Richidoo Over at my Place Today

[Bigfish8]

Rich came over to my house this afternoon to listen to my system and brought the following goodies:

1. Korato Amp (courtesy of BPape)
2. A couple of GIK Panels
3. Altmann DAC and Gel Top Battery
4. Some of Rich's favorite CDs.


I have an untreated room and will soon be moving the system and plasma tv from a long wall (between two wide doors) to one of the short walls.  After listening to some tunes we installed the GIK Panels behind the Timepieces.  Whoa, the sound change from adding the two panels was nothing short of amazing.  I quickly learned that room treatments can have more impact than spending thousands on new gear!  After listening with the panels in place for a few songs Rich had me cover the plasma screen with a light blanket.  Whoa, another huge improvement in sound.  After listening to some more tunes we experimented with speaker toe angle and ended-up with going from a slight to toe angle of around 20 to 25 degrees (I will measure it tomorrow).

Once the above changes were in place we connected my Blue Ray Player to the Altmann DAC to the Candela.  This setup replaced an analog modded S3 feeding a Burson Buffer into the Candela.  Rich brought some CDs over that he utilizes in his system to evaluate a system.  He had some old style jazz, organ music and classical that he played on my system.  While this was going on we had the Korato warming-up as we were interested in the comparison to the Odyssey Mono SEs. 

Let me now state that the SP Tech Timepieces, love em or hate em, are extremely revealing on any changes made to a system.  Rich had a track of orchestra music that distinctly allows you to hear different instruments.  One of the instruments that we focused on for our comparison between the Mono SEs and Korato was a Triangle.  To my ears the sound comparison between the Korato and Mono SEs was very, very close.  The sound was close enough that if I did not already own the Monos I could be very happy with the Korato.  WAF would definitely go to the Korato as it attractive and is one box versus two.  I would like to say a very special thank you to Bryan Pape for the opportunity to hear the Korato in my home.

Rich, thank you so very much for bringing over the Korato, the Altmann DAC and the GIK Panels.  I really had fun and I learned so very much in one, very short afternoon.  I look forward to having you over again after I rearrange the room, add the Modwright Transporter and some room treatments.  These things will be happening soon!

Thanks Again,

Ken

[richidoo]

You're very welcome Ken. You and your wife are very gracious. I had a good time messing up your excellent system.

When I first arrived I could feel the speakers' great bass, even from the other room. Music playing with <30Hz info is a world's difference from 40Hz. On first serious listen, it was pretty scattered. The music sounded coming out of the speakers and a small hot spot in the center, there was no depth and imaging wasn't great. The 244s fixed most of that, making speakers more invisible and tightening bass a lot.

I think we changed the toe from about 3 degrees to about 10.  We tried it in about 25 at first which gave a tight image, but a little harsh. I like to set toe by angling back out from direct pointed at listening seat, rather than creeping in from perpendicular to the wall.

Ken when your system moves to the new wall you are fortunate that the doorway at the corner will force your speakers to be at least 4 1/2' from the front wall. That will make HUGE difference to the almost 3 feet you have now.  You may want them even farther out as long as they are still not in the way. Cabling across the doorway might be an issue though - maybe use the crawl space? With the added depth, you will have more freedom to place your listening chair with no concern for the rear wall which will be 12+ feet behind you. Side wall reflections will be much more noticeable though so treatment there is mandatory at first reflection. Something thin that you can decorate over.

The Korato kept up with the monos very well. Korato is a little more laid back, relaxed but still present and great tone, and monos are on tippy toe ready to go, lighter sounding. At high power the edge is to the monos because of ther power reserves into the hungry SPs. We both agreed that the Korato is completely transformed since the repair. Ken's Timepiece 2.1s are revealing of every nuance, and are an incredible speaker - my impression was greatly improved today over my first impression, which was still positive. They sound better in Kens room with his gear than any other trade show demo I have heard of any SP product. Very nice! Night and day from the time I heard them at my house with forward tube amps.  Watching them play organ music was fun, at least 1/2" excursion, and still very good low bass detail, at least the equal in clarity to the Legacy down to 35-40Hz. Ken you should bring them to a meet again so we can hear them with proper amps. Maybe host one yourself? Then get some REAL expertise on setup. Let Shane and RichardS loose with the tape measure! Ken's choice of preamp tubes and cables has really given him an excellent tonal balance.

The room has good dimensions, the bass nodes are very well spread out. Actually pretty close to Carl's custom designed dedicated room. But even so, there is bass rumble below 50Hz and moving the head forward and back makes a big difference in bass clarity in mid bass. We found a nice spot for Ken's chair, about 2 feet closer than he was sitting before. The room could benefit from bass trapping, but that would be difficult while maintaining Vera's very nice esthetic.
Thanks Ken, looking forward to the next time!
Rich