Regular visitor Mogu-san has mentioned that they would like to replace the amplifier — an ONKYO A-1VL — currently paired with their main speakers, the Danish floorstanders DALI Royal Tower. As this looks set to run rather long, I’ve separated it from the original entry and would like to use this one as the place for that exchange of information. It may also be of some small interest to those curious about the new DALI ZENSOR 1.
1. Posted by mogu November 22, 2011 20:41
Um, well… I’d like to switch to a Creek amplifier — how do you think that would suit the Royal Tower? The ONKYO A-1VL is hard to give up, though… Oh right, I also wanted to do something about the SACD player. Anyway, more later.
3. Posted by pastel_piano November 23, 2011 19:34
Good evening~
>>I’d like to switch to a Creek amplifier — how do you think that would suit the Royal Tower?
Hmm. Actually, just a few days ago I found an old display-model Royal Tower that hadn’t sold and went to have a listen. Honestly I wanted it, but — as you’d expect from something sitting unsold — the price was just wrong. I may be saying something different from before, but if it were me now, I wouldn’t use CREEK with the Royal Tower. I wouldn’t go so far as to say they’re incompatible, but I think it’s a slightly awkward combination. CREEK’s design default is EPOS, so ideally you’d use the EPOS sound as a reference — though since EPOS isn’t sold in Japan, that’s not much help. For the sound character of the new DALI ZENSOR 1, I think CREEK would actually be quite a good match.
If it were me now, I’d go for either the French ATOLL IN100SE integrated amplifier or the revived British AUDIOLAB 8200A (essentially a minor revision of my own TAG McLaren 60i — the 60iRV, to be precise).
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4. Posted by mogu November 23, 2011 21:53
Creek won’t do, then… Coming from you, a Creek user yourself, I suppose that settles it. A shame. Would it end up sounding a bit woolly or indistinct?
I knew about ATOLL, but AUDIOLAB was new to me.
Both look rather good, I have to say — appearance matters in Hi-Fi, after all.
And the fact that it shares internals with the TAG McLaren 60i is intriguing…
The price, too — if the bonus comes in, it might just be manageable.
If there’s anywhere in Sapporo where I can audition one, I’d love to — though there probably isn’t.
Well, I’ve been quite content with the Royal Tower after the Goto tune, so I’m just idly daydreaming about bringing out its strengths a little more.
Also, the B&W earphones are near the top of my recent want list…
Runner-up would be a speaker cable — something nice, good value for money. And the secret number one is iPhone.
5. Posted by pastel_piano November 24, 2011 00:17
It’s not so much that it won’t do — it’s more that when I think about what the speaker is trying to do, Creek feels like the wrong choice.
The Royal Tower’s way of presenting sound belongs to the same family as Vienna Acoustics. There’s a soft, enveloping resonance first, within which the soundstage is drawn in a holographic way, and the images then unfold inside that space. With speakers like this, unless you use an amplifier that’s generous with reverb and excels at spatial reproduction, they simply won’t sing the way they’re meant to. Between Marantz and Denon, for instance, DENON would actually suit them better.
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Creek, conversely, is closer to Marantz than to DENON in the way it presents sound — there’s a solid image first, a good sense of rhythm, and the reverb sits in the background providing a moderate degree of sonority in support. That said, the tonal character is completely different from Marantz; Creek’s single most distinctive quality is that the sound feels old. Even digital recordings seem to arrive transformed into something analogue. It’s a mild, warm, matte, traditional sound — reminiscent of British rock or classical music, especially the British label CHANDOS — with a restrained sense of frequency range. In its very Britishness and traditional texture, a certain degree of modern resolution and sonic clarity is sacrificed. The world of brick-red and tea-brown. But it isn’t as woolly as something like AUDIO ANALOGUE… hmm, this is getting difficult to put into words.
More tomorrow. Could you remind me of your current system once more? I’ve got various things muddled up.
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6. Posted by mogu November 24, 2011 21:26
Well, taking you up on that kind offer — here’s my current system. There are one or two things I’m not entirely sure about myself, I’m afraid. First, the speakers: Royal Tower piano black, Goto-tuned, single-wire configuration. The CDP is the Audio Analogue Paganini — TEAC transport mechanism, never given me a moment’s trouble. The integrated amplifier is the dependable, trusty ONKYO A-1VL. The RCA cable is from the — back again? — Isoda Electric.
The speaker cable was recommended by Goto-san… AudioQuest, I think? Something like that — flat cable with white insulation, sorry to be so vague. Speaker insulators are Goto-san’s carbon insulators, spikes sitting directly on black granite. The CDP power cable is the Oyaide Tsunami GPX-R. The amp power cable is Zonotone Grandio. The power strip is J1 Project, and the cable for the strip is something-Max — I can’t remember. Terribly vague, I’m sorry.
A few additional details: two sides of the room are covered with curtains in the evening. The wall facing the speakers has a large-capacity CD rack — two units, mail-ordered from a Canadian maker. Irrelevant, I know.
Running: Acoustic Revive Schumann resonance generator, and in winter, a Plasmacluster humidifying air purifier. Speaker separation is roughly 1.8 metres, listening position about 2 metres away — equilateral triangle setup. Room is 10 tatami mats, wooden construction, flooring with a rug. Ceiling height around 2 metres 20. Detached house, second floor above a garage. No air conditioning — or rather, no need for it. The mains socket is a Panasonic inexpensive medical-grade unit. I live out in the middle of nowhere in Hokkaido, barely any neighbours — blasting the volume is no problem at all. And — would you believe — there’s a nuclear power plant a few kilometres away, which makes for quite an interesting power supply environment. Evacuation zone and all. Feel free to ask if you’d like to know anything else. Sorry for the long, rambling post.
※pastel_piano ↓continued comments from here↓
>Mogu-san
I wanted to consolidate everything under the DALI category, so I’ve taken the liberty of carrying the comments wholesale over into a new entry. Come to think of it, you’ve quietly ended up being influenced by all sorts of things in the world of dedicated hi-fi. What’s happening with the sub-system at the moment, by the way? That is, where are the amplifier and components you’ve removed going? You had a PRIMARE as well, if I recall correctly — it would help if you could write down everything, including things you’ve let go of. Also, AUDIOLAB has only just resumed import sales here in Japan too, so it’s only very recently that you can audition it in some shops. ATOLL is imported by Dynaudio Japan, so these days it’s available in quite a few places. As for the Isoda cable — I wonder what’s become of them… There was a post from someone close to the proprietor a while back, but I was off resting and convalescing at the time and didn’t notice it. Also, I think pairing AudioQuest speaker cable with DALI is quite frankly an unlikely combination. I wouldn’t want to dismiss it out of hand without listening, but…
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