Hi All,
Finally I joined this club officially by receiving the CD-5S yesterday. The whole system is in Higher-Fi status now. With Ayon CD-5S as source, EDGE NL Signature 1.2s as amplification and Montana EPX as loudspeakers, I can rest for an extremely long time before any major upgrade (if any, speakers probably) and concentrate on listening to music merrily.
It is a long journey for me to reach current stage, 22 years. I started with Ariston CD1 with Marantz mini system in 1991, then move to Carver CD-490T (6922 tube based), Bryston and Tannoy combination in 1993. Not until 2001, I entered the Hi-Fi world by assembling BAT CD-5 (6922 tube based), Counterpoint SA-11 6SN7 tube based pre-amplifier, Counterpoint fully upgraded SA-100 6SN7 tube based hybrid monoblock amplifiers and Thiel 3.6 speakers. By switching BAT CD-5 with Resolution Audio CD-55 and Thiel 3.6 with Piega P-10 in 2008, I twisted the sound of my system closer to my personal taste. But I recognized then the next upgrade would be challenging and would be very close to the central realm of musical Valhalla.
Now here I am after 5-year auditing and searching. The detail story would be disclosed in another thread of my system review.
Your suggestion are always welcome.
Happy Listening! |
@ calvinj, Good luck my friend! |
Thanks. I will put them in Friday. Wish me luck !!!!!!!! |
@ calvinj, congrats on the nordost Tyr and the EH 6h30 tubes!, Keep me posted on the sound of it all, after your tubes break in, I would put the original interconnect back in to hear what the tubes are actually doing, since you are familar with your last interconnects!, then put your new tyr interconnects in and give me sentiments of all of the sound, I look forward to hear what you have to say!,, cheers! |
@ calvinj, Where are you? |
I'm keeping my liutos after all. I just tried nordost Tyr. I liked it very musical interconnect. I just got the eh 6 h 30 gold pins. Gonna tube roll by the wknd on my ayon. |
@ calvinj, Hi, I hope you enjoyed your holiday!, I had a feast of a cook out!,, What does the music model speakers cost?, They looked like they were a very good speakers to me!, I understand if you do not want to spend the money!, I hate it too!, If I had your income, I would get the $75,000.00 retail JBL 67000 everest speakers and be done the rest of my life!, This is hailed as a super speaker!, One of a handfull as best available!, My dream speakers!,, no offense to nobody out there, but I call that kind of money, stupid money!, no, it does not mean you are stupid!, It means that you have the money to realize your dreams in audio, more money to know what to do with!, stupid also is in context that the asking price here for the speakers is stupid!, thus stupid money, I wished I had stupid money!,, calvinj, you will be fine with whatever you would like to spend, you have greater prioritys, I understand,,,, cheers! |
I am not gonna chase perfection anymore. Just want to listen to music. |
4000 to 4500 probably. My cost. |
Sorry I was out if town. I was looking at those the music too. Can't afford them. The concert grands would match the other things I have now but I'm probably gonna wait to get something better. Still thinking about it more. I might just keep my liutos. |
@ calvinj, Ok, since you did not get back to me, I looked at vienna acoustics speakers, I do not believe you should wast your time on the concert grands or baby grands!, They are not good enough for your Ayon player!, now the model called the music, that flagship speaker of vienna acoustics may work to your benefit!, those would be best mated with some Taralabs cables!, then you would hear some tunes!The Taralabs omega edge speaker cables and zero edge interconnects and onyx power cords would fit the bill of what the model the music is capable of!, I would do piano black!, thats a nice finish!, these speakers look like focal utopia copys for sure!, that will help sound field phase alighnment of the music coming to your ears!The cables I recommended for the model, the music are smooth, extended bass and mids , treble!, a whole lot of body, a sound stage to die for!,, you get this set-up, I believe we can talk!, you would be like a kid on christmas day!, you would have a hell of alot to tell me, LOL!,,, cheers! |
@ calvinj, Where you at, you left me hanging with my last post to you!,, Happy Listening! |
@ calvinj, Ok, tell me please about these speakers!, you said, instead of the baby grands, you are shooting for the concert grands!, sounds like you are wanting to be a serious audiophile!, mind me asking, whats the concert grands going to cost you?, not that it is crazy!, look at me!, The money I spent on cables would fit the bill, I care less!, I love my sound of my cables, they give me the joy of music closest to live that I know of!,, cheers! |
Audio. They were rosewood in color and I needed cherry. |
@gammajo. Thanks for doing the comparison. I would like to see how it turns out for you. Tubes are very important but I would like to get my money worth. |
I am having second thoughts. I think I am going to wait and get the concert grands instead in a few weeks instead of the baby grands. I am still thinking about what I am going to do. I like them but they may not be big enough for my listening room. I have room acoustic problems to start of with so that's the thing I probably should address first. |
@ calvinj, A lawyer!, that explains everything, LOL!,,I still love ya man!, what are the Vienna Acoustics Baby grands going to cost you?,, BTW, given the money you make a year, why in the world do you wast time on inferrior cables?, I make less than you likly!, I own Taralabs very best cables with absolutly no regrets!, If I were you, I would sell the Ayon 2s and get the 5s player!,Tell me everything about the baby grands, and what are the differences between the two speakers that are being discussed here.,, Happy Listening! |
@ Gammajo, now you know what I am getting at!, Thankyou Gammajo, That would be awsome If you did that comparison, The price of $275.00 is a steep price for tubes!, and I wanted to make Damn sure they are that much better than the Tubes you are useing now to justify their cost!, and if they are a little better, why pay the difference?,, cheers! |
audio
I think I said that the cheaper tubes sounded better than I expected and are an excellent value. I have been running them for about a month and will remove them and do a comparison with the 1980's in a few weeks - will let you know result |
@ Gammajo, Hi, Thankyou for the answer, Do they make a tester that will test all tubes that is affordable?, BTW, you said in an earlier post that the warm, cheaper 6h30 tubes you bought sounded good in comparision to the 1980 nos 6h30 p-dr tubes, Is the 6h30p-dr 1980 tubes at usa tubes price of $275.00 worth the cost comparied to the 6h30 alternative tubes you bought for back-up???,, cheers! |
@audiolabyrinth people think I am crazy. I understand. It shouldn't happen. I am a lawyer in Texas. This audio thing is crazy. But in a good way. I am thinking about getting vienna acoustics baby grands in place of my liutos. |
Audiol
I have an old B&K Model 606 Tube tester (usually available on ebay) that I like a lot but it does not test 6H30's so I had USA test my tubes for me |
@ calvinj, your answer from the 0.8 thread is I am shipping the Ayon 2s back to usa tubes friday, they want the player returned to them to fix it or give me another one!, I am calm calvin!, I never had a piece to malfuction in less than 90 days before, and I never have owned a cd player this exspensive before, so when you put the two together, It is up setting for this to happen!, I do not know about where you live, but here, people already think it is ridiculas to spend this much for a cd player!, congrats on you getting some tubes, I would like to know your impresseions on the new tubes after you run 100 hours on them, then they still may get better with more hours!, 150 tops!, You are correct, usa tubes is going to give fixing my player a spinn!, thankyou calvinj, cheers! |
I know when equipment goes bad it is frustrating at the prices we pay. We expect that they back thier products. That's why we pay the high premium
To get the best. I am going to order the eh 6h30 gold pins and in two weeks order the 6h30 dr. |
@ Gammajo, Thankyou so much!, You are an awsome asset to me!, It defiantly Helped!I really did not know much about tubes other than what a few types sound like, this is my second tube player, and the first was the best sounding to me, but it had tube problems, It was bleeding d/c into my solid state amp, threw that into standby mode!, I had to get a refund on that vincent top tier player, That player had a very musical sound, it used 3-12ax7 tubes and 1-12au7 tube, and the player was truely balanced!, Gammajo,The Ayon 2s player I own was at 435 hours of use!, and then this malfuction! what did you use to test tubes?, I need to buy that!, you had a very good reson to get another unit for free!, LOL!, they really did not have a choice!, The infant tube failure sounds to u.s.a. tubes is what happened, they want the unit to make sure they can go thru the whole unit for problems else where!Thankyou, you and Melkior know what you are talking about very well, The both of you have brought me some peace! cheers! |
Didnt mean anything about it calm down usa tube audio is a good company and ayon will take care of you. Heard that they stand behind thier stuff. |
Audiol I know it is frustrating but I think they will make it good as soon as they can. I did pay ship there and they paid ship back. To be clear about a year into my first player there was clatter and difficulty in reading CD's. They attempted repair and then when that did not work (a whole batch of Philips Transports was bad - first time that happened), they sent me new unit free, saying that Ayon's policy was that if they did not fix it the first time, you got a new unit.
I have had tubed equipment for many years and in any brand of equipment tubes of any brand can go, but failure is most likely to occur if it is going to occur in the first couple hundred hours of use which what they call infant tube failure. There is no way to detect beforehand. This is one reason that I stick with tubes in the preamp which are under less stress than in tubed amps. Other good news is that after one year of nearly daily use in my first unit the tubes tested as new which speaks to Ayon's circuits being very gentle on tubes and that tubes in the unit should last a very long time if they make it through infancy. Hope this helps |
@ Melkior, Hi my friend!, long time since you come out!, I finally talked to usa tubes, they have said the same thing as you and Gammojo did that most likly is the problem!, the tubes and fuses!, however, I have to pay for shipping to them, and in turn they will pay for shipping back by air!,Paul said that useing rca or xlr most likly had eanything to do with it!, He thinks as Gammojo does, bad tubes from the factory!, we will see!, Paul is one of the usa, tube employees, which is ayon audio usa, the distributors for the united states!, they said, if they find a major issue, and the factory needs to know of a reliabilty issue, then they will send me a new unit!, paul said that is highly unlikly to be anything major!, Melkior, I always used this unit by xlr, worked fine, when I went to use it on a solid state reciever on rca there was no sound at all from the right channel!, the left channel played!, then pow!, and a small flash of light where the tubes are on the right channel!, then no sound at all, but the player was still powered on!, I quikly turned it off, and unplugged it!, I am lost for words! |
@ calvinj, come on man, this is not the time for you to say things like you did! I like you! lets keep that going! |
Arg ! Sorry Audiolabyrinth for what happened :-( Hope you have solved the problem, certainly a tube, check at least the fuses if one of them has blown.
I also had a problem with my CD5 : one PCM1704 chip failed, but it has been repaired by Ayon in Austria, quickly and weel done. 6H30DR still work very well.
I still have to use the SPL Volume2 to get a dead silent XLR connection (even if my amps have a 100 KOhms input I have lot of ground noise without the SPL).
Please keep us informed :-) |
@ Gammajo, Hi, Man, I really need to hear that from you, I am totally up-set here!, These players cost alot of money, And to tell you the truth, It took months for me to pay mine off with a lay-away!, Gammojo, this is my 3rd player in 14 months, are you saying usa tubes fixed your unit, a year later, you had another issue?, then they sent you another unit?, Steve at a company called, the service department home, that I have talked on the phone in general, is the owner and technician of his company,He is also a certiefied service for Ayon!, He said I should not pay shipping either way period!, really I am not!, He used to be the service manager at Krell for 20 years!, He also said he doubted that usa tubes will send me another unit period!,,, Gammajo, thats funny you said it may be the tubes on the right channel, the first thing the wife said when she saw the flash of light and pop sound with me, she said, thats the tubes! I will keep you and calvinj posted!, lets hope your theory is what it is!, regardless, the player has to leave my home to be fixed! |
Come down audio it will be ok step away from the ledge. Ayon and usa tube will make it right. |
What happened @lynrinth. With your ayon today |
Audiolab
You may have experienced an infant tube failure which happens. USA can take a few days to respond but I am confident that they will help you. They attempted a repair on my unit after about a year and when it did not work the first time send me an entirely new unit free ship without me asking and before I even sent them back the broken one. It has worked to perfection. Let us know how it turns out |
@ calvinj, hey man, I am very upset with my ayon and u.s.a.tubes, forgive me!, I am going to demand a new unit!, free shipping!, I am sorry, I do not want to elaborate on it alot right now calvin, latter, after I see what lousy u.s.a. tubes is going to do, Then I may talk to you about it thru e-mails! |
Ayon does suck, mine blew up yesterday!,I do not even want to talk about it!, very unreliable!, u.s.a.tubes suck too!,My unit is defective from the factory!, Its not even 90 days old yet!, the right channel would not play on RCA input at all when we tried to use it saturday morning on a solid state reciever!, then, the next thing I know, the Ayon made a small pop sound where the right channel tubes are, and a small flash of light!, then no sound!, unit stayed on, but did no longer work!, unplugged the unit,we have never used this Ayon's Rca inputs ever!, then u.s.a. tubes saturday would not talk to me at all!, and they were open, so yeah, They both suck! |
That's a very analytical detailed review on a product wow. |
It doesn't suck. It's pretty good. More details on why its sucks. Huh ? |
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@ calvinj, Wow! Thats the size of the Taralabs cobalt power cord I got in yesterday!I have heard great things about Elrod cables!, Let me know your impressions please, I do not know nothing of them cables, and I would like to learn from you!, Thankyou calvinj! |
Ok I will check with you when I'm ready. My dealer is a elrod statement dealer as well. He just let me demo the elrod statement gold I just put it in. It is the size of a muffler. Lol. |
@ calvinj,Damn, This whole time I thought you wanted a power cord!,LOL!, My offer is the same, If I can be of eany help with cables in general, and Taralabs, I will do my best!, cheers! |
Hi calvinj, Hey, Do not feel funny! I feel like we are friends now!, You have got some awsome cables here!, Your whole fricken system is nice!, Forgive me, I am pumped!, I just recieved my Taralabs cobalt power cord!, To my supprise, It has serial numbers on it, I called Taralabs a.s.a.p., They told me the original owners full name, the same guy I bought from!, That it was made in january,2013 and it has the very top of the line oyaide plugs on it, up-graded their at the factory1, A $450.00 up-grade!, This fricken power cord is huge!, I have never seen a girth this big around!, Taralabs a while back authenticated my zero gold i/c the same way, All the rest of the Taralabs cables I own, Taralabs has me in their system as the original owner!, I am calling them back next week to register my name on the cobalt power cord and the zero gold i/c as me in their system as the second owner of these cables, that way, all my Taralabs cables will be authenticated with Taralabs and my name with them!, Their is alot of fakes out there calvinj, in all cable brands!, calvinj, do not buy a cheap model Taralabs power cable!, you would not like that!, Dude, I just got blessed with one of the best deals in high-end audio that i have ever got!, The cobalt with up-graded oyaide plugs 6 foot is $5,450.00 before taxes!, I bought this one-meter with the oyaide plugs for $1,000.00 free shipping, no pay-pal!, Go Audiogon!, Calvinj, this is why you should look into buying used, Foe crying out loud, My cobalt power cord turned out to be new!, If you have eany questions on Taralabs, I can be of service, I do not want to cram Taralabs down your throut!, what ever you would like to do calvinj, I am here to help you the best I can! Happy listening! |
Ok I give in. I might have to try tara labs. Lol. Fellas this is my system. Classe cp800. Classe ca2200. Ayon cd2s. Clarus crimson speaker cables. Mit matrix hd 36 interconnect. Clarus crimson power cords. I'm needing one more organic sounding smooth interconnect. |
@ calvinj, that is funny!, you got your turn to make me laugh out of my chair!, you know, paul telling you to use Taralabs!, If the mit oracle ziii appeals to you, get that cable, after all, It is your system that you are listening to!, LOL!, Like I said, no hard feelings, I enjoy talking to you, I would buy used!, I sent you a E-mail!, there is more mit cables on the used market than eany other brand period!, look for yourself!, you can get any mit cable you want, right here on the audiogon!, cheers! |
@ Gammajo, Very well said my friend, I have tried to help calvinj, he is a good fella!,Please give him the recomendations he needs, I am not sure if he wants to listen to me, however, I can see you and me are on the same page!, so its the same!,I am going to put resonance control on the 2s player, I just pulled the trigger on the Taralabs cobalt power cord!, be here tomorrow!, this will add tons of body for the ayon 2s and fix, what I call, one of the worst voices of singing I have heard from a player of this cost point!, I am not sure if I want to keep this player, the jury is out right now!, I may need a Ayon 5s player, since the tubes in the power suppy color the sound to give a bigger sound stage and kills the forward sound that the 6h30 tubes are famous for!,, cheers! |
Calvin I too am not sure whether it is warmer that you are after. To me my system sounds like live music (which has a natural warmth but also sharpness when called for), but things that made it seem bright and harsh needed to eliminated. I have very clean power, my amps are weighted and vibration controlled and each piece of equipment is isolated electrically from each other. And my speakers are very natural (not over bright like many brands) In this system the EH 6h30pi gold pins sound very good and at $30-$40 per why not try them? Also why don't you post about your whole system and room and perhaps we can figure out what might be stealing warmth? |
The oracle ziii was cheaper than the ac1 and it sounded better. Also Paul at usa tube audio told me to use RCA instead of xlr and to get tara labs. Lol. Y'all are on tara labs dope mainlining straight to the veins. Ha ha ha. I will get the ziii and send the ac 1 back. |
@ calvinj, Did you see my post to you on 6-23-13?, that power cord will be here friday!,, LOL!, ok,I will leave Taralabs out of the conversation, only because Taralabs most certainly does not fix everything!, I agree, the 1980 nos reflector 6h30 tubes are exspensive!,, I am wondering if you have the non warm issue mistaken for the slight forward sound that I have complained about with the Ayon 2s? ,, My ayon here does not sound like it need eanything to make it warm sounding, thats why I believe the forward sound you are really hearing, you may believe you can fix that with tubes or cables?,, LOL!, I got it, Lets sell our ayon 2s players together and get something else all together!,, Just kidding!, Ha, Ha,!, I may do that later eany way!,, now you said you got a mit ac 1?, I am asumming that is a cheaper a/c power cord than the ziii oracle mit cable?, I thought you rented the ziii oracle and used it on your system?,, I believed you did!, If the oracle ziii mit sounds better but cost more, who cares, get the cable!, sometimes we have to spend more to get a great sound, this seems to be one of those times calvinj, go for it!,, cheers! |
@gammajo. Are the EH 6h30pi gold pins warmer and more musical than the stock tubes. I'm not spending 1000 bucks on tubes. At least not yet. Lol. I just got the mit ac1 I'm not happy with it at all. I like the oracle ziii power cord a lot better and it was a lot cheaper. I going to send it back and get the ziii. As far as tubes go how much better are the reflector 1980 nos 6h30dr tubes compared to the stock and the eh 6h30 pi gold pins. I just want a warmer sound. That power cord made it brighter and with my clarus cables already being detailed it was a big no no. Audiolabyriinth is going to tell me that tara labs fixes it all. I heard the ziii oracle mit and it was a lot better. I would like to know your input. No tara labs suggestions please lol. |
