Melody Hi Fi / Angel City Audio Event

shadowlight · « **Reply #20 on:** 8 Dec 2012, 11:06 pm »

Room setup is coming along. Just waiting for the pallet to arrive.

Basement Setup will be - M845, P2688, PB101, XCD-50, MS-1, Transient Dac, Triode Wirelabs power cord and Soul Superfly Mk.1B. The MS- and Transient Dac is hooked up and playing right now. I like the Transient and MS-1 combo during my brief listening session.

Spare Bedroom setup will be - Melody MK88 Integrated, Toshiba HD-XA1, Emotiva XDA2 (maybe), Triode Wirelabs power cord and Omen Def Mk.1B speakers

morganc · « **Reply #21 on:** 9 Dec 2012, 06:35 am »

I would also try the AN845 with the Omen Defs. I bet that would be a phenomenal pairing

HAL · « **Reply #22 on:** 9 Dec 2012, 12:48 pm »

shadowlight,
Looks like a fun time of listening next weekend at the GTG.

Looking forward to the comments!

shadowlight · « **Reply #23 on:** 10 Dec 2012, 03:56 pm »

Quote from: morganc on 9 Dec 2012, 06:35 am

I would also try the AN845 with the Omen Defs. I bet that would be a phenomenal pairing

Sorry Morgan, Hugh ran out of AN845 (all sold) so they will be missing from the lineup.

rollo · « **Reply #24 on:** 10 Dec 2012, 05:23 pm »

It will be a fine day regardless, Melody makes some good stuff.

charles

shadowlight · « **Reply #25 on:** 12 Dec 2012, 11:36 pm »

Basement all setup and tested. The only thing left to hook up is the MS1 and CIAudio Transient DAC. Need to find a place so they will be easy to get to during the event.

shadowlight · « **Reply #26 on:** 12 Dec 2012, 11:37 pm »

All lit up and

HAL · « **Reply #27 on:** 13 Dec 2012, 12:52 am »

Looking good!

JoshK · « **Reply #28 on:** 13 Dec 2012, 12:59 am »

That silver preamp on the left is sexy as all hell. I'd love to hear that! Too pricey for me though. I just want to hear a preamp that uses the 101D as a gain element, not just the regulator (which is what I think the one of the right does, iirc).

NM, seems I got that wrong according the description on Angel City's website. Looks like they are both two stage line preamps now. Both around 20db gain (that is a lot for a preamp!) which means the 101D isn't the only gain stage.

Hugh · « **Reply #29 on:** 13 Dec 2012, 01:44 am »

Thanks D for all the heavy lifting.

See you on Friday.

shadowlight · « **Reply #30 on:** 13 Dec 2012, 02:06 am »

No problem Hugh.

Can you respond to Josh's question on gain stage for the p2866 and pb101.

JoshK · « **Reply #31 on:** 13 Dec 2012, 02:19 am »

I was stating...but it states 20db/gain for each. So I think I answered my own question. I am wondering if the volume is "hot" meaning it goes up really fast?

Hugh · « **Reply #32 on:** 13 Dec 2012, 02:23 am »

Josh,

What do you mean by goes up pretty fast?

I honestly don't understand and so my question.

JoshK · « **Reply #33 on:** 13 Dec 2012, 02:28 am »

Well 20db is lot of gain for a preamp (10x the input)....12db is 4x the input, so a 2v output from CD player is 8V input at full volume for open. Most amps are around 26db/gain and so 8V is already overloading them. I am just wondering if you can turn up the volume past 9pm on any of those preamps without blowing yourself out of the room. If you use them with 2 stage SET amp, i can see the drive, but your SET amp looks 3 stage.

I am not trying to be a blow-hard or jerk. I was just surprised by that amount of gain for a preamp. My SET amps don't have that much gain and the are amps.

shadowlight · « **Reply #34 on:** 13 Dec 2012, 05:48 pm »

Family Room Setup with Angel City Trinity LCR in Birds Eye Maple

lonewolfny42 · « **Reply #35 on:** 15 Dec 2012, 02:57 pm »

It's a beautiful day today......can't wait to listen...see you there!

HAL · « **Reply #36 on:** 15 Dec 2012, 03:47 pm »

Have fun guy's!

Looking forward to listening impressions on all the goodies!

saisunil · « **Reply #37 on:** 16 Dec 2012, 12:15 am »

Super Thanks Deepak and family for being great hosts ...
Your wife made tonnes of food ... should have called home before leaving - my wife said where's that pasta bag

Good to reconnect with audio buddies ...
Great to meet up with Hugh - you brought in a lot of gear

Downstairs I loved the 845 sound - nice and smooth tube sound

There were three systems:
1. Downstairs hooked with PS3 and the new LCR speakers - it could have benefited from a DAC or better source - but the Blue-Ray Content was enjoyable
2. Upstairs - second bedroom had the most balanced sound for me - it was very easy to listen to this system without finding anything wrong - Hugh's new prototype DAC ($299) has something to do with this I believe

Nice sound from the Melody KT88 tube integrated. This was my favorite room.
3. Basement - main system: I love those 845 Mono's - and that fancy Melody pre - with fancy tubes - really nice looking and nice sounding stuff. This room was having some bass boom issues and Zu's were a little forward sounding for me ... I just generally don't get Zu sound - so that is just a preference thingy

It is so hard to know what any one component sounds like in the mix ...
That's why I liked the second system as it just worked in that space very nicely

Once again Super thanks for such hard work, nice people, nice conversation - wish more people had an opportunity to enjoy!

Charles - I guess I need to hear your phase correcting silver box
Pete - I will be sending you my Triode Labs cable for an upgrade

HAL - Look forward to receiving your MS-2 music server
Deepak - see you soon

Good to see you all - Chris, Bill, some old and some new friends

Triode Pete · « **Reply #38 on:** 16 Dec 2012, 01:28 am »

Quote from: saisunil on 16 Dec 2012, 12:15 am

Super Thanks Deepak and family for being great hosts ...
Your wife made tonnes of food ... should have called home before leaving - my wife said where's that pasta bag

Good to reconnect with audio buddies ...
Great to meet up with Hugh - you brought in a lot of gear

Downstairs I loved the 845 sound - nice and smooth tube sound

There were three systems:
1. Downstairs hooked with PS3 and the new LCR speakers - it could have benefited from a DAC or better source - but the Blue-Ray Content was enjoyable
2. Upstairs - second bedroom had the most balanced sound for me - it was very easy to listen to this system without finding anything wrong - Hugh's new prototype DAC ($299) has something to do with this I believe Nice sound from the Melody KT88 tube integrated. This was my favorite room.
3. Basement - main system: I love those 845 Mono's - and that fancy Melody pre - with fancy tubes - really nice looking and nice sounding stuff. This room was having some bass boom issues and Zu's were a little forward sounding for me ... I just generally don't get Zu sound - so that is just a preference thingy

It is so hard to know what any one component sounds like in the mix ...
That's why I liked the second system as it just worked in that space very nicely

Once again Super thanks for such hard work, nice people, nice conversation - wish more people had an opportunity to enjoy!

Charles - I guess I need to hear your phase correcting silver box
Pete - I will be sending you my Triode Labs cable for an upgrade
HAL - Look forward to receiving your MS-2 music server
Deepak - see you soon

Good to see you all - Chris, Bill, some old and some new friends

Ditto... what Sunil said... & it was great to finally meet saisunil!

Thanks to Deepak and his family once again for great hospitality!!!

I had a wonderful time... wish we lived closer & I could stay later... just got home 3 hours later...

The Angel City / Melody gear was extremely musical and appeared to have fantastic build quality & definitely had Eye Appeal!!!

I was impressed with Hugh's prototype DAC & HAL's (Rich's) MS-1 (was very impressed at RMAF as well!)

It was great seeing everyone & we should do this more often!

Happy Holidays,
Pete

woofersus · « **Reply #39 on:** 16 Dec 2012, 04:58 am »

Quote from: JoshK on 13 Dec 2012, 02:28 am

Well 20db is lot of gain for a preamp (10x the input)....12db is 4x the input, so a 2v output from CD player is 8V input at full volume for open. Most amps are around 26db/gain and so 8V is already overloading them. I am just wondering if you can turn up the volume past 9pm on any of those preamps without blowing yourself out of the room. If you use them with 2 stage SET amp, i can see the drive, but your SET amp looks 3 stage.

I am not trying to be a blow-hard or jerk. I was just surprised by that amount of gain for a preamp. My SET amps don't have that much gain and the are amps.

The PB101 actually has "high" and "low" unbalanced outputs, which helps when connecting to a higher gain solid state amplifier. The P2688 eschews both that and the balanced outputs the PB101 has. We don't have detailed information from Melody on the reasoning, but I would assume it's in the name of simplifying the circuit. Some have complained in the past that the gain is too much, although that has usually been with highly sensitive speakers, in which case a lower power amp may actually be what's needed. It does help that Melody has switched from the stepped ladder resistor attenuators to a remote control attenuators with more granular adjustments. We've used both of them with 90db ACA Trinity's and either 21w M845's or 70w PM845's at shows in small rooms and have never had an issue getting the volume where we wanted.

As far as the topologies, I'm not an expert on tube circuits, but it is my understanding that the P2688 uses the 101D tubes in the same way that the PB101 uses them, which is as voltage regulators. Melody also uses the 101D as a voltage regulator in some of their mid-level integrateds. (Astro Black 50/I880, Astro Black 22/I2A3, etc.) They are both also tube rectified, and obviously use output transformers.

Having heard both, I can tell you the P2688 definitely kicks it up a few notches. I still really like the PB101, but the P2688 has a wider soundstage with much more precise imaging, and is generally more open and effortless sounding.

Linked Events

Melody Hi Fi / Angel City Audio Event