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Biggest impact on you?



Curious: I’ve gone through a lot of gear over the years. In reflecting upon this, a Conrad Johnson MV-45A1 power amplifier I bought back in 1983 had the biggest impact on me. This includes consideration of the many preamps, speakers, cables, CD players, and so on that I’ve owned through the years.

Has that piece been the best I’ve ever had or heard? Absolutely not. But, it was the first high end piece I’ve owned and it wowed me big time. Ran it with Vandersteens, CJ’s PV4 preamp, and a Sonograph TT – loved it!

So, what component (power, pre, speaker, TT, CD, etc.) has had the biggest impact on you?
rbschauman
mapman's avatar
mapman
21,888 posts
 
OHM speakers.

First heard them back in 1978 and I have come full circle back to them again these last few years.

I fit these to my rooms and build my system around them to make them sound best and am getting mega payback these days.

The OHM Walsh speakers are unique game changers in terms of twhat you might expect to hear out of a system at price points mere mortals might afford.
tom_hankins
928 posts
 
Many through the years but these two in the last five years have been as big and as good as they come.
Dynavector XX2 MKII cartridge
BAT REX preamp
tubeking
65 posts
 
I was working on a project in my shop and running some Altec VOTT horn speakers in the background. I had just gotten them at a garage sale and was testing them to make sure the drivers were good at low volume and to let the old crossovers come back to life as I have with several other unused speakers in the past.

As the speakers started to come to life I heard what sounded like a LIVE trombone behind me. I was not a horn speaker fan before but I am now. It startled me.
swanny76109
382 posts
 
Forte 5 amp and 40 Preamp. Got them on demo clearance in 1993 and still have them today in a second system. Started my love affair with Nelson Pass gear and high end in general that continues to this day.
tkmetz
91 posts
 
I installed a quieting transformer, a sub panel and 4 dedicated 20A circuits. Wow, the presence of the musicians and the listening space jumped out of my Avalons. This approx $600 expenditure did more to make the system sound like real live music than 10's of thousands of dollars on spent on equipment. It was a good thing too, because installing that 80lb chunk of metal in the attic was pain in the butt!!!
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