[Guan]

Chazz, Victor, Icefox and myself had a fun gathering on Saturday at Chazz’s nice apartment.

Jay, we missed you, your eAR Two and Mensa DIO!

Equipment used:
- B&W Nautilus 805
- Pre-amps (Opera/Consonance Reference 1.1 tube pre, FT Audio LW1 passive)
- Digital (Teac T1 cdp (transport), Monarchy DIP, Smart DIO)
- Cables (Van den Hul CS3?? Hybrid speaker cable, Bolder M80, SlinkyLinks speaker cable and IC, Mogami IC, unterminated solid core speaker cable)
- Room treatment (Eighth Nerve Room Pack and extra seams)
- Amps (Odyssey Stratos Monoblocks (not Xtreme version), Rowland Design Model 10)

Chazz’s system
We started off acclimatizing ourselves with the sound of Chazz’s system by running through a varied musical programme ranging from Korean new-age vocals, acoustic instrumentals, Eminem, spatial sound effects, classical works, Silje Nergaard and the King’s Singers. Chazz has the N805’s about 3.5’- 4’ from the rear wall and about 5’ from the listening position, so relatively near field. Chazz, please correct me if my estimate is off!  Chazz has his Opera Ref tube pre on an SSC (string suspension) base. I was really looking forward to hearing the Odyssey monos, having read so much about them on HD and AC. They are large and built like tanks.

We agreed that the N805’s sounded very detailed top to bottom, dynamic and controlled. So the Odysseys were definitely asserting their authority over the N805s in a take-hold-of-your-shirt-front-and-shake way!
However the music seemed a bit dissected with the treble, mids and bass doing their own thing and not quite gelling together as a musical whole. The sound didn’t flow too well either and the presentation was a little on the bright and lean side. There was also a slight bass boom that Chazz and Victor noticed.

Cables
To try to address these imbalances, we first swapped out the Bolder M80 with a Mogami IC between pre and the Odyssey Mono’s. This made the sound a little rolled off at the top and bottom and not as lively. So back went the M80. We then swapped in the SlinkyLink (SL) IC between sMART DIO and pre (keeping the M80 between pre and amps) and this gave us the best balance of liveliness, detail and smoothness. The musical parts started coming together and flow better.
Then we decided to try the SL speaker cables but since they are not a bi-wire pair, we had to wrestle and contort some Empirical Audio jumpers into the (*@!#) CE approved plastic shrouded terminals of the N805s before we could use them. The SL cable cleaned up the sound quite a bit. Transients sounded crisper, bass was tighter and best of all the system sounded more coherent and musical.

Amps
After satisfying ourselves that the cables are working well with the system, we powered down the Odysseys and replaced them with the Rowland Model 10. The Rowland is certainly a beautiful piece of audio hardware. Chazz’s Odyssey monos are also nicely built with a stylish chrome (platinum?) front plate, but the Rowland is almost industrial art in a slim package. It came with a huge garden hose of an umbilical cord to connect the amp output section with the switch-mode power supply. The Rowland also sports an unusual 20A IEC with rectangular pins, so no power cord swapping unless the plugs are the right sort.

Our first cut was Eminem and in retrospect, that was probably a mistake. The Rowland immediately sounded hard, bright and very in-yer-face (maybe that was the point!) - all symptoms of a cold and/or unbroken in amp. Turns out it was both. Victor told us that his amp is only a month old. And after about half an hour, the amp sounded much better. Make no mistake, the Rowland is a super detailed and very transparent amp but, as with any hi-rez electronics, one that needs quite a bit of careful matching to bring out its best traits. I’m not sure that the N805’s are the best partner for the Rowland due to the hyper vivid nature of the Nautilus tweeter and less than pristine recordings.

Rowland vs Odyssey
Bearing in mind that the Odyssey monos were pretty much broken-in after 6 months use and the Rowlands are hardly run in, I would still venture that the Rowland pips the Odyssey for detail and sheer transparency especially with the FT Audio passive. The Rowland seems to prefer an active linestage to get more drive. Silje sounded stunning with the Rowland/FT Audio combo but a jazz instrumental cut (something from the Naim label) sounded a little flat. Of course Eminem sounded just as much in-yer-face with either active or passive linestage …

However both amps are fast, have very extended bass, open and engaging mids and superb clarity in the highs. Of the two, the Rowland has a relatively more forward presentation. However, in terms of sheer listenability, I’d give the Odysseys the nod. Ask me again in another couple of months though once the Rowland runs in…

Quantum Symphony Pro
I brought it and it did what it usually does…I’ll let the others chime in with their impressions

All in all I had a great time and it was very nice meeting Chazz and Victor. Many thanks to Chazz for his kind hospitality in hosting this meeting of HAMS. We had plenty of snacks and orange juice!

Guys, feel free to chime in with your own thoughts. I must have missed out tons of stuff….

[Paul L]

Guan,
It is interesting to see you mentioned Naim CDs.  I have a customer who like using his Naim CD as test CD.  Some how the Naim CD did sound flat and bassless compared to some other CDs that sounded stunning in the same LW1/Monarchy/EPOS system.  One particular track is Patricia Barber's Companion track 7, the Black Magic Woman is a stunning track. The Naim CD seems to like active stage.  He ended up talking to another manufacturer about this special case.  That manufacturer said if a manufacturer make their own label CDs, it is quite common the recording is voice to suit their own equipments.  I learnt something from him is that don't use CDs made by equipment manufactures for demo.  Guess what, when Rega made its orginal Planet, it used this Naim CD as test CD.  I saw a picture of that while my agent brought some picture to me.  Actually my customer was impressed by a Rega/Naim demo using the Naim CDs but not quite by some other CDs.

[Jay S]

Way to go, guys!  Sounds like you had fun and had some good insights, as usual.  Perhaps when the Jeff Rowland is broken in we can do a comparison vs the eAR.  We will just have to figure out how to use the same speaker cables for both to make it a fair comparison.  Is it really not possible to use banana plugs on the Jeff Rowland?  I'd also love to compare the eAR with the Stratos Monos!  I had been tempted several times in the past to get a Stratos (first a Stereo, then a Dual Mono).  

smART vs Mensa Plus would be interesting too.   I was happy to upgrade my smART but I wsa not able to compare then back to back, but rather a couple of weeks apart.  

I think the N805 can need some careful matching.  Had listened to one quite a bit during a monumental Cary vs nOrh cd player shootout.  While the rooms were different, we thought at the time that the nOrh 9.0 was more musical and coherent.  

Let's try to meet up again in a few weeks, with more toys!  

Cheers,

- Jay

[Wikta]

nice to meet you all on saturday.  it was good to compare etc.

still struggling with speaker matching for the rowlands.  they had always sounded a touch on the lean side (even at the showroom etc).  mine sounds even leaner but hopefully will improve with age (you should have listened out of the box, it was much brighter than saturday, even before it warmed up).

let's do it at mine next time!

[Wikta]

Is it really not possible to use banana plugs on the Jeff Rowland?

we sort of worked out a way to do it on saturday, but basically had to be very careful.

the rowland uses these weird binding posts, they have one for each channel - basically consists of a clamp, two metal rods, and a plastic rod in between the metal ones.

we managed to use bananas by sticking them into the gap between metal rod and plastic rod.  had to be very careful to not crush the bananas while we clamped down.

[HChi]

Has anyone of your tried or listened to Singanature 805 before?  How does it compare to N805? Would it be a better match to the Jeff Rowland?

[Wikta]

let's do it at mine next time!

altho someone would have to bring decent speakers...

[Jay S]

We can do the get together at my place if you guys want to listen to the nOrh 9.0.  They weigh 70 lb each and are quite hard to transport!

I also have a pair of very good bookshelf speakers - Acoustic Reality Avinci 1 (Scanspeak Revelator woofer, Hiquphon OW1 tweeter).

[Guan]

nice to meet you all on saturday.  it was good to compare etc.

still struggling with speaker matching for the rowlands.  they had always sounded a touch on the lean side (even at the showroom etc).  mine sounds even leaner but hopefully will improve with age (you should have listened out of the box, it was much brighter than saturday, even before it warmed up).

let's do it at mine next time!

Hi Wikta,

Perhaps you should try a matching up the Rowland with a warmer sounding speaker. Spendor monitors spring to mind. Too many modern speakers are voiced on the bright and lean side to give the impression of detail and transparency.

Jay's nOrh 9.0 is certainly worth auditioning.

You can also come over to my place to hear the Tyler Acoustics Linbrook system. The Linbrooks  are voiced to be 'musical' i.e. softer/warmer yet detailed.

[Guan]

Guan,
It is interesting to see you mentioned Naim CDs.  I have a customer who like using his Naim CD as test CD.  Some how the Naim CD did sound flat and bassless compared to some other CDs that sounded stunning in the same LW1/Monarchy/EPOS system.  One particular track is Patricia Barber's Companion track 7, the Black Magic Woman is a stunning track. The Naim CD seems to like active stage.  

Thanks for that insight, Paul. It was quite apparent that the Naim cd lost dynamics and that 'jump' factor with the LW-1. But as I mentioned, my Silje Neergaard cd sounded great with the Rowland/LW-1 combo!

[Jay S]

Perhaps you should try a matching up the Rowland with a warmer sounding speaker. Spendor monitors spring to mind. Too many modern speakers are voiced on the bright and lean side to give the impression of detail and transparency.

The Acoustic Reality Avinci 1 is a warm sounding speaker.  While it is no longer available for sale, it will give you an idea of what a warm sounding speaker is like.  The Avinci is transparent but has a remarkable way of making CDs listenable.

[Chazz]

This was my first HAM and it was a lot of fun.  I've been told that I have to match the N805s with Mark Levinson gear by someone but my bank account is broken as it is!  Hence the stratos monos!

I was very impressed with the changes that the slinklinks ICs and speakercables made to my system.  These are all silver cables and while I felt they were brighter than what I was used to (VDH cables), overall I thought they were a better match for my system and gave it more "life".  I'm seriously considering getting these.

The Jeff Rowland is a beautiful looking machine and even though it was only one month old it held its own against the Stratos Monos I thought.

Lets definitely do this again!

[Jay S]

Charles,

Glad to hear you enjoyed your first HAM session.  I hope to meet you at future sessions.  

Sesha had a pair of N805s.  He put in a pair of parallel RFI filters at the speaker binding posts which he said improved sound quality, I believe in the upper midrange and treble.  

You may want to contact Curt Wishman at IRD Audio (he has a forum here).  He was considering getting a pair of N805s a few months back for a sound room he was putting together.

[Sa-dono]

Can anyone tell me whether the Rowland M-10 takes the smaller or larger spades? TIA!

[Guan]

Can anyone tell me whether the Rowland M-10 takes the smaller or larger spades? TIA!

The Rowland clamp posts seem to be designed to take both large and small spades. But ONLY spades  

[Sa-dono]

Can anyone tell me whether the Rowland M-10 takes the smaller or larger spades? TIA!

The Rowland clamp posts seem to be designed to take both large and small spades. But ONLY spades  

Thanks for the response That's fine by me...I plan on using spades for my next speaker cables anyways I'm just trying to decide whether to go with the larger or smaller spades..or maybe even the ones that will fit either type of binding post

[Wikta]

Can anyone tell me whether the Rowland M-10 takes the smaller or larger spades? TIA!

The Rowland clamp posts seem to be designed to take both large and small spades. But ONLY spades  

Thanks for the response That's fine by me...I plan on using spades for my next speaker cables anyways I'm just trying to decide whether to go with the larger or smaller spades..or maybe even the ones that will fit either type of binding post

getting an amp to suit the cables?  

haha just kidding

victor