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e-mail to:
Olivier Reichling
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My name is Olivier, I was born in France and I live in Belgium with my two boys, and no WAF since around five years, which you will admit ease quite a few things for an audiophile passionate. So imagine the living room of three boys: separate into 2 areas: the huge flat screen + xbox in one area...and a bookshelf + hifi system in the other...there is no room left for a dining table as we already have one in the kitchen!!!
HiFi virus came from my uncle back in 1981 when I was 9 years old having received one of the first walkman (you probably remember this big blue Sony, with a orange button aside) offered by my uncle, and a few tapes records from Roxy Music (Avalon), Michael Jackson (Don't stop to get enough) and a few others.
Every time I was visiting the uncle the ritual was to sit in the middle of the boxes and describe what I heard, and to say: wouaouh, it's veerrrry damn good sound! Reality was a bit different, what I could hear was the vocal, sometime bass, and sometimes drums quite loud, however I felt always obliged to say it's good to please the uncle... thinking could vary from time to time, though there was only little room to express my own opinion.
- My first system: a Marantz CD 67 player, Kef Coda 7 speakers, NAD 3020b "family inheritance" and basic but honest Monster cable.
- Dad's system: was vintage Kenwood amplifier driven by a Dual turntable with 2 big speakers from a French manufacturer.
- 2nd system: Totem Acoustic Mite speakers+ Etalon Exampli integrated amplifier. DIY interconnect cables and NAIM NAC A5 speaker cables.
- Then... Mulidine Chorus speakers, Mulidine Allegretto speakers, Mulidine Cadence speakers, Avalon Ascendant speakers, all sorts of amplifiers..
Here is where I am now: a simple, straight forward system, as I found a nice solution with Tripath amp 75 watts and a separate preamp. Starting with the famous TA2024 chips I tried many times to find the same refinement with higher rates of power (amongst which Flying mole) without success, until I discovered the Poppulse T-150, a 2*75 watts Tripath based amp with the TA 022 IC chip. Clearly if you don't pass-by the Poppulse preamp it is bad, with a separate pre-amp I managed to find the same vivacity, clarity, with more bass response and less harsh treble than the 2024, and of course more power.
I must admit I am quite proud as the same speakers and amplifier stand since 3 years in my room..no changes in this respect since then!
I also love to play with the interconnect cables, by finding the right mix I can adapt the sound exactly how I want, taking into account the weaknesses and strengths of the room, and with the AOPs inside the CD player and the preamplifier, there is always a better one to discover! (in picture: AOP are fun!)
Amongst my favourites albums:
Private City (John Surman) the best ever....
Shamanimal (Hadouk trio)
Barriere (Les basses reunies, Bruno Cocset)
Firebird (Stravinsky)
Fratres (Arvo Part)
I took up the Ruins (Jan Garbarek)
Urk (The Nits)
System's
Components
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CD transport: |
Philips CD 723 modified with AD823 double AOP |
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Line Preamp: |
DIY active preamp with TL082 AOP |
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Power
amp: |
Pop pulse T150 (75 watts Class T) |
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Speakers: |
Onkyo D-302E with strong stands from Monitor Audio |
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Speaker
cables: |
Mogami 3103 |
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Interconnects: |
DIY cooper cables |
| Accessories: |
Wood under the amplifier and a 1 kg stone painted by my son on the CD player |
Olivier's comments about his
system:
AA: "So, Olivier,
how would you describe your system's sound?"
OR: "Sweet and surprising, involving rather than super detailed, super accelerations still with good bass and transparency on the whole bandwidth. By mixing up the right components I think I managed to build a system which sounds "tube", without the inconvenience of warming up the system and changing the tubes!"
AA: "Do you
think there is room for improvement?"
OR: "Yes in terms of room: I would like to put wood on the floor which would result in the higher frequencies even more sweet + a little bookshelf (not too deep to avoid stationary echoes) on the wall in front of me, above the CD player, + nice looking plastic plants (otherwise they all die!) beside the speakers."
AA: "Have you
got plans for upgrading?"
OR: "Perhaps a tube amplifier which will be the absolute meaning I won't change it. I like pretty much the Jadis DA 88 Signature. I do not intend to dematerialize the source, as I am not patient with computers and the solutions offered so far are not musical and practical enough. So I go on with CDs..."
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