Fidelity Research FR-64 vs. FR-54

Dear @lewm : Of course I read and understand what you posted but let me tell you something:

first that as Soundlabs ES speakers I ike Beveridge too but this does not means are " perfect " and not only because the ES technology but because the electronics need it to drive it. In the other side you said that mostly the signal pass trhough SS electronics and this means: that’s is not full SS but exist at least one tube where signal pass trhough and not all SS electronics designs has the same quality level.

Now, you as @thekong and several audiophiles leaves in the 30´s using in 2017 that " pre-historyc " tube technology that not only on bass range but all over the audio/music frequency range makes a way higher degradation to any signal than today dedicated SS elctronic devices.
That you and other audiophiles are accustomed to that pre-historyc degraded sound means only that: that all of you are accustomed to a way wrong sound reproduction thank’s to the corrupted AHEE.
Tubes exist because is a market business where the market is not looking for real sound/music quality but colored reproduction and you have no culprit about but your corrupted " teachers ".
Tube manufacturers can’t refuse to make business only because the tube electronics can’t works in better way: $$$ is $$$ and no one cares from where.
Tube technology is one of the main reasons why the high-end just does not grow-up. We all need a NEW AHEE to start a totally new MUSIC enjoying.

In the other side and even if you don’t use any single tube in the system the only way to have an accurate low system/room low distorion quality level is where you have a near " perfect " system/room bass management.

How can you know that bass management quality level?, only if you already experienced in other system/room but yours. You can’t compare nothing if you have not a reference a true reference to compare it.

I read somewuere that you have passive external subs driven by Threshold amp, I think a transmision line design type. Well, I can tell you that it can achive that near " perfect " bass managemnt quality level.

I know that Mr. Beveridge loves transmision line design type, so what?. Any sub desgn type must ve an active design where the SS amplifier can copes exactly the subs driver specific characteristics and your subs are out of this subs main target.

We have to remember two things that are: audio home/system reproduction MUSIC  belongs not to the mid-range but to the bass range and the other issue is that MUSIC is HARMONICS develop by the fundamentals.

Because of all that an many other issues I know that you can aware of the kind of distortions I’m and as I said: is not your culprit. You just can’t do it.

Gentlemans, everything in the human beeen and in the Universe is a constant " times " of changes, almost every second, and we audiophiles decided not to change for the better: to discover the audio/MUSIC world that EXIST and that today AHEE deny to us.

No, you main system can’t help you neither.

I know that no one likes that other people " touchs " each one audio system and when I did it and doing is only trying to help.

Audiophiles are accustom to lkes only what we want to hear when some one talks about one of our system’s link and dislike anything against it. But I don’t post or participate to say what peple wnats to hear but what are my experiences and the why’s about and this self characteristic in my attitude is what made it that I was banned from several net forums elsewhere but here and VE.

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC not Distortions,
R.

Res ipse loquitor.

Well, our distortion man Raul will not benefit from anything. He loves to repeat his distortion "facts" like a broken record. You know the movie Groundhog Day? The only difference is, Bill Murray finds the way out of the time loop, Raul not. He loves to wake up in the morning with the same song again and again.... "I got you, Babe"

Dear @lewm : Maybe you can understand why your system as almost all audiophile’s systems are so far away to reproduce what’s in the recording please read this, it’s only what is part of my audio system that obviously is not nearest to " perfection " ( nothing is there. ) but through the time " each day " comes close to reproduce what is in the analog/digital recordings adding the lower degradation my ignorance levels permit it. All these permit me to be aware of multiple kind of souce’s audio signal degradations that I have perfectly identified ( several of them I " discovery " by accident and not because I was looking for. I found out because my mistakes during everywhere system up-dates. ):

- my TTs ( BD and DD ) are nothing realy special, makes what is supposed to do it.
What’s special is the propietary design/build TT mat and clamp.

- A very special propietary design/build tonearm with the lowest self added signal degradations of any kind. Wired with silver, All my system is wired with silver, including the electrical power cables.

- After the tonearm and along the speakers/room the must important audio link in the system chain is the PhonoLinePreamp.
Here our self design, Essential 3160 use bipolar transistors in two gain stages for MC phono stage and FETs for MM phono stage.

In reality this phonolinepreamp have five preamps instead of only one: it has a dual mono MC phono stage, it has a dual mono MM phono stage and a line level stage preamp. All these stages are totally independent from each other.

This phonolinepreamp design is a discrete Non-feedback, direct coupled, current drive, pure class A , true balanced ( differential ) input to output, dual mono design, fully regulated input to output and with dual mono external power supply.

Inside parts: teflon capacitors, " naked " resistors,matched active devices , no internal wires ( every part is soldered directly to the four layers circuit boards. ), etc....., only the best neutral non-sound parts ( no step-up transformers, no head amps, etc.. ) and in the critical stages with tolerances at 0.005%.

A developed proprietary technique guarantee an accurate RIAA de-emphasis. This technique assures an initial RIAA accuracy of +/- 0.015 dB from 20 Hz to 20 kHz ( Both channels ), resulting in a neutral phono stage that reproduces exactly what the cartridge generates that are in the recording.
My unit measures so " perfect " that in the measured RIAA chart showing both channels we just can’t see no single frequency deviation from 10hz to 50khz and we can’t distinguish the line from left to rigth channel responses !!!!!!!!
I posted in this forum and if I remember you posted in that thread something about.

To round off the preamplifier’s RIAA capabilities, its has a switchable 3.18 us turnover point to compensate for the cutting head preemphasis roll-off during the recording. Other specs:

Frequency range to: 0.01 Hz to 1,5 MHz. ( both channels. )

Signal to noise ratio: better than 82 dbA in MC stage refered to 0.5mv. and according the standard/norm/rule: EIA/CEA-490-A , the same spec for MM but reffered to 5.0mv and 110db at 1 V ( unity gain ) in line stage. ( Both channels .)

Slew rate: 300 V/mseg.

Common mode rej.: 130db. ( Both channels. )

Distortion: 0.0002% ( Both channels. )

Input overload: MC: 15 mVrms @ 1 kHz (High-gain), 30 mVrms @ 1 kHz (Low-gain)

MM: 500 mVrms @ 1 kHz.

Total weight: 55 lbs.

When I write ( both channels ) this means that both channels measures exactly the same ! ! !


- Mark Levinson Reference 20.6 monobloks:

It is a great industrial design, military specs, bullet proof, great and unique bipolar amplifier design.

It is a fully regulated input to output design that use Arlon circuit boards and have " only " 100 watts of pure class A at 8 ohms, that double that figure at 4,2,1 and 0.5 ohm with an output impedance of 0.012 ohms!

Each monoblokc amplifier power supply is supported for two " big " toroidal transformers ( 600VA each ).

I modified the original Levinson circuitry with better passive parts , silver internal rewiring and not only for the signal but for the electrical power one, power supply lines are free of fuses because I by-passed all of them, by-pass some circuit stages where the signal passed and the must important was the invert stage for balanced operation.

Things were that the 20.6 was designed as a single ended amplifier not a dual diferential true balanced design, they only adds a fully invert stage for the customer can play with in balance mode if he wants it but the real " magic " in this design is in single end way that’s how I’m using it by-passing totally the very complicated ( several parts. ) invert stages, with this the " purity and integrity " of the audiio signal suffer way lower degradations/distortions.

It is at the 20.6 input where through only one best Teflon cap and best naked resistor it makes the frequency croosover for the main speakers in the bi-amp system. Both Teflon caps are mated at 0.1% in between and the resistors at 0.001% as tolerances in between.

Amplifiers bias is always mantained at same value in between the 20.6s as all the other main amplifiers specs.

My monobloks can compete with any today amplifier you can name it and can surpass some of them.

- Main system speakers. My ADS L2030 speakers were not designed as a home speaker but as a Professional Monitor.

What that means?, this is what ADS says: " reproduce the most challenging program sources with the utmost ACCURACY and authority. No other transducer ( in production. ) can offer the combination of ultra-wide frequency and dynamic range, freedom from SONIC COLORATION, extremely LOW DISTORTION, high image accuracy and superb dynamic linearity.

The speakers acoustic suspension design comes with very powerful magnets for the silk dome tweters and mid-ranges where woofers made it with pulp/fabric material with a magnetic flux of: 635,000, 1,830,000 and 1,400,000 nanoWebers respectively.

These L 2030 was designed by Mike Kelly ( Aerial speakers ) and till today it match all my priorities.

It is " heavy " tweaked to do that:

internally is hard wired with silver wire.

I take out the crossover ( now is external ) and change all the parts: resistors ( Duelum. ), all silver ribbon air core inductors, teflon caps, i dissapeared all the speaker’s protection circuits, apply internal damping to put at minimum its resonances, I integrate a back side speaker tweeter same efficiency and silk dome too that has its dedicated silver wired independent crossover at 7.5khz. and the speakers silver’s cables goes hard soldered directly to the crossover parts .
In reality are three separate/stand alone crossovers: one for the tweeter, one for the midrange and the other for the woofer, all these hard-wired directly to the amps ( no connectors. ) by 3 independent silver’s cables that goes from the amplifier outputs to each one external passive crossover.

I change the internal damping glass fiber by 10kg ( each one ) of long hair 100% virgin wool and change the fabric cloth of the grille for a " transparent one ".

Both speakers have at the rear-center the Antiresonant Vibration System by MICROSCAN model TM-8 that works from 20hz to 1.5Khz.

These are some manufacturer specs:

- Frecuency response: 22-20K +.- 3 db ; 18-28K +.- 5db.

-Efficiency: 95 db SPL.

- Power rating: 300 watts nominal; 1,200 peak.

Weight: 95kg.


- system room treatment almost dissapeared because I don’t need it any more because room interactions almost dissapeared too thanks to that " glorious " near " perfect " bass system’s management.



That’s only part of the whys I’m listening and enjoying MUSIC and not DISTORTIONS and why you can’t be aware of that terrible FR’s degradations. Got it?

Does any one experience for the very first time a true enjoying of MUSIC at home instead of distortions?, then first step is stay away of any single tube, try to remember that we are all living in 2017 ! ! not in the 30’s.

As I said the culprit are not the audiophiles but that old corrupted AHEE.


Regards and enjoy the music,
R.