Arke "Vader" CNO4's - Hello There

Wonderful Chris. They look magnificent and I know they will sound even better. Beautiful finishing to them.

Sure thing, sounds good.

Feel free to PM me a few dates as we have kids birthdays and upcoming holidays in May etc but I'm sure we can work something out no problem.

Just fantastic… well done. And of course to Jason.
They look sublime.
Note to self. .get a bigger room.

Surely you want you mic to give you the most accurate/truthful in room results (warts & all)?? If you just adjust the mic to give a smoother response when measuring you're just overlooking potential issues?

Or do you mean you can then adjust using that position as a more accurate reference and then get a smoother response?


Either way it's not my mic so not here any more, although will be getting on at some stage.

I have tried both ways and both REW and the Mic manufacturer advise straight forward for 2 channel measurements.

Look good in your room and enjoy listening to them (I love getting new equipment and spending weeks listening to it, be that speakers, amp, player etc)

Very jealous!!

Thanks, and that's very true I do consider myself very lucky. Although it has been an absolute firesale for the last 4 months or so to get them over the line.

They are an absolutely key component in what I'm trying to accomplish with my system. So the rest of the cast need to be at a level that allows them to show off at their best and not be a bottleneck to their performance, because I doubt they would be a bottleneck to almost any component up stream.....

I also think the BT2 is one such component in the system too, can't imagine that being improved upon.

Well, now you mention it.......

They look amazing .thanks for pics and write up

Thanks Edward, much appreciated.

You are most welcome anytime sir but there are a few components to get into place before they will be heard at their absolute best, not to mention their continued break in period!

A few weeks to settle down and get all the supporting cast up to scratch (power supplies, clocks etc) and then they'll be ready to unleash!

Update - a few weeks with the Vader's.


Well, as promised, it's time for a few thoughts as to how these towers of power are impacting this hobby for me.

There won't be too much waxing lyrical (you'll all be relieved to hear) but they have given me a few things to think about regarding how I ultimately go about my listening . . .


Let's start with the digital, as that is how I usually start most of my listening 'sessions' . . . . there's not much point in really trying to have a casual listening session with them. Try as you might they just pull you in so that you end up stopping what you're doing, replying to emails, browsing the internet etc. They make you take notice of what's playing, not in a forceful way but in a way that makes you feel as if you're missing out if you're not fully engaging with the music. They basically offer you something more interesting and enjoyable than whatever you might be doing at the time, hence, you might as well drop everything, get in that listening spot and just let them do their thing.


Yeah the digital, it's good, really good. Thanks to a few tweaks (of which I'm not done yet) things have been elevated significantly from where they were when the Vader's first landed. PSU upgrades to both the Mutec, the clock that re-clocks it, as well as the DAC have given the system a real jump in performance. The low end 'weight' and 'heft' have been increased dramatically which puts meat on the bones of pretty much any recording where it's present.


As many are finding with these Troels speaker designs (expertly executed by Jason of course) they can appear ruthless with some recordings. I would hesitate to appropriate that description to the Vader's actually, they are just truthful and faithful, from the recordings perspective that could be perceived as a fault. However really, the fault most likely falls with the recording/mastering should anything be sounding a little over-egged/shrill etc. It really is surprising how the little nuances of recordings are now more obvious, some good some bad, but the Vader's certainly appear to favour highlighting the excellence of many recordings rather than exposing the majority of poor ones, although both instances do occur.

Now as I've been listening to digital for a good half hour or so, the real motive for this 'orderve' makes itself apparent . . . . the BB3 has been warming up along with the power supply for the SP10 . . . . it's time to engage with the main course, the vinyl.


I was ready for the lines and indeed the gap between digital and vinyl on my system to be blurred or at least lessened . . . . the Vader's have done the complete opposite. If ever I think the digital sounds good, 5 seconds of switching between a record and a digital file only serves to reiterate how much must be missing from the digital, or indeed how spectacular the Vader's can sound with a purely analogue source . . . .


A short description would be to say it just sounds ridiculously fun. It has fluidity, dynamics, air and all that good stuff but the bass, well it's absolutely something else. When Jason was here we were getting solid in room response down to low 20's (only a few db down) from vinyl. Thats is something I've never heard before or since. I didn't quite realise that as full a range of frequency was quite possible with vinyl and indeed what is actually quite a modest vinyl rig (certainly in mid-hi end terms) barring the BB3 (which punches so much harder than it's weight it's actually a bit of a joke btw).

The scary (and also really encouraging) thing is that my SP10 is really rather basic, cheap ply plinth, RB300 arm and AT OC9 XEN cartridge with Litz cabling. Everything in that setup apart from the actual bare bones of SP10 and the phono stage are really only just a bit beyond entry level. When funds allow these parts will be elevated to a level more in sync spec-wise with the rest of the system. I can only imagine what that might sound like . . . .

These findings with the vinyl are actually quite surprising because in other systems with the addition of the Mutec, clocks, better cables etc the gap from digital to vinyl has been very much narrowed and, in some instances, the digital sounds better overall than a high-end vinyl setup. Better carts, arms, phono stages, plinths etc . . . but in my setup a very modest vinyl rig is still running circles around the digital . . . I'm still not 100% sure exactly what I can attribute this to, it may be something to do with my room however I think the Vader's just absolutely come alive with the analogue format . . .


It's not that they sound anything other than great with the digital, but with vinyl they just take on a completely different character, it's absolutely spell-binding.


As a caveat to that though there are instances where the resolution and precision of the digital is difficult to match or replicate with the vinyl, there are of course pro's and cons to both formats but for the sake of music sounding natural and as realistic as possible, coupled with the texture and nuance of real instruments, the vinyl wins out.

I'd love to try and elevate the digital to that same echelon of realism (I'm talking texture, ambiance, nuance, musical flow) but after effectively maxing out on my current gear I'm struggling to think how this could be done. It's not that I'm disappointed with it at all, just that in a comparison with the vinyl . . . well, there is no comparison to be honest, not for me, not for my ears at the moment.


Won't stop me trying though . . . so thank you Vader's . . . my most expensive hifi purchase looks like it could kick start a long line of expensive hifi purchases . . .

Well written and thought through Chris.
Agree with you on the vinyl/digital result as well… and that’s with my system pulled apart for the time being.
Have a feeling the contrast will be even greater when it all comes together properly. Brilliant problem to have

It is certainly surprising, I'm sure in time we'll hear the speakers in various setups and can do more vinyl/digital comparisons.

I can probably help with this one...  The Ektas, 851s and the Vaders all have Alumen Z cap on the tweeter cap.  There is one exception - one pair of Ektas has Audyn MKP plus on the tweeter.

EDIT: This is referring to my builds