Which do you prefer?
The one I happen to be listening to at a given time. I think one blows the other away and then I switch and find neither is blown. Hence the misery. Neither will leave my setup unless an MBL 1621A enters the room.
Love the colours! Clean setup. Wires are part of the deal, so they don’t bother me.
Jack
It’s great to hear you are enjoying the new Jay’s Transport! Thanks for all the information. Much appreciated. Yes, I had had noticed the latest DAC was of a different topology to their previous DAC!
After due consideration I will hang fire until the new DS-MK2 is released and / or TSS: Yes - I could buy the transport just now but I haven’t a DAC to connect it to since I sold both of my DS DACs at the start of this year. With the route I decide to go established re: DACS – Then I will buy Jay’s Transport at that point in time. Anyway, thanks again.
I forgot to mention I also installed a pair of really fine tubes in my BHK preamp. These are NOS Telefunken 12AU7 smooth plates, medical/instrument grade from Brent Jessee. Just the balanced sound I was looking for. Not too euphonic not too edgy and very low noise. Really like these best so far and they are supposed to be long lived which is good @$400/pair.
Very cool Ambrosia/Ampzilla combo. Quirky aesthetics included. It wouldn’t be Jim Bongiorno inspired otherwise.
Good to see the Ampzilla line continue, especially the Son. The original Son was my first separate power amp, though I could only afford to pair it with the Thalia preamp, which was designed for the Grandson. Still, it was great fun, and a terrific way to enter the high end from mass market component stereo.
The GAS Son was my first “real” solid state amp. Preamp was an AGI 511a. A nice solid pairing. I shied away from the GAS preamps, as they were known to have reliability issues. I was somewhat curious as to the more recent Ampzilla offerings regarding their sound, never heard one.
I never had an operational or durability problem with my Thalia, but a couple of years after buying it I took home an Apt Holman from another dealer to audition for a weekend and never took it back. I remember thinking as I compared them that I suddenly understood how sound could be described as “thick.” At least that’s the word that occurred to my very early audiophile mind. Not sure I’d use the same term these days, but however you describe it, the Apt was a big improvement. I traded the Thalia back to my original dealer for a beautiful Denon FM tuner that I still have.
Yes, thick would describe it. What I recall was mention of noisy switches and pots on the GAS preamps. The AGI 511a was quiet and fairly neutral sounding. A minimalist preamp to be sure.
Aren’t headphones glorious at times?! Enjoy.
Working on room acoustics a bit to squeeze the most out of the latest version. Juke glass removed, gik stuff moved a bit, broke down two tube traps that are usually stacked in the invisible (to pictures) corner, and put them on the outside of the speakers and certainly somewhat in-front of the subs. This set-up still considers first reflections, but less intensely. Open to feedback if something looks stupidly wrong.
Bro you have a Wolf in your listening room !!
Make sure the Dog is center right to balance the room better.
Sit, girl! Stay.
I really like the visual symmetry there. You have obviously made an effort in that arena and it shows. It also looks like a difficult space to tame in a symmetrical way because the left side is so open compared to the right. The wide angle shots throw off the true perspectives of the room so any suggestions are with that limitation, but once you’ve got a good familiarity with the current setup, if you are going to tweak any more… it looks like maybe you can close in more toward the speakers, moving the speakers closer to the couch, the alternative or both. That might help with the sound-stage width and depth.
Also, the low flat surface on the right under the draped window… might benefit from some diffusion. I doubt absorption there will be as productive since the space is pretty open.
Love the couch, is that wide enough for three people? Where is it from?
My .02
Cheers,
Nice pic.