Dev -- I *don't think* i've compared 909 to the latest 911 -- but the 911 current until the beginning of this year?
With a number of speakers, average sensitivity or better, (medium acapella, a-physic, wilson sophia, wilson maxx)the 911 gave a slightly more euphonic sound than the 909; sweeter rather than neutral. Admittedly pleasant.
It's just that the 909, with the Maxx for example, seemed to give more immediacy to the sound. I.e. the transient attack thing...
Although in all fairness, I can't say I was complaining with the 911 -- and really, it was only obvious with the Maxx which is a big spkr after all, huge cubic capacity.
The AR & the Burm. There was a Burmester integrated cdp (001?) & a S Yorke TT (don't remember the cartridge) & the ASR phono which didn't thrill me was used. Speaker wires were commendably thick, intercons were Nordost. Speakers were a newish pair of Wilson Maxx.
Well, to put it simply, the Burmester sounded clear and the AR did not. That is, in comparison to one another. There was also a small matter of soft dynamics with AR vs. considerably more attack with the Burm. Please note that "clear" does not mean harsh, etc, i.e. an edge around 6-9kHz exemplifying mock "clarity". And/or cutting of anything below 80 Hz by at least 3dB so that the rest sounds better...
I can't say if it was a pre or power amp matter, as no one thought of mixing around the combos. Stupid of us.
The spkrs were, reputedly, new-ish, as were all the electronics -- i.e. there was no known problem with the AR tubes, the standard ones being the ones used. (You'll have noticed that the Burmester pre used was not their super-duper model which was deemed outrageously expensive. Pity.)
We had some commendably thick spkr wires & exotic Nordost intercons.
Of course, the AR combo makes many others sound UNclear accordingly. Please don't read the above out of its limited perspective! Regards
