OA Ozhan Atalay Edit

Biography

Creator and president of NonameHifi High End Audio Pageshttp://www.nonamehifi.comNonameHifi provides audio and audiophile pages High-End audio components HiFi audio equipment for sale, free classifieds,used audio, electronics and audiophile pageshighend audio, tweak,sound systems,high-end audio, high end audio, hifi, hi-fi, hi fi, stereo, stereos, stereo gear, hifi stereo, hi-fi stereo, audio,...

 Web References

1. 1. ozhan.htm

   www.arduman.com/aa/Sayfalar/oz - [Cached]

   Published on: 5/27/2000   Last Visited: 12/16/2007

   Ozhan Atalay's System
   ...
   Ozhan Atalay
   
   Ozhan found me through my web site and sent an e-mail describing his system.True audiophile is a rarity and of course I did not miss this golden opportunity.
   
   The layout of his main living room (6 x 7 m) seemed to be around his system.Ozhan told me that his wife was not too understanding towards his hobby during the first years of their marriage but later on she yielded.This proves that most wives have a break in period which can last much longer than 300 hours, and for some others (exceptions?) this period can last a life time.Apparently she still opposes the speakers being too far from the back wall and also all kinds of room treatment (which is understandable).
   
   Ozhan uses those slimy, "stick on the wall" very soft green balls underneath his preamplifier and his D/A converter.Twelve of them are trapped between the rack shelf and the thick glass plate (see picture) to create a floating like soft damping.Very good idea indeed!
   
   Ozhan is not a member of the Istanbul Hi-Fi Club, but I think I convinced him to join.He listens to jazz (70%), classical (20%) and others (10%).
   
   The CD's he uses for system evaluation purposes are the followings.
   ...
   AA: "Ozhan, how would you describe your system's sound?"
   ...
   Ozhan made important changes:
   
   He bought two Cary SLM-100 monoblock power amps (with 4 x KT-88 tubes in push-pull configuration, delivering 100 W per channel).He is using them to drive the mid and treble units of his B&W 801 speakers.His existing Electrocompaniet amp drives the bass units only.Cary's just fit into the empty space of the speaker stands.To balance the sound he placed a potentiometer to the bass output of his preamplifier and spent more than a month to find its correct setting.
   
   He used Stealth Fine Line Reference interconnects between the preamp and the Cary's.
   
   He made his own DIY power conditioners.
   
   He changed his rack system in order reduce its height and thus improved the soundstage.
   
   He added four RPG Flatfussor room acoustic treatment panels.Two of them are placed on the back wall (see picture) and the other two on the side walls.For their proper positioning he first followed the manufacturer's recommendations.
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   Very well done Ozhan!
   ...
   Yes Ozhan is in fact the first audiophile (to my knowledge) who uses horn speakers.
   
   In most cases people first intend to use Single Ended amplifiers and then look for efficient and/or high / flat impedance speakers to be used with them.So the starting point is the SE amplifier rather than the speakers.But Ozhan had a totally opposite approach: he first bought the Avant Garde Uno II speakers and tried to use them with his existing system.Hence he had to use the Cary SLM-100 push-pull monoblocks (100 W/channel) to drive the very efficient Avant Garde speakers (105 dB/W/m !).Ozhan says that the result was not so satisfactory: the sound seemed too forward, too edgy and tiring.He thought that 100W can be an overkill power for such high efficiency speakers and the over power of the amplifiers could be the cause of this excessive aggressiveness.
   
   He attended the discussion forums of AudioAsylum and then ordered the Cary 572 SE Single Ended monoblock amplifiers (20W/channel).He could even have gone to a much lower power (a 3W 2A3 output tube for instance) with such high efficiency speakers but he said he wasn't so sure at the time (the industry so much biased us with mega size SS power amps!).He thinks that the new Cary Single Ended amplifier solved most of the problems and that the sound became much more relaxed.
   
   He also renewed his cables: the speaker cables are now Stealth Ultimate Ribbon and the interconnects XLO Signature and Stealth M7.
   
   I wasn't alone during my visit (see the bottom picture: standing left to right our host Ozhan Atalay and myself, seated left to right Cemil Gandur, Cuneyt Borcbakan and Haluk Ozumerzifon).
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   Well done Ozhan and thank you for introducing the first horn speakers to Istanbul audiophiles.
   ...
   I asked Ozhan to write about his system's updates and give us his own impressions.