I'm just checking back in on my experiment with adding a Black fuse to my REL R-328. I'm maybe 40-50 hours in, slowed a bit by the Warriors and the Sharks being in the championships and a few days spent under the weather. In one of my previous posts, I suggested that the sound tends to "morph" with fuse break-in and, at some point, you get to the "That's fantastic! Please stay like that!" phase. That's where I've been for the last couple of nights.
Notable albums have included John Hammond Jr.'s "Wicked Grin," an album of Tom Waits covers, Richard Thompson's "You? Me? Us?" (nude version), Rosanne Cash's "10 Song Demo," and Beck's "Morning Phase."
"Wicked Grin" seems to have been recorded, at least in part, in a real space. On Get Behind the Mule, some of the percussion is supplied by a leather shoe shuffling and tapping on the floor which nicely illuminates the left side of the sound stage. I've never heard that so clearly and is of a piece with the overall improvement in all aspects of the sound stage. On Jockey Full of Bourbon, the shakers and the button accordion in particular are positively 3-D. An obscure album to be sure, but a must for any Waits fan. Put up to it by their wives, Waits himself participates in the fun and the rest of the band is great.
The Roseanne Cash and Richard Thompson albums are very much unadorned, and not particularly "wet" in recording terms. I was mostly struck by increased yet completely unforced detail (i.e., lower noise floor) and a purity of tone that really made me sit up and pay attention in a relaxed way. Also, and Danny Thompson's double-bass playing on You? Me? Us?, always a fave, is simply stunning with the Black in the sub.
I am a big fan of "Morning Phase" but it is a full-bodied recording to say the least and, of course, the acoustic is studio-created. I have never heard the bottom end to be so well defined, while exhibiting remarkable authority, weight and slam. The latter characteristics, combined with an uncanny improvement is soundstage organization, clarity and dimensionality sum up my reaction the the improvement wrought by adding the Black fuse to my REL. In fact, I found myself shaking my head several times in disbelief.
I capped last night's listening session with a favorite cut from Mahavishnu Orchestra's "Inner Mounting Flame"-- You Know You Know. 70's analog tape hiss was present in all its glory, but the tune is sublime and it sounded fantastic...
