primaluna gear, avalon eidolon speakers, cardas

Keith Johnson and Richard Fryer have been in business for 38 years. Their list of amplification design innovations is legendary. They do not seek out product reviews or advertise full page and glossy back cover adds in the audio press. The fact is they have a monumental amount of audio experience respected by the audio and recording industries.

Spectral has a well know system approach to amplification and to what they consider neutrality is sound. Unlike your choice of generic cable theirs is a proprietary design in conjunction with a specific cable manufacture. In this case their results have been lauded by their piers, customers and even the audio press.

While I respect your conclusions they are still subjective and as such are only better to you and the customers your able to convince. I don't doubt that your hearing a difference in presentation using your choice of cabling but that difference is still subjective and a matter of your taste and has little to do with the accuracy of recording the live event which is what Spectral design is all about.

I'm a working musician. In my small in home studio I have a pair of Avalon Acoustics Monitors powered by Hypex nCore kit amplifiers. Like other recording (not post production) studios the presentation is ultra reveling and transparent. It's a playback system that I simply can't listen to for extended entertainment. Audio applications vary depending on their intended use. With that in mind the word best can take on many differences.

For those who may be interested I suggest reading the Spectral Bulletin 9501 regarding Spectral MI-500 interconnects and MH-750 Speaker Cable in detail.
at http://www.spectralaudio.com

And below.

"A System Approach
The most sacred principle of the Spectral design philosophy is our central concern with the integration of the music reproduction system. Each audio component, however exquisitely designed and crafted, is but one link in a chain. How each interacts with preceding and successive components in the chain is of the utmost significance for the final listening experience. Spectral was the first component manufacturer to collaborate with a High End cable company to achieve a totally optimized, integrated component system. Our path breaking work with MIT (Music Interface Technologies) in developing phase-compensated interconnects and speaker cables is a first in the audio field. The same overriding concern with fully integrated systems motivated Spectral to move quickly to the forefront of innovative, High End digital front-end design. And it is why our new preamplifier and amplifier designs like the DMC-30 and the DMA-150 are optimized to work together and to derive superior performance from the transducers our customers choose."

Woodworker, I'm driving my older Eidolons with a pair of Bob Carver VTA 180s.
Their actual output power is questionable but they do a very good job of driving the Eidolons. The Carvers have a 2 ohm tap (I use the 4 ohm) which is not common on tube amplifiers.

I did try driving them with a 70 watt Ultralinear MFA D70 Stereo amplifier. This combination worked well in a smaller room but seemed a bit strained in the larger room.

Refer to the Avalon speaker location instructions as a starting point. Take your time in finding the location that provides the best staging in your room. 1/4 inch movements can be dramatic so again, take your time and listen. My room is large, I don't toe them in at all.

Once you've found the best location it's important to get your Visions on the cones and off the floor. I used some double stick carpet tape cut to the size of a quarter to hold them in place. The bass definition will improve immediately once they're off the floor

I am also using a Cardas Golden Ref loom.

I was on the audio merry go round for years constantly listening to the system and not the music. Once I stepped up to the Eidolon / Cardas combination and back to tube amplification I haven't had the desire to change a thing. IMO your there, have fun.

Cardas has a totally different caractere in sound and also in image. Cardas has much more a sharp focus of instruments and voices compared to MIT. The sound is also much more involving. The question is what is the truth? I listend in 16 years of time many times to sets with Spectral and Avalon. For me this has nothing to do with the sound and image in real. A violin for example sounds so much more clinical on Spectral with Avalon than in real. A very good friend of mine had a small concert room with a Steinway wing for 65 people. Here I learned how small instruments and voices are in proportion. This is what I call; intimate sound. I was pulled into the music cause of the small intimate sound. MIT makes it bigger in proportion. And what it does is that the connection to the music is less involving and less intimate.
When instruments and voices become big it is one of the most stuppid and ittitating things at shows. These people should listen to music in real. Audioquest is also superior in timing and even in resolution compared to MIT. In one year of time I won all battles against MIT. You would be a fool to choose for less resolution, a less sharp individual focus, less air around voices and instruments, less layers in the low freq and less control. I invite all people with MIT cables for a A-B comparison against Audioquest.......

Bol, I find it odd that the original poster was questioning the use of a pair of tube mono blocks with his speakers and your first comment was to put down MIT cables. Why?

As I said, I respect your conclusions even though, as in the past, the bulk of your experiences with products you do not market seem to be very brief, anecdotal, and/or second hand in nature. Along with home entertainment and recording you're now including live sound reinforcement which is so far out of the context of two channel home audio I have to ask. Why?

In the specific context of Spectral connectivity between their components and transducers I would defer to the designers unquestionable experience and their sonic goal which includes custom design cabling. Since neither you nor I have any extensive experience with Spectral products and since the original poster has no interest in either, I'll defer and continue to respect your choice of colorfully jacketed cable to be as you have described.

The manufacture of my speaker system uses Cardas hook up wire throughout as well as Cardas termination which makes cable selection a no brainer and a brand the original poster is currently using.

My opinion is that Audioquest works very well with Avalon. Superior to MIT. I dislike the political stories told to customers that Avalon works the best with MIT. It had been told at many shows in the past. It is based on nothing. For me it is essential that audio needs to be more open and honnest. I want people to get the best quality for the money they spend. I have proven that MIT is by far not the best. Even with Avalon speakers ( I have sold them for over 6 years) Magazines need to stop political talks about audio. Customers deserve to get more quality for the money they have spend.