2. amps-preamps
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My Long List of Amplifiers and My Personal Review of Each!

So I have been in a long journey looking to find the best amplifiers for my martin logan montis. As you know, the match between an amplifier and speakers has to be a good "marriage" and needs to be blend exquisitely. Right now, I think I might have found the best sounding amplifier for martin logan. I have gone through approximately 34-36 amplifiers in the past 12 months. Some of these are:

Bryston ST, SST, SST2 series
NAD M25
PARASOUND HALO
PARASOUND CLASSIC
KRELL TAS
KRELL KAV 500
KRELL CHORUS
ROTEL RMB 1095
CLASSE CT 5300
CLASSE CA 2200
CLASSE CA 5200
MCINTOSH MC 205
CARY AUDIO CINEMA 7
OUTLAW AUDIO 755
LEXICON RX7
PASS LABS XA 30.8
BUTLER AUDIO 5150
ATI SIGNATURE SERIES 6005

With all that said, the amplifiers I mentioned above are the ones that in my opinion are worth mentioning. To make a long story short, there is NO 5 CHANNEL POWER AMP that sounds as good as a 3ch and 2ch amplifier combination. i have done both experiments and the truth is that YOU DO lose details and more channel separation,etc when you select a 5 channel power amplifier of any manufacturer.
My recollection of what each amp sounded like is as follows:

ATI SIGNATURE SERIES 6005 (great power and amazing soundstage. Very low noise floor, BUT this amplifiers NEEDS TO BE cranked up in order to fully enjoy it. If you like listening at low volume levels or somewhat moderate, you are wasting your time here. This amp won’t sound any different than many other brands out there at this volume. The bass is great, good highs although they are a bit bright for my taste)

NAD M25 (very smooth, powerful, but somewhat thin sounding as far as bass goes)
Bryston sst2(detailed, good soundstage, good power, but can be a little forward with certain speakers which could make them ear fatiguing at loud volumes)

Krell (fast sounding, nice bass attack, nice highs, but some detail does get lost with certain speakers)

rotel (good amp for the money, but too bright in my opinion)

cary audio (good sound overall, very musical, but it didn’t have enough oomph)

parasound halo (good detail, great bass, but it still holds back some background detail that i can hear in others)

lexicon (very laid back and smooth. huge power, but if you like more detail or crisper highs, this amp will disappoint you)

McIntosh mc205 (probably the worst multichannel amp given its price point. it was too thin sounding, had detail but lacked bass.

butler audio (good amplifier. very warm and smooth sweet sounding. i think for the money, this is a better amp than the parasound a51)

pass labs (very VERY musical with excellent bass control. You can listen to this for hours and hours without getting ear fatigue. however, it DOES NOT do well in home theater applications if all you have is a 2 channel set up for movies. The midrange gets somewhat "muddy" or very weak sounding that you find yourself trying to turn it up.

classe audio (best amplifier for multi channel applications. i simply COULDNT FIND a better multi channel amplifier PERIOD. IT has amazing smoothness, amazing power and good bass control although i would say krell has much better bass control)

Update: The reviews above were done in January 2015. Below is my newest update as of October 2016:



PS AUDIO BHK 300 MONOBLOCKS: Amazing amps. Tons of detail and really amazing midrange. the bass is amazing too, but the one thing i will say is that those of you with speakers efficiency of 87db and below you will not have all the "loudness" that you may want from time to time. These amps go into protection mode when using a speaker such as the Salon, but only at very loud levels. Maybe 97db and above. If you don’t listen to extreme crazy levels, these amps will please you in every way.

Plinius Odeon 7 channel amp: This is THE BEST multichannel amp i have ever owned. Far , but FAR SUPERIOR to any other multichannel amp i have owned. In my opinion it destroyed all of the multichannel amps i mentioned above and below. The Odeon is an amp that is in a different tier group and it is in a league of its own. Amazing bass, treble and it made my center channel sound more articulate than ever before. The voices where never scrambled with the action scenes. It just separated everything very nicely.

Theta Dreadnaught D: Good detailed amp. Looks very elegant, has a pleasant sound, but i found it a tad too bright for my taste. I thought it was also somewhat "thin" sounding lacking body to the music. could be that it is because it is class d?

Krell Duo 300: Good amp. Nice and detailed with enough power to handle most speakers out there. I found that it does have a very nice "3d" sound through my electrostatics. Nothing to fault here on this amp.
Mark Levinson 532H: Great 2 channel amp. Lots of detail, amazing midrange which is what Mark Levinson is known for. It sounds very holographic and will please those of you looking for more detail and a better midrange. As far as bass, it is there, but it is not going to give you the slam of a pass labs 350.5 or JC1s for example. It is great for those that appreciate classical music, instrumental, etc, but not those of you who love tons of deep bass.

 It is articulate sounding too
Krell 7200: Plenty of detail and enough power for most people. i found that my rear speakers contained more information after installed this amp. One thing that i hated is that you must use xlr cables with this amp or else you lose most of its sound performance when using RCA’s.

Krell 402e: Great amp. Very powerful and will handle any speaker you wish. Power is incredible and with great detail. That said, i didn’t get all the bass that most reviewers mentioned. I thought it was "ok" in regards to bass. It was there, but it didn’t slam me to my listening chair.

Bryston 4B3: Good amp with a complete sound. I think this amp is more laid back than the SST2 version. I think those of you who found the SST2 version of this amp a little too forward with your speakers will definitely benefit from this amp’s warmth. Bryston has gone towards the "warm" side in my opinion with their new SST3 series. As always, they are built like tanks. I wouldn’t call this amp tube-like, but rather closer to what the classe audio delta 2 series sound like which is on the warm side of things.

Parasound JC1s: Good powerful amps. Amazing low end punch (far superior bass than the 402e). This amp is the amp that i consider complete from top to bottom in regards to sound. Nothing is lacking other than perhaps a nicer chassis. Parasound needs to rework their external appearance when they introduce new amps. This amp would sell much more if it had a revised external appearance because the sound is a great bang for the money. It made my 800 Nautilus scream and slam. Again, amazing low end punch.

Simaudio W7: Good detailed amp. This amp reminds me a lot of the Mark Levinson 532h. Great detail and very articulate. I think this amp will go well with bookshelves that are ported in order to compensate for what it lacks when it comes to the bass. That doesn’t mean it has no bass, but when it is no Parasound JC1 either.
Pass labs 350.5: Wow, where do i begin? maybe my first time around with the xa30.8 wasn’t as special as it was with this monster 350.5. It is just SPECTACULAR sounding with my electrostatics. The bass was THE BEST BASS i have ever heard from ANY amp period. The only amp that comes close would be the jC1s. It made me check my settings to make sure the bass was not boosted and kept making my jaw drop each time i heard it. It totally destroyed the krell 402e in every regard. The krell sounded too "flat" when compared to this amp. This amp had amazing mirange with great detail up top. In my opinion, this amp is the best bang for the money. i loved this amp so much that i ended up buying the amp that follows below.

Pass labs 250.8: What can i say here. This is THE BEST STEREO AMP i have ever heard. This amp destroys all the amps i have listed above today to include the pass labs 350.5. It is a refined 350.5 amp. It has more 3d sound which is something the 350.5 lacked. It has a level of detail that i really have never experienced before and the bass was amazing as well. I really thought it was the most complete power amplifier i have ever heard HANDS DOWN. To me, this is a benchmark of an amplifier. This is the amp that others should be judged by. NOTHING is lacking and right now it is the #1 amplifier that i have ever owned.

My current amps are Mcintosh MC601s: i decided to give these 601s a try and they don’t disappoint. They have great detail, HUGE soundstage, MASSIVE power and great midrange/highs. The bass is great, but it is no pass labs 250.8 or 350.5. As far as looks, these are the best looking amps i have ever owned. No contest there. i gotta be honest with you all, i never bought mcintosh monos before because i wasn’t really "wowed" by the mc452, but it could have been also because at that time i was using a processor as a preamp which i no longer do. Today, i own the Mcintosh C1100 2 chassis tube preamp which sounds unbelievable. All the amps i just described above have been amps that i auditioned with the C1100 as a preamp. The MC601s sound great without a doubt, but i will say that if you are looking for THE BEST sound for the money, these would not be it. However, Mcintosh remains UNMATCHED when it comes to looks and also resale value. Every other amp above depreciates much faster than Mcintosh.

That said, my future purchase (when i can find a steal of a deal) will be the Pass labs 350.8. I am tempted to make a preliminary statement which is that i feel this amp could be THE BEST stereo amp under 30k dollars. Again, i will be able to say more and confirm once i own it. I hope this update can help you all in your buying decisions!


jays_audio_lab

Showing 50 responses by ricevs

ricevs
1,543 posts
 
Again, you are not straying from the original sound if the mic is not picking up what is actually there.....What you want in the end is the reproduction of what Jay hears.  If he has to eq the mic to get it to make a flat recording (flat from his ear standards...not measurements) then it is actually more accurate to the source to use the eq.  Most any mic measures pretty flat....they all sound different....just as all amps measure flat....they all sound different.  
ricevs
1,543 posts
 
Faxer,
What is the retail price of the new Ref 3 panels....without subs.......and how much are subs?  
ricevs
1,543 posts
 
Check this out:
https://www.stereophile.com/content/aurender-n10-music-server-jvs-april-2019
ricevs
1,543 posts
 
Here comes the Mephisto?.....or should we say Meph (beasto)

I sure hope you review the 118 and the JC1+ before you sell them.  We don't know anything about them unless you A/B one component at a time.
ricevs
1,543 posts
 
And now for a walk on the tweaky very transparent and relatively inexpensive wild side.

http://tweakaudio.com/EVS-2/Purifi_amp_mods.html

Maybe Jay will want to try a pair of the super all out wild guys...Purifi or Nc1200.  "We've only just begun".

http://tweakaudio.com/EVS-2/Ruminations_on_Class_D.html
ricevs
1,543 posts
 
Here is my prediction. All the amps you have listened to will be boat anchors within 2-3 years.

Class D is progressing fast now. You do not need giant heatsinks and banks of transistors to get class A type sound. One pair of transistors and hardly any heatsink gets you 200 watts a channel.....3 pairs and a slightly larger heatsink gets you 600 watts a channel or more. Switching power supplies that can deliver 3000 watts cost very little....they are very light. What is inside the Merrill....is probably not much. They are expensive because they are making it pretty and using expensive jacks, have dealer markup, etc. The packing box for them alone cost a pretty penny. How much money is in the guts?. Merrill does not allow anyone to look inside.....hmmmmmmmmmmmm. Jay, please take the cover off and show us the beef!!!!!.....he he.

GaN transistors are not expensive....nor is anything else in a class D amp. You do not need any expensive coupling caps, giant heatsinks, rows of transistors, banks of large caps, 1500 watt giant transformers.

Why do class A amps generally sound better than class D....well, for one they are usually made by people who design their own circuit and pay attention to lots of stuff. Class D amps are generally stock modules designed by non audiophiles and then they just stick their own input stage on it. Of course, most of them don’t cost that much, but if you want perfection you cannot just throw stock modules in a box and add a front end and some good wires and jacks. It is much deeper than that. Gryphon knows this....Merrill knows this. D’Agostino knows this. So, we need people to design and modifiy class D amps that listen to every part and think outside the ’Class D..throw it in a box" mentality. Merrill is no throw it in a box thing....not whatsoever.....this is why it is really good. But this is just the beginning. You do not need fancy boxes and shipping containers....you need someone to just pay attention to the stuff inside the box.

If Merrill took all the guts of his amp and put it in a plain box and used a plain shipping box and sold it direct.....what do you think it would sell for? Maybe $8K for the mono blocks? Of course, he wants to recoup all his design time and make the most out of the fact that he is first with a good sounding and sexy looking GaN based amp. I understand business. But I also see the writing on the wall.

There is no reason why a state of the art class D mono block that does 400 watts a channel should be more than $3K (6K the pair) sold direct. Plain but nice box....great jacks, audiophile fuse and super paid attention to everything inside the box construction. Someone who listens and thinks and tweaks. This will happen before you know it. This amp will weigh under 20lbs. Maybe the about to be released $3K 300 watt a channel GaN stereo amp from LSA with super tweaky mods can challenge some mega buck amps....we shall see/hear. And then there are mods that can be done to the Purifi module that can take it to new heights. So much fun coming and so cheap.........boat anchors away!
ricevs
1,543 posts
 
I was just working on mods to a Purifi based amp today....and kept thinking.....I have heard that voice sound more real......then I changed the 4 inch input wire to my own custom wire.....WOW!  Goosebumps.  The wire that was in there is the Hypex interconnect which is what VTV and Nord use.....simply junk.  Again, most class D amps are just thrown together.....every single thing has to be listened to....this is why Class D has had no soul.  Soul coming real soon.....and affordable too.

This is what not to use:
https://www.hypex.nl/product/ncore-signal-cable/102
ricevs
1,543 posts
 
The hypex cable is just plain stranded tin plated copper with some poly something on it.....probably PVC....hard to tell.  This is totally ordinary wire.  My wires sounds warmer, more natural, way more extended, more air, more space, more dynamic, more 3D, more real.......just more everything.  Way better.  4 freakin inches....makes all the difference.....everything has to be listened to.  Everything makes a difference.  My wire is two strands of solid core type 1 Cardas BARE 24 gauge wires twisted together and put in a cotton sleeve.  The wire is listened to for directionality and put in the best sounding way......and a cotton tie is put in the middle of the 4 inch piece to further damp any resonances on the wire.  You can see pics of this wire on my website.  Someone described one of my mods as looking like dog food........white wires running all over da place....he he.
ricevs
1,543 posts
 
My speakers?  No comprende.
ricevs
1,543 posts
 
I have immense respect for Nelson’s designs...they are simple and elegant....very pure. However, he is not a tweaker. All those other amps you mentioned are at least as compromised....just in different ways. DAG uses huge hunks of brass as their binding posts on their quarter of a million dollar amps. The Furutech ones on the X300s are way better. I modded an Ayre integrated a few years ago.....a few simple mods ($200 mod) made is noticeably better. BTW. I don't do one off mods.. 

Everything in time and space is compromised. Only pure love is infinitely beautiful and eternal. This is who we are.
ricevs
1,543 posts
 
The X300s are not state of the art in execution. He uses Panasonic metal oxide power resistors, Dale or similar smaller resistors, uses no bypass caps on the power supply, the internal wire is probably ordinary, the heatsinks on the front end circuit are not damped, the power cord between the main chassis and power supply chassis is not state of the art, the large heatsinks are not damped, the big power supply caps are ? brand, the power transformer is probably mounted with steel hardware and set directly on the chassis, etc. etc.

If you were to put better resistors in it, better caps with serious bypass caps, damp all the heatsinks, float the power transformer off the chassis and use no metal around it, make a better power supply cable, better internal wires, etc. you would have a way more transparent amp.. I know all this from 40 years of tweaking, manufacturing and listening tests. Does this mean I can make a better amp? Who cares. What I am saying is that I could make this amp way better.......so could scores of other people. There is no perfect amp. Every manufacturer has his mental limitations that he has imposed on himself. There is no Indy 500 for audio. The fastest amp does not get the pole position. It is all subjective.

I am sure the X300s are really great amps....but they could be way greater amps if tweaked to the max by any number of people (not that anyone would ever tweak such a thing). We don’t want to lose resale value now. Car hot rodders will spend thousands of dollars on mods to get a half a second quicker ET. Audio lovers are very conservative.....they use their equipment stock and a lot don’t even have good footers/racks or tweak their gear using PPT and other cool things. There is so much more than "stock".

I sent an email to Nelson Pass a few years ago about me modding his products and seeing if he would want my help in tweaking his products......his reply was basically "I am sure what you do works, but I have no interest in it. I don’t care if you mod my amps. Have fun".

We all have our limitations. This is why audio will never be perfect and a lot of manufacturers claim their product is the best....well, until they come out with a new version...he he. What we have is amp of the minute....until the next moment we find a better one. It is a game. Enjoy the game......but if you think your amp is "perfect" (whatever the heck that means) then you are fooling yourself. Enjoy the ride. I wish you ever expanding joy and love.
ricevs
1,543 posts
 
I don’t understand the point of all this. How can we know how good each thing is when you are listening to a system.....DAG versus Merrill. So, which preamp is best? Which amp is best? Why are you not doing a shootout between each component? I don’t buy things in sets. And how do you know what you are doing if you are using different power cords on each amp......and you have the DAG amp on a $5000 stand and the Merrill’s on the rug? And the preamps are sitting on different stands....and you do not have audiophile fuses in anything (which can totally transform something....I know the DAG stuff uses fuses....stock fuses suck).  You are obviously having fun, that is for sure. But, what have we learned?
ricevs
1,543 posts
 
I disagree......unless you take each component and really see what it can do....you know nothing. What if the DAG amp was a lot more detailed with a better fuse? What if the Merrill stuff sounded way better on better stands? What if, what if, what if. Any one thing can completely change the sound. The only way to evaluate a component versus another is to A/B one component versus another using all the same stuff....and then tweak each one for best sound (maybe different stuff works best for each one) and then A/B again. Otherwise you are just fooling around.

There is no harm.....just no real knowledge. It’s fun to listen to the videos.....but I know nothing from them......and I do hear the differences, quite clearly. It just does not mean anything....given what I know.

I have absolutely no doubt that if you put the Merrill amps on various stands....you would get various results....no doubt.  Floor is stupid, for anything.

You don't need to do a million A/Bs.......just A/B one component at a time and set up the same way.  This is what most all professional reviewers do......although sometimes they do listen to systems......but most of the time the serious guys review one component at a time and over several months.  This is how you really get to know something.
ricevs
1,543 posts
 
Viber6,
When you listened to the Merrill......did you try different stands underneath?.....and even more important did you bypass the "soft" feet on the Merrill and try some other expensive super footers? I would never trust a "standard footer" to give me the best sound.....maybe it is the best for that amp and maybe it softens the sound.....and maybe a different footer/shelf system would have given you exactly what you want from the amp.....you never know till you try. Every single thing I do under a component.....completely changes its sound.  A friend was using a Sistrum stand underneath his Pass amp to good effect and then got a Minusk isolation stand and it is now a new amp.
ricevs
1,543 posts
 
Merrill found a footer they like....that does not mean it is totally way cool and no other footer will do. You know nothing about footers and vibration control....that is, for sure. You tried a serious amp stand for the first time lately and it blew your mind. That is all you know. You have to experiment to know something. If you just quote a manufacturer.....well....good luck with that. I know that everything makes a difference.....that I know.....I don’t know much about expensive amp stands because I cannot afford them.....but I have tried lots of stuff under components....and they all give a different sound. By the way, I have the standard IsoAcoustics Orea footers here and they are not my favorite footer (soft sounding).
ricevs
1,543 posts
 
Jay,
You know what Viber was asking. He knows what scores you gave the Gryphon. He wants you to A/B the Gryphon and the 118.....and most here (including me) want to HEAR that. THEN you can do your rating video on the 118.
The Gryphon is now $27K......way less than the 118 ($38K).
ricevs
1,543 posts
 
This (all life) is pure entertainment.....please entertain yourself. You can do this. You are in charge of your happiness. Enjoy and love yourself...every second...and of course, include everyone in your joy......but most everything is humorous.....it really is. I crack myself up all the time. Infinite eternal joy is what all this REALLY IS........channel #Love is all .....on your radio.

This thread is not exclusive.....as is all life. We are all connected. This channel is as much mine as yours and includes all 8 billion of us. All our truths are real. We can all state our truth.....we can all dance in the sacred dance...because we already are.

I do find this thread entertaining......but I feel called to tell the truth about what I experience. I hope you do the same.

Sorry guys, there is no "final exit" as we are all eternal. There is no end. Get used to it. People think differently than you and find things funny whereas you might find them SERIOUS. ENJOY every second. It is free.
ricevs
1,543 posts
 
What this is....is a combo of a three ring circus and a soap opera......entertaining for sure.

"Over in ring #1 is the four time Luxman amp taking another bow.....over in ring #2 is the mystery amp....covered by a Pass labs bag....he he. Don’t you all want to know what is under the bag?......stay tuned for the mindblowing reveal.....over in ring #3 is the Merrill combo back for an encore.......aren’t they sweet. Oh....next in ring # 1 is the return of the Audio Research Ref 6SE (please sing along with me..."Once in never enough with a preamp like YOUooooh").....wait till you hear that.....I know you cannot wait....you cannot....I have built up so much suspense it is killing you....Oh, did I mention the Parasound amps coming in ring #2 real soon.....Oh, next in all three rings is the Big Maggies....well, until next week....when we will have the surprise speaker......ooooo yeah....which one will it be? Stay tuned for the big reveal! In ring #2 is the new $5K amp stand......only to be used on the DAG amp...and in ring #3 are the MIT power cords used only on the Merrills.......and over in all rings is the inferior DAC to the last one with less resolution and cannot drive amps direct so that we can confuse you with less resolution......he he.....this is the conspiracy part of the soap opera......I have you....You cannot stay away....where can you see such a revolving door of equipment.....don’t you salivate.....just looking at all the eye candy?!!!! You must come again soon....tomorrow....today for the latest plot changes that will thrill your soul. Have you wife watch with you. This is only the beginning. Eventually we will have equipment having sex with each other......yes, coming soon here. Audio porn.....for real!"

i could not stop laughing while writing the above. I hope you find it as entertaining as the channel it is on.....Peace Out.


ricevs
1,543 posts
 
Infinite eternal Kaleidoscopic dance of love and joy.......that is what we are. That is what I call forth more and more, every day. What do you call forth? You might think that is goofy. I find it beautiful. It never ends....Enjoy.

I am never offended by the thoughts that man has.....as stated by EST...years ago: "the mind is a make wrong machine". I don’t make you wrong (you are incredibly beautiful, as we all are).....just point out the flaws in the lack of knowledge. Every thing is perfect....just the way it is....it will always be that way. Have fun.

Way out there...... is right here and now. Infinite bliss right this very minute awaits your saying it is so. You control your reality......call it and step into it....whatever pleases you.

Do you think you create your reality moment to moment?.....you do....you are that powerful. However, you can either let it keep recreating itself from the unconscious reactive mind stuff (you know, your programming) or you can consciously create your life anew each second. This is the choice you have....either be a robot or learn how to be totally alive in the infinite dance....free of the past....free of judgements.....free of fear......in the joy of this moment.

I will now return you to your scheduled program...he he......this has been an message provided by the "Life is amazing every second" foundation.
ricevs
1,543 posts
 
How can you evaluate your system and especially cables without cable lifters?  Do you want much better sound in 10 minutes?  You MUST try these cheap things....you can make them out of cardboard for NADA.  What are you waiting for?  All your cables should be off the floor for best sound.
ricevs
1,543 posts
 
Again, make some cable risers out of cardboard....will probably blow your mind.....so much faster and more open the sound will be....especially for the round cable that is sitting right on the rug.  The Odin is sitting on its edge so most of the cable is away from the rug.  Just try it....takes 10 minutes.  All cables need to be off the floor....whether its rugs or wood or whatever.  Serious improvement for practically nothing.  I will not mention this again.  You can lead a horse to water......well, you know the rest.
ricevs
1,543 posts
 
Create Audio DELUXE fuses cost $20 each from Parts Connexion. I know Jay can afford "a few" of these. These fuses have a reputation to sound better than stock fuses and are dirt cheap. You can look up the fuse ratings for the Gryphon, both DAG products, the Audio Research pre and then order a single fuse for each one. Will cost you less than $100 including shipping and you can have them shipped to you overnight for $15 (such a deal!!!!). Now, for dirt cheap, you can get a glimmer of what fuses do........then you can try some more expensive Audio Horizon, Synergistic and Audio Magic fuses when you like. Come on.....you know you want to? What if it blows your mind for practically nothing? You bought a $5K amp stand for one amp.....this under $100 purchase can elevate 4 components.....make them fly.

I want to hear your components the best they can be.  I want all the viewers to have goosebumps galore.  I want to help you get better sound.  I want to kiss your sweet face......smack....
ricevs
1,543 posts
 
The Audiomica will sound way faster, more open, dynamic and more holographic when lifted off the rug. But, it is too hard to do (10 minutes time and zero dollars), so we will never get to hear what it can do. It really is too bad it is so expensive and time consuming to try this.

Is your mind closed? Do you really want to experience what is possible? Life is an infinite beautiful dance. But if you keep doing the same things over and over you will only have the same experiences (results). Try something new! Try cable lifters. Open your mind. It is fun! Learning never ends. Infinite...is what we are.....don’t get caught in the "limited, this is the way I am" game.

BTW, Synergistic Research has some new cable lifters with built in enhancers......there is a video online of them removing/replacing them in a demo and you can hear the difference through your computer speakers.
ricevs
1,543 posts
 
Rome was not built in a day....true.  However, free cable lifters can be built in 10 minutes.  I guess you don't have the time.
ricevs
1,543 posts
 

Yes, there is.....there is a way around it. Build your own speakers. You can make an open baffle speaker with 4 15 inch woofers on each side on a separate super dead and braced baffle and have another open baffle next to it with your dipole mids and tweeter. The woofer panel would not be over 100 lbs and the mid/tweet panel half as much. This mid 90s senstivity speaker could be bi or tri amped with amps directly behind the panels and the speaker wires....would be wired directly from inside the amps to the voice coil wires of the speakers (never been done before in the history of audio). This speaker would sound better than Jay’s speaker and cost you like $15-20K including two three channel modded amps, speaker wires, drivers and baffles. Yes, there is a way around it.......those heavy boxes are boat anchors....he he.

Check out this page for ideas and one pictured example using planar drivers and servo 12s.  You can make your panels as sexy as you like......this man did not care that much how they looked.

http://tweakaudio.com/EVS-2/Speaker_ideas.html

Have fun......we are meant to..

ricevs
1,543 posts
 
The Colosseum.....no longer has an MSRP......it is a discontinued product. When it was first released, about 10? years ago....its MSRP was $43K.........it eventually became $49K. You would be lucky if you can still find one new at any dealer. More than likely, the only ones still new are being sold by the US distributor for $27K (with full warrantee). Used ones probably go for about the same price. So, to keep saying it is a $50K MSRP amp and that its value is not so great is silly. Maybe you are trying to keep the used price up since you will be selling it soon. I can surely see why these "discounted" to $27K amps might not be selling great right now. Lots of possibilities......including the new baby Essence amp.....which might even be better, in some ways.......I would think they learned something in 10 years.....of course, the baby amp is rated at 50 conservative watts.

But, as i said earlier.....all these heavy amps will be boat anchors within a couple of years......here comes the Class D revolution.....and it won’t be starring Merrill.....unless, they significantly lower the price and increase their sound quality. There is no reason why a state of the art high powered class D amp that sounds as good as a Gryphon should cost more than $6K sold direct. You will see/hear it sooner than you think. Low heat, smaller size, less weight, less electricity used......but most of all.....great sound and low cost. All these $10K+ amps will be in museums.....as relics.....he he.
ricevs
1,543 posts
 
Guys,
If you use low distortion sine wave inverters for your stereo.....then you are completely off the grid. The sound will be the same....ALL THE TIME. Except for warm up and mood. Inverters generally sound better than line filters....but you can add a line filter after the inverter for even more pure sound (the inverters might have lower distortion than out of the wall plus line filter......but still produce some noise).

Viber,
If you damp the heatsinks on your Bryston amp (EAR SD40AL works great....available from Percy Audio)....and you changed the fuse to an audiophile fuse.....you would have much better sound. Then maybe you would not even want to upgrade (yeah, right!)....he he. If heatsink fins are all the same size....then it makes more difference to damp them. The heatsinks that Gryphon uses all have different lengths of fins.....very good idea.  If you run your fingernail along the edges of your heatsink and the sound it makes is ZING.....then that is the sound the heatsinks are ADDing to the signal.  When you damp the edges of a Zingy heatsink....it will now sound like Zick.  Zick is better than Zing......much better....he he.
ricevs
1,543 posts
 
BTW, from what I read from the Gryphon site......the Mephisto stereo amp has 500,000 uf of capacitance.....250K per channel. The mono block version uses all the caps for one channel...500K per channel......so, there is one million uf...in a pair of the MONO block Mephisto Solo amps.

The Antileon actually has more capacitance than the Mephisto.....335K per channel. So, a pair of Antileon monos have 1.34 million uf (total of both mono channels)......again more than Mephisto monos.

The Essence stereo amp has almost as much as the Mephisto....220K. per channel.

Read here:

https://gryphon-audio.dk/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Tech.-Spec.-ALL-Products-05032020.pdf

The Parasound JC1+ has 198K per channel......only slightly less than the stereo Mephisto’s 250K.

https://parasound.com/jc1+.php

Jay, please research your stuff before posting......The stereo Gryphon Mephisto (per channel) amp has 1.26 times the capacitance of the Parasound (per channel).....very little difference.

The Relentless amps have 600K per amp.....or 1.2 million uf per pair of mono blocks.

What this all this means is practically nothing......because, lots of things make for the final sound. You could have 2 million uf per channel and the amp could sound bad. Just letting you know what the actual figures are..
ricevs
1,543 posts
 
So, if tubes are so lossy......why did you buy the AR?.....just to sweeten class D? A simple cable swap can do that......and a heck of a lot less money than a Seventeen thousand dollar "lose the nuances, the minute details and information" device.

If you really want more information.....then upgrade your fuses and ALL your stands. The fuses are practically free!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And get those cables off the floor!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I want to see your face smile to the horizon when you change the fuses....when you get better stands and raise the cables off the floor.  I want you to be happy.....jumping for joy.
ricevs
1,543 posts
 
So, is the Mephisto fully burned in.....say 3-400 hours? Have you put audiophile fuses in it? Do you have it on its most sonically pure stand and feet? Have you found the perfect power cords for it? If you have not done this homework.....then you will not get a passing grade on your test....Young Man......he he. Why would you buy a thoroughbred amp and run it on a muddy track?

Why do you have the AR sitting on its $4 feet. Those are some of the muddiest feet in existence. The amp I made last year had them as the basic footer.....I did not even screw them on....because I told everyone to get rid of them. For $4....they are nice. But they are not serious. And you really want a serious platform beneath your super feet on the AR.....not sitting on an amp.....that is not serious, at all. You can also try damped weight on top of the preamp as well. The AR needs an audiophile fuse too!  Lot's for you to do if you really want to find out what how good your components REALLY ARE.  But maybe you just want to play and not find out what is really possible with anything.

None the less, the sound of your system tonight is very good.....however, not that other system.....yikes...terrible.

You can take much cheaper gear and achieve the same basic quality of sound if you tweak the cheaper system like crazy.  This I know.  I have been doing this exact thing for over 40 years.  But if you tweaked the "Super Gear" that you have......you would never leave the chair.....your hair would stand on end.....you would cry and laugh and giggle like a little girl.  You would praise life for such an experience.  Maybe you really do not want to feel that good.  You deserve it.....we all do.
ricevs
1,543 posts
 
I listened and saw. What I hear is someone talking about something (Mephisto) when they should be burning in and tweaking. You will never know how good it is unless you tweak. Why would you ever talk about something just sitting on the floor, using bad fuses and not burned in? Yes, you are getting in an amp stand. But you could be using some $100 footers and some great wood right now and already have better sound. You have never played with fuses. You will never never ever hear the Mephisto or any product do it’s ULTIMATE thing unless you replace the stock crap sounding fuses with serious audiophile fuses.....which cost nothing compared to trying to "fix" the Mephisto with multithousand $ Gryphon cables. Sure, the Gryphons could be better than the Nordost.....but then there are a ton of other cables out there that could also be better than the Nordost......and all of them cost way more than a $20-$225 fuse.....well, you need two for the Mephisto. And after all my prodding you still have your cables on the rug......yikes....you want to hear SOUNDSTAGE?????????????? Just take some cardboard right now and prop up all your cables.....will take 30 minutes.....it will blow your mind. Just cut carboard say 3 inches by 8 inches and fold in the middle and use it as a pyramid to hold up the cables.....you can cut a little groove at the top where the cable can lie, if you like....or you can do this kind of thing:

http://tweakaudio.com/EVS-2/Recommended_Components_and_Twea.html

Then you can try damping the heatsinks on the beasto. Might not make much difference as the heatsinks are mostly different vibrations....this tweak works wonders on something like the Parasound that has all its heatsinks the same length. If you run your fingernail across the heatsinks and you hear a Zinnnnnngggggg.....then that sound is being injected into the signal......Try the test on the Parasound and it will be like playing a tin harp......then damp the heatsinks with most anything.....the amp will sound noticeably better.

I will check back in a month and if you have not improved.....I will write a note to your mother. Your report card will not look good. Do you want to get to audio graduate school? You better shape up! kiddo......he he....

I just cannot take any of this very seriously. But I try to help people get better sound. Some take my advise....most do not. That is the way it is. I love it.....I love the way it is....but your mother will not like the note....he he.....

While I was typing you said you are getting cable lifters for your whole system......your report card is improving.....keep it up.
ricevs
1,543 posts
 
I don't understand the teaser.  Why didn't you play the exact recordings that you used in the last video?  How can we learn anything from one different song?
ricevs
1,543 posts
 
Most that read this thread cannot afford $140K speakers.  How about a speaker that would rival it for $14K or less.  And maybe do some things better.

A fully modded Tekton Ulfberht would do the trick.  $9K stock and $9,5K (including delivery) with the single Beryllium tweeter upgrade.   Then you remove the stock xover and place it behind the speaker on a damped shelf.  You change every single xover part to the best you can afford (at least as good as what's in the Focal...probably better).  You wire each driver using super wire and run that wire out the back and hardwire it to the xover.  You hardwire the woofer wires directly to the voice coil wires (with strain relief). You put Ground Enhancers on the output of all the xover feeds.  You felt around all the 15 tweeters on the front.....you add extra bracing inside the cabinet....and maybe some wool in there too.  You use my binding post bypass system on the input of the xover so there are now zero connectors in series.  The mods would probably run around $2K or so.....you still have plenty of wiggle room before you even get to $14K (one tenth the cost of the Focal).  You have 14 low mass tweeters acting as two midranges in d'appolito configuration.  You have good time alignment between the mids and tweets since they have the voice coils in the same exact plane.  You have two 12 inch woofs and 4 seven inch mid bass units for super fast transient response.  You have higher sensitivity.  You have incredible dynamics and transparency at all frequencies.  The only thing you are giving up is the bass adjustability of the Focal......of course, you could bi-amp the ulfberht's and use an equalizer on the bass....for even better and smoother response than the Focal.  Please read all the reviews on the Ulfberht, Encore and Moab to get an idea just how good the STOCK Tektons are.

The problem with the the Ulfberht is that it does cost enough for the elite to buy it and it looks like a big box.  And since only about 5% of audiophiles are even into DIY.......then what I just wrote is for the super hot rodder who wants it all on a budget and likes to tweek.  I have one friend with the Ulfberht's and he as done 65% of the xover mods and felted the front and says it is way, way better than stock.  He does not have the Beryllium tweeter option.  He drives them with mono block tube amps that cost something like $6K and he plays drums and the Ulfberht makes drums in the room REAL  It's too bad he does not have a Utube channel.....I bet you all would be blown away.  Many roads up the mountain.
ricevs
1,543 posts
 
To the right person......they would definitely pay above the normal "used price" if the modding were done to a serious degree and all pictured, etc. 

This is the way the "plug and play" people sometimes think.  It is all about resale value because they have no idea of intrinsic worth.  They also think they will always sell everything very quickly.  Obviously, this kind of mod is for those that want to keep it and keep tweaking a serious state of the art speaker for years and years.  What is going to beat it at its price point?  Not likely for years.  Check out Miller Carbon's post on his $4500 Moab's.....he is modding them and will, no doubt, keep them for years, just like his previously modded speakers.  I bet his modded Moab's would kill a lot of seriously expensive speakers.  What if you buy a $40K speaker......how much will you lose when you sell it?.......a lot more than selling a tweaky deaky $12K speaker. 
ricevs
1,543 posts
 
Like I said, a friend, with my encouragement, did half of the stuff I suggested. I have done everything I have suggested to my own speakers (planar based mids and highs) and have modified electrostats and and cone speakers in the past.so I know what it all does.

If you have never done something like this then modding a huge speaker is out of the question (lots of time and lots of practical knowledge needed, not to mention help lifting and laying down the speakers). This has to be a love. Most audiophiles are "plug and play" people.

Hot rodding cars is so different. I would say 90% of hot rodders do their own work or take their car to someone who tweaks it. You get your new $70K corvette and you immediately take it to someone who will add another 100 horsepower. Everything in cars can be know by anyone. Audio is completely different. There is no race course....every man for himself. There is no "best of anything". It is always changing and the more you know the more you know nothing.....it is infinite. If every brand of solder has a sound.....if every wire has a sound....if every stand has a sound.....if every room has a sound. If every component has a sound.....if every resistor has a sound....if every connector has a sound....etc. etc. etc. into infinity....you get the idea. Top fuel dragsters all look alike and perform very close to each other. Audio is all over the place and there is absolutely no consensus on anything. BUT, if you are intelligent you can find very transparent gear at most any price. Since I can personally mod and tweak everything I would probably never own any expensive piece of gear since I can make or modify something for a dime on the dollar. If I had a lot of money I would do something else with the left over that would help raise the level of Love and Joy and happiness and Hope for all humanity.
ricevs
1,543 posts
 
I have not seen a comment on an all Be tweeter version of a Tekton. No doubt it would have more information......but would it be musical? And if you did the mods to it would it still be listenable. Where as the soft dome tweeters are described as sounding like an electrostat with the stock wire and xover parts and binding posts. So, you know it would sound outrageously better with better wire, xover parts and hardwired on the input. I personally would rather have a tweaked speaker with the soft domes than a stock speaker with all Be tweeters.....a lot less money, as well. and you can tune it to your taste. But, an all out Be version with just the right tweaks could be even better.

You cannot assume that the "lighter" driver will give the best sound.  It is all a synergy.....as WC likes to say.
ricevs
1,543 posts
 
Those that have not played seriously with technology think in simple terms. They think that if a speaker has lower mass (like a planar) then the sound will be purer and faster. If there was only one thing at play....then yes, that would be true. But there are infinite things that effect the sound. You are not hearing what a "planar sounds like" when you are listening to a stock Magnepan. You are listening to custom planar panels executed by one company. There are lots of people who have modded their maggies to get way better sound. The frame is flimsy...killing speed, dynamics and clarity.....the xover uses ordinary parts, the wiring is ordinary, they have fuses in series with both the mids and highs that ruin the sound, the input terminals are bad, the padding thang is bad....on and on. Just not done very well at all from a purist point of view. This is why the GT Audio speaker would kill any stock Maggie. His midrange has nothing but great wire and a binding post in front of it.. If you want to hear what is possible with a maggie then you have to mod the crap out of it. Even the 30.7 is done the same way. That would need just as much modding as the 20.7. If you are a plug and play guy then you will never know what any technology can do. You are simply hearing one manufacturers (usually very compromised from my point of view) execution. You can take the same drivers in any speaker and every manufacturer would come up with a different sounding speaker. Every single thing you do makes a sonic difference. Look at Wilson speakers....they have jumpers between the bottom box and the top box....with another sonically compromising set of connectors.....they use Caddock power resistors to pad the tweeter, etc. Caddock resistors are grey/veiled sounding. If you bypass a power Caddock with a nude Vishay foil resistor in parallel it sounds way, way better. It is no wonder that the speaker does not have the clarity of the Focal. If you hardwired the bottom box to the top box and did the Vishay resistor parallel thang, you would drop your jaw. Every manufacturer that I have ever seen that uses cone midranges and woofers.....hooks the speaker wires to the termnals on the drivers. These termminals are either super high mass binding posts or low mass brass or copper tabs. Even the low mass tabs veil the sound. You want to hardwire your wire from the xover directly to the voice coil wire. This is not unsafe or unreliable. It does take a few seconds longer however, and you cannot use fast connects. However, it sounds way, way better. The midrange of the Focal would befaster and purer if the midrange drivers were wired this way. This is why us DIYers can take excellent off the shelf drivers and execute a speaker with super tweak precision and get sound that is out of this world great and costs very little.
ricevs
1,543 posts
 
There are all kinds of people who read this thread......for those that want the quality of sound that Jay has but only want to spend $15K on an amp/speaker/speaker wire combo.......and like making things.....then check this link out.  I will have much more info by the end of the weekend including some pics of similarly done things.  No, I have not done this....but I have over 40 years of doing similar things so I believe what I fantasize here will perform like I describe.

http://tweakaudio.com/EVS-2/Speaker_ideas.html
ricevs
1,543 posts
 
Your finding my serious article on how to make a super sounding system for very little money...not serious.....is really what is funny.  Every single thing I wrote can be done and will give the result I say.  In fact, you got cable risers and amp stands because I bugged you about it over and over again.  Now maybe you will finally get better fuses now that you have the Synergistic stuff in to try.  You have no idea how much better the Meshisto and Pandora would sound if you put in serious fuses.  There are lots of different paths up the mountain to great sound.  What you do is one, what I would do is another and on into infinity.  I do not make fun of what you do.  I respect it.  However, there is a tweakier, much cheaper way.  There will be much more info, links to the drivers and parts, etc. and pictures of similar finished speakers added over this weekend.  Thank you for your search and thread and thank you for inspiring me to inspire others with my knowledge so they can have great sound that is affordable and allows creative freedom and expression.  Joy to the world!
ricevs
1,543 posts
 
"relatively minute intrinsic cable differences".......what?  Not in my house.  I can change a 3 inch piece of wire on the input of my amp and the sound changes dramatically.  Yes, not as dramatically as changing the entire amp....but to the serious tweaker.....wires are seriously important.
ricevs
1,543 posts
 
As I described earlier....a friend modded his Ulfs (and told me it was way better) by removing the xover from the box and replacing most of the parts with better ones.....the midrange parts are super critical.  I believe there is a single ordinary coil in series with the midrange array along with a good cap.  If you change that coil to a 12 gauge OFC foil or wax foil coil and replace that cap with a super one then the transparency will go through the roof.  Even better would be to tri amp the speaker.....like I described earlier and linked to on my website.  This way you can put the xover in front of the amp using super parts and have no coil what so ever on the midranges.  The midranges would be wired from their tweeter terminals directly to the binding post bypass system on my modded amp.......this would be mind blowing.  I know you are not a tweak but what is possible for "someone" with these speakers is beyond most $100K+ speakers.......but you do need to tweak....with these speakers starting at so little then no money problems for many of you.  Of course, better parts for the woofs and tweeter would improve the sound.  Then there is cabinet and driver damping.....felting around the front of all the tweets, better wire to the drivers, Ground Enhancers built into the speakers, etc. etc......lots of stuff to improve the sound.  The sky is the limit.....Hendrix proclaimed....."Excuse me while I kiss the sky"
ricevs
1,543 posts
 
I thought this was going to be an A/B of amps only......now I see it is both preamp and amp.  I would like to hear just the amps A/Bed.  I want to know how the amps compare.
ricevs
1,543 posts
 
Why would anyone not mix and match components. You do it all the time. Someone may already have a great preamp and they just want to know what the amp does. Because a company makes a good preamp or whatever does not mean you will like the "matching" amp or whatever.. Look what you did with the Merrlll amp to make it sing. Of course, it would take much more time to A/B each piece......but I would NEVER do it the way you are. Of course, I really do not care which is better in whatever way, as these things would be never on my radar, even if I were a billionaire.....much more fun to make your own, and with tri-amping you can get rid of all those distorting xover parts and extra binding posts and tweak to your hearts content.

"AS IT SHOULD BE" is just your opinion. There are no rules in high end audio. It is each man for himself.

Merry Christmas, everyone!......may you all feel the peace, love, light and joy that permeates every nanosecond of every moment....forever, and ever.
ricevs
1,543 posts
 
I was merely responding to your.."is not how equipment of this level is compared" Again, just your opinion. I don’t care which one does what (some would say wins) but I am curious as to what they do individually. I waited for you to evaluate the Merrill amp on its own....but it was never done....at least as far as I remember. It does not matter what you do. I choose happiness, and I hope you all do. I want to know what every single thing does.....that is how I learn. I don’t learn anything from A/Bs or two pieces of equipment. I don’t buy things that way and most of us don’t. For many, this thread is fun. I hope it remains that way. I personally, am interested in what is possible. For instance, I would never listen to the Gryphon gear without serious audiophile fuses. You are simply not hearing what they can do....and since they cost essentially nothing compared to the rest of your system......well.....I understand you are AFRAID of the manufactures taking you to audio purgatory if they ever found out you are using a non stock fuse.....he he. If you do not run each piece of gear at its maximum RPM then you will never know how fast it can go. A Gryphon piece with stock fuses is very compromised sonically. I would never say anything about an A/B with something else unless I ran each piece with all its governors off. Well, to each his own. Again, Merry every moment. We can all enjoy whatever game we play....and let others enjoy their games......its called win/win. Nothing wrong with your game. I play a little different....that is all. Enjoy the ever forever love.

If you ever want to hear what a great fuse can do "for free".....I can mail you (for free) some copper foil with conductive adhesive and you can just wrap your stock fuses with it and listen. Then, after you realize what you have been missing you can buy some audiophile fuses to substitute. You could buy a few stock cheap fuses and then you can go back and forth between a stock fuse and a copper foiled fuse to make sure of what you are hearing. Learning is fun.....learning gets you goosebumps!

https://www.amazon.com/Copper-Conductive-Adhesive-1inch-12yards/dp/B018RDZ3HG
ricevs
1,543 posts
 
The Ulfs are not burned in....they probably need 300 or more hours....especially the bass drivers. They should be played at 90+db constantly. The bass and lower midrange will get way, way better......so will everything else.

However, no matter how much burn in.....they are still very compromised from the factory. The xover parts on the midrange are ordinary. Ordinary coil, ordinary cap....and ordinary wire...ordinary resistors. Way better xover parts in the Wilson. I will repeat.....if you remove the xover from the speaker and put longer/better wires on drivers that extended out the back and have the xover mounted on a damped platform behind the speaker......you could then change all the xover parts to state of the art parts. This would completely transform the speaker (I know someone who did 60% of this to his Ulfs and is amazed). You also want to felt around all the tweeters (just now talked to someone who did this on his Moabs) and you will get better focus. You could also do extensive bracing and damping inside that would get rid of the remaining lower midrange and bass colorations (most would disappear with better xover parts, wiring and burn in).

These speakers are $9600 delivered (with the single BE tweeter upgrade that you are listening to). More money for fancy paint. You can buy 11 sets of Ulf's and have them delivered for the same price as one set of Wilson's).  If you invested $3k in super xover parts, wire and bracing and damping you would be almost at $13k.......if you had someone come over and do all the mods....maybe add another 2K (assuming you have no DIY skills). So $15k max would not get you a speaker that might actually beat the Wilson. The speaker would be completely transformed. You are hearing just the tip of the iceberg.

Even better would be to tri amp the speaker using a three channel modded Purifi based amp. You could put the 6db per octave xover for the midrange before the input buffer of the midrange amp using the worlds best parts and then you could run the midrange tweets directly from the amplifier with no coil, cap or resistor in series with the tweets.....oh my....you would all die and go to heaven if you heard that. If the xover to the mids is 3K and it is 4 ohm....then you would need about a .22mh coil. If it is 18 gauge......then we are talking at least 25 feet of ordinary copper wire (covered in enamel) in series with the midrange.....that is why the type of coil you use is so important. The coil in the stock Ulf is ordinary copper. What if you used a 12 gauge OFC foil coil.......OMG......way better sound.....but still a lot of foil in the signal path.....that is why triamping and having no coil, is so cool.

Lots of possibilities for those that like to tweak. For those that don’t, they are still a great speaker for the money (once all burn in is done). Again, I will state....you have to POUND those woofers as loud as possible for 300 hours to really hear the speaker.....all the other xover parts will burn in better with loud playing, as well. We are talking 90 plus db constantly. You can do it when you are not home or Jay can do it probably all the time....if you have a detached room....it will not be that loud in your house.

By the way, if you did similar to the Wilson’s you would also die and go to heaven. The Wilson’s have 4 sets of binding posts in series with the mids and highs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yikes.....If you ran wire directly out of the Wilson’s and down to an external xover you could get rid of 3 of those connectors and if you use my binding post bypass system on the input of the xover then zero connectors. Also, you can attach the wires from the xover to the drivers directly to the voice coil wires on the mid ranges and woofers for even better sound. Also the Caddock power resistors sound much better with nude Vishay bypass resistors. Nothing much is done to my standards....I am so fussy! I want the best sound possible. Most people just want plug and play.
ricevs
1,543 posts
 
This thread is not for anyone.....it is for everyone. My posting about the felting on the front of the speakers is what got the guy who called me today to felt his Moabs. He did not do it because I told him directly. He read it on a forum. Of course, I know what most people do. I know what Jay will do and not do. I post for those that might want to know this. Some of the information that I just shared has practically never been spoken of before: (tri amping to get rid of coils on midrange, extra distorting binding posts and unbypassed Caddock resistors on Wilson, length of wire in a coil, 90+ db pounding bass for 300 plus hours, etc.). Someone will find this information helpful for getting better sound. Most will not. So be it. As far as the Ulfs.....well, there is no reason for me to state the above again. End of story. But I am glad I contributed. Stock gear can sound great......tweaked gear will blow your mind.
ricevs
1,543 posts
 
Better wire and xover parts would make way more difference than using BE tweeters everywhere. And yes, better xover parts will help the bass and lower midrange a lot.......and bracing the box/front baffle and damping the drivers and reflection control in the box and more burn in would improve everything even more. Remember.....all of this can be done for very little money (relatively speaking).....Go! Tekton modders, Go! Oh, am I repeating myself?.......so is everyone else. That is the way of the mind.

Here is what really needs to be repeated:

"I am Beautiful, You are beautiful, I am worthy, you are worthy, I am loved, you are loved. I love myself, I love you, I love everyone. You love yourself, you love everyone, I enjoy my self, I enjoy you. I like myself, I like you. I forgive myself, I forgive you, I forgive everyone. I am blessed, you are blessed, I am grateful for all of life and for everyone and every circumstance. I create happiness by focusing on it. Happiness is always present. Joy is always present. Love is always present. I choose happiness right now and every right now.....again and again. I am worthy of choosing happiness in every second. I choose happiness.....right now."

All this audio stuff does not bring what we really want in our soul.....and that is happiness. Happiness is our very nature.....but we have been programmed to think we and everyone is WRONG.......there has never been anything wrong. When we stop making our experience (and that means what you think, say, feel and do about yourself and about everyone) wrong....then you start to realize that life is one Beautiful eternal dance of love and joy. Please choose happiness....we have lots of toys. toys do not make us happy.......just elated for a few minutes. Happiness is forever.....it is so sweet....so amazing. Thank you life....thank you Jay, thank you everyone.....you are all so beautiful. Repeat the sounding joy....yes, repeat, repeat the sounding joy!

Happiness chosen and repeated creates more happiness. And when you wish others happiness, it makes you happy.....we are all in this together. I wish you all happiness....now and forever.


ricevs
1,543 posts
 
annoying equals......something wrong.  Try choosing again.....go for the happiness......wish me well.

Do you like being annoyed?  Why would you choose that experience?  When you point a finger at someone, there are three pointing back at you.  When you fully love yourself and have completely forgiven yourself then everyone is now beautiful.......and there is very little annoyance....I mean.....I just wrote a few words.  This is not like I did something to someone.....he he.  Pretty much nothing going on here.....about the smallest drama we can create......and that is annoying?  Again, choose joy.....it is available every second.
ricevs
1,543 posts
 

Speaker cables on floor?  Did you change all the fuses in the VAC and 
Gryphon to serious fuses?  Do you have a separate ground rod outside for your stereo......and ground filtering for each component?  Are you off the grid using big battery pure sign wave inverters?  Are you using the Puritan line filter?

If not, you are not getting anywhere near the transparency and goosebumps that is possible.  You could do all the above and use a less than $10K amp  (for instance, the AGD Audion, a modded LSA amp or modded Purifi amp...all $7500 or less) running directly from the DAC and you would get better sound.  What is the point of having a supercharged Hemi and putting 85 octane gas in it and putting street tires on it?  Do you want great sound, or just want to fool around?

It does not matter, it is your life.  And you are beautiful and worthy and deserving of whatever you want.  You pick the reality you want.  Just letting you know there is more.....always more.  If this is your idea of entertainment.....that is great.   Love and joy is the greatest entertainment to me.  You can choose Love whenever you want.....every second if you like.  When you love yourself and everyone and everything and every circumstance.....you have all the love in the universe......we are that incredible.  Much love and peace.

ricevs
1,543 posts
 
From what I read you are using Nordost speaker wire with the Gryphon along with Gryphon interconnect......whereas with the DAG amps you are using all Synergistic cables?  And what power cords are on the DAGs?  So, we are not hearing just the amp differences?  And of course, the DAGs are on top of another amp and not directly on a stand.  Confusing.  I thought it was a shoot out of amp versus amp.  How can anyone learn the differences of the amps if there are so many variables?
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