Mine! (Best for me by all comparisons.) I've seen all of my gear as used for sale here on A'gon except for the WyWires ICs and NOS tubes. You can duplicate my entire system buying used on A'gon except for the WyWires ICs and NOS tubes you'd have to buy as new/NOS, including subwoofer ICs, PCs, SCs, and surge suppressor/filterer (for CDP and pre), all for just under $10k. Room: large, oddly shaped, open, cathedral ceiling. Habits: all music except rap and serious classical; peaks at seat 11 away never breach 100db. Best attributes: organic, unrestricted, non-fatiguing, natural tone, fully extended, clear. Worst attributes (although not important at all to me): unsatisfying at low SPLs; not most resolving; not most dynamic. I can live very happily ever after with this system as is.
Best sounding system for under $10k
I had been dreaming about acquiring a pair of mbl 116e's since I heard them last year at the expo. I knew I had a very good system but the mbl's give you that you are there feeling. Well I just made a few changes to my setup recently and things kept getting better, so much in fact that I no longer will be looking at those mbls. It was the last change I made that really was the killer. I have sims pre p-5 and power w-5 amp, I had them coupled with rca i/c's, and just yesterday I switched to balanced and WOW what a difference. I am willing to bet that there is nothing out there for under $20k (list prices of course) that can beat this sound. If you are looking for that you are there experience consider how I got there. Speakers; merlin, these are incredible and worth every penny, amp as mentioned earlier sims p-5 w-5 they too are just awesome most defenitely world class , phonostage ear834p another excellent component, tonearm: clearaudio emotion, cartridge : sumiko bluepoint amazing for the money will probably get the blackbird, turntable: vpi tnt mark I and V world class and not overpriced, cables: bluejeans xlr balanced amazing cannot believe how much better the system just got from that change, other cables my own rca interconnects, room treatment: acoustical ceiling tiles, records as in lp's, and book shelves with books on health must be on health ha-ha. And that's it, hard to believe but this was all found used here on agon for under $10k. And I have to add that rarely did I hear a system in any of the retail shops get it right like this one.