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Summer Special Torrii Has Arrived! (Read 8856 times)
BLFST
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Summer Special Torrii Has Arrived!
07/21/09 at 05:36:49
 
About a month ago I had posted a question in the general forum about members thoughts on the Torrii vs. the SE 341.2 amps.  I wasn't planning on purchasing an amp at this time, but was just trying to get my ducks in a row in the future event of getting one or the other.  I had just ordered HDT speakers a month earlier (was supposed to ship last week) and ordreed a ZP3 days before my post.  Anyway, to make a long story short - Steve offered his Summer Special on the Torrii and I decided to go for it.  My two concerns were this - my current amp is a Roque Cronus (a EL34 based push/pull amp rated at 55 watts) which I like a lot, but I was concerned that the Torrii would probably sound the same.  The other concern was that I ordered the HDT's with eventually getting into SET amps in mind (although I have never heard a SET amp before).

Before I go any further, let me explain to you that I am pretty new at critical listening.  I started to get critical last year when I bought the Roque.  Therefore, my terminology and my experience is rather limited.  That being said - - - - -

Now to the present.  I received the Torrii early this afternoon.  I set it up and powered up.  Because my HDT's have not arrived yet, I am running the Torrii thru my PSB Image 4T tower speakers (again which I have really been pleased with).  I also don't have the ZP3 yet, so my source is my Rega Apollo CD player.  The first thing that I noticed was the complete silence of the amp at idle.  My Rogue has a hum audiable when your ear is about a foot away from the speaker, but not apparent at the listening position.  The Torrii is completly quiet even with my ears against the speakers.  Even though I can't hear the hum from the listening position with the Rogue, I would assume that the hum would add some level of coloration.  The last CD that I had listened to last night was of a techno-pop type group called Goldfrapp, so it was fresh in my ears and mind.  I therefore listened to it.  At first, I didn't really notice any difference between the Torrii and my Roque.  However, in short order I started to notice a clarity that I hadn't noticed the night before.  The tonal balance also seemed to be a bet better, especially in the mid-range.  Although my soundstage dimensions seemed about the same, it became more transparent.  Also, it seemed that the overall perspective was a bit more laid back, which I really didn't expect.  I thought that the recording as well as the speakers had more to do with pserspective.  Anyway, after listening to Goldfrapp, I went on to Jeff Beck (Jeff Beck with the Yardbirds), Ray Lynch (Deep Breakfast), Pink Floyd (Dark Side of the Moon), John Coltrane (Blue Train), and lastly, Moody Blues (Days of Future Passed {Mobile Fidelity Gold}).  The result was the same in all recordings.  An example that stood out  was in John Coltranes recording of Lazy Bird.  There is a short Bass solo towards the end of the piece.  I could hear what could best be described as sound resonating from the body of the bass throat which I had never heard before.  It was completely incredible.

If this thing just gets better as it breaks in, it will just be icing on the cake.  Can't wait to get the ZP3 and the HDT's integrated into the system.

One last thing of note, although not stricty of importance to the listening pleasure, the thing just plain looks cool in a darkened room!

More in a week or so.

bill
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Lon
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Re: Summer Special Torrii Has Arrived!
Reply #1 - 07/21/09 at 12:10:54
 
Bill,

The amp WILL get better day by day.  It's an amazing machine.  I'm very impressed.

You'll be discovering bits and pieces in your music collection each listening session.

You did good. Smiley
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HR-1,ZTPRE,ZBIT,ZROCK2,SEWE300B,CSP3-25mod,Taboo MkIV;Rega RP3 all GrooveTracer mods;PSAudio:PST+DSD,P15,NPC,PowerBases,AC-12 pwr cbls,Reference spkrcbls;Mapleshade SamsonV3;VooDoo:Cremona+Amati interconnects, IsoPods; headphones:Sennheiser HD800S,ZMF Ori,Oppo PM1
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KimKman
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Re: Summer Special Torrii Has Arrived!
Reply #2 - 07/21/09 at 13:49:48
 
Congrats Bill. The Torii Mark II is quite amazing. Look forward to additional comments.
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BLFST
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Posts: 72
Re: Summer Special Torrii Has Arrived!
Reply #3 - 07/23/09 at 03:03:24
 
It's just as you both stated, I AM hearing more and more each listening session.  So far, I have about 20 hours on the Torrii.  All except about 6 of those hours have been with me involved in active listening, while the 6 were with me outside doing chores and letting the CD in the player repeat just to quicken the break-in period.  

Detail, especially as it relates to instruments is just incredible.  I thought that my old amp had great detail, but my inexperience  with top quality systems show just how wrong I was.  The detail with transient sounds is also just plain amazing.

I mentioned in my first post how I good I thought the mid-range was as well.  I think that part of this can be attributed to the fast dynamics of this amp, especially those in the lower frequencies.  With my older amp, the bass was always somewhat boomy and congested.  I attributed this to my room acoustics.  With this amp, most of the bass boom is gone, allowing me to hear more of the midrange.  I DO still have some bass problems to resolve, and this IS attributed to room acoustics.

I had also said that my soundstage had maintained most of its depth and width, which still holds true.  However,  the soundstage is becomeing increasingly transparent.  I am just plain able to imagine the particular instruments precise location within the soundstage.

I am increasingly impressed with this amp.  My ZP3 is due to me on friday, and I can't wait to get some vinyl spinning (about 3/4 of my listening is with vinyl).  My HDT's were also suppossed to ship today, but I havn't seen any tracking info posted on-line yet, so it may not have made it out today, but should be out tomorrow.  I am really hoping that the soundstage will open up with the new HDT's.  I suppose that I will have to re-work my speaker placement once they get here.

bill
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BLFST
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Re: Summer Special Torrii Has Arrived!
Reply #4 - 08/01/09 at 02:55:26
 
Well, both the ZP3 and now, the HDT's are part of the system.  I don't have time right now to go into detail on how everything is integrated, but I will say that the HDT's matched with the Torrii are just plain INCREDIBLE!  I have/had some issues with the ZP3, but part of that was actually a problem with the Torrii (output tube must have been going bad - replaced with output tubes from my old amp and everything is back on track).  More later.

bill
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Lon
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"Love without
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Re: Summer Special Torrii Has Arrived!
Reply #5 - 08/01/09 at 11:46:33
 
YAY!  I think you're going to be very happy for a long time with this system.
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HR-1,ZTPRE,ZBIT,ZROCK2,SEWE300B,CSP3-25mod,Taboo MkIV;Rega RP3 all GrooveTracer mods;PSAudio:PST+DSD,P15,NPC,PowerBases,AC-12 pwr cbls,Reference spkrcbls;Mapleshade SamsonV3;VooDoo:Cremona+Amati interconnects, IsoPods; headphones:Sennheiser HD800S,ZMF Ori,Oppo PM1
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drumsgreg
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Re: Summer Special Torrii Has Arrived!
Reply #6 - 08/01/09 at 18:34:31
 
I do believe if someone really sat down and heard this amp with the CCE MOD, they  would not buy another amp ever!. I`m shocked how good this amp is driving my Eminent Tech VIIIB`S to respectable levels, these speakers have never sounded as good as do they do right now untill I hooked them up to that amp. These are big speakers, you see the speakers , but sound does not come from them anymore. AWESOME
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