HAVE YOU ARRIVED AT YOUR FINAL SYSTEM AND WHAT’S IN IT? WHAT ARTIST IS YOUR GO TO?


My system is Infigo METHOD 4 DAC. METHOD 6 AMPLIFIER. GATO FM6 SPEAKERS. ALL INFIGO AUDIO CABLES. 2 REL 212SE SUBS. I LOVE LISTENING TO AHMAD JAMAL!

calvinj

Embrace the healing power of AND.

Cheap speakers AND expensive amps.

Eminent Technology LFT 8 speakers. Despite being in production since the last century and (glowing) reviews in Absolute Sound, Stereophile AND the Audiophiliac, the LFT 8 remains under the radar. The current version LFT 8 C for Charlie costs 4500 United States Dollars per pair. They need big power to wake them up and a big room to get them away from the walls in back so the sound waves can propagate in both directions. Properly set up the entire listening room becomes a sweet spot. 

For the technically inclined, the LFT 8 is a quasi ribbon planar speaker. The mids and tweeters are made of a metal conductor etched onto a mylar panel making more active surface area than an IRS V. These are mounted in a steel frame an inch thick AND there is no cabinet like NO cabinet. A lot of money is spent fighting the physics in a box speaker to make the box inert. If you do away with the box, you save that money while getting fabulous sound. There is no voodoo to planar speakers. It's just having the physics on your side. 

OK the LFT 8 is a hybrid with the bass driver housed in a box. A planar that would go that low would be too big. The coloration from the box doesn't seem to be as crucial in the bass. In fact the vibrations from the box are designed to be part of the sound so don't try to dampen the box.

HSU subs. Adding a sub makes the higher frequencies sound fuller. 

Manley Labs 500 monoblock tube amps. A good output transformer costs money. There is just no way around that. NBS Black cables cost more than the things on either end. I just shut my eyes as I write the check. 

There is a magical synergy between the LFT 8 speakers and the Manley amps and the NBS wires. You will be transported to the Musikverein and hear the Vienna Philharmonic in all its glory. 

The preamp is the discontinued Manley Wave. The CD player is the discontinued Nagra. The record player is the current Oracle 6 with Eminent Technology 2 arm and Benz Gullwing cartridge going into a discontinued Super Lumi phono stage. The tape player is the discontinued Studer A80. There's a discontinued Oppo for playing Blu Ray audio. And a current PS Audio transport and converter for playing SACD. A very up to date Nagra HD X and Taiko for streaming.

It's the System That Time Forgot. You don't have to be all new or all old. You don't have to be all expensive or all cheap. Use what works.  

Karl Richter's recording of Bach's Mass in B Minor. Richter recorded the Mass several times. I like the one with a picture of Christ on the cover but they're all good. Actually any recording by Karl Richter is good. But not to everyone's taste.

https://youtu.be/ShYiihooSa0?si=d7ZkSFSRipj-hHvh

Bob Dylan and The Band playing Blowin the Wind recorded live at the Fabulous Forum. Eat your heart out metal fans. This is the heaviest track ever.

https://youtu.be/Xgjhna90fSk?si=p9fnajtLVKMjP6sa

Glen and Willie Funny How Time Slips Away

Oh! The poignancy of Glen audibly fading away into Alzheimer's.

Alternate take

Just to see the look on those grizzled faces.

Sonny is the Colossus

One honk from this man and the rafters will shake.

Waiting to pounce on a used Esoteric K1X SACD player. Just to have the transport which is carved out of a single block of metal. 

Never.   This is like cocaine.   Always seeking a better high/sound.  

 

My final system which I listen to for hours everyday consists of the following:

Custom Klipsch Cornwall Speakers in East Indian Rosewood

Pass Labs 60.8 monoblocks

Pass Labs XP-32 preamp

Thorens TD-124

Don Sachs tube phono amp

Dual 701

IFi Phono amp

Cambridge Audo CD Transport

Blue Sound Anniversary Node streamer

Schiit Audio Bifrost DAC

Pioneer TX 6500

Decware Sarah tube amp (on order)

@tbick so true here I am ear happy with my system and still wanting more! Tapping the ear vein! 

I am done for now.  I doubt I will change anything until forced to do so by technology.  My system is in my profile. The speakers are from my previous CD-based system, but the electronics are fairly recent, and the speakers really sing now that each driver is being driven by its own amplifier.  I love the system and do not wish to change a thing.  I am listening to Blue Train right now, and I feel like I am sitting in Rudy Van Gelder's studio, right in front of the band.  

Not an inveterate tinkerer, I am more interested in the destination (music) than the journey, though I have enjoyed the journey as well, mostly thanks to an outstanding dealer (Joe and Mike Heusi at TIMBRE in Houston).

"Go to" artists from a SQ/system perspective include VOCES8, the Telarc organ recordings of Michael Murray, Chick Corea "Touchstone," and anything recorded by Rudy Van Gelder, and about 27 others.

@everyone I am a rep of Infigo audio. We will be at the Capitol Audiofest next week outside of Washington D.C. Friday thru Sunday come check us out! Full Disclosure. This is the only time I have mentioned Infigo. Would love to meet some of you guys. 

My system consists of these components

SIM audio p8 preamp

SIM audio w8 amplifier soon to be upgraded to the new 861 amplifier

Esoteric P10 transport

Wyred4sound 10th anniversary DAC

Monarchy audio up sampler

MonitorAudio platinum 200 ll

Speaker wire: Neotech the Sahara rectangular copper OCC wire

Interconnects: Neotech the Sahara XLRs

Power cables: Neotech The Grand rectangular copper OCC

I will be rewiring my speakers internal wire with 14 gauge OCC signal crystal wire next year when the warranty runs out, I did that with my monitor audio gold G4 and I got a 10 to 15% improvement right across the board in everything so I'm expecting about a 20% improvement with the platinum.

Very close to my final system.

Only really have power cables left to get. Going for Mad Scientist Black Magic, and Black Magic Ultra.

My system has remained essentially unchanged since late 2015 - it is my final system. The only changes since then are as follows:

1- added a McIntosh PS112 subwoofer - free to me from a friend 

2- new phono cartridge (old one wore out- I had it around 20 years)

3- added a music streamer- 

4- added a Marantz model 20 tuner- that was free as well 

 

@calvinj : Will you be adding a Method 7 preamp to your system? Can it be ordered as a line stage only? Jeff

I am afraid that I done, not because I have achieved what I want, but because I am now on a fixed income which does not allow me the luxury to upgrade the way I used to when I was gainfully employed.

I would like to add vinyl, bit I probably never will.

I should have upgraded my B&W 805s back in the days that I could have afforded to, and if I ever make another upgrade, that will probably be it.

The rest of my system is a Maranzt SA10, my last and possibly final upgrade was a Cary SLP 05 (that I did spring for "The Ultimate Upgrade"), a Cary V12, and an ancient M&K sub augments the B&Ws.

“I am afraid that I done, not because I have achieved what I want, but because I am now on a fixed income which does not allow me the luxury to upgrade the way I used to when I was gainfully employed.”

What is the situation with your room? Do you have a dedicated listening room? Are you free to modify it with room treatments? If you can do a little handyman level work there’s a lot that can be done to upgrade through room acoustics on a modest budget. I’d be happy to steer you in a good direction

I don't know about "final", but I am happy with what I have and don't see changing anything in the foreseeable future.

Main equipment:

Classe CP800 preamp

Classe CA2200 amp

Emerald Physics 2.8 OB speakers

Rythmik G22 Dual-opposed 12" sub

Yamaha CD-S2100 CD/SACD

Synergistic Research cables/fuses/etc...

My go-to artists would be Rush/Yes/Pink Floyd/DeBussy/Beethoven/etc....lots of classical, but pretty much anything that's exceptionally recorded, especially on SACD.

I thought the Monitor Audio PL500 II would be my last speakers, but I'm looking into TAD and Vivid Audio as possible replacements.