That Transformational piece of Gear We All Wish For

I've done that a few times (amps, preamps, CDPs, DACs, most recently speakers) and I have experienced transformation, but sonic transformation can be ("can" being the operative word) like a good drug high . . . it's only good enough for a while.

I’d say the only piece I bought that I did not consider transformational was the Cary V12 I bought in the eraly summer of ’01. And the reason I say it was probably not transformational is because I was listening to, at the time, a pair of ARC VTM120s, and those amps were kickass! But they were not very reliable, so the Cary was transformational in those regards, because I am no longer gritting my teeth and crossing my fingers when I flip the switches and I no longer keep my soldering iron with a supply of grid resistors next to the amp. Other than that I’d call the V12 a lateral move. Maybe even a hair down, but I wasn’t admitting to that at the time.

When I bought the ARCs they were an upgrade from a Cary SLA70, and that upgrade was transformational. The Cary SLA70 was an upgrade from JVC multichannel integrated, and that was certainly a transformational upgrade.

I went from a B&K digital pre to a second hand modded Cary SLP90, and I found that to be mind blowingly transformational. A couple or so years ago (the years all run together for me post ’17 or ’18) I bought a preowned (from Cary) SLP05, and that was nearly as mindblowingly transformational as the SLP90 was. That SLP05 is good.

I upgraded my 3 piece digital throughout the ’90s and thought it was good but I also thought that it probably wasn’t getting something right. I bought a SACDp (SA10) over three years ago (’20 I think) and I have found SACDs to be transformational as I do not do vinyl.

. . . and on edit:  I am currently auditioning/breaking in a speaker upgrade (Revel m126be) from  my nearly 30 year old B&W 805s (matrix series).  The B&Ws were transformational at the time seeing as how I had been listening to an affordable pair of NHT 2 ways.  Some nights I think the Revels are transformational and on other nights I would not go that fra.  But they are good.

Funny - I thought this was an amp thread til the last post or two.

And I thought it was a transformational piece of gear thread.

Big open space, with a tv in between. I wish I could figure out the best way to treat that space without my wife telling me it’s ugly, or worse yet, no :). My preamp made the biggest difference.

@wjcasey3rd , I had always read that anything larger than a bread basket between speakers was a cardinal thread.  Actually, I had read that before I started reading here on A'gon, and like every other thing, that is disputed here as well.  However, as far as the TV between speakers, here I I have read (and I think on this thread as well) that covering the TV with a large blanket makes a huge sonic improvement.

I like your thoughts. I’ll tell her that since we live on a dirt road with horses up and down our streets that I’m just keeping the tv clean. And dust free.

@wjcasey, I’ve never done that myself, as I didn’t think I needed to, as when my rig was in the living room the large TV was flush with a large cabinet and at the time I felt that made a wall in front of the real wall. I may have been wrong about that, but my standards were lower at the time.

But the beauty of the blanket over the TV trick, it seems to me, is how easy it should be to do and undo.

And since you cannot edit typos here for very long after you make them, I note that I typed anything bigger than a bread box between speakers is a "cardinal thread": I meant to type cardinal sin. (I am not a very good typist.)

Old Proverb:  The Road To Hell is paved with transformational pieces of gear.