System #460 (CLX)

[roberto]

Hola Bevensee. I spent more of the half of my life listening to the analogue players, these are, reel to reelt tape decks, turntables, etc. Well, digital on these days is very good, and I think, with all respect, as good as vinyl. The Time is the clue too. I listen more music now, thanks to Itunes. As you do know, needles are very expensive and they wear during the regular use. Also, they collect a lot of dust, making when are dirty, horrible sound, and tons of distortion. Also, with the turntables, you have to deal with wow and flutter, lateral distortion, etc. in other words, vinyl is not perfect. Have you seeing a -20 dB 10KHz signal wave tone through any cartridge, and the same 10KHz tone in a cd player? How about -30 or -50dB? You will be amazed how good this signal is reproduced by the cd player. On these days, the algorithm and the software to compose the digital signal to analogue, is awesome. The presentation of the stage, the size of the instruments, the timbre, the feeling of the musician(s) is outstanding too. At the beginning of the digital sound, it was like a joke. I had a lot of ear stress when I did listen to the music with the digital players, no matter the cost or the brand. This was my problem. Not now!...digital is very enjoyable. It is fast, clean, free of distortion, music is right away in your ears, and the over all sound is improving each day. There are so many different ways to process the signal path... but what I am doing is, I focused in what is good, and not in what is bad. The minor flaws that might arise, I do not put my effort and attention on these...what I do is the contrary. Try to do it, you might like it as I do, and really enjoy it. Again, thanks for your kind words. I can see that you have the same passion for the good sound! I wish you a very happy listening!

 

[patsuh]

Hi roberto,
You only have 1 depth i in your system?

 

[roberto]

Yes, only one, my room is too small, I think that I do not need more bass, I have plenty. I had two, but no big deal, but two subs are the right way if you have a bigger room ... so I sold one, and got the computer, the uLink and the M-DAC digital processor. Big change for better in my system. Right now, I am trying the Ref USB to coax converter, and I am liking very much what I am listening. It opens up more the sound stage and less digital garbage. I am listening crystal clear music. Regards my friend. Happy listening!

 

[roberto]

Just wanted to shared my RefLink from Bel Canto. The computer sound now is outstanding. I am really enjoying a great, natural, well balanced, free of glare, with the right timbre and harmonic context and all this coming from my Mac Mini. It is a wow!!! Happy listening!

 

[roberto]

Also, I am back with my tube amp. I just installed in it, the KT-120 power tubes, replacing my 6550Cs. Also, a little adjustment at the bias. I am truly having a great time, with such of wonderful musician(s) playing for me!... I am a kind of selfish, but it is the truth. I am getting goosebumps, and I am catching myself with my foot, moving it along the rhythm and beat of the music! Superb! Happy listening to all!

 

[roberto]

Well, 5 months had passed and now I am playing with the Bel Canto mono blocks model Evo2 MKII. They exhibit a very nice tonal balance, with outstanding dynamics. The bass is robust and the mid-range is clean, there in no glare at the voices, but I am missing the tube magic sound. I am going to change some interconnects to see what happens. Also, now I have the Stage X too. I will keep you posted. Happy listening.

 

[slowGEEZR]

Congrats, enjoy!

 

[twich54]

ahhhh ..... the never ending pursuit of perfection, I'm sure your ears are happy Roberto !!

 

[roberto]

Dear friends, I am very impressed by the sound of these digital power mono-blocks. I thought that they were totally different, but the stage presentation and the tonal balance is not bad. The highs are a little bright, but I am working on this, with cables. I will post my finding later on. I also found in my pandora box, a Harmonic Recovery System. I tweaked it at the power supply and the input caps, and it is singing nicely along with the Bel Canto amps. For classical music, I still prefer the tube sound, but for jazz, popular, rock, easy listening, new age, they are very clean and very dynamic. I can not stand high level for too long period. My ears started to bleed. Even that I can not listen any distortion, I get ear fatigue with high level, less than 95 dB at my seating position (average). Normaly, I am into the 80 to 85 db of SPL at my golden seating position. Thank you so much for your nice words, guys, happy listening.

 

[Bernard]

For classical music, I still prefer the tube sound, but for jazz, popular, rock, easy listening, new age, they are very clean and very dynamic.

Roberto, how about your favourite music (and mine) - female vocal?

And how about acoustic guitar, Maestro?

 

[roberto]

My dearest friend Bernard!... welcome back. I do like voices too, and my room is now in a very pleasant temperature. The tubes really put a lot of heat in my small room. A reason why I am in this search again. They are totally different than the SS amplifiers, and I had tried many, starting with Levinson and ending with Classe. But I am missing some magic that the tubes have. I can express this kind of magic in words, but it is like more life like, more harmonic texture with the tube amp. But, overall, I am very happy. The extension at high frequency is better with the Bel Canto, and also, these amps shows a big stage, and so wide, that listening a Harry Belafonte singing blues, the sax at the right channel is more to the right than where my CLX is. I can not have it all, but in general, this mono-blocks are singing to my ears better than the ARC hybrid that I had before. The sound is sweeter, mellow, a moderated level and average, where your ears do not bleed. Voices are very nice and there is no sore in the throat of the singers, and no cold, no flu. There is no hoarseness. I do like this a lot. I am going to open them and see the electronics at the beginning, just before the digital conversion starts, and at the end of the conversion, where analogue signal is. I have an oscilloscope and I could track easy the signal. I will check the quality of the components and perhaps I could do something here...I will report this later on. Happy listening!

 

[Bernard]

My dearest friend Bernard!... welcome back.

Roberto, amigo, I never left. I just didn't have anything worthwhile to post.

I can not have it all, but in general, this mono-blocks are singing to my ears better than the ARC hybrid that I had before. The sound is sweeter, mellow, a moderated level and average, where your ears do not bleed. Voices are very nice.......

I'm worried about you, Chico. First you abandoned LPs, and now you've moved to SS. Time to go back, I think, and do a comparison between LP on tubes and CD on SS.

 

[roberto]

Good to know that. I was missing you. You do not worry. LPs are the adjacent room. Turntables are at the left of the room. If I get the bug again, the it will take a couple of days on work, and will have them singing back. I just sold my C-J phono preamplifier, but still have a Mondial Acurus phono pre-amplifier around. My processor from Onkyo has phono preamplifier too. But the truth, I do not want to spin any more at this time of my life. I am having tons of fun tweaking digital, and it is working nicely. The amps are running cooler, and the sound is not that bad as I though it would be. It is another presentation, a very nice presentation too. Perhaps I am loosing my ears...I am just listening to the good things, and try to avoid what I do not like. Right now, I can not play to loud, because my ears hurt. This is not a bad sign, because a moderated level, I can stay over 10 hours playing beautiful music, and enjoying great musician(s) playing all kind of music, starting from latin music to Bach. The extension at high frequency is evident. The cymbals are a little more forward, but I am learning to understand the holographic size of the drums vs the other musical instruments around. I have a question, I did took a pic of my LPs and also took a pic of the Bel Canto amps. When I tried to upload the pics, the size of it is too big, and I am not allow to upload it. I do not know how I could placed the other pics. Same camera, same adjustments. Happy listening.

 

[Bernard]

Roberto, it's possible that the site reduced the size of the maximum allowable picture size. You could just use a package like Windows Picture Manager to reduce the size of your pictures.

 

[slowGEEZR]

Roberto, have you tried to use an online photo service? I use Smugbug. Once you have uploaded your photos to the service you can then select various sizes of pictures you wish to download to any site. It's very easy and Smugbug does all the resizing work. I pay a very small yearly fee and have virtually unlimited storage for photos and movies. There are other sites as well and some are free to use.

Good to know that. ... I have a question, I did took a pic of my LPs and also took a pic of the Bel Canto amps. When I tried to upload the pics, the size of it is too big, and I am not allow to upload it. I do not know how I could placed the other pics. Same camera, same adjustments. Happy listening.

 

[roberto]

Thanks for the help. I did try windows photo manager, and I think it worded. Here is what I have not. Happy listening!

 

[MPS]

All those vinyl, just wanting to get played..

 

[roberto]

:ROFL:Hahahahaha, you guys are too much!:bowdown: Yes, I have the VPI 16.5 record cleaning machine, and it does a great job. I make my own cleaning solution, it leaves no residue of liquid, debris and dirt. Fungus are cleaned too. It is very easy to do. 75% instill water, 22% iso-propyl alcohol, 2% mild detergent, 1% Agfa Agepon. The agepon is a solution that it is used for developing picture film...it is a molecular tension breaker, it makes to any liquid to flow. I was a truly LP fan. Now I am playing with my digital gear...Have a good happy listening, I will keep you posted how this is going. Again, thank you all, my dear friends!.

 

[edwinr]

Roberto, Roberto...

I agree with MPS - all that beautiful vinyl :drool: sitting on the shelves like jilted lovers - just waiting for someone to love them back...

:band:

 

[Chris Theriot]

How can you say your not an audiophile anymore? It's an affliction that is life long"for me at least" Always encourage yourself that u can do more