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Preface

This system is housed in a not too large space and is in fact quite a prominent factor in the room. The system even half-blocks the entrance to the kitched but hey, if you want good sound, you'll have to make some sacrifices:-) Even though the system dominates the room visually, it is in itself so neatly placed, wired with such beautiful cables and set-up with such attention to detail that you can't help but just admire the system.

When I arrived, the system was just switched on from cold. Even so, it sounded pretty good from the get-go. I heard a very coherent and neutral sound that was in no way aggressive. There was a slight tubbyness and squareness to the bass that made me remember how my Logans could be on a bad day and the sound was somewhat cold, but that was to be expected. After all, the system was switched on moments ago. What wasn't expected, even by the owner, was that the system gains quite a bit more fluidity and color after it warms up. This was really noticeable after about 30 minutes to an hour. The source and preamp were already switched on so this must have been down to the power amps. Or maybe also the speakers played a role to a lesser extent because it being a warm summer day, the room was already pretty warm and I can't imaginge the speaker cone's suspension being really stiff in such temperatures. So, even though the Trigon amplifiers don't get warm to the touch at all, apparently they still have to "warm-up":-)

As a matter of fact, we did do some cable swapping, halfway through the session, but the cable was so well liked and fitted so well, that we almost forgot about it and accepted it as part of the system. What we replaced seems like a futility.

We changed.... the subwoofer powercable from the old type Harmonic Technology Pro AC11 to the new type Harmonic Technology Pro AC11. You read that right. The same cabletype by the same maker made a substantial difference on the subwoofer. The most notable difference between the cables is that the newer type now has Furutech connectors as opposed to standard ones on the old type. The cable itself is more than likely the same.

The difference in sound was huge and the difference weren't confined to only the bass: the entire frequency range was now more organic and more fluid. There was also better pronounciation in the bass. Notes were clearer and the dynamics were portrayed more accurately.

Setup 7 - Review

First impressions

Playing cd's and sacd's, the sound is fast, clean, tight, dynamic and utterly uncoloured. If this reads like a copy of what I wrote about system 6, then that's well spotted and correct indeed! In fact, these systems have a quite similar approach. But they don't sound the same. If you blindfolded me, drove me around and sat me down in front of either system, I could most likely tell which one was playing. So eventthough they have similar attention points, don't assume they are interchangeable. After the first few characterisations I should add: slightly undernourished or slightly bleached colorwise. But that was when the system hadn't warmed up fully.

After warmup

The slight coldness that I had heard before had almost completely gone after 30 minutes to an hour or so of playing. Now I was hearing a sound that was completely coherent from top to bottom and was exceptionally neutral. In comparison, my own beloved B&W N804's were a lot more coloured. There were no gaps in the frequency spectrum, no booming, no frequency bands standing out, no shrill highs. Detailing was fine (which is easier to do if you have a dcs as a source:) and the sound didn't stick to the speakers, instead, it was spaceous and enveloping.

"a sound that was completely coherent from top to bottom and was exceptionally neutral"

I would like to make a very long story here but the thing is that there's absolutely no need for that! The sound was just so coherent, without obvious flaws, that it was difficult to critizise. It was a sound that you immediately accept and forget about. Then all you do is listen to the music. In short: this system could not be critizised.

What surprised me though was that I never ever heard the sub in a bad way. By that I mean that for sure I was aware that a sub must have been playing because these little speakers couldn't produce the very deep bass notes we heard from time to time, but it just never and I mean never made itself heard in a non coherent way.

For all intent and purpose, the sub blended in perfectly with the main speakers.

The Trigon amps are beautiful to look at.

Small and clean-looking, they also have smart and informative display that for instance shows the power voltage that it's receiving.

Playing lp's

After playing several cd's and sacd's, out came the records. I have to admit: knowing good analog from friends, I expected a lot. But coming after the DCS, playing well recorded cd's and the sacd layer of my oft-used Patricia Barber's Nightclub, lp's sounded a bit dull and undynamic. I was missing a lot of air and freshness, compared to the dcs. Now I know that DCS is capable of stunning detail and air but analog is supposed to be better! We tried a few lp's but my initial feeling remained. I'm not sure what caused this. It could be a number of things: from wrong asjustment of the arm to a mismatch in impedance or it could just be the sound of the turntable and/or arm. Everything about this turntable is very rigid so it could very well also be part of its inherent sound. My own turntable, a Mitchell Gyro SE was also very rigid, with its Tecnoarm (a modified Rega RB250) and it too sounded quite dark. I have a growing suspicion that very rigid turntables are not so good at fine nuances or airy highs.

This time, for me this wasn't difficult like it usually is! Sure, analog was more free and fluid and better filled the room with ambiance, but the dullness had made it sound as if a tape was playing and the heads were dirty. We weren't about to tweak the turntable so we left it at the few records we played and reverted to digital.

The speaker and sub block the entrance to the kitchen somewhat, but you've got to make some sacrifices for good sound!

Although the position of the sub looks odd, this turned out to be the best position for it.

The DCS player has backlit buttons. Their colour changes depending on the type of disc present or the lack thereof.

Christiaan Punter 6-8-2009

Conclusion

A very fine system that produces effortless sound in a highly detailed manner. The balance between analytical components such as the dcs and Trigon and warm, relaxed cables like Harmonic Technology on the other hand is really well chosen.

After having listened to digital for most of the evening, now it was time to switch to...

Analog

Main Components:

DCS P8i SACD-player

Trigon TRV 100 preamp

Trigon TRE-50 mono poweramp

Trigon Advance Phono amp

Pro-ject RP9 turntable with Benz Micro Glider H element

Revel Performa M20 monitors

MJ Acoustics Reference MK 100 subwoofer

Speakercables:

Harmonic Technology Pro-11 singlewired

Interlinks:

Harmonic Technology Pro Sillway MK3 (pre-power)

Harmonic Technology Pro Sillway MK2 interlinks

Nordost Tyr interlink (cinch) (cd player)

Powercords and Poweraccessories:

Nordost Vishnu (cd player)

Nordost Shiva 2x (poweramps)

Trigon (preamp)

Harmonic Technology pro-ac II (sub)

PS Audio Quintet powercenter with Oyade Tunami GPX PC

Kemp QA and Kemp SNS plugs

various accessories:

Gryphon Exorcist demagnetiziser

Target rack filled met leadshot

Studio Almaar platter on top

2 Cyrus stableplateau for the poweramps

Nordost Pulsar Cones and Masterbase

The turntable wasn't used until after I had my full impression of the system and we were just listening for fun.

The table looks gorgeous on the glossy composite platter made by Studio Alkmaar. In the Pro-ject arm sits a Benz Glider H MC element.

*Swapping subwoofer cables

Originally there was a Harmonic Technology Pro ACII with regular connectors on the sub (left picture). First we changed it for the new version with Furutech plugs and after that also listened to a Siltech SPX10 which was articulate, but more grey and less full sounding.

Nitpicking

Don't get me wrong: this is a very balanced system and it is almost without weaknesses. But I did notice two things that can possibly be improved upon:

1: Overall, I could do with a little bit more colour. Some more flesh on the bones so to say. This is something that the dcs is probably guilty of most as well as partially maybe the speakers. For example, when I compare this sound to the sound of system 6, with which this setup really is quite comparable in terms of neutrality, stability and lack of coloration, I find that the other system 6 sometimes has aggressive highs, but it has a nice, full sound with lots of flesh on the bones. In this case I think the Wadia is largely responsible. But the Wadia doesn't entirely have the same resolution, airyness and neutrality that the dcs has. So, this really is a matter of deciding what is most important for you because you just can't have it all.

2: This is even less of a factor that the previous one, but it became clear that even though the sound was quite loose from the speakers, and detailing is fine, there was little center image focus to speak of. This is something that is easy for Marin Logans and even for the B&W N804's. I don't think that this is a fault of the speakers or any component but may come down more to placement of the speakers. But since the system was so very neatly laid out, we didn't experiment with this.

But that's it! That's a very good score, considering no components were swapped, no cables*, no changes whatsoever. Making a system perform in a synergistic way has little to do with just buying fancy stuff; this owner obviously has a good pair of ears:-)

The cabling is a surprising mixture of Harmonic Technology and Nordost. Harmonic Technlogy usually sounds composed, rich and slightly relaxed. Nordost is completely opposite: fast, tight and lean. In this setup the combination works very well.

CD's used:

Patricia Barber - Nightclub (Hybrid gold sacd)

Craig Chacuico and Russ Freeman - From the Red Woods to the Rockies

Holly Cole - Best of (live)

Holly Cole - It happened overnight

Bobo Stenson Trio - Cantado (audio-tip!)

This unassuming device is mostly responsible for the wealth of low level detailing and airy, open sound of the system: the dcs P8i cd/sacd player. It can upsample cd's to DSD, giving them some of the benefits of SACD's.

hifi-advice.com

Christiaan Punter