System's Components
 

Turntable:	Clearaudio Reference
Arm:	Clearaudio Reference
Cartridge:	Clearaudio Insider
CD Transport:	Metronome
D/A Converter:	Goldmund 22
Phono Preamp:	Clearaudio Phono Stage
Line Preamp:	Goldmund 20
Power Amps:	Goldmund 29.4 mono
Speakers:	Goldmund Epilogue 1 + 2
Interconnects:	Goldmund Ultimate Linear
Digital Cable:	XLO Limited Edition
Speaker Cables:	Goldmund
LP Cleaning Machine:	VPI 18
Other accessories:	VIBRAPLANE Turntable stand,  SISMIC Rack System

Mahmut's comments about his System:

AA: "Mahmut, how would you describe your system's sound?"
MY: "It has a very flat response, very dynamic and a has a very well defined bass."
AA: "Do you think there is room for improvement?"
MY: "No!"
AA: "Have you got plans for upgrading?"
MY: "The CD Transport, but I'm not decided yet."
 
 

Accuphase DG 28 Before correction After correction Everything had become flat. Topka's tail after correction. Goldmund CD Transport 36

Re-Visit Notes (26 June 1999): Recently mahmut made two major changes to his system. I , therefore, wanted to visit his place one more time.  Accuphase Digital Voicing Equalizer DG 28 As its name indicates this equalizer operates in the digital domain between the CD Transport and D/A Converter. It has its own microphone and generates its own signals to measure the system / room response curve and later on correct it the way you desire. The microphone is ideally placed to your ear level in the listening position. The two channels are separately measured and corrected. At the left you can see before and after correction curves for the right channel. Do enlarge them to see the level of shifts on the "before" curve, especially for the low frequencies. The sonic result was also impressive. The excessively boomy bass had become very controlled and balanced. The sound stage and focus had dramatically improved. A very worthwhile addition indeed. Goldmund Mimesis CD Turntable 36 This one is Goldmund's reference CD Transport. In Mahmut's system it was replacing his earlier Metronome Transport. As Metronome was also in its place we had the opportunity to make a comparison. You would hardly believe that there could be such huge sonic differences between two CD Transports. Goldmund was so much more silkier, full bodied on the mids, so much more analog like!  In sum two very impressive changes with excellent sonic results. Well done Mahmut, happy listening!

 

Single Ended system Air Tight ATM300 Clearaudio Reference Verity Audio - Fidelio Goldmund system Goldmund electronics Berlioz: the sheer beauty!

both systems Third Visit Notes (17 February 2001) Since my last visit Mahmut had many major changes in his life (as well as in his system(s)): His longtime companion, Topka, passed away; He moved to a new flat; He bought an additional power amp to drive his Goldmund speakers; He bought a second system; He has now a new companion called Berlioz. After so many changes it had become mandatory to make a new visit. Let me tackle below each of the above changes. 1- Topka died a year ago. It was inevitable, he was too old. 2- Mahmut's new living room was spacious (8 x 8 m) enough to accommodate two separate systems with ease (see the top picture). His thick wall-to-wall carpet appeared to be a good compensation for big window surfaces. 3- He added one more stereo (Goldmund 29) power amp to drive the bass modules in a bi-amp configuration together with his existing Goldmund 29.4 mono power amps. Due to the fact that the Goldmund 29.4 amps incorporated a gain control facility he did not need to add an external active crossover. As a result of this addition the bass seemed tighter and the sound seemed to breath with much less effort. There was also a secondary change: he had replaced his Goldmund interconnects with Nirvana LX ones. Mahmut told me that this change made the sound smoother and less analytic (although I had the same impression I was unable to pinpoint the element which caused it as many changes had occurred at the same time including the room). The overall sound seemed easier to my ears and more musical. 4- It was Mahmut's longtime dream to own two separate systems. Each with different characters. One was going to be ideal for acoustic small scale music with all its subtleties and the other one suitable for bigger scale dynamic music needing more muscle and extension. Well, the extra space in his new living room gave him the freedom to make his dream come true. As he already owned a system with lots of muscles and power, he chose a system based on a low power Single Ended amplification: Power Amp: Air Tight ATM 300 (8W per channel stereo with WE 300B output tubes and gain control facility) Speakers: Verity Audio - Fidelio (3 way) Speaker cables: Nirvana Interconnects: Nirvana LX His analog and digital sources (the existing one: see previous visits) were common to both systems. To enable such transition he had bought long Nirvana interconnects. His small system sounded very natural, alive and transparent. With lots of inner details. The stage size and depth was very good too. Paradoxically the turntable sounded better with the Goldmund system and the CD source sounded better on the Single Ended system. This fact one more time proved the importance of synergy between components. 5- Berlioz is the name of Mahmut's new cat (Hector Berlioz is Mahmut's favorite composer). Being also a cat owner, I can assure you that Berlioz was the cutest cat I've seen todate (do enlarge the picture). He is only 9 months old, fond of music and audio. I took the bottom picture while he was testing the Nirvana cables (he was lying on them). Well done Mahmut!