Roberto's ET-7S2

[roberto]

Friends,

At last my new ET7S2 was shipped from Virginia to my forwarder in Miami. In the near days, at last I am going to be in Heaven again...Jeff just wrote an email letting me know that the remote controls finally arrived to the Conrad Johnson facility and today a brand new ET-7S2 was shipped.

I have my eyes with water...I am really very emotional...can't wait!'

Thanks to Jeff for all the help to this matter,
Roberto.

[admin]

Wonderful news. It will be "home" in no time. Hopefully it will be a quick trip through customs.

[AnotherJohnson]

That’s great!

I can’t wait to hear about what you hear.

Meanwhile, although it’s not CJ, my trade made it to the dealer and the Sabrinas should ship either tomorrow or Thursday.

I know that if you’ve got CLXs, the Sabrinas will be “ho hum,” but I am looking forward to them all the same.

[roberto]

Sabrinas are very good sounding speakers. You are going to enjoy more those magnificent musicians in the recordings.

Congratulations!

And yes, my ears are very accustomed to planar speakers. And still enjoy very much my CLXs. I do know that out there are many magnificent speakers, and the ones that I own are too.

The Wilson crossover is a very carefully designed. Wilson is one of the best brands to have and own. You are in the right track AJ. Congrats again!

Happy listening!

[AnotherJohnson]

I’m looking forward to comparing them to my remaining pair of Revel F228Bes. I will either sell the Revels, or the Sabrinas, depending on the comparison.

But to do this fairly, I will have to give the Sabrinas a proper break in.

In past days, I would have set them up to play continuously for a week or more, but in these days of tube shortages and tube prices, I don’t want to waste all those tube hours, so I will probably only run them when I am actually present to hear them.

The ET7s2 will need a proper break in too, but at least it’s just one tube. Of course the amp has to be on too, so there are plenty of tubes in play, even for an ET7s2.

Then there is the warm up issue. This evening I brought Octave Records’ new Carmen Sandin SACD entitled “Mini Brazilian Beasts” to play. Octave Records is the recording arm of PS Audio and I bought this recording to see how I might like their audiophile approach.

Carmen Sandin is a jazz pianist, composer, and arranger.

I started listening with the system dead cold. It was quite flat, and a bit off tone to my ears. It did not show much promise for the first several cuts, but it did perk up slowly.

I am relistening to the recording from the beginning now, and it is like a totally different record. Much better in all ways.

So … I’m going to have to suck it up and waste a fair amount of tube life if I’m going to enjoy this hobby to the full extent.

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[roberto]

...The ET7s2 will need a proper break in too, but at least it’s just one tube. Of course the amp has to be on too, so there are plenty of tubes in play, even for an ET7s2...
Jeff told me, because of the delay, that he will put some good hours (took almost a month) to my unit, so it is already almost break in...yes I do know that the Teflon caps need a lot of time to settle down. Anyway, it is going to be a month sooner, thanks to Jeff, he is a great person!.

I think that you are going to love your new Wilson. The cabinet has a lot of tricks too. So, the coloration's cabinet is almost non existent. That's a reason why Wilson is not cheap. It is a great product.

Do you still have the Levinson? You could use this amp to drive the Wilsons and break in them with no wasting tubes life there.

Carmen is an extraordinary student from Berklee. She studied jazz compositions and improvisation, along with her classical piano studies too. She has a warmth way to play the music. A great piano player with a special soul. Good to know that you liked her.

Happy listening!

[AnotherJohnson]

I sold the Levinson integrated when the new one was returned to me after three months. I figured it would never have more value than it did at that moment, factory sealed.

I had wanted to try the ARC REF 6, so the Levinson partially funded that.

The system that is assembled is

PS Audio P12 Power Regenerator
LP12 turntable
Denon 3 head cassette deck
Marantz ND8006 network player
Levinson 5101 SACD/CD/DAC
ARC REF Phono 3 phono preamp
ARC REF 6 preamp
ARC REF 75 SE amp
Revel F228Be speakers

Extra components are
LP12
CJ TEA1
CJ TEA2MAX
CJ LP275M monoblocks
Marantz SAKI Ruby
ARC LS28 SE
Sonus Faber Liuto monitors
PSB Alpha A/V monitors
Martin Logan BF210
Probably some other stuff

When the Sabrinas come, the LP275Ms will get an audition, but I’ll have to run the system on the Niagara 1200 to avoid a ground loop that seems inherent when the LP275Ms are just plugged into the wall. Plus I just don’t think the P12 has the strength to run the big monoblock. A P20 on a dedicated 20 amp line might be OK if you could get rid of the ground loop.

Some of the extra speakers will go to the HT room.

One pair of Revel F228Bes and an ARC PH8 went in trade for the new factory sealed Sabrinas.

The system at the other house has been dismantled. We are spending less and less time there now that the addition is complete at the house near the children and grandchild.

I see that the jazz pianist is Carmen Sandim, not Sandin. I need to clean my glasses. . Another example where it would be nice to have a longer editing window

[roberto]

I have news, the ET7S2 is going to be shipped to my forwarder address at Miami. So soon, I will be having a lot of fun again.

Happy listening!

[Big Dog RJ]

Nice one Robbo mate! Finally your ET7S2 is on the way...

Yes, this will require quite a number of hours to run-in properly, and then another 50hrs or so to reach optimal performance. My Spore buddy passed on several units to other dealers who sent their feedback, stating it took several months to sound right. It's also due to the Vishays in there, and there are a handful in there that require proper burn-in time. With added Teflons and Vishays, plus upgraded power supplies, several months of average listening time is required.

When my CT5 was fully redone with Teflons & Vishays plus the mods, it took nearly 8 months to sound right. Now, whenever it plays there are no issues but the monoblocks take a while to properly warm up and really get going...

So have patience and you'll rediscover all your favourite recordings!

As you mentioned JF ran it for about a month, means he was also testing the burn-in process to make sure it passes the ET7S2 standards. Otherwise it goes back to the bench!

Cheers mate, and let us know how it all goes.
Best, RJ

[admin]

Sabrinas are very good sounding speakers. You are going to enjoy more those magnificent musicians in the recordings.

Every Wilson speaker I have ever listened to has been a solid performer. I really can't say a bad thing about them. One thing that has never put me in the "realm" of considering the purchase has been their price. They really demand top dollar. The Sabrinas are at least reasonably priced. Most of their offerings cost multiple times that and I think that is why they never entered my consideration list.

I spent considerable time listening to Wilsons some 15 years ago when the audio shop across from my workplace was a dealer. Very solid all around. If money is no object, they are a safe bet.

This evening I brought Octave Records’ new Carmen Sandin SACD entitled “Mini Brazilian Beasts” to play. Octave Records is the recording arm of PS Audio and I bought this recording to see how I might like their audiophile approach.

What do you think about the audio quality? I was looking at offerings from Octave Records and Paul the owner makes a big fuss on how imoprtant audio quality is to them. He is a big believer in DSD. Do you find the recording quality far superior to other typical "audiophile recordings?" They charge $30 per CD so there is a hefty premium (and I'm sure shipping is not free)?

I have news, the ET7S2 is going to be shipped to my forwarder address at Miami. So soon, I will be having a lot of fun again.

Happy listening!

Very close now! Hang in there.

Finally your ET7S2 is on the way...

Yes, this will require quite a number of hours to run-in properly, and then another 50hrs or so to reach optimal performance.

I wouldn't let the burnin stop you from setting it up and enjoying the tunes. It's nice to know that the sound will improve as it goes along but even out of the box it should sound wonderful.

[AnotherJohnson]

What do you think about the audio quality? I was looking at offerings from Octave Records and Paul the owner makes a big fuss on how imoprtant audio quality is to them. He is a big believer in DSD. Do you find the recording quality far superior to other typical "audiophile recordings?" They charge $30 per CD so there is a hefty premium (and I'm sure shipping is not free)?

Short answer … it did not sound good in my system before warm up. Many SACDs and CDs sound good within a few minutes of turn on. This one required a full 30 minute warmup.

After the warmup, it sounded very good. Good spectral balance. Good detail. Good image. Good definition of both time and space.

But it was not better than many other SACDs or CDs in my collection. Part of this could be the difficulties associated with recording a piano-centric group, but who knows.

You should realize too that it is a hybrid disc, so it will play on both CD and SACD gear. I had to reinsert it three times before the Levinson 5101 recognized it. It was clean. I suspect the 5101 had trouble finding the SACD layer, but eventually it was successful.

And you get two disks. One is the CD/SACD. The other appears to be duplication of material in formats useful to someone like admin, but not so useful for me.

The packaging is good quality with good supporting “liner notes.”

Shipping probably wasn’t free … but it never is really free, even when they say it is. The buyer pays in the form of a higher price.

As for the price, I thought it was consistent with other SACDs by relatively obscure performers in the current market. Some SACDs by famous artists are offered for prices north of $100.

I am not going to run out and collect them all. But I don’t regret buying this one. The compositions were engaging. The performers were solid. The arrangements worked well. And the sound quality would be easily defended as above average.

[AnotherJohnson]

Every Wilson speaker I have ever listened to has been a solid performer. I really can't say a bad thing about them. One thing that has never put me in the "realm" of considering the purchase has been their price. They really demand top dollar. The Sabrinas are at least reasonably priced. Most of their offerings cost multiple times that and I think that is why they never entered my consideration list.

I spent considerable time listening to Wilsons some 15 years ago when the audio shop across from my workplace was a dealer. Very solid all around. If money is no object, they are a safe bet.

I agree. In showroom auditions, I’ve never understood the prices until the most recent audition of the Chronosonic XVXs last month.

The Sabrinas were replaced by the SabrinaXs two years ago.

I think the last price for them was $16500. The new price for the Xs is $18000.

I have worked a trade on an untitled (brand new) factory sealed pair of the discontinued model from an authorized dealer. A good trade is one where both parties feel like they did well. This is a good trade.

[roberto]

Thinking loud, I don't believe that the difference between the Xs and the Sabrina model would be a big, huge difference. This is a commercial world. So, the Sabrinas (Xs) are the same concept. Many times, a newer model is not as good as the original.

[AnotherJohnson]

You may be right.

I considered the Xs because they do offer some advantages according to reviews. But … the Xs are a current model, and so if I were to buy them, the dealer would have to install them.

If I were on a sonic quest to get something that would solve some sonic deficiency with the Revels (I’m not), then I would have bought the Xs from my local dealer. Or maybe I might have gone up to the Sasha DAWs.

But this was more of a quest along the lines of “ You’ll take those two pieces and how much cash?!! Sign me up.”

I’m dying to hear them in my own system. Auditions here of good gear are always better than at the showroom.

I talked with my local dealer/friend and he volunteered to reach out to Wilson to see what kind of deals on discontinued or show demo models were available. But he came up empty. He did offer me a very good all cash deal on the SabrinaXs, but I went with lower cash choice.

The Sabrinas were Stereophile Class A in the same category as the Revel F228Bes. In the showroom I preferred the Revels back when both were current (2020). Now we’ll see if my set up is better. My Revels beat the showroom Revels every time. They’re broken in, properly placed, and driven by CJ or ARC instead of McIntosh.

This will give me a taste of Wilson. As you move up in the product line, not only does the price escalate quickly, but so does the weight. I don’t really want to manhandle the 94 pound Sabrinas.

In any event, I’m oftentimes fickle. Stuff comes and goes here. I enjoy trying new stuff, but can be quick to condemn it when flaws present themselves. I was willing to listen to the MA5300 and the Prima Luna Prologue, but did not waste time with them once my verdict was in. I loved the Levinson 5805, but when it failed, I did not give it a second chance. I burned through many monitors trying to find a pair that would satisfy me, but in the end went back to floorstanders.

So … it’s hard to predict where the Sabrinas will end up.

Since they are brand new, I will have to give them a fair break in.

I’m working the problem of that LP275Ms ground loop. I may just set my LP275Ms test system back up and run it on the Niagara 1200. That way I could break in the Wilsons but have zero work to listen alternately to the Revels. Plus I really do want to compare the LP275Ms to the REF 75 SE, as silly as that might be.

Meanwhile I finally hung the TV in the HT. But I still haven’t set up the Denon AVR-6600S. I’m glad I’m retired… I don’t know how I had time for work.

[AnotherJohnson]

Back to the purpose of this thread, I’ll bet the ET7s2 arrives at your forwarder today.

Between customs and shipping, is it likely to get to Costa Rica next week? I can’t wait to hear that it’s safely at your house.

[roberto]

There is a delay again, until today, the freight company is picking it up from the CJ facility. I think that the packet will take three days to get to Miami. So Monday is the time in Miami. I have already spoken with my forwarder, so the workers at Miami are ready to ship it ASAP to Costa Rica...and now the time at customs...probably about 10 days or so in my hands. The anxiety is better. Knowing that today the freight company is picking it up, makes me feel safe and calm.

Thanks for your good wishes...soon I am back to Heaven.

Happy listening!

[roberto]

Jeff told me that he had it in the test bench almost a month on. Since I placed the order, he chose one for me and checked everything. I presume that he left i on with a tuner signal. So, it will play beautiful having at least 360 hours all ready. Also, this kind of test assures that everything is perfect.

Can’t wait!

[AnotherJohnson]

That’s great!

[roberto]

Delivery date is on Monday afternoon at my forwarder’s office. Then it will be shipped to CR.

[admin]

How long does it usually take to get through customs in Costa Rica?