Which component has the most importance?
I have been on a quest redoing my system to a high effecient SET Integrated Amp affair with 2 way diy speakers of 95 DB Effeciency to run my Pentode amp in 1.8 watts at Triode Mode Operation. The amp is a Decware 84C
with the speakers being Parker 95 Signatures which put out a 95 DB Effeciency with response 40hz to 40khz.My front end for now is a Toshiba 2950 DVD Player soon to be upgraded to a Tube cd player in the near future.
So here I am thinking I must improve the sound of my front end immediately; of course that is what LINN always taught us and over my years since the 80's of listening that is what I always thought until I came onto a tweek that has so profoundly changed all my prioities around on its ear.
I have been swapping out cables,tubes,creating DIY IC's,
diy power cords,replacing internal hookup wire and then I opened up the speaker and took a look inside and thats when I started down this road of tweeking even more.I had noticed the speaker had 2 Deflex panels installed directly in the back cabinet wall right behind the drivers, and the drivers had small guage solid core hook up wire on each of them with just one cap on the ribbon tweeter. Well the first tweek on my list was to replace the internal wire with cyro treated wire single core I had with a small green enamel on them. I wraped these with some heat shrink tubing to protect them from other wires in the scheme and the sound of the speakers became much more open and organic.
Every note took on additional richness and clarity of sound. The soundstage really opened up in all directions.
Tweek #2. I removed all the internal stuffing which consisted almost the bottom 2 feet of the short tall 39 inch speakers.
Why? Well the people at Deflex state to do this and specifically say to cover 80% of the internal cabinet with Deflex. So far I have added an additional 18 inches by 10 inches of Deflex into the speaker and the sound quality jump has been off the charts.THIS HAS BEEN THE MOST SIGNIFICANT UPGRADE I HAVE EVER DONE PERIOD.
I am now in the process of installing Deflex throughout
the entire internal speaker cabinet except for the last bottom 7 inches or so.
The Deflex has improved the speakers and my system in every parameter, Soundstaging, speed, timming, dynamics,timbre,focus and accuracy. I find it such a huge improvement that I am not rushing out to get amy new cd player yet.
I'm thinking now that maybe Wilson Audio has been right all this time stating the importance of the Speaker interface in a system. I am such a happy camper now with my system that I have literally been losing some sleep lately which is okay since I'm retired and have nothing to do but tweek all day. LOL.
wELL MY CONCLUSIONS FROM ALL OF THIS?
I think now that the most critical component in the system is the speaker interface first and then the preamp or integrated in my case followed by the front end.
Atlest based on my observation that is what has worked for me. Well my last tweek on my speakers will be to replace the one and only cap in the non crossover speaker the 2 mfd
100 Volt Havoland with a Dueland Cooper or a V-cap. Luckily I only need to replace one in each speaker. This little tweek will cost almost $650.00 for the 2 caps which is more then what I paid for the pair of the speakers.
Well will it be worth the investment?
I am told by the speaker designer that the Dueland is someting very special indeed.
So we shall see.
Happy Listening
76doublebass
