Downgrade Suprise?

Stereophile "recommendations" are only someone's opinion and very far from absolute. Your opinion may vary. It's actually kind of refreshing.

Those anticables sound interesting, mmmmm.....
Yes, my original post kind of points to a company that really knows its engineering over its' marketing.

Another example is that I have a TD-124 with Denon 103-LC mounted on a ESL-2000,a tonearm that most people consider a throw away. I think the synergy is pretty fantastic and I use it as much as my Nottingham and Jelco arms. The ESL-2000 has its issues; aka no antiskating (grrrrr), but it belts out full bodied sound.

I guess downgrades (according to popular ratings) is trumped when synergy is really working.

I decided not to do the Triangles (althoug I met regret it) because I have a pair fostex fullrange waiting for me to finally put it in a cabinet that would most likely give me the speed and transparency that the Triangles would.

Cheers and love to hear more "downgrade"/synergy success stories.

not sure thats a surprise really ENO. the link between price and performance is a best a loose one. a $1K system to a $100K system is easy but no reason to assume a 3k is inferior to a 5k system. the more I learn ( not hear or read but actually demonstrate to myself) the more I realize I had many incorrect views when I started this audio journey.

Another downgrade surprise for me was a ADC PSX-40. The body is a p-mount with a standard mount adapter. Some guy gave it to me when I bought an old turntable awhile back. I needed a backup cart and something to play less than stellar records. The psx-40 stylus is a titanium alloy cantilever with a hyper polished nude styli, it was $30 from Needle Doctor. This cart punches way above its weight class. It has a smooth sound, lightning quick, tracks really well and throws a massive soundstage that is very deep. Highly recommended.