My trip to Stallion's

Posted by: Steve Toy on 10 April 2002

I went to the Stallion abode on Monday afternoon and had a most enjoyable time but for the fact that he was teasing me with my favourite beers as well as an Italian fortified wine whose name escapes me when I had to drive home at 9:45 pm.

Needless to say, I left the place sober ( ) but incredibly well fed - Mrs Stallion is certainly an excellent cook!

As for the system, I can say that it has an awesome resolving power that would make many from the M*** camp green with envy - the killer bass, and the sheer detail on offer.

However, it wasn't really my cup of tea in every respect; Stallion has heard my system, and is therefore familiar with the type of sound that I like - warm and euphonic, whereas the presentation he prefers is more explicit to the point of trashing less-than-perfect recordings.

He did say a few weeks back that I may well prefer the Music Works Block and Leads over his "Amazing New Discovery" - the Block from Adventures in Hi-fi at Wigan now in use in his system.

I found the top end of his system to sound a little fierce to my own personal tastes, and I felt that imaging and tune were the first casualties of this with many recordings.

I did notice that the Supercap was positioned immediately beneath the 52, but I understand that regarding siting of equipment on the QS Reference racks, work is still in progress - and a spacer shelf between may help.

I am also certain that he knows exactly the type of sound he wants to hear and that this isn't a sonic flavour that I would go for personally - we are in agreement on that particular score.

I should certainly be interested in hearing the system again following the reorganisation of equipment on the stand, as well as an A/B demo of Music Works versus the block now in use.

Stallion's system is still a monster, and is one of the most dynamic I have ever heard. I would just like it to sound a little sweeter to my own tastes.

Regards,

Steve.

The proof of the pudding...

Posted on: 12 April 2002 by Steve Toy

quote:
I have it on very good authority that Densen amps sound very similar to Naim ones, but with a little less bass. Warm & euphonic? I equate 'warm' with vague. Euphonic merely means 'well-voiced' in ancient Greek

Densen amps do indeed sound very similar to Naim ones.

The B100 and Nait 5 are dead-ringers when warmed up, although they sound different when both are cold.

A little less bass?

The B300 compared to a 250 is lighter in the bass, but not compared to a 180.

The Densens are fussy about interconnects, and seem to thrive on Chord Anthems and expensive Nordost.

Naim amps seem always to prefer the standard Naim i/cs.

Euphonic meaning "well-voiced?"

I'll go with that!

To me, "warm" is the opposite to "bright."

Ironically, if you clean up the top end, you get more high-frequency detail which sounds less bright, and therefore warmer by my own definition.

Sonic gains by so doing are not a trade off - you get better harmonics, i.e: "tune," and the extra top-end resolution also improves imaging. We perceive air and space via the high frequencies reproduced with accuracy.

Both the round earth and flat earth aspects of musical reproduction are improved by removing distortion in the treble.

Naim systems can image, provided that power supplies and power amps are kept away from source components and preamps. They are fussy and need a lot of TLC.

The old cliches about Naim systems are borne out of hearing those which are not optimised in their set-up.

Regards,

Steve.

The proof of the pudding...

Posted on: 12 April 2002 by Steve Toy

Be happy, I have checked your profile, and you also seem to have a "monster" system.

As for that PC witch hunt thingie, I'll give you a prime example of why it irks me so:

In Alex's spoof thread to this one, I asked him if he had been on the vodka...

This could be misconstrued as reinforcing the stereotypical image of Russians drinking lots of vodka, and the racist card could then be waved in my general direction as a result of this.

However, my reference to his consumption of vodka refers back to a a thread a few months back when both Alex and I were waxing somewhat lyrical about our respective vodka experiences in *that* part of the world - Alex with his furniture restoration experiences + vodka in St. Petersburg (IIRC) and my own in Uzbekistan last year, and more recently when the Uzbek posse came over here.

I don't want to be too careful in what I say lest I "offend" some malicious PC whistle blower.

I hope you get my drift.

Regards,

Steve.

The proof of the pudding...

Posted on: 13 April 2002 by Guido

Hi!

Yello's Dieter Meir has a sound mixing studio in LA. The system he has is called euphonic, too.
By emphasizing the mids (or slight coloration) voices/lyrics (they say) sound clearer and better.
I think Eberhard Schoener had one of his latest peaces mixed there.
Doesn't the greek word "eu" just meen good?
Regards
Guido