This is serious stuff! TechDAS Air Force Zero sells for $450k!!! The so-called affordable TechDAS V sells for $19k.
Having taken a year to convince myself to try a fuse upgrade (SR Orange, the jury is still out), I encountered this while slumming on an audiocircle thread:
lieder int co | lieder int co (quantum-science-audio.com)
The Black-Red fuse got a Stereo Times 2020 Most Wanted Component nod.
Most Wanted 2020 page 5 (stereotimes.com)
$2844 USD suggested retail. Guess I need to start saving … now. :o)
Their Most Wanted list is great; it makes anything I choose to buy, audio or not, appear more than rational.
LOL. I suppose it’s more Quantum than SR’s Quantum fuses.
This is indeed a typical character of the big Class A Gryphon amps (used one myself for years). They have such a deep bass volume authority and balanced (at best) harmonics there, that you don’t need a sub with most speakers. The thing to look at when searching weaknesses is pace, speed and liveliness But they have a lot to offer which you rarely find elsewhere (great harmonics, resolution, extensive tonal colors, pleasant tonality)
Well, there goes that notion power cords all sound the same and do not matter. If your jaws is stuck on the floor right now, where will they be when you get your preamp and turntable.
Congratulations on your new equipments. The Antileon looks awesome and I bet it even sounds better than it looks!!
I have listened to an all MBL setup at the shows and were never that impressed, but the Wilson, they were incredible, the Sophia’s, the Sasha’s, and especially the Alexia’s!! Probably my next speakers. I would stick with the Wilsons brand if you are to upgrade, and since you like them so much.
I hope you get the rest of your equipment soon. It’s always very interesting and a pleasure hearing what you have to say about them.
Where has your amplifier journey taken you? I am interested in what the steps were before and after the Gryphon.
It’s fun to remember the history since the age of 14
Marantz PM-250 integrated Class AB
Revox B750 MkII integrated Class AB
Linx Quasar integrated Class AB
Gryphon Tabu Century integrated Class AB
Gryphon S100 stereo power amp Class AB
Gryphon Antileon enlarged/improved prototype stereo power amp Class A
Vitus prototype stereo power amp Class A
Pass Aleph 0 mono power amps Class A
Lamm M1.1 mono power amps Class A hybrid tube
Active speakers, no separate power amp anymore
The time range I used those individual amps was quite different. I used the Antileon quite long, together with a Gryphon Electra/Orestes and later a Hovland HP100 MC.
This just arrived. VTA adjuster for Jelco arms. Very nicely made and no more messing around with grub screws on the Rega amount. It has a double lock mechanism, the thing sticking out on the base mount is a locking screw and at the top the Allen key is in another grub screw.The upper one locks the arm when fitted and the lower one locks when VTA is set, otherwise it is likely to slide down slowly under its own weight.
VTA can be adjusted on the fly, which is the best and easiest way.
Seemingly unbelievably I’m satisfied with my current setup. I may actually shed a few bits that I am no longer using. This has been a fun journey with a lot of help from the crew here.
I’ve been doing exactly that…removing items I ‘told’ myself made a difference when in reality I’ve found some other way more significant differences in other areas.
Speaker crossover components and the upgrade of the decade, the XS 4400 taking the DS to SE status.
A power plant or Niagara 5000 are definitely on my radar tho just a blur. I visited F1 Audio and heard the Innuos Mini and the Zen Mk 3 now I’m thinking my streaming/Roon core/server needs a significant upgrade! This disease keeps spreading! Is there a vaccine for Audiophile addicts? Help me.
Once I got the PinkFaun connected to my system I was able to systematically remove the add ons that seemed to be required without the PF.
I’ve been cycling through my old cables and re-listening to everything.
My latest discussion w/a friend suggested I should also revisit RCA cables. Although XLR claims great common mode noise rejection, I’ve also noticed that certain cables also attenuate the signal – partly from the cable construction, but, I suspect, also from the balanced mode rejecting more than it should due to subtle differences along the cable attenuating one side of the balanced pair more than the other.
While I’ve landed back onto Iconoclast OFE XLR as the main ICs, I’m going to test various premium RCA cables I have lying around to see if there are audible fringe differences – as these differences are most noticeable with those tiny background sounds.
I also understand I may be introducing more noise back into the system, but as with all things – it’s a balance. If I hear more detail, is it worth accepting more noise? Can I avoid that noise by different cable routing? etc. etc.
For the not so faint of digital signal routing heart - one of my recent and more significant upgrades has been the addition of Home Audio Fidelity Room Shaper VST plugin to the signal path.
To my knowledge, nothing does what this little inexpensive gem does short of adding an unlivable amount of bass absorption or moving to a much larger space to reduce room resonance in the <600Hz region.
It’s fantastically adjustable and effective with no ill auditory effects. Of course there are a couple of caveats, aren’t there always?
It operates in the time domain so expect ~5-15 seconds of latency. It’s a VST so has to be hosted by something that supports VST like Foobar. The plumbing used to connect it all up can’t auto change sample rates. The vast majority of my content is 44.1kHz so fine for me.
I use it with Roon running on a Windows 10 machine, with a little software bit called Virtual Cable that allows the connection of audio inputs and outputs on the same machine together passing through Foobar/Room Shaper then on to HQPe for a little noise shaping before heading to my Pink Faun NAA endpoint connected via IS2 to the DS.
If you made it this far and are still interested, read about it on Thierry’s site. I’m happy to help anyone get it running or help with understanding the flow. The way I set it up isn’t the only way, in fact there are much simpler ways if not using Roon.
I have no connection with HAF other than being a very happy convolution customer of his for years and now Room Shaper.
And a detailed review done by someone on AudiophileStyle: Home Audio Fidelity - Room Shaper Review - Reviews - Audiophile Style
My system flow:
Something about that photo makes the amp look like an alien robot on wheels that has reached into your equipment with tentacles (the wires) to take over the world. LOL
Best of luck!
Congratulations on the Danish thermal power plant
more love Michael/Denmark
I had been thinking about upgrading my speakers for the last year or so. I recently acquired a pair of Focal Aria 906 bookshelf speakers and have been auditioning them for about 10 days. I still have 50 days to decide, but so far I am very pleased with their clarity and transparency so I believe I am likely to keep them.
These speakers are an amazing buy; excellent sound and pretty.