Shindo and synergistic components

Nice speakers. Have you considered Nagra?

I have a Monbrisson with the following components:
Manley Mahi Mahi Monoblocks and Living Voice Avatar IBX speakers. I am very pleased with the Monbrisson and think it is the best bang for the buck in the Shindo line up. The real value is in the wonderful phono stage it has and if you can live without a remote, I highly reccomend it. Besides the normal concerns with matching amps and preamps, I think Shindo pres would play nicely with most amps.

The Mahis are not balanced and I have never tried to mix the two. My suspicion is that they would work fine with other balanced components.

I bought the Shindo purely on spec.

I really like the LV IBX speakers. One word I would describe them as, is "fun". They are very lively and dynamic. They have the great quality of being both detailed/revealing and very listenable. I have had some trouble placing them but I have room that is problematic. My placement is a triangle of 12' and 2' off the side and back wall.

This is a relatively new system and room and completely different than my last system which consisted of a 600 watt Mac and Eggleston speakers. I like the direction I'm going, especially, the Shindo. Depending on if I can get the LV's tweaked out exactly the way I want them, I will probably get a Shindo amp (Cortese??). I think the two brands are a good synergistic match.

If I eventually decide on a different kind of speaker which would be a better fit for my room, for ex. a non-efficient monitor, I will definitely keep the Monbrison and match with an appropriate amp/speaker combo.

For me to warrant that kind of additional expense I would have to have a first class listening room and a world class analogue rig for which I have neither. I also think you would want to match all that with one of the higher end Shindo amps. That's just not the kind of money I want to spend on a system. But you may be an oil baron and if the Shindo sound is your cup of tea, I would say, go for it.

Eril,
Can't help you on the mentioned amps.

One amp that I would like to hear with a Shindo Pre is the 200 watt Moscode 401.

I tend to agree with the notion that amps are not the best value when trying to improve your system. I do allot of project management with my work and we use the term "critical path." What is the most important task that needs to get done. That concept is the same when building a system. Personally, my critical path are things like speaker placement, room tweaking, power delivery, cabling, and shelving. I think alot of audiophiles think amps are the critical path when there are so many other cheaper and more effective "tasks" than buying an expensive amp.

One of the qualities of the LV, as with most effecicient speakers with benign loads, is the flexibility it gives you in the amp department. The Mahis are $1500 used and seem to be a good match. Would music on an $8,000 amp sound 4 times or even twice as good on the LV’s... no, not in my opinion. I frankly think I would have to concentrate pretty hard to tell the difference.

I'm not trying to plug the Mahi's or LV but just making the point that I like to think of the speakers and amp almost as one component. For example, because of the qualities of Theil speakers being very revealing and requiring lots of power, I think you would need a pretty expensive amp to mate with them. So the "package" of amp and speaker would be relatively expensive.

BTW, Hatari what speakers do you have?

You may want to put the Dodd 120 on your list. I have never heard it but alot of Eggleston owners like this amp. Like the Verity's, Eggleston's are very revealing and I think they have a more difficult load. Just a thought.

Oh, the problems of the rich and famous... good luck and happy listening.

Streetdaddy... I'll email you directly to further discuss my room problems.

Hatari... We're getting back the point I made earlier about the speaker/amp package. The fact that Verity goes to shows with 200 watt solid state mono amps should be an indication of how the speaker is designed and tuned. I'm sure I’m not telling you anything you don't already know, but, you shouldn't criticize Shindo for not offering high powered amps considering the nature of their product line. I personally think Shindo has some nice valued components in their lower and middle range. The catch is, you have to have effecient speakers to use it. It is what it is.

Anyone know the price of the Shindo modified SPU? It would be cool if you could put this cartridge on a resonable priced arm and table (say sub $4,000 all in) which would have similar sonic qualities of the Shindo Garrard 301. Anyone try to build a poor mans SG 301?