 |
| Acoustat ESL Model 6 |
I started off in 1947, with a wind-up gramophone using steel needles but later graduated to fibre needles which one had to sharpen oneself! These fibre needles prevented excessive record wear, what with pick-ups weighing ounces at the time. Moving to an electrical
Acos pickup was a revelation, until in 1949 when I heard an original
Williamson amplifier driving very large
Goodman speakers in a friend's place nearby. The sensation was astounding and I was hooked.
Music was part of our day to day living as my father was a professional piano and singing teacher, and in later years I played oboe in one of the semi-professional orchestras in
Auckland.
 |
| Audio Research SP-6 pre, and PH-2 phono pre |
Various speakers have been built over the years, including concrete lined imitation
Wharfedales which took two persons to lift. I built an identical set for a person I knew, who dropped one enclosure and broke his foot! Rather good were
Tannoy Professional horns built from original plans which I have, but immensely heavy due to the addition of a double outer carcase and all cavities filled with dry sand - these used Tannoy Monitor Gold 15" drivers.
Some attempts were better than others, but in the end I have used mostly electrostatic speakers,
Quad 57 & 63 and almost all models of the older
Acoustat products (and up to the time of acquiring the
Beveridge Model 2 speakers in 2004 - see update below), they were the best speakers I have had in 60 years, namely
Model 6 Acoustats, with twin power supplies hooked up in series on each side. The impedance is relatively high and the efficiency and size makes it easy to use low powered amplifiers, particularly where the bass is handled via an active crossover, by large sub-woofers built into the concrete walls of the house.
 |
| Balsa wood unipivot DIY arm, competing many top notch arms. It is a unique piece, made 14 years ago |
 |
| Dave in front of his beautifuly designed turntable. Trio-Kenwood L-O7D and a DIY balsa wood unipivot arm w/ Transfiguration cartridge are used |
 |
| arm from Kenwood L-07D |
I started building the
Aura turntable in 1984 and still do in small numbers.
This is a high mass design, with a semi-rigid suspension and it functions as a stabilised uni-pivot. IOW, the platter spins on a point, situated just below the record dowel, and a lower bearing running in oil is used to stabilise the rotating platter, so eliminating one of the two bearing sleeves commonly used in turntables.
 |
| Keith Monks record cleaning machine |
The motor is remote from the turntable and has no connection with the platter, apart from the drive belt. The motive for the design began from frustration, due to the time and effort taken in changing arms on turntables, and so this design enables a tone arm to be taken off in about 30 sec.
Obviously, alignment of a cartridge takes time but as the arm mounting swings backwards or forwards, alignment can be carried out without having to adjust the cartridge in the head shell slots, a procedure not that easy, particularly with fixed head shells on tone arms. Another compelling reason for trying to make a turntable arose from being told on more than one occasion that it couldn't be done!
A noticeable sound improvement from my Home DIY Aura T/T came by increasing the weight of the intermediate flywheel I am using between the motor and the platter.
90% of listening is classical, with particular leanings to
Bach & Handel. Here are some records I am using for evaluation:
 |
| Hardware & software ... |
- Bach - French Suite No.6 in E maj. BWV 817 - organ trio sonata No. 5 in C BWV529, Lionel Rogg on a Silberman instrument.
- Handel - Tamerlano (opera).
- Cantate Domino - Proprius recording.
- Trumpet Concertos with Maurice Andre & English Chamber Orch. - MacKerras.
The music we listen to here, continues to help make life worth living, to say nothing of the many wonderful people one comes across with similar musical interests.
Page Follow-up... (24 Oct 02)
 |
| Aura t/t chrome plated (gold available as an option) as it is sold to a few friends. Here it is shown with the AN-1s Audio Note arm (Audio Note AN-Vz silver wired) & IO 11V MC cartridge |
 |
| My personal rig, as it stands now with the 5.5kg flywheel and the 3 arms I am using |
My current version of the Aura T/T, which I manage to sell to a few dedicated audiophiles, is made in chrome and black, with gold available only as an option. It is equipped with a large flywheel (weighting 6.85kg and this will be standard from now on, being about as large as I can manage with the equipment I have at the moment...).
The results are well worth the effort in making this flywheel, even though I have run into various difficulties trying to get it to work properly and occasionally wanting to tear my hair out (what's left of it that is!). The polished chrome finish is much harder than gold, will not wear off and looks more modern in today's environment.
As for arm's selection, the customer is free to choose whatever arm he/she likes. I have no access to tonearms and as there are many excellent arms still being made, no recommendation is made.
 |
| 60 watt OTL mono-block amplifiers |
Concerning the amplification in my system, I have changed my
ASUSA AQ1002. I am now using DIY professionally built 60 watt OTL mono-blocks resembling to
Atma-Sphere MA-60 mono-blocks but with outboard power supplies and other improvements. As far as performance goes, these amplifiers are wonderful on ESL speakers (with relatively high impedances) and are performing right up to expectations. I am glad I took the plunge and embarked on this construction programme. These home-made OTL amplifiers, based on Atma-Sphere technology, have proved to be excellent and make lovely music, at least to my ears - I am very satisfied with them.
The ACA.GR site continues to give great enjoyment - keep up the good work!
Interesting questions:
Q.:
How would you describe your system's sound?A.: Musically satisfying.
Q.:
Do you think there is room for improvement?A.: There is always room for improvement if something worthwhile comes along that is clearly better than what one has at present. However, change for the sake of change is a waste of time and money.
Q.:
Have you got plans for upgrading?A.: Not at present - I enjoy what I have.
Page follow-up... (info entered on 05 August 2004)There have been some changes in my audio setup recently: The
Model 6 Acoustat speakers (see picture below) went some time ago, when we thought we would be selling up and moving into a smaller property, and now I am using two sets of
Wharfedale 'Airedale' speakers, one set of which is shown in the central system photo on top.
 |
| My old system set-up with the enormous Acoustats! |
The other speakers shown there, are newly renovated
Beveridge Model 2, with tube driver amplifiers directly coupled to the ESL elements, an ideal situation involving OTL amplifiers and no transformers or crossovers. You will notice that these speakers face one another across the room, since the acoustic lens gives a true 180 degree dispersion. I have had them since last year and have only just got them going. They were difficult to repair but the results are magnificent. If you have not come across these speakers before, they can be seen on
www.bevaudio.com<, with a new version debuting at the September Italian audio show.
 |
| An additional Beveridge RM-1/RM-2 12xtube preamplifier (the RM-2 is the separate p.su.) |
An additional 12 tube preamplifier has been obtained, a
Beveridge RM-1/RM-2, also made by the same speaker firm. (The RM-2 is the separate power supply module). Both speaker amplifiers (built-in) and preamp were designed by
Roger Modjeski of RAM tube and Music Reference fame, when he collaborated with
Harold Beveridge some years ago and they are quite rare. I feel very fortunate in obtaining them, here in New Zealand.
I always use the rear set of
Wharfedale speakers, via the
Yamaha DSP-1, which has been in circuit now for about 16 years - I could not do without it! It came out in the 70's and was one of the best they ever made. I use the rear
Wharfedale set, either with the front set of
Wharfedales or the
Beveridges but not these two together..
 |
| Newly renovated Beveridge Model 2, with tube driver amplifiers directly coupled to the ESL elements |
The
Beveridges produce a 180 degree wave form and so the rear set of
Wharfedales, used with whatever set is playing in the front, merely add a small degree of ambience to the sound. The use of the
Yamaha DSP-1, with pipe organ particularly, is just wonderful and without this, a tremendous amount of atmosphere is missing. If the
DSP-1 worked with organ only, I would be more than satisfied if did nothing else. Provided the level of the
DSP-1 is set properly, listeners have no idea it is in circuit until it is turned off; then they immediately ask what has happened to the sound!
The
Wharfedales have 8" and 3" speakers facing upwards, with the back of the cones exposed as well; The two
Wharfedale sets are not quite the same, although the speaker complement is identical, i.e. 15" bass- upward facing, 8" mid & 3" HF. One set has a thicker wooden top than the other and this was the last model they made before ceased production. The other, with the thinner top, was an earlier version. I like the
Wharfedales better than
Quad 63's - they give more realistic musical acoustic.
These 40 year old speakers give great musical satisfaction in spite of their age and I am very happy with them being driven by OTL amplifers, which like the relatively high impedance of these speakers. I don't miss the
Model 6 Acoustats at all!
 |
| Wharfedale 'Airedale' - the last they made... |
 |
| Wharfedale 'Airedale' - my oldest friend, although I turn my back to them when I listen... |
I use two of the
Kenwood L-O7D tonearms, which work beautifully. There is BTW, an excellent
Kenwood L-O7D turntable web site set up by a great friend
Howard Stern, where there is a wealth of information about that particular turntable.
I managed to secure a Kenwood Model DS-20 outer ring clamp and I like the results. On the
Kenwood L-O7D t/t web site, (under
accessories), there are some very good photos of this clamp. Somewhere on the site I think are also the measurements for this clamp - it would be interesting to see the differences between the clamp
Christos Skaloumbakas has
designed and the
Kenwood one, although I would expect them both to yield the same good results.
Getting back to speakers again IMHO, I did not think I could do better than the
Acoustat Model 6 speakers that had given me such musical pleasure for a long time, but the
Beveridge Model 2 speakers, with their direct drive OTL amplifiers, are something altogether out of the box and have astounding realism, particularly on well recorded material. Another unexpected advantage is that because they sit facing one another close to the side walls, they do not intrude on the living space so making the room appear larger. It would have been nice to have enjoyed these speakers years ago but... better late than never!" And I want to finish saying this: Some people would probably think this old stuff is not worthy of 'high end' status but I have heard a lot of audio systems over the years and these give great musical satisfaction. Just because the items are old does not mean they cannot hold their own with more modern equipment... (and they don't cost as much either!)
Page follow-up... (info entered on 24 July 2006)On July 10, 2006
Dave Whittaker passed away at home, after suffering a heart failure. He was 73.
Dave was a very passionate man for what he was doing, he has made amazing friends and he was eager to share his knowledge with them. They all found
Dave to be very generous & welcoming at all times, over very many years (see a
forum discussion and a
tribute from N. Zealand). Not to mention that he was a very devoted friend, although we didn't have the chance to meet him personally. In fact, he was looking forward to visit Athens - Greece next year and we had exchanged e-mails about that just a few days before he died.
Our deepest condolences to all his family and to his wife we wish strength and courage.
To his memory we have decided - in agreement with his family - to keep his Audio Profile page.
Audio Profile
