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.
