Thanks for your kind words guys. It was only because Steffan asked how loud it was that I got out the dB meter and sat it at the listening position. During Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances, it hit 116.8dB at the finale. Most of our listening was in the 70s and 80s where we were (around the cheese and wine.)

Edited November 20, 20232 yr by Ittaku

I never cease to be amazed by this system, which is not 'merely' a matter of system synergy among components priced beyond the reach of mortals, it is also a demonstration of genuine scientific expertise applied to address the type of technical challenges we all face in our hifi setups.

 

For me, after quite a few visits now, the wow factor is simply undiminished.

Prestomusic had this box set Beethoven cycle in high res for the price of MP3 till Xmas and I couldn't resist adding it to my collection.

 

Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic, what could go wrong?

 

Performances exceptional 9/10.

Sonics 6/10. Good tonal balance, vocal soloists clear up front, most of the rest of the orchestra quite diffuse which doesn't bother me, but there's a hardness to the sound of the vocals meaning this won't become my regular go-to for the Beethoven cycle. That crown still goes to LSO with Bernard Haitink on the LSO live label.

Edited December 21, 20232 yr by Ittaku

What type of "hi res" is it? DSD? 24/192? 

6 minutes ago, Keith_W said:

What type of "hi res" is it? DSD? 24/192? 

24/96.

5 hours ago, Ittaku said:

Prestomusic

Great people to deal with, and a very nice cycle.

Good pick up

Haven't checked in in a while. Did my usual valve testing a couple of months ago, replaced a couple of 6550 driver tubes and two KT150s, and ordered another 8 matched for future. Otherwise just listening with the system unchanged.

Wow nice room .

i will get my mbl 101 mk2 also on october pair with mono 9008A , can you share some experience you are using wireworld eclipse 8 running double and interconnect ? Have you ever compare before maybe with other brand speaker cable like inakustic, transparant etc ? 

6 hours ago, Will djomi said:

Wow nice room .

i will get my mbl 101 mk2 also on october pair with mono 9008A , can you share some experience you are using wireworld eclipse 8 running double and interconnect ? Have you ever compare before maybe with other brand speaker cable like inakustic, transparant etc ? 

Thanks. The double interconnects are because the speakers are bi-amped. The eclipse 8 have a lovely "liquid" sound to them would be the best way to describe them. I haven't experimented with other speaker cables since I upgraded from an old pair of XLO reference cables which were solid but lacking the delicacy of the wireworld. I'm not one for playing much with cables.

Edited May 19, 20241 yr by Ittaku

4 hours ago, Ittaku said:

I'm not one for playing much with cables.

That’s because you spent wisely on a great cable👍

Thanks a lot friend , i heard MBL will work work well with cooper cable , and wireworld eclipse 8 is correct choice. 🙏

Holding a snap get together this Sunday afternoon after the hifi show with limited places. Send me a private message if you would like to attend.

4 hours ago, Ittaku said:

Holding a snap get together this Sunday afternoon after the hifi show with limited places. Send me a private message if you would like to attend.

I should mention this is an open invitation, you need not have been here before.

Still room for more guests.

If you get a chance and heaven's heard his system, you really should take @Ittaku up on this offer.
Amazing sounds and a gentleman of a host to boot 👍

54 minutes ago, sir sanders zingmore said:

If you get a chance and haven't heard his system, you really should take @Ittaku up on this offer.
Amazing sounds and a gentleman of a host to boot 👍

 

110%

Quite a few of my happiest hifi memories are in front of Con's system, enjoying good company and amazing sound reproduction. 

I would have begged to roll up, once again, to this session but have some sad family issues to attend to.

Enjoy!

 

On 20/07/2023 at 2:24 PM, Ittaku said:

Goddamn, the MSO are doing the entire cycle next year, and Jaime Martin is a superb Beethoven conductor. Looks like I have to do the marathon.

 

This marathon is over, and Jaime is indeed THE best Beethoven conductor I've ever heard live. His ninth is now my benchmark for the best concert I've ever been to - yes I know the ninth is money for jam as a piece to impress with, but pulling it off so well where I had to hold back tears (and even my wife next to me had the same reaction) is as good as it gets. It was also recorded so I'm going to have to look into whether it comes out as a release and be interesting to hear the sonics of an MSO recording. I counted at least 34 microphones that I could see so it's definitely going to come down to the quality of mixing. See if it tops the legendary performance of Solti in the 80s or the overall quality/performance balance of my LSO recording on playback.

1 hour ago, Ittaku said:

 

This marathon is over, and Jaime is indeed THE best Beethoven conductor I've ever heard live. His ninth is now my benchmark for the best concert I've ever been to - yes I know the ninth is money for jam as a piece to impress with, but pulling it off so well where I had to hold back tears (and even my wife next to me had the same reaction) is as good as it gets. It was also recorded so I'm going to have to look into whether it comes out as a release and be interesting to hear the sonics of an MSO recording. I counted at least 34 microphones that I could see so it's definitely going to come down to the quality of mixing. See if it tops the legendary performance of Solti in the 80s or the overall quality/performance balance of my LSO recording on playback.

 

I think you heard the best of the three actually, there was something special about yesterday.  Could have been our colleague's retirement concert that gave it an extra dose of energy and emotion. Glad you and your wife enjoyed it, it was a big couple of weeks! 

So glad for you that you and your wife were able to experience "the marathon" together.

Brilliant.

Edited November 30, 20241 yr by parrasaw

Hi Ittaku🙂

It's been a while, hope you are well!

I was discussing with another SNA member your approach to phase control. Can you remind us of the frequency range over which you perform excess phase or group delay corrections?

Thanks🙏

On 03/12/2024 at 5:41 PM, tripitaka said:

Hi Ittaku🙂

It's been a while, hope you are well!

I was discussing with another SNA member your approach to phase control. Can you remind us of the frequency range over which you perform excess phase or group delay corrections?

Thanks🙏

Just over the sub/woofer's range, which in my speakers' case is up to 105Hz. The only phase correction after that I do is at the crossover points, but that's more a token gesture since it's easy to do and I've never really heard it make an audible difference there.

It's 2+ years since I last visited @Ittaku yet his system remains my benchmark listening experience.

 

I continue to spend dollars on my own system, but I can't unhear what was played at his house on prior occasions. 

 

Hopefully there may be future listening opportunities🙂

Edited January 23, 20251 yr by tripitaka

I just received this email from MSB

 

 

Come on guys, I've been buying your snake oil for years, but you only made engineering claims till now. What is this wanky nonsense?

 

Sigh...

18 minutes ago, Ittaku said:

I just received this email from MSB

 

 

Come on guys, I've been buying your snake oil for years, but you only made engineering claims till now. What is this wanky nonsense?

 

Sigh...

Quantum dither?

11 hours ago, Ittaku said:

I just received this email from MSB

 

 

Come on guys, I've been buying your snake oil for years, but you only made engineering claims till now. What is this wanky nonsense?

 

Sigh...

You would say that, wouldn’t you.  Sorry, the fact is your system just isn’t revealing enough, Con. 

Edited March 26, 2025Mar 26 by buddyev