The best speaker you ever heard?

Fcrowder,I realize that my comments "must" be taken with a grain of salt,but "this" set-up at Sid Marks' home has gone far beyond anything I have heard!And I have heard alot!Over a span of 40 years in the hobby.I've heard Sid's stuff for the last thirty years.NOT close to this past weekend!!

That being said(I also owned Sid's speaker at one time,but could not match his AMAZING transformation in allowing "music" to blossom in such a thrilling and realistic way.Amazing really,as I have been privy to the Huge Nola Grand Ref/ASR stuff,and though stunning,it did not get me as involved as this highly tweaked out set-up owned by the "absolute master" of LP reproduction!.......AND he has an LP collection to REALLY die for!!!!

NO,the system sounds absolutely amazing(you simply have to take my word on this,or not)on any LP!!We heard loads of Shaded Dogs/Deccas and you name it.

First off,the room is fabulous,even though not very large.
The table/arm/cartridge is extremely well set up.At first I was not pleased to see Sid get rid of the fabulous(under statement)Air Tangent arm.Yet,the new 12.6(soon to be a 12.7)VPI/Titan-i has "finally" been set up scrutinizingly...by Richard Foster(another vinyl maven).....

THAT alone made a big difference from my last session,but Sid got a new(not expensive)cable,from pre to phonostage which simply was the icing on the cake.It is not even on the market yet,but his neighbor is the designer,and uses Sid's set-up to develop product.Along with new tubes,and a new mod by CJ there is seldom this degree of change there,but who knew I'd be THAT impressed...

To make sure I was not nuts,we went over to another friend owning the new fabulous Magico Minis(I love his system too).Sid "still" ruled the day!!Actually "The decade"!!

Stuff STILL to come(at chez Marks)is new teflon caps in all front end stuff,along with new CJ big mono blocks.I HOPE this actually is an improvement,as I cannot see it getting much better than this!

What can I say,aside from warning him that he can easily lose "this" magic if he gets too carefree with new additions.

Sometimes when you hit it BIG,you should know it,and maybe stop fotzing around!!

Best

Sirspeedy,
You are correct in warning him that the magic could be lost with further experimentation/upgrades. After ONLY 24 years in this hobby, I have come to the conclusion that in the way audiophiles approach their system building, component synergy is not only paramount but also quiet elusive. I have listen to many high-priced systems that were not worth the price of the crates they were delivered in, while other more modest systems have had that magic that you speak of. I for one have abandoned the "audiophile" approach and have gone down a more scientific and knowledge driven path, in which I control the parameters either electronically or acoustically via processors as opposed to the endless component swapping and tone-control via cable selection. Getting back to the point, yes that window for that "magic" is quiet narrow and elusive; Sid sounds like he has the recipe and I would take your advice if I were him and not mess with it but (to use the cliche) just enjoy the music.

Sirspeedy,
You really are a lucky guy....
I would love to read more about Sids system.
Maybe you could start a new subject on this.

You mention above, room ,system and owners skill. I totally agree.
Over the years I have heard a couple of modest systems that had no right to sound so good!
I credit the room and the skill of the owner.

Keep up the good work.

Stilty,actually you seem to be pretty lucky too.I've seen your system thread!!
Best.

my choice is VMPS RM40 :)