I recently upgraded to what for some time have been my dream speakers, the incredible Daedalus Audio Ulysses, including the recently introduced all-poly crossover option. I want to thank the many Audiogon members who have posted about this speaker in past threads. It is those posts which led to my becoming aware of the speaker, and ultimately deciding to purchase it. I also want to thank Lou Hinkley, Mr. Daedalus Audio, for participating in the forums at Audiogon, and of course for creating and providing me with these magnificent speakers.
Although their break-in process has barely begun, I feel that I can already say that imho their overall combination of sound quality, dynamic range, bass extension, amplifier friendliness and versatility, efficiency, imaging, elegant appearance and craftsmanship, practicable size and weight, and price, borders on the miraculous. For further commentary on them, see the posts by Jazdoc, Paulfolbrecht, and Jax2 near the end of [url=http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?cspkr&1269555143&openflup&129&4#129]this thread[/url], and
the post by Fig in [url=http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?cspkr&1275949549&openflup&23&4#23]this thread[/url].
Please note that in addition to the following general comments, I have included considerable additional information under the individual component listings above.
I first became interested in high quality audio around 1978. Eventually that led me to explore the world of vintage tube equipment, which in turn led me to discover and intensively pursue a separate hobby as well, antique radio collecting.
During a period of several years during the 1990 s I was able to acquire examples of many of the vintage pieces that are considered to be classics, including most of the early Marantz tube products, among many others. I enjoyed them for a while, and in most cases eventually sold them, in part because of their high monetary value and in part because I did not have the time or the inclination to do the capacitor replacements and other upgrades that would have been necessary to put them in optimal condition. And I would have had very mixed feelings about affecting their originality, as well.
The one piece that to this day I regret selling, though, were the rare and fabulous pair of Marantz 2s I enjoyed during some of those years. They clearly outclassed a pair of the more powerful and more famous Marantz 9s I also owned, although condition may have been a factor in that. A major reason for selling the 2s, though, was that they were not quite powerful enough for the speakers I owned prior to the Ulysses, at least when playing wide dynamic range, well recorded, classical symphony.
The one very early piece that I continue to use in my main system, and that I dont ever anticipate selling, is the legendary 1954 REL Precedent FM tuner. See my further comments on it by clicking its listing above. I use it in conjunction with an H. H. Scott LM35 fm multiplex adapter (the kit version of the model 335), ca. 1961, which decodes the stereo information.
The other pieces in the system represent a mix of vintage and modern, purchased new in some cases and used in others. Some of them are considered to be classics, and deservedly so in my opinion, most notably the Mark Levinson ML-1, which I use as my phono stage (by connecting its tape out jacks to my Classe CP-60 line stage preamp).
I should add that my listening is about 90% classical, a disproportionately large amount of it on labels that are audiophile-oriented or are otherwise high quality, and 10% rock and miscellaneous.
A note on the room: Dimensions are 22L x 13.5W x 8H. The speakers fire along the long dimension, of course. The central part of the rear wall is an opening to another room, so acoustically the length dimension is quite long. The speakers are about 8 feet apart measured driver to driver; the fronts of the speakers are about 4 feet from the front wall. Listening distance is 11 feet (to mid-point between speakers). The speakers are toed in a bit more than half-way between being pointed straight ahead and being pointed directly at the listener. As you can see in the photos, the room is wood-panelled, with wood blinds on the windows that comprise most of the front wall. The Eames chair seen on the left in some of the photos swivels aside for listening, and in that position reduces reflections off of a stone fireplace which is at the center of the left wall. Finally, the two Wassily/Breuer chairs, which are used for listening, are re-positioned during listening sessions so that they are both centered, one in front of the other. If my wife is listening with me, she, being considerably shorter than I am, sits in front.
The price shown ($14,400) reflects the base price of $10,950; optional bases/stands ($600); quartersawn white oak ($900); and the recently introduced all-poly crossover upgrade option ($1950). It is absolutely uncanny how well these speakers match my requirements and preferences, to a degree that as far as I am aware (after having done extensive research prior to my recent purchase decision) no other speaker in existence can match. My requirements and preferences were/are: 1)Top-notch sound quality. 2)Wide dynamic range, specifically the ability to cleanly reproduce the peaks of well-recorded classical symphonic music. 3)Not requiring a high-powered amplifier (e.g., 200W) to do so. 4)Not requiring a subwoofer. 5)Tube-friendly impedance characteristics. 6)Good imaging. 7)Elegant, refined appearance that is a reasonable match to my wood-panelled 1950s living room. 8)A price that is considerably less than that of a new car. I purchased these in the optional quarter-sawn white oak version, btw. Magnificent doesnt begin to do justice to their appearance and build quality.
Valve Amplification Company REN-7070 mkIII
65 watts per channel of 300B, Class A, zero feedback magic. Purchased by me in 2011; I believe it was manufactured about 10 years earlier. The tubes I am using are a new (2011) set of Chinese 300B-98's, purchased from VAC by the previous owner, and vintage Sylvania 6SN7's.
DEQX HDP-5 Digital Preamp/Processor
Digital Preamp/Speaker & Room Correction Processor -- see the "Is DEQX A Game-Changer?" thread for further discussion
DEQX/Earthworks M23 Calibration Kit
Calibrated measurement microphone kit for use with DEQX HDP-5.
Stax Lambda Pro Headphones w/SRM-T1 Tube Amplifier
From the late 1980s. Being electrostatic headphones they nicely complement the dynamic speakers I've had, and help me to sort out room effects or amplifier and speaker-related issues from recording or front-end related things. As well as making it possible to listen when listening via speakers would interfere with my wife's activities.
Herron VTPH-2 Phono Stage
Wonderful sounding, versatile, beautifully engineered phono stage. The many accolades that have been bestowed here and elsewhere on both this phono stage and on Keith Herron as a wonderful person to deal with are more than well deserved.
Bryston BCD-1 CD Player (transport section)
Using it as a transport, with AES/EBU output connected to DEQX.
Sota Sapphire Turntable
Purchased in 1983; still looks and works like new. Built like the proverbial tank. I can literally pound my fist on the plinth during play, with no audible effects whatsoever. Beautiful oak finish.
Magnepan Unitrac-1 Tonearm
Purchased in 1983. Highly regarded and rightly so. Includes in-play adjustability of vta/sra.
Audio Technica AT-ART9 Phono Cartridge
Purchased in 2016. A very nice upgrade, replacing the Grace F9-E variants I had been using for the majority of the past 35 years. Especially notable among the improvements provided by the ART9 are increased detail and better definition in the treble region, and improved dynamics.
Radio Engineering Laboratories Precedent FM Tuner
The legendary REL Precedent FM tuner, designed by former associates of Edwin Armstrong. Mono, with multiplex out jack for connection to external stereo multiplex adapter. From 1954; I purchased it in 1992. Other tuners I've had in my system at one time or another include two Marantz 10B's, a Carver TX11, a McIntosh MR71, and numerous Scott and Fisher units. The REL outperformed all of them sonically (at least in the case of the specific units that I had), and was equalled in station-getting ability only by the 10B. However every now and then it doesn't work properly, I believe due to either a bad diode or capacitor in the detector section. I'm hesitant to start changing parts, though, at least without being certain of exactly which part is the culprit, because I don't want to destroy its originality.
H. H. Scott LM35 Multiplex Adapter
Stereo Multiplex Adapter, used in conjunction with REL Precedent. Kit version of the model 335. Ca. 1961.
Channel Master Roof-Mounted FM Antenna
With rotator.
Tandberg TCD-3004 Cassette Deck
One of the best cassette decks ever made. The 80 or so cassettes in my collection include much of the excellent Connoisseur In Sync series from the 1970's and 1980's. The deck is ca. 1980. I acquired it in the mid-90's.
Logitech Squeezebox Touch
Using it just for Internet radio. A technological marvel given its low price. Too bad it is no longer made.
Nitty Gritty 2.5FiMk2 Record Cleaning Machine
Record Cleaning Machine. Purchased during the 1990's. I used Torumat fluid until it was no longer available; Nitty Gritty Pure2 since.
DB Systems DBP-2JAU/5 Switchbox
Line-level switchbox used to select whether the FM tuner combo or the cassette deck is routed to the DEQX
Audience aR2p Surge Suppressor/Conditioner
This suppressor/conditioner plugs into an outlet of my 20 amp dedicated line. A Wiremold power strip (listed below) plugs into the aR2p and expands its 2 outlets to 10. The Venom Defender surge suppressor/conditioner (listed below) plugs into the power strip, to provide some degree of filtering of noise that may be coupled between components.
This plugs into the Wiremold power strip (listed below) to provide some degree of filtering of noise that may couple between components.
Wiremold UL210BC Power Strip
This well-made power strip expands the 2 outlets of the Audience aR2p surge suppressor/conditioner to 10.
Hammond Power Strip
This plugs into the Wiremold power strip (listed above) to provide additional outlets. It also allows me to switch off the wall wart power supply of the Squeezebox when listening to other sources.
Analysis Plus Toslink Cable
Squeezebox to DEQX, 3 meters
Mogami AES/EBU Cable
Mogami "Gold" AES/EBU Cable, CDP to DEQX, 6 feet
Various Pro-Oriented Interconnects -- Mogami, Pearstone, Comprehensive
Mogami Neglex 2534 quad cable with TecNec RCA connectors (from Markertek.com) between preamp and power amp; Mogami, Pearstone, and Comprehensive (B& H house brand) single-ended ic's for various other analog interconnections.
Vampire Wire Speaker Cable
3 meters, 12 gauge.
Signal Cable Digital Reference Power Cords
One 6 foot cord for the CDP; two 13 foot cords for the VAC dual mono amplifier, which uses two power cords. These are nominally intended for digital components, but the 12 gauge wire they utilize seems adequate for use with the amp as well, and I chose them particularly because of the excellent shielding they provide. In my setup these cords are routed such that they pass fairly close to the phono stage, which presumably increases the importance of their shielding. Also, the fact that the amplifier operates in class A, drawing essentially constant current regardless of the dynamics of the music, presumably lessens the importance of how responsive the cord may be to abrupt changes in demands for current.
Stock Power Cords
Stock cords on all components other than the CDP and the VAC power amplifier.
Adona Multi-Element Isolation Platform
With brass cones. This is used under the Herron phono stage. In addition to being well designed for its purpose, its craftsmanship and beauty make this practically a work of art.
Mapleshade Maple Platform & Isoblocks
4 inch version; used under Power Amp.
Mapleshade Isoblocks
Under Daedalus maple bases.
Sims (Sumiko) Navcom Silencers
Vibration control footers, used under REL Precedent tuner. Ca. 1992.
Planax PX Record Clamp
ca. 1983.
Zerostat 3 Milty
Anti-static gun.
LAST Stylus Cleaner
Stylus cleaner.
20 Amp Dedicated AC Line, New Circuit Breaker Panel & Wiring
New 20 amp dedicated AC line, new circuit breaker panel, new inside and outside wiring to where the utility company's overhead lines attach to the house. All installed in 2010-2011.
Al, You have a very beautiful setup. Lucky to have such a nice room dimension. I understand that you have a dedicated 20 Amp line. Do you connect the Surge protector to the line or do you connect the a few components directly to the dedicated line? I am starting a project to build a new room in the basement and looking to have new 20 Amp AC lines.
I love the view out of your windows, to me, that's the best part of the room. It seems like a room to relax in and just listen to music. Very well done!
Regarding your question, while I certainly believe that cables can make a significant difference (and I have said so in many prior threads), I also believe that for many reasons a high degree of correlation between cable price and cable performance should not be expected. I described some of those reasons in this post in a past thread.
One consequence of those beliefs is that I do not subscribe to the rule-of-thumb guidelines that are sometimes cited in relation to cable costs, such as that they should be approximately 10% or so of total system cost.
Now, could I realize significant improvement in the performance of my system by investing much greater amounts of money in cables? Certainly. But my degree of satisfaction with the system as it stands, my expectation of the degree of further improvement that an investment of major amounts of money in cables may provide, and my expectation of the amount of time that would be necessary to find the right synergies, are such that it doesn't seem likely to be worth it, to me.
Other opinions and preferences will certainly differ in many cases, of course, and that's fine too.
Your system and room are very well presented here. And what a system! I'm curious about something, though. Despite having invested what I consider a fortune on components, you are using speaker cable and interconnects that would be at home in a system costing about what your CD player cost. Have you ever experimented with other cables? I see that you put a Mapleshade base under your amp, so you aren't opposed to costly refinements.
Dan, thanks very much for your comment. I always enjoy reading your invariably gracious, sincere, and informative comments.
Bruce, glad the problem seems to be on the road to recovery now. I started seeing the ENT doctor annually about 10 years ago, when I started having some major difficulty hearing in one ear. He removed a very large amount of wax from that ear, which sounds just like what you are describing. That fixed the hearing issue instantly and completely (in my case there was no infection involved). Remarkably, he indicated that the other ear had no wax at all.
He indicated that in his many years of experience (he's in his 60's) there seems to be no predictability or consistency to wax buildup, not even consistency from one year to the next for a given person, or from one ear to the other.
Probably just the time of the year, but I noticed a loss of hearing in my left ear about two weeks ago. My GP checked my ears and thought the left ear looked a tad infected. He prescribed some antibiotics and decongestants. No real improvement. In fact my ear started to hurt and the loss of hearing became even worse.
With this being a holiday weekend, I went to an urgent care facility late Friday afternoon. The doc pulled a load of wax out of my left ear that was frightening to look at. He is aggressively treating me with antibiotics and decongestants. Thank goodness, my hearing is much better.
But this long tale echoes your point about the importance of ear care.
Al, your observations regarding hearing, matches my onw experience. My deteriorating hearing has not affected my enjoyment of music, I enjoy it now more that ever.
I have an audio friend, who at 80, still actively appreciates great music, while still being very physically active in maintaining his home and beautiful gardens. I hope some day to emulate him.
You're doing something right, and enjoying it, so long may you keep on keeping on.
Thanks for your comments, gentlemen (and other) :-)
Windfall66, thanks. Youre comment drew some chuckles from me and my wife. As you may have noticed, the Wassily chairs and the Eames chair were the subject of some discussion earlier in the thread. Nice to see that another Agoner recognizes they are something special.
Obuckley, regarding frequencies below 28 Hz, Ive seen it said many times that the deepest bass frequencies tend to be felt more than heard. And that is consistent with my experience using test records, and using those few recordings having significant content that far down (e.g., the 1978 M&K Realtime Power and the Glory direct-to-disc organ recording, volume 1).
Also, keep in mind that because of the equal loudness curves which characterize human hearing the sensitivity of virtually everyones hearing to those frequencies is vastly less than it is to higher frequencies, especially at moderate and lower volume levels.
Regarding the uppermost octave, Ive never had my hearing professionally checked, but I can say based on listening to various test records and test CDs that it extends roughly about as far as youve described for yourself. However it is my belief that how far into the top octave ones hearing extends is by no means a critical factor in being able to hear differences between components or other system hardware, and I suspect that other factors are at play in your own situation as you described it.
One possibility that comes to mind is recording quality. In my listening experience, comprising mostly classical music, Ive found that the higher the quality of the recording (meaning among other things that a minimal number of well-placed microphones were used, and that minimal or no compression or other post-processing was applied), the easier it is to hear differences. And once those differences are identified and locked on to, it becomes somewhat easier to perceive them on lesser recordings.
One more point: Although Ive never had my hearing professionally checked, I do see an otolaryngologist once a year to have wax removed. That certainly makes a difference in my case, and likewise for a number of other Agoners Ive seen report similarly.
Hi Al, I have a set-up which I am quite pleased with now - may even write about it on here some day. However, apart from major failures, for some years, whenever I have upgraded a component, cables, mains filtering etc. I have spent quite a lot of money and I cannot honestly say I have ever noticed the difference. If your interest in hifi started around 1978, you would have been at least, say, 15. So you are now, at a guess, over 50. I am now 60 and FWIW need glasses for reading and different ones for watching TV. So it is with my ears. I can hear down to around 28Hz (below that, I can feel my trouser legs shaking, but cannot actually hear it) and I cannot hear anything above 12.5kHz. Even to hear that, I need to turn the volume way up to be sure I am hearing it. Now that is about the frequency range of an average cassette player! Have you ever tested your own hearing? Does any of what we are doing with hifi make any sense? Why would anyone trust our reviews of equipment?
System edited: Replaced Stax SRM-1 Mk2 solid state headphone amplifier and Stax ED-1 Diffuse Field Equalizer with Stax SRM-T1 tube headphone amplifier. Quick initial impressions are that it's an excellent upgrade, smoothing out the upper mid-range and treble regions without any notable tradeoffs.
Al Thanks this is most useful. If at all the glass windows were to introduce any sibilance/distortion they would do so irrespective of the slat position/opening in the wooden blinds. I suspect with a large room volume the glass has, at best, a minuscule effect. Cheers Pradeep
Actually my wife and I almost never roll up the wooden blinds. We "open" them by moving the slats to the horizontal position, which is done by turning the thin wooden handle you can see in some of the photos. Or in the morning, when the sun is on that side of the house, we move them to an angle which is partially open but blocks the direct sunlight. When comparing sonics among those three positions I have not perceived a significant difference, and certainly not a difference that would cause me to consistently prefer one position over the others.
Al Many thanks. Your words of encouragement and support are much appreciated. Our room dimensions are almost identical apart from a 9' ceiling in my case. A quick question. Do you find any sonic downside if you play your system with the wooden blinds rolled up and the glass windows exposed ? The reason I ask is that my room is being refurbished and I plan to hang some large water colors with glass panels etc on the front wall. This would be well above the speakers etc Best Pradeep
Pradeep, thanks very much for your kind comment. And speaking of impressive and well thought out systems, I can only say "wow" when it comes to yours! Enjoy.
Al Congrats on a very impressive and well thought out system. I have always enjoyed reading your contributions. All strength to your elbow Best Pradeep
I don't use the Tandberg cassette deck too often, but it's something that I definitely appreciate having in my system, and I use every now and then. I just have about 100 cassettes in my collection, but included among those are a considerable number of the classical piano recordings that were issued ca. 1980 on the Connoisseur Society "In Sync" label. Those featured performances by outstanding pianists such as Ivan Moravec, Ruth Laredo, etc, and sonically they were particularly high quality as cassettes go. Which is not to say, of course, that they are competitive with well engineered LP's or CD's.
The deck still performs very well. I purchased it around 1996, at a tag sale actually. It was in need of some repairs, which I had done together with a general overhaul at the factory service facility which Tandberg had at the time in Brewster, NY. A few years ago a belt snapped, which I replaced myself with a replacement I obtained from Soundsmith. Otherwise it has been a pleasure to use.
I believe that today Soundsmith is one of a very limited number of places that are equipped to work on this deck, or its highly regarded successor model, the 3014. It's a very complex machine internally, with many printed circuit boards, and anything more than a simple tuneup is likely to be an expensive proposition. I suspect that parts availability may also be an issue in some circumstances.
Also, the few 3004's and 3014's I've seen offered for sale in recent years have had asking prices that are quite high.
How does it hang in there these days compared to the rest of your system.
I would love to put together a nice all Tandberg rig some day if I can find the right units in good working order. Lovely, high quality gear! The Tandberg gear, including cassette and RtR decks were the bomb back in its day at Tech Hifi. I owned a TR2080 receiver for many years until I sold to a collector in Norway.
I use a decent quality 90s vintage Yamaha cassette deck to play my old cassettes from time to time. Does the job but its no Tandberg.
Aiwa is another company that made high quality cassette decks in its heyday before going more commercial. I had and loved an Aiwa Ad 6550 for years. It was my compromise purchase back in college in that I did not have the funds nor space for a Tandberg.
Liked reading about your system Al, instant nostalgia and some very nice classic pieces. Room looks very comfortable with a beautiful outdoor view - I'm envious and stuck in the basement. Thanks for all your great posts on A'gon. Always worthwhile reading them. Regards, Barry
Al, I've long admired your system, and wish some of your knowledge would magicaly rub off on me!
I have wanted for a while to hear my speakers with 300B amplification, but have lacked the funding to do so. Instead, an Audiogon purchase of an old VAC PA 35.35, with NOS Telefunken small tubes, and Gold Lion reissue KT 77's, does a fine job. I liked it well enough to send it to VAC for an upgrade. Good sound, but it's still not 300B sound.
Nice to have you on this forum, thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience.
Grindstaff, I continue to be very happy with the VAC amplifier. I have not tried any SET amps.
At this point the weakest link seems to be room acoustics, although on most recordings the issues are not particularly bothersome, and I'm generally very happy with the system. The most notable issue is a frequency response dip in the 40 to 45 Hz area, caused by a rear wall reflection.
Also, Halcro, although it's not possible to tell from the photos, the cane chairs are not Breuer cantilevers. They are similar to the Prague chair designed by Josef Hoffman in 1925, except without the arms.
almarg on Done For Now