I said I would never buy another Turntable...Argh !!!
- Thread starter rockitman
- Start date
Thank you for this wonderful report, Peter! It is thoughtful, detailed and articulate, as your reports always are!
Congratulations to Christian for these advancements to and evolution of his system! Congratulations to David for his extremely successful reincarnation of and improvements to the American Sound turntable!
(Of course as a future AS-2000 recipient I am ecstatic to read Peter’s confirmation of Christian’s and Tango’s reports on the turntable!)
Congratulations to Christian for these advancements to and evolution of his system! Congratulations to David for his extremely successful reincarnation of and improvements to the American Sound turntable!
(Of course as a future AS-2000 recipient I am ecstatic to read Peter’s confirmation of Christian’s and Tango’s reports on the turntable!)
Thanks for the comments, guys. I always enjoy meeting fellow audiophiles and sharing some listening time. Sometimes I have a purpose like trying to hear a particular component in a certain system context. I do this with my Boston friends often. Visiting Christian was different. I was quite curious about the AS2000, but the main reason was simply to catch up with him, take a break from my driving, and spend some fun time sharing his wonderful music collection.
This visit was not about comparing gear. We did do brief comparisons between certain combinations of components, but that was really just to avail ourselves of a few of the many options he now has with his multiple tables, arms, phonos, and cartridges. Mostly, these just presented different perspectives on the recordings. This is part of the fun for Christian.
I really reached no conclusions about the sonics of individual components, but rather just enjoyed the time with Christian while listening to great music. Of course, I did pay particular attention to the AS2000 because it is extremely rare and there has been so much discussion about it. That was a special treat. Congratulations Chris, and thanks for having me over.
This visit was not about comparing gear. We did do brief comparisons between certain combinations of components, but that was really just to avail ourselves of a few of the many options he now has with his multiple tables, arms, phonos, and cartridges. Mostly, these just presented different perspectives on the recordings. This is part of the fun for Christian.
I really reached no conclusions about the sonics of individual components, but rather just enjoyed the time with Christian while listening to great music. Of course, I did pay particular attention to the AS2000 because it is extremely rare and there has been so much discussion about it. That was a special treat. Congratulations Chris, and thanks for having me over.
Chris, I might add that moving the listening seat further back probably also contributed to the sound.
You must be in the mood today master Yoda. I never read you wrote anything to describe sound much more than "natural."
This time there are two long lines with many adjectives. Kindest regards,
Tang
I should add a clarification to my report about the sound of Christian's system. I have received a few private messages asking for my opinion about specific components and two members inferred that I actually prefer the Graham arm to the SME 3012R. I'd like to add some comments.
I enjoyed every combination that Chris played for me, but with only a few hours to listen and with no actual direct comparisons, and it being an unfamiliar system to me, I hesitate to say anything about specific components. I will say this about the two tone arms: The three pieces of music that had the greatest impact on me where the Beethoven's Appassionata solo piano, the Starker solo cello and Ellington's Mood Indigo. The former was played with the Graham/Coralstone and the latter two were with the 3012R/Lyra Olympus mono. It is clear to me that both arms presented good platforms for the cartridges that were mounted on them. Beyond that, I draw no conclusions.
And as I mentioned earlier, I would be very interested to hear the Coralstone in the 3012R one day. Chris is planning to pair them when his system is set up in the new house. I suspect that that combination will be something very special.
Funny comment, Tango. Having now heard the AS2000 and 3012R, I have a clearer idea of what David means when he uses the term "natural". Afterall, he is the one who set up Chris' table and arms for him.
I enjoyed every combination that Chris played for me, but with only a few hours to listen and with no actual direct comparisons, and it being an unfamiliar system to me, I hesitate to say anything about specific components. I will say this about the two tone arms: The three pieces of music that had the greatest impact on me where the Beethoven's Appassionata solo piano, the Starker solo cello and Ellington's Mood Indigo. The former was played with the Graham/Coralstone and the latter two were with the 3012R/Lyra Olympus mono. It is clear to me that both arms presented good platforms for the cartridges that were mounted on them. Beyond that, I draw no conclusions.
And as I mentioned earlier, I would be very interested to hear the Coralstone in the 3012R one day. Chris is planning to pair them when his system is set up in the new house. I suspect that that combination will be something very special.
Funny comment, Tango. Having now heard the AS2000 and 3012R, I have a clearer idea of what David means when he uses the term "natural". Afterall, he is the one who set up Chris' table and arms for him.
Dear M1,
When you move to the new place, I humbly suggest you try just plugging your amps (better yet the whole system) to the wall bypassing the Torus. The electricity around there shouldn't be so bad or worse than Bangkok. I used to have a big 45 amp Torus too. You might find something interesting that you may even prefer.
Your sincerely,
M2
Dear Peter,
Your writing is so good I wish I had you in my place instead of Bonzo
. I think eventually most AS2000 owners would steer their system to hear the sound from vinyls as they are. I believe the AS2000's main design objective was to do just that. That's why you could hear vinyls sounded differently reflecting the way they were recorded. Obviously Christian's rest of the system seems to also has less of the strong characters that dont homogenize sound. I highly suspect that when you visit him at his new palce, you will even hear more "music" from his vinyl front (with Colibri Master Sig.) that you wont miss what you hear from his tape front. Kind regards,
Tang
The Torus were already in the crosshairs but I stopped with the stinky cat litter boxes, we’re waiting for him to move
! You must be in the mood today master Yoda. I never read you wrote anything to describe sound much more than "natural."
Kindest regards,
Tang
LOL, you’re right I usually stop at natural! In this case the SPU A95 is naturalish because of its coloration but it’s such a beautiful color that I felt it deserved a little more expansion specially given the time it needs to break-in.
david
Listening to the several alternatives is surely mandatory. However, for many people in the US using 240 mains , the Torus is not a tweak, it is a significant technical improvement to mains. In the US 240V is delivered as a symmetrical split phase line and using a Torus will effectively cancel most of the common mode noise carried by the power lines. However, I easily accept that sometimes our systems can sound better with noisy power lines ... Many of the tweaks we love are just a kind of noise ...
Sorry for sidetracking the topic but I am getting a Torus avr 30. There are many problems with the electricity where I live. I have a direct conenction to the pole but still the electricity varies about +-10 (220 to 240) and with lots of noise. Having 109db speakers does not help either. I do not need much power, 2 set monoblock, 2 ss class d monoblock, 1 class d sub amp, tt motor, ss phono pre, oppo 105d, bryston bda3 and a passive pre... torus avr 30 will have a lot of headroom.
What is the problem you hear with the Torus?
What is the problem you hear with the Torus?
I just go by my ears. Tbh I never had my system without power conditioners and audiophile power cords until now. If anyone wants to go by lowest scientifically measurable noise in electricity, he should buy the Trinity power conditioner like I did. I spent something like $30,000 for that. Go look at Trinity thread in AE forum and you can find all the measurements. I dont suggest everyone to not use what they have. I suggested only Christian to try since his moving will already involve a big change and the connect/disconnecting of gears. And also because he has the ultimate front that send so much musical info down the line you hear when there is something is missing.
Tang
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London has the same problem, voltage fluctuating between 237 to 253 with noise. No idea what the best solution is.
Bonzo, is the General crazy about audiophile power cords and conditioners?
Tang
No but he lives in a nice mansion away from the main city. I don't know what his power condition is. I am not crazy about cords but I need to protect gear from fluctuations
From what I gather, he's of the same mind as DDK, that is, no.
I haven't got around to telling him I run TWO balanced transformers. I don't dare LOL.
I haven't got around to telling him I run TWO balanced transformers. I don't dare LOL.
Protection is a great idea. Last week the big transformer of my office blew up because of chip monk. My system went down and I almost had a heart attack.
Tang
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