It is all about the synergy, I think

[selfaddict]

I finally made my mind and sent my Art Audio Diavolo for a service to Tom. I managed two days without listening my kit but then I HAD TO dig my 'skip bargain find' Marantz PM-40SE from the attic.

I was not expecting too much from it. And as I was expecting, it sounded just horrible with just amplifying the signal from the TT/phono stage. Surprisingly he soundstage was still relatively deep and wide, bass was actually very good and strong, but the sound was generally very bright and I got exhausted very quickly and had to stop listening :(.

But because my skip found had an on-board phono stage, I thought what the heck, lets give it a try and I plugged Garrard in. I was really surprised what I heard from the speakers. The harshness was gone but unfortunately so was the soundstage, bass, treble etc. But the music had became much more pleasant to listen and I have been listening vinyl all evening :). The music is coming from narrow space in the center of the speakers, there is feel like someone had put planked over the speakers, but I still enjoy it. Could I live with it, NO, but at least it is listen able now.

[John]

Those drivers you have are very reavling and will show any short comings in other parts of the systems
The nighthawk phono would be a really great phono to get for the Garrard its amazing value and so far I not heard anything better, different yes but better no.
What are you doing for bass if you using the Bastanis bass drivers then think you can get a big improvement by using bass drivers that allow you to go fully dipole

[selfaddict]

Hi John.

I am truly sorted with my phono stage. I am using Nick's designed two box phono stage, which is the best I have ever used/heard. It has just perfect synergy with the Diavolo, so no need to change anything on that area. I just wanted to share my experience what comes to importance of using good amplifiers. Input sensitivity on the Diavolo is very low and for my understanding the input sensitivity on the SS amplifiers is general is much higher.


It was not a fair comparison, but I was just truly amazed what kind of changes I was hearing when swapping things around. As you said my speakers are very revealing and this is a real blessing to me because I can hear all the changes as I do them.

Changing Bastanis 15" sealed woofers to 18" dipole will happen in the future, but before that I need to restore my house in to its former glory after decades of neglet by the previous owner. I want to built the baffles to my liking, as you have done with yours.


Those drivers you have are very reavling and will show any short comings in other parts of the systems
The nighthawk phono would be a really great phono to get for the Garrard its amazing value and so far I not heard anything better, different yes but better no.
What are you doing for bass if you using the Bastanis bass drivers then think you can get a big improvement by using bass drivers that allow you to go fully dipole

[John]

Even if you go down the 18" woofers you will need something like a Behringer to control the issues of the semi box, I would consider other drivers myself something like these would be ideal
http://www.aespeakers.com/drivers.php?driver_id=32
The 18" would really be the ideal choice but think he only made a limited number they are the best bass drivers I have ever heard

[selfaddict]

Hi.

What is the purpose of Behringer? Does it adjust the frequency what is feed to the woofers? I am currently using a pair of XTZ Sub Amp 1's to drive the 15" sealed Bastanis woofers. These amps are adjustable with volume, phase and frequency. These amps can be used with the Bastanis 18" dipole design as well.



Even if you go down the 18" woofers you will need something like a Behringer to control the issues of the semi box, I would consider other drivers myself something like these would be ideal
http://www.aespeakers.com/drivers.php?driver_id=32
The 18" would really be the ideal choice but think he only made a limited number they are the best bass drivers I have ever heard

[John]

It allows you to overcome the anomallys of the bass modes in a room both Vic and Clive use this approach
Basically even with the Bastanis 18" bass drivers because of the type of dipole design (i like to think of it as semi dipole) it adds coloration, using the ultracurve allows you to overcome this issues and because you limiting this to just the bass freqencies you not adding colouration into the more critical mid and treble region
The other approach is to find drivers that you can just have a true dipole like the system I use it ust depends what system you want to go down I just feel if you going down this route its really important to get the bass right

[selfaddict]

True dipole bass system seems very interesting, I need to look into this further. I assume with this you then loose some of the bass punch but will gain more on the texture side.

[John]

Nope I have no issues with bass punch and trust me with my music taste this is really important
The AE 18" dipole are the best I heard the bass is simply stunning I imagine the 15" would be pretty good