Kudos and Exposure Active System Review & Comments

[invisiblekid]

Transformer coupled outputs; nice!
Look forward to reading your own thoughts.

This was always a topic I cannot really relate to.

But WTFudge are transformer coupled outputs? lol.

 

[Boxinghris]

This was always a topic I cannot really relate to.

But WTFudge are transformer coupled outputs? lol.

I’ve attached a screenshot which is a pretty good explanation, but back in the day transformer coupled outputs were the standard when valve amps ruled the roost and they’re used in my own modern valve amps.
The quality of the transformers is critical to performance and to eliminating audible hum, and McIntosh have this covered.

 

[Evinger]

Reading this review, it took me back to the days of "traditional" Live Music Sound Systems. Before the "job" of dealing with getting the best out of a system was handed over to built in computers, & P.A. systems became the Audio version of Fly-By-Wire Aircraft, this was fundamentally the way a P.A. system worked. Nice to see there is still a place for this approach in this tech heavy world.

So, @Ed Selley , thanks for giving me a walk down memory lane!

 

[karlsushi]

@Ed Selley do you think this system walks the line more of technical brilliance or pure musicality?

Reading between the lines (and probably generalising significantly) there seem to be broadly two camps where 'perfect' hifi is concerned. Those that strive for technical perfection (often represented by measurements that 'prove' it) and those that focus on the more subjective world seeking 'musicality' above all else.

The former camp seem to be heading for the likes of Class D amps, super high resolution delta sigma DACs and so on. The latter tending more towards vinyl, valves and NOS digital conversion.

Many attempt to suggest that the perfect system manages to hit the sweet spot between the two, but the more I listen and the more I read, it still feels like high-end hifi has to come down on one side or the other, the theory being that perfect measurements rarely translate to ultimate musicality.

Do you think this system lends more towards one or the other, or are we really taking about the sweet spot here?

 

[Ed Selley]

@Ed Selley do you think this system walks the line more of technical brilliance or pure musicality?

Reading between the lines (and probably generalising significantly) there seem to be broadly two camps where 'perfect' hifi is concerned. Those that strive for technical perfection (often represented by measurements that 'prove' it) and those that focus on the more subjective world seeking 'musicality' above all else.

The former camp seem to be heading for the likes of Class D amps, super high resolution delta sigma DACs and so on. The latter tending more towards vinyl, valves and NOS digital conversion.

Many attempt to suggest that the perfect system manages to hit the sweet spot between the two, but the more I listen and the more I read, it still feels like high-end hifi has to come down on one side or the other, the theory being that perfect measurements rarely translate to ultimate musicality.

Do you think this system lends more towards one or the other, or are we really taking about the sweet spot here?

None of the components in this system measure poorly and the preamp and power amps in particular measure very well. It might be fair to say that nothing here was developed on measurement alone but neither is this subjectivism in a metal case.

Ultimately, certain types of distortion are always detrimental to audio performance. When people get animated over the higher THD measurement of something like a single ended valve amp, they tend to ignore that in a system where they are used correctly into speakers that exhibit limited distortion of their own (horn designs in particular), the result is cumulatively little different to a low distortion amp into more conventional speakers. Likewise, if you seek to enjoy vinyl at something more than the 'warm and interactive' level, the improvements in performance are targeted at improving signal to noise and lowering distortion- which as they are being done as mechanical engineering are expensive things to do.

 

[ozzzy189]

I'd also add that room acoustics and building constitution methods and materials will have a huge effect on the musicality of a system, a good room and a modest system will often outperform an ultra high end set up in a terrible room.
I heard a 50k naim system in a conservatory of all places, (who on earth in audio circles thinks a bloody greenhouse is an ideal listening environment?) and it was so shouty and really thin and brittle sounding.
I've never had a good room really, but my own system was far more enjoyable than the shouty tower of power in the tagged on greenhouse