Combinations that exceeded your expectations?

PI: No surprise that you received good advise (even better that you took it). I have found in many cases dealers work hard to carry equipment that works especially well together. It's when we get the itch to upgrade that things get sticky and fraught with pitfalls. I say once you find it stick with it, as Bluenose learned. But if matching equipment gives you a kick, finding a great combo can be quite a rush. My most recent find is a very unassuming piece the NAD L-40, which appears here frequently for less than $500. It's a receiver with a built in cd player for goodness sake and it sounds great on its own, but paired with a push pull 300B amp made by the lesser known Canary Audio (301MkII) the combination rocks. I couldn't decide in this case was it the sound or the music that thrills? I figure it's one of those ever so rare occasions when it is both: mesmerizing to me at least.

Totem speakers,Monarchy amps and (Bluenose is correct) my
N.E.W. P-3 preamp.

Vandersteen 2C/3A speakers have always had a special synergy with McCormack amps, IMO. I would also nominate the Levinson M37 transport and 360S DAC, assuming they're connected with a great digital cable, ie Cardas AES/EBU. But then you would expect products from the same company to work well together. Oddly, the Madrigal AES/EBU cable did not work well with this combo though-- too analytical. Cheers. Craig

Thanks to Albert Porter I recently tried a number of isolation tweaks and of all things... the relatively inexpensive Mod Squad Soft Shoes made my CD's sound as if I'd upsampled them. Go ahead, try and take it from me! Also, I heard a Musical Fidelity HT600 amp at a friends, and never forgot it. It has endless reserve and never chokes, no matter how hard you push it, or what speaker you connect it to. It always retained its character no matter what cables or power cord I tried. I have never been happier with any audio product (with the possible exception of owning Duane Allman's Marshall 100 amp for about 5 years, but that's another story!) It made more of a difference than any interconnect or cable switch in getting me closer to the truth. I would think very carefully before "upgrading" it. Those two pieces combined with my Acoustic Zen Reference Silver interconnects give me that "musicians are in the room feeling", and a few chills occasionally.

BAT VK30 preamp, YBA CD Integre CDP, and the real sleeper, Linn Classik. The Classik is quite simply the best value in audio today and MUST be considered for your second or third system. It's that good. Sold my NAD L40 in a heartbeat, not even close in terms of sound. This stuff represented a MAJOR step up in my listening enjoyment and matched perfectly with the rest of my gear. Jeez I love BAT preamps...