View Full Version : Waiting for me in Kyoyo ....
montesquieu
29-11-2014, 08:45
We checked in last night on the latest bit of travels to a traditional Japanese guest house in the mountains north of Kyoto. Absolutely stunning scenery here as the colours turn, I've been to Vermont in the autumn before and this beats it for me. It's the mixture, it's as if every hill is a giant arrangement designed for maximum aesthetic impact. Dinner was out of this world as indeed was breakfast ( about 12 little dishes ...)
Anyway I digress. Waiting for me was a pair of Hashimoto HM-7 step up transformers, one of the best available off the shelf, I was well impressed by these when MartinT brought his Choir Audio round, even against my old Kondo S6. As was a 10m roll of Belden 9497, a tinned copper speaker cable famously used by Shindo-San in all demos. Looking forward to getting home for a play.
I'm just off for another hot spring bath (the water is amazing ...)
http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/x440/montesquieu61/Mobile%20Uploads/2014-11/D57A4C4D-9076-4459-A1E8-3A98E9948771_zps9dg7ctdo.jpg (http://s1181.photobucket.com/user/montesquieu61/media/Mobile%20Uploads/2014-11/D57A4C4D-9076-4459-A1E8-3A98E9948771_zps9dg7ctdo.jpg.html)
Hi Tom,
Awesome stuff, mate. You, my friend, know how to do things properly!! :respect:
Marco.
Very nice Tom. I bet the'll sound great. My Brother has been to Japan and he was well impressed by the scenery too.
Quality items!
I use Hashimotos now ... they saw off AN, Ortofon, and EAR trannies. The HM3 on 40x is a great match with SPUs.
Good luck with airport security :D
Top posting, fine travel and part sourcing all at once!
No pangs of jealousy as I watch the solitary russett leaves knocked down by rain, bobble, spin and snag their way into a diesel blackened spongy mat over the road gulley washed by a steady braid of oily liquor.
Add the yowl of an electric planer hurrying yet another lower ground flat conversion towards presentation on a property market freaked with apprehension and the character of my Sunday morning is complete.
Who would swap? Travel, it's overrated! :)
I have found some Belden 9497. Is it really that good?
It costs about €8/m and the vendor is selling it in 10m lengths. I only need 2m.
I have found some Belden 9497. Is it really that good?
It costs about €8/m and the vendor is selling it in 10m lengths. I only need 2m.
It's a bit of a cult in the Far East .... http://cheaptubeaudio.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=Belden+9497
Thanks for the link.
It's a 1.3mm2 cable. This concerns me...
Why would this better than something like the Talk 3?
Size isn't everything :eyebrows: You'll easily sell the rest I'd think.... might take a few metres myself
Oh, the vendor will sell me 2m. Postage is just €5 cheaper though (€10 instead of €15).
I just don't want to be stuck with 8m, so if there is enough interest to get rid of all of it I'll buy 10m, and I will happily ship it on at cost.
So it will cost me €9.50 per metre if I buy 10m. I'll need to add the P&P costs on to that.
Still interested?
id take 4 metres. that would give me 2 runs of 2m. worth a try.
Thanks for the link.
It's a 1.3mm2 cable. This concerns me...
Why would this better than something like the Talk 3?
Because Shindo San used it, of course!
Presumably, if he'd used oceanliner hawsers, they'd now be de-rigour :rolleyes:
Most Japanese enthusiasts are running this cable into high sensitivity, high impedance speakers, so not drawing much current. If you have low sensitivity, low impedance jobbies, driven by a Krell, then these may not be the cables for you.
Most Japanese enthusiasts are running this cable into high sensitivity, high impedance speakers, so not drawing much current. If you have low sensitivity, low impedance jobbies, driven by a Krell, then these may not be the cables for you.
At 87dB it may not me the best for me, but €19 isn't going to break the bank.
id take 4 metres. that would give me 2 runs of 2m. worth a try.
That would leave 4m. Anybody else want some?
youll shift it on the bay easy enough id think
Probably. But coming up to Christmas, I would rather keep the HiFi spend to a minimum.
montesquieu
06-12-2014, 21:25
I have 5m spare (stereo 2.5m pair) I bought 10m but only need 5m. I just terminated it, it sounds fine with 92db tannoys and 100w PP Valve amp. No critical listening tonight though as I'm only just back and zombified with jet lag. Off to bed now actually.
Grant,
This sounds ideal for you, meaning I just buy 2m, and don't have to worry about shifting the rest.
anubisgrau
09-12-2014, 01:06
Lovely stuff Tom. I'm looking forward to the next autumn in Kyoto too. My wife and me are not enough of it after two trips in 2013 and 2014.
Btw, pls clean your inbox re your earlier PM to me.
Cheers!
I have 5m spare (stereo 2.5m pair) I bought 10m but only need 5m. I just terminated it, it sounds fine with 92db tannoys and 100w PP Valve amp. No critical listening tonight though as I'm only just back and zombified with jet lag. Off to bed now actually.
Any updates, Tom - how are things sounding? :)
Marco.
montesquieu
09-12-2014, 13:16
Been too jetlagged to do much listening, been in bed by 9pm last few nights and spaced out from mid afternoon. Getting too old and creaky for this travelling lark.
Getting too old and creaky for this travelling lark.
I think you are correct. Accepting that you are past it , is the first step to happiness.
In a noble gesture, my wife and I are prepared to go in your place next year.
brian2957
09-12-2014, 15:21
Yup , please put me on the list of reserves for that one :)
montesquieu
08-02-2015, 20:31
An update on this - just got the Hashimoto HM-7s back from Graeme 'Valvebloke', all cased up beautifully.
I asked him to make two inputs (for use with the two arms), a bypass option, a gain switch between the two secondaries 1:30 and 1:15, and an option to switch in or out the recommended loading resistor.
As with my Stevens & Billington TX103s (which I'm keeping btw as they offer 1:5, 1.7.5, 1:10 and 1:20 all with open + 3 loading options, making it incredibly flexible) Graeme has done a stellar job with them.
At 1:30 the Hashimotos are very close to the 1:29 that Miyajima-San uses in his own SUT for the Shilabe, Kansui and so on. (In fact Graeme said that they measure more like 1:29 and are closely matched at that. )
In terms of sound, vs the TX103 (which is already a pretty high baseline - Music First sell the boxed up version now at £1800 and you can no longer buy the transformers direct) there was more gain of course, but adjusting for this, while similar in most areas it seemed that with the Shilabe at least, the sound was a shade more dynamic and palpable - perhaps an issue of better matching of the oddball gain/impedance settings of the Miyajima, though it backs up my observations from a year and a half ago putting my Kondo AN-S6c against MartinT's Choir Audio, which used the HM-7s. It was hearing the Choir Audio with a Miyajima Waza that set me on my current Miyajima/hM-7 path vs the Io/Kondo combo I was using at the time.
Thoroughly enjoying some sounds tonight after a week away doing a 7 day detox and juice fast - have come back 4kg lighter and 2in narrower in the waist, nice way to start the year.
Anyway it seems now I'm well sorted for SUTs. I was unable to check out my other two Miyajimas (Zero mono and Premium 78) as my second arm is off with SpeedySteve for a rewire, due back next weekend -joys to come.
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