After much internal struggle and frustration, I reached out to suggestions and guidance from forum members to help with amplification suggestions for a new system I was putting together.
 

Finally, I’ve just finished setting up the following system. Thanks to those members who offered me their time with suggestions and advice. You know who you are. 
 

Speakers are Osborn Reference Elite Epitome Towers in Bubinga finished in a beautiful piano gloss. I’ve always lusted over these speakers having heard them many times in multiple environments, having never been underwhelmed and always blown away. 

 

These are fed by Consonance Cyber 800 MK2 mono-block amplifiers via WBC built Canare 4S11 bi-wired quad speaker cables and Osborn Silverlink interconnects. Power is delivered via Consonance ‘EllaBaby’ power cables into a Consonance PW1 power conditioner. 

Music sources are by way of an Eversolo DMP-8 streamer and currently acting as a pre-amp.
A Pro-Ject 1xPression Carbon Classic turntable and Vincent Pho-701 phono pre are on vinyl duties. Phono interconnects are all WBC Pro 1ft. 

The rack is a BLOK Stax unit. 
 

I am currently enjoying this setup while the amps burn in and am waiting on some isolation feet for the speakers and some custom made stands for the amps. 

I’ll give some very limited sound impressions thus far, trying my best to detach the new toy enthusiasm. 
 

On absolute first listen I was immediately underwhelmed. Volume seemed low and overall soundstage and presence just seemed flat and in-interesting. Bear in mind, the amps are turned on for the first time. 
I started having a play around with the Eversolo DMP-8 and looking through the settings I found the gain is set to -5db as standard. So I bumped that up a couple of DB to -2.5. I also added a bass boost filter which boosts the low end frequencies in 6 bands between 30hz and 1000hz. This was way too much so I backed each one off by 2-3db until I found a sound which I enjoy. And enjoy I am, vocals are forward velvety. I can nearly see the ripples in acoustic guitar strings and electric guitar cuts through mixes. Bass guitar fills the room with speed and depth and sub bass is phenomenal whilst retaining accuracy and control. 
 

As I work from home and I’ve set this system up in my office, I find constantly distracted, slowly increasing the volume bit by bit until I get a call and realise I haven’t done anything productive the last hour. 

That’s all streaming Tidal through the DMP8.

I have since put close to 30 hours of mixed listening via streaming. Some background, some pumping, and every genre I like from blues rock to jazz and electronic and psy-trance and progressive metal (mainly Tool).  

 

Future plans are to try a Consonance Linear 1 preamp and see if there’s a worthwhile difference. I really look forward to this as a real A/B to see what a dedicated matching pre can bring because right now all I’ve heard is “it’ll be better”, but like, better how? Really keen on trying one. 

I also tried playing some records but found that sounding a little flat again, as you can’t seem to add any DSP to the RCA input. Maybe this is where a real preamp really wakes things up. 

A fat rug and some basic room treatment down the line will be added. For now, I will continue to ignorantly and blissfully enjoy what I have. 
 

I managed to take some photos this morning. Enjoy. 

From my seat. 

These Epitomes are the model before Focal stopped supplying third party manufacturers with their drivers, so the midrange is still Focal. Lovely. 

The finish on these cabinets really is Elite. 

 

 

Choooobz. 

 

 

 

Regards, 

Elyas

Edited May 22, 2025May 22 by ELYAS
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On 22/5/2025 at 3:10 PM, ELYAS said:

I’ve set this system up in my office

Beautiful looking (and I'm sure, sounding) system, ELYAS, enjoy!

Maybe I should work from home - surely there's a way to tax-deduct such vital equipment??

On 26/05/2025 at 7:34 AM, ICUToo said:

Beautiful looking (and I'm sure, sounding) system, ELYAS, enjoy!

Maybe I should work from home - surely there's a way to tax-deduct such vital equipment??

 

Thanks, it does sound good. Looking to get a nice rug to place on the bare timber floor in front of it though. I currently have the wife in charge of picking something though. 

 

Regarding tax deductions, I'm thinking "Office Furniture" might be a little too generic and could trigger an audit. Perhaps something like "Workplace wellness system integration" is better, and it's not untrue! 

A bit of a demo sampling a bunch of tracks. Obviously, this is on YouTube so quality is compressed, but I recorded this with DJI MIC's x3 in an AB configuration. Not scientific at all, just a general test. I'm quite surprised they pick up a fair bit of bass, but not the really low stuff. 

 

Suggest you watch it on YouTube though, not the embedded link in here as you'll be able to view and click through the track listing.

 

Got some ToughNut Audio unreleased cylinder speaker feet on the way, and @Grizzly working on some custom amp stands. 

A thick rug is also in negotiations with the master of interior designs. 

 

 

They do look fabulous as do the Consonance amps, and fun cameo of a hifi pet also. Thanks for the longer video, Osborns are not easy to find on youtube. The recording does sound rather bright—I would expect a tendency toward Fletcher-Munson curve type of tuning with the Osborns. 

But as noted in this topic you have a complex room there with a multitude of reflection angles and non-absorbant surfaces.

4 minutes ago, Steff said:

They do look fabulous as do the Consonance amps, and fun cameo of a hifi pet also. Thanks for the longer video, Osborns are not easy to find on youtube. The recording does sound rather bright—I would expect a tendency toward Fletcher-Munson curve type of tuning with the Osborns. 

But as noted in this topic you have a complex room there with a multitude of reflection angles and non-absorbant surfaces.

Thanks for your feedback. I wanted to make sure to call out the Osborns exactly due to that lack of representation online. 

Dexter almost always makes an appearance in my videos. It’s as if he knows the camera is recording and he needs to make his presence known haha. 

On the room, my main concern is the floor and ceiling in terms of reflections. To the right of frame is a large bookshelf which nearly takes up the whole wall and it’s full of books and whiskey bottles. I would think this serves much better for reflections and dispersion than a flat wall.  
The opposite wall has an arch opening just in front or skirting where I would expect the left first reflection to be then a bare wall. 
A rug is coming but ceiling treatment has been rejected in full haha. 
 

I’m interested in your assessment of it being bright. Are you referring to a lack of bass or more that the highs are pronounced and overbearing?
 

Also, what are you listening on?
I like that you specified “the recording” sounds bright. It’s impossible to really know how something actually sounds due to so many factors in recording.
 

For example, I tried many different setups and mic placements and settings to get something that sounded decent. I learned (thanks to ChatGPT) about XY and AB mic placements and used an AB placement for this, however in this setting the mics are nearly in the center of the room where there is a prominent null in bass but I’m surprised there’s still a bit coming through the recording.  
 

Pointing the mics at the tweeters probably doesn’t help the brightness but I didn’t want to point them any lower so as to avoid reflections, again, thanks ChatGPT.  

3 hours ago, ELYAS said:

in this setting the mics are nearly in the center of the room where there is a prominent null in bass

 

That certainly explains the somewhat "thin" character of the recording while the soundstage appears to be quite wide and tall. What I perceive as "bright" might well be a combination of headphones/laptop listening plus mic placement plus room's acoustic properties.

I suspect eventually you'll become convinced to take some measurements simply to understand better the speaker room response outcome.

In the meantime, perhaps move the mics back a meter and record a track with more prominent bass? The world now relies on you to become the premier Osborn recording provider 😋

On 07/06/2025 at 1:59 PM, Steff said:

 

That certainly explains the somewhat "thin" character of the recording while the soundstage appears to be quite wide and tall. What I perceive as "bright" might well be a combination of headphones/laptop listening plus mic placement plus room's acoustic properties.

I suspect eventually you'll become convinced to take some measurements simply to understand better the speaker room response outcome.

In the meantime, perhaps move the mics back a meter and record a track with more prominent bass? The world now relies on you to become the premier Osborn recording provider 😋

Haha I’m not sure I’m equipped to carry that heavy burden. 
 

Im playing around with subtle DSP tuning. Bumping some low punch and taming some of the really high frequencies while keeping the mids flat. Again, this is not scientific, I’m tuning as I listen to my tastes in my room so if a sound engineer looked at this he might think it’s horrible. 
 

So far I’m landing and playing on this curve and I might record some A/B live comparisons.  
 

Edited June 19, 2025Jun 19 by ELYAS
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YouTube Shorts seem to apply even more compression.
 

 

 

good to hear things are progressing well 🙂 

 

just as a thought.. and i realise may not even be a possibility.. just dont know what room is like... 

 

is it possible to move the speakers a bit more apart ? and toe in a bit ? 

 

could possibly move main listening position further back then so not in middle of room ..where nulls usually reside ? 

 

can also consider moving speakers away from back wall ? eg upto 1/3rd room depth.. you will loose room gain though ... but you might gain as no longer sitting in null ... 

 

ps measuring mic you aim directly up ...and have at ear level.. 

 

ps arent those blok stax racks great .. i am using for vinyl storage and phono stage... so well made and easily expanded and not crazy priced... 

50 minutes ago, betty boop said:

good to hear things are progressing well 🙂 

 

just as a thought.. and i realise may not even be a possibility.. just dont know what room is like... 

 

is it possible to move the speakers a bit more apart ? and toe in a bit ? 

 

could possibly move main listening position further back then so not in middle of room ..where nulls usually reside ? 

 

can also consider moving speakers away from back wall ? eg upto 1/3rd room depth.. you will loose room gain though ... but you might gain as no longer sitting in null ... 

 

ps measuring mic you aim directly up ...and have at ear level.. 

 

ps arent those blok stax racks great .. i am using for vinyl storage and phono stage... so well made and easily expanded and not crazy priced... 

 

Thanks mate, yes things are progressing and I'm discovering and enjoying a much wider array of music now too.

 

Speaker width and depth is maxed out unfortunately, however I am currently experimenting with toe in. Need to come up with a way to do it in a way that I can clearly hear changes as they're moved, ie, get a freind or two to toe them in and out whilst I'm actively listening. Just how my brain works...

 

My seated position isn't the center of the room, it's actually not far off the back wall, so where I am, the bass is just fine. My mention of the bass null was where the microphones were placed to record these videos. Regarding aiming the mic's up, that's the first I hear of that! Everything I've read says to aim them at the tweeters or between the tweeter and midrange. 

 

Yes, I agree, the Blok Stax are excellent. Although I'm regretting getting those shelf size heights for the streamer and phono components. I'd have preferred smaller shelves which are available. 

1 hour ago, ELYAS said:

Thanks mate, yes things are progressing and I'm discovering and enjoying a much wider array of music now too.

great to hear, i have focals and have to agree their mid range and ability to do vocals is amazing ! 

 

1 hour ago, ELYAS said:

Speaker width and depth is maxed out unfortunately,

understand, its not unusual for most to have some sort of compromise to work with 🙂 just matter of making best of .. which am sure will if not are already 🙂 to get a good slab off ..

 

1 hour ago, ELYAS said:

however I am currently experimenting with toe in. Need to come up with a way to do it in a way that I can clearly hear changes as they're moved, ie, get a freind or two to toe them in and out whilst I'm actively listening. Just how my brain works...

its an interesting thing.. depends how far off the equilateral you are too i think.. ie if want/need the narrow focus of pointing direct at you...

 

pointing so off axis can tame top end too.. also found can widen stage... it really seems speaker dependant not even brand.. my previous focals i ran direct straight on .. no toe .. current are pointing direct on ... and sit a tad out the equilateral ... vocals in bedroom system seem wot work best with aiming so toe in meets behind and aimed about a foot off ears...if not doing with a friend its worth picking some tracks with a well focused image and one with well defined stage ie few instruments spread across... and do extended listening with each arrangement across the entire tracks and tend to soo find answer I have found 🙂 

 

1 hour ago, ELYAS said:

My seated position isn't the center of the room, it's actually not far off the back wall, so where I am, the bass is just fine. My mention of the bass null was where the microphones were placed to record these videos. Regarding aiming the mic's up, that's the first I hear of that! Everything I've read says to aim them at the tweeters or between the tweeter and midrange. 

no worries as mentioned hard to tell from the pics so have mis read clearly 🙂 good to hear not in mid room... and mic can easily be placed at main listening position. usually not good to be hard up against back wall though as that can actually cause room gian for bass boost where listening also can impact coherency.. even with mic its suggested to place away from anything behind it .. is sit a bit away from back of chair or can get some funny results 🙂 

 

as to where to aim mic.. ive always been a straight up guy   eg. see link below...

 

 

https://www.btacoustics.com/how-to-measure-room-acoustics

 

How to measure room acoustics

"Preparation for measurement

After connecting the interface, microphone and configuring the program, you can proceed to the actual measurement. For the first measurement, the microphone should be placed exactly at the listening spot at the same height as the ears. Such a measurement will provide us with information on the distribution of sound pressure exactly in the place where we listen to music. This is the place we are most interested in. Importantly, the microphone must be pointed vertically upward. Thanks to its omnidirectional characteristic, it will collect the signal from the entire room. It is a mistake to point the microphone toward the sound source."

"

 

usually to measure in room you do point up and 90 deg file.. for measuring directly a speaker you point at and dont use the 90 deg calibration file... 

I think you're providing good info for measuring sound with respect to DSP, room acoustics for corrections ect. @betty boop, if I'm not mistaken, and that would make sense!

I'm talking about recording output of speakers purely for upload/entertainment purposes.

 

In any case, regarding toe in, I have played around with them a little bit last night. I toed them in about 5cm further. The photos below show where the inside plane of the enclosures are aiming at the listening seat. I know Greg Osborn recommends these speakers stay aiming straight on and that's how he has them at home.  

 

Sound has definitely changed. Bass is more direct and impactful, although I didn't think that would be the case. I also think the imaging is tighter and narrower with the soundstage now a lot more focused. Vocals are still centered, but I'm not getting the really wide stereo imaging I was before. The speakers are now individually revealing themselves, where before they weren't "there".  

 

How annoying! I like the sound, but I'm getting a sense of FOMO on wide effects, especially in tracks such as Hans Zimmer's 'A Time of Quiet Between Storms' from the Dune 2 soundtrack, where I was previously hearing effects of the breathy/airy high end coming from my hard left and right to a point where I was looking at right angles to make sure some sort of self trickery was being played on myself, is now all but gone. 

 

I will continue to explore this fascinating fine tuning. 

 

Right 

 

Left

9 hours ago, ELYAS said:

I think you're providing good info for measuring sound with respect to DSP, room acoustics for corrections ect. @betty boop, if I'm not mistaken, and that would make sense!

I'm talking about recording output of speakers purely for upload/entertainment purposes.

makes sense .. for "entertainment purposes" as you were  knock self out....

 

9 hours ago, ELYAS said:

In any case, regarding toe in, I have played around with them a little bit last night. I toed them in about 5cm further. The photos below show where the inside plane of the enclosures are aiming at the listening seat. I know Greg Osborn recommends these speakers stay aiming straight on and that's how he has them at home.  

 

ah goody... great to hear exploring ... 

9 hours ago, ELYAS said:

Sound has definitely changed. Bass is more direct and impactful, although I didn't think that would be the case. I also think the imaging is tighter and narrower with the soundstage now a lot more focused. Vocals are still centered, but I'm not getting the really wide stereo imaging I was before. The speakers are now individually revealing themselves, where before they weren't "there".  

 

not surprised its made a difference like this ! amazing isnt it a relatively small change the impact can have

 

9 hours ago, ELYAS said:

How annoying! I like the sound, but I'm getting a sense of FOMO on wide effects, especially in tracks such as Hans Zimmer's 'A Time of Quiet Between Storms' from the Dune 2 soundtrack, where I was previously hearing effects of the breathy/airy high end coming from my hard left and right to a point where I was looking at right angles to make sure some sort of self trickery was being played on myself, is now all but gone. 

maybe worth dialing back a tad and trying half way in-between..

 

9 hours ago, ELYAS said:

I will continue to explore this fascinating fine tuning. 

fascinating isnt it .. such a small change impact it can have.. probably opened a can of worms  

 

if find yourself in bunnings looking at laser pointer/measurers then you know you have well and truly tipped over the edge !  

1 hour ago, betty boop said:

 

if find yourself in bunnings looking at laser pointer/measurers then you know you have well and truly tipped over the edge !  

Oh no… you’re going to drive me to insanity with your suggestions!!! 😂

On 20/06/2025 at 8:59 PM, betty boop said:

if find yourself in bunnings looking at laser pointer/measurers then you know you have well and truly tipped over the edge !  

 

Hang on, laser measurers are essential audiophile equipment!  How else is one going to discover the first reflection points for the treatments?

15 hours ago, warweary said:

 

Hang on, laser measurers are essential audiophile equipment!  How else is one going to discover the first reflection points for the treatments?

 

My ears are so audiophilically advanced, they auto-filter and cancel all reflections. 

 

Update:

 

I've finally got the speakers off the floor utilizing Tough Nut Isolation Cylinders. I couldn't really justify Stack Auva's even given their wide acclaim and saw a couple of reviews of ToughNut Isolation products which fared quite well compared to Auvas, not as good, but still an excellent improvement for a 3rd of the price. 

https://toughnutaudio.ca/products/accessories-tough-nut-isolation-cones/

 

I also got the monoblocks off the floor too. Big shoutout to Anthony @Grizzly (Instagram: @grizzlyworkshifi) for making me some stands that I drew up. I wanted something to match the industrial aesthetic of the Cyber's. I think he did a fantastic job for a very reasonable cost. 

 

Just thought I'd share a couple pics.

 

 

 

 

Update:
 

OK OK - I get it. 

 

After a long period of enjoying my system as is, I’ve finally added a “proper” preamp to my system, going with the Consonance Linear.1 (25th Anniversary), thanks to a good deal through @Kaynin. My initial intention was honestly just to complete the look. 

 

 

The Eversolo DMP-A8 is now operating in full passthrough for streaming duties and vinyl is direct via the Vincent Pho701 Pre. 
 

The 25th Anniversary model received the Full Music 2A3 output tubes and the example I received had LinLai Elite E-101D reticular mesh line stage tubes in it, over the standard generic 101D's. Unfortunately, one of them had a loud buzz on first start up. I called Kayne, and after we tried a couple of things like switching the tubes around which switched around the buzzing speaker, the gentleman that he is sorted me out no questions asked for the price of a stock replacement PAIR. I topped it up and sourced another matched pair of LinLai's E-101D's and ran with the stock replacement spare that Kayne had chucked in for the time being.

 

I reserved my judgment on the inclusion of the pre while running totally different tubes waiting for the LinLai's which arrived around 10 days ago.

 

I honestly didn’t expect anything much, let alone a dramatic shift. I assumed it would be more of a “complete the look” upgrade than a sonic one. Happy to report I was spectacularly wrong.

 

Overall compared to using the Eversolo's pre-amp section, it is noticeably fuller and more controlled bass. The mids are richer with way more texture in vocals, especially female.
It's warmer all round and just feels more effortless. 
Everything just feels more alive, more dimensional, and far more engaging. 

I always read people saying a proper preamp “unlocks” a system, and it felt like forum folklore. Now I genuinely understand it. This upgrade has completely changed the character of the system, and in all the right ways.

 

What started as a vanity move ended up being a quite satisfying improvement indeed.  
 

Interestingly, something I wasn't expecting was the volume shift.

Streaming now hits my previous listening level at around 40% on the volume knob. If I want it LOUD, 50-60% is as much as I can go in this room. Vinyl is a little more polite in gain structure around 70% is as far as I’d go, where before the new LinLai's I was clicking into High Gain on the LInear1 for vinyl playback, and cranking the knob on Low Gain to 70% while streaming for loud play. These E-101D's are HOT. I was a little concerned at first, being my first foray into the tube world, but after much research and reaching out to the people I bought them off, apparently I have nothing to worry about, just don't accidentally crank the volume knob. 

 

I wonder if this will settle over time... 

 

 

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Elyas

Glad you're happy.  I'm not surprised the level has lifted.  You've got an awesome system there, 90% the same as what I've had.  It's a pity we couldn't have enjoyed setting it up with a cigar, but instead it was a meeting in a carpark freezing and being rained on!

On 5/12/2025 at 8:41 AM, Kaynin said:

Glad you're happy.  I'm not surprised the level has lifted.  You've got an awesome system there, 90% the same as what I've had.  It's a pity we couldn't have enjoyed setting it up with a cigar, but instead it was a meeting in a carpark freezing and being rained on!

Haha carpark meetings in the rain, sounds like the start of a good Saturday night back in the day. 😂

 

Did you find your volume was really high relative to normal knob position too or is it that these specific E-101D’s might be a bit hot?

16 minutes ago, ELYAS said:

Haha carpark meetings in the rain, sounds like the start of a good Saturday night back in the day. 😂

 

Did you find your volume was really high relative to normal knob position too or is it that these specific E-101D’s might be a bit hot?

 

I couldn't run it past 12 o'clock, no way you could stay in the room, and I love very loud, heavy music.

My system is far more modest that yours but I also reaised a significant improvement when I upgraded my pre amp. I went from a Primare I35 into passive PMC Twenty5 23i speakers and then upgraded the speakers with the active amp modules. I ran them with the pre amp section of the I35 which did sound great but upgraded to a Pass Labs XP21. That was the clincher. Revealing more of what my source components are capable of. 

49 minutes ago, Kaynin said:

 

I couldn't run it past 12 o'clock, no way you could stay in the room, and I love very loud, heavy music.

yep me too. I think it really speaks to how sensitive these Osborns are. 

5 minutes ago, crisis said:

My system is far more modest that yours but I also reaised a significant improvement when I upgraded my pre amp. I went from a Primare I35 into passive PMC Twenty5 23i speakers and then upgraded the speakers with the active amp modules. I ran them with the pre amp section of the I35 which did sound great but upgraded to a Pass Labs XP21. That was the clincher. Revealing more of what my source components are capable of. 

 

I see the “Crisis” is trying to follow me around 😂😂 

 

But yeah. What do you do next? Upgrade the source of course!! 🙃