Tonight I decided enough casual / handicapped listening. Time to clear some speakers out and put the new Anniversary edition CSP325 preamp into the mix.
By placing the Big Betsy next to instead of 90 degrees behind as you saw in the previous picture, and adding the preamp, everything has transformed into a wonderfully full, wide sound. The bass came up with the Big Betsys moved to the new location. Normally of course they wouldn't even be in the room, but right now I have nowhere else to put them.
The preamp really takes the 25th Anniversary Zen Triode to the next level, as it should since the combo is double the price of the amplifier alone. If it didn't make you go "holy crap" then it really wouldn't be worth the money.
So this evening as I randomly browse through material, nearly everything is sounding better than ever! It's like nothing can get dry now, and the detail and presence is simply exquisite.
Right now I am listening to the Bach Cello Suite 1 (prelude) by the Stanley Clarke Band from their album titled "The Message" in 24bit and I have to tell you the Cello in this recording - the sound shouldn't be possible from even 24 bit digital but yet I'm hearing it sound like tape. I attribute this primarily to the addition of the CSP325 preamp. I am certain had I played this last night before the changes I wouldn't have thought anything about it. Tonight however, I hear it and it's like seeing a leaf up close for the first time. Just incredible. The texture and tone and the imaging is so dimensional that before I could hear the face and sides of each sound source, but now I can hear a wrap around effect that just breaths making everything more sharply focused in 3D space. The effect is when you move your head instead of hearing the performer move left or right, you now just hear more behind him on one side or the other and he doesn't move, just like in real life. As you move your head, your perspective changes, not the position of the performer.
I knew to make these changes before I ever even auditioned these speakers, but I like to work from handicaps to see what it might sound like in less ideal circumstances. The frequency balance was right on the edge of being great and more recording / ZROCK dependent than I would have liked, but the other baffles were cancelling a lot of the bass which is what caused this condition. Now that they have been moved there is significantly more bass and overall warmth and of course the imaging is now boundless.
This is really good, and I mean REALLY good. I'm pretty sure the Big Betsy baffles setting next to the Crystal 10 baffles are sympathetically contributing a touch of 50Hz body, and I don't even care because I'm delirious with sonic pleasure and if that's what it actually took than so be it. Time will tell, hell, they might still be killing bass for all I know. You wanted to take this journey in real time with me, so there you go.
I haven't listened to the preamp for the past few weeks to clear my head of it so I can do an objective final evaluation before we start production next week. I am so glad to have it back! Wow, it just fixes everything. I didn't even know half the recordings I had were as good as they are! That's the scary part. There are many recordings that got to go set in the corner after having offended at least one of my sensibilities on some evening... Then I try them again, like now, and I have to waste a lot of time researching the label of the actual track release to see if it is the same recording because it sounds so different. We're right in there with my vinyl rig now, which is rare. That really is worth the price of a preamp if it's the right one. At least it is to me.
Also, I have never heard the preamp on drivers this good, so I feel like I'm hearing it for the first time tonight and I'm damn impressed. It's just so amazing how it takes a somewhat chaotic sound quality and just tightens everything up, organizes it, and fixes it so that the amp can be played as though it had over twice the power with no danger of clipping whatsoever. It actually does what a ZROCK2 does to restore body and tone but in a completely different way.
In total, this system is pretty expensive, probably 6 or 7 grand for the speakers and ZROCK2. Another 6 or 7 grand for the amp and preamp. But I can tell as someone who has heard a few systems including those at ten times this price point, this delivers the goods. It's is exactly the famous Decware Zen Triode sound that anyone can buy for $998. and a pair of speakers, but the sound has been magnified in the same way the Hubble Telescope transformed astronomy. There are no earth based telescopes that can even get close.
Low volume listening has improved by 60% or more since my last posts on that topic. I attribute that to both changes, but am surprised nonetheless by the rather dramatic improvement. Possibly everything I said earlier about having to be played loud was complete crap. We'll see. Tonight might just be a dream for all I know... a damn fine one I can tell ya.
Steve