sujay were listening together here that Munich.

However, I don't think this video does justice to how great they sounded with those amps. I tried to search online if anyone had recorded something really good.

True for me as well, the Animas never sounded as good again (at a show) as they did that year
I "blame" the Elysium amps for that

 

[bonzo75]

True for me as well, the Animas never sounded as good again (at a show) as they did that year
I "blame" the Elysium amps for that

The Avalon in that room did not sound as good with Elysium either

EIMAC valves. The first silvercore vulvas I heard were also with the Eimacs, 80w SETs

 

[christoph]

The Avalon in that room did not sound as good with Elysium either

I agree again, that was VERY disappointing. I really wanted to like that combo

EIMAC valves. The first silvercore vulvas I heard were also with the Eimacs, 80w SETs

The wide ones?
Which ones did you like more?
The tall or the wide ones?

 

[bonzo75]

I agree again, that was VERY disappointing. I really wanted to like that combo



The wide ones?
Which ones did you like more?
The tall or the wide ones?

The wider had better bass it was 1.3 meter as compared to 0.9 wide

 

[christoph]

The wider had better bass it was 1.3 meter as compared to 0.9 wide

But both have two 18 inch woofers?
The wide one side by side and the tall one on top of each other?

 

[bonzo75]

But both have two 18 inch woofers?
The wide one side by side and the tall one on top of each other?

Yes.

 

[andromedaaudio]

Iunderstand the limitations. I never said it sucked.

. But, I do want to spend more time with horns. Past experiences weren't that great,

Just say you like horns ,. easy
And they will stop trying to convert you

 

[Al M.]

May I contribute a rather well sounding iteration...

Yeah, much better sounding than the Murat video that Bonzo posted. However, I found the music in the latter much more exciting.

This video is also a bit one-dimensional when it comes to showing off sound capabilities.

 

[Argonaut]

Yeah, much better sounding than the Murat video that Bonzo posted. However, I found the music in the latter much more exciting.

This video is also a bit one-dimensional when it comes to showing off sound capabilities.

Not at all bad for a show conditions performance on a YouTube tho.

 

[bonzo75]

Yeah, much better sounding than the Murat video that Bonzo posted. However, I found the music in the latter much more exciting.

This video is also a bit one-dimensional when it comes to showing off sound capabilities.

You are reacting to the microphone used to record

 

[Oracle1974]

Like most people in their late 60's, I do have some high frequency hearing loss (not extreme) and some tinnitus, again not extreme. I can still tell what sounds good and what doesn't. Electrical could certainly be an issue. We always make sure that nothing is running when we listen. Like last night, no washer/dryer, no A/C, no tv, no dishwasher etc. The only thing running was the refrigerator and a freezer. Last night they system sounded pretty damn good, unlike a few nights ago when I felt is sucked. Electrical is suspect when that happens, but it is also affected by mood and which bottle of wine we opened, the last being more important than most realize
Last night it was easy to hear the that the room was an issue, but I still think that the amp/speaker combo is the weak point, as many have suggested.

Hi Audiopie, have you got in touch with the manufacturers of Tidal Contriva to check what they have to say about your problem. It will be interesting to have their views as well.
Thanks!

 

[Al M.]

You are reacting to the microphone used to record

Possibly. But how do I know if the mike and/or the A/D converter sounds bright and bleached out, or the system? How can you distinguish? You can't.

Not all phones are the same, and not all phone recordings sound bright, so there is not necessarily a common signature. And maybe the Murat recording, like perhaps the other one, was made with better equipment, who knows.

 

[wil]

You are reacting to the microphone used to record

I hear the same sort of horn coloration in the Murat video as in my Avantgardes, which is why I moved on from them. Other than that, they sound fantastic. Great music (the Shostakovich) which is a nice change from much of the standard audiophile fare.