Author Topic: Triode Wire Labs at the Capital AudioFest, August 28-30  (Read 12848 times)

Offline Triode Pete

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Re: Triode Wire Labs at the Capital AudioFest, August 28-30
« Reply #15 on: September 11, 2015, 09:10:51 AM »
Hey, we earned a Best Sound at Show award, a Gold Award, from AVShow Reports! Thanks Peter Breuninger!

See the video award here... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsxHTlY9-M4

Cheers,
Pete
www.TriodeWireLabs.com
WT Reference/Lyra Titan I
Quadratic Audio MC-1
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Offline Triode Pete

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Re: Triode Wire Labs at the Capital AudioFest, August 28-30
« Reply #16 on: September 16, 2015, 08:56:11 AM »
A bit more Press Feedback today from EnjoyTheMusic.com...

Thanks, Kemper!




Border Patrol, Triode Wire Labs, And Living Voice

Local manufacturer Border Patrol, had a very quiet room, I mean a black background from which small details sprung forth revealing musical info missed by other systems. Gary Dews, designer for BP should be nick named power supply Czar. Gary's amps and preamps have giant outboard power units relaying his opinion on just how important a p/s is to the sonics of a design. For 2015 CAF Gary dispensed with a preamp and ran a MacMini into a Border Patrol USB NOS DAC $1,250 with tube rectified power supply as used here, add $750. Speaking of power supplies, the BP S20 amp from $13,750, (the silver knob on the amp is a volume control), has 2 mono p/s units to let this 18 watt parallel single-ended 300B based amp sound much bigger than the ratings suggest, and I don't think any other 300B amp has the frequency extension at both ends of the spectrum as the S20 does. We all gush over the SET mids, but this amp is wide band and has good bass slam and clear highs. A pair of Living Voice Avatar OBX-RW speakers $11,850 were connected with Triode Wire Labs American Speaker Cables Bi-Wire version $1,099/pr, with TWL Spirit ICs $349/pr and a TWL Silver Statement power cord $1,199 , and a few Digital American cords $499 ( $699 for HP version) were used throughout the system. The system had a very interesting ability to draw you in to the music, nothing jumping out, but instruments and voices sounding just right. Surprising to me was the drum kit impact, and the slew of small details flowing easily into the room. Only the soundstage seemed a bit small, but the room contributed to that aspect. Everything else was superb, violin and guitar tones were spot on, voices tightly focused and clear, sax sounded raw and powerfully dynamic, and Michael Hedges' "Rickover's Dream" had the immediacy and explosiveness to be exciting and live. Another room using TWL cables that was neutral balanced, low noise floor, and just a wee bit sweet on top, in a marketplace that can be wildly priced, Pete's cables are a real value.




Volti, Triode Wire Labs, And McIntosh Labs

Every time I see these horns, the exquisite craftsmanship and woodworking skills to make these blows me away, and then I wonder how great they'd look in my family room. Greg Roberts drove down from Benton, Maine bringing with him the Volti Audio Vittora System $25,000 for the three-piece set that includes the two main Vittora speakers and an Extended Low Frequency cabinet. McIntosh supplied a C22 Preamplifier $6,000 and a pair of MC75 Mono amps $7,500/pr. displayed on canted Volti stands. Triode Pete seems to be everywhere this show, especially in great sounding rooms. TWL cables were on the amps, Seven Plus P/C $499, Ten Plus $349 on the preamp, Digital American P/C $499 on the CD/SACD player, and TWL ICs and Speaker cables connected everything else. I have heard enough systems with TWL cables to appreciate their neutrality and lack of a sonic signature; they just get out of the way of the music and allow it to spring from a black low noise background. I had Greg play "New York City Serenade" from Bruce Springsteen's The Wild, The Innocent and The E Street Shuffle, and the piano intro was stunning in it's realism and not bettered in any room at the show. Details of the beginning of percussion instruments strikes was lightening quick, and the dynamics were very wide. My cut from Michael Hedges' "Rickover's Dream" was explosive and live sounding, great string detail and the sense of the wooden bodied guitar was evident. Saturday night Vinnie Rossi brought down his LIO integrated amp and hooked it up to the Vittoras, what a synergistic combination. The lower noise floor helped maximize the Vittora's strengths, especially revealing low level information clearly while other instruments are playing much louder.


Cheers,
Pete
« Last Edit: September 16, 2015, 04:12:56 PM by Triode Pete »
www.TriodeWireLabs.com
WT Reference/Lyra Titan I
Quadratic Audio MC-1
Custom BorderPatrol preamp with phono & line stage
Innuos Statement Server
BorderPatrol S20 EXD w/EXS PS
Klipschorns - Volti hot-rodded
UberBUSS

Offline dflee

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Re: Triode Wire Labs at the Capital AudioFest, August 28-30
« Reply #17 on: September 16, 2015, 07:20:08 PM »
Pete:
I love your your stuff and am really happy that there is recognition for your hard work and hope to have more of it in the future. Question is: does anybody notice or comment on the little black Uber sittin over there conspicuously in the corner all by it's lonesome?

Don
"Enjoy pleasure, not because it is fleeting, but because it exists at all." Sacrament, Clive Barker.

Offline BobM

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Re: Triode Wire Labs at the Capital AudioFest, August 28-30
« Reply #18 on: September 17, 2015, 05:14:31 AM »
With these great reviews I'm sure your cables will be a big hit at Rocky Mountain again this year. Keep up the good work Pete.
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Offline Triode Pete

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Re: Triode Wire Labs at the Capital AudioFest, August 28-30
« Reply #19 on: September 17, 2015, 05:41:12 AM »
Pete:
I love your your stuff and am really happy that there is recognition for your hard work and hope to have more of it in the future. Question is: does anybody notice or comment on the little black Uber sittin over there conspicuously in the corner all by it's lonesome?

Don

Hey Don,
There were FOUR Pi Audio Group UberBUSSes in three of the rooms my cables were in;
- BorderPatrol / TWL / Living Voice - my personal SuperDuper Uber
- Volti / TWL / McIntosh - Greg's (Volti) personal Uber
- Sound Insight / TWL - Sir Charles Rollo's Two personal Ubers

No doubt they contributed to the great sound in these rooms!

Cheers,
Pete
www.TriodeWireLabs.com
WT Reference/Lyra Titan I
Quadratic Audio MC-1
Custom BorderPatrol preamp with phono & line stage
Innuos Statement Server
BorderPatrol S20 EXD w/EXS PS
Klipschorns - Volti hot-rodded
UberBUSS

Offline machinehead

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Re: Triode Wire Labs at the Capital AudioFest, August 28-30
« Reply #20 on: September 17, 2015, 07:28:26 AM »
Good Going Pete!
Its cool ndude.

Offline StereoNut

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Re: Triode Wire Labs at the Capital AudioFest, August 28-30
« Reply #21 on: September 17, 2015, 10:16:31 AM »
Hey, we earned a Best Sound at Show award, a Gold Award, from AVShow Reports! Thanks Peter Breuninger!

See the video award here... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsxHTlY9-M4

Cheers,
Pete

Congrats again, Pete - TWL rules! :thumb:
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Offline Triode Pete

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Re: Triode Wire Labs at the Capital AudioFest, August 28-30
« Reply #22 on: September 18, 2015, 12:41:25 PM »
Oh, boy, another review... This is probably the last of the Capital AudioFest feedback, published by Part Time Audiophile. Thanks, Scot!!!  :thumb:
http://parttimeaudiophile.com/2015/09/18/caf-2015-borderpatrol-triode-wire-labs-and-living-voice/

CAF 2015: BORDERPATROL, TRIODE WIRE LABS AND LIVING VOICE RECREATE HOME



There is always a risk, covering an audio show. A risk that someone will say something. Not mean, nasty or cutting — just something interesting. Or they’ll do something likewise interesting. Doesn’t sound so horrible, unless you’re an easily distractible fellow and you completely forget what you’re about and assume somewhere along the way that you’ve already accomplished your task. Like take photos of a given room, say. Whoops. Thankfully, Paul Elliott was able to pick up my slack.

The problem with the BorderPatrol room? I have this room at home. Well, near enough. I do own a pair of Living Voice Avatar OBX-RW loudspeakers ($11850/pair — special wood finish may be extra). There’s something very special about these speakers, something that caught my ear way back at the very first Capital Audiofest; it’s something that’s haunted me ever since. I can’t even really put my finger on exactly what “it” is — they just do something very right. Way back at that first CAF, I remember being extremely annoyed at how good that BorderPatrol room sounded — annoyed, because I’d just spent my entire budget on other gear. Well, time flies like a banana and all that, and now, I’ve corrected that error. Finally.

The amplifier anchoring this system was a scaled-down version of my reference; this one was an integrated BorderPatrol P21 ($9,750), a push-pull stereo job leveraging a pair of 300b tubes per channel to create a whopping 20 watt/channel. I joke, because that amp has brassy ones big enough to clank together like a pair of Big Bens. There was zero issues with level, dynamics or punch. The P21 is the single PSU version of the push-pull design — the P20 ($13,750 — and one of my reference power amps) uses two. There are a small set of upgrades they make available, including a massive pair of super-duper external power supplies which throws the prices well past $20k for a new amp. The upshot here is that this is a 300b-based tube amp that does things no 300b-based tube amp should be able to do (according to Conventional Wisdom). Specifically? Real, solid, hammering bass. Extended, shimmering, delicate and sweet treble. If you’re not familiar with the 300b, and how it usually gets implemented, that’s really weird. Add to that the “traditional” immersiveness that a 300b “typically” throws at you, and you’ve got yourself a cobra, hypnotic and lethal.

The sneaky bit, and worth calling out again, was the new BorderPatrol USB NOS DAC ($2,000 w/ external tube power supply), here tucked surreptitiously into a pair of bamboo boxes. That DAC, which “only” handles Redbook files, is the best-sounding DAC I’ve heard under (to pick a completely arbitrary number out of the air) $5k, and is one of the very best-sounding DACs I’ve ever heard, regardless of price. Sound like a bit of hyperbole? Fine. I was a doubter too. Once. But while there are DACs that are smoother, more rounded and more silken, this DAC is openopenopen with nothing between you and the music. Maybe I should just save the rest for the coming review ….

Nah.

See, I’m not precisely sure why the DAC sounds this good. I seem to recall some DAC designer claiming that “the chip matters”, but that its contribution to the overall sound was lower than you’d think, maybe something like 15%. I have no idea if that’s true or accurate, but the chip here is used in a decidedly minimalist way, without upsampling or oversampling or buffering. Arguably more important to that other designer was the USB input/transceiver chipset and the power supply. Again, no idea about that weighting, but that latter bit is where BorderPatrol just happens to shine. The power supply here is a choke-input filter design, an oddity for digital gear, but one designer Gary Dews is rather notorious for — and its the same design he uses in those massive silver-box power supplies that he wires up to his amps (with variations-on-a-theme for everything else, for that matter). This DAC offers an off-box tube rectified supply, too (like the amps), and it’s not an option. Well, it is but not really — just get it and say “thanks!”

Triode Pete was showing off his excellent and affordable cable loom as well — including his new balls-out “Silver Statement” power cord (starting at $1,199), using solid silver (not plated) connectors with carbon-fiber connector shells coupled to his proprietary blend in those big 7awg conductors. I’ve said it before, and I’ll probably say it again, but I think that Triode Wire Labs is offering some of the best bang-for-the-buck currently available in today’s audio market. Obviously, you’re free to use zip cord if you’d rather bang your head on a wall, but the TWL power cords especially are some of my personal favorites — I have a half-dozen or so that I use almost constantly. Pete also offers a full loom of RCA interconnects and speaker cables that are on my to-do list. More on those anon.

I’m over budget on sheer wordiness (typical), so let me summarize. For less than $25k, this was one of the best-sounding rooms at Capital Audiofest this year — just as it was at that very first CAF, six years ago. I’m just as impressed now as then, which is probably why I now have this stuff at home.

Dews is a wizard. Full stop.










Cheers,
Pete
www.TriodeWireLabs.com
WT Reference/Lyra Titan I
Quadratic Audio MC-1
Custom BorderPatrol preamp with phono & line stage
Innuos Statement Server
BorderPatrol S20 EXD w/EXS PS
Klipschorns - Volti hot-rodded
UberBUSS

Offline Triode Pete

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Re: Triode Wire Labs at the Capital AudioFest, August 28-30
« Reply #23 on: September 29, 2015, 10:09:40 AM »
Some very recent video feedback from AVshowreports, on Dave Slagle's Emia Room... Great Sound again... TWL provided the power cabling!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGj8z52tUkI

Cheers,
Pete
www.TriodeWireLabs.com
WT Reference/Lyra Titan I
Quadratic Audio MC-1
Custom BorderPatrol preamp with phono & line stage
Innuos Statement Server
BorderPatrol S20 EXD w/EXS PS
Klipschorns - Volti hot-rodded
UberBUSS