ZYX Universe and Lyra Titan

Hello Paul, dear KHA,
KHA, all I try to do is offer advice to (potential)customers on how to get the best out of what I consider a serious investment. If someone doesn't like what he hears even after perfecting his setup, then so be it. Other parents have beautiful children too...
Paul, I didn't setup the table in the room for which Chris Brady had provided his turntable as the analog frontend. Any attempt to improve upon the sound by readjusting the arm would have meant compensating for other flaws. This isn't meant to be an excuse, but as you said, if a hitchhiker gets a free ride, he can hardly complain about the poor suspension on that car(particularly if he's never met the driver). What I'd like to do is bring an entire system to the show, but this is rather impossible(distance, cost...).
Back to the original topic:
I did compare the Universe(copper coils, 2.4mV) with the Titan i for an extended period this summer.
The Universe has a very coherent and more "fleshed out" midrange(very seductive!), the highs appear to be ever so slightly rolled off, the low bass is a smidgeon soft, but extremely natural sounding(yes, this sounds like a contradiction...). It means, that the leading edge is slower than on the Titan, but the harmonic envelope, the "bloom" of, say, a bowed double bass comes a cross as less "hifi", more like the real thing.
The soundstage is vast(very deep too, when called for), imaging very "3D". Mid and high frequency detail rendering is exceptional, but not of the "in your face" type.
The Titan has a more "matter of fact" sound, very revealing, seemingly limitless extension at the frequency extremes. It's perceived speed and punch could be attributed to the "louder" highs and/or the leaner(some will call it more neutral) lower midrange. The soundstage is very wide and images within are "bold", with the images reaching not quite as far back as with the Universe(still very,very good).
My take on this is that the Titan i will appeal more to the engineer and the Universe more to the poet. They both serve the music equally well, only in different ways...
Impressions valid on my system only, ymmv off course.

Cheerio,

Frank Schröder

Nrchy:

In your most recent post you wrote:

“…these comments about the Schroeder/Teres sound at RMAF are foolish at best, or possibly borne of the desire to trash a great product purely out of malice…”

I took the time to re-read all of the responses on this thread. No one disparaged the Schroeder/Teres combination. The negative comments were specifically about the ZXY Universe cartridge low bass performance and perceived brightness. Your statement puzzles me. Your posture is typical of a shill or propagandist who deflects comments from the main issues and focuses instead on an issue that is more defensible and trumpets that issue to create a predictable emotional response.

Presumably, it is acceptable to write negative comments based on spurious data points about the Graham 2.2 but it is sacrilegious to say anything that could be construed as negative about the Schroeder et. al.

Your statement reeks of bias and dishonesty and portrays someone who is hell bent on ingratiating himself with the manufacturer

gmorris please forgive my error. I meant to write Teres/Schroeder/Zyx combination. The purpose of these comments is clear, and has been stated plainly a number of times already. It is simply impossible to determine that the Zyx cartridge is the ONE item in the entire chain that caused the poor quality sound in that room. There were many products of questionable quality, the Zyx was not one of them, but even if it was how would you isolate it?

How much time did you spend in that room listening to other cartridges on the Teres table with the Schroeder arm, that you were able to determine the Zyx was to blame???

Gmorris you are right again! I am a shill for Schroeder arms. I sell them out of my trunk, or the saddlebags of my bike!!!

Actually I had never seen or heard a Schroeder arm before attending the RMAF, and knew nothing about the arms or Herr Schroeder.

To the best of my knowledge (do I sound like Clinton???) I have never spoken a negetive word about the Graham 2.2, or another other Graham arm. My comments were based on what I heard, and the salacious attack on the componants in the room under discussion.

My statements are based on the obvious facts in evidence in the room, that were available to anyone with two ears and an unbiased opinion.

I have no motivation to speak good or ill of Mr Schroeder, Mehran, or Chris Brady. To which one of them am I trying to ingraciate myself?

I own a Zyx cartridge, not the UniVerse since I cannot afford it, I just bought a Sota Cosmos, and a TriPlanar arm. I have no intention of buying a Schroeder arm, or anything else shown in that room.

My intention with my comments was to reveal your unsubstantiated bias against a product about which you know nothing! Am I being clear enough about my intention?!?

George,I will tell you one thing,for sure.If I ever run for any elected office,and must debate you,I will absolutely drop out of the race.Your language command,and tenacity are too much for me!BTW--that was an off colored compliment,so have a little humor,this time!

Nrchy---What happened with the Cosmos/arm/cable(PURIST P.C./umbilical) issue?My wine is aging fast,and I want to crack open the bottle already!

A call for peace and an opportunity to learn from each other ...

Like many of you, I grow tired of touchy personality issues on web forums. I'd love to see a fresh start with the slate being wiped clean. Perhaps I'm missing something here, and frankly, I don't have the time to surf back to trace this "pattern of abuse" which Raul has been accused of in this and other threads.

If individuals consider Raul's transgressions to be intolerable, then my comments are meaningless. Never mind ... OTOH, we can learn much from each other.

I'd love to focus on Raul's approach to system building. If you look at his system, you'll find an eclectic mix of gear which quite obviously did not come about by accident.

Raul is coming from a technical space that might be strange to some of you here, but it constitutes viable approach to reproducing music. I have not heard much in the solid-state realm that appeals to me on a long-term basis, but recently, I heard an effort by a denizen of Portland by the name of Gary Pimm (http://www.pacifier.net/~gpimm/) that turned my head around.

Gary brought an amplifier to the Rocky Mountain Audiofest that was in effect a tube amplifier with solid state devices plugged in where the tubes would normally be. The amplifier has interstage coupling transformers along with output transformers! After an audition with Robert Bastanis, the amplifier took center stage in his main room with his Apollo speakers.

If you look at the gear on Raul's system page, the only conclusion to be drawn is that Raul worked long and hard to get a sound he likes. I would expect it to be likely extremely musical, dynamic, and to scale extraordinarily well.

The best audio system I have ever heard was assembled by a local Denver area manic named Orey Block - a fellow who Ron Welborne lovingly calls "Danger Audio". Frank Schröder had the "Orey experience" while in Denver, but I won't ask him to comment ... he needs to build some tonearms for me :-)))

If you look at the voltages Orey typically works with, you'll understand the "Danger Audio" moniker - 2KV to 4KV is typical for him. Orey has designed and built amplifiers around rare transmitting tubes like the 450 TL, and is currently powering Raul's speaker of choice (ADS L 2030) with a push-pull pair of 150 TL's. Orey turns write around and throws a garden variety 6SN7 into the mix ...

Orey's system does it all ... It goes well beyond the normal categorizations of horn/electrostat/closed box, single-ended/push-pull /OTL and such. His system is the standard by which all of us in Colorado judge our systems. You don't buy this kind of stuff, but it's still instructive - even for those who don't know or care which end of a soldering iron to hold.

Back to Raul, systems in general, and analog in particular ...

I realize that this is an analog (turntable) based list, and will refrain from further comments about downstream components, other than to note that looking at Raul's rig with the above perspective will give you a good idea about his listening biases. I think that it's important to consider the whole (system), in order to better understand the person behind the post.

That Raul owns a very fine Micro Seiki turntable is further corroborative evidence of what he's about.

Let's not all be lawyers about this ... having to parse our words so carefully that we don't have the energy to get our message across. Sometimes, casualy thinking out loud can be productive - stimulating conversation and creative discourse.

We don't have to eat our young.

Peace,
Thom @ Galibier