Over this weekend I finally had a bit of time, and the weather was not
THAT hot. So I took the AES amp out to the living room and hooked it
up to the La Scala. Totally different setup:

SOURCE
------
I used either the Quad 67 cdp or the PS Audio
Lambda/Illuminati/Monarchy 18B. The former is very musical but the
latter is more hifi, with excellent resolution.

PREAMP
------
Wai Lee. 1/2 6SN7 transformer output. Using generic GE 6SN7. I used an
old RCA 5Y3 rectifier.

AMP
---
AES-1, with KR silver plate 6SL7 and TJ meshplate 300B.

CABLES
------
MIT Terminator 3 interconnect throughout. Cloth WE for speaker cables.

ADDITIONAL SOFTWARE
-------------------
-Beethoven Symphony #9. Krips/LSO (Vanguard)
-ditto. Zinman/Zurich Tonhalle (Arte Nova)
-ditto. Wand/NDR orchestra (RCA)
-Chevalier de Saint Georges, violin concerti, Nishizaki/Cologne
chamber orchestra/Muller-Bruhl (Naxos)
-Bruckner Symphony #3. Bohm/VPO (Decca)

This marked the first time I listened to the La Scala in months. Ever
since I got the lowther I concentrated on the lowther to make it sound
better and better. That was NOT because I preferred the Lowther. On
the contrary, I prefer the La Scala, but it was interesting working on
the Lowther.

I was literally floored listening to the La Scala again. Unparalled
presence and rhythm and timing, and just a big wallop of sound. How
delightful.

With the admittedly milder cabling in the living room, sound was
eminently musical. As a matter of fact, The AES with TJ mesh sounded
great! I now have the additional query of whether I had
under-estimated the AES, or if the TJ made things much more musical,
or both. But that is for later.

There is no doubt that the qualities observed of this TJ meshplate
before (vs VA) shone even more in the large room. The smooth leading
edge is very much in evidence. I put on the Vanguard Beethoven (have
never listened before, excellent performance) and was very pleased by
the excellent scale and smoothness. What REALLY astounded me was the
very defined vocal image. This was much sharper than I remembered with
the La Scala. To confirm I played the other 2 versions of the 9th that
I have played many times before. No question, the sense of scale and
definition had better subtle gradation than before. A delight in the
last movement of the 9th because of its large and varied forces.
Similarly, the Vienna brass in Bruckner (LOTS of them) howled with
fabulous full tone, surely a reason why we use horns.

After the Beethoven and Bruckner, I changed the source from Quad to my
just-returned PS Audio/Monarchy combo, and played the violin concerti.
This front end can sound a trifle hard with the violins but not this
time. Beautifully clear and involving violin. Had to stop there.

I would think all this due to the TJ mesh, but I shall change tubes
later in the AES to confirm. But so far so good.