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What was your first big eye opener with regard to audio?


Hello friends,

what was the most fascinating thing you did with the compilation or optimization of your system in terms of SQ or performance, that really got your attention in either a good or bad way?


what was it that actually impressed or surprized you once it was in place?


or what DIY project was it that once done really gave your audio system a big shot in the arm SQ-wise?


maybe it was simply finding out just how much some items could cost


something always seems to take place that changes our philosophies or understandings and maybe even our approach to arranging a fine audio system.


what was your’s?

 

Perhaps it was buying a quality rack, platform, or maybe a pr. of amp stands?


rolling tubes? adding iso footers?


biting the bullet and bringing in a decidedly  more expensive or merely a different electronic component? DAC? Line stage? Mono blocks? Speakers?


what amazing things could be done with as little as 8wpc?


for example, my ‘eye opening’ events came two  fold. adding power line conditioning and using upscale wires/cables, or power cords.


which of these came first I’m not sure but all of them  came with a huge amount of prejudice on my part as to them doing anything positive to the quality of the sound, but indeed they did!


other things came along with nearly the impact or mind altering impact but those were the initial items that paved the way for me to keep an open mind with respect to building an audio system and preserving its synergy.


what was or has been your epiphany? your most surprising  ‘move’ in audio land?


blindjim

Showing 1 response by bdp24

bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,422 posts
 

Hearing electrostatic speakers for the first and second time. First time the RTR tweeters in the ESS Transtatic I, the second time the Infinity Servo-Static I.

Then it was hearing a direct-to-disk LP played by a Decca cartridge. I don't separate the two because their sound is so related. Lightning fast transient "snap" (like the crack of a bullwhip), attack, immediacy and tactile presence, punchy bass (when played aggressively, the strings of an upright bass, piano, and bass drum really "pop"), and the startling dynamics of live music, Vocalists sound spookily in the room, standing right in front of you.

Then it was finally hearing a loudspeaker that reproduced the size and scale of instruments and ensembles: the Magneplanar Tympani. They make just about all box designs sound like the instruments and vocalists are being squeezed through two missing bricks in a wall (left and right), with the vocalists mouth about three feet off the ground. Pianos through them sound like miniature toys compared with big planars and the real thing.

Those are things I heard without owning them, not what I did to a system. But then I acquired them, so I guess that counts.

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