e-mail to:
Werner
Ogiers
(remove anti-spam spaces)
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I
live in Antwerp, Belgium. Married to Christa, who loves
music and used to play the clarinet. In daily life I am a
digital chip designer at a semiconductor company I cofounded
in 1999 with 10 colleagues: photography buffs may know us.
In my rare spare time I am webmaster for English turntable
manufacturer Michell Engineering, and audio DIYer.
Music is important, but if that was
all I could happily live with a boombox, although Peter
Qvortrup's saying that a good system offers easier access to
new and previously non-liked music is of course valid
too.
Despite being born in 1968 I still
have a firm committment to analogue and vinyl, see my work
for Michell. Nevertheless, as a field of study and future
progress digital audio seems much more interesting and
stimulating. It is then with a deep sadness that I have to
witness ill-advised developments such as SACD.
My interest in DIY design is backed by
my profession and fueled by a certain dislike for the
present state of the quality audio industry, especially the
way things are marketed.
Throughout the years I went through
various system configurations, including components from
Cyrus, Marantz, Linn, ... as well as Magnepan and Quad
ESL-57 speakers. In the past there have been frequent
changes, but the system I have now is pleasing enough to
stay for a while.
I listen mostly to pop music and and a
little bit of classical and jazz. Insofar such labels apply,
as I prefer to name all just 'music'. I have no interest
whatsoever in 'audiophile' recordings.
A random collection of
favourites:
Alice - Il Sole Nella Pioggia
Peter Gabriel - Plays Live, Us
Monteverdi - Vespro Della Beata Vergine (Gardiner,
recorded in San Marco)
U2 - Achtung Baby
Dead Can Dance - Toward The Within
The Nits - Urk
Luka Bloom - all
David Sylvian - Secrets Of The Beehive
John Williams - The Seville Concert
Marianne Faithfull - Blazing Away
Lais - Dorothea
System's
Components
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Turntable:
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Michell GyroDec MkV with Orbe platter
and VC power supply.
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Tonearm:
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SME IV/FDIV, bearing cover removed.
Leadout cable soon to be replaced with something
more flexible.
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Cartridge:
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Benz Micro MC Scheu 1.6mV. (Note:
pictured is a Shelter 501 review sample.)
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CD-player:
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Rega Planet, with small modifications
(1).
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Phonostage:
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Trichord Dino+, small modifications
(2).
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Preamp:
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DIY. Loosely based on Walt Jung's
classic AD744/LM6181 duo. Housed in the box of
an LS0 I could buy empty from LFD.
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Power Amp:
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LFD PA0.
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Speakers:
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Quad ESL-63 on stands, also
ESL-57s.
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Cables:
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Yes. Don't like discussing cables,
though.
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(1) Planet mods:
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I replaced all elcaps around the DAC and
output stage with equal-value Rubycon ZAs. The
output coupling caps are Silmic 100uFs. The
ceramic caps in the output RF filter were
replaced with 1nF Evox PFRs. This enhances the
Planet's clarity much, without touching its warm
and musical nature.
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(2) Dino+ mods:
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The long trace leading from the output of the
front-end opamp was cut close to the actual
opamp, and a 100R SMD resistor was inserted
there, to isolate the opamp from stray
capacitance. The resistor used as class A
biasing load was replaced with a JFET current
source set at 2mA. The JFET output amplifier
opamp got an impedance-balancing resistor, also
SMD, in its feedback path, to lower
distortion.
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Werner's
comments about his system:
AA: "Werner, how
would you describe your system's sound?"
GDL:
"It can't go loud, it isn't
very dynamic, but it sounds quite natural. That's what is
important to me."
AA: "Do you think
there is room for improvement?"
GDL:
"Of course there is. But does
that really matter? We are not in a race, there are no
laurels for the eventual winner. Only personal happiness
with the resultant sound and music matters and yes, I'm
quite satisfied now."
AA: "Have you got
plans for upgrading?"
GDL:
"I won't play the classical
upgrading game anymore. Granted, a Jan Allaerts MC1b
cartridge is still on my wish list, but apart from that I
only ever hope to augment the system with components of
my own design. There are four things in the pipeline: a
phonostage, a DAC, a revised preamp, and active dipole
subs. But we'll see if any of these will ever work out.
I'm not in a hurry. "
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