Finally no more upgrades at least for this year!

Gary, Titian has more records than you will see in the average secondhand record shop. As well as the classical, he has a jazz vinyl collection that many people would kill for...

-- Ian

 

I see all of the usual stereotypes are being trotted out by our flat earth bretherin

 

There was a review of that CD transport recently in HI-Fi +, or at least one that looks very like it, and the transport alone cost more than my entire system, IIRC.

It does seem a crying shame to have what is undoubtedly a fantastic collection of very very expensive kit off Mana. You are missing so much, IMHO. You can lead a horse to water, etc etc.

 

James,

When you go to visit Titian, maybe you could bring along a few phases of Mana with you and show him what he is missing.

 

Good idea.

 

Sideshow thats nice, and so much more interesting, as he is flashing the pictures it would be cool to see. I assume they are in a different room?

I am of course jelous, I could flog all that shiney stuff, reclaim the living room, put a naim system in there and spend the rest on something cool, like another house.

Nice.

 

Gary,

Just to make you even more jealous, I believe that is Titians dedicated listening room.

 

James
do I have to reserve a whole month for installing 3 levels of mana properly with you?

A dealer kicked himself in his ar*** because he has given me a dem unit which wasn't completely tuned for my system (the impedence wasn't compatible with the one of my cartridge). He though he would have sold me the phono stage but I gave it back to him with a very low apreciation. He told be that since then he wil never ever give me a unit unless it is professionally tuned for my system and is working perfectly (for ex. broken in).
But he doesn't understand what I am really after (ambience for ex.) and I have no intention to explain him that. Dealers are quite fixed in ther ideas anyway.

 

forgive me, it was a mischievous/frivolous question - and with mis-typing too.

Having read that you were from Switzerland, I wondered whether your HiFi preferences were influenced by where you lived: "what is your altitude?"

Your speakers certainly looked Alpine!

However, I've noticed some preference for US amps. Not sure about the 'ambience' factor - are you after the 'jazz cellar' effect?



(btw = by the way)

 

Titian,
It looks very interesting.

How big is your room? Would you like to post some photos for the rest of the room lay out like the hot seat? Certainly makes one wish to have a listen to the end result and experience at least once what you have achieved.

Wish to have enough rooms in my flat to dedicate one purely for hifi. I imaging most people as well, have to compromised in trying to use the livingroom for hifi and in my case trying to integrate surround sound AV as well into the set up.

 

Well fair enough, but I think it looks pretty damn nice

 

ditton
my hifi preferences were influenced mainly by mile nestorovic. I don't feel neither swiss nor italian nor indian... I try to be international, that is also why I try to keep contacts in different nations.
Speakers look alpine: good one!
Preferences to US amps? no, not at all: only to nestorovic. The choice of a krell had two reasons:
- for low frequencies it is very very good (otherwise not)
- I could get a demo one for half the price (convenience)

I have wrote something about ambience a few hundreds of years ago in this forum. Michael always finds the link because I 'm useless in that sense.
The ambience has its major effect on classical music so it isn't manybody's preference / awareness. It has nothing to do with hall or jazz-cellar effect.
You just have to hear the system to get an idea of it. Or more precisely: you won't get an idea of anything because when you hear it everything seems so normal, logic natural as if nothing was there.

wolfgang
I will make more photos of the rest of the room as soon as I cleaned it, vacum cleaned it and polished everything.
When I moved places in the past, my first considerations were always if there was a room good enough for my system. Everything else was second priority. When I bought this house I always had in mind the dedicated room. It is not completely ideal (the ceiling is only 2m10 or lower for example but it doesn't seem to be a problem. Another point is that I have quite a bouncy floor or wooden walls / ceiling which can color the sound quite a bit.
I am considering the fact of integrating a surround sound AV but only when I will have enough time to watch films. At the moment I want to enjoy at last what I have (eventually with my guests) and listen to all the music which has been left behind (and that is quite a lot!).

 

Thanks
To say the truth your avatar makes me go every time mad. More than my system.

 

spot on Titian, for me also ambience is a seminal part of listening. To hear the ambience of a recording venue, when you can tell it was out side, in a large room or even in a bathroom, that for me makes the listening experience so much more enjoyable. But also, as you said this has to be natural and not an added 'effect'.
That was where my last upgrade fell over, maybe i am wanting something out of my range, but we have to strive dont we

 

Have you not tried Mana? The outlay would be pretty minor compared with the cost of the kit. At least worth a try if you haven't tried it, as you do seem to take music reproduction very seriously.

Your system certainly majors on visual impact, very impressive-looking.

 

James

the fact that I haven't looked seriously into the Mana stuff or any other rack system is because I first want to get the electronic equipments with the cables sorted out. For me that has first priority: if you have good quality then you can get more out of a system with tweaking than when you don't have such a good quality. First my plans are to get a phono stage (Mile has just bought one that could be the right choice) and then I will have to see what I can do about the cartridge (It's really good but maybe could be better).

About the Mana, I must say that I am very happy with the Valid Points. I have the feeling I haven't even exploited completely their capability. I have nothing against trying the Mana's but I think a demo at my place will have to be organised very well and not only with one multi-tier equipment. I also would need so many racks (see the photos) that at the end if I use Mana consequently everywhere it would cost a fortune.

cheers

 

One question: How did you level the TT platter?

 

James,

Its not a sprung deck,he doesn't have to worry about the effect of the belt drive pulling the platter over and so he doesn't need a Mana level.

Cheers

Jason

 

Yes Jason, but it still needs to be level to work properly, I would guess. From the photo it looks like he's got little bits of wood or something between the rack and these -ah- 'Valid Points' of his. I wonder whether the deck will keep its level with this arrangement. You wouldn't buy a Ferrari and drive about with flat tyres.

 

Bub,

Can't believe that serious a deck needs the shims either. Maybe its becasue the Walker thingies distort more under the weight of the platter bit than the others so it has to be jacked back up?

Cheers

Jason


PS. Good to see you are still with us.