4th of July trip.

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bombaywalla
Stammgast

#1 erstellt: 09. Jul 2010, 13:30

Hi All,
I drove over to Washington DC to visit a few friends over the 4th of July weekend. The main idea was to hang out w/ my friends but I managed to sneak in some audio listening as well. Posted are the pix of the 2 systems I heard. Both systems sounded very good & the hospitality was simply great.

The above system: B&W 802D, Symphonic Line Kraft 250 class-A power amp, Symphonic Line RG3 Mk4 preamp with Turbo power supply (sitting on wooden blocks), Symphonic Line Die Erleuchtung tube preamp w/ outboard power supply, Esoteric X05 CDP, cables by Stealth Audio Stealth, Groneberg TS Premium, Acrolink, Acoustic Zen.
We were trying out both the solid-state RG3 pre & the tube pre hence one of the preamps had to be raised on wooden blocks.
The TV is a Pioneer Elite Kuro 60" plasma. Fantastic picture.

The above system: Avalon Orisis 5-way speaker w/ outboard x-over, Symphonic Line Kraft 250 power amp (cloth over the face-plate to protect the beautiful chrome finish), SMc Audio VRE-1 preamp, Acustic Arts top-loader CDP, Acustic Arts 32-bit tube DAC, all cables by Stealth Audio - Sakra interconnects & I forgot the model of the speaker cable.
The video/HT equipment is inter-twinned with the 2-ch gear hence the xtra tall rack. Since the room is rather large, the TV can be raised that high w/o giving the viewer a crick in the neck.

bhagwan69
Inventar

#2 erstellt: 09. Jul 2010, 20:07

nice;
good exposure...
both the set ups had the same amplifiers ?
i am keen to learn about the DAC... how did it sound ?
did you compare the acoustic arts with any other ?

bombaywalla
Stammgast

#3 erstellt: 09. Jul 2010, 20:24

bhagwan69 schrieb:

nice;
good exposure...
both the set ups had the same amplifiers ?
i am keen to learn about the DAC... how did it sound ?
did you compare the acoustic arts with any other ?

Yes, both setups use the same power amp - the one with the chrome faceplate is of older vintage.
Can't tell you much about the DAC as a unit onto itself 'cuz I heard it in the whole system. It's hard to tease out the sound of the DAC w.r.t. the whole system.
No comparisons were made - I/we listened to the system as you see in the posted pix.
From reading the forums, Acustic Arts seems to have a very good reputation amongst the user community.

bhagwan69
Inventar

#4 erstellt: 10. Jul 2010, 02:49

Thanks 'bombaywalla' !
However, I was keen to know about the sonic attributes of the Acoustic Arts DAC's
The reason I asked was because I was keen to buy it a while back. It seems to have some really innovative inventions or implementations [better choice of word] in it. I have heard the older version a few years back & was keen to know how the new one is. I will hear it soon - next month - I hope...

I am sure that Avalon must have been a 'big' & 'impressive' sound. That model I have never auditioned, the newer incernations - Isis & Time - I have heard. I have high regard for AA speakers. Rolf's amplifier too is a master piece. It was [maybe still is] one of the top 5 solid state amplifiers in the world; Before I got G.A.D. the Kraft was
on my 'radar' !

This is something you should keep doing - you live in a country that is full for high end & there are so many set ups you can go and listen to.
We in India are so 'restrained' with the number of 'quality' set ups we get a chance to listen to. I am not sure if India has 50 mid fi to hi fi set ups [all put together]....

Besides, there are so many audio shows that keep happening once every 2 to 3 months all over the states... Lucky you !!

All the Best !
Keep traveling & keep listening...
[I am happy for you]

abhi.pani
Inventar

#5 erstellt: 13. Jul 2010, 05:39

Hi Bombaywalla,
I am sure you do not want to just tease

.

Please do post your findings and experience with the two setups. They should be sounding be different. Especially, how did the preamp (tube vs SS) comparison go ?

bombaywalla
Stammgast

#6 erstellt: 14. Jul 2010, 12:52

abhi.pani schrieb:

Hi Bombaywalla,
I am sure you do not want to just tease

.

Please do post your findings and experience with the two setups. They should be sounding be different. Especially, how did the preamp (tube vs SS) comparison go ?

correct, I was not intending to tease (altho' it looks like that!!

).
Prefer to not say much.
Tube pre vs. ss. pre: I personally could not make out too much of a difference (the owner could tell immediately as he has lived w/ both for a long time). One thing I did hear was that the vibes sounded much more organic thru the tube pre. I could hear the woodiness of hammer striking the metal vibes & pinging effect of such a strike.
The tube pre has some 14 6922 tubes!!