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

Getting a pair of Technics SB-C700 and comparing them with my YG Hailey and Avalon Eidolon Diamond.

1.   Aesthetix Metis preamp.  I had no idea a preamp could make this much difference.
2.  Better wires.
Jim Heckman

RAAL 70-20XR Ribbon Tweeter with Amorphous Core

They sound like the singer is in my room singing into a mic that is directly hooked up to my speakers.
Vocals, imaging, sound stage, transparency and detail all without ever sounding harsh or fatiguing.

flynnrd
Switching to tube amplification. Distortion? Maybe. But it sure sounds good to me.

blindjim>
plus 1 for sure!

chuck92914 posts
07-19-2019 2:03pm
While inquiring about another component, dealer suggested PS Audio Directstream JR DAC. I bought it, And Everything Changed. It was like listening to Dark Side of the Moon for the first time. Have since upgraded to SR and DMP.
Second was at the Florida Audio show to listen to speakers. Many good ones there, but the Spendor A7s just sang to me. They are now singing in my listening room.

blindjim>
wasn't that room the one that also was showing with VA Listz?

I only heard that rig with the Listz... I felt that demo had nothing to write home about. admittedly, the choice of music during my attendance was well, not striking. old 007 LP tracks.

glad you enjoyed the Spendors though.. I would have liked to been able to hear them myself.

jszei
1. First without question it is the impact high quality power can have on sound.

2. Second is a properly treated room.


blindjim>
on both counts, its like making significant component upgrades.


bluetone
in reality, this is a humidity issue in the room. I

blindjim>
humidity affects walls, floors, ceilings, furniture, furnishings, speakers, drivers, pianos, guitars our sinuses, and our hearing too.

certainly Humidity is something to address. .


guskund
The music sounded like real instruments !

thus the rabbit hole appears ........


blindjim>
ain't it the truth!

always avoid the 'big room"!


stvgray
the most jaw-dropping single change I ever made in my many systems was installing a direct AC line from our breaker box to new four-plug boxes in my listening room. WAY more difference than any of the many multi-thousand-dollar changes I had ever made in my various systems up until then.


blindjim>
I believe to this day, had I stumbled onto or had any faith in upgrading power line conditioning or merely adding dedicated power lines sooner, I could have lived with the first substantial upgrades I made in power via Krell KAV 250 & BW speaks.

the cables as it turned out were really substandard too. too bad. even adding the mate preamp to that amp was a premature move given nothing had been done to improve the power or signal wires

live and learn the hard way or keep an open mind!! .


Steve
mrvordo
Probably my "first" was realizing that the pre amp was the heart of any system. There is no way to tell what is going on in your system until the pre amp is of sufficient quality.But my first "Oh My Gosh" moment, was when I started trying power cords and power outlets. I couldn't believe the difference that they made.


blindjim>
it seems these two things are garnering a strong concensus for their bang for the buck!
I know I'm sold.


@jdl>
Lampizator DACs. First a Big 6, followed by a Big 7. Lampizator DACs are indeed different. All of the analog stage is tubed. My Big 7, I loved the Big 6 but I wanted DSD capability, uses an R2R ladder DAC (not a chip) for the PCM decoding, and a separate filter (not a DAC chip) for the DSD decoding. It also uses a tube rectifier and directly heated triode tubes in the output. You can roll the tubes, my preference is for the 300b. There are no chips or op-amps in the signal path. They have turned digital into my preferred source, especially DSD.


blindjim>
Lampy has snatched and stolen my attention lately for sure.

I flatly missed an opportunity to hear their Flag some months back and kick myself for it.

have you heard the GG or Pacifica?


@jandewitt>
I remember. 35 years ago my audioshop lent me a set of loudspeaker cables. “Here, try this. Let me know what you think”. It made me listen to my cd collection in a whole new way.


blindJim>
30 to 40 years ago a wire upgrade was cutting off the ends of extension cables and using them for speaker wires.
sheessh!


@cd3>
The so-called upgrade ladder whilst promising much actually delivered precious little, especially after my upgrade to reasonably full bandwidth loudspeakers.


blindjim>
there is indeed wisdom in those lines. chasing that last 5 to 15% gets terribly costly, and after some extensive reflection on it, its just not worth it.

optomizing the rig and room once quality pieces are on board is the real ticket.

if curiosity still rages, IMO its time to simply put together a different design, or topology outfit elsewhere, rather than to drop tons into new amps, line stages, sources, etc.

speakers as you say are key though. their mating to the amps is pretty much the whole make it or break it deal. room acoustics not with standing.

speakers have to fit both room and amps or your gonna be chasing your tail.

killer speakers too big for a room is asking for trouble.

in fact, I've always seem or proven very good speakers with all else in front of them being great to outstanding is better than the other way around.


@johnsonwu>
Getting a pair of Technics SB-C700 and comparing them with my YG Hailey and Avalon Eidolon Diamond.


blindjim>
OK... I'll bite. What happend then?
who won?

1. Tube Pre-Amp
2. Martin-Logan speakers
3. How easy it is to fool your ears. Listen to lots of stuff, carefully!