IA: I agree with your initial comments about the SACD 1000's tonal balance. I stated much the same thing in my very first post about the unit i.e. it had a strong bottom end and lacked top end extension and "air". Obviously, these were my results with the unit taken directly out of the box and installed into a system that was not "optimized" for this component. Up to this point, we are on the same page here and this is where things begin to diverge.
After that initial post, i began experimenting with my system. With further tweaking and refining of what was already there, i was able to minimize the deficiencies in the system. Prior to this, i had primarily blamed much of what i was hearing on the SACD 1000, as the introduction of this piece into the system surely did change the performance that i was experiencing. The fact that the SACD 1000 was also improving from break-in during this period of time surely didn't hurt matters either or lessen my opinion of it.
While i'm not done experimenting with the system or the SACD 1000, the changes that i've made to the system ( which i noted what it consisted of part for part in a prior thread ) have resulted in a far more transparent and natural sounding reproduction chain. Obviously, this is with the SACD 1000 acting as the Captain and barking orders down the line. As many others may realize, one system or mode of operation may not work that great when other changes are made. Kind of like working for one boss and then having someone else take over the company.
The new boss may seem like he has his head up his ass initially and the way that they want things done may be very different. As such, it would be easy to jump to early conclusions that were incorrect in nature since only part of the plan had been implemented. In the long run, when all of the changes have been fully implemented, fully understood and running as a whole, the end result may be increased efficiency for every aspect of operation. This is true even though one might have initially thought that everything was going down the drain. That is what i ran into with the SACD 1000 once i let ALL of the system changes and those within the SACD 1000 itself run their course.
Given the lack of consistency in your posts, the reduced level of understanding that you displayed about the unit itself and how to set it up in your system, etc... it was VERY easy to jump to conclusions about your level of understanding how "systems" work and how willing you were to work with the product to obtain optimum results from it in stock form. The fact that your story seemed to change along the way didn't help matters either.
As to your comments about the price of the unit, that never entered my mind. My comments about the performance of a unit are not based on price, brand name, reputation, cosmetics, etc... I try to forget about all of that and simply let the product do its' thing as best possible and judge it on its' own sonic merits. As such, i stand by my statements that the SACD 1000 is a very solid performer when one's system is optimized to work with it and that it would be an excellent candidate for further internal upgrades and modifications.
As to whether or not you agree or disagree with me on any of the points i've tried to bring up here, that is up to you. I never tried to make this a personal thing. What i did try to do was get to the bottom of the information being presented, the consistency of the information and how that information came about. You were simply the carrier of that information. I would have done the same thing to anyone else that said what you did in the manner that it was presented.
Either way, i hope that you enjoy the system(s) that you have and continue to contribute to these forums. I would also add that you might want to update / correct / separate the components that you are running in each of your systems as listed on Agon. The way that you have the information presented now could only lead to further confusion if someone was researching what your point of system / musical reference was.
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Jeff: My intent was to demonstrate that i'm actively involved with this "hobby", have been an avid audiophile / supporter of audio related subjects and am very much a "hands on" kind of person. I thought that knowing a bit of background about me might help to better qualify some of my statements within your mind.
Having said that, I had assumed that you had not read all of IA's comments in other threads and that is why i suggested it. One could surmise ( and your further comments verify this ) that your original input to this thread was based on a lack of information or "jumping to conclusions". As such, i would ask that you DO examine the other Agon SACD 1000 based threads to see exactly what was going on here. At the same time, you might be able to learn more about the SACD 1000 by reading some other, more diverse opinions than those presented on AA. If nothing less, you might be able to pass on the info to your friend or have him stop by here to share his results and insight with the rest of us that are curious about this unit.
And one thing further: I do need to chill out. I've got a lot more important things to worry about than what is discussed on this forum. Sean
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