Balanced Audio Technology

[chessman]

Originally Posted by Dawgneck

Greetings and Happy New Years, fellow BAT aficionados. I thought I'd type the first 2015 update to the BAT forum. My last post was in 2012. I was looking to replace my aging Energy Veritas 2.8's at that time. I auditioned the Andra II/III, Vandersteen 5A, Sophia 2/3, Rockport Avior, Revel Salon2 and a few others. All the speakers sounded great but I narrowed it down to two exceptional sounding beasts – the Avior and the Salon2. Both were stunning but the speaker I purchased was slightly more transparent on the top and possessed a slightly tighter, deeper bass on the bottom – the Revel Salon2. I also purchased a Marantz NA-11S1 music player. I preferred it to the Lumin A1 player but I hear the new S1 is a killer player so I will audition it soon. After I burned in the equipment for a month, I sat down for some critical listening.... The sound from this combo was beautiful! Clean, solid, sweet transparent music was delivered with a dark background, thunderous deep bass and a completely flat frequency range. It was stunningly musical and the BAT equipment added a warmth I expected and foresaw when I first purchased the amp and preamp. I mated the Salon2 to the 600SE with TOL Furutech speaker cables, switched out all interconnects and power cords with Furutech's TOL offerings and reached a plateau I never experienced with my equipment before. I was never that satisfied musically in my house (the word musically was tossed at the recommendation of my wife). You probably noticed the past-tense wording I used to describe my system's sound. We found a nice fixer-upper in March and we're currently remodeling it. The equipment is boxed up and awaiting it's new home: a 20 x 40 room that will also house a 4.5 x 9 foot pool table (hooked on 1-pocket). I wanted a larger sound room but I expect acoustic problems due to the room's dimensions, cathedral ceiling and wood flooring over concrete. Perhaps Jeff Fritz can give me some tips. His room is similar in size and has what appears to be a cathedral ceiling. Speaking of Jeff's room (here: http://www.audioaficionado.org/membe...hs-system.html ), his Rockport Altair is stunning! I auditioned the Altair at Gary Hjerpe's shop in Arizona a few years ago and was floored. I also auditioned the Arrakis at Gary's shop: The Arrakis is too large for any house I can afford to place it in.... But the Altair? It is on my short list of must purchase items! Once I get the acoustics straightened out in the new sound room and rebound financially from the house and remodel costs, I’ll begin my quest for a used pair of Altairs. I heard the new BAT equipment sounds better than my current items, but sorry, Victor: I don't plan to upgrade. I'm totally satisfied with the 600SE and 52SE. As a matter of fact, I'll probably grab a 2nd 600SE used and feed each Salon2 its own amp. This will likely happen before another pair of Altairs show up on Audiogon. So, what are your plans for 2015?

I sure love my VK-52SE and VK-600 SE. Hope you are back up and running soon!

[chessman]

Ray, you up and running yet?

[Dawgneck]

Hi, Randy.

Sorry for the late reply - been out of town working over the past two years and I'm just catching a breather....

No, we're still renovating the entire house and the sound room is being used as storage. We hope to complete the renovations by September, then on with taming the acoustics in the new sound room.

I'm looking for a used 600se right now. I see a normal 600 but I don't want to mix the amps.

How are things going with you and your system?

[chessman]

It has been a momentous year of improvements. I added Stillpoints isolation and it was at least a component upgrade. Then I retired my beloved BAT CD player in favor of an Esoteric K-01, which was also a component level upgrade. Recently, I added a media server as a source, with the help of Audio by E. Beyond the addictive convenience, the Asynchronous USB yields a phenomenally clean signal to the K-01's DACs. Soon to arrive is a Bryston SP-3 surround processor. I won't be giving up the BAT VK-52 SE preamp for two channel or the BAT VK-600 SE amp.

[Dawgneck]

Sounds like you've been having a lot of fun.

I can't wait to join the party.

I did jump on the Oppo train and purchased a 105 and a 103, but I've only watched 2-3 movies on them.

Can't wait to fully unpack and start enjoying music again and become more active in the forums.

[johndoe21ro]

__________________
Amp: BAT VK-655SE
Pre-amp/Digital: exaSound e32 w UpTone JS-2 Power Supply; SOtM tX-USBultra w UpTone LPS1.2; Apple Mac Mini w UpTone DC Conversion Kit & UpTone JS-2 Power Supply; Squeezelite w Logitech Media Server 7.9.0
Speakers: Triangle Magellan Cello II
Cables: AudioQuest WEL XLR, AudioQuest Everest, AudioQuest Hurricane HC, AudioQuest NRG-1000, AudioQuest Diamond USB
Rack: Solid Tech Hybrid
Tweaks: Omicron Stabilizzatore Armonico & Gold Evolution SE; IsoTek Sigmas GII w Optimum EVO3; Furutech FT-SWS (R) AC Outlet; Synergistic Research Blue Quantum Fuse

[johndoe21ro]

Originally Posted by tom_hankins

Not sure why the first two pics of the amps and speakers are not showing I'll try again.

Tom, do you use AudioQuest Mont Blanc or Everest as loudspeaker cables? I can't seem to figure it out just by looking at the pictures.
__________________
Amp: BAT VK-655SE
Pre-amp/Digital: exaSound e32 w UpTone JS-2 Power Supply; SOtM tX-USBultra w UpTone LPS1.2; Apple Mac Mini w UpTone DC Conversion Kit & UpTone JS-2 Power Supply; Squeezelite w Logitech Media Server 7.9.0
Speakers: Triangle Magellan Cello II
Cables: AudioQuest WEL XLR, AudioQuest Everest, AudioQuest Hurricane HC, AudioQuest NRG-1000, AudioQuest Diamond USB
Rack: Solid Tech Hybrid
Tweaks: Omicron Stabilizzatore Armonico & Gold Evolution SE; IsoTek Sigmas GII w Optimum EVO3; Furutech FT-SWS (R) AC Outlet; Synergistic Research Blue Quantum Fuse

[johndoe21ro]

Originally Posted by chessman

It has been a momentous year of improvements. I added Stillpoints isolation and it was at least a component upgrade. Then I retired my beloved BAT CD player in favor of an Esoteric K-01, which was also a component level upgrade. Recently, I added a media server as a source, with the help of Audio by E. Beyond the addictive convenience, the Asynchronous USB yields a phenomenally clean signal to the K-01's DACs. Soon to arrive is a Bryston SP-3 surround processor. I won't be giving up the BAT VK-52 SE preamp for two channel or the BAT VK-600 SE amp.

Randy, what Stillpoints do you use under your BAT VK-600SE and to what effect?
__________________
Amp: BAT VK-655SE
Pre-amp/Digital: exaSound e32 w UpTone JS-2 Power Supply; SOtM tX-USBultra w UpTone LPS1.2; Apple Mac Mini w UpTone DC Conversion Kit & UpTone JS-2 Power Supply; Squeezelite w Logitech Media Server 7.9.0
Speakers: Triangle Magellan Cello II
Cables: AudioQuest WEL XLR, AudioQuest Everest, AudioQuest Hurricane HC, AudioQuest NRG-1000, AudioQuest Diamond USB
Rack: Solid Tech Hybrid
Tweaks: Omicron Stabilizzatore Armonico & Gold Evolution SE; IsoTek Sigmas GII w Optimum EVO3; Furutech FT-SWS (R) AC Outlet; Synergistic Research Blue Quantum Fuse

[tom_hankins]

Originally Posted by johndoe21ro

Tom, do you use AudioQuest Mont Blanc or Everest as loudspeaker cables? I can't seem to figure it out just by looking at the pictures.
__________________
Amp: BAT VK-600SE
Pre-amp/Digital: exaSound e20MkIII DSD DAC w Paul Hynes SR3-12 Power Supply; MacBook Pro i5 13' w Samsung 850EVO 512GB SSD; Audirvana + 1.5.12
Speakers: Raidho Eben X-Centric
Cables: Audioquest Sky XLR 72v DBS, Audioquest Everest DBS 72V, Audioquest NRG-10 72V DBS, Audioquest Diamond USB 216V DBS
Rack: Mapleshade Platforms
Tweaks: Omicron Stabilizzatore Armonico & Gold Evolution SE; IsoTek Sigmas GII w IsoTek Elite EVO3; Furutech FT-SWS (R) AC Outlet; HiFi Tuning Supreme 3

I use the 72V Mont Blanc speaker cables with Kubala/sosna Elation! Jumpers

[chessman]

Originally Posted by johndoe21ro

Randy, what Stillpoints do you use under your BAT VK-600SE and to what effect? __________________ Amp: BAT VK-600SE Pre-amp/Digital: exaSound e20MkIII DSD DAC w Paul Hynes SR3-12 Power Supply; MacBook Pro i5 13' w Samsung 850EVO 512GB SSD; Audirvana + 1.5.12 Speakers: Raidho Eben X-Centric Cables: Audioquest Sky XLR 72v DBS, Audioquest Everest DBS 72V, Audioquest NRG-10 72V DBS, Audioquest Diamond USB 216V DBS Rack: Mapleshade Platforms Tweaks: Omicron Stabilizzatore Armonico & Gold Evolution SE; IsoTek Sigmas GII w IsoTek Elite EVO3; Furutech FT-SWS (R) AC Outlet; HiFi Tuning Supreme 3

I was already using a very substantial white maple stand on spikes. I put Stillpoints Ultras between the amp and the stand. I am not hearing a difference that I can be sure of, but I am not willing to take them out. That result is not surprising to me because of the following: when I moved the amp from the floor to the dedicated amp stand I heard a substantial improvement in the sound. Thus, there was not much left to fix.