Zanden, Argentos, Acoustic System ... and Piano Tuner
I thought I had a pretty good sound and was reasonably happy until I discovered the path to sonic nirvana with the help of Piano Tuner.
This was my old system
1) Orpheus Zero
2) Orpheus One SE
3) Orpheus Two
4) Goldmund Telos 400
5) Sonus Faber Amati Anniversarios
6) PAD Dominus and RLS interconnects/speaker cables
7) 'Medium' amount of room treatment with Acoustic Systems
which I felt (while not super high-end) was pretty respectable.
Piano Tuner 'treated' my living room four months ago with the Acoustic Systems Resonators and Diffusors. The sound change was amazing. Being your typical audiophile and 'itchy' I wanted more and more. If he could do this with just a couple or weird looking metal and
wooden pieces stuck on the wall, what more could his vast experience provide?
1) Move to Argentos (from PADs)
Step by step over 3 months, Piano Tuner loaned me (without any charge) various Argento cables to check out, starting with the PCs and then the interconnects. Being someone that constantly reads and scours the internet for anything audiophile, I was initially sceptical. How could the Argentos POSSIBLY be better than the much exalted Purist Audio RLS (Radiant Light System) that I paid quite a bit for??
They were better.
More transparent, more clarity, more energy, more everything. Where I thought the PADs sounded great, moving to the Argentos made them sound bloated, thick and slow. OK, this might be a personal preference, but my personal preference is now Argentos
2) Full Acoustic System Treatment
The initial treatment worked wonders for me. Last week Piano Tuner made a personal trip from Hong Kong to Singapore to treat the rest of my room. First were the diffusors under my Amatis. Again I was sceptical as the cool-looking graphite feet came with the speakers. Shouldn't Sonus Faber know better? Why would some ugly looking wooden diffusors change the sound so much?
It did.
Night and day! While the sound was initially transparent and clear, it was now musical. A few more on the walls and the large glass sliding windows and even the ceiling!
The sound in my listening room large and L-shaped) is now glorious. I feel I am in a cathedral whenever I walk into my home now. There is an eerie silence that is unmistakable, and I am almost always immediately drawn to my system to turn it on.
I've actually told Piano Tuner to treat my bedroom the next time he comes here. Wondered if I could sleep better?
3) Move to Zanden 3000 Linestage (From Orpheus Two)
I have had the Orpheus Two for about a year. It has good reviews and it also matched the 'look' of my system, and it sounded great. So when PT said I should consider the Zanden Linestage I did not
think that it was do very much better. But the audiophile in me was 'itchy' and I said ok.
When it was turned on last Saturday (replacing the Orpheus Two), my immediate reaction was not 'WOW!', but more like a 'Hmmmmmmmmm...followed by a big SMILE. The kind of smile you get when you realize that all the money you've spent on your system is finally paying off. The kind of smile you get when you know you are almost there, in this wonderful, yet expensive journey!
The difference was subtle, yet significant. It elevated the entire sound of my system to another level. Not in terms of energy, transparency etc etc, but total overall refinement. It brought a sense of pedigree to the system.
OK, so it does NOT come with a remote (my only gripe!), but I now find myself (surprisingly) not having to change the volume with each CD I'm listening to. I listen to the music softer now, whereas before I would raise the volume. The music just flows out effortlessly, loud or soft. It sounds just as good when playing opera and voices, as it does when it plays my classic rock like Led Zepplin and Pink Floyd, as it does when it plays House, Drum & Bass and Techno. AMAZING!!
So, to cap off this long review, I wanted to personally thank Piano Tuner who has shown an amazing amount of patience, imparted a lot of impartial knowledge and experience, and most importantly finally, finally, finally set me on the correct course on my musical journey towards audio nirvana. More than anything the service that he has provided me far exceeds anything I have experienced before. Bravo Audio Exotics!!
This was my old system
1) Orpheus Zero
2) Orpheus One SE
3) Orpheus Two
4) Goldmund Telos 400
5) Sonus Faber Amati Anniversarios
6) PAD Dominus and RLS interconnects/speaker cables
7) 'Medium' amount of room treatment with Acoustic Systems
which I felt (while not super high-end) was pretty respectable.
Piano Tuner 'treated' my living room four months ago with the Acoustic Systems Resonators and Diffusors. The sound change was amazing. Being your typical audiophile and 'itchy' I wanted more and more. If he could do this with just a couple or weird looking metal and
wooden pieces stuck on the wall, what more could his vast experience provide?
1) Move to Argentos (from PADs)
Step by step over 3 months, Piano Tuner loaned me (without any charge) various Argento cables to check out, starting with the PCs and then the interconnects. Being someone that constantly reads and scours the internet for anything audiophile, I was initially sceptical. How could the Argentos POSSIBLY be better than the much exalted Purist Audio RLS (Radiant Light System) that I paid quite a bit for??
They were better.
More transparent, more clarity, more energy, more everything. Where I thought the PADs sounded great, moving to the Argentos made them sound bloated, thick and slow. OK, this might be a personal preference, but my personal preference is now Argentos
2) Full Acoustic System Treatment
The initial treatment worked wonders for me. Last week Piano Tuner made a personal trip from Hong Kong to Singapore to treat the rest of my room. First were the diffusors under my Amatis. Again I was sceptical as the cool-looking graphite feet came with the speakers. Shouldn't Sonus Faber know better? Why would some ugly looking wooden diffusors change the sound so much?
It did.
Night and day! While the sound was initially transparent and clear, it was now musical. A few more on the walls and the large glass sliding windows and even the ceiling!
The sound in my listening room large and L-shaped) is now glorious. I feel I am in a cathedral whenever I walk into my home now. There is an eerie silence that is unmistakable, and I am almost always immediately drawn to my system to turn it on.
I've actually told Piano Tuner to treat my bedroom the next time he comes here. Wondered if I could sleep better?
3) Move to Zanden 3000 Linestage (From Orpheus Two)
I have had the Orpheus Two for about a year. It has good reviews and it also matched the 'look' of my system, and it sounded great. So when PT said I should consider the Zanden Linestage I did not
think that it was do very much better. But the audiophile in me was 'itchy' and I said ok.
When it was turned on last Saturday (replacing the Orpheus Two), my immediate reaction was not 'WOW!', but more like a 'Hmmmmmmmmm...followed by a big SMILE. The kind of smile you get when you realize that all the money you've spent on your system is finally paying off. The kind of smile you get when you know you are almost there, in this wonderful, yet expensive journey!
The difference was subtle, yet significant. It elevated the entire sound of my system to another level. Not in terms of energy, transparency etc etc, but total overall refinement. It brought a sense of pedigree to the system.
OK, so it does NOT come with a remote (my only gripe!), but I now find myself (surprisingly) not having to change the volume with each CD I'm listening to. I listen to the music softer now, whereas before I would raise the volume. The music just flows out effortlessly, loud or soft. It sounds just as good when playing opera and voices, as it does when it plays my classic rock like Led Zepplin and Pink Floyd, as it does when it plays House, Drum & Bass and Techno. AMAZING!!
So, to cap off this long review, I wanted to personally thank Piano Tuner who has shown an amazing amount of patience, imparted a lot of impartial knowledge and experience, and most importantly finally, finally, finally set me on the correct course on my musical journey towards audio nirvana. More than anything the service that he has provided me far exceeds anything I have experienced before. Bravo Audio Exotics!!
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Comments
I concur. The professionalism and integrity demonstrates from PT far exceed any sales person can provide, not even mention challenges.
What's next for you? A pair of Zanden mono blocks?
VR
Are you the one releasing the Telos400 in the internet? I talked to PT this morning and sort of amazed that how can Telos400 be thrown into the 2nd hand market so quickly and he told me it might belong to one of the AE's customer.
With Amati, I would suggest you hold your fire and wait for the Orpheus 350M which may drive the Amati A better. I have listened to Amati A in one of my friends place and I believe it would match well with the more powerful and controlling O350M. I have not listened to Wavac805 so my suggestion is unilateral and possibly unfound.
Marvel
Congratulate to an ownership of a great preamp! I am a wavac 300b mono block user. If you appreciate the art of Zanden, it may be better to match it with the same school of thought. The driving power of the Wavac 300b mono with 5 watt of power is already immense. Bigpiece in Shanghai should agree. I don't remember he use stereo or mono.
The Wavac 805 mono block has very holographic image, realistic dynamic. The goldmund sound fast. It always misses the bottom octave. It may be the room or something else is not right. That is my impression. Is it dynamic? I have no comment. Maybe, PT can tell you more.
The orpheus is good but a bit too young to my ears. I think your current mix and match is quite interesting. The jump from goldmund to wavac is quite something.
PS
How about pairing with Amati? I suspect Wavac may not match well with it....A lacks separations in the z-axis (sound depth) and bass tends to be a bit sllow and over damped. Would W help or not?
Marvel
How about pairing with Amati? I suspect Wavac may not match well with it....A lacks separations in the z-axis (sound depth) and bass tends to be a bit sllow and over damped. Would W help or not?
Marvel
You may not be too familiar with Wavac. Consult PT. The driving power of wavac is tremendous.
PS
Wavac or Orpehus? I'd pick the former. Orpheus is better at digital.
VR
WAVAC 300B Stereo is the second low power SE amp I have used. I think WAVAC knows the magic to maxmise the potential of tubes by striking a very good balance of amplication without exaggerating any part of the spectrum. Simply music that I enjoy very much.
I guess Amati are not easy to be driven but 805 tubes would be another story. A typical example is standard demo setup of Verity Audio Parsifal, they are driven by Nagra VPA using 805 tubes. However, you may need to consider if temperature would be a concern as I know 805s are "hot".