I'm reposting my original review that started this thread, as it got somehow lost during the cutover from the old to new site. Here it is...
Whenever I'm in HK for business I make it a point to catch up with PT for dinner. Besides talk on the how the economy is doing and his advice on the market, we usually end up at his place so I can torture myself with the latest exotic gadgetry! The torture actually happens when I get home to Singapore and listen to my sound system!
Having ordered the Contriva Diacera, I of course insisted on listening to the Sunray....and now thinking back over the last couple of hours, I am glad I did. They were the most magical hours ...ever.
When I first came face to face with them, a few thoughts came to mind. They were actually larger than they looked in the photos, but looked like a modern art piece. I would buy them and place them in my living room just to look at them! Of course I also thought that my wife would probably think they looked like something from a Star Wars set. She still calls my Wavac 805s 'Soda Bottles', because the tube look like soda bottles...
Anyway here's what I felt... (I really don't know how to use the exotic highfi jargon to describe the sound
We start listening. I came prepared with a couple of my cds, that I always use to audition. The first track was Mils Lofgren's 'Keith don't Go'... it was a little underwhelming. Maybe I wasn't used to the sound. Where was the bass? Where was the colour? Where was the passion? On my Zanden->Vekian->Wavac PR-T1->Wavac 805->Horning setup, the sound was glorious! The highs tingled and the bass punchy. A $100+k Euros for this??
Next came Boz Scaggs Live 'Lowdown' recorded at the Great American Music Hall in San Franciscco, a venue I've probably been to maybe 20 times, and one I knew very well. WOW! I was getting used to it. Yes, it was ALL there. I could hear everything. And we played it loud, yet I did not feel it was loud. Interesting. What was this Sunray sound that I was beginning to like?
A few more other tracks made me start really enjoying the experience. The sound wasn't in your face. It wasn't trying to showoff. It wasn't overly passionate. Neither was it cold.
I really started getting entranced when we played Ryuichi Sakamoto's 'Bibo no Aozora'. Its a hautingly beautiful piece with just a piano and cello (Its the theme fr
om the movie 'Babel'). When I was here a couple of months back, I heard it on PT's Cessaro's with the 805mk2s and became overwhelmed with my own emotion. This time I felt the sadness of artists playing the music.
The track that sealed the Sunrays in the 'When I grow up I wanna buy them' catergory for me was the first track from Diana Krall's 'Live in Paris'. I could see her right infront of me. I heard and felt her finger touch each key, and felt her foot depress the piano pedals. It was scary but SUPREME! .... and my heart is still pounding from that near transcendental experience.!
Oh, and I guess I need to order the (within my budget) Tripoint too. We tried the tracks with and without the electronics connected to it. Night and day!
So what was the sound and feeling that the Sunray imparted on the music from the source? To my untrained ears, it imparted no sound and no feeling, but I heard and felt what the artists were hearing and feeling...
I'm now in a quandry. The Contriva Diacera I ordered is half the size of the Sunray, and my listening room is 4 times the size of PT's room. How will it sound like??? I'll report once it arrives in August.
All I can say is if you can afford it, get the Sunray. It will light up any mood!
After such an extraordinary experience with the Sunray, I truly understand what you mentioned before. The Sunray in PT's place though not in it's full potential is still the most neutral, transparent and balance speaker I have ever heard. Some speakers can bring performers right in front of you however in an artificial way, but the sound coming from the Sunray is so different. You can hear clearly every musical note with true harmonics from each instrument decays into the air with right proportion and surrounds you in a very natural way, it depicts a real concert or recital hall feeling which I have never experienced before. The performers are not in your room but on the stage of a concert hall instead. It's a perfect speaker for classical music lovers.
PT,
I am so anxious to audition the Sunray again with mono amps and the rear corners of your room being treated.
Have you already installed the clock? How was it? The clock is very sensitive to vibration. I tried many feets and it seems only the coral feet can clean up the vibration. Is this your experience too?
My clock is still under burn-in and I therefore did not play around with it too much last weekend. Theoretically the clock should be very sensitive to vibration, without any crazy rack or Ohio board the next alternative will be the coral feet. I will try to test the clock with coral feet and Tripoint as well this weekend and will share more with you next weekend.
Danny, just learnt that both of us go the craziest way. Burn all and forget all other racks! I buy it for my upcoming AAS Gabriel, Zanden phono stage mk3 and all the sensitive front ends.
Another amplifier is needed to connect the LPX active crossover. The passive inductor part of the bass modules will then be bypassed. The active crossover takes over.
The results are, that the LPX allows a big step forward since the passive inductors for the bassmodules are out of the signal way. The LPX filters the signal. Therefore we developed totally new filter designs. The whole LPX is based on the Preos pre amp technology and using the same quality parts.
The LPX offers aside of the "sound" improvement in linear position (50 Hz and 0 dB), with additionally cutting points from 30 - 100 Hz in 10 Hz steps; and from -6 dB up to +5 dB. There are many varieties to play with. Sounds complicated but is actually easy to set up.
Actually a must-have for each Sunray owner since it drives "her royal majesty Sunray" (as some importers say about it) to a full level higher. One must hear that to believe because it is hard to imagine in front of a passive playing Sunray. You just need to trust me again.
Comments
Whenever I'm in HK for business I make it a point to catch up with PT for dinner. Besides talk on the how the economy is doing and his advice on the market, we usually end up at his place so I can torture myself with the latest exotic gadgetry! The torture actually happens when I get home to Singapore and listen to my sound system!
Having ordered the Contriva Diacera, I of course insisted on listening to the Sunray....and now thinking back over the last couple of hours, I am glad I did. They were the most magical hours ...ever.
When I first came face to face with them, a few thoughts came to mind. They were actually larger than they looked in the photos, but looked like a modern art piece. I would buy them and place them in my living room just to look at them! Of course I also thought that my wife would probably think they looked like something from a Star Wars set. She still calls my Wavac 805s 'Soda Bottles', because the tube look like soda bottles...
Anyway here's what I felt... (I really don't know how to use the exotic highfi jargon to describe the sound
We start listening. I came prepared with a couple of my cds, that I always use to audition. The first track was Mils Lofgren's 'Keith don't Go'... it was a little underwhelming. Maybe I wasn't used to the sound. Where was the bass? Where was the colour? Where was the passion? On my Zanden->Vekian->Wavac PR-T1->Wavac 805->Horning setup, the sound was glorious! The highs tingled and the bass punchy. A $100+k Euros for this??
Next came Boz Scaggs Live 'Lowdown' recorded at the Great American Music Hall in San Franciscco, a venue I've probably been to maybe 20 times, and one I knew very well. WOW! I was getting used to it. Yes, it was ALL there. I could hear everything. And we played it loud, yet I did not feel it was loud. Interesting. What was this Sunray sound that I was beginning to like?
A few more other tracks made me start really enjoying the experience. The sound wasn't in your face. It wasn't trying to showoff. It wasn't overly passionate. Neither was it cold.
I really started getting entranced when we played Ryuichi Sakamoto's 'Bibo no Aozora'. Its a hautingly beautiful piece with just a piano and cello (Its the theme fr
om the movie 'Babel'). When I was here a couple of months back, I heard it on PT's Cessaro's with the 805mk2s and became overwhelmed with my own emotion. This time I felt the sadness of artists playing the music.
The track that sealed the Sunrays in the 'When I grow up I wanna buy them' catergory for me was the first track from Diana Krall's 'Live in Paris'. I could see her right infront of me. I heard and felt her finger touch each key, and felt her foot depress the piano pedals. It was scary but SUPREME! .... and my heart is still pounding from that near transcendental experience.!
Oh, and I guess I need to order the (within my budget) Tripoint too. We tried the tracks with and without the electronics connected to it. Night and day!
So what was the sound and feeling that the Sunray imparted on the music from the source? To my untrained ears, it imparted no sound and no feeling, but I heard and felt what the artists were hearing and feeling...
I'm now in a quandry. The Contriva Diacera I ordered is half the size of the Sunray, and my listening room is 4 times the size of PT's room. How will it sound like??? I'll report once it arrives in August.
All I can say is if you can afford it, get the Sunray. It will light up any mood!
I believe you understand me and my perspective after your own Sunray experience last night.
Mind if you can share a few words with us?
Ray
After such an extraordinary experience with the Sunray, I truly understand what you mentioned before. The Sunray in PT's place though not in it's full potential is still the most neutral, transparent and balance speaker I have ever heard. Some speakers can bring performers right in front of you however in an artificial way, but the sound coming from the Sunray is so different. You can hear clearly every musical note with true harmonics from each instrument decays into the air with right proportion and surrounds you in a very natural way, it depicts a real concert or recital hall feeling which I have never experienced before. The performers are not in your room but on the stage of a concert hall instead. It's a perfect speaker for classical music lovers.
PT,
I am so anxious to audition the Sunray again with mono amps and the rear corners of your room being treated.
Have you already installed the clock? How was it? The clock is very sensitive to vibration. I tried many feets and it seems only the coral feet can clean up the vibration. Is this your experience too?
My clock is still under burn-in and I therefore did not play around with it too much last weekend. Theoretically the clock should be very sensitive to vibration, without any crazy rack or Ohio board the next alternative will be the coral feet. I will try to test the clock with coral feet and Tripoint as well this weekend and will share more with you next weekend.
You are dam good! Did u order Ohio for AAS too? i felt this is really crazy when i heard PT going to order a ohio coffee table.
Danny,
Finally bit the bullet???
You witnessed what had happened when CC1 rested directly on my rack, if you were me, can you resist the upgraded version Crazy Square?
We tried out:
Sunray + Impact
Sunray + Impact Monobloc's
Sunray + LPX + 2 Impact
Sunray + LPX + 4 Impact Monobloc's
The results are, that the LPX allows a big step forward since the passive inductors for the bassmodules are out of the signal way. The LPX filters the signal. Therefore we developed totally new filter designs. The whole LPX is based on the Preos pre amp technology and using the same quality parts.
The LPX offers aside of the "sound" improvement in linear position (50 Hz and 0 dB), with additionally cutting points from 30 - 100 Hz in 10 Hz steps; and from -6 dB up to +5 dB. There are many varieties to play with. Sounds complicated but is actually easy to set up.
Actually a must-have for each Sunray owner since it drives "her royal majesty Sunray" (as some importers say about it) to a full level higher. One must hear that to believe because it is hard to imagine in front of a passive playing Sunray. You just need to trust me again.