Greeting friends, I hope you are doing well. 🙂

It's been a rough go for me to start the year. I managed to catch some illnesses in series that have laid me flat for almost 9 weeks now. Ugh.

The silver lining during all that time has been how grateful I have felt for the immensely satisfying audio and audio-visual systems I have up and running here. Actually I have only 3 of 4 of my audio systems up and running: The main music system in my living room, my office system, and my audio-visual system. Like me, my bedroom system is down at the moment.

I thought I'd update you about how each of those systems are doing now, as they have been in a relatively stable configuration for a while. 

Main Music Listening System

My main music listening system (above) is performing at such an exalted level that it really blows my mind when I listen to music through it. 

I'll start with the loudspeakers and work back towards the sources. 

My loudspeakers are the Tannoy Westminster Royal Special Editions, rewired internally with vintage Western Electric WE16GA tinned-copper wire, and utilizing custom Duelund Coherent Audio crossovers which were the result of Frederik Carøe and I collaborating on the Duelund-Westminster Project (Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3). 

The beautiful Duelund CAST components as used in the Duelund-Westminster Project.

The final configuration we ended up with was outboard crossovers with the Duelund CAST copper capacitors, inductors, and resistors for the low-frequencies part of the crossover circuits, and with Duelund CAST silver capacitors and autotransformers for the high-frequency part of the crossover circuits. 

Silver Duelund CAST 6.8uF capacitor (left), 6.8uF CAST copper capacitor (right).

Duelund CAST silver autotransformers.

As a finishing touch I rewired the crossovers with newly developed (at the time) Duelund Coherent Audio DCA16GA tinned-copper wire (more HERE and HERE). The Duelund series of tinned-copper wires have a story of their own, as they are a tribute of sorts to the legendary vintage Western Electric tinned-copper wire that was introduced to us by Yazaki-san, and which are showcased as the internal wiring for my West's. 

My observation is that you can't beat two-way loudspeakers for their sound quality & natural sounding musical performance. In particular, I really enjoy the big 15-inch Dual Concentric Tannoy drivers that are so incredibly coherent that they are rather breathtaking to hear.  Hint: There's a reason that Nelson Pass uses 15-inch Dual Concentric Tannoy drivers in custom cabinets to develop all his amplifier designs. 

Those big West's are really amazing loudspeakers in stock configuration, and with the circuit upgrades using the premium Duelund Coherent CAST components they were elevated to an unimaginably lofty level of performance. I heard bucketfuls of more resolution, more accuracy, more musicality, more authority, and more authenticity in music playback with the Duelund Coherent Audio CAST crossovers. Definitely not a subtle transformation. 

Upgrading the crossover circuits as described above is expensive: the cost was at least as much as the loudspeakers themselves a decade ago (~$30K-ish USD), so probably more than that now in 2025 dollars (guessing its about ~$41K USD or so), but the performance was elevated so dramatically that costs shock faded quickly. 

To date I've never heard another pair of loudspeakers that I like as well as my Westminster Royal SEs with their Duelund Coherent Audio CAST crossovers. Audio nirvana! 

Full disclosure: Frederik provided all the component parts that made the Duelund-Westminster Project possible (a huge thank-you to Frederik), I provided the Tannoy Westminster Royal SE loudspeakers, and did the work myself. 

Is there anything I would still like to do for the Duelund-Westminster Project? Actually yes. I would like to install the outboard Duelund CAST crossovers into the Westminsters enclosures to decrease the size of their footprint in my living room.

Also, I'd like to wire the crossovers directly back to the West's front panel treble controls that allow for adjusting the high frequency energy and roll-off via aforementioned autotransformers in the crossover circuits, so that the high frequencies can be tailored to the my room, associated equipment, and personal preferences.

That's a handy feature for audio reviewing, and makes for a nice clean install. I can adjust everything manually now in the outboard crossovers, but it's hard to beat the convenience of the West's front panel treble controls. 

I hope to get this final part of the Duelund-Westminster Project completed, but it's fairly involved, so I've been procrastinating on doing it. One of these days ... 

As a finally note: the West's are positioned in a typical audiophile sort of rule of thirds / fifths approach in order to maximize sound quality in terms of visuospatial performance (soundstage, imaging, etc.).

Typically that sort of positioning to emphasize visuospatial performance implies some compromise to musicality, but with these loudspeakers, and with the current set of electronics powering them, I get the best of both worlds with amazing performance on all fronts.

Proceeding back from the West's to the electronics and through to the sources: all of the wiring is Audio Note (UK) silver cabling for everything in terms of speaker cables and interconnects.

All of the Audio Note (UK) components - mostly Level Four - that I'm about to describe to you, are voiced around Audio Note (UK)'s silver wiring, and that's what brings out the best in them.

If you are an Audio Note (UK) customer, it's a no brainer, just follow their advice in putting components together in a combination appropriate to the Level that matches your budget, and you're guaranteed to end up with an exquisitely performing audio system. 

I love integrated amplifiers, and the Audio Note (UK) Level Four Tomei 211 SET integrated amplifier (above) is the highest performing amplifier I've ever heard in my audio system, or any audio system for that matter. 

If you want to get the absolute best combination of sound quality, musicality, and emotional involvement, you can't beat single-ended-triode amplifiers and high-sensitivity two-way loudspeakers. That's the conclusion I've come to after listening to thousands of audio systems over the decades.  

To briefly characterize the performance of the Tomei 211 integrated amplifier, it has the clarity, musicality, purity, and poise of the best 45 SET amplifiers, but with ten times their power output and a touch more naturalness, giving it a sense of authenticity and authority in playback that is a revelation to hear.

That's not even counting the "superpower" that the Tomei 211 integrated amplifier uniquely possesses, a superpower that no other amplifier in my experience can come close to matching.

The Tomei 211 not only displays superlative sound quality in every category I can think of, it also has revealed a new category of performance - its superpower - that has been a revelation for me in listening to music, any music, of any fidelity, from any era of the recording arts.  

If you've read my "The High-Fidelity of Feelings in Audio" post (HERE), those comments are one my first attempts at articulating what this amplifier can do in this parallel universe of audio performance. 

In terms of accuracy, the Tomei 211 integrated amplifier provides so much information from recordings that it's rather startling. This information rich presentation provides the tiniest iotas of information from recordings of any genre of music, of any fidelity, from any era of the recording arts.

Acoustic era recordings transferred to digital by Ward Marston for Naxos.

What I've realized is when I'm playing back early or lower-fidelity recordings, say from the acoustic era of recording (above), that the Tomei's information rich presentation fills in missing information that essentially "fixes" 99% of any unpleasant sound quality issues with early lower fidelity recordings, dramatically improving their sound quality and musicality, and allowing me as a listener to hear them - or more accurately "feel them" - in an unprecedented level of connection to the drama of the musical performance.

While the Tomei doesn't turn lower-fidelity acoustic era recordings into clones of high-fidelity recordings from the stereo magnetic era of recording, it does bring out their natural direct-to-disc best in rather dramatic ways, making me feel filled with wonder and appreciation at what those early recordings were truly capable of, their gripping sense of presence, immediacy, and drama, the sense of time travel they evoke, the importance of the musical performances they document, and a sense of awe at what a magnificent accomplishment of the recording arts they truly were. In terms of dramatic involvement they can be somewhat surprisingly even more engaging than that of the best of the stereo magnetic era recordings, and all that becomes abundantly clear throughout the Tomei.

Louis Armstrong from the electric era.

The same thing applies to later higher-fidelity recordings from the electrical and monaural magnetic eras of recording, elevating listening experiences to a level that I've never even dreamed of being possible. 

Oh, and those best of the stereo magnetic era recordings that we audiophiles love to listen to, well ... they are an experience of complete transcendental transformation.

I'm still trying to process and articulate how this sort of parallel universe of audio performance elevates the music listening experience.

In terms of authority, basically every recording I listen to feels like I'm hearing the authoritative version of that recording, the recording that the musicians and recording engineers hoped you would be able to experience. 

I know, that sounds rather touchy-feely, but I'll tell you what, when I experienced this phenomenon at this level, it knocked me flat, and made me realize how much more audio is capable of than we usually hear from it. 

This deep connection to the parallel universe of drama and emotion in music opens up new worlds of listening in unprecedented ways, and everything from the earliest lower-fidelity acoustic era recordings to the highest-fidelity stereo magnetic audiophile favorites, become totally mesmerizing listening experiences.

As a third aspect of performance, the Tomei 211 integrated amplifier preserves the authenticity of each recording in illuminating fashion, displaying the different choices made in recording styles, across the different eras of the recording arts, and highlighting the qualities of the musical performances.

I experience each album as the unique work of the musical and recording arts that it is, which I find intoxicating as I explore more and more recordings from our huge recorded music canon that spans the history of the recording arts.

The next step towards the analog source is the Audio Note (UK) Level Four M6 RIAA phono equalizer. Much like the Level Four Tomei 211 integrated amplifier does for all music, the Level Four M6 RIAA phono equalizer does for vinyl sources. Duplicate what I said for my impressions of the Tomei 211 integrated amp, and you've got its equivalent in a phono equalizer, the M6 RIAA.

That's my Classic Turntable Company "Garrard Project 2015" in the photo above. You can read the full article HERE. 

There's so much more to be heard and felt from vinyl than I had previously imagined, it's a shock. I thought I was immune to audio performance shock after decades of listening to superb audio kit, but there you go, I'm in shock at what the M6 RIAA can do. 

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the Audio Note (UK) Io I moving-coil phonograph cartridge's (above) and Level Four AN-S4 silver step-up transformer's (below) contribution to this level of performance. They are both superb, as you might imagine.

So you know where this is going, right? Level Five. Peter Qvortrup told me, "Since you have now experienced the jump between Level Three and Level Four, I thought that the next step might be a comparison between Level Four and Level Five starting with an M8 RIAA and an AN-S8L for example, so you can get an idea of how the MC transformers also get better. Would that be of interest?"

Oh yeah, that would definitely be of interest, Peter! More to come about Level Five in the not too distant future. 

Ok, that's the vinyl source-path, and now for the digital source, the Audio Note (UK) CD 5.1x CD player.

The CD 5.1x is so good that it beats the pants off of most vinyl front ends I've heard in the sub $20K to $30K range, but alas, it can't quite do what the M6 RIAA can do when spinning vinyl.

What makes the CD 5.1x CD player so cherished by me is that it opens up music listening so I can experience the greatest musical performances ever recorded, from all the eras of the recording arts, that aren't available on vinyl. 

There's literally millions of recordings available to hear from our recorded music canon that you can't get on vinyl, particularly from the premium "audiophile" reissues that are typically very limited in scope. If you want to listen to a few hundred or so recordings popular with audiophiles over and over, please do, they're great. But I suggest that expanding your listening horizons can be extremely rewarding in your growth as a music lover. It sure has been for me.

In fact, the survey of Peter Qvortrup's Audio Note (UK) components over the last few years has been a real ear and mind altering experience for me. I've learned so much. Peter's got a different take on audio performance than many, and I have to say his insights are proven by the lofty performance of his audio systems that put the fidelity of feeling in music right up there with their impressive sound quality. A big thank you to Peter for this amazing audio adventure!

To round out this audio system's components complement I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the important contribution to performance that the Acoustic Revive audio accessories unfailingly provide.

The Acoustic Revive RPT-6 Absolute NCF power distributor.

The Absolute Power Cables, PC-TripleC/EX Headshell Leads, RPT-6 Absolute NCF Power Distributor, the Power Reference TripleC NCF AC Power Cables, the RAS-14-TripleC NCF Power Stabilizer, the RL-30 Mark III Analogue Disc Demagnetizer ...

Acoustic Revive CB-1DB receptacle base plate and CFRP-1F carbon fiber outlet plate.

Acoustic Revive RL-30 Mark III Demagnetizer

the CB-1DB receptacle base plate, CFRP-1F carbon fiber outlet plate, the Acoustic Revive modified Oyaide R-1 receptacle, RST-38 & TB-38 Quartz Under-Boards, and the RAF-48 Air Floating Boards, all contribute to the fine sound of my primary music system. Many thanks to Mr. Yoshi Hontani (exporter) and Mr. Ken Ishiguro (Acoustic Revive) for showing how much of an important difference quality accessories can make to the performance of a fine audio system. Take a look at the Archives page for the full list of the Acoustic Revive Chronicles articles. Well almost the full list, my archives needs a little updating to be complete. 

You can read lots more about all of these fine audio components and accessories (and even more) by using the search function here at Jeff's Place and Positive Feedback. 

Ok that's it for now. Next up is my State Of The System report for my office system in Part 2: The Duelund-Altec Project about building state of art crossovers for Leopold Stokowski's vintage Altec loudspeakers, the superb Triode Labs 45 EVO SET integrated amplifier, and Yazaki-san's remarkable hot-rodded Douk Audio Bluetooth streaming DAC.

As always, thanks for stopping by, and may the tone be with you!