Silver bat of course serves me very well before the short interlude on replacing Neo with Eufrodite as my house speaker. With Silver Bat, German Tank, Eufrodite sounds a bit constrained although from a total package perspective, such combination still gives me unforgettable memory in a lot of music playback. I am tempted to get the Tron 211 mono next year together with the Eufrodite but I need to make such decision upfront before I become Mr. Baldur as my long awaited Baldur reference preamp should be at the doorstep, I cannot resist the temptation of trying the whole suite of German Tank...
What about yourself? Are you happy using Tron Syren and Cantata driving the Eufrodite? Do you think Tron mates well with Eufrodite?
It may be quite demanding for cantata to drive the big Horning. The cantata is good for the smaller Aristoteles, the best small floorstanding speaker I've come across so far. There are other users in the community with pictures on other thread.
I really wonder how those little resonators can change the physical nature of the room. This is not to say I have doubts on the expertise of PT proven with accolates everywhere. The small horning still looks proportional large to the room on the picture.
Taming the Eufrodite in your room is not easy. The isobraic bass drivers are difficult animals to work with.
"Take it from me the Syren is not Sharp. I have Avantgarde Horns and if the Syren was sharp or forward then it would show up on these speakers which are 110dB efficiency. It will be the other electronics - not the Syren!"
thanks for getting the advice from Graham. Syren is not sharp, it is an extremely transparent piece producing very rich tonal color as part of the texture and timbre of the musical objects but at the same time, it has clear and sharp contours on the rim. This is very difficult to be produced. In the past, I have had a lot of experience in having components /cables producing very rich tonal color and timbre but at the expense of the resolution on the contour(ie blurred images), or vice versa (ie sharp but tonally pale and non-solid texture).
When I plugged on the Wavac on the first 2 nights, I was using a stock power cable and I asked PT if Wavac is sensitive to power cords and other cables, his answer is a 'big' yes. So I changed to SMR EE power cord afterwards. Of course the improvement on the mid bass to low bass clarity and control is not insignificant. Base on this new cable setting and swapping to use the Syren as the preamp from Karan, my observation between Wavac and Syren (as a phono) is that Syren is more linear especially in the midrange with a very very good extension into the treble and bass. Coherence traversing from high to low and vice versa is extremely smooth and articulated. Speed and transient are top notch. On the other hand, Wavac is slightly iinclined to the warm side if I use Syren as Scale '0'. Deep bass punch is full of dynamics and ryhthmic. Comparatively speaking, Wavac's treble is a bit straightfoward than Syren and I can hear a bit more microdynamics and contrasts on Syren. Of course I am talking about very minute difference in order to spell out the total presentation between the two. These are very critical comparison which goes into at least the first and second decimal point on an 100-marks base.
Matching among Tron/Baldur/Eufrodite has not been proven as successful as Tron/Baldur/Neo. I think many of the veterans in this forum have advised me either to go for Baldur/Baldur/Neo or Tron/Tron/Eufrodite. I am currently in a 'mismatch' state but hopefully I could rectify / rationalise this in 2008 by either getting the upcoming Tron 211 power amp and then Eufrodite or remain status quo: Tron-Baldur/Baldur/Neo.
No doubt about Wavac at all. Your amp is the problem. The reservoir of power from your German tank contradicts Tron's fast transiet. Leading edges are being pulled out more by the german tank. Power are readily available for leading edges that always come first. Well, it is not exactly the fault of the german. This is a fundamental problem of mismatch. The warm tone of the Karan hides the problem.
I don't feel comfortable of your control component. You have the deep pockets for the front end, two super digital dacs, two top notch phono, two linestages, hell of a lot SMR EE cables. Why not another pair of amplifiers from another planet?
Why it has to be the Baldur all the way thru? From what you have now, it is not a matter of choosing which route to take. The components are all there for you to master them. You should have 2 systems doing different things for God's sake. What's the point of having all those top notch gears? Just to try them all with the wrong downstream?
When I read your posts, I am as excited as everyone to learn about your new toys. I never have a problem with the german tank. The matching german bomber must be hell of a sonic art. I look forward to a no-brainer report after their long anticipated reunion. What I pity are the expensive front ends.
Marvel bro, please walk a mature audio route to inspire us. It's the spirit that matters; In your wordings, that's vitality. Did I misunderstand you?
It is not a bad idea to have one more cartridges or tonearm to learn more. Unlike swapping dac, change phono always requires corresponding adjustment on the VTA and tracking force. You may spot the basic differences between them by swapping one phono with another.
I agree with this gentleman. I was browsing the audiovalve website last evening. I read lots of reviews about this great amp. The Baldur amplifiers use the 6AS7 or 6080 which is a dual triode and
was designed as a regulator tube. In the Baldur circuit, 8 of them are used in parallel push pull, so a lot of feedback will be used to keep things in check.
French Audio Legend Jean Hiraga loves the Baldur except one point:
" We would have like a little less distortion at frequencies raised to high power (without incidence on the listening results, this comment could depend on a question of sorting the tubes). The measured nominal power is conform to the manufacturer specifications, the distortion rate at high frequencies increasing
more severely above a hundred watts."
When the Baldur drives the highly efficienct Eufrodite, I suspect the high frequencies distort seriously as power increases. It should be fine with smaller scale music. For more difficult passages, the distortion compounds.
My humble view is don't use your Baldur to drive High Efficiency speaker. The syren, though I never got chance to listen, I think it is good stuff. It is not easy to reproduce the dynamic of opera singers voice.
Comments
It's been a long time.
Silver bat of course serves me very well before the short interlude on replacing Neo with Eufrodite as my house speaker. With Silver Bat, German Tank, Eufrodite sounds a bit constrained although from a total package perspective, such combination still gives me unforgettable memory in a lot of music playback. I am tempted to get the Tron 211 mono next year together with the Eufrodite but I need to make such decision upfront before I become Mr. Baldur as my long awaited Baldur reference preamp should be at the doorstep, I cannot resist the temptation of trying the whole suite of German Tank...
What about yourself? Are you happy using Tron Syren and Cantata driving the Eufrodite? Do you think Tron mates well with Eufrodite?
Marvel
It may be quite demanding for cantata to drive the big Horning. The cantata is good for the smaller Aristoteles, the best small floorstanding speaker I've come across so far. There are other users in the community with pictures on other thread.
I really wonder how those little resonators can change the physical nature of the room. This is not to say I have doubts on the expertise of PT proven with accolates everywhere. The small horning still looks proportional large to the room on the picture.
Taming the Eufrodite in your room is not easy. The isobraic bass drivers are difficult animals to work with.
Kingston
Direct answer from Graham Tricker of Tron:
"Take it from me the Syren is not Sharp. I have Avantgarde Horns and if the Syren was sharp or forward then it would show up on these speakers which are 110dB efficiency. It will be the other electronics - not the Syren!"
thanks for getting the advice from Graham. Syren is not sharp, it is an extremely transparent piece producing very rich tonal color as part of the texture and timbre of the musical objects but at the same time, it has clear and sharp contours on the rim. This is very difficult to be produced. In the past, I have had a lot of experience in having components /cables producing very rich tonal color and timbre but at the expense of the resolution on the contour(ie blurred images), or vice versa (ie sharp but tonally pale and non-solid texture).
When I plugged on the Wavac on the first 2 nights, I was using a stock power cable and I asked PT if Wavac is sensitive to power cords and other cables, his answer is a 'big' yes. So I changed to SMR EE power cord afterwards. Of course the improvement on the mid bass to low bass clarity and control is not insignificant. Base on this new cable setting and swapping to use the Syren as the preamp from Karan, my observation between Wavac and Syren (as a phono) is that Syren is more linear especially in the midrange with a very very good extension into the treble and bass. Coherence traversing from high to low and vice versa is extremely smooth and articulated. Speed and transient are top notch. On the other hand, Wavac is slightly iinclined to the warm side if I use Syren as Scale '0'. Deep bass punch is full of dynamics and ryhthmic. Comparatively speaking, Wavac's treble is a bit straightfoward than Syren and I can hear a bit more microdynamics and contrasts on Syren. Of course I am talking about very minute difference in order to spell out the total presentation between the two. These are very critical comparison which goes into at least the first and second decimal point on an 100-marks base.
Matching among Tron/Baldur/Eufrodite has not been proven as successful as Tron/Baldur/Neo. I think many of the veterans in this forum have advised me either to go for Baldur/Baldur/Neo or Tron/Tron/Eufrodite. I am currently in a 'mismatch' state but hopefully I could rectify / rationalise this in 2008 by either getting the upcoming Tron 211 power amp and then Eufrodite or remain status quo: Tron-Baldur/Baldur/Neo.
Marvel
I don't feel comfortable of your control component. You have the deep pockets for the front end, two super digital dacs, two top notch phono, two linestages, hell of a lot SMR EE cables. Why not another pair of amplifiers from another planet?
Why it has to be the Baldur all the way thru? From what you have now, it is not a matter of choosing which route to take. The components are all there for you to master them. You should have 2 systems doing different things for God's sake. What's the point of having all those top notch gears? Just to try them all with the wrong downstream?
When I read your posts, I am as excited as everyone to learn about your new toys. I never have a problem with the german tank. The matching german bomber must be hell of a sonic art. I look forward to a no-brainer report after their long anticipated reunion. What I pity are the expensive front ends.
Marvel bro, please walk a mature audio route to inspire us. It's the spirit that matters; In your wordings, that's vitality. Did I misunderstand you?
Your fans
I agree with this gentleman. I was browsing the audiovalve website last evening. I read lots of reviews about this great amp. The Baldur amplifiers use the 6AS7 or 6080 which is a dual triode and
was designed as a regulator tube. In the Baldur circuit, 8 of them are used in parallel push pull, so a lot of feedback will be used to keep things in check.
French Audio Legend Jean Hiraga loves the Baldur except one point:
" We would have like a little less distortion at frequencies raised to high power (without incidence on the listening results, this comment could depend on a question of sorting the tubes). The measured nominal power is conform to the manufacturer specifications, the distortion rate at high frequencies increasing
more severely above a hundred watts."
When the Baldur drives the highly efficienct Eufrodite, I suspect the high frequencies distort seriously as power increases. It should be fine with smaller scale music. For more difficult passages, the distortion compounds.
My humble view is don't use your Baldur to drive High Efficiency speaker. The syren, though I never got chance to listen, I think it is good stuff. It is not easy to reproduce the dynamic of opera singers voice.