Michael Fremer’s Power Saga

Power Components
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That’s very kind of you.

There was a weirder one involving going out in little boats, waving a flame torch over the water to attract the fish, which were then caught by trained cormorants with rope tied around their necks. The fishermen would yank the rope and retrieve the fish. I think dynamite featured in that book Salmon Fishing in Yemen.

All this proves is that in any endeavour there are many ways of solving the same problem and someone will always find yet another .

Of course I do and you know it!. It’s a fairly common combination, I recall hearing it at this show, the last I went to, mainly to see a talk/exhibition by Ross Halfin - a great rock photographer. The turntable is a Vertere MG-1, made in London, UK.

From what I’ve seen Wilson speakers are largely indifferent to amplifiers, I’ve heard them with low powered valve amplifiers and massive muscle amps.

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you have got be making that one up!
mind you, it’s a strange world we live in…

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It may be possible to drive them with various things, but that doesn’t make it a good idea. They will typically tell you pretty clearly what you’re putting into them.

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He’s not making it up this time.

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As @danofesherintheuk confirms, it is strange but true. I never make anything up. 100% true, better than Paul’s 99% true.

One of these days I will get down to Esher to see Dan’s PMC/ PSA set-up, which sounds a bit unbelievable, don’t get past the end of the street these days.

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126

It sounds like a most impressive setup :slight_smile:

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I experienced Wilson speakers as uncritical of amps but sensible in terms of showing their potential only with some of them. For me with Wilson this always was tubes only, at every show and home setup. But I don’t say I know all options.

What I like best is (up to a certain size) that they are among the smallest floor standing high end speakers available in their respective class of performance.

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128

Someone mentioned they had Vandersteen speakers that look like thin pyramids. I thought they were very pretty and I suspect the PS Audio speakers might be similar. The wife wife liked them, so what I thought was not an issue. They are in a nice dark titanium. Having lived with the sons for a bit, I can understand how the large ones Mr Fremer has can be perfectly acceptable in a small space. My dealer said they were available and I should try them. He knew I’d buy them because I was completely blown away by the Sasha DAW (as many people are) and those were demonstrated with Trilogy 995R amplifiers in 40w Class A valve mode. He would not have recommended them if he did not think they would work well with Devialet.

I could hook the Wilsons to a valve amplifier using Devialet in pre-amp mode, but the idea of all those boxes fills me with dread. The only exception MIGHT be a pair of Tim de Pavaricini designed Quad II Forty.

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No, ‘tame’ cormorants are used in the Far East. They put a tie round its neck so that it cannot swallow any but the smallest fish. This thread diversion about dynamiting fish takes me back to the early 50’s, when my father would describe his fishing with the army in Burma. They threw a block of TNT or guncotton into a pool, retired to a safe distance, and then came back and netted the fish. For a 4 year-old this was thrilling stuff.

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130

I disagree with that statement, I have listened to it and sounds really good.

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Ah I just saw it in a tv show or a film, can’t remember which, concept obviously stuck with me though :slight_smile:

I tangled with a guard goose once, it was fearsome (the owner saved me). This was when I lived in the Fens though, they were an interesting bunch!
I can imagine a cormorant (trained or otherwise) is a fearsome ally.

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I like the dynamite idea - I can picture all the fish flapping on the riverbank just waiting to be picked up. Some might be worse for wear.

I saw the cormorant business at a place called Inuyama. It has a famous castle built during the Japanese civil wars, one of several strategically located in central Honshu. The one I thought most impressive was Matsumoto, which is the location of Seiji Ozawa’s Saito Kinen Orchestra Summer Festival for the last 30 years. It must be wonderful. Unfortunately it’s on the other side of the world.

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i wouldn’t like the food, i’ll stick to youtube videos of far away places :slight_smile:

edit - always had a hankering to see and hear and record a full Gamalan Orchestra, but again, i wouldn’t like the food, so i will buy the CD of someone else doing it!

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I had the Linn DS with the original Chakra power supply and it was not that good. It was upgraded and apparently is now much better.

I got bored of people slagging off Class D or Class D Hybrid amplifiers about 5 years ago. Like people telling me it’s cr@p is going to make me change it for some monstrosity with valves, cables and a big electricity bill. If I had a large dedicated music room and lots of cash I might have Trilogy 995R hybrid valve amplifiers, which I think sound wonderful. People make choices and can afford more or less, there’s no right or wrong. It’s just not worth engaging.

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135

They have McDonalds in Japan but no fish and chips, because they don’t like cooking fish and can’t grow potatoes. So there’s not much point in going. You can’t get there anyway.

Personally I think music from south East Asia is an acquired taste - acquired mostly by people from South East Asia. The only instrument I like is the Geomungo, the rest is just pots and pans.

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My only geomngo album I think:

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I bought this same generator about a year and a half ago locally, from a fellow who never used it–I got it new in box at a steep discount, as he realized he needed a bigger unit for the cabin he wanted to power up north. The slightly larger EU3000is model is made more for residential use and is quieter, but is also a large jump up in cost. For the rare times I’ll use it, the EG2800i is plenty good enough.

Inverters are the way to go. With HVAC, refrigerators and other appliances using some form of electronics to control them, and having a lot of electronics to charge, the “dirty” power from generators aren’t a safe way to run them. We were in the area affected by the big multi-state blackout of 2003, and I was running an older generator. I was afraid to run anything but incandescent lights and fans on it. No worries about that now, and I can also keep my network running (modem, router, switches, wireless AP).

That also makes me circle back to Fremer’s power saga. I know the switching unit is probably causing the issues in his system, but I’m hoping that the Generac he purchased was an inverter and not just a generator. More for the safety of his household appliances and especially his audio system.

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138

Come on, @Dirk and @stevensegal.

Let’s stick together here, Bonnie Prince Charlie times are history and you two have more in common than you think, the way I read your posts.

I quite like Pitlochry, it made a huge impression on me as one of the first foreign holidays I can remember as a 11 year old boy. We stayed at a really nice Bed & Breakfast when I was a kid. The sons of the house (Graham and Hamish) took us to the annual festival and as I was a Boy Scout at that time immediately had a lot of friends there. They had a Labrador and we went for walks along the river with him. A beautiful place and very friendly people.

I like such places, where you can get acquainted with local people and culture. Was the first time we were also served haggis, interesting experience. The Pony Trail at Blair Atholl and stories about Killiecrankie were no less impressive. Beautiful nature up there.

Went through Pitlochry again in 1986 and decades later in 2007, the dam and lake in town indeed was still beautiful and the Edradour whisky distillery close by is a most interesting place, even if you don’t like whiskey, the place is amazingly authentic, the method of brewing and distilling too.

I like any kind of audio equipment, but for me the switch mode power supplied NAD C658 streamer/phono/pre amplifiers is a much better deal than the Stellar Gain Cell DAC that after just 1.5 years had such high voltage on its left channel output terminal that it nearly destroyed my active speakers and ears. Than for repair, and no music at all, great deal for EUR 1800. I did not want to spend a fortune on shipping costs or run the risk that it is not properly repaired and do it all over outside warranty, so I my dealer recommended the NAD C658 to me. We got a demo an liked how it sounded and the BluOS system so much that we also bought the M33 of which we also got a demo for the living room.

I came to this, for us ideal conclusion, based on the nice communication I had with @Dirk and @stevensegal.

If this COVID-19 situation is over we should go for a tea with fish, haggis, fresh water (for Dirk) and Tennents Lager and a Edradour whisky for Steven and me in or close to Pitlochry. That would be something. And then share listening experiences we have through all the systems we owned.

Anybody else interested should come along, John (@joma0711), how about it?

When doing that, who cares about linear or switch mode power supplies, dams or regenerators, our systems play music and life is good.

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The show that is put up in Japan with the music makes it an experience of a definitive positive kind. I was fortunate enough to witness such event in the very beautiful Yokohama district.

Here in the restaureerde historic ship yard docks of Yokohama.

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I love Scotland, went as a student, went on my first holiday with my wife, went for my holiday last summer and going his summer.
They introduced whisky to Japan, tea to Ceylon and football to Brazil.
Linn, who pioneered and turned me on to streaming, are in Glasgow.
My business partner is from Glasgow.
It is stunningly beautiful.
It’s just that Pitlochry is not my highlight.

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