iaudio
Well-Known Member
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Setup:
Garrard 301 with Lorricraft plinth &Denon DL103 cartridge, Garrard 301 with Shure Mx95?
Yaquin Tube phono pre and CA 640p
Audio Analogue tube integrated
KLH Model 5 speakers
kuruvillajacob has a dedicated listening room. The side walls have 8 feet high wooden racks full of LPs, which themselves are part of the acoustic treatment solution. He also has removable acoustic panels at the reflection points and corner bass traps.
First he played Bill Evans at the Montreux Jazz Festival, and I was taken aback by the imaging.Razor sharp. It was such a well defined soundstage. This was one thing I find to be hit and miss with some of the TT setups I have heard. Eddie Gomez bass notes though subtly layered into the background, were so well defined and the piano sounded great.
The KLH 5 speakers are from the 70s, they are big in size, but once the music starts, they just disappear. Saw a thread by Rajiv this morning:
http://www.hifivision.com/av-lounge/28618-vintage-schizophrenia-stereophile.html
and this comment seems so apt:
I had fallen in love after hearing Dave Brubeks Take 5 on Rajivs system( Lyrita 2A3 SET and Altec based speakers). However the LP kuruvillajacob had was not in a great state and the sound was dull. But then again with a collection of 1000s of records, keeping them all free of dust is a Herculean task.
Played this one:
and Miriam Makebas vocal prowess was a treat on " The Click Song"
Ella and Louis again
"Let's to do it, lets fall in Love", putting this one on just opened a door to a one on one meeting with Louis Armstrong! Unbelievable texture to his voice making it sound so lifelike. The music connected like never before.It was like Ustad Rashid Khan on the Acoustic Portrait Reference system.
Silsila: Now this was the biggest surprise of the evening. Many here know, that I have been lusting after TTs for quite a while and one of the main reasons I want one is to enjoy the old Bollywood/Ilairaja/Yesudas songs of 70-80s, which obviously sound quite bad on Cds.
The Silsila LP was one helluva experience. I have never heard bollywood classics or Lataji's sound like this. I never knew it could sound so good! It was musically hi fi! Santoor in its full glory, with all Stereophile/6 moons adjectives/superlatives tagged on.
Then, spun a Della Reese's hits( Japanese pressing?) Lp where the sound was very composed even on complex parts.
Tried Alan Parson Project- What Goes up. The usual sound effects were well projected but I would have liked the bass a bit more tighter.
Popped in a Leonard Cohen: Songs from the Road Lp and his trademark baritone was so powerful and engaging.
Time, as is the case in such encounters, was woefully inadequate! I got to meet kuruvillajacob after a gap of almost a decade and heard some lovely music on helluva sounding rig, a memorable evening. Hifi bhai log, this is a trip worth making. It is up there in my list along with Rajivs , as a benchmark TT setup.
Some more pics, all shot with phone cam, forgot to lug the Nikon along.
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