I'm interested in hearing what "the best" systems sound like, where to go?

A safe bet I think.... :)


They want to create and finance their own research in engeneering that is legitimate...But we want the best sound for the less money possible...And after taking care of the embeddings who want to pay for more? Not me.... Upgrade seems ridiculous when we enjoy our music already....I dont want the best system in the world. I cannot afford it; I want the best system for the less money, I created it... :)

Can speakers from the 1970s sound better than big expensive modern speakers? Are you out of mind? 

Can speakers from the 1970s sound better than big expensive modern speakers? Are you out of mind?

My point is not a stupid affirmation like that at all and you know it....

My point is takes what you have, transform it, and takes it to his peak potential and call it a day...


My actual Mission Cyrus speakers are not even on the same level of excellency than my past Tannoy… But they sound better guess why? You know that already...


Do you think I am so fool to claim my old Tannoy were better than the best modern speakers ? I hope not.... 
:)

I was afraid of that. My comment was misinterpreted. What I was trying to say was of course 70s speakers can sound better than big expensive modern ones. Of course the opposite is true, too, modern speakers can be made to sound better than 70s speakers.  I was only hinting at what the general reaction to that statement would probably be, “Are you out of mind?” This is similar to the sentiment expressed on another thread that - contrary to popular audiophile opinion - yes, older CD players can be made to sound better than modern players. All it takes is a little know-how, as they say. 🤗

Oups! I misread your post...

I apologize....English is not my first language.... :)

My best to you....

I knew I shouldn’t have written that as soon as I did it. 😬 Tip for the day - clean all Schumann frequency wall outlet connections with isopropyl alcohol. I use white pipe cleaners. You can see the grime easier with white ones. 😛 Especially recommended for those with many Schumann resonators, I won’t mention any names. Clean contacts and Graphene enhancer if you can get some reduce that old bugaboo, micro arcing. 

Thanks for the tip.... :)

Years ago we went to the Stereophile show in Chicago and heard a lot of nice sounding systems, Back in 1999 we went to the CES show, we listened to 1 million plus setups down to single ended pure class A 2 watt amps running thru very efficient speakers that sounded amazing. All depends on what type of music  usually listen to, how big your listening room  and  pocket book are. AT CES David Wilson had one of his big systems in a huge room with what looked like a couple of prototype sub-woofers that were the size of 30 cu.ft refrigerators, at times you couldn't hear them because they went well below 20hz.  but could certainly feel the room shake. Iv'e had bigger systems in the past, currently I listen to a lot of Jazz and Blues so I'm loving a somewhat smaller set of speakers, if you like rock, classical or big band go with a larger speaker.

Any system that can makes piano great is great.... :)

Each note of piano is like a particular rainbow, it takes great audio system to play these shades of colors, not only the the bass and high notes...

Interesting, I never have the chance to listen to this kind of very costly audio system in my life....I am sure that it will sound musical with tweaks though.... :)

Right. I sometimes worry the people who don't read carefully will see only bragging about being impossibly better than $1.3M worth of audiophile excellence, and entirely miss the main point which is to draw attention to the fact you cannot achieve excellence with any amount of money until and unless you bring everything- every tiny little thing- up to a high level of performance. 

The same system that underwhelms the way I heard it would I'm sure be stupefying beyond words with just a few thousand dollars of tweaks. This is Washington State, so for less than state sales tax they could go from blah to blown away. With the right tweaks. 

But they didn't. So they got blah. But with a whole lotta big. And it does go boom. Thus the phrase, big bada boom. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8WLYzA0lCs

Maybe it’s just me but isn’t MC copying Michael Green’s whole free wheelin’ Elmer Gantry way of talking? It’s that over the top Las Vegas 🎡 carnie thing. Naked and they dance. 💃 It’s uncanny.

No, it is not just you.

mahgister1,570 posts03-08-2020 2:41pmAny system that can make piano great is great.... :)

Each note of piano is like a particular rainbow, it takes great audio system to play these shades of colors, not only the the bass and high notes...
Agreed,  played the piano for years. If you can get your  system to get close your doing something right. ;)

This thread has me imagining a world where people competitively compare audio systems the way hot rodders would race for pink slips.
You could just loudly proclaim that your system is the best ever and wait for folks to come out of the woodwork offering to prove you wrong.
Did anyone mention PS Audio Music room 2 yet?  In all of Paul’s YouTube videos he tells people to come on by. 

@mahgister & @pkg1 Okay...I'll bite.  Do you have a currently available piano recording on CD that might serve as reference?  Label, artist, composition, please.  THANKS much.

Ivan Moravec Chopin nocturne...
 Nonesuch
This Moravec is truly audiophile sound recording... A masterpiece...The pianist use colours with unsurpassed genius...




Bill Evans trio Consecration the last collection
8cd box Universal music


Gurdjieff Hartmann music
Alain Kremski

Thank you, mahgister.  Duly noted.  I'll see if I can find the Moravec Chopin.  That's probably of most interest to me.  Best regards.

Found on Amazon and purchased.

Moravec interpretation of Nocturnes is the best I ever listened to...Because his touch is perfectly balanced between expression and form...
His mastering of shade of colours makes him the top underestimated Pianist of the century...Then we can listen to these nocturnes thousand times without being bored... This is the difference between "more" engaged romantic interpretation... His interpretation is at the same time romantic and inspired by Bach...

All his other cd are masterpiece also.... I choose this one for the sound...

Moravec was/is a superb pianist , perhaps the most neglected of his time .   IMO his Brahms was beyond words .

I am very glad that we concur with one another.... Perhaps we are right ….I think also that this pianist produce a quality level interpretation on all his recordings without many rivals... I had listen to all his recordings with comparisons in all case.... His mastery of tone and colors shades make him so...Others may be sometimes more intensely expressive or virtuoso but very few can produce the same  subtle colors scales...  :)

I promise this won’t take long but getting back to the subject of the thread for just a moment I would like to try to express how much better the best system I ever heard, you know, the one that’s a couple Metro stops away, is compared to the next best system I ever heard. It’s like night and day. It’s light years ahead. It will make you think seriously about getting out of this hobby altogether and finding another hobby, maybe model trains 🚂 or macrame. 

"...the one that’s a couple Metro stops away............... It’s light years ahead."

Those are some very long metro stops. What a commute it must be.

It will make you think seriously about getting out of this hobby altogether and finding another hobby, maybe model trains 🚂 or macrame.

It is like dreaming about the most beautiful woman in history and thinking I cannot loved her, she will not be mine, then i dont want to be in love with my girlfriend no more...

The problem is how to makes the audio system you already own a system able to reproduce piano real sound quality in an approximate manner so well made that you will be in heaven listening to it ?

Saying the King Saoud of Arabia own a better system than mine has no real sense, it is a fact lacking his proper context....Of course some system are better than mine...Even the King Saoud would be jealous of some other audiophile’s system....They are no point to boast about a system... The point is how to makes any system good and mine in particular ?

" The organ i was seeing makes mine uninteresting " -anonymus

"They are no point to boast about a system... The point is how to makes any system good?"

It is simple. Just boast about your own system.

I am in love with my system because i know some ways to makes any system likeable with the right method to embed it... :)

I boast about that not about my system "per se"... It is simple to crush my marvellous Sansui, simply buying a ZOTL Berning amplifier will do... :)

But I am a bit too serious now.... My salutations to you glupson...

@Baclagg, I highly suggest you take up @mikelavigne and @millercarbon gracious offers to hear their systems. On whatsbestforum.com, Mike’s system has garnered many complements from several forum members who have heard it. Just looking at @millercarbon system pics it’s obvious of the time, energy, and $resources were committed to this system is something extraordinary. Both have a wealth of information/experience garnered by years of building their systems. Frankly, the time and cost to visit them is a bargain/no-brainer compared to say buying a component, in fact it may save you time, $, and it also scratches your curiosity itch. In addition, I believe Mike’s system is SS while @millercarbon is tube – it may be valuable info on why they choose their different system building paths.

Other options tend to be hit and miss - visiting audio brick-n-mortar stores, joining an audio club to hear member systems, or going to an audio show.

Audio shows are often notorious for bad sounding systems caused by the rented undertreated rooms (ie: Magico S5mk2 sounded great at 2 shows, but flat at RMAF last year), but you do find some good/great sounding systems. Manufacturers often use them to showcase their latest products. You may even hear a system “sound” that you emotionally connect with so that you can subsequently steer your system towards. AXPONA is the largest North America audio show, but note it has been rescheduled from April 17-19 to August 7-9, 2020 out of concern for the health and safety of all participants due to the growing coronavirus situation. If you’ve never attended a large audio show I suggest you do so – I always greatly enjoy them.

magister, it was that quality that found its home in the tone and shade of
Brahms that , IMO , showed he was at his best in his music.
Class will out .

Yes I loved his Brahms too...If you can listen to his Cesar Franck and Schumann cd...But frankly I never listen to one cd of Moravec that was not on top of the interpretation list... Like you just said "class" is the word....

My two cents:  someone mentioned high end audio shows.  Beware!
They are great experiences, and a great place to talk, get quick listens, etc. But sound will not be optimal and if it is, its luck -and that distorts what is good vs bad. Having set up at those shows more times than I wish to remember, the sound if often way below what we hoped, and what we could produce with some control of the room - and maybe more than overnight with lost equipment and the inevitable tech gremlins that attack without warning.
Dealers are a mixed bag. And they too, if honest, will admit that sometimes they have magic, and other times, the magic is elusive.
G

OK, in case anyone is wondering why is the sound at shows frequently so bad, aren’t these guys professionals? Well, yes and no. Here are the top four or five reasons why getting good sound at the shows can be rather elusive. 

1. Brand new speakers, electronics and cabling. I mean, come on people! That’s a recipe for disaster. 

2. Everybody is plugged into the same circuit. No they don’t have dedicated circuits for every room. 

3. Vibration isolation of all front end components is probably not common, I’m guessing a little here on that one. Seismic type vibration can be a real issue at shows, you know, what with all the foot traffic. 

4. Tweaks are not used extensively on most exhibits, again I’m surmising. Maybe I’m wring, but I doubt, it. Even room treatments.

baclagg
+1 to Nils Lofgren, a local guy from Bethesda MD and his bro Tom is pretty good too!  Most people don't even know of Nils even though he played with Neil Young, the E Street Band and Ringo. Excellent guitar work in his discography.  Keith don't go ( to the town of Toronto) !  was excellent.

My 2 cents...let me first start by telling you I’m a member of the suncoast audiophile society here in the Tampa Bay Area. I have heard many systems, both privately and at shows. I have a somewhat modest system:
bob Latino ST-120
dynaco pas-2 with erhard audio mods (recently replaced with a Vincent sa-t7
music hall cd/dac 
modified Jolida jd-9
bluesound node 2i
thorens TD 125 with sme arm and Hana eh
furman power conditioner
variac
bob crites “cornscala’s
decent cables
my system easily competes with others 3-4 times the price of mine.
trust your ears, ignore price tags and brands.
the end

Thank you everyone for the comments and suggestions. I will definitely refer to the above postings when this pandemic eases a bit and we can all travel freely again. I do want to  hear what's out there!
Stay healthy!

Boston - Goodwin's High End - Spectral Audio.  Let me know what you think.