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Just finished a two-hour visit with the owner. A cool dude!
Honest though if I had boatloads of cash it would be cool to have one or two money no object systems in each of my homes.
A rich man has about as much chance of getting into audiophile nirvana as a camel does of passing through the eye of a needle.
Nt
He said they were open.
Nt
Now I understand.
these must cost one 100 thousands of $ (actually between $30 and 40K) and those tubes ..Western Electrics .."
"I can feel like a sweat is dripping through the holes in my sock and my white sneakers are getting wet".
Only in America
/
Actually a better ones than used in standard Kegon amps pictured, and won't say a bad word about them..
Sonic subtleties seem inordinately attractive to me. So maybe I'm infected with the same virus that plagues other audiophiles...Dang it !
Edits: 01/04/25
I can't help with that. To compare apples to apples you would have to have the same transformer wired in silver and copper and try it in the same circuit. What I have is high (55%) nickel C-core full silver Audio Note transformers. I substituted top of the line Sophia Electric Opts (with WE cores) with AN silvers and all I can say is they sound "pretty". The sound became more spacious, detailed and relaxed at the same time and it didn't thin out. Would I spend $20k each on those trans? If I were Saddam Hussein or Jeff Bezos no problem, although HK rich clientele apparently can afford them too.
If one sets out to design an output transformer or any audio transformer, one finds that the properties one needs for one end of the response contradict what's needed for the upper end and there is always a 6dB/oct slope limit dictated by core saturation. This a limit to how much Voltage per turn of wire can the core produce linearly set by the max magnetic flux.
That limit is seen in any power transformer, if one has a transformer winding rated at 120V 50/60Hz, you know that at 50Hz, one is not quite at saturation and so one also knows that at 25Hz,60V produces the same core flux and at 12.5Hz,30V etc. Want a tube amp that puts out 200W at 30Hz?, it takes a core about twice that of a 200W 60Hz power transformer.
Silver is slightly more conductive than copper, silver plating has been the tradition for test equipment connectors and contacts because it's oxide is nearly as conductive and clean metal, unlike copper and aluminum.
Teflon cables are silver plated copper too, because of the high temps needed to put the Teflon on the conductor.
If you set out to design an output transformer, you find the contradictions change with scale. The R of the wire is part of the circuit where what appears to be a series L and parallel C are formed by the geometry and spacing of the primary and secondary wires. So multi-filar and segmenting the winding can reduce those issues up high.
If you are curious, obtain a transformer from something dead and take it apart while you read about them (you may need a screwdriver and small hammer)
Tom
Nt
If you have compared the parts (inductor, transformer etc) made with copper and silver a to b where the only thing that's different is the wire and come to that conclusion, then you hear some aspect of the wire having a bit less resistance on the circuit's other parts.
Normally, lower resistance is a good thing like in a transformer and since heating is proportional to the Current squared time the resistance, silver has lower losses.
What do you hear silver doing that copper doesn't do?
"What do you hear silver doing that copper doesn't do?"
Silver adds a distinct "highlighting" distortion that copper doesn't.
There are many factors involved, for your info, including but not limited to gauge of the wire, purity of metal, whether the wire has been cryogenically treated, the direction the wire is oriented when it's wrapped.
Everything matters in this hobby, synergy rules.
Nt
Nt
In watching some of this video again, I was returning to some details that had me curious (e.g. - those terminations / connections on some of the interconnects), and also, a bit dubious / skeptical (e.g. - 'grounding boxes').
Again, a majority of the systems are not really the kind I would choose to try and put together (or likely enjoy), but I gotta hand it to the owner for piquing my interest with a few flourishes in his systems.
Lots of Shakti Stones but he's not into fuses.
We call them refuseniks.
For that kind of investment he could go to any live venue or concert hall 4x a week for the rest of his life..No interest in live music?
I could attend the SF Symphony and opera all season for years, including hotel, dinner, a car and a driver, AND have an outstanding system at home. Each to his own though.
Edits: 01/03/25
I don't do live because I want the music to be just as it is on the recording. I don't care about extended solos(which usually fall apart when the soloist has nothing left to say(instrumental-wise).
Edits: 01/02/25
but as an audiophile since 1980 I usually gripe about the sound quality. But still, to see someone I really want to see is worth it. "Recent" ones have been Boston and Sonny Rollins. And Sonny was in 2010!
Steve
Musically there's not much more you could ask for.
Saw him many times, the last being about 20 years ago.
First set was... good (by SR standards) yet... lacking.
Second set was as fantastic as I've ever heard.
Just those few hours encapsulated EVERYTHING about live music
and being at a show. Similar experiences with various performers
in various settings over 50 years of live music.
Don't need those... extremes anymore, and I'm not blaming the
musicians since they too are only human.
Except Sonny Rollins... dude is superhuman!
"Once this was all Black Plasma and Imagination" -Michael McClure
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I'm with you. We went to see Morgan Wallen in Petco Park with Mrs. Music and my daughter and her husband. The sound was better than I expected, but it's a stadium where you watch the big TVs because the players are ants far away.The Pechanga Arena is a basketball or hockey venue. The Stones were great between echos in the sound years ago. It's better now. A couple years ago, we went to see James Taylor with Jackson Brown, ok sound and no echos. Jackson was obviously miffed with the deal, but he probably needs the case.
One that I like a lot is Humphreys, a smaller, outdoor venue, with good sound. Boz Scaggs was great and other, Moody Blues, Jackson Brown, Willy Nelson, Judy Collins and Stephen Stills, and others. Flo & Eddie, AKA the Turtles, used to do mixed acts from the 60s and 70s, fun shows.
-Rod
Edits: 01/02/25
You find lots of audiophiles who have no interest in listening to music sans electronics.
Even 'live' is a funny game.. Carnegie hall has speakers along the sides of the hall. So you have to sit dead center or in one of the upper tiers.
thanks for sparing me the experience. ;)
I need Carnegie Hall the Met and Lincoln Center to teach me what music is from time to time. That is all that I meant..
Of some interest; as a former architect I play with musical halls as sound spaces. Many of the newer halls that were built after 2000, use scientific sound engineering models---they are infinitely better sounding, than the comfy cushiony rugged halls of the past, whether in Europe or the US It is live music as in 'live'experience. They are great sound instruments and employ a variety of seating arrangements. Do not write off live music even if the conducting is mediocre compared to what you hear on record.(which is the best of the best for the last 80 years)
Do not write off live music even if the conducting is mediocre...
I thought the topic was the limitations of PA sound reinforced performers.
Carnegie hall has speakers along the sides of the hall. So you have to sit dead center or in one of the upper tiers.
My local symphony is not of CSO caliber (for which I have many experiences), but it is live music ! The flying Js are used only for concert introductions and for non-symphonic shows which use the same venue.
I've never been there. But all the time you spent at HP's, I was on the island, listening at crappy sounding jazz clubs. I am now 65, close to you, and we have had dozens of live gigs over the last 30 some odd years. Forget live unamplified, it all is, even if a your crib.
I just cannot handle hard sounding results at ear bleeding levels. I want to hear and articulate the music.
Takes all the fun away for me.
So when you were listening at the big fellas crib in New Jersey, did you tell him to turn it down? He was a bit of a Db freak. Knock yourself out with choral music, and audiophile approved dreck.
your speculations have no basis in fact.
If you're interested in reality, I'm happy to answer questions. :)
HP was an admitted bass freak. I met him once at a show in the city. My girlfriend at the time said she thought he liked me. Did he like you too? 😉
he enjoyed content with first octave bass like Dafos and Yim Hok Man. The IRS, Genesis, Nola Grand Reference and Scaena 1.4s all did 16 hz. Just not at rock concert levels and naturally, his phenomenal systems were utterly devoid of harshness.He liked lots of folks. My wife and I stayed with him shortly while passing through the NYC area on our honeymoon.
Edits: 01/03/25
True story, Stephen and I snuck into the Monster private party at CES because Santana was the big headliner. It was so loud, neither of us could stand it.After 10 minutes or so of abuse, we headed out and noticed that the sound in the hallway was much better, so we listened for a little while.
-Rod
Edits: 01/02/25 01/02/25
and in another aspect, describes the image size perspective I get from some speakers like the KEF Blade.Back in the lobby.
edit: Having said that, I enjoyed quite the evening in '74 at the Omni with Golden Earring backing up Santana. Weed abounded.
Fantastic night.
Edits: 01/02/25
My systems cost 12K and 4K and 2K and 1K. Way too many systems, so I'm like his mini-me :-)
Dante's rungs of hell.
Agreed with Tom. I am going to sound like a hater (and, sincerely, I do not harbor ill-will, envy, or even slight disdain), but the whole enchilada appears to me like a fairly unfulfilling, albeit comprehensive, way to experience music playback. Only one of those systems seems even remotely interesting.
Seems like a nice guy / owner though; part of an audiophile club, inviting people to listen and experience these systems, etc. I wish him well.
These videos appear to be 2 1/2 years old, but you mentioned you just finished the visit. What am I missing?
I went to his house, hung out for two hours and bought a doodad he had sitting around(wanted it real bad).
Down-to-earth guy with tons of knowledge and experience.
Almost three years ago. Weird idea of "just" is what I'm saying.
If you say so.
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Dmitri Shostakovich
Cool.
He said something about an Audiophile group in Sacramento. He showed some new power cable from Turnbull(four feet@$18k and six feet@$25k).
He can afford anything. So he has tried everything, I guess.By now he should know what is essential and what is not. Or at least, I'd assume so...
So I hope that he will eventually publish all of this hard-earned knowledge in a more detailed manner someday. That, I'd like to see.
Edits: 01/01/25
He said a couple of times that he doesn't have time(he has a day job).
Oral history accounts are plagued by whimsical revisions.
And some of the gear changes pretty regularly in the never ending audiophile quest.
Steve
It's probably theft-proof.
Burglars wound't know where to begin. ;^)
"The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing, if you can fake that you've got it made." Groucho
Nice fish tank.
"Once this was all Black Plasma and Imagination" -Michael McClure
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A system I don't see sounds best, people I don't see feel the best.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I had never seen/heard Aries-Cerat before and it was very nice.
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