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Project LIZST - Ultimate HORN System by Cessaro

edited November 2012
This is an original project financed by AE in order to satisfy the most strigent demand on a "cost-no-object" horn system with the following criteria:

1. It has to be a one piece tower design with active subwoofer as an integrated solution.

2. The subwoofer has to be FRONT LOADED horn instead of back-loaded horn

3. The aesthetic design has to be noble with excellent cabinet finish.

4. Coherence must be top notched benchmarking against Tidal Sunray + T1 as the reference.

5. All drivers employed are top of the line from
TAD such as the famous 4001 compression driver.

6. All components in the crossover are exotic, mamy of them are custom made and not sourced from off-the-shelf top items from parts manufacturers.

7. The material for the main horn is cutting edge without coloration. Put it this way, this is a horn for the adults, not for the boys. It is made for serous listners who know what they want.

The end results of this project give birth to a 445kg per channel Horn tower with immense majestic presence.

The boxes filled up the streets on Saturday. This is only a partial view. And the man in black is Mr. Ralph Krebs.
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Comments

  • For the time being.....
  • Damn it, you guys are damn crazy!
  • Holy cow! Sneaked to AE during lunch time to obtain my dalby feet but PT did not inform me the presence of Lizst beforehand. This must be a statement product from Cessaro. The Wilson Alexandria looks like a student in the secondary school next to the Lizst.
  • And pics?
  • edited December 2012
    This is perhaps the most expensive horn ever built - absolutely zero coloration with a naturalness in mid range that is simply breahtaking. Javier of Wadax who is not a fan of horn also commented neutrality acheived by Ralph through the horny route is unprecedented.
  • Ralph set up Cessaro Beta at Doug's place yesterday.
  • The SRA Craze2 rack housing all the super gears.
  • Doug is a vinyl fanatic. Two different version of Dalby record weight, NVS, Durand Telos arm, Lyra Atlas and the Ikeda KAI (soon to be mounted by Master Chik)
  • And the ultra league tube preamp DALBY D7. He ordered it without listening to it first. The density, openness and dynamic contrasts of the preamp probably has never achieved by any other household names assuming the speakers are up to the standard to reflect the strength.

    I foresee the D7 will eventually become a super star. It is a matter of time.
  • The massive D7 power supply atop SRA. It is extremely rare the spatial resolution of a tube preamp can reached such resolution. The musicality of the Dalby is unique, exquisite and peerless. It is completely reflected via the Cessaro Beta system which has the transparency and dynamic capability to reflect it.
  • Doug also has exotic taste. This is a rare Kamuron mono block amplifiers using 212 as the power tubes. This is the only pair if Hong Kong. He has been collecting tubes since 20 years ago. He probably has a few 212 tubes in stock.
  • Ralph was very contented with the performance after 2 hours. Frankly speaking, this is the most open horn experience I have ever experienced because the room has the physical size to allow the energy to develop. Proportion of the room is also excellent.

    What we did was to put two diffusors at the front wall and the back wall. That's it. Of course, all gears are connected to two TROYS. (We don't like to share binding post on the Troy) to reduce ground noises to the minimum.

    And the Tripoint Orion has not yet returned to service the system. Cables are not ideal yet. Yet, the performance we heard yesterday definitely has the skeleton and the DNA belonging to the "ultra league".
  • It happened I had a very short audition time on the gigantic Lizst last Saturday. I really could not have any serious listening with just less than 30 minutes of time but Lizst just stunned me, of course not only by its size. PT asked my view on Lizst after I listen for a few cut of music. The immediate respond from me is that it was a horn but at the same time it wasn't. It has a certain extent like Sunray. PT stated it as "tidalized horn". I am a fan of horn speaker and it is really amazing that a horn could sound like this. I remember last time I listen to the crystal CD of Teddy Robin with Sunray and it was a crazy experience. I hope I would have a chance later to listen the same CD with Lizst so that I could make an AB comparison.
    It is really tragic that Lizst is not for "ordinary" people in terms of size, not to mention cost (anyway, cost no object). I look forward to a more "friendly" younger brother of Lizst in short future.
  • I've the luck to audition the Liszt before the Christmas.

    My 1st feeling of the Liszt was "GRAND" .

    It is big. I guess that it would be around 8 feet (H x 2 feet (W) x 4 feet (D). The whole Liszt is in piano black color with red orange horn . The horn material is 'unknown'. The finishing is beautiful and like a modern art piece.

    It does not only have big sound but also preserving details of the music flow. The 4th track of the CD from TAA 22nd INTERNATIONAL Hi-End SHOW - Paganini D major Concerto No.1 1st movement has full orchestral exposition moment , the Liszt displayed a huge sound stage with consummate ease with micro detail - I could visualize the bow moving about strings with agility and grace.

    How about the bass performance of the Liszt ? It is not the boldest one . The boldest one I recently heard is the Daniel Hertz with 18" base in the loudspeakers. But Liszt won hands down with details, layers and transient impluse. When I played the last song from the TAA 22nd CD - "Drum, Dance".The Liszt embraced me with vast base and whispered me the song of quick stick dancing around the edge of the drums.

    But the most striking experience is the piano music playback. It is the best playback I've heard for the Yuja Wang's Fantasia #18 Danse macabre, Op.40 for piano. Liszt sung with "ACCURATE" harmonic structure of the piano . The Grand Piano eventually sounds as a real Grand Piano. If you have chance to audition this giant , don't miss the piano playback performance. AMAZING !

    Is the Liszt at its perfect condition for music playback ? No, not yet. It is a bit of piercing in the playback of "Signore, ascolta" aria from Turandot by Giacomo Puccini. The energy could not be digested by the room.
    The Liszt have not yet been completely run in and the room has not yet been optimized for it. (Still for Tidal ?) .
    I hope to get better sound in this area at my next visit.

    Liszt is an extraordinary works of art. It looks grand and exquisite . All good sound elements are well organized.
    The playback of piano music is perfect. It does have all DNAs for a great loudspeakers. The bar should be set more higher for LIszt.

    Earnestly hoping for the new legend .
  • Chopin driven by a whole suite of Da Vinci.
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