Zyx Universe. O.24 mv vs .48 mv with low eff spkrs

Lewm, the big problem on horns usually is not the noise of the amp but the noise of the preamp. If you knock the gain down in the power amp you thus make big strides in reducing the noise floor.

Hi everyone

Sorry for the delay, i had the cartridge setup done last week but had a system issue where I couldn't listen

The ZYX Universe ii is a significant step up which I wouldn't have thought of from the original Universe. Thanks Doug for moving me in that direction and Mehran as always for making things happen

The Uii has even more resolving body around instruments. The soundstage I have is even deeper. Highly resolving cartridges can take separate what appear to be congested elements of a recording and bring them out of the mix sometimes the detail actually is more distractive. With the Universe ii those parts are fully resolved but actually sound fully fleshed out and musical.

The woofer pumping is gone, as Doug Deacon suggested, the added ump from the low end impact is enhancing the volume and making that a non issue. Cant wait to have the cartridge fully broke in

A review with my latest two Galibier Thom Mackris upgrades and Universe ii jump is in order

Thanks everyone

The Daedalus Ulysses V2 are two weeks out and I will be bringing the Atmaphere MA1s back into the equation

Wow. My system is really coming together

Ummm... Yay!

Okay

here is the really big update

I went with Daedalus Ulysses speakers, Thom Mackris' new motor pod, cloth belt and tone arm mount - scary what those added.

I recently lucked into a pair of Doshi Jhor monoblocks and the synergy between amp and speaker is finally there

thanks all for your help

Tom,

That's a great setup! I'd love to hear the Jhors linked to high efficency speakers.

I looked at Daedulus myself but ended up going used for budget reasons when doing my first high efficiency setup for my HT system. Found a full set of AR speakers from the 1990s on Craigslist. The mains, center, surrounds and rears all exceed 95db efficiency, with stupid easy impedance curves.

The L and R main towers have internal, powered subs... 15" drivers with dedicated 500w Sunfire amps. House-shaking WUMP, yet surprisingly decent on LF music too. As Raul once rhetorically asked, yes, you DO need two subwoofers. ;-)

Since freqs below ~100 Hz go to the subs, my 100wX7 Marantz surround receiver is just coasting, no matter how loud I play.

This setup lacks the bat-eared resolution of my Doshi Alaap/Doshi Lectron/B&W 803D. The tweeters in particular can't compare with the B&W diamonds... few tweeters can. However, its overall openness and immense dynamics with no trace of strain, clipping or overload down to 20Hz are really enjoyable... particularly as all 7.2 speakers and the Marantz cost less than 1/3 the price of one 803D. ;-)

I can only imagine how much better yours must sound.

Now back to your regularly scheduled, obsolete, yet never bettered musical storage and playback medium. :-)