Merrill Audio ELEMENT 118 on Tour

@Viber7 just curious what ac cords did you use with the Element 118’s since they require a 220 plug at the amp end even though it’s a 120v design? We all know (don’t we) that power cords can make a BIG difference.
BTW great write-up.

Viber6, 

Neutral, cool, warm, grey, etc. mean different things to different people and so I don't always know what people mean when they use these terms.  Right or wrong, I define neutrality as a flat frequency response where no part of the frequency response is exaggerated in any way and so this is more of an ideal rather than something that can be realistically achieved.  I define warmth as a sound that is tilted more toward the bass frequencies where the treble, while present is quieter and more subdued.  The opposite of warm is bright.  Forced to choose, I would pick warmth over brightness.  I'm not exactly sure what "cool" or "grey" means when people use these terms.  Perhaps a U-shaped curve where both the bass and treble are rolled off?  Regardless, I find these terms useful only when compared against some known reference.

In my case, my reference is the piano in my listening room and so this is "neutral."  Since I have never heard an electronic audio system sound exactly like my piano, I have never heard anything sound completely neutral.  When I listen to a piece of audio gear, I will play a piano track and compare it against my own piano and establish tonal temperature from there.  The problem with this is that some piano tracks that I have were recorded in warm environments (i.e. Carnegie Hall) and can come across as warm while other performances can sound relatively brighter and so what I have done is I have recordings of my own piano playing in my room and so I compare these recordings to the real thing.  

Using this technique, I found each of these amplifiers to sound warm relative to my piano with the Soulution sounding warmest of all followed by the D'Agostino.  The CH Precision and Element 118 sounded the closest to neutral.  As none of these combinations sounded "bright," I found none of them to be objectionable.  

Regarding this "soft landing," while the Christine preamp sounds rounded, the Element 118s do not.  Using my DAVE DAC to directly drive the Element 118s, these amps will express sharp transients as sharp transients to the point of fatigue.  These are truly transparent amps.

As for live classical music, I agree that a full orchestra has the potential to sound too loud and fatiguing if you are seated right next to the horn section.  As a frequent patron of the Davies Hall in San Francisco, the most expensive and most desired seats do not include the front row and so the front row is often available and so my wife and I deliberately choose these seats.  The beauty of this position is that with violin concertos, for example, the full emotion of the violinist comes through from these seats in a way that cannot be gleaned from further back.  I can even hear the performers breath.  Moreover, the depth perception between the 1st and 2nd violinist is easily discernible from this position but not from further back and so I find the complexity of the sounds that I hear to be better layered and more easily discerned and it is this detail delineation and depth of field that separates the best audio systems from more mediocre ones for me.  Fortunately, the stage has enough depth where the horns aren't blaring in my ears from this position.  Even after a 2.5 hour performance, I have never experienced fatigue from these seats.  The exception to the rule might be a spectacle like Mahler's 8th where the perspective from further back might be better than the front row but given the choice, almost always I prefer the front row.  The same thing applies to my home audio system but obviously, at home, you can control the volume.

What you have the equipment mounted on makes all the difference in the world.  All footers change the sound.....all platforms change the sound....all things under the platform change the sound.  Almost all stock footers can be improved by using aftermarket ones.  If I were A/Bing expensive amps like above I would have at least a half dozen different footers and platforms to play with (and of course, power cords).  Also, mass loading on top of the amp or whatever can be amazing.  You can use lead shot, damped weights, etc.  Lighter equipment generally needs more mass loading.  You must mount every amp in the same position and with the same feet to know the difference in the amps and then tweak each one for best sound with different feet/loading etc.  Yes, it takes time but is well worth it.  Just did a listening test the other day and the person who owned the system told me the difference between two different footers under the amp was "the difference between a sale or not"..........This guy had his speaker wires on the floor and when we put them up in the air the sound was incredibly better.  I hope you guys have all your cables off the floor.....otherwise you are not hearing what a real soundstage is like. 

ricevs, et al,

I too am a believer that all cables sound best when off the floor.

Years ago I demonstrated this in a friends system (all top BAT, CEC spinner with MSB dac AND several exotic TTs with multiple arms, and $5K+ cartridges). His speakers were custom frame Acoustat 4+4s with 2 servo amps per side: the offending cables were very long interconnects laying across thick carpet. The improvement was significant, better speed, better high frequencies, better everything

Recently I bought a set of cool looking speaker cable risers from an AGon seller and showed them to my friend David Salz (WireWorld). He chuckled and said they aren’t necessary when the cables are correctly designed. Well, since my speaker cables (and ICs) are WW. I removed them and noticed zero benefit. $50 down the drain.

All my components are resting on Machina Dynamic springs, which provide huge vibration isolation benefits for peanut money