I don't think that the sound has changed appreciably in the 8-9 months since I last posted.
I have found these speakers can be ruthless in revealing the short comings of poor recordings or pressings, they don't gloss over flaws. They also let me know if the set up and alignment of my deck is off in any way. They still manage to surprise me when I drop the needle on a well recorded disk. Truly spectacular.
I now use the speakers in one of two positions, where they normally live close to the front wall for TV viewing and pulled about 14" further into the room for music (but only if my wife is out). I have found that I get the best sound with slightly less toe in when pulled further into the room. In this location not only is the imaging much better, the dynamics and the way the leading edges are portrayed are that much cleaner. Not that these speakers are a slouch in that regard even close to the wall. The subwoofer is now tuned in for the critical listening position. Pulling the speakers further into the room does put the listening position in what would normally be considered the near-field. (I don't think the term near-field really applies with full range drivers.)
My very good friend, who owns the best system I have ever heard (short array of Jx92s and a Townsend supertweeter for the speakers), has recently moved much closer to where I live. Once he has settled in I'm hoping to be able to take my ellipsoids around to his place and try them on his TEAD linear A amplifier, or better still, borrow his amplifier. I compared this amp to my hypex amps and it blew them out of the water. This might turn out to be a rather expensive experiment
I have found these speakers can be ruthless in revealing the short comings of poor recordings or pressings, they don't gloss over flaws. They also let me know if the set up and alignment of my deck is off in any way. They still manage to surprise me when I drop the needle on a well recorded disk. Truly spectacular.
I now use the speakers in one of two positions, where they normally live close to the front wall for TV viewing and pulled about 14" further into the room for music (but only if my wife is out). I have found that I get the best sound with slightly less toe in when pulled further into the room. In this location not only is the imaging much better, the dynamics and the way the leading edges are portrayed are that much cleaner. Not that these speakers are a slouch in that regard even close to the wall. The subwoofer is now tuned in for the critical listening position. Pulling the speakers further into the room does put the listening position in what would normally be considered the near-field. (I don't think the term near-field really applies with full range drivers.)
My very good friend, who owns the best system I have ever heard (short array of Jx92s and a Townsend supertweeter for the speakers), has recently moved much closer to where I live. Once he has settled in I'm hoping to be able to take my ellipsoids around to his place and try them on his TEAD linear A amplifier, or better still, borrow his amplifier. I compared this amp to my hypex amps and it blew them out of the water. This might turn out to be a rather expensive experiment
He has a full Tom Evans front end. A Vibe/Pulse pre and Groove+ srx phonostage. These are being fed from a Townsend Rock Reference fitted with a Denon Dl304 cartridge. (I'm currently using one of his spares denon cartridges). Tom Evans uses a Rock turntable himself but I don't recall which model. He also owns a TEAD Eikos CD player, which is a heavily upgraded Pioneer, but he rarely uses this.
My friend also has a pair of Linear B power amplifiers on order and paid for but for some reasons (many of which are contradictory) Tom is taking an inordinately long time to deliver. Come on Tom, pull your finger out.
If you haven't seen the reviews of the Groove, Vibe/Pulse and linear A on 6moons I'd give them a read. For once I think the hype is for real. The reviews are quite old and all of the components have been upgraded since then.
Truly excellent products, just a pity that Tom isn't a bit more reliable.
Niffy
My friend also has a pair of Linear B power amplifiers on order and paid for but for some reasons (many of which are contradictory) Tom is taking an inordinately long time to deliver. Come on Tom, pull your finger out.
If you haven't seen the reviews of the Groove, Vibe/Pulse and linear A on 6moons I'd give them a read. For once I think the hype is for real. The reviews are quite old and all of the components have been upgraded since then.
Truly excellent products, just a pity that Tom isn't a bit more reliable.
Niffy
@niffy
I've seen all those and read them with an interest born of a longstanding study -- if not much built experience -- in well-regulated power from Boak to Sulzer to Jung-Didden to Jan's super regulator here on diyaudio. The Lithos essentially seemed to be a super regulator rebranded and the benefits were just what I'd expect.
One aspect of the Groove that I'm interested in trying was Evans' implementation of a Faraday cage. I'm toying with using a version on a Pearl phono stage.
I've seen all those and read them with an interest born of a longstanding study -- if not much built experience -- in well-regulated power from Boak to Sulzer to Jung-Didden to Jan's super regulator here on diyaudio. The Lithos essentially seemed to be a super regulator rebranded and the benefits were just what I'd expect.
One aspect of the Groove that I'm interested in trying was Evans' implementation of a Faraday cage. I'm toying with using a version on a Pearl phono stage.
Hi mhenschel
I have a Michell Argo HR preamp which has been upgraded by Tom to Vibe specifications, although not to the current specs. This involved upgrading the volume control, input selector switches, the opamps, all the sockets and most importantly the voltage regulators. Mine has a single set of lithos regulators, the current version of the Vibe has separate lithos regulators for the input and output stages, but apart from that they are the same. I built my own outboard power supply, which I dubbed the Pulse Lite, using Sparkoslabs regulators. This was a big upgrade over the standard Vibe power supply. I think that this is almost as good as the original Tead Pulse power supply but cost me about £4k less. I will have to get around to doing a proper A-B comparison with my friends original Pulse at some point.
I have also used Sparkoslabs regulators to upgrade my Graham Slee Reflex M phonostage, replacing the regulator in the phonostage and using a second as a pre-regulator on the output of the power supply I built. This elevated the Slee from excellent to world class. The Sparkoslabs regulators are a direct drop in replacement for LM78xx and LM79xx regulators.
Niffy
I have a Michell Argo HR preamp which has been upgraded by Tom to Vibe specifications, although not to the current specs. This involved upgrading the volume control, input selector switches, the opamps, all the sockets and most importantly the voltage regulators. Mine has a single set of lithos regulators, the current version of the Vibe has separate lithos regulators for the input and output stages, but apart from that they are the same. I built my own outboard power supply, which I dubbed the Pulse Lite, using Sparkoslabs regulators. This was a big upgrade over the standard Vibe power supply. I think that this is almost as good as the original Tead Pulse power supply but cost me about £4k less. I will have to get around to doing a proper A-B comparison with my friends original Pulse at some point.
I have also used Sparkoslabs regulators to upgrade my Graham Slee Reflex M phonostage, replacing the regulator in the phonostage and using a second as a pre-regulator on the output of the power supply I built. This elevated the Slee from excellent to world class. The Sparkoslabs regulators are a direct drop in replacement for LM78xx and LM79xx regulators.
Niffy
Hi all,
I've been having lots of fun with my speakers of late.
I had noticed a very slight honkyness creeping into the sound of my system. It was one of those "have to strain to hear it" sort of things but once I had heard it it became annoying. I removed the drivers and discovered that the wadding had shifted and was no longer filling all the way to the back of the rear chamber. I did a couple of experiments using denser wadding, just for the rear 3", but this seemed to kill the dynamics, so out that came. I reverted to my original wadding setup, mundorf elves hair becoming denser towards the rear, but this time I smeared a little wood glue around the rear of the chamber before I inserted the wadding. Hopefully this will prevent the wadding from shifting again. Sound now back to its old dynamic non-honky self.
I have also finally gotten around to trying my friends TEAD Linear A in my system (a valve amplifier of about £6k retail). I had been enjoying world class imaging with my amps but boy oh boy this amp took it up a notch or two. In fact everything about the sound was elevated. Truly stunning. He also bought round one of his his PS Audio power plant mains regenerators. I had expected this to make a bit of a difference but was not expecting the level of improvement it wrought. A similar level of improvement as adding the Linear A. With these two components in my system the sound was only just below what I heard from his system. He still has a richer fuller tone and greater "air" but my system, with his amplifier and regenerator, had tighter more solid imaging and crisper leading edges. His system also goes deeper in the bass but this is to be expected as he is running twin 10" subs and I have a single 8". This could go a long way to explaining why he has a fuller tone. Unfortunately my room doesn't have room for a larger subwoofer and definitely not two. Remove the subwoofers from the equation and I suspect the difference between our systems would be leveled out. A single Eikona keeping up with an arrays of four Jx92s and a supertweeter. The value for money of these drivers is still remarkable despite the recent price increase.
The other thing I have done, after the Linear A and regenerator had departed, was to shorten my speaker stands. The centre of the driver is now exactly at ear height. Before they were quite a bit higher with the speakers angled down. I think they look more balanced on the shorter stands though, as I had got quite use to the visual appearance of the tall stands, I'm not sure I prefer it. I need to let it grow on me. I haven't had a chance to have a proper listen with the shorter stands to see what effect it has on sound quality.
Needless to say both a Linear A (second hand as I definitely don't have £6k) and a mains regenerator have been added to my upgrade wish list.
Niffy
I've been having lots of fun with my speakers of late.
I had noticed a very slight honkyness creeping into the sound of my system. It was one of those "have to strain to hear it" sort of things but once I had heard it it became annoying. I removed the drivers and discovered that the wadding had shifted and was no longer filling all the way to the back of the rear chamber. I did a couple of experiments using denser wadding, just for the rear 3", but this seemed to kill the dynamics, so out that came. I reverted to my original wadding setup, mundorf elves hair becoming denser towards the rear, but this time I smeared a little wood glue around the rear of the chamber before I inserted the wadding. Hopefully this will prevent the wadding from shifting again. Sound now back to its old dynamic non-honky self.
I have also finally gotten around to trying my friends TEAD Linear A in my system (a valve amplifier of about £6k retail). I had been enjoying world class imaging with my amps but boy oh boy this amp took it up a notch or two. In fact everything about the sound was elevated. Truly stunning. He also bought round one of his his PS Audio power plant mains regenerators. I had expected this to make a bit of a difference but was not expecting the level of improvement it wrought. A similar level of improvement as adding the Linear A. With these two components in my system the sound was only just below what I heard from his system. He still has a richer fuller tone and greater "air" but my system, with his amplifier and regenerator, had tighter more solid imaging and crisper leading edges. His system also goes deeper in the bass but this is to be expected as he is running twin 10" subs and I have a single 8". This could go a long way to explaining why he has a fuller tone. Unfortunately my room doesn't have room for a larger subwoofer and definitely not two. Remove the subwoofers from the equation and I suspect the difference between our systems would be leveled out. A single Eikona keeping up with an arrays of four Jx92s and a supertweeter. The value for money of these drivers is still remarkable despite the recent price increase.
The other thing I have done, after the Linear A and regenerator had departed, was to shorten my speaker stands. The centre of the driver is now exactly at ear height. Before they were quite a bit higher with the speakers angled down. I think they look more balanced on the shorter stands though, as I had got quite use to the visual appearance of the tall stands, I'm not sure I prefer it. I need to let it grow on me. I haven't had a chance to have a proper listen with the shorter stands to see what effect it has on sound quality.
Needless to say both a Linear A (second hand as I definitely don't have £6k) and a mains regenerator have been added to my upgrade wish list.
Niffy
I did also get to compare the Pulse II power supply for the Argo HR (Vibe) preamp with my DIY power supply. The differences were very slight, in some areas one was a smidgeon better and in some areas the other was. Overall I couldn't say one was better than the other. Very happy with that result. £4k cheaper!
I also have a Michell ISO HR phonostage which I am going to build a similar power supply for and I'm going to upgrade the internal regulators with more sparkoslabs. I'm also going to do a couple of other tweeks. If this results in a similar level of improvement to that achieved with the preamp power supply I will be a very happy camper.
Niffy
I also have a Michell ISO HR phonostage which I am going to build a similar power supply for and I'm going to upgrade the internal regulators with more sparkoslabs. I'm also going to do a couple of other tweeks. If this results in a similar level of improvement to that achieved with the preamp power supply I will be a very happy camper.
Niffy
Good to hear from you!
Back in the day when TL builders were advised to "lightly stuff" their lines there was one designer who suggested the use of netting at intervals to support fibres so they didn't shift. Another described a process of pulling fibres through netting and inserting that assembly into the lines.
I was interested to read your observations of the effects of the UPS. Makes sense.
I look forward to hearing about the effects of your phono stage upgrades too. Thanks.
Back in the day when TL builders were advised to "lightly stuff" their lines there was one designer who suggested the use of netting at intervals to support fibres so they didn't shift. Another described a process of pulling fibres through netting and inserting that assembly into the lines.
I was interested to read your observations of the effects of the UPS. Makes sense.
I look forward to hearing about the effects of your phono stage upgrades too. Thanks.
I had a quick look at the data sheet for the visaton bg20. A sealed cabinet would need an internal volume of 30ltrs which would make the cabinet very large. This would require a very large amount of wood to build a translam cabinet which would make the total cost much greater than the cost of the driver. You will probably find that for the same total outlay you could buy a higher quality driver that requires a smaller cabinet. This would also make construction much simpler.
As a ballpark estimate the cabinet, for a visaton bg20, would want to have external dimensions of around 500mm diameter and 650mm depth in order to obtain the required internal volume if the internal shape was the same as mine. They would certainly look impressive.
As a ballpark estimate the cabinet, for a visaton bg20, would want to have external dimensions of around 500mm diameter and 650mm depth in order to obtain the required internal volume if the internal shape was the same as mine. They would certainly look impressive.
I have seen large balloons online, i'm sure i could get one to 30 liters in size. what about putting rope bands around the balloon to hold it in an ellipsoid shape, that is if an ellipsoid balloon cannot be sourced, and wrapping the whole thing in papier mache. it would look terrible, without paint, but i bet the cost couldn't be beat. i assume an inch of glued newspaper would have similar acoustic properties to plywood.
One approach I contemplated was to carve the inner shape from a block of polyurethane foam made from glued together insulation sheets. Cover this core in tin foil and then glass fibre over this to make a rigid shell. The foam core can then be broken out, the tin foil prevents the glass fibre resin from sticking to the foam core. The outer carcass can be made in a similar way but would need to be in two halves. When put together the space between the inner and outer shells could be filled with expanding builders foam.
I suppose a similar method could be used with paper mache. Getting two balloons to maintain a consistent and similar shape might difficult.
The main purposes of my cabinet design was to optimise both the internal and external shapes. The ideal external shape is not the ideal internal shape. I toyed with quite a few construction methods before I settled on translam.
I suppose a similar method could be used with paper mache. Getting two balloons to maintain a consistent and similar shape might difficult.
The main purposes of my cabinet design was to optimise both the internal and external shapes. The ideal external shape is not the ideal internal shape. I toyed with quite a few construction methods before I settled on translam.