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musical fidelity nu-vista 3d cd player

this isn`t a question, more like an up to date review of my system.

i`ve not owned any hifi for over 10 years and decided i`d like to try out a tube amp so i started looking around at reviews of different seperates. i wittled it down to this system......

musical fidelity nu-vista 3d cd player, yaqin mc100b tube amplifier, quad 12L2 speakers on target R5 speaker stands using chord company chorus 2 interconnects and 4 seperate lengths of chord company oddessey speaker wires to bi-wire the speakers.

the sound is incredible. this system works in synergy. my speakers are about 9ft apart, 19inches from the back wall and about 25inches from the side walls. beautifully clear, solid,deep soundstage. imaging is pinpoint and very believable. voices are eerily displayed right in front of you between the speakers that beggers belief! every voice and every instrument has a reality and clarity and seperation and weight. high frequencies are the best i`ve ever heard with awesome extention! the midband is solid all the way through. the low frequencies are deep and impactful in my room. definately no need for a subwoofer here. the low frequencies are perfect as a foundation for all kinds of music to build upon and offers fantastic ambience. this system offers superb detail retreival too, hearing things in your recordings that you may not have known were there.

i`ve thrown all kinds of music at this system, zubin mehta`s decca recording of holst planets, xrcd copy of eva cassidy`s songbird cd, shm copy of sheryl crows tuesday night music club, acdc, pink floyd, queen, various chillout cd`s, electronic music and much much more and the system laps it all up.

in my system, the music is dynamic, entertaining, gripping, impactful and amazingly holographic. music doesn`t sound like it`s coming from the speakers and everyone stands in there own space in time right in front of you.

in my system these speakers are just perfect and offer the most mindblowing musical experience every single time. these speakers and this system are keepers for life and make it a sheer treat everytime a cd is played.

each upgrade i make, i hear the difference every time i use and try different tubes in my amp and the speakers also responded extremely well to adding an extra set of oddessey speaker wires to bi-wire them properly adding soundstage width and depth and extra depth and impact in the bass region and ambience and detail.

tube rolling on the yaqin amplifier has been a total joy. the standard chinese tubes sounded good but needed replacing. they`d become microphonic through age so it was the perfect chance to change things. so far i`m using..... 2 x psvane 12ax7-t, 2 x early 50`s green label sylvania chrome dome 6sn7gtb`s, 2 x rca 6sn7gt`s, 4 x electro-harmonix kt88eh`s. these all seem to work so well together. next year maybe i might replace the sylvania`s for 2 x rca black glass vt-231 tubes. heard some very good things about these tubes. very expensive though!

i may also upgrade the interconnects to the chord company anthems.

this has been my very first tube amplifier and in combination with the tube cd player too proves to be a very good synergy complimented by the little quad stand mount speakers. i wont be changing any of the seperates ever but will have a lot of fun with things like cable changes and tube rolling.

i based and built everything around the nu-vista cd player. i was first taken in by it`s looks but more importantly the write ups from other owners. i`ve read lots and lots of reviews on this cd player and have yet to come across a negative review.

anyone else own this wonderful cd player? feel free to let us all know what system you have yours in and how it sounds and what tweaks and upgrades you have made in your system.

up until buying this system has given me a new re-found passion for enjoying music of all genre`s.

i`m glad to share my experiences with this cd player. lets hear yours :)
grayf

Showing 3 responses by jimf

jimf
28 posts
 
Hi GrayF,

Thought I would chime in. I own the musical Fidelity Nu-Vista 3D cd player and it just always sounds so good in my system. I was just listening to it and am always still impressed with its sonics as when I first bought it new around 2003 or so.

It kind of gave my vinyl rig a run for the money for many years until my vinyl was improved to where I have it now. Vinyl pulls ahead, however both are still roughly on par just in different ways. Some of the vinyl gear I have is pretty good so that says a lot about the sound of the Musical Fidelity.

I will be adding a music server to the system coming up and ripping CD's to it as well as doing Hi-Rez but I am still keeping the CD player because I enjoy listening to music through it a lot and think it is one of those special pieces. It is definitely not going anywheres.

Initially, around 2002 or so I bought a Sony DVP-9000ES and sent it off to Modwright for their top mods thinking I would have a player that would be able to do killer CD, SACD and hey play some movies. All in one.

It played movies great, the SACD was and is killer but the CD was just not so special to my surprise. Never really did it for me no matter how much I listened to it. Started borrowing CD players from my dealer to try. Nothing really stuck out as being much better. Brought home the 3DCD and I immediately took to it. It sounded really musical, smooth, detailed,dynamic and perfect on any type of music. No digititis. Can and do listen for hours with no fatigue to this day. So I will agree that it is great machine to listen to CD's with, and I prefer to keep it in my system due to its sonics.

Thank you
jimf
28 posts
 
I was also interested in sending off my 3DCD player to Musical Fidelity for the tuneup/refresh that they offer, but it appears at the time I checked that it is only performed at their facility in England. With the VAT tax plus the service and shipping it appeared that it would approach around $1800.00? If offered in the United States where I live at a reasonable price I would probably go for it. Why not? I want to keep this piece running as long as I own CD's.

Currently running PSVANE 12AX7's in my Calypso linestage. Needed about 100 plus hrs. to sound their very best. Find they are fantastic in my system. Not pulling them out. I have NOS Telefunken, Amperex and lts of others that I have rolled. Prefer the PVSANES by a large margin in my system. This is all system dependant. Have some Raytheon Long Blacplate 12AX7's coming so I will try them but the PVSANES are in first place.

Great job in picking the right equiptment for your enjoyment! The 3DCD is not a weak link in my system. Love listening to CD's on it and I have over 800 cd's and will buy more.

Thank you
jimf
28 posts
 
Hi Grayf,

I got the PSVANES from Grant Fidelity awhile ago. They were the only source I knew at the time. Also they did offer selecting and matching which I wanted as the 12AX7 tubes in the Calypso are the ones that make the most difference in the sound versus the 6922 tubes which I believe just drive the current?

The only changes I heard was that the tubes when new were somewhat polite overall. Maybe a little restricted sounding up top. Good sound but not overly involving in any special way. I guess nothing special at first. After some good hours of daily (1-2 weeks?) use they broke wide open in sound. Nothing is lacking and they have excellant realistic tone on instruments. They are rock solid and very quiet too. They really make music in my system. Not sure how their other tubes are. only use 12AX7's and 6922 at this time.

Thank you
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