Had a great 3 hours at Ultra Fidelis today. My first time in the shop even though I grew up in Milwaukee. I listened to the Quatro CTs fed with the M5 HPA. Preamp was ARC Ref 6SE and digital was Qobuz streaming but I don’t recal the DAC. Cables by AQ including the new William Tell Zero.
Others have noted this but Jon has this room setup very nicely with a great focus on speaker placement. This is a basic size living room with some furnishings and no fancy absorption panels or bass traps. So very real living room.
The sound was just stunning. Locked in imaging, plenty of meat on the bone and very much showing me what was in the recording. Excellent musical flow and dynamics even at higher dBs. So much information coming at you. I learned a lot about what this amp/speaker combination can do when properly set up in a real world room. Got some great ideas about how to alter my current setup and things to try before pulling the trigger on new speakers or amps. I know I would be very happy if I could get my stereo to sound as good as Jon’s setup.
I’m sure other Vandersteen users know what I mean when you get the speakers locked in. It was fun!
Others have noted this but Jon has this room setup very nicely with a great focus on speaker placement. This is a basic size living room with some furnishings and no fancy absorption panels or bass traps. So very real living room.
The sound was just stunning. Locked in imaging, plenty of meat on the bone and very much showing me what was in the recording. Excellent musical flow and dynamics even at higher dBs. So much information coming at you. I learned a lot about what this amp/speaker combination can do when properly set up in a real world room. Got some great ideas about how to alter my current setup and things to try before pulling the trigger on new speakers or amps. I know I would be very happy if I could get my stereo to sound as good as Jon’s setup.
I’m sure other Vandersteen users know what I mean when you get the speakers locked in. It was fun!

