The Kudos Files — Nova USA‘s Rendition Loudspeaker, Shakti, Vibraplane, Black Diamond Racing, JENA Labs, Mobile Fidelity...and JVC‘s XRCD™ too!
David W. Robinson

Yes, You‘re Right...

...that is an ambitious title. Quite a lot of hardware and recordings have arrived at PF Central in Portland over the past few months. This column is a survey of what‘s come in, and my impressions of it all (hopefully helpful to the reader) — plus my attempt to clear the queue for further adventures that are slated for the second half of the year. Cheers! And onwards...

The Nova USA Rendition Loudspeaker

Email. I get email. Positive Feedback gets email. Lots of it. So much so that it’s an effort to stay up with it. The average working day generally requires that I spend 1-2 hours per day online, just to avoid falling behind. Sometimes it’s subscribers with questions about reviews or equipment; other times it’s one of the PF editorial tribe, submitting an article, making a suggestion for a project, or sending in some item of business.

And every now and then, Positive Feedback is contacted by a designer or manufacturer for a review via email. As I recall, that’s what happened in the case of Nova USA back in the fall of 1996. Kevin Lee, a member of Nova’s operation in Texas, got in touch with me to see if we were interested in reviewing a speaker, the Rendition, that they were coming out with at CES. I called Kevin for details, which he supplied in the course of a pleasant conversation.

It sounded very interesting: A three-way, five driver array sporting a soft dome tweeter, two midrange speakers, and two woofers. A hefty and beautifully finished cabinet with vented design. Middling sensitivity; a serious price ($18,900/pair). All from a company that I had never heard of...

As usual, I requested a product packet to evaluate whether or not PF should invest the time and effort that a review of speakers — especially larger ones like the Renditions. The sheet that arrived simply confirmed the basic specifications, made it clear that the Renditions were the kid brother of Nova’s flagship, the Evolution, and said that they would be released at CES in January of 1997. The speakers would be available in the early spring.

OK, so I’d bite: I agreed to do the review.

One Side For Monkey Coffins!

The Renditions arrived right on time, as Kevin Lee promised. I’ve seen a fair amount of packing material in my time, and a few speaker boxes… for what it’s worth, I’d have to say that the Nova’s arrived in as sturdy a packing container as I’ve ever seen for a speaker their size. Or as one PF’er put it: "Yow! Monkey coffins!" Each container tips the scale at almost 350 pounds, which makes you bloody glad that the wooden carrying handles on either side are sturdy.

Here’s a hint for you — at no charge. When the time comes for the unpacking and placement of components as large as the Renditions, cogitate, don’t herniate — invite your friends to help! Let ‘em earn that beer! PF’s Jennifer and Michael Crock helped me do the deed this time… many thanks, amigos. Removal of a multitude of wood screws around the base of the container allowed us to lift the top completely, and remove the speakers from the foam pads on which they lay. Off came their protective plastic wrapper, and into listening room number one they (grunt!) went.

Specifications, Room Characteristics, And System Notes

The Renditions are handsome speakers. The first thing that Jennifer, Michael and I noticed was the quality of the workmanship. Their finish is a nicely done rosewood veneer, covering a thick MDF cabinet. When the speaker grills were removed, Jennifer immediately said "Neat! Scanspeak drivers!"

The speaker array consists of two 8" coated subwoofers at the top and bottom, over and under a pair of 7" bass/midrange drivers, which are in turn over and under the 1" soft dome tweeter. The accompanying literature states that the mid/bass drivers are carbon-fiber filled composites; the tweeter features "dual rear chamber pressure release" with "rigid machined aluminum front plate." The crossover is acoustically 4th order Linkwitz-Riley. Claimed frequency response is 25 Hz - 25 kHz (+/- 3 dB); sensitivity is 88 dB/Watt/meter; while the nominal impedance is 4 ohms, with a claimed dip to a minimum impedance of 3.2 ohms. Nova USA recommends a minimum of 100 Watts to drive the Renditions, which fit in very well with the associated gear in listening room one. Binding posts are gold-plated 5-ways, with two pairs for bi-wiring or bi-amping.

Over the years, I have become convinced of the supreme importance of acoustics and the properties of one’s listening room. The listening room is more than simply another component; it is the foundation — the bone and muscle — of the music that takes place there. Positive Feedback’s listening room number one is a fully dedicated space, 18’ x 10’ x 9.5’. Left and right side walls are lightly non-parallel, sloping outward toward the listening end of the room; the ceiling is cambered, and rises upward towards the listening position. The floor is five inches of solid concrete, with a thin carpet pad and berber carpet over the top. The walls are "wall within a wall" construction, with offset studs and double insulation. Since this listening room does not share a common inside wall with the rest of the house, it is both quiet and isolated; it is built for listening without being disturbed by, or disturbing, others.

Listening room one has 4 fully dedicated 30 amp, and 3 fully dedicated 15 amp circuits. All have been pulled from the same pole of 400 amps of brand new electrical service, and have been tested for proper ground and polarity.

At the time of this review, components in this room included:

Sources: Turntable — Linn LP-12 Sondek with Ekos tonearm, Lingo power supply, Cirkus suspension. Digital — Vimak DT-800 CD player/digital preamp; Panasonic SV-3900 DAT. Analog tape — Revox B-77 Mk II half track 15ips/7.5ips; Pioneer RT-707 quarter track 7.5ips/3.75ips; Nakamichi Dragon cassette deck. FM receiver — Magnum Dynalab FT-101.

Preamp: Coda Technologies 02B; phono amp is the Coda 03P in balanced output mode.

Amplifier: Coda Technologies System 100 (100 Watts per channel, pure Class A, MOSFET design)

Power conditioner and cables: Tice Signature III Power Block; all power cables, interconnects, and speaker cables by Cardas Audio.

Room and acoustical treatments: ASC Tube Trap/Corner Traps (earlier in the review sessions); RoomTune Corner Tunes and Echo Tunes (later portion of review, and at present).

System Enhancements and Accessories: Taddeo Digital Antidote II, custom modified by Jennifer Crock; six Shakti Stones and six pairs of Shakti Onlines at critical points in the signal path; Vibraplane isolation platform under the Linn turntable; Black Diamond Racing "The Shelf," No. 4 cones, and "Those Things" between the turntable and the Vibraplane; Bedini Ultra-Clarifier for CDs; JENA Labs Esoteric Mist for CDs; Torumat CD spray; component racks by RoomTune (older style, soon to be updated) and Target; VPI model 17F LP cleaning machine; Sumiko Flux Buster; isolation platforms by Bright Star and Townshend Audio (early portion of the review; removed for later sessions, and at present).

Positioning The Speakers: Part I

This proved to be somewhat trickier than expected, for reasons that will be explored in future issues of PF. Listening room one doesn’t have quite the lateral space that I would have preferred (four more feet in width would have been welcome, had it been feasible). Nova recommends placing the speakers 3-4 feet from the side walls, and about 8 feet apart; this was clearly impossible in our listening room.

I started with the venerable "rule of thirds," and placed the speakers roughly where my TDL Reference Standards had been, about six feet from the back wall. The Renditions were toed in towards the primary listening position, 7-8 feet away. Soundstaging was a bit closed in with that, so we opened up the speakers a bit, gaining some width.

The Sound

After placing a set of speakers, I usually spend 2-4 days breaking them in. The normal routine is to use Jim Aud’s useful Purist Audio Break-in Disc. I have gotten fine results with Jim’s product, which has done splendid work in helping us to bring components up to speed rapidly over several years now.

Jennifer, Michael and I couldn’t resist, though; we reallywanted to hear what the Renditions sounded like. (This requires a bit of gumption, too; many speakers are miserable to listen to without local break-in. I don‘t know about you, but frankly, lousy sounding speakers discourage the hell out of me.) On went my XRCD™ of Everybody Digs Bill Evans; cut 4, "Night and Day."

Yes, children, YES! Within seconds, we all knew that we were listening to one bloody fine recording, through an extraordinary loudspeaker! Not sucked out or lean; not harsh or forward; not veiled or muddy. It was extremely articulate, something that I’ve rarely heard in a new speaker. (As a matter of fact, I suspected that Kevin Lee’s associates at Nova must have put some break-in time on the speaker, a fact that he confirmed shortly thereafter in a telephone conversation with me.) Whatever...it was great! After a few more cuts and further encouraging impressions, I put the Purist Audio disc on, and let the Renditions run for 48 hours; this was followed by two more days of "real music" to complete the break-in process.

My impressions in the weeks after their arrival fall into two phases: the first was up until mid-July; the second phase began on July 12-13, when some fundamental changes were introduced there. (These will be covered in detail in our next issue.)

The Renditions are clearly an extremely articulate speaker. All frequency ranges — bass, midrange, and high frequencies — struck me as rich, full, and properly balanced. The midrange is true, without either a nasal presentation or noticeable coloration. The high frequencies were extended, though I found myself wondering if the listening room wasn‘t holding things back a bit. PF‘s Associate Editor Lynn Olson wondered the same thing when he listened to it shortly after it arrived: "Hmmm...I don‘t know what it is, Dave; something about the tweeter. Hmmm...." There was just a touch of the upper ranges being restrained; more on that momentarily.

The bass? Well, I have to say that the lower ranges were simply stunning.Tight, focused, and powerful bass, with a rare mix of authority and adroitness. (I should note that Iam deeply in love with full range loudspeakers and high-current amplifiers — which should NOT be taken as a rejection of anything else!) Clearly Nova had worked carefully to get deep bass, without resorting the the extraordinary mass of their flagship, the Evolution. In my judgment, they accomplished this objective in an impeccable manner.

As the weeks went by, I was more and more impressed with the well-integrated and revealing articulation of the Renditions. Whether they were helping me to appreciate a new batch of Mobile Fidelity CDs, or that latest DCC re-issue vinyl, they let me hear everything as clearly as a typical monitor would, yet with full-range authority and presence. Timbre was rendered tactile; I could hear extraordinarily far into fine recordings, while poor recordings were revealed for what they were. (This is, by the way, my good friend Scott Frankland‘s key determinant for a true reference system: will it let you tell the differences between and among recordings? The Renditions in my system most certainly did — does yours?)

Soundstaging and imaging were excellent, and improved as I continued to work with placing the Renditions. I found that my initial placement was too conservative; I could get closer to the walls in my listening room and somewhat closer to the listening position and improve both depth and width of presentation. Your mileage may vary; remember that this is much easier to do in a fully dedicated and heavily constructed listening room than in a room with multiple purposes or compromised boundaries.

There was no doubt about it in my mind. I have listened to a number of full range speakers over the years; the Nova USA Renditions are clearly world class designs, worthy of very serious consideration by anyone looking for superior music at its price point.

At the risk of committing a high-end review cliché — but, hey, what the hell! — Positive Feedback is purchasing the review set.

As a matter of fact, the Renditions did such a good job of sounding good, that they finally got me to do something that I had been thinking of doing for quite a while: fine-tune my listening room number one to match the quality of the speakers.

Ye Olde Editor Tweaks Away I: Shakti Stones and Onlines

This is what I get for editing this magazine. (Yes, no matter what you may think, this magazine is edited! Lots....) I get to read the copy, talk to the contributors and other editors, and hear about all the good stuff before you read about it here. Unfortunately, all of this work also makes it bloody hard to have the spare time it takes to get heavily into room tweaking and system tuning the way that I should.

But the Renditions were pressing me to complete their promise by overcoming what I was sure were the limitations of the room and the rest of the component chain. The restrictions on the upper frequencies were not the fault of the speaker itself, I was sure; there could be a greater openess, more ease, more "air."

So I declared war on mediocrity. Step one: I called Ben Piazza at Shakti, and asked him for a review set of six Shakti Stones and six pairs of On-Lines. Ben is a good fellow, and arranged their prompt shipment.

About a week or so later the boxes arrived. I was very curious about the "stones"; Jennifer, Clark and Clay all swore by them. I was determined to put the Shakti Stones into place one-by-one, and take notes about what I heard. I would use one of my current "Dave‘s Fave Raves," Everybody Dig Bill Evans on JVC XRCD™ , cut four, "Night and Day." (Well, OK...so I did listen to "Minority" and "Tenderly" too!)

The first stone went onto the front center of the Vimak DT-800 CD player. I immediately noted a subtle improvement in soundstaging on both the left and right sides. An impression of side walls grew; so did the feeling that there was a back wall to the studio. I removed the stone to check my perception; the walls left just as quietly as they had come.

Impressive. I placed the original Shakti Stone back into place, then added a second one on right rear (over the power supply) of the next stop for digital signal: the Taddeo Digital Antidote II, modded by Jennifer Crock. Sure enough, the side walls grew longer, and the back center wall widened. It was almost eerie, hearing a room quietly and subtly merge this way.

I noted in passing that Evans‘ piano was rounding out a bit in its imaging at this point, and that Philly Joe Jones‘ cymbals were starting to develop a bit of a shimmer — very rare (and never as good as in the best of analog) in 16-bit/44.1 digital, in my experience.

But that room! It was time to add the third Shakti to the next stop downstream: the Coda 02B preamp. (This one went on the right rear again, over the power supply.) Now the side walls were definitely there, and the back wall was firm, reflecting the music of Bill Evans‘ group right back to me. The fourth Shakti went onto the Coda System 100 voltage amp, on the right rear; the fifth went onto the right rear of the current amp section; and the sixth went onto center mid-rear of the Tice Signature III Power Block.

The progession was clear: The side walls grew ever more solid, and moved back towards the corners. The back wall expanded both left and right, and with the sixth Shakti, finally met the side walls to complete the room.

By shifting the Shakti Stone #2 from the Taddeo Digital Antidote II to the Coda 03P phono amp, I was able to check my impressions on the analog side. Sure enough, I found that the Shakti seemed to provide a remarkable improvement in soundstaging and imaging. For example, I can tell you that my treasured Mobile Fidelity Sgt. Pepper‘s LP never sounded this good...and I ought to know. I‘ve listened to it many, many times. With the Shakti in place, the crowd sound at the opening of side one was enveloping.

The Shakti On-Lines further contributed to the sense of ease and placement that I have identified as the hallmark of their greatness. The Shakti system seems to confer the gift of subtle silence. Without this, no audio system can be what it could be.

And there was more.

Ye Olde Editor Tweaks Away II: The Vibraplane

Step two: At the same time that I ordered in the Shakti, I also contacted Steve Klein at Sounds of Silence. Clark Johnsen had been telling me for nearly two years that I should try the Vibraplane; Steve and I had chatted once, over a year ago, but I had let the opportunity pass. This time, I was going to give it a try. Steve was agreeable, and sent a review sample.

Within several weeks, the Vibraplane arrived. I had just finished working with the Shakti, and was ready to place the Vibraplane in on the analog side of things.

This is no mean feat. The Vibraplane is HEAVY, weighing in at just under 150 pounds. Its design means that you can‘t slide it into place (the suspension system can be damaged that way); so Ye Olde Editor got to re-visit the days of his youth and do the "clean and jerk" to carefully place the Vibraplane on the Target Stand. It just fit on the top; another half inch smaller and I would have had to find another stand. (Yes, I‘m going to replace that, too, come to think of it.)

Adjusting the air pressure in the Vibraplane took some study. I brought in the unit with a manual pump, to save the cost, noise and complication of the fully automatic pump system. It wasn‘t too hard; there is a hand pump quite similar to a bike pump, which attaches to the right side of the unit. Three switches route the air to either the left front, center rear, or right front suspension system legs. I simply placed a bubble level, took a measuring tape, opened valves, and started pumping.

I trust that the purpose of the bubble level is clear for a turntable stand. The meauring tape was used to elevate the platform to the recommended height. In one of our conversations, Steve Klein informed me that he preferred an inflated and level platform elevation of 3.75 inches as the optimal point for balanced sound. Higher than that, he told me, and bass response would get a bit lean.

It took a few minutes to get the feel of pumping and measuring and balancing, but within a short time I had it, and all was level, elevated properly, and stable.

The result on my analog playback was most rewarding: an extension of SILENCE. I‘ve had my old friend, the LP-12, for a lot of years now, and know it quite well. The Sondek seemed to sink into a greater quiet than I had ever known from it. Whether I was listening to my fine Japanese pressing of It‘s A Beautiful Day, Marrying Maiden (thanks, Brian!), or Mobile Fidelity‘s terrific mastering of Nirvana‘s Nevermind (Ongawa! I‘m gonna miss MoFi‘s vinyl, amigos....), the LP-12 seemed to have found a more sure foundation. The music was both quicker, and quieter. And the Renditions continued to unfold in their possibilities, showing ever more grace.

OK, Clark and Michael Fremer were both right. The Vibraplane is extraordinary — another keeper!

Ye Olde Editor Tweaks Away III: Black Diamond Racing’s

The Shelf/No. 4 Cones/"Those Things"

Step three: D.J. Casser‘s Black Diamond Racing isolation products are well-known, and have received extensive coverage both in Positive Feedback and in other audiophile publications. (See Clark Johnsen‘s column elsewhere in this issue for another mention of them.) Dave Glackin, a senior PF reviewer not given to flights of fancy or to hyperbole pronounced The Shelf as the most important product of its kind in the last ten years (or something like that...in other words, a very calm aerospace engineer went ballistic over Black Diamond!).

I was aware of the fact that some reviewers — for example, Michael Fremer in a recent issue of Stereophile — had gotten extra mileage out of their investment in a Vibraplane by placing a larger isolation surface on top of it. The Vibraplane has a rather limitedshelf space — but it can support up to 275 pounds. This makes it the perfect platformfor a larger platform.

So...I called D.J., told him what I was plotting, and asked him if he wanted to be in on it. As a former securities trader, the answer was "Hell — why not?!" (Thank you, Mr. Maverick!)

D.J. is a good guy; not only did the BDR equipment arrive quickly, but D.J. sent along extras — what he called "some cool toys." Opening the boxes revealed not only a VPI-sized shelf (lots of room for an LP-12 and a small CD transport!), but some of his #3 and #4 Isolation Cones, and some isolation squares called "Those Things." The cones are screwed into the isolation pads of "Those Things," further enhancing the isolating effect. Very cool indeed!

With some help from Lila, I was able to carefully hoist the LP-12 off the Vibraplane, place three of the "Those Things" with #4 Cones in a triangular pattern: one set in center front, and one each in left and right rear. (Note that this is offset from the placement of the isolation pods of the Vibraplane, as recommended by D.J.)

Then "The Shelf" was carefully placedon the #4 Cones, and adjusted to center. When all was stable, three more #4 Cones were put on top of "The Shelf," in opposition to the set of Cones one layer down. I lifted the LP-12 back into place on top of my growing isolation tower (yowzah!), and shifted the top #4 Cones until they were centered under the edge of the armboard side, the front side, and the rear side. The final step was to get out bubble level and measuring tape again, and pump the Vibraplane up to the earlier optimum point of 3.75 level inches.

The result of this combination was to hear the LP-12 finally vanish into silence utterly. The synergy had produced an effortless quiet that made it laughably easy to listen to the sound of tape hiss, and differentiate it from groove noise...to hear layers of players, or the rasp in a voice, or the resin on a bow...and to do so effortlessly. The Black Diamond isolation set had closed in on the last margin separating the turntable

I was blown away. Frankly, I can‘t think of much else that I‘m missing with the LP-12. Apart from some important work with the equipment rack (more on this in our next issue), and final tuning of the room acoustics themselves (also more on this in our next...etc.), this may well be as far as the LP-12 can be taken with the current audio arts. I can pay no higher compliment to the work of Ben Pizza, Steve Klein, and D.J. Casser than this.

The results are nothing less than remarkable; the revelation of the latent possibilities of musical reproduction, hidden within our recordings. It is amazing what is waiting for us there.

Ye Olde Editor Tweaks Away IV: JENA Labs Esoteric Mist

In the middle of the work with the digital side of the above, Jennifer Crock brought me a sample of her new CD treatment spray, developed with Ben Dolph. Called Esoteric Mist, it is a bluish liquid (not an oil!) in a pump-type spray gun. A single squirt onto a CD — then buff lightly with a special pad, first up and down, then side to side, until the surface suddently becomes quite slick — and you‘re done.

Jennifer is on to something here. I have used other CD treatments; up until now, the best of the lot that I had found was Torumat spray. Until now. Jennifer‘s treatment seems to provide a clearer, smoother result than even the very fine Shigekawa spray. The improved resolution of listening room number one has made it easier to detect subtle improvements like this one. This is highly recommended, especially in conjunction with CD degaussing. Contact JENA Labs at 503-639-7551 for more information — and no, I have no commercial connection with JENA whatsoever.

Quo Vadis?

All of the improvements that I‘ve catalogued above made the remarkable capabilities of the Nova USA Rendition speakers all the more clear — and they, in turn, helped me to discern and appreciate the advancements that I was hearing. But by this point the cumulative effect, ironically enough, was to make me realize that deficiencies in my listening room itself simply had to be addressed. I could no longer ignore the slight ring and the flutter echo — even worse was the fact that combination of the Nova Renditions, the Shakti, the Vibraplane, the Black Diamond products, and the Taddeo Digital Antidote II, had made it clear to me that my listening room was OVERdampened and lacking air in some strange way.

What was I going to do about that?

And that is what you‘ll be reading a lot more about starting in our next issue....

Editor Dave‘s Fave Raves

The following CD titles were used in the course of this project over the past several months, and should be considered must haves by anyone loving good music and the audio arts:

Bill Evans Trio, Everybody Digs Bill Evans. JVC XRCD™ JVCXR-0020-2. DynOmite!! An incredible jazz trio in an extraordinary re-issue (but watch out for some overly close miking on Evans‘ piano!) Cuts 1, 4 and 6 are particularly good; tune your system with them. The folks at JVC deserve medals for the K-2 process and their incredible devotion to quality in the audio arts.

Harry Edison and Eddie Davis, In Copenhagen. Mobile Fidelity GAIN System CD UDCD 696. KILLER DISC, DUDES!!! Anyone looking for quality from MoFi can check their hat right here; this is the best sound I‘ve heard from MF since Muddy Waters‘ Folk Singer! This one is strictly a no-brainer — buy it immediately, and don‘t ask any questions. Dig in on cuts 1, 2, 10 and 11, with favorite drink in hand...magic!! (More Fave Raves in our next issue....)

POSITIVE FEEDBACK ONLINE © 2002 - HOME