My Long List of Amplifiers and My Personal Review of Each!

@rbach - I have always found that bass response is the product of the speaker/room relationship more than the size.  In my room, I have had small standmounts produce a better, fuller bass response than larger floorstanders.  It's just the way the speaker interfaces with the room. IMO.

Jay- will the TT beat the MSB? All I can say is that others that play at or near your price points say it does, with the right records, which is a big caveat. But it’s something you can only discover for yourself. Don’t forget you also need a record cleaning machine and … Records? To that end, I have collected some extra copies of certain records I liked and when you’re ready, I would like to send you as a starting point in your journey, copies of 2 original Mark Levinson recordings- Jazz at Long Wharf and Elliot Fisk plays Scarlotti. They are analog classics and I would like for you to have them. Oh, don’t forget a stylus timer. 

Hi Jay - I’ve posted maybe twice before to your thread. Big solid-state amps and inefficient speakers aren’t my thing really, but I have enjoyed following your journey from an intellectual standpoint. A long time ago when I was trying to build a relatively expensive system for myself, an audio salesman gave me a piece of advice that I have found to hold up over the years, as opposed to much of what we hear thrown around. He said, and I paraphrase - Decide what you want to keep and build your system around it. Somewhat simplistic, but there’s a lot of truth to it. Now I’m going to be a little blunt, but just to save space and not to be critical. IMO, you have decided that you want to keep the Mephistos because they expose every flaw in the system. So now you are building the rest of the system around them with cables, stands, footers and whatever else you may do to make them sound "good" to your ears. Nothing wrong with that, but is it possible (theoretically of course) that the Mephistos just sound harsh and analytical and you have to compensate by softening them? What if the Furutech outlet is the "truth" and is just exposing the fact that the rest of your system is "wrong" See what I’m saying? I think that no matter how you want to describe it, in the end you are deciding what you want to keep and are building your system around it. And BTW - as far as being true to the source, I worked in the recording industry for several years in my youth and I think that anyone else who has will back me up on this - mastering engineers do not necessarily mix for what they consider to be the best sound. They mix to get a sound they believe will compensate for the inaccuracies in the systems of the real world. For example, when we mixed a disco song, we would often mix with less bass than we wanted to hear to compensate for the fact that many clubs had huge amounts of bass EQ dialed in to their systems and to mix with what sounded good to us would overload their systems. Just an example. So my point here is not to criticize - just to add another possible fork in the road of the journey you are on. And please, be careful with that heavy stuff. I hurt my back 2 years ago and it is not fun, I assure you. Regards.

@viber6 - I definitely hear what you are saying and I have a lot of experience with acoustic music as I play(ed) several instruments and have my degree in music. And I assure you there is no sarcasm intended in my comments to come.  First, I don't think Jay listens to unamplified acoustic music, at least not that I have seen.  But that's not really important. From an intellectual standpoint only - if you want to boil it down, it seems that the decision that the Mephistos are the most neutral is based on the impression that it makes most associated equipment sound bad.  Obviously, that is an overly simplistic analysis, but I think there is some truth there.  And as to the way acoustic music is recorded, yes some companies like MA, Water Lily and Reference use minimal miking and processing, but I have attended several classical recording sessions at RCA studios back in the day, and the engineers used tons of microphones and large amounts of EQ to get things sounding "good" to the people paying the bills. And even as far as those audiophile recordings I mentioned above, don't the engineers select the microphones, recording equipment, room and mic positioning to get the sound that they like?  Again, It is not my intention to say anyone is wrong in their personal quest for the absolute sound, as some call it. I am just wondering if it just really all boils down to "I like the way that sounds" in the end.  I don't know. That's the way we used to buy stereos.  We'd go into Crazy Eddie, Stereo Warehouse or wherever and say "I like that one". And we took it home and never worried about whether it was accurate. I think it's interesting. 

I like the videos Jay does with OCD. I think they’re also good for Mikey, as he seems to come off better when he interfaces with another person as opposed to being left to his own devices. IMO.  I think the dedicated room argument has merit, but to me, the most important aspect of music reviewers is for the end user to find reviewers whose tastes align with their own. Like with restaurant reviewers. If you hear a review about the place and love it, I don’t care if the reviewer lives in a cardboard box and eats spagettios every day. I used to like Sam Tellig myself. He liked stuff that was on the smooth/musical side and I purchased several items he reviewed. 

You seemed to have had a bit of an “ah hah!” moment in PR when experiencing the profound effect the room can have on a system. You looked somewhat surprised. I was a professional musician for many years and I learned that the (theoretically) best acoustic guitar in a sh*t room didn’t sound as good as a $1000 guitar in a great acoustic space. So from a listener’s standpoint, which guitar was better? Makes you reevaluate your opinions sometimes.

Just to clarify- I never meant to imply that cheaper gear is better and the high-priced stuff is a rip off. Not at all. I was just trying to point out that evaluating and comparing audio equipment is not as simple as owning it and listening to it in your room. Makes you think of the issues designers face when they design products that will be used in totally unknown acoustic spaces and in combination with unknown equipment. I wonder what Jay’s opinion of the Wilson speakers in PR would be had he only heard them in PR, as opposed to his opinion of the same speaker in his room.  So many variables at work. 

I thought you might be adding a turntable, but I was wondering where in the room you were going to put it to minimize acoustic feedback. I was also thinking that you may have to adjust your methods, as analog does not lend itself towards the rapid A/B comparisons you can do with streaming.  Maybe stream when you want to compare and analog when you just want to sit down and listen.  It’s definitely more of a commitment than digital.  Enjoy. 

I just wanted to add something important. One of the greatest pitfalls of analog is the urge to constantly tinker with it. Every time a record doesn’t sound good, you will have the urge to go readjust the vta, vtf, loading and whatever else you can think of. Discipline yourself to resist!  Have your TT set up in your home by the best expert you can find and just play records. All that other stuff will burn you out on analog. Just my opinion, but I’ve seen it before. That’s why some people should not  own analog or tubes. The thought that something may not be right kills their enjoyment of listening. 

Before you start comparing, know that phono cartridges generally take at least 20 hours to break in from new. Maybe more. And you can’t leave analog in repeat overnight, so it takes some time. But don’t get crazy listening to everyone here. You’re doing what you tell people not to do. You hired an analog expert.  Follow what he tells you until you get your bearings. 

Is it possible that going to battery power lessens the need for expensive power cords?  Your opinions on power cords seems to have “evolved” as politicians would say, after you got off the grid. Or were the comparisons done going into the wall? 

Jay- I would wager that you love the S7 because it happens to be the best acoustical match for your room acoustics more than the electronics. You’ve had top-level stuff for a long time now. I’ve had many excellent speakers in my room and sometimes you put one in and it just clicks with everything and you know it right away. I’m not sure there’s any way to predict which one will mate with the room and your taste other than to try. And, as in your case, the S7 happens to be somewhat less money than many others. Like your buddy in PR that you helped with the Wilsons. He was lucky that they happened to work so well. Even you were surprised. The speaker-room interface is a huge factor in the system sound and unfortunately, I’m not sure you can ever predict it. Narrow it down, yes, but not the final result.

I’m sure many will be surprised that the Luxman was the winner. It’s called selecting a product based on listening as opposed to reading subjective reviews, looking at pictures and advertising.  I think people want products that actually sound good as opposed to ones that let you know how crappy the source material is. Maybe mastering engineers need that, but it gets old fast at home. 

I would say that the most pervasive and consistent complaint on this forum is dealing with harshness or brightness, however you want to describe it. Audiophiles buy these hyper-revealing components and then have to spend countless thousands dialing them back with cables, footers, room treatments and whatever else. Or else they only listen to “demo” music that sounds good. Everyone enjoys this hobby in their own way, although I think that to many, this hobby is just a source of constant stress. But I think one reason the results came out the way they did was because of the question. “Which system do you prefer?”  Not “which system sounds the most accurate or the truest to the source?”  So a more euphonic system might do better in a “which sounds better” poll, but worse in a “which is most revealing of the source” poll. Political polls are manipulated this way as well, and it becomes obvious once you become aware of the manipulation. 

IMO, you should hold off on changing anything until you get your turntable and see what’s what within a known reference. Also, with speakers, I’ve had many really good speakers in my room and, for reasons I don’t know, some clicked amazingly with the room and some didn’t. Like your buddy in PR with the Wilsons.  I could tell from your reaction that they were a different animal from the same speakers in your room. Those S7s just click with your room and I think you heard it from the minute you installed them. I wouldn’t be shocked if the more expensive Magicos didn’t sound better. But you do have a “lab” so you have to experiment.  Sometimes we forget that you are not building a system for yourself like everyone else. You are experimenting with different gear for other reasons. Good luck with the TT.