Ayre AX-7e, Ayre CX-7e mp, Ayre P-5xe, Ayre L-5xe. He who gets himself off the equipment merry-go-round soonest wins.
Would you go all 1 brand for electronics?
When I was younger I used to dream of stacks. Especially Tandberg. The sexy black and chrome gear was amazingly sexy, and sleek. Ahead of it’s time really in that respect. Kyocera, Studer, Sumo, Amber, Hitachi, Yamaha, Technics, were all making gear that stacked beautifully together. Of course, so was McIntosh.
Then I got to hear a demo of Conrad Johnson gear driving a Martin Logan single panel speaker. It was good, but as soon as the CJ amp got switched out for a solid state amp, it was absolutely magical. That broke the spell for me. When I got older I found myself mixing and matching more and more, as well as often wishing there wasn’t a single damn cable in the system and it all just worked. :)
I tried going all 1 brand with Parasound, but then I discovered great sounding digital amps and instead of going with many Parasounds I went with little monoblocks, and the whole stack idea was broken. They don’t make sources anyway.
So my question for all of you, especially those of you who do not have all 1 brand stacks of gear. If you had to choose, from source to amp, a single brand, what would it be? Of course your paying for it, so keep the cost in mind. :)
I think we should reasonably exclude record players, though some like McIntosh DO make them.
Best,
Erik
Then I got to hear a demo of Conrad Johnson gear driving a Martin Logan single panel speaker. It was good, but as soon as the CJ amp got switched out for a solid state amp, it was absolutely magical. That broke the spell for me. When I got older I found myself mixing and matching more and more, as well as often wishing there wasn’t a single damn cable in the system and it all just worked. :)
I tried going all 1 brand with Parasound, but then I discovered great sounding digital amps and instead of going with many Parasounds I went with little monoblocks, and the whole stack idea was broken. They don’t make sources anyway.
So my question for all of you, especially those of you who do not have all 1 brand stacks of gear. If you had to choose, from source to amp, a single brand, what would it be? Of course your paying for it, so keep the cost in mind. :)
I think we should reasonably exclude record players, though some like McIntosh DO make them.
Best,
Erik
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The benefit of using a single electronics manufacturer is that you're pretty much going to get the same quality sound as the manufacturer does in their reference system. Voicing will work together across the components. The results should be the best possible sound the manufacturer can produce. I use all Herron Audio electronics and cables. I even found out what Herron uses for digital and analog sources. The results are stunning. Replacing a single component, regardless of the new component, degrades the sound reproduction quality. IMO, the same applies to other manufacturers. Good ARC, Atmo-sphere, Rowland, VAC... The list goes on. But the best results would seem to be from using a single electronics manufacturer. |
There is one company that has not been mentioned. They have always been known for system synergy. Begining with all in one streamers. Then you have what seems like an endless upgrade path. Optional sources, power supplies a one of a kind grounding scheme. Even speakers and recommended speaker cables and interconnects....... Naim Audio. N |
"Older Krell like the KSA series, was always out of reach for me. That would be my first choice. Second choice is Classe." I use to be a dealer for both but didn't keep any for different reasons. Basically because I found others I liked better. I have Gamut amp and speakers but could switch to my CJ and Spendor without much pain. Also use Metrum and Townsend. |
I had the old tandberg set ups we used to sell them .There reel to reel was sick! I had luxmans over the years Krell too power but wasnt for me .I still like the mf stuff the nuviista 800 is a beast ..I love my modded nuvista m3 Of course price is not a concern i would probly do all ref arc ,or ayre |
Going all Audio Research is not a bad thing, in fact it's a sound investment having a good resale value, you can tell a lot of effort goes in to build quality both internally and externally. I always wanted to try Gamut products, tried many other brands but unfortunately not Gamut. You don't hardly ever see their products for sale. |
For my ear and my desire for fewer knobs etc my preference is Aesthetix for 1 stack. I'm almost there. Have atlas eclipse amp and Romulus sig cd/dac. Currently run Mac C52 but and soon to upgrade to calypso rhea sig or eclipse. Want to hear new Metis. 1 brand of matched gear just looks better to me and that's part of it when the gear is all out there to be seen. Aesthetix looks great to me and I love the sound I get from the hybrids running thru my Burmester B30 and Lp12. |
To the original topic, the short answer is 'yes, definitely,...'. In my case, it has come to be a stack of Esoteric separates that offer great synergy and truly musical playback. There are many other great examples both with and without speakers in the line-up that people have called out including Classe, Krell, Linn, McIntosh, MBL, etc....on this thread as well as others including Gryphon, TIDAL (Germany), Hegel & Electrocompaniet (Norway) and several others that come to mind. |
For one manufacturer, besides speakers, I would do the NPac combo from Aurender.....a 100w integrated including DSD/PCM DAC along with a 4 terrabyte storage/playback unit.....for under 5K retail.... I would partner them with the unbelievable Ryan 610s for 2k retail Here's a video of that combo with the 610s larger brother........ https://youtu.be/hkX7v5JeJD0?t=59s Ultimately, for 7K retail, or around 5500 real world, you'd have to go at least double or triple to approach what you'd achieve here..... |
I'm running the full line of Rogue's top components: Apollo monoblocs, Hera II preamp, Ares phono. An absolutely fantastic match with my Tannoy Canterbury. There are no worries about sonic matching between components -- they all gel together. The MSRP of the full Rogue stack is 22K, though I've also added a Bob's Devices 1131 SUT and tube upgrades. Rogue gets lots of attention for their entry-level and midrange-priced products, but not so much for their top line (at least in North America). But they represent a very nice option, above the midrange-priced stuff but still below the "full audio retard"-priced gear -- and well worth the money over the midrange in my experience. When you get this Rogue stack behind some great speakers in a decent room (as Rogue has done at some shows), I think it's hard to not walk away impressed. Some years ago I inserted a VAC Renaissance III pre+phono in place of the Hera/Ares, and it definitely had its good points, but in the end I went back to the Hera II and then the Ares again. I've also heard various full VAC stacks, and they're all capable of sounding very very nice, but cost A LOT more once you get beyond the basic Sigma 160 integrated. All my systems prior to this were mixed, and basically sonic junk compared to the current end result, though they consisted of some nice components. |
Yes, I believe everyone here knows that already, yawn. Ayre, VPI, Vandersteen, Clear Day, Ayre, VPI, Vandersteen, Clear Day, Ayre, VPI, Vandersteen, Clear Day, Ayre, VPI, Vandersteen, Clear Day, Ayre, VPI, Vandersteen, Clear Day, Ayre, VPI, Vandersteen, Clear Day, Ayre, VPI, Vandersteen, Clear Day, Ayre, VPI, Vandersteen, Clear Day, Ayre, VPI, Vandersteen, Clear Day, Ayre, VPI, Vandersteen, Clear Day, Ayre, VPI, Vandersteen, Clear Day, Ayre, VPI, Vandersteen, Clear Day, Ayre, VPI, Vandersteen, Clear Day, Ayre, VPI, Vandersteen, Clear Day, Ayre, VPI, Vandersteen, Clear Day, Ayre, VPI, Vandersteen, Clear Day, Ayre, VPI, Vandersteen, Clear Day, Ayre, VPI, Vandersteen, Clear Day, Ayre, VPI, Vandersteen, Clear Day, Ayre, VPI, Vandersteen, Clear Day, Ayre, VPI, Vandersteen, Clear Day, Ayre, VPI, Vandersteen, Clear Day, Ayre, VPI, Vandersteen, Clear Day, Ayre, VPI, Vandersteen, Clear Day, Ayre, VPI, Vandersteen, Clear Day, I think we all got it now..... ;^) |
I currently have all Audio Research gear including Reference 6 Preamplifier, GS 150 Power Amplifier, Reference 3 Phono Preamplifier and Reference CD9 Player/DAC. The synergism of ARC components has been very rewarding and has taken me to a place sonically I have never been. Each has a similiar sonic signature built on the traditional ARC sound. Mixing components can be equally rewarding provided the components have complementary impedances and specificifications. But then again this is part of the fun of being in this hobby trying to achieve "Acoustic Alchemy" with competing manufacturer components. Can't go wrong either way. |
Yes certainly :-) The economic alternative http://www.libertyaudio.com The All Out one http://pbnaudio.com From their maker Good Listening Peter |
Given that money comes in uneven increments or at least that is how it is for me, throwing down enough to buy a whole stack at one time has been a completely impossible thing all my life. Everything I have acquired in home audio gear has been done in an opportunistic way...a piece from here or there - maybe a yard sale, or end of year clearance model bought at an after christmas sale, or occasionally something bought new because there was a short term surplus not needed for other things. Or a replacement for an item that just died and was beyond resurrection. It is in fact a hobby and as such it cannot be allowed to take monies that need to go elsewhere to keep the household afloat. I am slowly recovering the huge losses of last year and will probably never get back to where I was, but I will get back to a place where I can say "its good enough for who it’s for" and being content with what you have is a skill some of us audiophools struggle with I think. This reminds of a discussion I had with a friend of mine some years ago. He had come over to the house for dinner, my wife was out of town and it was just he and I. We both like scotch quite a bit and I had a couple of different quality levels in the house at the time. I do not remember what brands but I told him what I had and he chose the cheaper of the two when given a choice...and I asked him why that one and not the more expensive, presumably better one. His answer was "well you know I have come to realize that while I can appreciate the more expensive one, my palate is not so discerning that I require the high end Scotch. So I buy what is a good value and I am content with that. Sometimes its to your advantage not to be too picky." On that note we toasted ourselves and sipped while dinner cooked. And I am the same way about audio gear. If its good enough then why spend more? I have limited funds to direct at equipment, so a good value for me is stuff that ticks all the functional boxes and has no glaring sonic or operational issues. Electronics have gotten so good that many amplifiers are literally a straight wire with gain and it almost doesn’t matter which one you choose as long as it handles the speaker impedance and has enough power to drive the speakers. That was not true 50 years ago. Source components like streamers and the Dac/preamps available today perform at such a high level its remarkable. I continue to be amazed at the sound quality available from a computer connected to a DAC via USB. Holy cow, this is ridiculously good. I don’t miss vinyl at all other than just nostalgically. To want to clean records and fuss with the turntable and then be careful not to walk to heavily for fear of upsetting the playing record...not for me anymore. To those that cherish the ritual, I get it, but its just not in my wheelhouse anymore. As I get older and my hearing deteriorates there are parts of the spectrum I just cannot hear anymore. I can hear to about 15k but anything above that is lost on me. Probably too many Grateful Dead concerts in college... |
