My last rodeo


Ready to buy new equipment after 20 years without.

I'm going to take this in steps and it may take me a year to a point where only minor tweaks may be all that remains. Ultimately, I may have about 30K available. 

I want to start with amp and speakers by telling you what I had. MFA 200C mono blocks, Audio Concepts Saffire III's with a pair of powered Sub 1's. The reason I mention this is because I was pleased with the results. As a matter of fact, I looked forward to coming home from work everyday to enjoy the music. A similar or better match would be great. Thanks

 

tburdwin

Showing 2 responses by whart

@tburdwin -sorry, have little first hand experience with audio dealers in your neck of the woods- I know that one person took my recommendation to visit pitch perfect (which I think is now in Cathedral City, Ca) at a time when Shindo was still a very active brand, and bought into that sound. 

I guess the other bit of advice I would offer is to seek out dealers who promote different things--such as planars, dynamic speakers and horns or high efficiency speakers, and consider the amplification most appropriate for that type of load-- 

 I guess at this point, we’d need to talk about your room, size, dimensions, materials and surfaces, etc. 

and remember that no one dealer is going to have all brands/lines and will promote what they think is best to them. If you get enough seat time (and especially if you have multiple dealer options available that are close), you should really let your ears tell you what sounds most real to you, recognizing that an effective demonstration is going to maximize the results and your experience at home may differ. 

PS: as an after thought, I guess conceptually the best way to look at this is that you are building a system and synergies are real things which are very hard to know if you are buying X amp, Y speaker and are left to your own devices, such as reading reviews or listening to a sales pitch. 

Seat time first. Without your credit card, check or cash. Go listen to the best on offer and hear what is possible. Then figure out what you like, and why. References are good, but I’d listen to as wide a variety of music as possible to hear the man behind the curtain. Every system has some weaknesses. But the strengths often outweigh those, based on your ears. And you should save money by doing this as part of your personal "due diligence" to educate yourself as to your own preferences in today’s market. I didn’t look up where you are, but a plane flight is still cheaper than an expensive component or raft of them that takes you in the wrong direction. I express no preference. You can look up my system here, which represents where I’m at on one system; my other system is a vintage system that replicates what I ran in 1975-- based on the Quad Loudspeaker, also all tube, vinyl. 

But that’s my preference. Yeah, I can do digital and use it. Some of it sounds amazing. I’m still vinyl heavy but that’s the result of almost 60 years of buying LPs. Hit or miss. No one way. Have a riot. :)