Pilium Audio in action-

[gian60]

Please come and visit the next time you're here

/ Marcus, www.perfect-sense.se

Sure will come
My son already explain where are you and saw which metro take

 

[Rhapsody]

Hi Bob,

We talked in the past about what why we both like/love Kondo amplification or ‘the Kondo sound’. For me to sum it up in one word: purity. How does Pilium compares in that regard to Kondo in your view? Is the Pilium’s solid state sound as pure/non-mechanical as the single ended or push pull tube sound of Kondo in your view?

Hi Rudolph,

They are different for sure. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE tubes. I have 2A3s, 211s, 845s, 300B's, KT88's, KT120s.

My only point is that when I listen to Pilium especially on the Alsyvox, Diesis, Magico, Raidho and Bayz I never feel that I need to play tube amps on any of these speakers to be sucked into the music.

This is only my experience. I get emotionally involved with the music with the Pilium, pretty much the same as I get emotionally involved with the music when I listen to tubes. It's just the music, not the system in either case.

When I listen to my tube amps I don't think that I need to listen to Pilium. When I listen to Pilium I don't think I need to listen to the tube amps. I get sucked into the music with both variations. YMMV for sure

 

[Audiocrack]

Hi Rudolph,

They are different for sure. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE tubes. I have 2A3s, 211s, 845s, 300B's, KT88's, KT120s.

My only point is that when I listen to Pilium especially on the Alsyvox, Diesis, Magico, Raidho and Bayz I never feel that I need to play tube amps on any of these speakers to be sucked into the music.

This is only my experience. I get emotionally involved with the music with the Pilium, pretty much the same as I get emotionally involved with the music when I listen to tubes. It's just the music, not the system in either case.

When I listen to my tube amps I don't think that I need to listen to Pilium. When I listen to Pilium I don't think I need to listen to the tube amps. I get sucked into the music with both variations. YMMV for sure

Thanks Bob. Your wise answer does not surprise me at all and I fully believe you that the mentioned combinations can provide full emotional involvement in the way you just described. But damn, would it be great that on this planet a ss amp could be found that combines the purity of my Kondo’s (and it is in particular this purity that I am so utterly fond of) with the convenience of ss amplification. I have not encountered such an ss amp yet although undoubtedly WBF members will claim that these ss amps do exist. But I suppose a big part of our audio fun is - like Parsifal searching for the holy grail - the (audio) search/journey itself.

 

[Rhapsody]

Thanks Bob. Your wise answer does not surprise me at all and I fully believe you that the mentioned combinations can provide full emotional involvement in the way you just described. But damn, would it be great that on this planet a ss amp could be found that combines the purity of my Kondo’s (and it is in particular this purity that I am so utterly fond of) with the convenience of ss amplification. I have not encountered such an ss amp yet although undoubtedly WBF members will claim that these ss amps do exist. But I suppose a big part of our audio fun is - like Parsifal searching for the holy grail - the (audio) search/journey itself.

It might exist for some. I like them all and feel they are all different. All I care about personally is that I can turn on a system and forget about the system and listen and get sucked in to the music.

 

[Rhapsody]

Piliium Audio and Bayz/YG/Taiko in the Dream Audio Room at the Prague Audio show this weekend.

 

[Bobvin]

Impressive displays… I’m sweating just imagining moving that Pilium kit around. 100+ kg amps, 55 kg preamps, plus 45kg servers. Ugh!

After, there is that glorious Pilium sound

 

[Rhapsody]

Second day at the Prague show in the Dream Audio (Pilium distributor -Slovakia/Czech Republic) room. Lot's of PILIUM!!! And LOT's of PEOPLE!!!

 

[TDX]

I wonder how’s YG sound compared to magico. Someone feel too lean someone actually feel smoother. So curious, especially paired with Pilium!

 

[Rhapsody]

I wonder how’s YG sound compared to magico. Someone feel too lean someone actually feel smoother. So curious, especially paired with Pilium!

Hard to say or guess unless you had both speakers in the same room at the same time and optimized each system for the particular speakers.

I do not think it is even representative of the sound of a speaker by plunking it into a system unless you make sure all of the up stream components, stands, cables etc are selected to optimize the particular speaker in use. That's IF you really want to tell what the speaker can sound like optimally.

 

[sonrock]

Thanks for sharing your experience with Pilium.

The first time after 10 years I was hugely impressed with "a more affordable amp" like the Pilium Achilles when hearing it driving the A5s at the MOC.

Honestly, the Dartzeel/Stenheim room took my heart but they are too expensive and I don't have the money plus a room for such a huge pair of speakers. So, I'm thinking seriously to get the Hercules home as I will have the opportunity to try the Achilles here and compare it directly with my beloved KAM2000.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the Karan and they are still doing a wonderful job in my system for many years, but I think this is the right time for me to try something new. Not sure if I can afford the Hercules and keep the Karan in my 2nd system or will need to trade them in.

Please can you share some info of how the Hercules monoblocks sound compare with the Achilles? I cannot recall if I saw the Hercules in Munich as there were too many rooms and most of them were overcrowded, so have no impression or memory with those at all.

Many of the mega rooms including Kharma, MSB, Nagra and CH sounded too boring to me, maybe the music being played was crap and didn't show me how they should really perform at their best when I was there.

Many thanks,

Sr

 

[Rhapsody]

Thanks for sharing your experience with Pilium.

The first time after 10 years I was hugely impressed with "a more affordable amp" like the Pilium Achilles when hearing it driving the A5s at the MOC.

Honestly, the Dartzeel/Stenheim room took my heart but they are too expensive and I don't have the money plus a room for such a huge pair of speakers. So, I'm thinking seriously to get the Hercules home as I will have the opportunity to try the Achilles here and compare it directly with my beloved KAM2000.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the Karan and they are still doing a wonderful job in my system for many years, but I think this is the right time for me to try something new. Not sure if I can afford the Hercules and keep the Karan in my 2nd system or will need to trade them in.

Please can you share some info of how the Hercules monoblocks sound compare with the Achilles? I cannot recall if I saw the Hercules in Munich as there were too many rooms and most of them were overcrowded, so have no impression or memory with those at all.

Many of the mega rooms including Kharma, MSB, Nagra and CH sounded too boring to me, maybe the music being played was crap and didn't show me how they should really perform at their best when I was there.

Many thanks,

Sr

Sr, This is my opinion. Btw, the Karan amps are very nice amps.

The real key to the Pilium sound is matching one of the Pilium preamps with really any of the Pilium amps.

The Hercules, being monos vs the stereo Achilles are going to give more control of drivers, but it depends on what speakers you are using, size of the room and how loud you play.

You get a LOT of the Pilium sound with the Alexander/Achilles. The Hercules will be more relaxed sounding when driving a harder load in a larger room, when playing at high volume levels, regardless of the speakers.

As long as you match a Pilium pre with any of the Pilium amps you should be a happy sonic camper.

 

[sonrock]

Thanks for letting me know, I'm using Q5s and Koda K10 preamp in my system. Nothing changed during the last 8 years as I moved on from hifi to acoustic guitars and starter collecting ultra/highend guitars.

I write songs and play the instrument, so if you're the same then you'll know exactly what I mean as there is nothing compared to real live music especially when you play wonderful/favourite tunes yourself from also a wonderful sounding guitar. No systems could bring me such joys and happiness, just me anyway.

But after coming back from Munich this year, something has changed in me and I think this is about time for me enjoying hifi again, so I started buying more CDs and keep turning my system on more frequently. Hopefully I won't need to let one or 2 of my guitars go to free the cash for hifi.

I'm applying for house extension at the moment and keeping my fingers crossed the local council will approve the planning permission. So if that happened, I'd get a room 5.5x7m for my system, not big I know, but big enough for me. As my living room where the system stays at the moment is around 3.75x5m cause houses in the UK are small, so the lounge.

I love my Koda k10 so much that I didn't bother to upgrade to the K15 extreme when comparing them side by side here for a week when the K15 Ex was released and arrived the UK. So not sure if I'll need to let that go and bring the Alexandra pre in to suit with power amp if I ended up taking the Pilium home.

Will defo get the Taiko streamer home one day too as it's more convenient for me to listen to my big library of fav songs from Spotify instead of swapping CDs all the time. Having said that, I'm a big fan of CDs and SACDs, so won't get rid of them and will continue using the transport/dac in the future.

Thanks,

Son

 

[Rhapsody]

Thanks for letting me know, I'm using Q5s and Koda K10 preamp in my system. Nothing changed during the last 8 years as I moved on from hifi to acoustic guitars and starter collecting ultra/highend guitars.

I write songs and play the instrument, so if you're the same then you'll know exactly what I mean as there is nothing compared to real live music especially when you play wonderful/favourite tunes yourself from also a wonderful sounding guitar. No systems could bring me such joys and happiness, just me anyway.

But after coming back from Munich this year, something has changed in me and I think this is about time for me enjoying hifi again, so I started buying more CDs and keep turning my system on more frequently. Hopefully I won't need to let one or 2 of my guitars go to free the cash for hifi.

I'm applying for house extension at the moment and keeping my fingers crossed the local council will approve the planning permission. So if that happened, I'd get a room 5.5x7m for my system, not big I know, but big enough for me. As my living room where the system stays at the moment is around 3.75x5m cause houses in the UK are small, so the lounge.

I love my Koda k10 so much that I didn't bother to upgrade to the K15 extreme when comparing them side by side here for a week when the K15 Ex was released and arrived the UK. So not sure if I'll need to let that go and bring the Alexandra pre in to suit with power amp if I ended up taking the Pilium home.

Will defo get the Taiko streamer home one day too as it's more convenient for me to listen to my big library of fav songs from Spotify instead of swapping CDs all the time. Having said that, I'm a big fan of CDs and SACDs, so won't get rid of them and will continue using the transport/dac in the future.

Thanks,

Son

I agree Son, I play the guitar regularly and NO audio system imho is as enjoyable as when you play guitar or any instrument. BUT listening to music and playing music are two different experiences. I enjoy both.

Koda makes great equipment. That's a tough one as I have no idea nor do I believe anyone would have an idea how a Koda pre and a Pilium amp would sound. The only way to know would be to try it. Other than that, it's a crapshoot.

It would be great if you could compare the Alexander and the Koda with a Pilium amp, not sure if that is possible for you.

Btw, Q5's are hard to drive speakers. The Hercules would in this case give better overall sound vs an Achilles, but the Achilles/Alexader WOULD drive the Q5s as well, but you would notice an overall sonic uptick by listening with a pair of Hercules on the Q5s.

 

[sonrock]

I can't agree more as I enjoy both playing the guitar and listening to the music from my system. But somehow I was so deep with guitars during the last couple of years and wrote a decent amount of songs, so I was leaning on that side more than hifi. 12 years ago, I was purely addicted to hifi and took 4-5 years to get where I am now, because I think without a proper room, any upgrade in my system would be wasted.

I love warm and punchy sound with sparkling high and mellow mid, so the Karans are doing a perfect job in my system and to my taste. I'm not sure how much experience you've got with the KAM2000, but they never fail you in terms of musicality and massive soundstage with pinpointing positions.

I had never thought about Naim until I heard their Statement system driving Wilson Alexia speakers, and that was also the first time I heard Wilson sounded that great. But the Naim Statement is also way over my budget, similarly to Dartzeel or Soulution. Therefore, when I found out about Pilium and their price range, I think they are a good fit.

I should have taken advantage of the brand when it was newly released couple of years ago when the price was still low, but anything happened for a reason anyway cause I would have never thought I would replace my Karan until I move up the ladder to the names mentioned above, another lesson learned .

I'm not sure if the distributor has the Alexandra that he can bring here to try, I'll ask. Thanks for sharing the info.

 

[Hyperion]

I used to own the Karan KA M2000 as my last personal power amplifiers almost 10 years ago before becoming a part of the high end audio business as importer and reseller here in Sweden. Wonderful amps at the time that served me very well.

Since about a year back, we're now proudly representing Pilium in Sweden where I might be able to give you (@sonrock) some feedback.

The short story is this - if you're fond of Karan, I'm sure you will fall in love with Pilium. At least that's what I did. Karan was very much about the relaxed authority and the vivid midrange that made it stand out from most other SS amps. The top end could become a bit energetic though in my room and setting at the time.

Pilium in comparison has a similar level of authority and sense of limitless headroom as the very powerful KA M2000 mono's. Even the Leonidas integrated is often more than sufficient in this regard. Pilium is better balanced throughout the frequency spectrum though, where nothing stands out or seems to be missing. It's very resolving and transparent combined with organic and natural qualities without becoming slow, laid back or lush. It's "install and forget" electronics that seems to bring out the best from almost every speaker that I've tried - especially modern high-tech alternatives that needs sufficient power while at the same time being very resolving and demanding which includes Magico, Stenheim, YG, Rockport etc.

Hope that helps.

/ Marcus, www.perfect-sense.se

 

[sonrock]

I truly know what you mean "install and forget" Marcus, as it exactly happened in my system when I had the Koda matched with Karan years ago and totally ignore tubes as I have the warm side of tubes and powerful side of ss. My boxes never moved since being taken out of the crates and staying where they are until now.

When I was in the Magico room at MOC, the A5s which are smaller compared to Q5s but fill the decent size room with ease. The Achilles really provided the authority and absolute control of the speakers in different types of music. By that moment, I was wondering how the Pilium should sound with my Q5s at home.

The Stenheim/Dartzeel room is the next level but their speakers are much bigger than the A5s/Q5s whilst money is in 6 figures, so surely they must sound great. In addition, Soulution used a weird set up with 2 integrated amps playing in monoblocks style driving the M6s. The sound is powerful and fast but somehow a bit harsh and dry in the high, same money like the Stenhiem/Dartzeel room.

After going through some other mega rooms, the Magico room with A5s and Pilium really struck me as I've been using the Q5s for many years. The only room that gave me the same or a bit better feeling is Sigma Acoustic with their Orchestra 2.9 speakers. So I think I'll give the Pilium a try with my beloved Q5s now while waiting for my extension to be built in the future before bringing those new speakers from Sigma Acoustic here.

I might give you a visit in the future Marcus at your shop if you have time so we'll have a good chat about music and hifi . Thanks for sharing the info.

 

[mglik]

I just had the lovely opportunity to experience Bob Vineyard’s Pilium set up with the large Bayz. Stunning! Gob smacted!
Interesting that when I came home and listened to my more modest $130K system I was satisfied. My speakers (Tetra 606) use the legendary ATC dome midrange. And that produces a terrific midrange. Where most of the music resides. And is the easiest range to reproduce. The result is that, even though the extremes are not quite there and I don’t have the same “you are there” experience, my system sounds good. The two transducer, the Lyra Atlas SL and the Tetras are not at the level of Bob’s, I am happy and content and emotionally engaged. Also an interesting comparison between my AGD Audion mono blocks and Bob’s Pilium. I am missing that last level of detail but it is not shabby. Especially for the price.
I look forward to hearing Bob’s other speaker.

 

[LL21]

I used to own the Karan KA M2000 as my last personal power amplifiers almost 10 years ago before becoming a part of the high end audio business as importer and reseller here in Sweden. Wonderful amps at the time that served me very well.

Since about a year back, we're now proudly representing Pilium in Sweden where I might be able to give you (@sonrock) some feedback.

The short story is this - if you're fond of Karan, I'm sure you will fall in love with Pilium. At least that's what I did. Karan was very much about the relaxed authority and the vivid midrange that made it stand out from most other SS amps. The top end could become a bit energetic though in my room and setting at the time.

Pilium in comparison has a similar level of authority and sense of limitless headroom as the very powerful KA M2000 mono's. Even the Leonidas integrated is often more than sufficient in this regard. Pilium is better balanced throughout the frequency spectrum though, where nothing stands out or seems to be missing. It's very resolving and transparent combined with organic and natural qualities without becoming slow, laid back or lush. It's "install and forget" electronics that seems to bring out the best from almost every speaker that I've tried - especially modern high-tech alternatives that needs sufficient power while at the same time being very resolving and demanding which includes Magico, Stenheim, YG, Rockport etc.

Hope that helps.

/ Marcus, www.perfect-sense.se

Hi Marcus,

Your world-class roster of brands keeps growing! Congrats! I am amazed.

As for amps, how do you compare with new Karan Master Collection monos vs the Pilium gear? I have heard the latest Karan Master Collection monos are super special and well beyond even prior reference amps from Karan.

 

[Hyperion]

I truly know what you mean "install and forget" Marcus, as it exactly happened in my system when I had the Koda matched with Karan years ago and totally ignore tubes as I have the warm side of tubes and powerful side of ss. My boxes never moved since being taken out of the crates and staying where they are until now.

When I was in the Magico room at MOC, the A5s which are smaller compared to Q5s but fill the decent size room with ease. The Achilles really provided the authority and absolute control of the speakers in different types of music. By that moment, I was wondering how the Pilium should sound with my Q5s at home.

The Stenheim/Dartzeel room is the next level but their speakers are much bigger than the A5s/Q5s whilst money is in 6 figures, so surely they must sound great. In addition, Soulution used a weird set up with 2 integrated amps playing in monoblocks style driving the M6s. The sound is powerful and fast but somehow a bit harsh and dry in the high, same money like the Stenhiem/Dartzeel room.

After going through some other mega rooms, the Magico room with A5s and Pilium really struck me as I've been using the Q5s for many years. The only room that gave me the same or a bit better feeling is Sigma Acoustic with their Orchestra 2.9 speakers. So I think I'll give the Pilium a try with my beloved Q5s now while waiting for my extension to be built in the future before bringing those new speakers from Sigma Acoustic here.

I might give you a visit in the future Marcus at your shop if you have time so we'll have a good chat about music and hifi . Thanks for sharing the info.

It might become hard to part from that Koda

My experience with DarTZeel outside shows and events is limited except for the CTH-8550 integrated. My overall sense is that DarTZeel has more of a house sound in comparison leaning towards the slightly more sweet and liquid side of the spectrum, which of course can be lovely with the right speakers - Stenheim being one of them. If you're an analogue or tube guy at heart, I'm sure you will find DarTZeel to be very special.

A higher price does not always equal greater performance as most of you already know. The cost of production and housing are major parts of the final cost. Pilium has an obvious edge here, being very sensibly priced relatively speaking without any (unnecessary) bells and whistles. It's certainly a "form follows function design" that's beautiful to me in its own right giving it a very solid and calm presence.

You can put Pilium against any brand on todays market.

/ Marcus, www.perfect-sense.se

 

[Hyperion]

Hi Marcus,

Your world-class roster of brands keeps growing! Congrats! I am amazed.

As for amps, how do you compare with new Karan Master Collection monos vs the Pilium gear? I have heard the latest Karan Master Collection monos are super special and well beyond even prior reference amps from Karan.

Hi Lloyd

The new Karan Master Collection looks great. What I'm missing and need though is a range of options, including integrated amps which are important for the Scandinavian market especially. The Pilium Leonidas and Odysseus fills this space being world class options within this segment. From there you can then move on to separates if you like with a broad range of options where the sky is the limit.

There are several other factors in play as well when choosing brands to represent where Pilium ticks all of the boxes for me.

/ Marcus, www.perfect-sense.se