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Frank's system
#1
First the old bits!
I have a Goldmund Reference turntable with T3f arm, Ortofon Jubilee and A90 cartridges with an Ortofon T3000 SUT.
An Emt 948 TT with either Stanton of Decca Super Gold cartridge.
A Lynx Theta tuner, which is a Magnum Dynalab board in a Lynx matching case.
I use a Goldmund Mimesis 36+ CD transport.
For streaming I have a Meridian Sooloos Control 15, Na NVA TFS (which is a dedicated music PC running J-River and DBPoweramp) or an iMac running iTunes.
My Devialets are 800 updated from D-Premiers. I have only just got the second unit back updated and notice a considerable reduction in stereo depth to a pair of D-Premiers, I must investigate this and give the data to Devialet. Last time I heard a similar effect was when Amarra did an update which they quickly changed again.
I have several sets of speakers but the main ones (too heavy to carry in and out) are Goldmund Epilog 1&2 and Tune Audio Animas. The Goldmunds are efficient for a box speaker but a tough load. The Animas are 109dB/watt and an easy load. 800W is a bit daft into them...
I have a REL Studio subwoofer.

The Devialet replaced a Goldmund Mimesis 20/22/29.4 monos combo. It is the first amp I heard to match the Goldmund on clarity, speed and timbre. The Goldmund stereo was a touch deeper and it had a bit more background noise (these could well be linked). The Devialet uses much less leccy.

I listen to classical music 90% of the time, and for this streaming solutions have been a frustration to tag such that they make sense, order the works in a useful way and the track names are short enough to read on a portable player screen. I find naming a playlist in iTunes such that a work is easy and obvious to find works fairly well. The Sooloos has the most potential but also requires the most work to tag, since its automatic system is the worst I have tried for classical.

I only listen to LPs when what I want to listen to I only have on LP.

Before I went into motor racing full time I worked for Garrard so my main experience in hifi (as an engineer rather than consumer) is in record players.

Edit, oh I have an Astell & Kern 240 which plays any sort of file and has an optical output so I can use it into the Devialet as well as headphones (though the new models are specced to 96/24 rather than the D-Premier's 192/24 so some new models won't play all files)
Devialet Original d'Atelier 44 Core, Job Pre/225, Goldmund PH2, Goldmund Reference/T3f /Ortofon A90, Goldmund Mimesis 36+ & Chord Blu, iMac/Air, Lynx Theta, Tune Audio Anima, Goldmund Epilog 1&2, REL Studio. Dialog, Silver Phantoms, Branch stands, copper cables (mainly).
Oxfordshire

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#2
Frank, thanks for a most excellent account of your system.

I share your pain re. tagging classical music. I've only recently discovered JRiver, which is an exceptionally rich and configurable database for music storage. The iPad JRemote app is outstanding. I'm running JRiver on a disused Windows PC via ethernet. Two weeks in and not a single glitch.

I hope your 800 sorts itself out. It would be alarming if it offered a less immersive sound than your dual D-Premiers.

Matt

Sonos Connect (W4S) > DSpeaker Antimode 2.0 > Sanders Magtech > Martin Logan Montis
Sonos Connect (W4S) > Devialet 200 > Vivid V1.5
Silver Phantoms (just the two)
London
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#3
(18-Jun-2014, 22:51)Jwg1749 Wrote: Frank, thanks for a most excellent account of your system.

I share your pain re. tagging classical music. I've only recently discovered JRiver, which is an exceptionally rich and configurable database for music storage. The iPad JRemote app is outstanding. I'm running JRiver on a disused Windows PC via ethernet. Two weeks in and not a single glitch.

I hope your 800 sorts itself out. It would be alarming if it offered a less immersive sound than your dual D-Premiers.

Matt

Thanks. I am not sure the flat stereo in the 800 is due to the new model, some phase anomaly when 2 are linked, V7 firmware or just that the D-Premier was better in this respect.
I can check a single unit and v6 firmware but I no longer have a D-Premier to try.
I noticed it on Roger Water's Amused to Death album. I don't listen to it much and I had not done so for a while. It is recorded in Q-sound, of which I know nothing, but has very specific stereo images of the people interviews overlaid on the music. I have used it for years evaluating equipment for stereo effects. With the new 800 the image was completely flat and uninteresting. I tried it from CD and streaming to make sure it wasn't an Air problem and both were the same. I haven't tried the LP since analogue isn't good enough to give the full effect anyway. I will try a single unit and V6, but it is a royal PITA, I hate doing evaluations, I bought my system to listen to music!

Thanks for the tip about JRiver. I have JRiver on my NVA TFS and have been impressed, but I when I removed PCs from my network when I retired it worked so much better I that am reluctant to have a Windows machine back on there now.
JRiver is available for Mac, but with over a decade's worth of rips in my iTunes library the thought of re0doing it all deprives me of the will to live...
I think streaming is not really for me as my main source.
Devialet Original d'Atelier 44 Core, Job Pre/225, Goldmund PH2, Goldmund Reference/T3f /Ortofon A90, Goldmund Mimesis 36+ & Chord Blu, iMac/Air, Lynx Theta, Tune Audio Anima, Goldmund Epilog 1&2, REL Studio. Dialog, Silver Phantoms, Branch stands, copper cables (mainly).
Oxfordshire

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#4
Hi Frank, are these the Goldmund speakers you have? Sorry getting a bit confused by all the model numbers... does the Epilog 1 and 2 come as a set?

http://www.goldmund.com/en/products/epilogue_1plus2

Guillaume
Industry disclosure: UK distributor for Shunyata Research

220 PRO, totaldac d1 server with additional external power supply, totaldac d1-seven, Echole PSU for Totaldac, Wilson Audio Sasha 2, Shunyata Research cables, Shunyata Hydra Alpha A10 + DPC-6 v3, Various Entreq ground boxes and cables, Entreq Athena level 3 rack, 2 X SOtM sNH-10G with sCLK-EX + 10MHz Master Clock input + sPS-500 PSU, i5 sonicTransporter w/ 1TB SSD

UK
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#5
(18-Jun-2014, 21:27)f1eng Wrote: My Devialets are 800 updated from D-Premiers. I have only just got the second unit back updated and notice a considerable reduction in stereo depth to a pair of D-Premiers

I only have a single 250 recently updated from a D-Premier. Size of the stereo depth (and width) is just about the same as with the D-Premier, but the 250 has a bit more detail. 250 is running 7.1.1 while I was using 5.7.3 on the D-Premier.
Was stereo depth good when you were using only one 250?
*
Devialetless!
Roon, ROCK/Audiolense XO/Music on NAS/EtherRegen/RoPieee/USPCB/ISORegen/USPCB/Sound Devices USBPre2/Tannoy GOLD 8
250 Pro CI, MicroRendu(1.4), Mutec MC-3+USB
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#6
(19-Jun-2014, 15:54)GuillaumeB Wrote: Hi Frank, are these the Goldmund speakers you have? Sorry getting a bit confused by all the model numbers... does the Epilog 1 and 2 come as a set?

http://www.goldmund.com/en/products/epilogue_1plus2

Guillaume

Guillaume, I apologise, I must have missed this post. That link it to what I have, or at least the latest version of what I have. There are 3 Goldmund speaker modules in the Epilog series, 1, 2 and 3. The 1 can be bought as a full range speaker. An Epilog 2 pair adds a bit of extra bass (from 34 Hz -3dB to 26Hz) and more power handling.
The next step is to add an Epilog 3 as a subwoofer, and the final step is to add further pair of Epilog 1s and another Epilog 3, they are then set up with Epilog 3 on the bottom, Epilog 1 next, Epilog 2 on its side and then the second pair of Epilog 1s upside down on top. For the home theatre system the lower Epilog 1s are used in mono as a phantom centre channel.

Hope that explains! They are now offered as active speakers with digital inputs as well, I believe.
Mine are the original passive models. Interestingly they have a filter on the input which does a very similar thing to the boxes on MIT and Transparent speaker cables, if I understand correctly.

(11-Aug-2014, 17:42)ogs Wrote: I only have a single 250 recently updated from a D-Premier. Size of the stereo depth (and width) is just about the same as with the D-Premier, but the 250 has a bit more detail. 250 is running 7.1.1 while I was using 5.7.3 on the D-Premier.
Was stereo depth good when you were using only one 250?

I didn't notice, to be honest. I mainly used the 250 with my horn speakers which have less precise imaging than box speakers anyway (IME) it was when I connected to the Epilogs I noticed the stereo image on the Q-sound recorded Amused to Death CD which had been astonishing with the D-Premier was much flatter and in the plane of the speakers.
I could do some experiments but I like listening to music and I loathe and hate sound quality evaluations of kit so something needs to bug me for me to put the tedious effort into comparing sound quality!
Devialet Original d'Atelier 44 Core, Job Pre/225, Goldmund PH2, Goldmund Reference/T3f /Ortofon A90, Goldmund Mimesis 36+ & Chord Blu, iMac/Air, Lynx Theta, Tune Audio Anima, Goldmund Epilog 1&2, REL Studio. Dialog, Silver Phantoms, Branch stands, copper cables (mainly).
Oxfordshire

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#7
(11-Aug-2014, 19:28)f1eng Wrote: I didn't notice, to be honest. I mainly used the 250 with my horn speakers which have less precise imaging than box speakers anyway (IME) it was when I connected to the Epilogs I noticed the stereo image on the Q-sound recorded Amused to Death CD which had been astonishing with the D-Premier was much flatter and in the plane of the speakers.
I could do some experiments but I like listening to music and I loathe and hate sound quality evaluations of kit so something needs to bug me for me to put the tedious effort into comparing sound quality!

I also use Amused to Death for evaluating. The dog barking to the right in the beginning of the first track is a good indicator of width and feeling of being 'inside' the sound.
I hope you'll get it sorted
*
Devialetless!
Roon, ROCK/Audiolense XO/Music on NAS/EtherRegen/RoPieee/USPCB/ISORegen/USPCB/Sound Devices USBPre2/Tannoy GOLD 8
250 Pro CI, MicroRendu(1.4), Mutec MC-3+USB
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#8
(11-Aug-2014, 22:05)ogs Wrote:
(11-Aug-2014, 19:28)f1eng Wrote: I didn't notice, to be honest. I mainly used the 250 with my horn speakers which have less precise imaging than box speakers anyway (IME) it was when I connected to the Epilogs I noticed the stereo image on the Q-sound recorded Amused to Death CD which had been astonishing with the D-Premier was much flatter and in the plane of the speakers.
I could do some experiments but I like listening to music and I loathe and hate sound quality evaluations of kit so something needs to bug me for me to put the tedious effort into comparing sound quality!

I also use Amused to Death for evaluating. The dog barking to the right in the beginning of the first track is a good indicator of width and feeling of being 'inside' the sound.
I hope you'll get it sorted

the image of the narration of the old man at the beginning and end on a good system is well outside the left hand speaker and well into the room, probably around a meter or two nearer the listener than the speaker.
With the 800 it is more or less in the LH speaker with v7 software and a bit closer with v7.1.
I have slightly moved some furniture and that may have had an effect too. I don't notice with the horn speakers which I listen to most so not too worried.
Devialet Original d'Atelier 44 Core, Job Pre/225, Goldmund PH2, Goldmund Reference/T3f /Ortofon A90, Goldmund Mimesis 36+ & Chord Blu, iMac/Air, Lynx Theta, Tune Audio Anima, Goldmund Epilog 1&2, REL Studio. Dialog, Silver Phantoms, Branch stands, copper cables (mainly).
Oxfordshire

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#9
(12-Aug-2014, 13:25)f1eng Wrote:
(11-Aug-2014, 22:05)ogs Wrote:
(11-Aug-2014, 19:28)f1eng Wrote: I didn't notice, to be honest. I mainly used the 250 with my horn speakers which have less precise imaging than box speakers anyway (IME) it was when I connected to the Epilogs I noticed the stereo image on the Q-sound recorded Amused to Death CD which had been astonishing with the D-Premier was much flatter and in the plane of the speakers.
I could do some experiments but I like listening to music and I loathe and hate sound quality evaluations of kit so something needs to bug me for me to put the tedious effort into comparing sound quality!

I also use Amused to Death for evaluating. The dog barking to the right in the beginning of the first track is a good indicator of width and feeling of being 'inside' the sound.
I hope you'll get it sorted

the image of the narration of the old man at the beginning and end on a good system is well outside the left hand speaker and well into the room, probably around a meter or two nearer the listener than the speaker.
With the 800 it is more or less in the LH speaker with v7 software and a bit closer with v7.1.
I have slightly moved some furniture and that may have had an effect too. I don't notice with the horn speakers which I listen to most so not too worried.

Hi Frank are these your speakers? Wow!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4E5selJWElg

Guillaume
Industry disclosure: UK distributor for Shunyata Research

220 PRO, totaldac d1 server with additional external power supply, totaldac d1-seven, Echole PSU for Totaldac, Wilson Audio Sasha 2, Shunyata Research cables, Shunyata Hydra Alpha A10 + DPC-6 v3, Various Entreq ground boxes and cables, Entreq Athena level 3 rack, 2 X SOtM sNH-10G with sCLK-EX + 10MHz Master Clock input + sPS-500 PSU, i5 sonicTransporter w/ 1TB SSD

UK
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#10
(03-Sep-2014, 20:45)GuillaumeB Wrote: Hi Frank are these your speakers? Wow!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4E5selJWElg

Guillaume

Trust Mr G to slip in some gratuitous video of a Totaldac D1 ......
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