Thanks to Juan of @blisshifi for Greatly Improving My Listening Pleasure


A big thanks to Juan of @blisshifi.

Juan helped to guide me through my purchase of both a phono preamp and streamer.  He has been an excellent source of support  as an audiophile enthusiast first and dealer second.  I would now call him a friend.

Juan was in Dallas this weekend for the Southwest Audio Fest and offered to drive over one hour to meet and as it turns out, transform my system.  I think that he has some form of supernatural abilities with tuning two channel systems.  My Wilson Audio dealer setup my listening geometry and speaker placement/orientation.  Another dealer sold me/setup my turntable and MySonic cartridge.  I didn’t try to alter any of this.  He subtly moved my speakers, then decided to move the listening distance and once again adjusted the speakers.  He worked to better integrate my subwoofers and through each step he had me listen to the result.  In the end, my speakers totally disappeared and the soundstage extended above, behind and way to sides of the speakers.  Pinpoint imaging greatly improved and there was a greater fullness to the music.  He identified a weakness in my system being a bit of excessive high end and said that it might be due to my D/A converter.  The next morning I realized that a year ago after a hearing test found that my sensitivity over 8K was severely impacted, I engaged my integrated amp’s equalizer and boosted the 10K filter by a bit.  For me, this resulted in a much better clarity with some music and revealed more detail.  Unfortunately, I forgot that it was engaged.  That said, I believe that their is a bit of electronic hash in the top end that probably doesn’t come from the equalizer.  

Then we moved to my analog, which represents a much greater investment of money and Juan was shocked that the soundstage was collapsed and it didn’t sound right.  When he looked at the tonearm I could hear him saying to himself, “what the hell”.  It seems that the tonearm wasn’t setup and in fact the VTA was drastically off and likely caused excessive wear of the stylus.  After putting things right with the setup things were much improved, but will take a good bit of time to sound better as the stylus wears in. I reluctantly spent $10K on just my cartridge.  For me, that was a small fortune.  My dealer reassured me that they spend extra time setting up the high end cartridges and that their technician had years of experience, so I got lazy and didn’t check things out for myself given my limited knowledge of turntable/arm/cartridge setup.  So, I should have double checked everything and I didn’t.  I’m quite disappointed in my dealer.

On a more positive note, it was a real joy to meet Juan and am grateful for his  expertise and the many hours spent righting my system. He made sure that I could  hear the difference at each stage of his tuning.  On top of that, Juan was so very pleasant on a personal level.  I plan on relying on Juan as my audio needs change and will say hi from time to time…. Thank Juan

vonhelmholtz

It is always beautiful and informative to explain why we thanks someone...

Thanks then to you ....

I would like to add to the plaudits for Juan of Bliss HiFi. I reached out to the Agon community for advice on a streamer and DAC direction, and Juan was one of the people who weighed in. In a separate email conversation, he was generous with his time, information, and experience, and provided me with the feedback, perspective and advice to make my decisions. Juan’s business does not get in the way of being a knowledgeable audiophile who listens and shares, which was greatly appreciated. There was no sales pitch whatsoever, just a conversation between someone who had been down the road (Juan) and someone (me) who was interested in taking the next steps on the digital journey. After much discussion, I have a streamer and DAC combo that sounds great, thanks to Juan's advice. Full disclosure: I got both pieces from him, and am the better for it. Kudos, Juan.

Robert

A couple of years ago, I went to Apoxna with the goal of finding a new set of speakers that “ticked all the boxes” — a floor standing speaker; a neutral, natural sound; very revealing (likely having a ribbon tweeter), good bass;  a big soundstage; and, of course, affordable (less than $20,000.) Walking into the Raidho Acoustics suite, I found my speaker — except I’d have to take out a second mortgage to buy them. Walking into the adjacent room I discovered Scansonic — Raidho’s “value line” with Raidho attributes. To my ears — they were amazing. After a long listen, I was tempted to buy them on-site. But prudence caused me to think it over. When I told the manufacturer where I lived, he responded that they had an excellent dealer in my city.

Enter Juan from Bliss HiFi. I hadn’t been home a day when I got an email from him, offering to bring a pair of Scansonics to my house for an in house demo. (Hmmm, never had a dealer offer that.)

He arrived, set them up and then said, “Keep the Scans here for a while next to your existing speakers so you can compare them over a few weeks. (Never had a dealer offer that either.) Long story short — I bought them and couldn’t be happier.

And when I had some electronic issues requiring that I send my amp and pre-amp in for repairs, Juan offered to drop by with a new integrated amp he had on display. “You can’t be without music — keep it as long as you need it,” he said! (Nope, NEVER had a dealer say that.)  

Fast forward — my equipment is back from the repair shop and connected to the new Scans. They sound even better than I’d remembered from the show. I call Juan so he can get his integrated back and he responds, “I’ll come pick it up and while I’m there we can dial in the speakers so they’re perfect in your room.” This guy is awesome.

He arrives and spends a couple of hours getting everything set up just right. Now they’re perfect alright — better than I would have ever imagined.

The moral of the story — find a great stereo dealer and don’t let him go. In my book, that’s Juan of Bliss HiFi — this guy’s a ROCK STAR!

Thanks Juan. You da man! 

Michael 

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I have known Juan for the past 7 years and over the years I have seen his expertise in action many times. His understanding of setup and system matching is second to none. Working with him has help me better understand critical points in my system that needed to be addressed before its full potential could be unleashed. His knowledge is a valuable asset that many in this business either don’t have or are unwilling to share. He listens and helps solve issues that most people don’t realize they are having, which in the long run saves you money, it has for me!