After I got up this morning, and puttered around for a while, I made some really fine coffee and sat down to spend some time with Lucinda Williams. I really like Lucinda Williams' album World Without Tears and the way it explores the dark side of human emotions. She sings about lost love, depression, lost hope, unfulfilled longing, drug addictions, abuse, and pain. And she does it beautifully. Somewhat bizarrely, listening to World Without Tears always makes me feel better. It must be because when I hear Lucinda sing about how bad it really can be, the trials of my everyday life are pretty trivial, so why not be happy?
And I am happy this morning. I'm working on wrapping up the review of Mark Cole's Panatela speaker cables, and the system is sounding incredibly good right now. Lucinda's album is a good test of how well a system plays music. The album is recorded/mastered a little hot, and if a system hasn't nailed a musical balance the record can get edgy and unpleasant, but when things are clicking just right its a wonderful musical experience - like right now.
The EMT TSD-15 phono cartridge on the VPI Classic 'table is feeding the New Valve Order SPA-II phono stage, which in turn is feeding the remarkable ASR Audiosysteme Emitter II Exclusive Version Blue amplification of Herr Schaefer, which is driving the Tannoy Kingdom Royal loudspeakers through Mark's Panatela loudspeaker cables.
This particular combination of equipment is right at the top with the best musically compelling systems I've ever heard, right along with the beautiful full Shindo system I heard at Matt's place in San Fran, and my own Westminster Royal based system when it's running at its very best. There's a luxurious, silky, musical balance that is just addictive.
Sitting here with a cup of coffee and listening I can feel my whole body relax, with tension flowing off and away, not unlike I experience after a nice long yoga session. The music is just flowing out liquidly, carressing my ears, coming to life in naturally spectacular fashion. I'm not sure I've ever heard Lucinda sound this good. Maybe when my West's are at their very best, but it'd be a coin toss to declare a winner. Just freaky good. This is what you get musically when all the stars line up in heaven just right and the universe is smiling on you.
The interesting part of all this is, as I have to remind myself, that the ASR and Kingdom Royal aren't even fully broken in yet, and they've got a ways to go. Promising, very promising. I hope you've read my 'Winning Systems' posts about Jonathan Halpern's superb results at Hi-Fi shows using the Leben integrated amplifiers with the Leben RS-30EQ phono stage, a turntable-cartridge combination not unlike my own, and how Jonathan's approach yielded accolades from the press as 'best sound' multiple times. I love that combination by the way, and very, very highly recommended it, as you know if you've been following along for a while. Here the sweet Leben gear has been replaced with magic devices from NVO and ASR, and Jonathan's more humble speaker choices with the rather awesome Kingdom Royals.
However, these statement electronics and loudspeakers combination are doing things that the wonderful Leben electronics and lesser loudspeakers like my beloved little Harbeth Super HL5s - as much as I love them - just aren't capable of. If those same audio press pals that awarded those deserved 'best sound' accolades were sitting here listening & sipping a cup of java with me right now, I think they'd pee themselves at what they'd hear here this morning. There's magic in Jonathan's approach though: with a decent phono front end, a great integrated amplifier, a nice pair of loudspeakers, wise cable choices, meticulous setup, and you get great sound & music - but here taken to an extreme.
Just a quick update, and now it's time to get back to work doing a little reviewing of Mark's superb Panatela speaker cables. From my home to yours, I'd like to wish you a very fine day. Stop back by when you have time.
