What is the coolest HiFi you ever actually listened to?
D. C. Bingaman
In the late seventies I put together a system similar to one I
heard at Peter Mcgrath's place in Miami in 1977, (then a little
storefront). McGrath's system was the Levinson HQD driven by Levinson
electronics and a modified Studer A80. Awesome on Levinson's own
recordings.
Anyway, I combined a pair of original Quads in custom stands with a
pair of Sequerra ribbon tweeters, (the Alnico magnet ones), and a pair
of custom KEF B139 based transmission line subwoofers, in cabinets
similar to the Hsu Research subs available today, (these are made of
cardboard forms for concrete bridge piers/columns, and are very, very
strong and stiffer than any cabinet built of panels because of the
curvature of the wall-get out your Strength of Materials text, kiddies
!) The Quads and tweeters were driven by a pair of Dennessen DM-4
toob amps, while the bottom end was driven by a pair of SWTP
Tigersaurus monsters augmented with individual 500 joule power
supplies. Front end was first a TVA preamp, and later an ARC SP-8, a
Linn LP-12 (of course), Ittok tonearm, and a hand-picked Koetsu Black,
using a Modjeski RM-4. Roger Modjeski provided set-up advice, (thanks
Roger !), and all the toobs. This system had the uncanny ability to
scare the hell out of you with the lights off, because you could swear
someone else was in the room with you. They were of course, at least
in spirit. Alas, kids, graduate school, and a set of blown panels,
(the spirit moved a little too much at times !), conspired to
liquidate this system, and I have been trying to get back to this
sound ever since ! Has any anyone ever heard the combination of the
original Quad's with a good tweeter ? It can be awesome.
Tim Brown
Richard Greiner's system in Madison, WI, in the late 70's. My memory
is spotty, but here's some highlights: Each front speaker had 4 15"
woofers, 4 8" mid bass drivers, 4 6" midrange drivers, 6 bullet
tweeters, all JBL. A stack of Crown DC300 amps, total power: 7
horsepower. We listened to classical, rock, jazz, and sound effects.
TB
Steve Zipser (Sunshine Stereo, Inc.)
D. C. Bingaman wrote:
> In the late seventies I put together a system similar to one I heard
> at Peter Mcgrath's place in Miami in 1977, (then a little
> storefront). McGrath's system was the Levinson HQD driven by
> Levinson electronics and a modified Studer A80. Awesome on
> Levinson's own recordings.
Just for the record, it was NOT a little storefront. They had a main
showroom which was about 80 feet long & 32 feet wide. They has a
second showroom upstairs, that was about 12 x 20. They also had 2
offices upstairs and an office & service center by the main showroom.
It was on the circle on Ponce de Leon Blvd.
The first thing you saw when you walked in was the HQD system, located
right at the front of the store, facing that whole 82 ft length. The
system consisted of 2 pr Quads, a pair Levinson modified Decca Ribbon
tweeter betyween them, and a pair of 24" Hartley sub woofers in custom
made enclosures. This was an impressive sight, and it sounded
glorious. How do I know this? I was the head salesman & manager for
McGrath's Sound Components from Nov 1977 to Nov 1980.
Zip
Randall Bradley
Interesting, I heard the actual HQD system in the mid '70s at Lyric's
old showroom. It had the ML2s driving and the Hartley Subs in
"washer/dryer combo" sized cabinets.
Very sweet. Very relaxed, perhaps the best that I heard in that time
period. Even today, it would be a true contender in many ways.
However, the ML2s and the matching JC1 preamp were filled with
Tanatalum caps, the rage of the day. I don't think that you'd like
them now, for that reason - Tantalum "sounds" like, well Tantalum.
_-_-randy
ra...@rdrc.rpi.edu <--- email here!
Rich
Definitely the "Ultra High End Room" at Sound by Singer in NYC.
Apogee Grands (about $85K); Krells stacked about waist high;
Mark Levinson digitals; you get the idea ..... I'd guess about
$300K or so for the complete rig (which INCLUDES a FREE in-home
setup <s> )
egoldste
> > In the late seventies I put together a system similar to one I heard
> > at Peter Mcgrath's place in Miami in 1977, (then a little
> > storefront). McGrath's system was the Levinson HQD driven by
> > Levinson electronics and a modified Studer A80. Awesome on
> > Levinson's own recordings.
[ cut -- rgd ]
I, too, heard the Levinson System in the late 70s. It was well
installed in the disc mastering room of Bob Ludwig at Masterdisc, NYC,
then one of the best in the business. Can't remember whether the sub
woofers were Hartley or Janus, but everything else was as described.
Six Levenson mono amps and Levinson crosovers. The Studor was a half
track stereo of remarkable phaise accuracy which played back studio
masters from the finest studios and artists the world over...
One one occasion, Ludwig was playing back his superb lacquor of our
"live" M-S location master (which in M-S recording can also be the
original, no generational loss!). We were all intently listening and
evaluating both his work and ours, when just as one of the cuts was
ending a very faint voice come from dead behind us and about 150 feet
away and couple of floors below. Startled from our task, we all swung
around to see who and what it was... but then quickly realised that
this didn't make sense. A couple of disconcerting second passed; there
was no mistaking the sound and its location, but given the superb
installation at Masterdisc, it could not possibly have eminated from
where it seemed to come from...
Well, my mouth must have fallen open wide with astonishment when I
remembered... it was the sound made during the recording of one of the
takes, a janitor who was 150 feet away and a couple of floors below
the venue who forgot to keep still. I remember hearing it in my
headphones at the time, but as it was a good 60+ db down, it would not
be audible (I thought) over the total system noise of the finished
recording. But there it was, unmistakenly placed dead on 150 feet away
and a couple of floors below us by that Levenson system...
Even Ludwig was impressed...
Eric Goldstein, former recording engineer, now
Director of Creative Services/Communications
The BUCI Television Group
Boston, Massachusetts
|barry_waldron| Barry Waldron
FROM: egol...@bu.edu (egoldste)
TITLE: Re: What is the coolest HiFi you ever actually listened to?
There were three. My first really worthwhile stereo system
was compiled in the late 1960s and included a pair of large
homebuilt bass reflex enclosures. Sometime in the early
'70s I chanced to meet a man who told me about his custom
designed listening room and stereo system that he recently
completed using an insurance settlement from an industrial
accident.
The room was proportioned correctly and featured a dais at
one end that housed a pair of Klipschorns and a Belle
Klipsch center channel speaker. The electronics were all
MacIntosh and housed on a large metal rack. I do not
remember anything about the turntable, arm, and cartridge.
All of the components were highlighted with spot lights for
a stunning effect. It was a supurb system for its time
and made an impression on me because I was hearing things on
this one that were missing on my mediocre system.
After a couple of listening sessions I decided that I really
liked the bass from the K-horns but could live without the
midrange and tweeter horns.
Not long after this, a friend and I attended a hi-fi show
(one predating the "Stereophile" shows) in the Bay Area.
Three exhibits impressed me. The first was the Cerwin Vega
room which had a warning and disclaimer on the door stating
that very high sound pressure levels were inside! The
second exhibit was for the KLH-9 electrostatic speakers.
They hissed a bit but were very transparent. Being
unconventional, large, and thin, they were very "cool." The
third was the Electro-Voice room. They were just introducing
a new line of speakers and to highlight them, the room was empty
except for a blackboard with some equations on it, and an
equipment rack. We were told by the demonstrator that the
new speakers were behind the curtains, located on the far side
of the room.
Visitors sat on the floor and listened to the company represent-
ative talk about a new line and the theory that went into their
revolutionary new designs. The names of two gentlemen were
frequently referred to: Thiel and Small. Although I didn't
realize the ramifications then, what I was withnessing was the
beginning of a new age--that of using T/S parameters to design
speakers. What we heard truly shocked us. As the music began
to play, the drapes were backlit and revealed what appeared to
be two rather tall yet narrow enclosures. The sound was rich and
the bass was strong. The curtains soon parted and what met our
anticipating eyes were two rather small bookshelf enclosures
sitting atop two pillars! How could this be? Never before had
such full bodied sound come from such small boxs! "Where are
the subs", someone asked. (The only satellites we knew of
were "Sputniks". This was way before diminutive bass
enclosures that hid behind drapes or under tables.) I do not
know how successful this line of E-V speakers was but they
impressed me. Being a homebuilder, I wanted to know more
about these equations.
In the mid '70s, another customer in a parts store told me
about a magazine called "The Audio Amateur" and of a full range
electrostatic speaker project that included a 900 watt Class A,
Drive Drive amplifier. Now, boys and girls, this was unreal,
considering that in those days a high powered amplifier might be
150 watts. I knew I liked what I had heard a few years before
from the KLH electrostats so I was definitely interested.
I did nothing about it for a couple of years, but then a second
article appeared, and wonder of wonders--the author lived
only a few miles away. I called and made arrangements to
hear his full range ESLs and accompanying Transmission Line
woofers. A few days later, I made the short drive to see
and hear a system that would radically change my life.
Author, inventer, hobbyist, and audiophile, Roger Sanders
turned on his system and played some records--wet, no less.
The sound was thrilling. The imaging was superb. I was
weak in the knees and glad to be sitting down; yet, I was
not prepared for what was to come next. Roger switched to the
tape deck and played a long selection of master recordings of
the local symphony orchastra. The sound was rich and
dynamic and far beyond the quality of anything I had heard
in stores. Even when played at a quiet level the music did not
fall apart. I was later to learn that this is another quality
of the electrostat. I was hooked, but, I needed to catch my
breath.
I had to have a set. What I chose to build was a system that
used two of the speakers and electronics that were the "coolest
Hi-Fi (I) actually ever listened to"--the K-horns, ESLs, and,
the Direct Drive amp. I worked on my project every day for
several months, and eventually, my dream system was born.
Over the years Roger Sanders and I have designed other systems,
however, they all include an ESL and T/L. They're "the coolest."
You can have a set, too, with a bit of work. It will be a
labor of love, and definitely "the coolest Hi-Fi you ever
actually listened to."
Barry
ESL Information eXhchange
bwal...@calweb.com
John Kramer
My brother in law had a Dayton Wright SPA pre-amp driving a Sumo amp
(The Power) was it`s name. this amp was humongus and the manual stated
that it was 100% stable into any load reqardless of waveform, phase,
or load. It was driving a pair of Dayton Wright ESL`s in a near field
position and a big room. This was the kind of system I still dream of
today. The Dayton Wrights were a very hard 2 ohm load and very
capacitive, thats probably why they were not popular but that amp made
them shine. It was something like 1000wpc into that load. To this day
I say that was the best I`ve heard, playing direct to disks and some
live to 2 track stuff was almost scary in that the reproduction of the
voices were so real.
highenda...@gmail.com
A pair of Hill Plasmatronic loudspeakers powered by Tim de Parvicini tube mono amplifiers, playing a vinyl jazz recording of Ella Fitzgerald.
With the lights turned down low, the playback system just disappeared, and Ella was RIGHT THERE there in the room with you.
Gave me goose bumps.
Peter Wieck
I am highly prejudiced - I think the coolest systems are the ones that are most accessible to their users.
Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA
emrofs...@gmail.com
I think the coolest systems are at both extremes- stratospherically expensive and demanding of resources, and inexpensive but cleverly designed to offer most of what the expensive systems delivered at <1% of the cost and vastly reduced demands of the room and ancillary equipment and bank account. that said, I was most impressed with [on the cheap end] a Bose SR-1 Cinemate that painted the whole front half of the room with seamless and mellow sound and with non-position-dependent imaging. but on the sky-high end [circa 1982], at Definitive Audio in Seattle, I heard a pair of Magnapan Tympani multi-panel speakers that dominated one end of the acoustically correct listening room, on the other end were a pair of dorm- refrigerator-sized class-A monoblocks that put out 50 watts each [barely enough to drive the Magnapans beyond background level] and heated the room past the limit of comfort. it also did the "disappearing speaker" bit regardless of listener position, but also offered a degree of transparency [compared to the Bose] where one felt transported to the original recording venue, in this case a direct-to-disc record of a Bach organ performance. one could "feel" the ambience of the church where the recording was made, one could "feel" the presence of the organ and its interaction with the room, and the phonographic surface noise, curiously enough, seemed to float mid-room, almost palpably cloud-like. it had absolutely no fatigue to its sound quality, I could have listened to it for weeks. to this day, I consider that a mental reference of what "good and accurate sound" is all about.
Peter Wieck
Most of us, however, listen in venues that include 'other things' - such as kits, cats, sacks and wives, dogs, grand kids and more. Systems that can perform and transport under those conditions are "Way Cool".
I keep big Maggies, AR and, recently, a pair of Dynaco A35s. An interesting study in contrasts - as well as some pretty remarkable sound.
a...@littlepinkcloud.invalid
> The best system I ever heard was at circa mid-1980s Audio One store
> in West Hollywood.
acoustic guitar recording.
Andrew.