Information on Stern and Heisenberg Ancillaries: What are Folks Using?

[Whbgarrett]

Hello,

I am about to take delivery of an Audionet Stern pre-amp and a pair of Audionet Heisenberg mono amps, and would love to hear from folks about what they are using with these electronics in terms of (1) interconnects, (2) speaker cables, (3) power cables and (4) isolation platforms/devices. In addition to what they are using, I would be interested to know what other options they tried and did not go with, and why. My other components are:

Speakers: Magico M Projects
Sources: Lampizator Pacitic (soon to be replaced by the new Horizon) fed by Taiko Audio Extreme
Esoteric K1X with PS1 PS, and Cybershaft master clock

Thanks in advance for responses.

Baird

 

[Davidny]

I use all Kubala Sosna Realization power, speaker & interconnect cables with my Stern, Heisenbergs and YG Acoustic Sonja XV Jrs.
Rack is Finite Elemente.
Been following advice of Bill Parish, GTT Audio, who is a great guy and has great taste in music.

 

[ICUToo]

Hello,

I am about to take delivery of an Audionet Stern pre-amp and a pair of Audionet Heisenberg mono amps, and would love to hear from folks about what they are using with these electronics in terms of (1) interconnects, (2) speaker cables, (3) power cables and (4) isolation platforms/devices. In addition to what they are using, I would be interested to know what other options they tried and did not go with, and why. My other components are:

Speakers: Magico M Projects
Sources: Lampizator Pacitic (soon to be replaced by the new Horizon) fed by Taiko Audio Extreme
Esoteric K1X with PS1 PS, and Cybershaft master clock

Thanks in advance for responses.

Baird

Wow! That is an astonishing system.
Once you get the tweaks up and running I'd love to hear you comments about the system

 

[heihei]

Congrats on the system!

I run my Stern / Heisenbergs with a Pacific, so will be very keen to hear what you think of the move to Horizon. My server is LDMS which is pretty similar spec to Taiko. Speakers are quite different though - Wilson Benesch Resolutions with Torus subs.

My experience is that the noise floor is so low on the Stern / Heisenbergs and with so little grain, that they can take really transparent cabling without introducing any strain / edge into the sound. This is particularly true of the speaker cables, where I'm using 2 runs of Skogrand Beethoven to bi-wire the Resolutions and make use of the 2 sets of outputs on the Heisenbergs.
For interconnects, Audionet recommend single-ended over balanced as a preference. I've never compared the two using the same cables so can't comment, but I use single-ended RCAs from Z-Axis with Bocchino connectors. I also got Z-Axis to build me some custom supports for the Heisenbergs.

 

[zitas]

hi baird, congrats, great decision!!
as for the heisenbergs, i placed them on the floor without any vibration management....and to top the shame, i run them with stock powercords.
sounds absolut terrific though.
as for the stern and the rest of the system i use nordost odin. (pc and speakercables)
i tried the odins on the heisenbergs too, but that meant i had to remove 2 odins from the stern and dac and it was obviously better with the odins on the dac/pre than on the amps.
i tried other cables too, audioquest, transparent and shunyata. in my system with wilson speakers the odins sounded best.
the stern heisenberg have outstanding makrodynamics, the goal with tweaking is to reveal the microstructures....i think thats why the odins do a great job.
all other units are sitting on wilson pedestal footers with top results. i plan the same for stern heisenberg once wilson is going to release theyr big footers.
i am eyeing the horizon too so may be you, heihei and me will have similar electroncs soon.
my advice would be to wait until you get the horizon and start tweaking then. there is no rush, it will sound good whaterever you will use. that said, the first 2 weeks the audionets are sounding strange. good luck!

 

[Whbgarrett]

I use all Kubala Sosna Realization power, speaker & interconnect cables with my Stern, Heisenbergs and YG Acoustic Sonja XV Jrs.
Rack is Finite Elemente.
Been following advice of Bill Parish, GTT Audio, who is a great guy and has great taste in music.

DavidNY,

Thanks for this input. Are your interconnects RCA or XLR, and did you try the other before settling on what you are using?

Regards,

Baird

 

[Whbgarrett]

Congrats on the system!

I run my Stern / Heisenbergs with a Pacific, so will be very keen to hear what you think of the move to Horizon. My server is LDMS which is pretty similar spec to Taiko. Speakers are quite different though - Wilson Benesch Resolutions with Torus subs.

My experience is that the noise floor is so low on the Stern / Heisenbergs and with so little grain, that they can take really transparent cabling without introducing any strain / edge into the sound. This is particularly true of the speaker cables, where I'm using 2 runs of Skogrand Beethoven to bi-wire the Resolutions and make use of the 2 sets of outputs on the Heisenbergs.
For interconnects, Audionet recommend single-ended over balanced as a preference. I've never compared the two using the same cables so can't comment, but I use single-ended RCAs from Z-Axis with Bocchino connectors. I also got Z-Axis to build me some custom supports for the Heisenbergs.

heihei,

Thanks for the input. I am not familiar with either of the cable brands you are using. Did you try any others before deciding to go with them? With respect to the move to the Horizon, I was reading the manual for the Horizon today and noticed that Lampi strongly recommends against using a preamp, but especially one with op amps, which the Stern does use. I then took a look at the Pacific manual and noticed it has a similar condemnation of preamps using op amps. It will be interesting to compare the SQ with and without the Stern in the chain.

 

[Whbgarrett]

hi baird, congrats, great decision!!
as for the heisenbergs, i placed them on the floor without any vibration management....and to top the shame, i run them with stock powercords.
sounds absolut terrific though.
as for the stern and the rest of the system i use nordost odin. (pc and speakercables)
i tried the odins on the heisenbergs too, but that meant i had to remove 2 odins from the stern and dac and it was obviously better with the odins on the dac/pre than on the amps.
i tried other cables too, audioquest, transparent and shunyata. in my system with wilson speakers the odins sounded best.
the stern heisenberg have outstanding makrodynamics, the goal with tweaking is to reveal the microstructures....i think thats why the odins do a great job.
all other units are sitting on wilson pedestal footers with top results. i plan the same for stern heisenberg once wilson is going to release theyr big footers.
i am eyeing the horizon too so may be you, heihei and me will have similar electroncs soon.
my advice would be to wait until you get the horizon and start tweaking then. there is no rush, it will sound good whaterever you will use. that said, the first 2 weeks the audionets are sounding strange. good luck!

Hi Zitas,

Are you using Odin interconnects as well?

Baird

 

[LL21]

Congrats on the system!

I run my Stern / Heisenbergs with a Pacific, so will be very keen to hear what you think of the move to Horizon. My server is LDMS which is pretty similar spec to Taiko. Speakers are quite different though - Wilson Benesch Resolutions with Torus subs.

My experience is that the noise floor is so low on the Stern / Heisenbergs and with so little grain, that they can take really transparent cabling without introducing any strain / edge into the sound. This is particularly true of the speaker cables, where I'm using 2 runs of Skogrand Beethoven to bi-wire the Resolutions and make use of the 2 sets of outputs on the Heisenbergs.
For interconnects, Audionet recommend single-ended over balanced as a preference. I've never compared the two using the same cables so can't comment, but I use single-ended RCAs from Z-Axis with Bocchino connectors. I also got Z-Axis to build me some custom supports for the Heisenbergs.

Z:Axis is great stuff...superb workmanship...a work of art. And sound to match...using their i2s Reference Digital cable which was a real eye opener in comparison with the Zanden i2s cable that was designed to go with the 4-box by Zanden. Their powercables are also sublime...using their latest reference which is not yet on their website, so mixing Sablon's remarkable Prince on the amps, sub and main power elements with the Z:Axis on the preamp and the DAC.

 

[zitas]

Hi Zitas,

Are you using Odin interconnects as well?

Baird

yes. then again i tried others and the difference is barely noticable.
pc and speakercables are what made the difference.

i see you have magico pros, not sur if odins are a good match.
audionet, wilson and odin is certainly a dream combination.
again, i wouldnt buy anything prior of running in your system and without trying.

another thing, i plugged the heisenbergs into a shunyta everest and found it better than from the wall. thats in europe with 240v. not sure where you are from and how it would be with 110v.

 

[zitas]

DavidNY,

Thanks for this input. Are your interconnects RCA or XLR, and did you try the other before settling on what you are using?

Regards,

Baird

audionet strongly recommends rca for both input to the stern and out to the heisis

 

[Davidny]

DavidNY,

Thanks for this input. Are your interconnects RCA or XLR, and did you try the other before settling on what you are using?

Regards,

Baird

My interconnects are single ended (RCA) which GTT recommends.

 

[zitas]

With respect to the move to the Horizon, I was reading the manual for the Horizon today and noticed that Lampi strongly recommends against using a preamp, but especially one with op amps, which the Stern does use. It will be interesting to compare the SQ with and without the Stern in the chain.

sorry if i give unnecessary advices, however, how about canceling the stern?

 

[Whbgarrett]

sorry if i give unnecessary advices, however, how about canceling the stern?

Well, given that I am purchasing the equipment second hand, the total price is so attractive that if I later have to sell the Stern on a stand-alone basis, it will be easy to do without any economic sacrifice. After hooking the Stern up to the Lampi Pacific, it does appear to be capable of being overloaded by the single ended signal from the Lampi unless I turn the volume down to -12 or so. Anyone else have this challenge when using a Lampi Pacific with a Stern? My other pre-amp, a Spectral 30SV, does not have this challange, at least certainly not to the same degreee.

 

[dan31]

Your Spectral has the ability to trim input, 0 db or trim of -12 db. This may be in the Stern manual. I would be surprised if it could not trim the input like the Spectral preamp.

 

[Whbgarrett]

Yes, it has that ability and it is easy to do it via the software, unlike the Spectral which has to be opened up. So the problem is/was easily solved, and was not a real surprise given the reputation of the KR 242 tubes as being very high output. I was just curious what others using the Lampi and Stern had experienced.

 

[Mdp632]

Yes, it has that ability and it is easy to do it via the software, unlike the Spectral which has to be opened up. So the problem is/was easily solved, and was not a real surprise given the reputation of the KR 242 tubes as being very high output. I was just curious what others using the Lampi and Stern had experienced.

Congrats on the new gear. It will be interesting to read your comparisions against Spectral.

What Spectral pre+amp combo is the Stern+Heisenberg replacing?

Btw, what about MIT cables (If you still own them ?) with Audionet.

I believe I read that @shakti uses Heisenberg with MIT cables.

Perhaps there is a synergy with MIT cables and wide bandwidth amps such as Audionet and Spectral.

 

[Whbgarrett]

Yes, still have and will likely use the MIT cables, which are all SHD level. The Spectral gear is 30SV pre and 500AR monos. I still have it in house and will definitely do some comparison after the Audionet stuff has settled in and I have a handle on its character.

 

[shakti]

I believe I read that @shakti uses Heisenberg with MIT cables.

The former Audionet series designs were playing a lot better with RCA connections, the new Humboldt, Stern, Heisenberg can be used with XLR as well. Depending on the cable / component I am preferring the XLR connection.
As my Avalon Osiris speakers were developed with MIT 850 evo speaker cables ( the speaker has 5 inputs, I am using one set of triwiring and one set of biwiring cables) this cables were my first choice. Between Stern and Heisenberg were 8m long NBS Black Label I and later Black Label 3 cables used . The result was ok, but not the level I was hoping for. Changing to some cheap sommercable showed, that the Stern was not the best in driving 8m NBS cables. Than I changed to 7,5m long MIT 350 Proline reference signal cables, which was a much better pairing. I am not sure, if the reason is the better synergy with the MIT speaker cables or the more easy electrical load.

As I cannot place the Stern more close to the Heisenberg, I always felt, that I compromising the performance with such long cables. And it is very difficult to get cables on a loan in this length to search for the best fit.

It was more easy to try out different preamplifiers to look for an alternative, which might drive the long set of cables better and be still a good mate for the Heisenbergs.

Now I am listening to a Soulution 720 preamplifier,
which has no problem with my long cables at all and fits in all matters perfect to Heisenberg
Stern ist sold to a happy user with shorter cables, who is very satisfied with the Stern performance.

 

[zitas]

Well, given that I am purchasing the equipment second hand, the total price is so attractive that if I later have to sell the Stern on a stand-alone basis, it will be easy to do without any economic sacrifice.

very well done, that makes sense.
really looking forward to your comparison about horizon direct vs stern