When does your set up come alive? I mean on the volume dial. For me it's around 2 oclock on the volume dial though sometimes a little less depending on the recording.
When does your set up come alive? I mean on the volume dial. For me it's around 2 oclock on the volume dial though sometimes a little less depending on the recording.
novafidelity x40 music server/pre/dac, Arcam A39, roksan k3 power amp,Monitor Audio Monitor 50, Dali spektor 1, van damme interconnects and speaker cable, roskan k3 CD player
Depending on source and recording, anywhere between 10 and 1 'o clock.
Barry
Can't remember the last time I went any further than about 10 o'clock!
"People will hear what you tell them to hear" - Thomas Edison
Location: Torquay, Devon.
Posts: 5,684
I'm Shane.
10-12 o'clock.
S.
10-11 o'clock
Mines alive at any volume, but then you get that with open baffles.
Source
SW1X Universal Music Server UMS I Signature with Power Supply Unit PSU I Signature
SW1X USB II
SW1X DAC III Special
Audiolab 6000 CDT transport
Amps
Pre amps -- Hi fi Collective twin mono ladder stepped attenuator, with Charcroft Z-foil and silver wired. And First Watt B1 active no gain buffer.
Power amps -- Welborne 45 SET monoblocks 1.8W / Decware Taboo 6W / Elekit 300B TU-8600SVK plus further improved components 9W / ICE Power 1000W
Speakers
Highly modified Endorphin P17 open baffle speakers containing both vintage and modern alnico drivers and paper cones. All silver wired - 8" Cube Audio FC8 full range drivers and vintage 15" Altec VOTT 416 bass drivers. All sat on Townsend Audio Podium seismic isolation platforms.
BK Electronics XLS400FF Sub.
Cabling
Silver mains cables, interconnects and speaker cables by SW1X
Headphones
HRT HeadStreamer and SennHeiser HD650 headphones
Yeah, same with me (using large Tannoy DCs). I think we need to define what is meant by "come alive"... In that respect, are we saying that below the specified level the system sounds 'dead'? If so, that's not good!
And I've heard a lot of systems precisely like that, where they sound flat, lacklustre and 2-dimensional, lacking in 'presence' and dynamic impact, at low levels - and indeed only 'come alive' when the wick it turned up. Often that's the case when low-efficiency speakers are partnered with amps unable to drive them properly.
In my system (and I'm sure that of others mentioned here), the music is 'all there', at low levels, and sounds clear, well-defined and 'real'. There is no lack of 'punch' or excitement. The sound simply gets progressively louder, as the volume is increased, and with it, the collective aspects of the music.
That is precisely how it should be, in a well-sorted system, particularly ones possessing wide dynamic range and high levels of resolution. If you're not getting that, then change your system!
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.
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Saying that one's hifi sounds right from low volumes all the way up is forgetting the equal loudness curves. Unless the designer has implemented a special Fetcher Munson Tilt control in your pre-amp then it just doesn't sound the same at low volumes as it does at loud ones because the ears response to different frequencies isn't linear.
Mine comes on song about 1 O'clock (from 12) and stays there until I'm bleeding from the ears at 6 O'clock. I could do with -10db on my DAC output to be honest. My phonostage is perfect as the gain on my power amps was selected to be exactly where I like it with the volume pot at halfway, right in the middle of its most linear operating point.
Kuzma Stabi/S 12", (LP12-bastard) DC motor and optical tacho psu, Benz LP, Paradise (phonostage). MB-Pro, Brooklyn dac and psu, Bruno Putzeys balanced pre, mod86p dual mono amps, Yamaha NS1000m
As Simon (?) above infers, it depends very much on the type/design of the volume control, the compatibility/synergy of your amp. to your speakers, the level of the input signal with reference to input sensitivity and lastly, your auditorium shape, size and furnishings.
Ergo, there cannot be a comparable factor in different people's experiences. The speakers alone, with large efficiency and load characteristics variations (as from Maggies through ESLs to high efficiency horns) would render comparisons odious, as it were, even without the other factors.