The BEST system you've ever built !!!!

Altis Centauri Transport, DCS Purcell Upsampler, DCS Elgar Plus DAC, Clearaudio Reference Table, Graham Arm, Clearaudio Discovery Cartridge, VAC Reenaissance Signature Preamp, Wavac HE-833 Mono amps, JM Lab Utopia Speakers, Kharma silver/gold digital, speaker and interconnect cables. Zoethecus Racks, Walker Audio HDL's and Valid Points and Tuning Discs, with Omega Micro Powercords, Audio Prism Foundation III power conditioner for the front end.

The following is my current system. Whether or not it is the most enjoyable is another question I suppose for another thread but it is the “best” based on the components. It is subject to a lot of upcoming changes brought on by my new high strung mistress the Merlin VSM-SE loudspeakers which have let everyone know who’s in charge but IS definitively better than any loudspeaker I have owned and most I’ve heard. Room is 13’2” X 19’ X 12-8’ vaulted ceiling. This is a multipurpose room or what one might call the “family room” it is open and the sound is getting better with some added treatments. It is occupied by ARC D-115 Mk2 stock amp and SP-8 Mk1 Revision 3 stock pre-amp. Harmonic Tech truthlink interconnects are used throughout, Analysis Plus Oval 9 cables for speakers are coming, Harmonic Tech Pro 11 power cords which will be upgraded in the future as will the ARC gear to iec connectors with better cords. I am a firm believer in good AC from the source, it makes a big difference. I have 2 dedicated 20 amp circuits with Leviton hospital receptacles and independent ground. which was installed when the house was built. The sources are SOTA Sapphire Turntable Premier MMT arm and various cartridges that have accumulated over the years and a P.S. Audio Ultralink via JVC 1050 CD player. These sources are the oldest part of my system. The SOTA has been with me for 14 years now. It does need upgrading or replacing. I have designed an audio equipment rack which I guess I am going to build since the Italian woodworker from the old school who I have been pestering to do it is just too old and not motivated and I don’t have the time for that hobby anymore but…. I'm just going to have to find the time. Some of the commercial units are really junk, they rock too much (Bellogetti comes to mind). I talked with Bob the Sound Anchor guy who lives close by but his units although well built are aesthetically an eyesore for my dear wife. There are many changes on the horizon. The sound of the system at present is analog; superb, digital needs to be replaced. Just ordered a Perpetual Technology P-3A, due today, and will probably follow with the P-1A, (room and speaker correction software coming) IF I like the P-3A. This system is transitional in its present state, aren’t they all? I have spent a bit of time commenting on items that are indirect to the question posed but I have personally found most important in a GREAT audio system - Clean AC, vibration isolation, and room acoustics. The old timers know this but for guys new to this hobby don’t overlook it. Changing gear can be much more expensive with less improvement overall.

The system I will list here may have not been state-of-the- art...but it is the system that gave the most musical pleasure. Audio Research CD-2 and Magnum Dynalab MD-108 feed through Wireworld Gold Eclipse III interconnects into a Conrad Johnson ART pre-amplifier feed through Wireworld Gold Eclipse III into a Classe Amplifier (I think it was the CA-300 or CA-400) feed through Nordost SPM Reference speaker bi-wired into Magnepan MG-20 speakers....various vibration isolation devices were used.. as were room acoustics... I have used many components before and after this system...but this one gave the most pleasure!

I agree with most of you out there that our systems as currently configured are somewhere along in the journey to an ultimate goal, which I certainly won't reach till I get the New York Philharmonic or the New Jersey Symphony into my living room. I currently derive a good deal of pleasure out of my current system, which consists of a Basis Ovation/Graham 2.0/Benz Ruby 2 analog front end, with a Walker Motor Drive, Day Sequerra Reference tuner for the few good classical and jazz stations left in the NYC area, Forsell Mk III/dCs Purcell/Audio Logic 2400 digital front end, with a Marantz DVD-18 transport for 24/96 discs, PSAudio P300 for the digital components, Jadis JP80MC preamp, older model tubed and modified by Andy Bowman of Vintage Tube Services (I've heard the IO at length, and find the presentation and overall sound very similar), Jadis JA80's, again 10-year old models modified and tubed with MO Valve KT 88's, their preferred tube, by Andy for 200hz and up, Meitner MTR 101's, recently updated by Ed Meitner, for 200hz on down, and Sforzando JL1 speakers, of which I may be about the only owner (a four piece system with an active crossover, full range down to about 18 hz, designed by Richard Davidson, who some of the oldtimers might recall designed and made, and unfortunately lost his shirt with, the ITC-1 speakers; they have an upward firing midrange, front and back firing tweeters, and separate subs with two 10 inch drivers). Cabling is virtually all Full Spectrum cables, which were made by Ralph Romano and are a very good, high resolution and perhaps a little sweet-sounding cable. The system is not the last word in transparency, high frequency air and in-your-face detail, but is very good at recreating the original soundspace and holographic imaging, gets timbres right, sounds very natural, particularly with classical music, and really can convey the soul of the music well. Bunch of tweaks, but not extensive. The room, as with Mr. Porter, is our living room; I'm fortunate that my wife is a minister and in the forgiveness business. It's only 20x18x10 feet high, so the lower power of the Jadis amps is not a problem; it's an old Victorian, with good plaster walls and enough draperies and furnishings to get rid of reflections without too many room treatments (which is something my wife does draw the line on). Front end components are in a separate roon off of the listening room, which has advantages and disadvantages (like 40 feet of interconnect). Albert, too bad we don't live closer, yours sounds like my kind of system.

Gentlemen I had to stop reading since I ran out of bibs... What a group of set ups you have!!!!! My only comment is that BEST is always a moving target so every one of us at the level we are in, we all are in the same quest