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DaVa cartridge
- Thread starter graystoke4
- Start date
Audionote seem to do pretty well with transformer coupling. PQ is of the opinion that it is the best way to do things. Just saying :^)
Audionote only transformer couple the cartridge to the phono stage with an SUT, and from the output valves to the speaker via the output transformer. The rest of their circuits are RC coupled using their own make silver capacitors and exotic resistors, similar to Kondo. They might make the odd amplifier that transformer couples the driver valve to the output valve in a power amplifier, but that would probably be in their top models. If you look at the post I referenced, I was referring to a couple of manufacturers that transformer couple all the way through with no capacitors at all.
montesquieu
pfm Member
If you are going to present at a show for 15 minutes prior to playing any music, you had better make sure the sound backs up what you have said...
Reminds me of a speaker company at the Munich Show - Vienna Acoustics - who thought it would be a good idea to show how well their product compared with live music. So right in the middle of their large dem room, they had the Russian fortepiano performer Viviana Sofronitsky play a fortepiano made by her husband, the Czech-based Canadian instrument maker Paul McNulty - a nice little programme of Schubert, Beethoven and Mendelssohn. No doubt at considerable expense.
This was introduced with much speechifying and fanfare, alongside the the same music streamed out from a streamer, not sure whether it was a CD rip or from hi-res files. Needless to say, the result was toe-curlingly embarrasing.
The mini-recital was great though, one of the highlights of the show for me. I bought the CD from which the music had been selected, and the delightful Viviana signed it for me. Sounded way better on the Tannoys when I got it home. But just goes to show how stupid marketing people can be sometimes.
Reminds me of a speaker company at the Munich Show - Vienna Acoustics - who thought it would be a good idea to show how well their product compared with live music. So right in the middle of their large dem room, they had the Russian fortepiano performer Viviana Sofronitsky play a fortepiano made by her husband, the Czech-based Canadian instrument maker Paul McNulty - a nice little programme of Schubert, Beethoven and Mendelssohn. No doubt at considerable expense.
This was introduced with much speechifying and fanfare, alongside the the same music streamed out from a streamer, not sure whether it was a CD rip or from hi-res files. Needless to say, the result was toe-curlingly embarrasing.
The mini-recital was great though, one of the highlights of the show for me. I bought the CD from which the music had been selected, and the delightful Viviana signed it for me. Sounded way better on the Tannoys when I got it home. But just goes to show how stupid marketing people can be sometimes.
I bet that must have been great to hear Viviana play and on a beautiful fortepiano live! A real treat from having to put up with a lot of mediocre Hi-Fi rooms. Still at least it was in Munich where the standards for music tend to be so much higher than anywhere else. Says it all when you mentioned the music was streamed. You have now lost about 50% of the emotion in the music straight away. As you say clearly stupid marketing people who seem to screw up so much these days...
anubisgrau
pfm Member
this is the normal thing for the shows. not all the buyers are as eloquent and educated as you or other forum people, nowadays audio as a status simbol just as cars or watches. the fact it sounded tragic is irrelevant, the buyers would love the show and - buy.
One of the things you really don't want to do is to have too many audio transformers in the signal path. Don't forget that all audio transformers do not have a flat frequency response and all start rolling off at low and high frequencies. The more you use in a complete system (SUT, Phono stage, Pre-amp, Power amp(s)) the more attenuated the higher frequencies become. I used about the minimum number of coupling transformers in a system over 25 years ago. You can read the Roland Kraft article HERE describing my system.
I remember visiting the Audio Tekne room in Munich a few years ago where the presenter banged on for 15 minutes about the system and kept saying "there were no capacitors in the signal path, the whole system was transformer coupled". The presenter got his side kick to lower the stylus in the groove and the sound was terrible. Just no high frequencies, just a very rolled off sound. I couldn't believe anyone would go to all that trouble and have such a poor sound, especially when all the equipment was so expensive and the horn speakers were mostly made from graphite at a huge cost. If you are going to present at a show for 15 minutes prior to playing any music, you had better make sure the sound backs up what you have said...
I agree with your impression of Audio Tekne based on a compare of their phono with others and also their amp. But Mayer was not at all like that. Tekne was dark and rolled off. I understand that at very premium levels Tekne changes that by using better transformers where they used superpermalloy. However I haven't experienced their premium ones.