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I wonder what happened to them? I see lots for sale on Audiogon and their website is now closed. Robert Harley thought it was the next big thing.
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I have been using a qol Signal Completion Stage basically since they first came out. The sonic difference is readily discernible whether playing digital or analog. I have mine in-between the preamp and the amp. I also replaced the stock power cord with a Nordost Valhalla 2 and have the unit on Stillpoints Ultra SS w/ base. The increased volume has always been a controversial point in the evaluation of qol. Some, many perhaps, have claimed that there is no real sonic benefit but rather simply increased volume. I couldn't disagree more.
Basically, and according to BSG, the unit divides the full frequency spectrum into layers and inverts the phase of each layer. So the phase of layer 2 is 180 degrees inverted from layer 1, layer 3 is 180 degrees inverted from layer 2, and so on. Imagine stacking pencils one on top of each other vertically and in each successive layer, the eraser and pencil point are never aligned. The number of layers is theoretically anywhere between two and infinity, in practical terms, its about eight. It is the inversion of each successive layer that, according to BSG, brings the transient detail more to the front instead of being otherwise obscured by louder musical passages, and makes the presentation sound more realistic and like live music. This is also, again, according to BSG, the reason why the volume sounds slightly louder. BSG even admitted a typical increased volume of 1 to 3 db with the unit engaged as opposed to being set to bypass, depending on the system.
At least in my system, I prefer listening to music with qol as opposed to not. I think what it does to the sonics is remarkable. Pushing the bypass button tells me everything I need to know. The engineering and the design may be debated but to me, what it does is undeniable. And I'll continue to use mine until it stops working. However, I'll also admit that not everyone will share that viewpoint and will maintain that there is little or no value in qol. After all, sonics are always different from system to system and listener to listener. Its too bad that BSG didn't make it, Larry Kay is a really nice guy who was always very kind to me anytime I saw or spoke with him. I hope he is doing well.
I could go on about the BSG Qol, but I'll try and keep it short. I listen to virtually all music through it, with a few rare exceptions. To my ear, the invaluable benefit of the Qol is that it essentially removes the "recording" from the music. In other words, the perpetual problem with listening to music has always been that it doesn't sound live, and instead is clearly recognizable as a recording, when compared to it's live equivalent. Live is, after all, the true, so called "absolute sound". I know I sound like a salesman here, but that's what's clearly the case, IMO. The importance of this cannot be overestimated. --A problem with the Qol's bypass button feature, is that, once depressed, the volume drops back down to its normal level, forcing the listener to quickly try and bring up the volume to match the Qol's active level. This loss of a few seconds is actually crucial, in that it makes it hard to instantly compare. My preamp has a custom volume attenuation feature for a given line input, which enables me to feed the Qol's louder feed of a recording into one input, and the up attenuated matched volume of the completely bypassed music into another input. Believe me, this is the only way to go, when comparing Qol vs. normal, with a press of the remote control button. Larry Kay should have included a bypass WITH attenuation button on the Qol, as well as normal bypass without, IMO. --BTW, not just Robert Harley, but also John Atkinson and Richard Vandersteen regularly use, or have used/owned the Qol. I spent time in Richard Vandersteen's room talking with him about it at CES, back in January. He agreed with me about the problem with the Qol's bypass button, as designed. As for Underwood hifi selling the Qol for 1K, yes that's the case, as Walter Liederman bought out Larry Kay's remaining inventory. I spoke with him a few months ago at the Newport show. He may have sold out his remaining units by now. All I can say is, at this point, don't pay more than 1K for a BSG QOL, whether new or used, and if for some reason it doesn't work out for you, you can always resell. I don't think you'll be disappointed.
Edits: 09/27/16 09/27/16
Stringplay's description of what the QOL unit does matches what I have found. I very much like what the unit does to enhance the enjoyment I get listening to music. The music simply sounds less "alive" when the QOL unit is not in the system.
This device does respond to changing the power cord to the unit, and upgrading the fuse.
David Pritchard
I wonder if Robert Harley still uses one? If not, why?
I heard it and was not really impressed, it sounded different (louder) but not really better IMHO.
> > I see lots for sale on Audiogon and their website is now closed. Robert Harley thought it was the next big thing.
Those observations pretty much speak for themselves.
Underwood HiFi was blowing them out for under 1K a few months ago.
Don't believe everything you think.
- Thomas E. Kida
I own one and wouldn't want to be without it. I think it got a bad rap because some called it a signal processor making it appear to be some form of fake sound.
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