I eventually had a chance a few days ago to experience Jarvis and the Skogrand power cables.
Jarvis enhances the power supply fundamentally. Yet the improvement could not be learnt easily because there is no A/B comparison. PT told me that with Jarvis, the tube amps basically run into the optimal operating status without any run-in time. Another way of "indirect" appreciation on Jarvis is that it makes the difference of every single cable or equipment very transparent. PT showed this to me with an A/B/A comparison between Skogrand Beethoven (the one to be used for 11/7 show) and Skogrand Brahms (forget the cable class but it is 1-2 level lower than Beethoven) power cables on pre-amp.
The general belief is that the impact on power cables on pre-amp may not be as easily visualised as on, say, power-amp. However, with Javis installed, I could hear the most subtle thing that may not be easily ntoiced. We listened to Alan Tam for this comparison. I could hear his voice interacts with the surrounding air with Skogrand Beethoven power cable, but not with Brahms. It does not mean Brahms is no good. It just tells what Beethoven could bring in for improving the performance. No wonder Skogrand Beethoven is the chosen as the power cables in the 11/7 AE show.
The design of the 3rd AE Super Hi End Show (Part One)
The overwhelming success of last year does not guarantee immediate success of this year. I always remind myself that the 1st show was a failure and the 2nd one was merely the correction of the 1st one. The 3rd one thus must be an advancement of the 2nd. First, I decide to scale up the show to have 2 rooms. Second, I want to showcase 2 completely different schools of thoughts.
Room 1 – Approaching the theoretical limit
This room features a complete system by Trinity of Germany: media PC, DAC, Preamp and Mono Amplifiers. A complete suite of Trinity yields perfect measurement results. They are not generic results, but unique results that consistently shocked experienced audiophiles one after another for 2 straight years and growing. Many are “trinitized” thoroughly from top to bottom. The amplifier from Trinity is considered as “mother of all amplifiers” – distortion free over very wide frequency range under all loading. The amplifier is specified at 1 ohm. The only downside is limitation in “watt” figure. But field experiences confirm even a single stereo amplifier of only 25watt significantly outperforms other mono block amplifiers in excess of 200 watts. Another field experience of using trinity mono at 100 watt at 8 ohm driving Wilson Alexandria XLF far outperforms the previous mono amplifiers of 1,000 watt is another real life example.
The choice of the speakers for the Trinity system is the Goebel Epoque Reference together with the Ba Force subwoofer tower. The Goebel speaker features ONE SINGLE DRIVER COVERING 180 hz to 31,000 hz, absolutely zero phase error. Once you have experienced such wide range without phase error, the holographic feeling is “ghostly” alongside supreme transient responses. The main speakers also feature four 7” longthrow bass drivers and eight 7” longthrow passive drivers. In the sub tower, there are a total of sixteen 7” long throw bass drivers. Each bass driver has its own solidly milled chamber to minimize vibration interferences. The total weight of the Ba Force sub tower is close to 340kg or 750 pounds. The peculiarity of this design is that all bass drivers are concentrated to work below 180 hz. The layout of the array is meant to activate the room as evenly as possible alongside to generate the adequate volume for the lowest octave. The sub tower will also be driven by Trinity amplifiers.
The downside of this design is low sensitivity – 86db. At 170 hz, the impedance of the Epoque drops to 1.5 ohm, quite a number of amp cannot handle.
Pairing the Trinity suite with Goebel thus yields the most zero distortion figures ever on many parameters beginning at the DAC all the way to the amp, and the drivers on the speakers. The remaining challenge is the size of the room. I shall leave it to “fate” to determine how this system will fare at the HK Conventional Center.
The ultimate of the ultimate power cable that takes 200 man hours to build - Ruben - by Dalby Audio from the UK will be featured at the 3rd AE super show
Ralph is trying hard to finish as many pairs of Wagner as soon as possible, but constrained by parts delivery on time. I have ordered an extra 4 pairs to satisfy demand.
The époque fine will not be shown because (1) price is more or less the same as the big brother (2) no stock from Goebel.
Skogrand Beethoven series is definitely something from another planet, it belongs to the same league of Vertere HB bringing surprises one after the the one when I added the Vertere USB, phono and interconnect and now the Beethoven speaker cable and power cable.
I use 1 Beethoven power in the Monica preamp and could immediately experience the expansion of the soundstage along the 3-axis particularly on the depth. The improvement is an allround one compared to the Dalby Ode which I highly regard as the best mate with K15.
Beethoven speaker cable...sigh....It just KO my Goebel in 10 seconds...fortunately I have an external x-over in my Alpha requiring the use of 3 pairs of speaker cable (one from power to x-over, 2 from x-over to the midrange horn and treble horn) so I can happily keep the Goebel....
Over the years, many people asked me this question, “Who is going to put such huge horn speakers inside the living home?” Other usual comments are, “We dislike horn.” These are exactly the questions that feed me the energy to uphold the Horn school of thought.
This year, I am going to demonstrate an even larger mega horn system – the UNIVERSE. This is going to be a full blown frontloaded 4-way horn system. The lower bass horn is already huge. But the bass horn is simply gigantic which weighs 1 ton per channel. This is the only way where you can have the entire frequency range with consistent speed loaded by horn. It is my belief that the AE show must be showing something unique that is not frequently seen. That makes it worthwhile.
The challenge of horn is not only the space, but the very fact that high sensitivity of it reveals both good and bad of the electronics. Everything matters: electricity, cables, rack, spikes, and even the presence of a router. That is why comments on Cessaro speakers from various Munich show varies tremendously. If everything is tackled well, then the immediacy and presence of the musicians will be brought to life. Every musical note delivers energy however tiny they are. The speed and the dynamic range will be very close to live performance. Even the small Wagner showcases the quality holistically at ease. Given the room is in excess of 130 square meter or 1,300 feet, we need the energy of the Universe to cover. Last year, the Carmen did a great job of filling in this big room. But Carmen’s lower mid bass is not loaded by horn. This year, audiences will be able to experience the true dynamic capability of the whole frequency range.
The Universe system will be driven by the masterpiece creation by Yamada Kazutoshi of Zanden audio – the CHUKOH master reference pre-amplifier, and the CHOUKU master reference amplifier (further improvement from last year). And the phono stage to be used in this show, has consistently impressed visitors lately from every corner, is the Wadax Trio Ultimate – the genius creation by Javier Guadalajara. Audiotechnique’s full crew including Lincoln Cheng and Rebecca had just recently come to review the AE showroom tested vinyl records one after another covering all types of music for 2 straight hours consequently earning their pre-show endorsements. The arm will be Touraj’s masterpiece – Vetere Reference arm to be mounted on the turntable that is commanding global attention now – Caeles by Physical Emotion. Last but not least is the Madake cartridge by Miyajima Lab. Only Craze rack 3 by SRA will be used alongside Virginia class isolation platforms.
Frankly speaking, I have never listened to the super line stage by Yamada san. Neither do I have a chance to audition the Caeles beforehand. That makes the show even more adventurous because I don’t know how they will perform in synergy with each other. I just trust my partners.
The logistic workload of the 3rd Super AE show is enormous for my crew that only consists of Ah Chung for transportation, Master Chik for analog consultancy, Master Wai for technical support, and Macus (Son of Marvel) for computer related support. Kahw is the designated photographer for the 3rd AE show- and I am truly thankful of his volunteer help. There are too many technical parameters to consider in the electricity domain. The total number of power cables and ground cables for these two rooms is around 50 altogether of the highest grade! Length of the cable needs to be studied well beforehand to avoid time loss as we only have one day – 7/10 to set everything up. And we need to move everything to HK Convention Center before 10:00pm on 7/9 (beginning time was however set at 6:00pm) so as to have a full day of set up beginning 7/10 early morning till evening.
And the dream team this year consists of 9 designers attending the show: Dietmar Braumer of Trinity (Germany), Miguel Alvarez of Tripoint Audio (US), Javier Guadalajara of Wadax (SPAIN), Touraj Moghaddam of Vetere (UK), L.P. Dalby of Dalby Audio (UK), Oliver Goebel of Goebel (Germany), Ralph Krebs of Cessaro (Germany), Yamada Kazutoshi of Zanden Audio (Japan), and Swen Pesch of Physical Emotion (Germany). VIP dinner will be held afterwards at Golden Bauhinia inside the HK Convention Center. All designers are assigned to accommodate in HOTEL JEN.
Once again, the ROOM 2 of TUBE/HORN is not meant to challenge the sales of mainstream conventional speaker camp. They will never be. It is more about an attitude, style and the willingness to be differed from the norm for as long as there are qualitative attributes that justify existence. Truth be told, the Cessaro Universe was sold before Munich Hi End show to a customer who has never listened to it before. And I shall deliver the Universe to his home on 7/12, the day after the super show. I am extremely grateful of his loyal support to walk through a very different path to his jubilation all through these years.
It is also my belief that for as long as musicality touches one’s soul is the end, execution does not matter. That is why I have chosen to demonstrate two systems with different prevailing school of thoughts. I understand both. And I am touched by both because I never see execution is the end.
Comments
May I join the conference call about "Jarvis"? I would like to kill Ultron too who lives in the electricity.
Best Regards Shinji
Not our comrade Marvel here but Marvel cartoon/movies.
Jarvis enhances the power supply fundamentally. Yet the improvement could not be learnt easily because there is no A/B comparison. PT told me that with Jarvis, the tube amps basically run into the optimal operating status without any run-in time. Another way of "indirect" appreciation on Jarvis is that it makes the difference of every single cable or equipment very transparent. PT showed this to me with an A/B/A comparison between Skogrand Beethoven (the one to be used for 11/7 show) and Skogrand Brahms (forget the cable class but it is 1-2 level lower than Beethoven) power cables on pre-amp.
The general belief is that the impact on power cables on pre-amp may not be as easily visualised as on, say, power-amp. However, with Javis installed, I could hear the most subtle thing that may not be easily ntoiced. We listened to Alan Tam for this comparison. I could hear his voice interacts with the surrounding air with Skogrand Beethoven power cable, but not with Brahms. It does not mean Brahms is no good. It just tells what Beethoven could bring in for improving the performance. No wonder Skogrand Beethoven is the chosen as the power cables in the 11/7 AE show.
The overwhelming success of last year does not guarantee immediate success of this year. I always remind myself that the 1st show was a failure and the 2nd one was merely the correction of the 1st one. The 3rd one thus must be an advancement of the 2nd. First, I decide to scale up the show to have 2 rooms. Second, I want to showcase 2 completely different schools of thoughts.
Room 1 – Approaching the theoretical limit
This room features a complete system by Trinity of Germany: media PC, DAC, Preamp and Mono Amplifiers. A complete suite of Trinity yields perfect measurement results. They are not generic results, but unique results that consistently shocked experienced audiophiles one after another for 2 straight years and growing. Many are “trinitized” thoroughly from top to bottom. The amplifier from Trinity is considered as “mother of all amplifiers” – distortion free over very wide frequency range under all loading. The amplifier is specified at 1 ohm. The only downside is limitation in “watt” figure. But field experiences confirm even a single stereo amplifier of only 25watt significantly outperforms other mono block amplifiers in excess of 200 watts. Another field experience of using trinity mono at 100 watt at 8 ohm driving Wilson Alexandria XLF far outperforms the previous mono amplifiers of 1,000 watt is another real life example.
The choice of the speakers for the Trinity system is the Goebel Epoque Reference together with the Ba Force subwoofer tower. The Goebel speaker features ONE SINGLE DRIVER COVERING 180 hz to 31,000 hz, absolutely zero phase error. Once you have experienced such wide range without phase error, the holographic feeling is “ghostly” alongside supreme transient responses. The main speakers also feature four 7” longthrow bass drivers and eight 7” longthrow passive drivers. In the sub tower, there are a total of sixteen 7” long throw bass drivers. Each bass driver has its own solidly milled chamber to minimize vibration interferences. The total weight of the Ba Force sub tower is close to 340kg or 750 pounds. The peculiarity of this design is that all bass drivers are concentrated to work below 180 hz. The layout of the array is meant to activate the room as evenly as possible alongside to generate the adequate volume for the lowest octave. The sub tower will also be driven by Trinity amplifiers.
The downside of this design is low sensitivity – 86db. At 170 hz, the impedance of the Epoque drops to 1.5 ohm, quite a number of amp cannot handle.
Pairing the Trinity suite with Goebel thus yields the most zero distortion figures ever on many parameters beginning at the DAC all the way to the amp, and the drivers on the speakers. The remaining challenge is the size of the room. I shall leave it to “fate” to determine how this system will fare at the HK Conventional Center.
I guess there will be a display of the Wagner at the show. It will become the best-selling hi-end horn speaker in HK.
The Goebel Epoque Reference together with the Ba Force subwoofer tower will be eye-opening for sure.
Will there be a display of its smaller brother Epogue Fine which suits the HK home environment more?
http://www.goebel-highend.de/data/epoque-fine/EpoqueFine_Hifistatement_en.pdf
Thanks!
CK
Ralph is trying hard to finish as many pairs of Wagner as soon as possible, but constrained by parts delivery on time. I have ordered an extra 4 pairs to satisfy demand.
The époque fine will not be shown because (1) price is more or less the same as the big brother (2) no stock from Goebel.
Skogrand Beethoven cable model reviews:
http://canadahifi.com/digital_edition/CHF57de/CHF57de.html#p=26
http://hifipig.com/skogrand-sc-beethoven-loudspeaker-cables
http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue75/sc_beethoven.htm
http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue79/skogrand_beethoven.htm
SC Beethoven (AKA Purist Ignis):
http://www.monoandstereo.com/2014/01/skogrand-cables-purist-ignis-cables.html
http://www.monoandstereo.com/2014/03/skogrand-cables-purist-ignis-with.html
http://www.stereotimes.com/post/skogrand-purist-ignis-speaker-cables
I use 1 Beethoven power in the Monica preamp and could immediately experience the expansion of the soundstage along the 3-axis particularly on the depth. The improvement is an allround one compared to the Dalby Ode which I highly regard as the best mate with K15.
Beethoven speaker cable...sigh....It just KO my Goebel in 10 seconds...fortunately I have an external x-over in my Alpha requiring the use of 3 pairs of speaker cable (one from power to x-over, 2 from x-over to the midrange horn and treble horn) so I can happily keep the Goebel....
Over the years, many people asked me this question, “Who is going to put such huge horn speakers inside the living home?” Other usual comments are, “We dislike horn.” These are exactly the questions that feed me the energy to uphold the Horn school of thought.
This year, I am going to demonstrate an even larger mega horn system – the UNIVERSE. This is going to be a full blown frontloaded 4-way horn system. The lower bass horn is already huge. But the bass horn is simply gigantic which weighs 1 ton per channel. This is the only way where you can have the entire frequency range with consistent speed loaded by horn. It is my belief that the AE show must be showing something unique that is not frequently seen. That makes it worthwhile.
The challenge of horn is not only the space, but the very fact that high sensitivity of it reveals both good and bad of the electronics. Everything matters: electricity, cables, rack, spikes, and even the presence of a router. That is why comments on Cessaro speakers from various Munich show varies tremendously. If everything is tackled well, then the immediacy and presence of the musicians will be brought to life. Every musical note delivers energy however tiny they are. The speed and the dynamic range will be very close to live performance. Even the small Wagner showcases the quality holistically at ease. Given the room is in excess of 130 square meter or 1,300 feet, we need the energy of the Universe to cover. Last year, the Carmen did a great job of filling in this big room. But Carmen’s lower mid bass is not loaded by horn. This year, audiences will be able to experience the true dynamic capability of the whole frequency range.
The Universe system will be driven by the masterpiece creation by Yamada Kazutoshi of Zanden audio – the CHUKOH master reference pre-amplifier, and the CHOUKU master reference amplifier (further improvement from last year). And the phono stage to be used in this show, has consistently impressed visitors lately from every corner, is the Wadax Trio Ultimate – the genius creation by Javier Guadalajara. Audiotechnique’s full crew including Lincoln Cheng and Rebecca had just recently come to review the AE showroom tested vinyl records one after another covering all types of music for 2 straight hours consequently earning their pre-show endorsements. The arm will be Touraj’s masterpiece – Vetere Reference arm to be mounted on the turntable that is commanding global attention now – Caeles by Physical Emotion. Last but not least is the Madake cartridge by Miyajima Lab. Only Craze rack 3 by SRA will be used alongside Virginia class isolation platforms.
Frankly speaking, I have never listened to the super line stage by Yamada san. Neither do I have a chance to audition the Caeles beforehand. That makes the show even more adventurous because I don’t know how they will perform in synergy with each other. I just trust my partners.
The logistic workload of the 3rd Super AE show is enormous for my crew that only consists of Ah Chung for transportation, Master Chik for analog consultancy, Master Wai for technical support, and Macus (Son of Marvel) for computer related support. Kahw is the designated photographer for the 3rd AE show- and I am truly thankful of his volunteer help. There are too many technical parameters to consider in the electricity domain. The total number of power cables and ground cables for these two rooms is around 50 altogether of the highest grade! Length of the cable needs to be studied well beforehand to avoid time loss as we only have one day – 7/10 to set everything up. And we need to move everything to HK Convention Center before 10:00pm on 7/9 (beginning time was however set at 6:00pm) so as to have a full day of set up beginning 7/10 early morning till evening.
And the dream team this year consists of 9 designers attending the show: Dietmar Braumer of Trinity (Germany), Miguel Alvarez of Tripoint Audio (US), Javier Guadalajara of Wadax (SPAIN), Touraj Moghaddam of Vetere (UK), L.P. Dalby of Dalby Audio (UK), Oliver Goebel of Goebel (Germany), Ralph Krebs of Cessaro (Germany), Yamada Kazutoshi of Zanden Audio (Japan), and Swen Pesch of Physical Emotion (Germany). VIP dinner will be held afterwards at Golden Bauhinia inside the HK Convention Center. All designers are assigned to accommodate in HOTEL JEN.
Once again, the ROOM 2 of TUBE/HORN is not meant to challenge the sales of mainstream conventional speaker camp. They will never be. It is more about an attitude, style and the willingness to be differed from the norm for as long as there are qualitative attributes that justify existence. Truth be told, the Cessaro Universe was sold before Munich Hi End show to a customer who has never listened to it before. And I shall deliver the Universe to his home on 7/12, the day after the super show. I am extremely grateful of his loyal support to walk through a very different path to his jubilation all through these years.
It is also my belief that for as long as musicality touches one’s soul is the end, execution does not matter. That is why I have chosen to demonstrate two systems with different prevailing school of thoughts. I understand both. And I am touched by both because I never see execution is the end.
PT