I also felt that Eliiot of Acoustic Image had the best sound at the show with the $40k ESP Grands. Believe it or not, those tall line arrays have 10 drivers each - four 8", four 5", and two 1" soft dome tweeters. Yet, the image and sound like true planars with nearly the same speed and immediacy, but seriously deep and tight bass. The sound seemed to eminating from a single point sourde.
The rest of the system used were massive $35k Wavestream monoblocks, two chasis $16k Messenger preamp w/ built in phono, Brinkman LaGrange TT w/ Brinkman arm, I think a Dynavector XV-1S cartridge, and the Lector CDP & DAC.
Yes, that's silly down-payment-on-a-house kind of money for a system that I would not nor could not ever pay. But.....
If I were ever to hit the Lottery, THAT, is how I would like my systems to sound. They played a solo classical piano piece that was so emotional and real sounding that several grown men were wiping tears from their eyes afterwards. I-shit-you-not! Honest to God truth.
The piece was off a supposedly impossible to find Helen Grimaud cd(in that vinyl room) "Chopin Ballade No. 1, etc." (Denon CO-1786). I don't know which track, but it was played with a heart-wrenching fury. All the more incredible because Grimaud was only 18 when she recorded it. It was played with the emotion of someone far beyond her years, and I'm not even a big classical fan.
CD picture
Ballade no. 1 in G minor, op. 23
Balladen, Kl, op. 23
Après une lecture de Dante
Chopin, Frédéric
Grimaud, Hélène [Mitarb.]
Ratingen
DENON Electronic
[1989]
1 Compact Disc, Beih.
EST d. 1. beigef. Werkes: Années de pèlerinage, année 2 . - EST d. 2. beigef. Werkes: Sonaten, Kl op. 11. Interpr.: Grimaud, Hélène [Kl]. - Aufn.: Leiden, 1987. P 1987.
DENON CO-1786
The rest of the system used were massive $35k Wavestream monoblocks, two chasis $16k Messenger preamp w/ built in phono, Brinkman LaGrange TT w/ Brinkman arm, I think a Dynavector XV-1S cartridge, and the Lector CDP & DAC.
Yes, that's silly down-payment-on-a-house kind of money for a system that I would not nor could not ever pay. But.....
If I were ever to hit the Lottery, THAT, is how I would like my systems to sound. They played a solo classical piano piece that was so emotional and real sounding that several grown men were wiping tears from their eyes afterwards. I-shit-you-not! Honest to God truth.
The piece was off a supposedly impossible to find Helen Grimaud cd(in that vinyl room) "Chopin Ballade No. 1, etc." (Denon CO-1786). I don't know which track, but it was played with a heart-wrenching fury. All the more incredible because Grimaud was only 18 when she recorded it. It was played with the emotion of someone far beyond her years, and I'm not even a big classical fan.
CD picture
Ballade no. 1 in G minor, op. 23
Balladen, Kl, op. 23
Après une lecture de Dante
Chopin, Frédéric
Grimaud, Hélène [Mitarb.]
Ratingen
DENON Electronic
[1989]
1 Compact Disc, Beih.
EST d. 1. beigef. Werkes: Années de pèlerinage, année 2 . - EST d. 2. beigef. Werkes: Sonaten, Kl op. 11. Interpr.: Grimaud, Hélène [Kl]. - Aufn.: Leiden, 1987. P 1987.
DENON CO-1786