Purity Audio Design/Von Schweikert Audio at RMAF 2011 - The Details.

AmpDesigner333 · « **Reply #20 on:** 17 Oct 2011, 02:08 am »

Quote from: watercourse on 15 Oct 2011, 11:56 pm

Well, at least now we know. The next question is, why did it sound so different in that setup?

Most likely has something to do with the circuit used to "unload" the external amp so the built-in bass amp can take over the lows. It would have a better setup if they were totally passive speakers. In any case, things did come together at the last minute --- we even had to ship the faceplates separately! No time for adjustments or troubleshooting. We were all aware of the risk in this. I'm happy that we gave it a shot, though, since the first Cherry MONO ULTRAs came out sooner than originally planned. I will be personally checking out their performance on the bench and in the listening room (with 100% passive speakers). Maybe this pair will go out for review.....

-Tommy O

Bill Baker · « **Reply #21 on:** 17 Oct 2011, 05:02 am »

We were dealing with a lot of unknown variables for this show. Speakers that nobody had heard or even seen before, amps that were not tested with the speakers and hotel room acoustics.
I know Tommy's gear and know how good it is but we were basically driving a midrange and tweeter so there was nowhere for all that energy to go which caused the upper end to be a bit hot. No fault of the amps.

The best sound we got from the system was when we installed the KR Kronzilla amps. These were almost a religious experience.

JackD201 · « **Reply #22 on:** 17 Oct 2011, 10:40 am »

I hope you guys had a great time Bill

I caught your video interview at enjoythemusic. Way to go!

Tommy, sorry things didn't pan out. Good things happen to good folks though so I think Kharma has got your back movin' forward.

schw06 · « **Reply #23 on:** 17 Oct 2011, 12:47 pm »

I was fortunate enough to be one of the hand full of people that heard the Purity preamp with the Kronzilla amp. Unfortunately the amp was promised elsewhere so nobody got to hear it during show hours. The marriage of the Purity preamp with the Kronzilla was absolute magic on the Von Schweikert speakers and has my nod for best of show. When the other amps were reinserted, it simply wasn't the right combination. For any Kronzilla owners out there, Purity preamps are an absolutely perfect match. I hope Bill has a Kronzilla for the next show.
As an aside, Bill and Joe from Purity are great guys and I walked away from the room (at 1am) with lust for one of their preamps. I'm looking forward to owning one!
David

orientalexpress · « **Reply #24 on:** 17 Oct 2011, 02:08 pm »

It's for the better,Tommy amp will kick @ss with passive speakers.

lapsan

AmpDesigner333 · « **Reply #25 on:** 17 Oct 2011, 02:34 pm »

I would like to thank Bill and Joe for giving the Cherry MONO ULTRAs a try. They jumped through some firey hoops to make it happen. Great guys and wonderful to work with. I want one of their preamps , too. Awesome stuff!

-Tommy O

lonewolfny42 · « **Reply #26 on:** 17 Oct 2011, 04:45 pm »

Well....I finally got to meet Bill Baker...a cool and hip dude.

He and Joe did a great job on their RMAF room....sounded very good....the new Purity line looked sweet...and tasty.

That's for a great experience.....

Chris

JAMn Joe · « **Reply #27 on:** 18 Oct 2011, 04:27 pm »

Follow-up from RMAF: First off I would like to say I'm sorry that we couldn't use the DAC Cherry Ultimate monobloc amplifiers Tommy provided for our room at RMAF. This was not Tommy's fault and certainly not the result of these amps not being up to the task. There were two factors in place that required us to pull them from the system early Friday afternoon. The mono tube buffers that we brought to the show got trashed by the shippers and while we did try to repair them they were broke beyond repair. We anticipated this would be one of the requirements for using the Cherry amps in the system. The system without them on Thursday night seemed to be acceptable under those circumstances and as everyone new, we did continue to use them at the start of the show. What followed was the amps becoming noticably strident on the top end as the day moved on with people walking out the room complaining about how hard the sound was on their ears. I can't say for sure why this was as it continued to get progressively worse but we were forced to make the change because of that.There are always unforseen things that go wrong at a show and this was one of them. It could have been a power problem or damage in shipping, or it could have just been a result of not being matched up properly with the right speaker without the tube buffers. The speakers were changed at the last minute and were not the ones orriginally planned for the show. They were suppose to be passive and were replaced with a active pair. That said, it was never our plan to use the McAlister amps. They were brought along for emergency purposes only in case of a issue or failure and unfortunately they required being used. It was never intentional on our part not to use the amps. Tommy makes great amps and that's why we orignally put them in our room as our first choice.

ted_b · « **Reply #28 on:** 18 Oct 2011, 04:40 pm »

Joe and Bill need to be commended for hitting all the curve balls thrown at them. The room sounded great, especially on Sunday. The room was well treated (thanks Jeff) and that alone took a lot of Joe's efforts. It ended up being one of my top ten rooms once the tweeters settled in (at least to my ears). And I missed the Kronzilla night, which would have been a real treat. Moreover, the room was one of the friendliest and most accommodating rooms (BYOMusic, etc). Great job guys!!

Bill Baker · « **Reply #29 on:** 19 Oct 2011, 08:37 pm »

Just a little proof that the KR Amp event really did take place.

KJ · « **Reply #30 on:** 19 Oct 2011, 08:39 pm »

Those tubes look ready for launch!

ceedee · « **Reply #31 on:** 19 Oct 2011, 09:57 pm »

Quote from: KJ on 19 Oct 2011, 08:39 pm

Those tubes look ready for launch!

You are very right KJ.

That is why the red light shows max volume.
Green light is on, fasten your seatbelts and... lift off.

Up to the music in heaven.

Enjoy.

We know this for more than 15 years now.

Cheers from Holland,

Cor

Tyson · « **Reply #32 on:** 19 Oct 2011, 10:18 pm »

Cronzilla?!? Man I wish I had heard that combo - I LOVE the Cronzilla amp. With the active speakers it probably sounded spectacular.

kernelbob · « **Reply #33 on:** 19 Oct 2011, 10:47 pm »

I have a pair of Double Kronzillas driving VR5-annis. Normally in biamped mode with a pair of Spectrons on the bottom, but even full range they're amazing. The Kron's bass doesn't have the last measure of woofer control of the Spectron Monoblocks, but is somehow more organic, alive. The Krons feeding VR5's through Masterbuilt cables grab you and won't let go.

Albert Von Schweikert · « **Reply #34 on:** 21 Oct 2011, 05:49 am »

Hello Fellow Audiophiles, Tommy is correct. The electronic crossovers in the VR-44 Aktive's were not configured for the input impedance of the digital mono blocks. The Cherrys would have worked just fine under different conditions. I'm sorry that Bill, Joe, and I didn't have enough setup time to get the combination working properly, as all of this equipment is fabulous on their own merits. In this case, the Kronzilla amplifier happened to have the correct input gain and impedance to work with the active VR-44 subwoofer system.... The combination of the solid state amplifiers on the woofers, with SET tubes on the mids and highs, proved to be an incredible, if accidental, match that simply had to be heard, to be believed. One of the previous posters mentioned that this combo was his favorite of the entire RMAF show, and I for one, can not disagree! At one point of the Show, Dean Peer, the famous recording artist who plays bass, came into our room and spent over an hour, listening to his new CD on our system. We were all amazed and BLOWN AWAY when Dean said that our system sounded identical to the playback at the studio! Although I can't recall his exact words, he seemed to be saying that our room was the best he had heard at RMAF. Let's hope he was sober when he said this, as everyone in our room was partying!

munosmario · « **Reply #35 on:** 21 Oct 2011, 10:44 am »

Albert, if I understand you correctly, the Aktive speakers use an external "active" x-over. Tommy's amps input impedance is reportedly in the lowish side--10k ohms-- for all his stereo amp lines. I imagine it holds the same for the monos.

As we all know, to be on safe side and avoid problems with impedance mismatch, there is a rule of thumb of at least a 10: 1 ratio...ideally 100:1. Tommy prefers his amps's having low input impedance to avoid noise amplification problems associated with high input impedances. In any even, what is the output inpedance of the active X-over you used? To be within the safe range, in combination with the DAC amps, the active X-over's output impedance should have been maximum 1000 ohms. Anything much higher would have meant potential trouble for a 10k ohm input impedance amp. Tube amps usually have much higher input impedanes (50K-100k...Kronzillas at about 47k ohms, I believe) which may explain the course of events with the DAC monos.

Be as it may, congratulations on your succesful showing!

munosmario

Bill Baker · « **Reply #36 on:** 21 Oct 2011, 02:02 pm »

Quote

Although I can't recall his exact words, he seemed to be saying that our room was the best he had heard at RMAF. Let's hope he was sober when he said this, as everyone in our room was partying!

The good part of this is that Dean wasn't drinking and I don't know that he does. Prior to him coming up to the room, I was talking to him in the lobby. I was very much surprized when he came up to the room, knocked on the door and said "Hey Bill, mind if I come in for a while"?

Dean Peer contacted me yesterday and will be putting some words together about the room. Dean is a good guy and meeting him in person and spending some time socializing with him was a great honor. I am also a great fan of his work.

watercourse · « **Reply #37 on:** 21 Oct 2011, 11:42 pm »

Wish I'd have been there!

Cheeseboy · « **Reply #38 on:** 24 Oct 2011, 06:35 pm »

We were stuck on Catalina for the Jazz Festival. I would have loved to hear the new VR-44 full range with the New Mono Cherry's and Purity Audio Designs PreAmp and meet Dean Peer. Three super heroes in the same room.

Congradulations.

Tommy, ship my new Silver Cherry! We're home now!

AmpDesigner333 · « **Reply #39 on:** 25 Oct 2011, 10:56 pm »

Quote from: Cheeseboy on 24 Oct 2011, 06:35 pm

We were stuck on Catalina for the Jazz Festival. I would have loved to hear the new VR-44 full range with the New Mono Cherry's and Purity Audio Designs PreAmp and meet Dean Peer. Three super heroes in the same room.

Congradulations.

Tommy, ship my new Silver Cherry! We're home now!

It's on the way!