How do you Rate The Godfather's System?

[ihatejazz]

Jack & Co. what comments can you make of what you experienced at Bert Bacsal's mighty set up? I know the set up well and I honestly don't think anything can come close specially in the livelife sound. To me it is the closest thing to a live concert. What can you say?

[qguy]

can you post the gears used, at least the loudspeakers, amps and source - thanks

[rossifumi46]

is this the same bert bacsal who owns a radio station?:)

[ihatejazz]

is this the same bert bacsal who owns a radio station?:)

Exactly!

[rossifumi46]

is this the same bert bacsal who owns a radio station?:)

Exactly!

ay uncle ko ito! makabisita nga minsan!:)
hehe "ninong namamasko po!" hahaha

[JackD201]

Godfather has taken linearity to the extreme! With 32 monoblocks, drivers from the likes of dynaudio, fostex, jbl and many many more he has created one monster of a system. His approach is to keep his multitude of driver operating only in that central slice of their optimal operating range.

The sound? Like the child of a concert rig and an audiophile system meaning very very low distortion from top to bottom like some of the rarest supersystems but the presentation of a concert stack.

Clearly lifelike dynamics is the goal of Godfather and I'll be darned if this isn't as close to it as I've ever heard, yes even at live rock concerts. Understandably the mix of longthrow drivers like the JBL horns and short throw drivers would mean differing focal points. What he did to counter this was to add and add drivers and array them to fill the gaps so you get pretty much flat response in any point in the room. Tonally it was correct from where I was sitting and even while walking around. Imaging was as expected larger than life. Belafonte was six feet tall but had a 3 foot wide head. In other words forget concepts like point source or linesource. This is Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound" come to life. They reminded me very much of the Meyer Sound soffit stacks of Control Room A at FullSail. The closest I've heard to that presentation at the lair (but still coming nowhere close) was when we hooked up the Manley to the DB-99s.

We listened to live recordings and it really was extremely convincing of an amplified live event. I've never heard crowd noise so lifelike before. Some of them had whole heads. I wish we had more time so we could have listened to classical music to get a handle on how it handled delicate tones and timbres.

The tube system and the solid state system (with 24 ML-2s) are labors of love that require a whole lot of dedication and a whole lot of expertise to integrate. My hat off to the Godfather for possessing the passion to find this, his very own convention defying path to finding the sound of his dreams.

Before leaving I asked him what more he had in store as far as the evolution of his system. His reply: "Madami pa!"

What a guy!

[vintage_dog]

curious about his front-end gear.

[JackD201]

Digital was either a Sonic Frontiers Transport and Dac combo or a Philips-MF X-Dac combo.

Analog was a VPI TNT (looked like a V not sure) and CA Stradivari didn't see the phonostage. I was too busy counting 845 tubes

[Bedroom Eyes]

Georgie, how far is Mang Tom's system with Mang Bert in terms of lifelike realism

[Hyperion]

Phono stage is a CJ Premier 15. Preamp is a CJ Premier 17LS.

I concur with most of Jack's comments. The system's dynamics is simply awesome. This is most evident when the system plays back big sounds like the audience clapping, brass instruments, drums - it makes most high end systems sound puny and dynamically compressed by comparison.

The highs is a revelation - with multiple ribbons, horns and domes - it lacks the pinpoint imaging of typical "simple" high end speakers BUT it does sound more lifelike in terms of timbre and airiness. Tambourines and cymbals in particular sounds scary real. So it is with massed strings, audience laughing, background vocals and stuff that normally sound thin, wiry and ghostly with just a pair of tweeters. The vibes though sounded less metallic, less solid and decays slightly too quickly than I what I prefer and deem as closer to real vibe sound.

The mids too came out much better than expected, with no gross colorations that one would expect in such a complex multi-way system with horn loaded compression drivers. Harry Belafonte sounded like the suave flesh and bones and not some plastic caricature or a shouty pretender. I am not an imaging nut anymore so the 3 foot wide "head" does not concern me much but I did notice that while the whole shebang sounds coherent and linear - there are some occssional sounds that can be localized to the central horn array, and some to the 2 pairs of dynaudio esotars to the sides. Stereo crosstalk is naturally exaggerated due to the proximity of left and right channel drivers. No doubt, these problems would be solved if the speakers are placed in a much larger room with the left and right arrays separated a few feet apart and with the listeners farther away from the speaker array.

For me, the bass is the weakpoint of the system. The bass while stupendous and effortless is not quite as articulate and as tuneful as the system's mids and highs. The bass sounded weighty and full but there is a lack of punchiness and crispness at the bottom end. I suspect it could be the limitations of the room which I am convinced is much too small for such a grand system with 4 subwoofers and countless woofers.

I've been to other mutiamped systems before but this one easily takes the cake in terms of coherence, musicality and realism. I cannot imagine the amount of time, effort and money invested in such a complex system. The amount if revealed would probably make most of us nauseous and feverish hehehe (actually even just the electric bill would probably give most of us a big electric shock ...) but this system is clearly a labor of love. It looks over the top, seem to be a monument of excess but looking beyond the huge stack of electronics and blinding glare of 845s ... it is easy to see judiciously chosen drivers and components and the bottom line is it sounds like what a bonafide high end system should sound like. Hats off to The Godfather indeed.

[ihatejazz]

Georgie, how far is Mang Tom's system with Mang Bert in terms of lifelike realism

I will take you to the Godfather's manor when you come back. Using an analogy in DCO parlance, Mang Tom's is a runt compared to the Godfather's pick of the litter Simply said no comparison!!!

Jack and Hyperion described it to the fullest!

[ichabod]

I'm a sucker for liveliness and this must be the system to listen to.

I wonder if any of you heard female vocals? This is not your typical voice of the concert hall sound? It would be nice to hear/see the illusion replaced by the real thing!

[raffy]

How ould I rate the great Bert Bacsal's 2 super systems? Not good. Why? When I went home I immediately played Harry Belafonte, and turned it way down, and just decided to have a night cap and wonder where I went wrong Ang saket.

Not good because, after hearing such a system , especially system number 2 with 36 tube 845's, I will be in silent retreat for a while in order to appreciate what I have.

That visit thaks to George can show you how far you can go in this hobby, a no-holds barred approach, the most no holds barred I've seen and heard bar none. This guys passion is so great that you can see through his approach of multi-amping and multi drivers that it took much, much thought, patience, and of course resources to put king kong and godzilla together

For the first time i wish I had a camera so that we could share these two super systems. Unfortunately we were just in awe, nobody talking much, no drinks, just MUSIC!

Unlike Hansen, I was shocked that with that many woofers and subs, there was no boom, no tube traps, very tonally balanced. One flaw maybe, the room was too hot even if the system had a dedicated 2 or 3 tonner

Thank you to the gracious host and the conduit, sana may Godfather part 2 and 3!

[ihatejazz]

One flaw maybe, the room was too hot even if the system had a dedicated 2 or 3 tonner

RAFFY, I WAS THERE ONE EVENING WHEN THEY WERE TRYING TO SYNCH IN A NEW MIDRANGE DRIVER IN THE MULTITUDE OF MIDRANGE DRIVERS. THEY HAD TO TURN OFF THE 2.5 TONNER AND I ALMOST FAINTED FROM THE HEAT! YOU'RE RIGHT! I HAVE COMPLAINED TO BERT ABOUT THE AIR-CON

Thank you to the gracious host and the conduit, sana may Godfather part 2 and 3!

THE GODFATHER IS MORE THAN WILLING TO STAGE ANOTHER SESSION. GUYS, BE PREPARED FOR A MARATHON. HE CAN PUT UP TILL THE WEE HOURS OF THE MORNING!

[JackD201]

THE GODFATHER IS MORE THAN WILLING TO STAGE ANOTHER SESSION. GUYS, BE PREPARED FOR A MARATHON. HE CAN PUT UP TILL THE WEE HOURS OF THE MORNING!

Tatang can reportedly keep IT up until the wee hours of morning daw

[ojof00l]

09/02/xx
belated "bert" anniversary ninong Boy
up there where u belong