Murat Akbay's 
System
Date of Visit:
29 April 2000

Re-Visit:
16 June 2002


the system


the electronics


Kef 105-3

e-mail to:
Murat Akbay


Murat has been into Hi-Fi since early 1970's. His first mentor was our old friend Riza Nur Pacalioglu who now lives in the UK.

Like most other audiophiles, Murat's system is in the main living room (7 x 5m). He says that his wife doesn't mind at all. "It's maybe because you've got a system with a high WAF" I said, but he claimed that even if he had much taller speakers, she still wouldn't mind! Very interesting!?

Kef 105-3 speakers have an accessory called Kube (which increases the bass extension down to 20Hz apparently). Most other Kef models use the same Kube unit. It is also possible to bypass it and I think that we got much better result when the Kube was disconnected. Mids had better clarity and detail, stage had more depth, bass became tighter. 

Murat is a member of Istanbul Hi-Fi Club and he will be board member next year. He listens to Jazz (80%) and classical (20%) music.

The CD's he is using for equipment evaluation purposes are the followings:

  • Vivaldi / "Il Proteo" Double and Triple Concertos / Coin, Il Giardino Armonico / Teldec 4509 94552-2
  • Al Jarreau / Tenderness / WEA 4509 93778-2
  • Bluezeum / Portrait of a Groove / Telarc CD-83331


System's Components
 

CD Player:

Micromega Stage 5

Line Preamp:

Bryston BP 20

Power Amps:

2 x Bryston 3B-ST (in bi-amp mode)

Speakers:

Kef Reference 105-3

Interconnects:

VdH MC Gold, MIT-5, VdH Thunderline

Speaker Cables: 

VdH Revelation (for mids and treble), MOGAMI "The Blue Rocket" (for the bass)

A/C Cables:

Synergistic Master Coupler

Murat's comments about his System:

AA: "Murat, how would you describe your system's sound?"
MA: "Accurate, fullbodied, rich and mellow sound"
AA: "Do you think there is room for improvement?"
MA: "Yes, I need some more inner detail."
AA: "Have you got plans for upgrading?"
MA: "I'm thinking of a tube preamp, it could be an ARC one and of course waiting SACD to settle in order to upgrade my CD player."


new system


left side


right side


electronics


DIY cables

 

Re-Visit Notes (16 June 2002)

It's been more than two years since my first visit and noticed that with the exception of the speakers and few interconnect cables everything else was changed. In addition to the system change the room was heavyly traeted. So I will first try to list the new items.

Power Amp: Jadis JA-30 monoblocks. After trying EL-34's, KT-88's and KT-90's Murat decided to go with the Svetlana 6550 C power tubes. Other driving tubes are NOS Rayteon ECC82 and RSD ECC83's.

PreAmp: Jadis JP S2. He is using Mullard CV 4003 Pearl Cyro-Vac NOS tubes and claims that NOS tubes give a much more controlled and detailed sound than the Chinese and Yugoslavian equivalents.

CD Transport: Roksan Rok DP1.

DAC: Audiomat Tempo 2.5 (24/96)

Speaker Cables: Van den Hul SCS-6 for hi-mids and Mogami "the blue rocket" for thelow frequencies in bi-wire configuration.

Interconnects: Van den Hul MC-Gold.

Digital cable: Illuminati D-60

Power cables: these are DIY cables that Murat made following the recommendations of Thorsten Loesch (see his web site). Murat claims that they increased the detail and darkened the low frequencies.

Other accessories:
- Sand blasters: Also made following the recommendations given in Thorsten Loesch's web site. Basically they are made of 18 mm MDF and filled with sand and sit on spikes. Only the preamp sits on a soft base made of 6 x liquid filled balls.
- Marble bases for the speakers. Murat claims that they tightened the bass.
- Isolation transformers (Audioplan Power Plant 100-S) for the DAC and Transport.

Room Acoustics: Murat is using four DIY 10" "Bass Traps" (absorbing down to about 70 Hz) and two DIY "Tube Traps" (effective in the area of 400 Hz). They all have one reflective and one absorbing surface. Here they are placed to make the reflective surfaces face the listener. In addition to the above traps there are also seven DIY "Sound Panels". They are made of absorbing materials following the recommendations of John Gale.

Conclusion:
The sound that I heard was very pleasant and musical. I noticed improvements in many areas but mine were just impressions as my last visit took place two years ago. So I asked Murat to comment about the improvements. Here we go.

"Sound stage is now bigger, mids have more body, bass and treble are more extended. Also the resolution is increased and vocals are more liquid and natural. I'm not intending to make any further changes in the near future."

Well done Murat!

 

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