AZ Satori vs. Audience AU24

Audio is a funny thing as I had almost the opposite experience of BigKidz. I bought my Au24's upon a friend's recommendation, and after subsequent research. In my initial research, among other things, I found that some to many (including Stereophile) preferred the Au24 speaker cables over the Valhallas. So I gave them a try.

I went from AZ Satori shotgun dual run bi-wires to Harmonic Tech Pro 9 internal bi-wires to Au24 mono wire. The Satori's and Pro 9's were near identical sonically.

In my experience, the Au24's were far superior to either of my previous cables. And my desire to bi-wire subsided.

I found easily discernable improvement in the bass regions as the Au24's minimized/eliminated the time-smear in those regions. (Supposedly, this time smear is quite common in cables.) And the Au24's showed how grainy the previous cables were at the top end by providing enhanced detail with quieter background.

One caveat is that the Au24's appear to be amp dependent. Both in my experience and now in the experience of a few others who've contacted me.

I say amp dependent because with one amp the above improvements still occurred (but depending on what cables you're upgrading from of course), but the bass can give the appearance to kinda' become much lighter as it became much tighter.

But with another amp, the bass became outta' this world, rich, full, tighter than I've ever heard, and beautifully pronounced.

If you do notice a lightening in the bass while also noticing a tightening in the bass, I'd have to guess that the Au24's are bringing deficiencies of the amplifier to light.

BTW, it's also nice that the Au24's cost about the same as these other two.

-IMO

1markr, how do you like the vr4 genIII se's? I hear great things about these speakers? Any truth to that?

Also, I don't think you need to feel that you are compromising in the least by not running full bi-wires. The single runs with jumpers should work just fine.

BTW, audience-av.com has a white paper of sorts describing their take on bi-wiring. Perhaps reading this would make you feel more comfortable with single runs.

-IMO

1markr and Bigshutterbug. Something tells me you both know exactly what a $20k speaker should sound like.

And yes, they are not the most attractive speaker, but based on what I've read and what guys like you say about them, I think the aesthetics taking a back seat becomes a bit of a non-issue.

-IMO

So long as you're digressing, I would highly recommend your considering a McCormack DNA 0.5 or DNA-2 amp with a Revision A or Revision A Gold applied.

Because the VR4 GIII SE's are somewhat efficient, one or two DNA 0.5 Rev A's might be just right. But the DNA-2 Rev A could be a fantastic marriage.

If you know anything about these revised amps that are almost completely gutted and rebuilt by Steve McCormack at smcaudio.com with some of the finest aftermarket parts available, you may have heard it said that these amps combine the best attributes of tubes and solid state and sound like neither.

I own the DNA-2 Rev A. IMO, this amp has the characteristics of a 1000 wpc tube amp as it provides the warmth and bloom typically found in the better tube amps along with the speed, articulation, and fantastic bass control only offered by the finest solid state amps.

-IMO (of course)