I’m sure what I am about to say is not new to many of us.  That said, I write this because I’m not so sure we reflect enough on how the seemingly simple things involving audio can be very complex.  BTW, that last sentence is an admission of guilt.  Apologies in advance for the length of this.  If you don’t like novels, stop now.

I’ll preface what follows by saying that I do not claim to be an audiophile.  At least I’ve never thought of myself this way.   What I can say is that ever since my early childhood I’ve had a love of everything music.  And if memory serves correctly, I first raided my father’s record collection and record player when I was about ten years old.  I never looked back.  After getting a work permit at the age of fourteen and a half, I saved my money and purchased my first system.  Over the years, I frequented audio dealers in my hometown of Morganton, Hickory and Charlotte, NC.  During this time, I had what I thought were quite a few great sounding systems.   But then came the kids, their love of movies and my move to home theater and surround sound.  I still loved 2 channel sound, but I pretty much put hard core listening on the back burner.

Then, about 9 months ago I began an unintended odyssey back into two channel audio.  You know how it goes.  I had the itch, and was surfing Audiogon and Decware’s classifieds looking for used tube gear, and there is was; a Decware Torii MK IV in like new condition on Audiogon.  But, not wanting to spend the money, I moved on.   But a good friend with whom I shared the find promised I would experience tube nirvana with the Torii.  So I went back, called the advertiser and a week later the Torii had taken residence in my living room.  At the time I had a pair of Definitive Technology BP20 speakers. (Yes, twenty-three years old, but pristine) and a cheap but decent Onkyo 7030 CD player with a Wolfson DAC.   It sounded good.
 
But then, the same friend called and said to make the most of the Torii I needed a really efficient pair of speakers; and of course, he had the cure.  He knew a guy who had a pair of Klipsch Cornwall III’s for sale.  The price was decent.  We dickered a bit, the price got better and a week later I had a pair of Klipsch Cornie III’s added to the mix.  To me, it sounded really good.  In those first few weeks, I thought it was quite the system.  The problem was that I believed it could be better; and of course I wanted better now.

A good chunk of the better I was looking for was the bottom end which I felt was either hit and miss or missing altogether.  So, I began to play with placement.  Actually I played with placement and speaker wire for almost three months.  It was like the bass would come and go.  (See item 2 below.)  It was about this same time that I began to sense a bit of ear fatigue during extended listening sessions with the Cornwall’s. I termed this as being too bright or strident, especially on the upper register and female vocals.
   
So I talked, discussed, called around and did the forum thing.  I tried various speaker wires, suspending the Cornie’s on Brass Cones and all kinds of other voodoo measures.  It sounded good; maybe better in an incremental way.  But I wanted it to sound a lot better.  I love a good bass line; I wanted to hear it and if called for, I wanted to feel it.

Meanwhile, it gets crazier.  From the start I wanted a pre to pair with the amp because I wanted to use multiple sources and had plans to transfer all my cd’s to some type of hard drive format.  I had no more than bought the amp than Decware came out with the ZTPRE.  But it was outside my budget.  Then, during the height of the bass conundrum I had a friend send me a review of a variation on Bill Mottram’s line stage that was being built by Don Sachs.  I read every review I could find, talked to a few owners on the forums and then actually emailed Don.  He responded back with a phone call and after fretting over my desire for a pre a bit longer, I jumped in with both feet.  As mentioned, my initial desire was for the ZTPRE, but along with the fear of further depleting our savings, I also wanted to stay with the retro look.  Don was also offering a remote option and was willing to change the output capacitors to a pair of Duelund CAST PIO-Cu’s. (A standard option now.)  I had read numerous reviews on the Duelund’s.  Although most reviews and even the company stated they were a pain to burn in, the end result was said to be glorious.  Two months later I had Don’s line state in the living room and introduced into the mix.  Right out of the box, even before burn in the sound was better.  The Decware Torii was giving me things in terms of instrument and vocal articulation, sound stage and presence I had never heard in many of my recordings.  Once I introduced the pre, the sound seemed clearer, richer and I found a lot of recordings to be life like with a 3-D or holographic sound stage.  At the same time, it seemed like the bass I did have was more tight and defined. I was making progress.

Meanwhile, when I described my perceived bass deficiency to Don Sachs, he made a couple of speaker suggestions.  One was that I look into the M3’s made by Spatial Audio.  I researched and read a lot.  I talked to several owners.  I also followed reviews on quite a few threads via several forums.  Everything I read and was told implied or suggested how the M3 Turbo S model was the best thing since sliced bread.  I called Clayton Shaw the owner; and guess what? Three weeks later I had a pair added to the mix.  Clayton suggested that I play them loud and often.  I did.  In fact, I played them day and night to run them in. They sounded great.  But after 150 hours, still no bass, or not the kind I was looking for.  Don’t get me wrong, they were excellent speakers, but as their bloodline and heritage is derived from live sound reinforcement, they reminded me a lot of a DJ set up I had years ago using commercial TOA speakers.   They could shake the room; and they were in your face with a really sweet high register.  They sounded good in a different way, but something was still missing.

Enter (again) the friend who had turned me onto Decware. He told me how years back he had visited Bob Ziegler or Zygi, the primary builder of Decware speakers and how knowledgeable he was.  As it turned out, Bob had moved from Hudson NC to Conover NC; and my friend said “you should visit, check out the speakers and ask him about the bass issue”.   Well, I love wood working and music; and with Zygi living just up the road from me, the visit was a no brainer.   Besides, with so many people on the Decware forums swearing by the HR’s, I was hoping to hear them for myself.  So I called Bob and asked if I could drop in and check things out.  Bob promised to call me when he got close to finishing the next pair of HR’s.  A few weeks later, he did.  Zygi then informed me that the person who had ordered one of the pairs was not going to be able to take them.  He asked if I was interested.  Being stupid, but not shy, I asked if I liked them, could I take them home to audition in my room where I already had three other pair in the mix (The Cornwall III’s, My Definitive BP 20’s and The Spatial M3 Turbo S’s.)  He graciously agreed.

A couple of days later, an audio friend and myself took off to see Zygi.  As it turned out, hearing is believing.  He had just finished the second pair and had them running in his shop.  I immediately took notice. The HR’s sounded very nice across the entire audio spectrum.  Plus, in his shop and with no run in, the bass seemed to pretty much there.  After listening and talking for an hour or so, we were headed home, the HR’s safely cradled in blankets in the back.

Meanwhile, I had previously made plans to have a few friends come over and listen to our various line stages and amps and my assortment of speakers.  Now plus one, the HR’s changed the timetable.  I made calls that evening and all the ones that live in town were willing to show up the next Monday.  (My day off)

in the end, we auditioned the Decware Torii MK IV, a Vinnie Rossi LIO, (Sorry Jason, I still want you to bring yours over.)  A Yaqin EL 34 amp and a Class D Audio 600 WPC amp.  For speakers we listened to the Def Techs, the Spatial’s, the Cornwall’s and of course the HR-1’s.
We played music for several hours lugging those speakers in and out of the room, swapping the amps around.

During the process, we all settled on the Decware Torii and the HR’s as the gear with the best sound and great synergy.  It was obvious that the Decware amp and the HR-1’s had something special together.  Everyone noticed and everyone agreed.
 
As regards the outcome.  In all fairness, the room my system is located in is a cookie cutter shape with four doors; one of which is a five foot set of French doors offset to the right rear of the listening position.  After all the experimentation I believe the HR’s just work better in this setting.  But, I also believe the Decware Torii MK IV and the HR’s were built/made for each other.
 
Now, in case you haven’t figured this out, what I was not in this process was patient.   I spent a lot of time and yes for me, quite a bit of money on this experiment.  Most of you know the shipping fees alone one incurs when sending equipment back. Thankfully, I have a wife that wanted and still wants me to be happy with the system.   This being said, the end result is that I have some marvelous sound right now.  The Decware Amp, the Don Sach’s Model 2 Line Stage (SP-14), an Oppo BDP 105D as source and also used for streaming TIDAL; all played through the HR-1’s.  At this stage the sound is staggeringly good.  Over and over I findin myself smiling…. amazed at the sound and how lifelike it is.  
The best part is that with the HR-1’s pretty much run in…..  I’m not missing the bass.  If it’s in the recording, the HR’s can produce it.  I’m guessing I have approximately 500 hours on them.

Okay, so after you’ve read my novel, here’s the point or actually the caveat.  What I now realize is that I went about this entire process the wrong way.

If I had this to do over:
I would have worked on this process one piece at a time.  I should have gotten the amp squared away and allowed the tubes to season before adding the pre or new speakers, or source.  Adding all the pieces in such a haphazard fashion did not in any way help the evaluation process.  In fact, I’m darned lucky to have ended up where I am.  And…. the rush I placed on implementing the system and getting acceptable sound cost both time and money.
 
Speaker run in.  Based on what I have experienced with the Cornwall’s, the Spatial’s and now the HR’s, all speakers need run in hours.  All three changed during the time I was listening/auditioning.  To be specific, after so much frustration with the Cornwalls, I called the guy back I bought them from. Apparently he bought them on a whim.  (Sound familiar?)  He never even got 100 hours on them before he moved on.  They had been sitting for almost a year.  The end result is that I was in effect running them in from the beginning and didn’t know it.   Yes, they sounded better in the end.  And yes, everyone who heard the comparison still preferred the HR’s.  The good and bad news is, I have them to sell.


Placement.  The thing that put the HR’s over the top and ultimately disqualified the Cornwall’s and the Spatial M3 Turbo S’s was/is placement.  Truth is, I feel sure the HR-1’s bested the others in part because of the room layout and design.  But, playing with placement not only helped me get the best out of the HR’s, it also revealed to me that the Spatial’s and the Cornwall’s would never be an optimum choice for this room.  To, be sure, I just didn’t have the optimal walls and corners to put the CWIII’s on.  Similarly, the Spatial’s needed to be way out in the floor for optimal sound; so much so in my case that I felt like they were invading my listening space.  The best news is that as advertised, the HR-1’s are not necessarily placement specific.  And the better news is that with the HR-1’s versatility, I’m not sacrificing anything in terms of sound.  Still, I cannot emphasize the right placement enough.  I feel so strong about this that after finding the best sounding placement, I did the following.  I inserted a safety pin in the center of my listening chair at the optimal height for myself.  I then tied a piece of twine to another safety pin.  About once per week I re-center the speakers on the long wall facing my chair and measure from the chair to the outside front top corner of the HR’s, insuring the perfect triangulation.  This is because when I get up and down, the chair moves in tiny increments front to back and side to side.  I found that this can and does affect the sound.  When we vacuum, I remeasure.  I’m convinced this is very important.  
Haste makes waste.  As stated I’m sure my lack of patience hindered the process.  I realize now that trying to evaluate four separate components simultaneously was foolish.  It is hard enough to evaluate one specific piece, let alone four.  I should have taken my time and been more systematic in my approach.  Again, I am fortunate to find myself where I am.

Why the journey's been worth it.  I’ve learned a lot in a relatively short time frame.  I’ve had a chance to try out and hear a lot of great equipment.  I’ve also been impressed with the people who although in business to make a profit, are willing to take the time to speak one on one with those who like me don’t have a clue.  First off, Steve Deckert of Decware was more than willing to talk amps and options when I was looking at used gear; not new gear.  Clayton Shaw of Spatial Audio for all intent and purposes allowed me to spend forty-five days with an excellent pair of top notch open baffle speakers and talked to me several times about his product.  Like the others, Tom Ross of Class D Audio gave of his time to answer questions.  The latter two gentlemen were very classy when I told them I had settled on the Decware components because of their versatility and synergy.  Don Sachs who built the line stage for me probably hates to check his email.  He has been very patient, always helpful and extremely knowledgeable.  And then there’s Zygi who allowed me to invade his workspace and home to discover the HR-1’s.  These gentlemen and others like them are one of the reasons this hobby is so enjoyable.  And finally, there are the countless others who in person, in email and on forums have become audio pals sharing their accumulated knowledge and audio odyssey.  I'm a lucky guy!      

Great read thanks!

Blue,

Does the Torii MKIV have a tone control for your inexpensive digital source?  The Onkyo C-7030 is my choice as well.  :)

Looks like the HR-1's use the RT1C-A tweeter but with so much power on them it would be nice to smooth down the treble in louder applications.  How loud do you listen?  Any padding resistor's built into the tweeter?


Corey

Blue,

 your audio story is most likely a common one. It took decades and mountains of equipment for me to find maybe a handful of systems that fed my expectations. It was a great experience, and I too had a set of Cornwalls. NOT my type of speaker. The little Maggies on the other hand, weren't either. And on it went. I didn't even care for the HDT speakers, and decided to give one more shot for Decware speakers. The Zob design and drivers were above my expectations, and then a Rachael amp to pair them with means that I will not be getting anything else. Ok, maybe a Tori someday, but still the Decware sound in an amp. In the end we are both lucky, despite our methods of decision making.

Honestly I'm really surprised to hear anything but the highest accolades for the spatials. I was actually thinking about saving up for a pair! To be fair though, the "live sound" is what I'm after, and open baffle bass is very different from closed box bass.

Would you mind posting some impressions of the spatials?

Also.. if you ever find yourself needing to emulate earthquake level bass, look into DIY'ing IB subwoofers, or going with servo subs.

Blueone - Great story through the audio rabbit hole. After getting my 2 watt Zen years ago and hearing the magic, I knew that Decware what going to be my path. Keep us posted and happy listening, Chris.

Mike,

  The LIO belonged to a friend from SC and it didn't have the DAC nor the Phono Stage.  So just an integrated amp.  If my memory serves me well on 4 OHM taps it's rated at 45wpc.  It did seem to have a tad more power than the Torii; just enough to seem discernible when you swapped the gear around.  

  To me it seemed like the Class D had scads of power in comparison to the Torii and the LIO.  Didn't say I liked it better, just that it could run you out of the house and yard with all that power.  We ran the LIO direct and didn't use my pre.

  Again, this is subjective, but to me the LIO sounded very good.  It was quiet and clean.  It presented a lifelike sound stage.  However, it also seemed the Torii distanced itself in what I would call the micro dynamics or the subtle nuances of the music we listened to.  That said, the owner of the LIO thought is should have been a toss up.   Subjectively speaking, he has spent a lot of time with his LIO and a pair of Polk Speakers while I had spent just enough time with my Torii and a few pair of speakers to perhaps be prejudiced.  

I was impressed with tidyness and build quality of both the LIO and the Class D Audio amp.  We peered inside both and I could not believe how neat and compact (to me) the internal circuitry appeared.  Both seemed to be very sturdy.  But the fit and finish on the LIO was immaculate as was the operation.  To be fair, it was only here for a few hours.  On the other hand, the CLass D was here for three weeks.  So the latter had more time to impress me.

I guess I could have skipped all of the above and simply said for sheer musicality, I feel the Torii beat them all.  Do I wish it had just a tad more power?  Yes.  But what I found in the end is that I prefer the micro detail and the musicality of the Torii over a few more watts.  When I throw the Don Sachs pre back into the mix, the power issue is a forgotten point anyway.

I was also listening through at least three pair of speakers efficient enough to make these amps better.  My 2 cents.

The one thing I feel sure I did right and would not hesitate to do again is use the trial period these folks offer.  I've not read about nor did I ask about the Vinnie Rossi policy on returns.  But, if you have the funds available, and if they are reasonable on returns, I would not hesitate to go the audition route.  

Good Luck!