MBL room in NYC LONG time ago. I liked EVERYTHING there except PRICE.
At the same time, I was fascinated on quality of such equipment that is probably worth owning!
Where was the best reproduced sound you ever heard?
Answer: Right here in Poulsbo, Washington.
Shunyata Research wowed us all!!
I have short videos but lack the knowledge
of how to share the files.
Best to inquire yourselves.
32 responses Add your response
My last dedicated acoustic room homemade with 100 Helmholtz resonators tuned and others complementary devices. I then learned why and how acoustics concepts and principles rules over upgrades of gear so impactful for sure a best design could be... Most people cannot imagine this, it must be experienced... 😊 The important point is not my subjective opinion about my room , the important point is my objective conclusion : Acoustics knowledge matter more than most upgrades, save extreme one as going from cheap low cost speakers to Revel Salon... Reading most audio threads we are conditioned toward the opposite : gear and price tags matter the most...
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GTT AUDIO, 356 Naughright Road Vivid Giya G1 Spirt speakers, 4 Audionet monoblock power amplifiers (I believe they were “The Max”), Audionet Stern preamplifier, Grimm MU1 Streamer, Mola Mola Tambaqui DAC, Kronos turntable, arm, and cartridge, I believe Kubaka cables and cords, in a huge treated and impeccably set up demo room. I do not know what power conditioner he used. Bill Parish is knowledgeable, professional and fair. I am still trying to save my pennies for the Tambaqui I was auditioning. Almost there. |
Well, if you've been an audiophile for 30 or 40 years and you've upgraded your components a few times, worked on the acoustics of your room, been incorporating best of the tweaks available, collected or have access to the best source material...
...then maybe (just maybe) it should be your own system. 😏 |
how wise, indeed!
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@mahgister + 1. I was just gonna say My own system. |
Certainly my own system as over decades I developed, vetted, tweaked, and generally made my gear heap conform to my personal taste, which results in an astonishingly well sorted sound in my surprisingly great sounding room. Utterly personal of course as most of my friends don’t care at all, and I don't have a stream of audio geeks coming by with their preferences in their addled brains. As a certified "knob turner," working musician and concert producer/sound mixer, my taste has been formed from live music which I can instantly produce by playing an instrument, although listening is easier. Seriously, you have to take a uke off the wall, tune it, take a guitar out of its case...check the humidifier, change batteries in tuners...click a switch on an amp...it’s just so much. |
This one was unexpected. At a Stereophile show in Manhattan in 2005(?), Roman Audio Centurions powered by Krell gear. We put on a Brad Mehldau JVC XRCD, a sampler, "In the Wee Small Hours of the Night". About a dozen people in the room, and nobody said a word, or even breathed very loudly, through the entire 6+ minute cut. Even when it ended, people were just still gobsmacked and silent for another 10 seconds. Too bad the poor guy couldn't get the brand off the ground. |
I believe you and for the reason you enumerated i am pretty sure your system is at least very good... You gave as much importance to installation , embeddings controls and optimization than to upgrades in your post than i trust your impression ...😊
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i just go to your virtual page... There is no comparison at all between your TOP system compared to my modest one...i say it to be clear... S.Q. is also related to gear design ... My point is that gear design and upgrades are not enough...😁 We must take care of electrical,mechanical and acoustical aspects of the sound room... My system so modest it is is very balance and the most satifying i experienced , not because it is the better i had seen , but because the others i had listen too more costlier were not well embedded... I believe you for sure because you know the basic and i dont doubt that your system being balanced acoustically will exceed mine in performance and in impressions ...😊 But many people conflate potential performance by design with balanced acoustic experience in a room ... congratulation... i wish i could travel to hear your system... 🥂
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Fifty years ago I heard a tri-amped set of Magneplanar Tympani IIIas with bass panels spread across a large basement rec room. They were powered by 3 - Audio Research Dual 76 amps, and an SP-3a preamp. The front end was a Thorens TD-125 with an SME arm and a Koetsu MC cart. We listened to Joni Mitchell's 'Miles of Aisles' live album, Dan Hicks 'Live at the Troubadour' as well several other cuts from that era. It was by far the biggest soundstage I have ever heard, it was dynamic, detailed, and unfatiguing, and I was very sorry when the night was over. I have heard (and owned) many great systems since, but none have ever come close to that experience. |
MBL extremes Mk II at Kyomi audio near Chicago. Out of my reach, but if I had room and could get comfortable with the looks, I’d own 101s. As I don’t have a dedicated room, I have to live with them and the bling of MBLs is too much for me and the wife. But the sound is glorious. The Extremes are worth going out of your way to hear if you get a chance. I’ve heard Wilson Chronosonics w/ the Burmester reference gear and while certainly superb, just didn’t do it for me. But those MBLs… |
I was at the CES at McCormicks Place in Chicago in 1989. The audio expo was in the hotel across the street. In one of the large ballrooms they had four large electrostatic panels set up, I believe they were MartinLogan panels. They were four large curved rectangles. In the middle were four ARC Tube amps powering the four panels. Behind that was a turntable and an ARC preamp. They were playing an orchestral piece. As I stood there I could hear each and every instrument in the orchestra laid out in front of me as if I were the conductor standing in front of the actual orchestra- 1 for 1 in size. One of those moments I won't forget. |
Of course. The original music sounds better almost always. But it's not a reproduced sound. Alex/WTA |
For me there is no REPRODUCTION in Hi-FI audio... Reproduction does not exist in acoustics... Only exist acoustic TRANSLATION from the recording trade -off set of choices in the recording room , hall, church, studio , conveyed in bits or analog waves by the gear to the system-room- Ears-acoustical trade-off choices of the listener. The acoustic takes from the recording TRANSLATED in your ears-room parameters can be conservative ,+or-, or very bad, with the loss of many spatial information qualities ( this is the rule for any stereo system because of uncorrected crosstalk effects) but the translation is NEVER perfect anyway if not corrected ( Dr. Choueiri dixit ) ... It is why acoustics principles rule even gear design and experience not price tags of cables etc ... |
Thanks i understand better now ... But what is your point then ?
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As I wrote, my audio system can be the best sound audio system for many people. Not the best appearance or most expensive system but the best sound only. This video might be interest you. You asked before what makes my system sounds special. JPS, Zentara, Wavetouch power cord listening comparison Alex/Wavetouch audio |
Thanks for your kind answer i will listen to it ...
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