JANUARY 2023
Here we are in the New Year 2023! Whatever it may bring, let there be music and let there be many more nice sounds from our audio systems. High end or not, for as long as they radiate emotion to find its place in your heart and soul, the main objective of this passionate game will have been achieved.
Last month we left it, sort of, halfway from where the story started. So, let us go back towards the end of 2021 and into 2022. The next substantial change and improvement to the reference system happened thanks to the new Karan Acoustics Master Collection POWERa MONO amplifiers. Aside from the much bigger (and considerably heavier) chassis and same degree of aesthetic elegance as already seen on the LINEa and PHONOa preamplifiers, new monster amplifiers had many new design and concept features under the top cover of each unit. While the nominal power rating did not need to go up to any serious extent (2100W into 8 and 3600W into 4 Ohms), the way how all this power has been made to behave and sound into the driven loudspeakers, has become very different. Drastically increased power supply sections with even bigger toroidal transformers for each of the single channel signal polarities, and further increase in storage capacitance are only some of the improvements and new solutions therein. Last, but not least, a completely new design of built-in (yes, built in!) mains conditioners with an original approach to purification of the incoming electricity (mains) and DC protection has joined in. And, without any loss of natural dynamics or even slightest compression so common with the vast majority of already available products of the kind! As the icing on this powerhouse cake, there is also a switch allowing the amplifiers to be used with or without the line conditioner actively engaged. UK and international audio press said uneqiuivocally what was there to say about the new POWERa MONO amplifiers. All I will add to that is that it was truly hard to believe and accept the sound could have been so much more advanced than I enjoyed from my (albeit slightly 'not standard') KA M 2000s for a long time with utmost pleasure. I think I shall not say how much better Wilson Sasha DAW sounded overall with the POWERa MONO amplifiers...
Adding the new Karan monoblocks brought another, almost involuntary, change into play. New amplifiers were not just much heavier (105kg each), but also significantly bigger in size. Consequently, larger amplifier platforms became necessary. As always, finite elemente had the right product for the purpose, but this time, it was more than just that. Larger pagode Edition mkII HD10 amplifier platforms were made completely out of carbon fibre! I was fortunate to have been able to spend last couple of weeks with the KA M 2000s placed onto the full carbon HD10s as they arrived before the new amplifiers. Ergo, I could compare not just the two amplifier sounds, but also the magnitude of improvement between the HD09 with standard frame/carbon fibre platform and a Carbon HD10. I have long stopped even thinking about the (ridiculous and totally unrealistic at such a high level of play) 'perceived value for money' syndrome (delusion?) too many love to talk about. There simply is no such thing above a certain point. Capital fact of reality IS that you have to pay considerably more for just a little bit more of all good and great you were already enjoying from your sound. Thankfully, so much more carbon fibre on finite elemente equipment support does bring more - how much more depends on how close to the ultimate your system happens to be.
What I did not tell you so far is that, even before it started, I already knew 2022 was going to bring (at least) two monumental changes to the sound of my music played back in Link Way. One of them (and the first to arrive) left me in no doubt that it will have been either the best audio decision I have done for a very long time (possibly ever!) or, an overkill I should have not succumbed to. And the second one? Well, knowing in advance who it was coming from and what it's aspiration could have been, left me full of "rational optimism", while, in real terms, I had absolutely no idea what the end result could or would be.
Those who know me slightly better than most, are well aware of a couple of fundamental postulations related to "how to make the best possible sound of an audio system" concept. Never failing rule No. 1 is "there is no such thing as a too powerful amplifier". Rule no.2 (which can fail occasionally, but only in extreme situations [famous last words[) is "there is no such thing as a loudspeaker that is too big". I am ready to be carpet bombed as a punishment for both, but I have been fortunate to have had decades of a reasonably good sound in an acoustic environment that was neither expected, or should have yielded so much good in return. So, whether brave or stupid (or, perhaps, both), I could not wait for the first new arrival of 2022...
You already know what a pleasant and delightful surprise Wilson Audio Sasha DAW speakers have been for, now almost a year since the demonstration pair arrived from Absolute Sounds into Link Way. What you did not know is, that my joy with the Sasha DAW made my rule no. 2 kick into force quickly and...well, forcefully. Which meant I placed an order for a pair of Wilson Audio ALEXX V loudspeakers! Needless to say, over almost 6 months it took to actually get them into my room. I repeatedly regretted the decision to want them. After all, I have never ever in my decades of audio life owned a single component of such a high value, such high weight (over 500kgs net weight for a pair) and such complexity of design. Nor have I, as a distributor, ever had a product of such a high cost that I would could provide others with!
Regardless of all, the day in April 2022 when brilliant installers from the UK distributor brought an array of large and extremely heavy wooden crates in front of the house, arrived. I still fail to grasp how all this managed to be brought up a narrow staircase into the room, but all was good and neither people nor speakers were hurt in the process ("of making this story"). As if 210 kgs of amplifiers was not enough, now we had also an excess of half a ton pressing into the floor in the same part of the room! Happy to report that, as I write this, it (the floor) is still where it has always been. And, hopefully, still fairly horizontal.
This is already a story too long, so I will try to be brief in my attempt to describe what ALEXX V have done from the moment they began to play MUSIC. The simplest thing to say is that ALEXX V does everything much smaller SASHA DAW were doing, but "million" times more, better, more naturally, more lifelike and in a manner that ensures very sophisticated aesthetic and artistic supremacy. Which, if we are to be fair, in many (bar one, of course, that no playback hardware ever can or will) areas grossly surpasses even what a live music experience usually offers!!!! Leaving aside the unavoidable running-in period (which took much less long than with many other speakers I had), they demand a huge amount of patience and perseverance if the owner is to be rewarded to the fullest. Why? Because they allow so many ultra-fine adjustments (phase, time domain, dispersion, coherence, ear height optimisation, etc., etc.). Not only, they mercilessly react to every single, smallest change of any of the numerous interacting parameters. But...the moment you even approach a setup that convincingly smells of your own Holy Grail (within your room and rest of the system, of course), you KNOW IT! And that is the moment when I stopped and just started listening to MUSIC. I knew it was not perfect within what was possible, but I could not care less. If it never got any better, I would have lived happily ever after. It, however, did get better. Much better. What I have today is (up to now) my personal absolute apotheosis of seamless, natural tonal balance with every possible style of music, wonderful natural transparency, confident and solid presentation throughout the audible bandwidth high transient speed (even at lowest frequencies). And, most importantly for me, an almost magical and utterly holographic 3D soundstage with the most realistic scale ability I have ever heard from a loudspeaker (so far). What I like doing best is switching off all the lights in the room and, within seconds, no longer having a faintest idea where the speakers may actually be! All I "see" is a beautiful wall of sound from a stage that is as wide, deep and high as boundaries of my room allow. At last, after 50 years around hifi, my Vivaldi is Vivaldi and Mahler is Mahler!!!! With so much more to come if I ever choose to push them even closer to the untapped limits of their true potential.
The second and final major change of 2022 within my reference system was to arrive fairly soon after the Munich High End show in May where the official launch took place. The star was the new KUZMA flagship tonearm called SAFIR 9. I am pleased to say that both parts of the name meant exactly what it was - SAFIR was sapphire (the arm tube was made out of) and 9 was 9 inches )the effective length of the arm). My sample arrived in June and replaced the 4Point14 arm I have been using ever since it came into production (and with great results). To begin with, the SAFIR 9 looked a bit tiny compared to a 14-inch long arm it moved ouy of the way. The arm tube made out of artificially grown sapphire oozed solidity and control, while the rear end with the bearings and all else resembled some weird shape of a Stealth aircraft or something alike. The (a)symmetry of the moving section of the arm was mesmerisingly calm while looking like an organised chaos...horrible description, I know. Anyway, the faithful Kuzma CAR60 moving coil cartridge moved into its new residence and all that was left was to let the music do the talk.
If you think of the magnitude of (positive) shock I happily survived after ALEXX V speakers entered my life, the degree of superiority SAFIR 9 demonstrated within minutes after the long and blissful presence of the 4Point14, was not far off, but much easier to recognise, sense, perceive and embrace. The sonic character of the Kuzma SAFIR 9 is very easy to describe - if I have ever heard a component that had none, this is the one. And 'no character" is the highest compliment and accolade I can possibly think of within the domain of the artificially reproduced sound of music. Because that, in my vocabulary, means it DOES have all the ingredients of an almost perfect, naturally musical, character which simply tells us whatever is in the groove of the record played and will commence the journey through the audio signal path from the cartridge. Solid as a rock, fast, dynamic, and so on and so forth. Focus and soundstage need not be elaborated on as they simply happen whichever way they may have been captured during the recording and mastering of the LP. Not that it is necessary, but I have to hope there will be a version of the SAFIR with a longer arm tube before too long. Not easy to do as sapphire happens to be quite a heavy material, but still...for what my experience is worth, this is a textbook proof of the fact that something heavy-ish on the scales does not sound anything alike when bringing music to your ears and heart.
And, that is (almost) the end of this (hopefully not too boring) "Brief Recent History of BB Audio Time". Without any particular affiliation to the long gone Lt. Columbo, I have to say there would be "one more thing" left, but I shall leave it for another time. I believe this 'thing' is very special, everything it does it does stupendously well, it ticks all the boxes...except one. In terms of any truly tangible reality - it does not exist. Figure of speech, of course as it very much does. The very few lucky ones to own it will love it to bits and cherish for many years ahead (or, at least, for as long as parts of it continue to function). It has become a true equal among my reference standard choices for CD playback...more very soon..
As permanent as it can possibly be, this is the present AUDIOFREAKS Reference Music Playback System::
Kuzma Stabi XL DC AIR turntable
Kuzma SAFIR 9 and AirLine tonearms
Kuzma CAR60, Benz Micro LP/LPS and Umami Red MC phono cartridges
Rockna Wavedream NET CD transport/Streamer/Server
Rockna Wavedream Signature XLR DAC
Zanden Model 2000P CD transport
Zanden Model 5000MkIV Signature DAC
A CD Player with a non-existing brand name JUMA AUDIO
Karan Acoustics Master Collection LINEa preamplifier
Karan Acoustics Master Collection PHONOa preamplifier
conrad-johnson ART88 line preamplifier
Karan Acoustics Master Collection POWER a MONO amplifiers
Magnum Dynalab MD108T Signature Analogue FM tuner
Sequerra FM Reference 25th Anniversary Analogue FM tuner
Wilson Audio ALEXX V dynamic loudspeakers
Cardas Audio Clear Beyond Interconnect cables
Cardas Audio Clear Beyond Speaker cable
Cardas Audio Clear Beyond Power XL mains cables
Cardas Clear CAT-7 Network cable
Cardas HDMI cable
finite elemente pagode mkII Edition equipment supports
Acoustic Systems International resonance tuning devices
