I ended up preferring the AZ Satori probably because they seemed more transparent and detailed but just as neutral. The caveat is that the AZs were 4' long and the Magnans 10', so there is a bit of apples oranges here.

ivanj October 10, 2003 18:48

The Rowland Complement was just rebuilt to Ikeda Rex (top of the line) specs by Mr. Ikeda. I highly recommend Ikeda cartridges - they sound like music. The high impedence mods by Soundlab are excellent and reduce the noise floor of the speaker. The Empirical cables are just outstanding.

ivanj June 04, 2003 04:29

Thanks. What I foound was replacing the input (Mullard E88CC or Amperex 7308) and driver tubes (Telefunken and Philips/Mullard) on the Wolcotts adds a bit of frequency extension and clarity, and yes, tube warmth. With the X-1 the system is absolutely quiet, no tube rush such as I heard I heard no matter what tube preamp I tried. Remeber this is a very transparent system - you may not hear these artifacts n your system and I don't mean to offend. I recommend this type of combo to everyone who shall we say, abit iconoclastic.

ivanj May 20, 2003 12:56

I live in a rural area with iffy power BUT I am very lucky as far as house power goes. The house was built by an electrician, everything is overbuilt; the music room was originally used as a photographer's studio. All the flood lights, which I hardly ever use, are on their own circuit. There are oodles of clean power (when the power company cooperates) and dedicated circuits. I use a garden variety conditioner for my preamp and sources, mostly for the health of the digital components, and conditioners for the Sound Labs to protect them from any PSNH surges. The room itself is assymetrical, especially the ceiling, and I am able to have the speakers over 6' from the wall behind them. I have some heavy Berber carpeting throughout, and put some fabric covered foam on the wall behind the couch that is the main listening spot. I have some room tunes in various corners that I bought cheap. I've put outdoor cushions from the deck on the wall when we are not using them, behind the speaker. There are two book cases that are behind the speakers permanently. I guess I should look more into room treatments but we'll see. At some point I'll post pictures. Oh, the other thing is I have the Linn in another room with the Aleph Ono running a XLR out to the preamp. Any suggestions are more than welcome!

ivanj May 20, 2003 04:13

Update:
Add Empirical Audio Holophonic PC RCA/bullets for Accuphase
Replace Adcom 750 with Pass Labs X-1.
Replace Cardas Golden Reference with Empirical Holophonic PC XLR
Update A3 Backplanes w/ high impedence mod
Alternate Magnan Signature with Acoustic Zen Satori 4'
Delete MR 7083

ivanj May 16, 2003 12:58

Actually the Adcom XLR to XLR is truly balanced. See the Stereophile review. Thansk for the feedback. When the exchequer improves I will check out the Atmasphere - it intruiges me.

ivanj September 28, 2002 22:38

Oops to previous. I mean active......Can I exceed the performance of the passive 750 in an active truly balanced preamp? Details, please.

ivanj September 02, 2002 23:14

If I use the passive balanced mode only, can I do better than the Adcom 750? IS there an active passive preamp that is better? I am thing of SF, BAT, Pass, ARC, and Atma-Sphere.....

ivanj September 02, 2002 23:11