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Post by palace on May 23, 2024 18:00:39 GMT
Yesterday I hit information overload & had to just listen to The Mikado to level/chill out, what is next for me is open to suggestion. I find Stravinsky's Rite of Spring very cleansing... ![;)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/wink.png) MartinT very true, indeed any of the ballet music written for The Ballets Russes... I also love Wandering in the Steppes of Central Asia by Borodin to find a nice place. I have good & bad days with spelling putting thoughts on paper due to mild dyslexia.
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Post by palace on May 24, 2024 13:17:48 GMT
A strange improvement happened earlier today
I have 2 x 2m optical cables, one from the Sony TV to the Caiman SEG 50 DAC & one from the Virgin box to the Caiman SEG 50 DAC. There is a push button selector switch for 2 x optical 1 x coaxial cable 1 x USB B. I was watching a Virgin box recording of the Allegri Miserere sung by The Sixteen though I counted 20 of them.
When I bought the Beresford Caiman DAC and once it run in & had the clock & super-capacitor modifications by Stan Beresford. I removed the circuit board mounted phono sockets & wired in a pair of quality chassis mount phono sockets with 7n copper wire.
At that time I had set each of the input Sound Signature Mode's (filters?) on the Caiman DAC to the then best sounding setting.
I have always listened to the Virgin box to DAC, thinking it to be the more accurate, today I pressed the selector switch moving from Virgin box optical to TV optical to DAC, as the 16 came to the famous "top C" in the work I heard a step up in the quality of the sound of the high "C" singer reverberating in what looks like a large unused church.
Quite what has happened to improve the sound I do not know I can see that a slight out of phase/lip sync problem Virgin box to TV has been resolved & that the TV speaker sound & system speaker sound are now in sync, it is as if the Virgin box sound output goes to the TV & returns late via the HDMI lead to the Virgin box optical sound output, the optical from the TV appears to be the more accurate ie a shorter route? though not knowing the circuitry quite the opposite could be correct.
Before the arrival of the Auva 50's & Auva EQ's the differences' in sound twixt the 2 settings was not discernible.
I look forward to the arrival of 4 more Auva EQ's No1's this time as the MC7R is half the weight of the Atlas Magnum power amp.
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Post by palace on May 25, 2024 15:23:37 GMT
The well constructed deceptively simple Stack Audio Auva EQ's arrived today this time 4 x CSA-1's to support 0-4 kg each, I had removed the 4 round feet from the bottom of the 11 kg MC7R preamp yesterday in anticipation, I slipped the Auva EQ's under the MC7R where the feet had been, to be square just the front right needed adjusting by a few millimeters achieved by rotating the synthetic base insert. The MC7R is also behind the right OTA Quad 57.
I don't think you needed to be gifted with clairvoyance/second sight to assess that I would experience another boost in resolution/sound. though not just higher resolution equally there is added realism, yes now greater fine detail, but so much less hurry no struggle to hear it, the removal of more audio detritus is as if everything has slowed down Listening/watching a Virgin box a 2012 recording of Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds (The New Generation) I had bought the original double LP on it's release in 1978 & have seen The New Generation stage show several times at a couple of venues including the O2 where this recording & the DVD were made. The Sky box recording now has a similar visceral feel to watching the show at a/the large open venue.
Listening/watching another Virgin box recording this time of a 1974 Mike Oldfield live performance of Tubular Bells, this could/had sound a smidgen congested in places, with several performers rather than Mike Oldfield's original discreet solo individual tracking for the LP (yes I bought it at the time) now so relaxed the individual musical components though individual all work together so well, the xylophone when struck just sounds so right, steel guitar strings sound different to gut/nylon ones & the tubular bells resonate perfectly.
Yet another Virgin box recording, recorded in Beijing, Carmina Burana with a massed choirs' Women one side Men the other of the large orchestra again more relaxed more detail & reality & dynamics not usually associated with Quad 57's
Norah Jones at Ronnie Scott's again off the virgin box I'm one of the audience sitting at a table, her trio is 10-12 feet away.
On a selection of Virgin box recordings of Indian music, with Sitar the effect/sound of the drone strings & sympathetic strings are clearer, the sound of Sarod has similar sympathetic strings normally difficult to hear, not now. On one performance a double ended drum called a Mridangam was projected into the room,
I have listened to all of my usual musical fare when listening since I have no wish to have two many variables, with the latest addition of Auva EQ's under the MC7R, my consensus is more relaxed, greater detail, smoother but not pipe & slippers I actually perceive more treble & mid range, if the bass is deeper I can't tell but it is definitely cleaner somehow the note of double bass are not muddied/muddled together in any way.
On playing my Quadraphonic version LP of Dark Side of the Moon, The best version I have heard the studio tapes were used for the 5-1 DVD. A gift at the time from EMI after I found the home address of the CEO in Tatler, addressing to him a letter of complaint about the unavailability of the album despite their constant advertising. The opening heartbeats are deeper than I remember again seemingly slower with more substance.
Other music not mentioned, Virgin box recordings Cat's 1999 not the recent crap film, performances of Indian classical music including Tabla,Sitar,Rudra Veena,flute's etc, The Shadows farewell tour concert & highlights of orchestral recordings including The Messiah (Handel) with Iestyn Davies countertenor, on CD while(1<2)(deadmau5), LP's Transformer (lou Reed) Snowflakes are Dancing (Tomita)LP Tapestry (Carole King)LP, Wish you Were Here (floyd).
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Post by palace on May 25, 2024 20:04:57 GMT
By way of an addendum: like the Auva 50's under the OTA Rupert speaker stands & the EQ's under the power amp, after a few hours playing the Auva chamber with metallic particles seem to have settled as Josh at Stack Audio said they would, allowing just a little more of everything good to be heard & as noted on a Youtube video by an Australian audiophile that I watched today, I have just realised sitting down with bare feet, there are no vibrations in the floor, I did not pick up on it previously.
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Post by palace on May 27, 2024 13:45:33 GMT
Listening today everything sounded even more relaxed (It's a Bank holiday in the UK) the amount of noise created by tiny vibrations that the AUVA 50's have reduced from the speakers & Auva EQ's have removed from the preamp & amp is astounding, I remember decades ago if when playing Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon if on listening to track 3 On the Run It was printed in magazines that if you could hear any of the words included in the indistinct Tannoy announcement you had a good cartridge/system, I could hear with my very much younger ears "Flight 255 for Rome,Cairo & Lagos" indistinct then repeated with footsteps. Today playing the Virgin box recording after revisiting a couple of times to confirm with my now 75 year old ears, I heard the words "Have your baggage and passport ready and then follow the green line to customs and immigration. BA two five five to Rome, Cairo and Lagos." No word "flight" spoken. I played my Quadraphonic LP with the same result...
That alone is confirmation of the effects of the Auva EQ's have & from comments on other forums these effects are shared by others & seem to work in most cases in a similar fashion regardless of system & room. It makes it viable for me to recommend them to friends.
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Post by palace on Jun 1, 2024 10:17:47 GMT
My multi skilled technician son John who has the very good hearing that I once had, came over the other day, I played the deadmau5 CD while(1<2) that he introduced me to, the is full of very low bass notes, John was sitting side on & quite close 7-8 feet to the right hand OTA Quad 57 speaker on it's OTA Rupert stand he noticed there was to him an audible buzzing/vibration. I sit 10-12 feet away from the speakers face on & did not hear the buzz.
We found that the R/H speaker on it's OTA Rupert stands under which are 6mm threaded inserts for the 4 x Auva 50's had slight movement when rocked too & fro from the top. John who is much more nimble than me adjusted the Auva 50's more precisely than I may have done, thankfully the L/H speaker & stand was pretty solid.
On playing the CD again the buzzing/vibration had gone. So in this specific instance allowing the Auva 50's to do their job as designed, by removing extraneous movement had a slight improvement in the sound above what I detailed on fitting the Auva 50's particularly even tighter bass, & cleaner trebble..
A post on another forum queried whether the vibration/buzzing was a "misaligned" Auva 50 is difficult to verifie.I had acknowledged the need for proper adjustment in the post when I tightened the locking nuts the Auva 50's on the second day of use.
Our laminate floor is past it's sell by date so was it the floor that had settled or did I not adjust the Auva 50's 100% accurately, where the buzz came from, we have no idea, whilst the buzz was unwanted could even have been our new settee or the airborne deep bass causing the floor to buzz & us being 2 heavy men walking on it cured/stopped the buzz however if it was the one Auva 50 not 100% the other 3 Auva 50's were doing their job since no vibration was felt through the floor in my bare feet & the post Auva 50 sound even with only 3 at close to 100% if that is the case were distinctly better than before they were fitted & now with all 4 fitted correctly better still."
My take from this is that correct fitting allows the Auva 50's & by extrapolation Auva EQ's to work in line with the laws of physics by taking vibration & converting it to heat even when not all are correctly adjusted & working at 100% as designed. This would only apply when using 4 Auva 50's or EQ's & probably would not occur using 3 x triangulated Auva, whether 50's or EQ's .
I'm now considering whether the Auva 70's each with 3 Auva chambers could/would offer more to my OTA Quad 57's than single Auva chamber Auva 50's?
As I previously had noted "Touching a OTA Quad 57 frame after fitting the Auva 50's playing music the perceived vibration is reduced in amplitude. Theo Stack did say as the contents of the 50's settle they should improve things further. After 3 hours that appears to be verified" Reduced in amplitude not entirely removed, but since it is the interface with the floor that is their raison d'être would Auva 70's stop more.
I even thought of alloy bars bolted to the bottom of the OTA Rupert stands with 6mm bolts the bars extending an inch or two past the stands with holes to take 8mm bolts for Auva 50's,60's or 100's thus increasing the footprint/stability.
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Post by palace on Jun 2, 2024 14:33:52 GMT
I was told by Josh at Stack Audio in an email The code is 7.5wigwamgroup, it is currently active until the end of May.
On PFM yesterday Gustav Errata wrote "It has been extended by a couple of weeks! I enquired when I ordered some AUVA EQ a few days ago".
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Post by palace on Jun 3, 2024 11:46:50 GMT
When my son John came over the other day & we noticed the top of the OTA Quad 57 on OTA Rupert stand had a little fore & aft movement he fine adjusted the Auva 50's giving seemingly more balanced set up of right hand OTA Quad 57 via the Auva 50's, the left hand speaker was firm on it's Auva 50's.
Today I was playing some simple 2 instrument Indian music with some deep bass from a Jori drum wooden made, unlike the metal Tabla it is pair of more resonant drums, I put my hand on the outer frame/screwed on wood side strip, there was less apparent vibration than previously, I noticed that I could effectively through my fingertips feel high or low notes depending on what instrument was prominent at the time the other being a Rudra Veena , a plucked multi stringed instrument with large gourd resonant chambers at each end, on the change over of instrument prominence, there was no smearing of the notes both instruments could be felt, corelating to the audible effects I heard particularly clarity & fine detail when I fitted the Auva 50's under the OTA Quad 57 OTA Rupert stands, I can only think that the particles in the Auva chambers have settled & are absorbing more?
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Post by MartinT on Jun 3, 2024 14:48:16 GMT
This is also how Black Ravioli works. The better the contact with the underside of the chassis, the more damping it provides.
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Post by palace on Jun 3, 2024 15:34:45 GMT
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Post by palace on Jun 13, 2024 16:17:42 GMT
I ordered 8 x Stack Audio Auva 70's, they arrived this morning. I had an important task to do for a very sick friend so my daughter came & waited for them.
When I got home, After playing some music, I spun off the Auva 50's from the OTA Rupert stands under my OTA Quad 57's & screwed in the Auva 70's using the existing 6mm-8mm adapters.
I wrote a few posts ago that touching the outer frame "I noticed that I could effectively through my fingertips feel high or low notes depending on what instrument was prominent at the time the other being a Rudra Veena , a plucked multi stringed instrument with large gourd resonant chambers at each end, on the change over of instrument prominence, there was no smearing of the notes both instruments could be felt, correlating to the audible effects I heard particularly clarity & fine detail". Well today noticeably less perceived vibration in the frame.
The Audiophile man wrote a review that interested me, he wrote "In my mind’s eye, I imagined that Stack Audio had designed and possibly even tested these feet with conical drivers in mind.
So I attempted to second guess my imagination and wrong-foot Stack Audio.
That is, picking up the AUVA 70 feet first, I decided to give the 70s a tough test from the off. To begin, I decided to place them under my Quad 57 electrostatic speakers.
Here, you’re looking to install some control on two sheets of shimmering cling film. To me, if you can bring a semblance of order on those, then your basic speakers will be child’s play, by comparison."
I have the same, 57's on Rupert stands. I believe it is the insubstantial narrow Quad 57 frame with limited bracing that is the main culprit. Counter intuitively they may have more need of damping/absorption than a lot of stiff braced box speakers
Alastair Robertson-Aikman (deceased) former owner of SME famously had an enormous subterranean listening room, I read that he attached large solid brass side pieces to damp the vibrations in his Quads, these days brass would probably be more expensive than the Auva's that do not damp but in their Auva chambers absorb & convert vibration into heat.
The Audiophile man quoted a CD. "Created by Aziza Brahim, the CD was released by Glitterbeat. Called Abbar el Hamad ait, it is a bit of a stunner, especially my test track, a sumptuous romantic piece called El canto de la Arena featuring a melancholy female vocal, a slow-paced yet chocolatey romantic guitar, bass guitar, pipes, small sets of bells and a host of organic percussion (no digital is allowed in this one) the type of which I have no clue so please forgive my ignorance. They sounded wonderful though. Deep, tight when hit and effective"
I bought that CD to evaluate the Auva 50's fitted to the OTA Quad 57 stands using his evaluation as a sort of bench mark. With the Auva 50's the CD sounded very good with the Auva 70's percussion not just drums but blocks etc & acoustic/electric guitars are much better still. I would not argue with Audiophile man when he wrote. "With the Stack Audio AUVA 70 feet in place? Errr, blimey! I mean….blimey! I felt like I needed to suddenly sit up straight and pay attention. I actually did do that, without realising. As if the music had just woken up. The entire soundstage was suddenly precise and focused. The mids were crisp. The treble was exacting. The bass was even tighter than before. It started and stopped on a pin head".
I'm now listening to Brian Wilson & Friends DVD which I am very familiar with, as with the preceding music the volume control is a notch or three lower. The soundstage depth has increased in line with it being a very deep stage they are spread over, instruments are etched in space the OTA Quad speakers seem revitalised, more exciting. the punch of drums is stunning, the little sounds like drumstick's hitting each other, rimshots whether Guiro Jam Block an instrument with ridges that are rubbed/strigilated! Bell Splash Cymbals ringing or Triangle. Human voices/whistling are projecting they have an almost magical quality. Acoustic/Electric/Mandolin Guitars superlatives fail me. Trumpets/Cornets have a real rasp where intended. Zoe Deschanel of She & Him, singing God Only Knows is mesmerising. Took me right back to a unbelievable party in the Kings Road Chelsea late 1966...
As I listen, like the Auva 50's & Auva EQ's the sound is improving as the Auva 70's Auva Chambers settle when I last spoke to Josh at Stack Audio he said customers said the material in the Auva Chambers of the 70's could take 10 hours to settle, the 50's took 2 or three days here to settle properly.
The Audiophile man wrote. "Now the stereo image was placed with mathematical precision. It was like a big bloke with a luminous green jacket and a Theodolite had paid my listening room a quick visit. The sheer accuracy of the vocal now was very impressive indeed. Because of this almost mathematical precision, the supreme focus, the removing of even a hint of wooly bass or slightly meandering mids, everything sounded clearer now. Vocals, the actual lyrics, were more easily understood. Nothing got in the way of the delivery any more".
I have compared the Auva 50's with the 70's playing all the same music, as much as I loved the Auva 50's & could have lived very happily with them however the sound now is in a different league...
I will report further when the Auva 70's have settled. When I can take in my OTA Quad 57's whilst still a subtle speaker that's sounding as if they are on steroids.
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Post by MartinT on Jun 13, 2024 18:56:38 GMT
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Post by palace on Jun 13, 2024 19:57:28 GMT
The whole album is musical well worth a listen. Tomorrow Feist Metals to see how it is handled.
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Post by palace on Jun 14, 2024 11:55:57 GMT
I am listening as I type to Feist, Metal CD recommended by MartinT as a test it is recorded at a high level but in a sorted system sounds good, now I have the Auva 70 footers it sounds bloody marvelous so much bass punch clear middle & highs creating a musical whole.
I just listened/watched an early DVD of the Mikado at one point the son of the Mikado Nanki-Poo confessing to his sweetheart Yum Yum who he is. He describes his father as the lucius soonus brutus of his age. today thanks to the Auva 70's under the OTA Quad 57's I heard for the first time the Lucius Junius Brutus of his age. (Lucius Junius Brutus was the legendary founder of the Roman Empire) also I can hear the annoying footfall of characters wearing hard sole shoes rather than Japanese style soft sole slippers however those also become irritating when they run... Rather like the thumps & bumps at the ballet.
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Post by palace on Jun 15, 2024 11:26:58 GMT
On another forum I was thanked for updating in relation to the Auva 70's. I wrote : The Auva 70's are more than I expected by far, I was stunned with the difference after the very good Auva 50's, I said I could happily live with them as I can happily live with the Auva 70's, however before you spend your hard earned pennies, I'm minded of the words of Paul Rigby-The Audiophile Man as below 3 paragraphs. "So, one final, final test then. What are the differences between the AUVA 70 and AUVA 100 feet, if any? Iturned to Ella Fitzgerald’s version of One For My Baby on the Speakers Corner pressing of the Harold ArlenSong Book double album, originally out on Verve.Differences, if any? Lots is what I’d say! But hear this, moving from the 70s to the 100s is to move from excellent hifi to truly high-end HiFi. And I mean top-of-the-line. It’s like moving from an exceptional boron cantilevered cartridge to a cartridge packing a sapphire or even diamond cantilever. That sort of standard. "At this point, all talk stops. You’re forced to listen. There is a level of sound quality here which is just exceptional. Truly exceptional. In short? Down went the noise again, up came the detail." "I expected some sort of improvement from the Stack Audio AUVA feet sure but nothing, nothing in sonic terms, quite like this. The sheer level of precision from the music now was quite outstanding. For my HiFi system, at least, it felt like the last ingredient to make the entire HiFi chain click into place. It’s almost like my HiFi system needed a big nudge to give it that sense of clarity – and I didn’t know. I didn’t know that was even necessary until I tested the AUVA feet.The largest and most dramatic improvement was moving from basic feet to the 70s. That was a shock. Sayingthat, the move from the 70s to the 100s was a move to ‘proper HiFi’. High-end HiFi. HiFi that nods towards the sound and says, “Just stop what you’re doing and..take…a…listen…to…thisss.” I had the advantage of fitting Auva 50's first to the OTA Quad 57 OTA Rupert stands, the sound was so much better than before, it was quite an unexpected jump to the sound after fitting Auva 70's. As I have mooted do Quad 57's require more damping/absorption than some box speakers because of their insubstantial almost 2 dimensional frame as below. As for Auva 100's as yet a pipe dream. ![](https://postimg.cc/tscF1TJY) ![](https://i.postimg.cc/N0sDz2w7/download.jpg)
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Post by palace on Jun 16, 2024 12:44:35 GMT
I have made efforts to come to terms with the almost disturbing elevation in the music quality heard after fitting the Auva 70's under the OTA Rupert stands that my OTA Quad 57's sit on.
My wife is out granny sitting our youngest granddaughter, unfortunately my wifes tinnitus precludes playing the system when she is home.
Whether Virgin box recordings like Milos(Guitar) at Blenheim Palace, Cat's 1999 not the recent poor film, performances of Indian classical music including Tabla,Jori, Sitar,Rudra Veena,flute's etc, The Shadows farewell tour concert & highlights of orchestral recordings including The Messiah The Academy of Ancient Music with Iestyn Davies countertenor(Handel.
Those on on CD like Abbar el Hamada ait (Aziza Brahim), Metals (Feist), while(1<2) (deadmau5) Flag, Baby (Yellow),Disc 1 & 2 David Chesky Jazz samplers/Test CD's or when playing Vinyl LP's as in Dave Brubeck's Greatest Hits, Transformer (lou Reed) Snowflakes are Dancing (Tomita)LP Tapestry (Carole King), Wish you Were Here, Dark Side of the Moon, The Wall (floyd), The Singles (Carpenters) Richard Carpenter hated the idea of calling the LP the best of. Parsley Sage Rosemary & Thyme, Bridge Over Troubled Waters (Simon & Garfunkel).
I have played all of these & Many of my Classical recordings over the last few days. My take so far, is everything seems even slower than with the Auva 50's or is it just more relaxed, despite so much more detail, bass punch & being made more aware of the acoustic whether it is the studio engineers intend one, like Road To Hell (Chris Rea) I played both the LP & the CD then there is The double mono LP of The Threepenny Opera" sung in German.(Weill & Brecht) or a live stage recording Like Brian Wilson & Friends.
I cannot emphasise enough the transformation wrought by the Auva 70's, the inclusion of the Auva 50's was as big a change after 45+ years of using quality solid state & hybrid amplifiers, I bought my Rogue Atlas Magnum valve power amplifier that grabbed the OTA Quad 57's by the balls, fitting the Auva 70's was an even bigger upgrade than when Mark Manwaring-White replacing it's Capacitors with Audyn cap reference ones & 1% Mills resistors & my fitting different upgraded valves.
While I still have 8 x Auva 50's time to experiment with them...
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Post by palace on Jun 17, 2024 16:42:46 GMT
After I added the Stack Audio Auva 70 footers to the One Thing Audio Rupert stands under my OTA Quad 57 speakers, the Auva 70's seem to have supercharged the OTA Quads I have often written/boasted about the bass I have arrived at after my efforts to prevent RFI/EMI from entering my system, the bass now is hard to credit coming from Quad ESL speakers the ambiance, treble & mids is now also incredible.
Today I played The Endless River, I bought the Deluxe Edition 2 or 3 years ago, listened to it at least a dozen times, found it ok, I just felt it was not quiet up there with other Floyd albums but it was relaxing.
The starting point for the album was the music that came from is the 1993 Division Bell sessions, when David Gilmour, Rick Wright and Nick Mason played freely together at Britannia Row and Astoria studios. This was the first time they had done so since the ‘Wish You Were Here’ sessions in the seventies. Those sessions resulted in The Division Bell, the band’s last studio album. In 2013 David Gilmour and Nick Mason revisited the music from those sessions and decided that the tracks should be made available as part of the Pink Floyd repertoire. It would be the last time the three of them would be heard together. The band spent over a year recording and upgrading the music, using the advantages of modern studio technology to create The Endless River.
I read that Mick Mason thought the album is a tribute to Rick Wright, whose keyboards are/were at the heart of the Pink Floyd sound. Sadly Rick Wright died in 2008 from lung cancer.
Today I listened to the 96/24 bit DVD, Post Auva 70's. I heard textures in the bass for the first time, I had read that this is a tone picture depicting a young man punting across a sea of clouds. Today I realised that the work is a tone poem depicting a journey like classical composers of times past wrote.
Dave Gilmour said: "Unapologetically, this is for the generation that wants to put its headphones on, lie in a beanbag, or whatever, and get off on a piece of music for an extended period of time." though I rarely use headphones, but yeah at 75 I get it..
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Post by palace on Jun 22, 2024 16:29:08 GMT
I put 4 Stack Audio Auva 50's under my Croft phono stage in a Vitale case but not with Vitale internals made by Mr Croft who was asked to make one for me by Len Gregory who used a Croft to develop his Cartridgeman cartridges after I bought a Musicmaker cartridge & since Len having heard my system, used me to help test/develop some of his products.
This phono stage was fitted with a different transformer so that I could use 6.3v as well as 12.6v valves & subsequently fitted with 2 SUT's connected to the Croft circuitry thus enabling me to use a Hana ML moving coil whilst retaining the ability to play moving iron/magnet cartridges, this was all done by my friend Mark Manwaring-White of Malvern Audio Research.
My wife who has tinnitus is shopping today. The sound from the system after placing the Auva 50's without anything in the screw holes. underneath the Croft was indefinably better though certainly not a night & day difference. When I tried the Auva 50's under my Hydraulic Reference TT fitting the adapters in the 4 Auva 50's screw holes made a big difference, So I took my Dremel & cutting disc to a pair of 30mm M8 bolts (the provided stainless steel adapters are to nice to spoil) once cut they were screwed in & locked the heads only protrude a little above the Auva 50's but should to my take on these things concentrate vibrations into the Auva 50's bearing in mind these are designed for speakers not Like the Auva EQ'S (equipment isolators) that have a slightly different methodology having no screw hole an Auva chamber & a silicon absorber.
Tomorrow my wife is granny sitting for our youngest granddaughter, I will try the adapted Auva 50's again.
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Post by palace on Jun 23, 2024 10:41:50 GMT
As my wife is out I tried out the modified Auva 50's under the Croft, it was an interesting exercise, bear in mind I have Auva 70's under the OTA Quad 57's on Rupert stands the change wrought to them is stunning I wrote that they were "as if on steroids". I have Auva EQ 2 under the Rogue Atlas Magnum power amp, Auva EQ 1 under the MC7R pre amp & Auva 50's under the Hydraulic Reference turntable so you would think the law of diminishing returns would be fast approaching, though apparently not, I could do worse than quote MartinT on that subject on page 1 of this thread, "That never seems to happen. I've experienced the same surprise many times over!".
Inserting short bolts into the Auva 50's with spring washers under the heads for the Croft phono stage to sit on, rather than without ie. just threaded holes, the use of the bolts, further improved the bass yet again the midrange is oh so open as is the treble, on some tracks the singer is projected forward in the soundstage as presumably the recording engineer intended on others the lead instrument, the gains are beyond my vocabulary the system or more properly the LP music is simply sounding in Goldilocks style ie. "Just right" as to whether Auva EQ's would be better still or different would be supposition on my part
Like previous Auva's I have used after a couple of hours the sound is improving further as I am listening, the signal valves I use in the Croft are 6NP2 EV OS very vibration resistant valves/tubes from the Russian space program & an 6N23P as a cathode follower also vibration resistant. However, are any of the internals actually creating vibration or is it all or mostly airborne? whatever the Auva Chambers seem to be absorbing something from somewhere. Listening to a very relaxed mono Pet Sounds vinyl LP (Beach Boys) though a central image, it has a depth/layer of sounds that was almost absent before as were some of the unusual background sounds, I'm now able to hear emerging from a silent background.
There is/was an added bonus. Because of space considerations in the alcove the equipment sits, my Cambridge CD4se that I use as a CD transport sits on the Croft with a light but solid 1" deep wood & plastic frame with isolating "bumpers" top & bottom, sits between the Croft & CD4se, this is to allow the plethora of ventilation holes in the Croft to do their job. Playing CD's there is also an improvement commensurate with the vinyl replay, as with the phono stage instruments are fixed clearly in space but with space around them. I'm listening to Minnie Riperton she is singing "Loving You" the birds in the background sound so real.
I have spent the last 44 years with Quad 57's in this flat/apartment trying to get to this engaging musical zenith, what could be the next route will take some consideration.
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Post by palace on Jun 25, 2024 11:33:02 GMT
I'm listening to Alchemy (Dire Straits) their first live LP, today unusually the outside temperature is 26 deg plus & humid it's very Sunny.
On Friday the 22nd of July 1983 I was working around & in The Hammersmith Odeon it was hot Dire Straights were recording what is now Alchemy. They were also recording on Saturday the 23rd July, the recordings were being done in the Rolling Stones mobile unit which was parked at the rear.
Inside the Odeon was very hot & sweaty as am I now. The music & audience noise I'm listening to is very close to what I heard on those 2 nights 42 years ago though I admit at a slightly lower volume, the Auvas in all their incarnations 50's 70's & EQ's have wrought an improvement in my system that exceeds the previous 45 plus years of any careful gradual improvements, the cumulative Auva effect has occurred over a just few weeks.
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