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
