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Thread: Justin & Jerry's Hifi Blog

  1. #1
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    Default Justin & Jerry's Hifi Blog

    Audio Physic II - bought a couple of weeks back.



    Run from my Leak Stereo 20 or Esoteric AZ-1 I had one hell of a job getting the sound to gel. Waltzing speakers around the room like crazy - nope nothing seemed to work. they sounded OK, but I could hear a lot more potential there that just wasn't being realised. Seemed like the APs were in for a very short stay at Casa Jerry.

    Then due to a combination of curious and sad circumstances, a couple of days ago I found myself with a new pre/power amp combo ....





    Yup, from the Glory Days of Musical Fidelity ... an MVX.2 pre and an A370 power amp.

    Woo-Hoo !! - now we're cookin' with charcoal. Despite all protestations to the contrary, what the APs were really crying out for was 235 Watts / 50 amps of solid state class-A beefsteak up the jacksie! Word on the streets is that the Virgos are best with valves ... well, they do sound mighty fine, but you really gotta hear them with a muscle amp!

    The APs are def here for the long haul (well, long haul by my standards! ) - perhaps I can see some larger APs making their way Jerry-wards in the New Year. Mighty fine speakers when fed the right juice.

    Last edited by jandl100; 19-10-2008 at 08:18.
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  2. #2
    Join Date: Feb 2008

    Location: http://www.homehifi.co.uk

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    Have you still got neighbours with perfect hearing heh Jerry?

  3. #3
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    Pardon? What was that you said?
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  4. #4
    Join Date: Feb 2008

    Location: Edinburgh

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    Hi J,

    Those are some nice pieces of equipment there, I have had some enjoyable moments with those speakers, I found them to do a magic disappearing act, but as you seem to have found out, with a bit of work with placement.

    I take it you have them tried very wide apart, far out into the room and very toed in? I found that the recommended Audio Physic placement did indeed seem to work quite well. Your placement looks a little closer to the walls than recommended. Have you got them on the long or short wall?

    As for your new amps, well all I can say is congratulations, if I had the spare money I myself would have loved them, they seem very well looked after. I have a bit of a soft spot for that Musical Fidelity combo with the Kef R107, I felt it had one of those synergy's that made the value of American high end questionable and had you ask what the fuss was with Naim and Linn.

    Funny enough it was the above combo which had me gagging to get hold of the Sony combo Marco had, which back in the early 90's was my dream set up to aim for (along with Audioquest cables LOL). Funny how things go, the guy with the Sony ended up with an expensive repair bill so had to hold on to the Sony, and I got the hump after waiting so long and spent the money on a Titanium MTB and gave up on audio for a few years.

  5. #5
    Join Date: Jan 2008

    Location: Wrexham, North Wales, UK

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    Funny enough it was the above combo which had me gagging to get hold of the Sony combo Marco had...
    Hi Steve, which combo was that - are you referring to my CDP and DAC (which I'm still using)? I've never used anything else from Sony, hi-fi-wise.

    Marco.
    Main System

    Turntable: Heavily-modified Technics SL-1210MK5G [Mike New bearing/ETP platter/Paul Hynes SR7 PSU & reg mods]. Funk Firm APM Achromat/Nagaoka GL-601 Crystal Record Weight/Isonoe feet & boots/Ortofon RS-212D/Denon DL-103GL in Denon PCL-300 headshell with Funk Firm Houdini/Kondo SL-115 pure-silver cartridge leads.

    Paul Hynes MC head amp/SR5 PSU. Also modded Lentek head amp/Denon AU-310 SUT.

    Other Cartridges: Nippon Columbia (NOS 1987) Denon DL-103. USA-made Shure SC35C with NOS stylus. Goldring G820 with NOS stylus. Shure M55E with NOS stylus.

    CD Player: Audiocom-modified Sony X-777ES/DAS-R1 DAC.

    Tape Deck: Tandberg TCD 310, fully restored and recalibrated as new, by RDE, plus upgraded with heads from the TCD-420a. Also with matching TM4 Norway microphones.

    Preamps: Heavily-modified Croft Charisma-X. LDR Stereo Coffee. Power Amps: Tube Distinctions Copper Amp fitted with Tungsol KT-150s. Quad 306.

    Cables & Sundries: Mark Grant HDX1 interconnects and digital coaxial cable, plus Mark Grant 6mm UP-LCOFC Van Damme speaker cable. MCRU 'Ultimate' mains leads. Lehmann clone headphone amp with vintage Koss PRO-4AAA headphones.

    Tube Distinctions digital noise filter. VPI HW16.5 record cleaning machine.

    Speakers: Tannoy 15MGs in Lockwood cabinets with modified crossovers. 1967 Celestion Ditton 15.


    Protect your HUMAN RIGHTS and REFUSE ANY *MANDATORY* VACCINE FOR COVID-19!

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  6. #6
    Join Date: Feb 2008

    Location: Edinburgh

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    Hi Marco,

    I thought you had the original Sony CDP-R1/DAS-R1 combination before changing the transport?

    Anyway the original Sony CDP/DAS-R1 combo is what I meant, back in the early-ish 90's I was offered first dibs on this pairing for £1800 or so, as the owner was upgrading. This upgrade was either awaiting arrival from the states or I believe was a new product, I am unsure but it was a long wait, which ended when his Krell amplifier blew.

  7. #7
    Join Date: Jan 2008

    Location: Wrexham, North Wales, UK

    Posts: 110,012
    I'm AudioAl'sArbiterForPISHANTO.

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    Yep, Steve, you're right. I thought we were talking about amplifiers, though.

    I did have the CDP-R1 transport before replacing it with the X-777ES due to a diode failing in the drawer mechanism of the R1 which couldn't be replaced. I have my eye on another R1 but, TBH, the X-777ES is every bit as good although it doesn't match as well visually with the DAS-R1 DAC.

    You missed out big time on that one, mate! You just don't get CDPs of that quality made anymore.

    Marco.
    Main System

    Turntable: Heavily-modified Technics SL-1210MK5G [Mike New bearing/ETP platter/Paul Hynes SR7 PSU & reg mods]. Funk Firm APM Achromat/Nagaoka GL-601 Crystal Record Weight/Isonoe feet & boots/Ortofon RS-212D/Denon DL-103GL in Denon PCL-300 headshell with Funk Firm Houdini/Kondo SL-115 pure-silver cartridge leads.

    Paul Hynes MC head amp/SR5 PSU. Also modded Lentek head amp/Denon AU-310 SUT.

    Other Cartridges: Nippon Columbia (NOS 1987) Denon DL-103. USA-made Shure SC35C with NOS stylus. Goldring G820 with NOS stylus. Shure M55E with NOS stylus.

    CD Player: Audiocom-modified Sony X-777ES/DAS-R1 DAC.

    Tape Deck: Tandberg TCD 310, fully restored and recalibrated as new, by RDE, plus upgraded with heads from the TCD-420a. Also with matching TM4 Norway microphones.

    Preamps: Heavily-modified Croft Charisma-X. LDR Stereo Coffee. Power Amps: Tube Distinctions Copper Amp fitted with Tungsol KT-150s. Quad 306.

    Cables & Sundries: Mark Grant HDX1 interconnects and digital coaxial cable, plus Mark Grant 6mm UP-LCOFC Van Damme speaker cable. MCRU 'Ultimate' mains leads. Lehmann clone headphone amp with vintage Koss PRO-4AAA headphones.

    Tube Distinctions digital noise filter. VPI HW16.5 record cleaning machine.

    Speakers: Tannoy 15MGs in Lockwood cabinets with modified crossovers. 1967 Celestion Ditton 15.


    Protect your HUMAN RIGHTS and REFUSE ANY *MANDATORY* VACCINE FOR COVID-19!

    Also **SAY NO** to unjust 'vaccine passports' or certificates, which are totally incompatible with a FREE society!!!


  8. #8
    Join Date: Feb 2008

    Location: Edinburgh

    Posts: 311

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    Hi Marco,

    Yes I sort of did miss out hence my disappointment back then, I also rate the similar two box champagne Technics competing model also from that era.

    Still I also rate a lot of TEAC and Theta's kit, and feel that Theta was one of those companies that kept it going right up to the days of up-sampling and oversampling. My Theta Data III and my DAC were well regarded in their day, back when Stereophile A ratings were a little more reliable I feel.

    Sadly in this day and age if it's not got new technology, then it's obviously not good enough for most, for me 16 bit is 16 bit and when done well it sounds superb in a cohesive manner across the audio band with a wide variety of source material. This is something I feel has all but disappeared from today's digital replay, and I cannot help but feel that all the processing and off the shelf components are to blame, to my ears many of today's players lack body, depth, bass weight and substance.

    I never bought the oversampling and up-sampling genre when it came out, I felt it offered nothing more than a slightly watered down facsimile of what the then current best of 16 bit replay had to offer, and most of this "higher resolution" was nothing more than processing and a more forward presentation, nothing to do with resolution. Things have got better but I feel it was a sideways step to make more money out of digital with a "new" method of extracting "different" performance with less engineering and better profit.

    Nowadays people sing about the DAC being the be all and end all, and if there is any noticeable difference between transports and digital cables your DAC is rubbish! A number of years ago such DAC's were praised for their resolution, but things take various directions, instead of chasing absolutes we have processing which will take any old signal and process it well enough to sound the same as any other signal.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by sastusbulbas View Post

    I take it you have them tried very wide apart, far out into the room and very toed in?
    Yup. Disappearing act, for sure, when very wide apart but I found the stereo spread was just too wide - most of my listening is classical, and a 30 foot wide piano (as one example) just doesn't cut it! So I have them closer and toed in so they cross a foot or two in front of the listening chair.

    I've yet to do much re-positioning since I got the MF pair, they just invite you to sit down and listen, not fart about! But, yes, I shall re-try the speaker positioning tango and see where they sound best now.


    Quote Originally Posted by sastusbulbas View Post
    I found that the recommended Audio Physic placement did indeed seem to work quite well. Your placement looks a little closer to the walls than recommended. Have you got them on the long or short wall?
    I'll admit to preferring the extra bass weight and gravitas from a near(er) wall position and am happy to sacrifice a little in the way of sonic holography in order to achieve this.

    They are along the long wall. I prefer that with most speakers anyway, so no problem there.

    With their soundstage "trick" it's easy to overlook their resolution, which is imo superb. The Audio Physic by-line is 'No loss of fine detail' so they clearly place most emphasis there themselves.
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  10. #10
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    Following my unsuccessful venture into the world of Horning speakers, a swap deal has resulted in the acquisition of some ProAc Studio 140 speakers and a Pro-Ject Tube Box phono stage.

    The ProAcs are quite pretty aren't they?



    I first wired the ProAcs up to my MF A370 solid state amp. Yuk - big mistake. What have I done? The sound was bloated, bland and lo-rez. Hmmm ... these are for the Classifieds, pronto!

    ProAcs are often an easy amp load, though, so I thought I'd hook up my Chinese OTL valve monoblocks. I hadn't used them in ages - they are no use at all with my 4 Ohm average Audio Physic Virgos.
    Wow - zounds & bejeebers! Music - room filling, hi-rez, spacious and wonderful, and full of vitality and pizzazz!



    And those OTL amps look so purdy glowing away (and usefully heating the room!).

    The ProAcs are pointing pretty much straight ahead, with their griilles on - the treble gets a little enthusiastic otherwise.

    And that Pro-Ject Tube Box phono stage is a little honey, too - it's sitting on the floor between the amps and the speaker - it replaced (and thoroughly stomped on) an MF X-LPSv3 / X-PSUv3 combo.
    Last edited by jandl100; 14-12-2008 at 10:42.
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