The Otari MTR 10 R2R Studio Deck I have 2 of them now, and will never look at another deck!!!
Equipment that has made you 'stop' looking?
OK we all know what a merry-go-round audio can be. For those of us who are incessant upgraders, what components have you found that either have stopped or seriously curtailed your search for better?
For me its my Audio Tekne Cables and my vintage Classe DR3 amps (25 wpc high current class A design designed by Dave Reisch in the early days of the company). My Green Mountain Audio Continuum 3s would probably fall into this category, but I would probably buy the next statement models that Roy Johnson builds sight unheard.
Kerry
For me its my Audio Tekne Cables and my vintage Classe DR3 amps (25 wpc high current class A design designed by Dave Reisch in the early days of the company). My Green Mountain Audio Continuum 3s would probably fall into this category, but I would probably buy the next statement models that Roy Johnson builds sight unheard.
Kerry
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Even being this thread pretty old, and as I´m new at this community, I wanted to participate. I´m "done" looking for bookshelf speakers, I have the Dynaudio Confidence C1 Platinum, and after having had heard a lot of options, I believe I won´t sell them ever. Hello to everyone, I will probably say "Hi" at the specific thread / segment to do so. Best! |
Looking at the components that have remained over the past five years:
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I would like to add to the CJ Art Stereo 150 wpc tube amp that made me stop looking..... I started putting my current system together in earnest in about 1994 and in a few years I had a CJ PV12 pre-amp, MV-55 tube amp, Rega Planar 3 w/ Exact cart, EAD digital, JM Labs/Focal Daline 6.1 speakers and MIT cables. Around 2000 I started doing more with power and interconnects with the discovery of what Shyunyata, Siltech, Transparent and Tara mid-level (but costly for me at the time) could do to enhance everything. By a couple of years ago I was up to a pair of CJ Premier 12 monoblocks, CT-5 pre, a maxxed out Linn table with a Shelter Harmony cart, ARC Ref2SE phono-pre, Naim digital, Wilson Sasha DAW’s, newer and better Siltechs for interconnects and speaker cables and Shunyata for power along with Synergistic fuses. It sounded really good so I was surprised when my local audio dealer mentioned that I should audition the CJ Art Stereo 150. I figured why not at least give it a listen after I realized that my Premier 12 monoblocks were many generations back from state of the art. I give this background so you’ll understand that I’ve done a thousand upgrades and have typically experienced real, gradual improvements and sometimes tradeoffs. But in this case the improvement was light years ahead of what I had and what I expected to hear. The Art Stereo 150 brought everything up. Not just more bass, cleaner realistic mids and treble, great imaging, slam, inner detail, pacing and the rest of the audio-speak. It sounds very good cold, but once its run for an hour or so the music almost glows. I don’t mean tubey slow burnished warm glow, I mean realistic ’the players are in the room’ sound. Albums that I’ve played for 40 years seem like I’ve never heard them before kind of sound. If there’s a better amp I don’t want to know about it. I’m done. |
@mahgister: "But i want to remind you and all people here that the mechanical control of vibration will not replace in any way the necessary control of the electrical noise floor level of the house and system... And will never replace the astonishing powerful impact of passive and active acoustic room control..." For a variety of reasons, mechanical control of vibration is the best I can do, at this time. I can only imagine how much better my system could sound were I able to address the other two factors you list. For now, at least, I am delighted with the considerable improvements wrought by the Symposium products. With respect, Stuartk |
For me, it’s not been a component but Symposium vibration control products-- specifically their Svelte Plus Platforms coupled with Rollerblock Jr. + footers under DAC and transport and a Svelte Plus Platform mated to Precision Couplers for my integrated. I’m currently awaiting platforms to place under my monitors. I believe you completely....Because i use my own devices to control vibration and resonance....And they also work.... But i want to remind you and all people here that the mechanical control of vibration will not replace in any way the necessary control of the electrical noise floor level of the house and system... And will never replace the astonishing powerful impact of passive and active acoustic room control... This is the reason why i can achieve great S.Q. with my modest system...Control of these 3 working embeddings dimensions for any audio system is KEY... My best to you.... |
For me, it's not been a component but Symposium vibration control products-- specifically their Svelte Plus Platforms coupled with Rollerblock Jr. + footers under DAC and transport and a Svelte Plus Platform mated to Precision Couplers for my integrated. I'm currently awaiting platforms to place under my monitors. The Symposium products have made me realize I'd never heard what my components were actually capable of. Seems to me, until one has effectively addressed vibration, it makes little sense to chase increasing more expensive components for diminishing returns. |
I think I'm "done" for now, though I might upgrade my disk transport to the new one from PS Audio in the future: My system, with all digital sources, has a P15 power regenerator, DirectStream CD/SACD disk transport & DirectStream DAC from PS Audio, a Roon Nucleus Plus streaming server controlled from my iPad & Android smart phone, a Dell Windows10 Pro machine for iTunes, McIntosh C2500 tube pre-amp, McIntosh MC452 solid state power amp, driving a pair of Focal Sopra No2 speakers, and a pair of JL Audio F113V2 sub woofers, all connections with Wireworld cabling. |
It should be fun revisiting this one year from now!!! I’m essentially ’done’. Speakers: Vintage from 1958: 15" woofers (re-coned), horn mids and highs, new rosewood enclosures. Spare drivers for next generation’s use. everything goes thru Chase RLC-1. remote line controller: 4 inputs/volume/balance from listening chair. auto loudness bass boost properly engaged as volume is reduced. I have spares. McIntosh mx110z, tube tuner preamp, terrific sounding FM and Phono (2 MM), McIntosh Mode switch is a big help when balancing the system, especially my speakers with individual controls for brilliance and presence. They are tricky to get frequency response matching individually and l/r. Teac Reel to Reel X2000r, their last ’prosumer’ deck. TT, big change just finished: JVC two arm plinth cl-p2 with TT81 spinner Blackbird 12.5" long arm, now my first MC cartridge, god help me with future MC chase. Fidelity FRT-4 SUT, 3 inputs, 4 optional loads, pass: then to mx110z’s wonderful Phono. Acos Lustre gst-801 9" arm with MM Mono cartridge. I may try different mono cartridge someday, and I use alt. MM stereo cartridge for some ’non-special’ LP’s to reduce MC stylus wear. *IF I ever see/get rare JVC CL-P3 three arm plinth, then I will have 1 mono, 2 stereo arms. Not an upgrade, just a functional change. CD, 5 disc changer, nothing special, but it matched my high end single player’s sound, back to LP big time, no incentive to change it. Dual Cassette, Onkyo TA-RX490, 8 Track: Columbia House Player (sentimental gift, I designed their offices way back then). ...................... Probably will change Tube Amp. Now Cayin A88T Integrated with remote volume, very happy with it’s sound. Plenty of power for my speakers, It has 16 ohm taps for my vintage speakers, but it has internal bias control which scares me as well as inconvenient. I’ll keep my eyes out for unit with 16 ohm taps and external bias, only 1 input needed, no remote needed as all go thru Chase controller. I don’t stream, highly doubtful I ever will. ............................................... Office system: done! |
+1 boa Eva M for the win. I fell in love with her in Hitch. I actually had a Jamaican American girlfriend who looked a lot like her My room is 20 x 40 x 12ft peak in vaulted ceiling. It takes some umph to load the room with a good spl. The PS Audio M700s didn't quite get me there, so I moved on to Ric Schultz EVS1200, dual mono 1200AS1 class D modules, highly tweaked amp, pumping 600/1200 wpc. It's doing everything I want on all musical genres. That said, I am curious to hear with my own ears, in my system whether the Voyager GaN amp is any better (its only 200w @$3K), especially in my room. So the GaNs said virtues may well be lost here Speakers: I have Emerald Physics 3.4s which would be amazing in a much smaller room, but expecting EP 2.8s to help my EVS1200 fill my room. I suspect my speaker search will be over: https://www.emeraldphysics.com/products/ep-28 |
My actual equipment totally stop me to frantically looking( i look sometimes for some gear hundred times more costly than all my audio system, someone can always dream for sure)... :) The reason why my actual equipment sound so good that i dont look frantically to upgrade it, is not by virtue of his branded magical generic design.... But yes the design of my carefully electronic components is good and the brand well choosen... The reason why i dont look no more to upgrade at all cost is : Any generic electronic component need to be rightfully embed in the" particular" machanical dimension and in the electrical and the acoustical dimensions to reach his utmost potential S.Q. The price paid and the brand name of any electronic design is way less important than you think, the way you will embed it in your house is the most important factor.... I will not name the brand name of my beloved amplifier, or speakers, or dac.... I dont want to sell anything, i wanted instead to reveal something very important.... Thats all.... My best.... |
My system, with all digital sources, has a P15 power regenerator, DirectStream CD/SACD disk transport & DirectStream DAC from PS Audio, Mytek Brooklyn DAC for streaming MQA, a Roon Nucleus Plus streaming server controlled from my iPad & Android smart phone, a Dell Windows10 Pro machine for iTunes, McIntosh C2500 tube pre-amp, McIntosh MC452 solid state power amp, driving a pair of Focal Sopra No2 speakers, and a pair of JL Audio F113V2 sub woofers, all connections with Wireworld cabling. It's all boxed up, as we moved from MD to NC, as our new house (with a "bonus room") won't be ready until February or March.... |
I notice that many of the components listed are of the higher budget category, so here's something a little bit different. I've tried what might be more in the "mid-fi" end of things. Emotiva, Adcom, Parasound, Nad, and older components by Harman Kardon and Onkyo. Still unsatisfied, although the experience was fun. I also went through over a dozen pairs of speakers from Paradigm, Pioneer, Polk, Tannoy, Totem Acoustic, Infinity and Mission(everything mostly used, under 1500 except the Paradigm Signature S6 v2). The Tannoys and Totems imaged the best and sounded more like live music to me. And what complimented them well were components from Schiit Audio, The Freya+ is simply the best preamp I've owned, and people rave about it. I didn't realize it but mid-fi typically has too many compromises and affects/degrades the signal before it ever gets to your speakers. Not the Freya+. It's a true industry disrupter(saw another guy use that phrase and it really fits), so transparent and engaging and far better than anything I had before. The Schiit Vidar also performs far above its asking price, and their Aegir amp is on Stereophile's A list. I've stopped looking for real, and started enjoying the music more. |
ML326S preamp, ML390S CD processor used as transport, ML36(S) DAC, PASS X350.5 and last but not least, Burmester 961, 3 way floor stander speakers, Transparent Ultra XLR, Transparent Ref. digital XLR, StraightWire WaveGuide speaker cable, (definately NOT in bi-wire fashion). If my music / living space would be much bigger - maybe, some Wilson Sasha DAW would be something to look out for (in place of another new car? 🤭) 💐 Michélle 🇿🇦 |
Sansui AU 7700 Mission Cyrus 781 speakers Starting point systems NOS dac All these 3 are the end of my road, not only because they are hard to beat for their price /quality ratio... But mostly because "anything good" will sound near the top if rightly embedded...But this is another story unbeknownst to most... :) |
InnuOs Zenith Mkiii Roon Server Innuos Phoenix USB reclocker Luxman C900u preamp Pass Labs X0.8 series amps (assuming everyone ok after this crisis I’ll attempt to trade in my INT 250 for X350.8) Dynaudio Confidence 50 loudspeakers These are all in my done forever group. Chord TT2 DAC is fundamentally amazing and will likely enter above group assuming I have a place to plug it in after this current health crisis. Be well friends |
Hello @tvad it is an SMc hybrid made from the TLC-1 platform with the VRE-1 outboard power supply and a bunch of upgrades. I actually quit using it as a preamp and with Steve's help bypassed the volume control with two Audio Note Tantalum silver resistors so I now use it as a buffer with my Metrum Adagio, that has volume control by changing the reference voltage. I am currently in discussions with Steve and Patrick to build me a dedicated buffer based on the VRE-0.5 platform but without volume control. |
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I had gone through probably a dozen pre amps and finally just got an aesthetix Janis signature and was quite content until one day I walked into see a movie (James Bond) with my wife and an aesthetix calisto eclipse came up. I had only seen one or two come up in the last few years, but this was in excellent condition and had the single power supply with the reinforced case. As the light dimmed, i couldn’t stop thinking about it, so I snuck out in a slow passage and just bought it. After selling my Janus Sig it only cost me $600. It has stayed in my reference system for the past 5+ years and has satisfied my need to look around. The only thing I can see is that I have been looking for an Io without volume to pair with my callisto. |
PrimaLuna Evo 400 power amp Kuzma Stabi M turntable Kuzma 4-point 9 tonearm Lyra Etna mono and Etna SL stereo cartridges Martin Logan CLX loudspeakers JL Audio Gotham subwoofer fo.Q TA-32 and fo.Q TA-102 tuning tape PPT Total Contact (contact enhancer) Synergistic Research SRX power cable. Mapleshade Samson maple equipment rack Arya Revopod footers Furutech NCF boosters Moon 810LP phono preamp (might look for handwired unit one day). All of the above are giving me complete satisfaction, for the foreseeable future. |