I wrote about this in the BACCH thread, but this thread is probably more correct. BACCH is about to announce its “Martina” speakers. I received a pair earlier this week. Martinas are basically the top of the line JansZen speakers, minus the DACs and DSPs and Crossovers. They use the fairly extreme quality crossover function of the BACCH-SP adio. The have Class D amplifiers inside. Two eight inch woofers, top and bottom, with a large Electrostat array in the center. You tilt them back and toe them in so they point straight at your ears. Two different cables from each to the adio. It acts as the preamp and sends Its signals out to the speakers. A balanced cable to the Electrostats, and a TRS to balanced input for the bass. The adio controls volume.
My Gryphon Apex is shutdown and has no cables attached to it. My Commander preamp is still hot as it powers my Legato phonostage. Vivid Spirits are in the furnace room.
The Soundstage with the new speakers is the best I have heard in my room. It should be with the speakers pointed straight at me. Everything sounds good so far. I am missing some top end I am used to. Edgar says he can tweak that. I am currently using the power cables that came with the speakers. A $45 pair of balanced cables from Amazon for the high end, and two cables I paid $10 total for on the bass end. Cables Edgar designed and built arrive Tuesday. When they arrive I will have basically the same system Edgar uses. He does not think better exists.
My friend Sean got his Kii 3BXT speakers and Kii Seven speakers two days ago. He is agog. He cannot believe what he is hearing. Totally smitten with both pair. He is now an Authorized Kii dealer. I am ordering the Kii 3BXTs next week. I believe Kii speakers don’t need or benefit much from BACCH processing. So I am going to put both of them in the same room and let them fight it out. Winner takes AL.
The subs are disconnected from everything. The laptop in the center feeds Maestro to the adio via a Stealth USB cable. Maestro kicks ass!
*The penis envy sized amplifer sits uselessly in front.
Long live Gryphon. Lol
At least at my place Gryphon is still the king! That’s a tough room you have and I’m happy you found audio bliss with more happiness to come at a fraction of the original system cost! That is not an easy feat to pull off.
I still have all the gear. Nothing is for sale yet. This is all just an adventure for me. Thankfully at prices below what a fine set of speaker cables costs. That amuses me as both pairs of new speakers don’t require conventional speaker cables. Or amps. Fun.
Like you, when I switched to active speakers (a different brand than you), I also aimed the speakers at my ears. The imaging is much better than when I had my other speakers pointing straight ahead. I think that normally positioning the speakers is a balance between imaging (getting the best sound) and soundstage (toeing out to minimize crosstalk). With BACCH, the soundstage is maximized by crosstalk cancellation filters, not by pointing the speakers straight ahead. Therefore with BACCH, you can get the best imaging (accurate sound) and the best soundstage (wider and more natural) at the same time. There is no compromise between the two.
I read all your posts about the BACCH system and hurt inside by knowing I cant afford any of it at this time in my retired life. If I was still working I would have bought it when it first came out…
One of my impactful upgrades has been the release of Qobuz connect. Made an obvious difference in sound quality for my streaming. I’ve been following the development of Pauls Maestro app here on the forum and the consensus is that it offers a similar increase in quality. I just might take the plunge once it looks like most of the bugs have been fixed. Kind of looking forward to it!
You certainly are having fun! Your journey has prompted a discussion with David Janszen regarding the Valentina and Martina speakers. More curiosity at this point. Some day I’ll need to upgrade my DAC(s), and the Bacch-SP adio or Playback Designs MPD-8 are contenders. Both entirely different, in implementation and sound. I like the idea of paring down my system. Your journey shows the approach has merit.
Asking Edgar about the Kii speakers was the key. He had them, then told me about the upcoming release if the Martinas. I felt I owed him a shot so I ordered them. But I need to compare them to the Kiis without Bacch. I have a feeling the Kiis will win.
I absolutely also look out eagerly for more updates on your journey, Al. Because - as indicated before - it, at least conceptually, echo’s my own.
There’s a question (preceded by a leading statement) that I do not necessarily want a reply on right now - but it’s one I’d appreciate you pondering, and eventually responding to:
The leading statement: I find myself still reading forums such as these, and honestly enjoying others’ experiences, and the joy they derive from their equipment. It still resonates with me.
The question: Are you not (yet) also struck by how irrelevant many of these discussions have become to yourself - besides of course the enjoyment of participation and resonating with others’ journeys?
@Job_Jalink Ha! And yes, though I haven’t actually done it yet.
If you’re familiar with the film The World’s Fastest Indian, there’s a way Anthony Hopkins as Bert Munro “waters” the lemon tree in his yard that comes to mind, but my electrical service is located at the front of my house, so I don’t think I can get away with it…
For evidence on relevance I will point to a growing number of old timers who are no longer a part of our daily conversations. People who wrote daily about so many things, no longer even here. I am sad but I understand.
For the last three or four years I have focused on very high cost very high performance gear. With such gear special feet, fuses, room treatments, etc., don’t have any relevance at all. Add grounding equipment to this list. For me it’s all a puppy chasing its tail. Irrelevant, but for many a part if the fun of this hobby. None of these discussions interest me in the least.
So now my focus is on how great of a system one can make with as little gear as possible. My friend Sean now has Kii 3 and Kii Sevens in his listening room. He has top of the line power cables and interconnects. Today he took his best power cables off both sets of speakers and put the stock cables back in play. He has found the stock cables sound better.
And with the Sevens, they have a power cable to each and he uses a Kii app on his phone to send music to the speakers via the Qobuz app. He and I both believe this setup would sound quite a bit better than 85% of the systems out there.
Relevance is the key word.
I would love to hear a PS Audio PMG system with FR20 or FR30 speakers. Their current gear seems to be a giant leap over the previous gear. When they do release their under development Active speakers their world will change. Active speakers are the future. Crossovers are the biggest problem for passive speakers to solve. DSP Crossovers can and do solve this. What they do better is limit the damage to the timing and phase information that clouds realism.
I learned much of this late in my game. My visit to Axpona this year was quite illuminating. To say the least.
Is there an audiophile term for finding yourself immersed in a stable, persistent 3D soundscape where every instrument occupies its own space, and with such clarity and silent background that audience conversation or onstage utterances are as obvious as the piano pedals or cavities of wood?
Transparience? Crossing the Unicorn?
I am on the other side of a flurry of upgrades since late May that make every listening session a ride on the Enterprise transporter or, more comparable, a Holodeck visit: Roon server was overhauled, Diretta took a leap into DDS, I have new room correction and crosstalk cancellation filters from homeaudiofidelity.com and my Meridian DSP9 active speakers got their first firmware upgrade. On the hardware side, I replaced spikes with Stack Audio’s AUVA100 feet, implemented the TP-Link “air gap” as described on the What’s Best forum and found a superior Belden cable for AES/EBU.
There are live musicians appearing in my living room anytime I want now, and I’m looking for a word to describe the transition my system has made. I’ve finally arrived in a sonic space where I’m swimming in excellence -and can still tweak this or that to make improvements, so I’m not done yet- but have crossed over into an amazing new realm. What to call this level of performance?
Happy to see Al is back into this hobby with strong passion again, and without even spending much money. Looking forward to seeing his next adventure in another pair of active speakers.
I like the idea of downsizing too. My Gryphon D333 (replaced three boxes) has finally ended my pursue of future upgrade, even though I still need a pair of speaker cables.
Between Maestro and the MU2 firmware update, my system has reached another level. I’m enjoying it so much I’m thinking I might be growing use to the sound so I decided to get some headphones to help validate and/or isolate deficiencies. I just ordered:
Audeze MM-520 (just released, replacing the MM-500) Professional Headphones.
I often think of getting back to headphone listening in a serious way. So many obvious advantages. Kudos to you to committing to both camps. We all can serve more than one master.
You know that can be arranged . It’s great to see companies take an integrated approach and provide all the in-between from source to speaker. I’ve dabbled in active speakers for years, including Meridian, ATC, and PSI. Liked them all, but ended up with separate amps carrying the day.
There could be a new day dawning as you have described. Advances in amp, crossover, and DSP designs can be more easily put in one box. Interesting times ahead.
Looking forward to seeing his next adventure in another pair of active speakers.
. It’s great to see companies take an integrated approach and provide all the in-between from source to speaker. I’ve dabbled in active speakers for years, including Meridian, ATC, and PSI. Liked them all, but ended up with separate amps carrying the day.