soix

Responses from soix

buying decision? B W/ Vienna Acoustics?
For me the metal B&W tweeter calls too much attention to itself on too much music, and I much prefer the more refined sound of the VA silk dome tweeters. Although I find midrange/bass to be comparable between the two, I find the VA speakers th... 
Good speaker match for Sim Audio W5
Soliloquy uses the Sim Audio W5 to voice their speakers along with some tube amps, so I'd bet they'd be a natural match. Don't know what your price point is, but I'd highly recommend the $2500/pr. 6.2, which is probably their best speaker with the... 
Liked the Nautilus 805 but found better?
I used to work for a dealer who carried B&W and I also liked the 805s, but no matter what we did they just don't have much by way of bass--not bad, just not much.Then we picked up Soliloquy, and although there are trade-offs(as always) overall... 
Best SS Preamp w/remote under 2k??
Might want to look at the McCormack RLD-1, which blends the smoothness/richness of tubes with the control/quickness of solid state. Big 3D soundstage with outstanding imaging and good detail. The remote is small but works well, and it has a home t... 
Have you "lied" to yourself?
Here's where I've seen differences rated on a scale of 1 to 10(10 indicating the biggest impact):Speakers: Anyone who can't hear major differences between speakers may as well just get those cute little Bose cubes as they take up next to no space.... 
Tale of the preamps
Seems like you've done the tube thing and are starting to crave more detail and insight into the performance. Not that you can't get there with tubes(which the CAT Ultimate and Atmasphere MP-1(I'm assuming this is also tubes?) may very well do), b... 
$6000 Budget Which used Amp ?
For high-powered tubes I'd take a serious look at the Art Audio Jota, and they also have a new and supposedly even better amp that I don't recall the name of. Check out reviews on Soundstage!.com, and you may even consider emailing Srajan Ebean fr... 
Which 5 ch Amp for Home Theater?
McCormack was coming out with a 5-channel amp, but I'm not sure it's out yet. If it's out it'll probably give just about anything in the price range a run for the money and it should work wonders with your NHTs. Best of luck.Tim 
Gershmann/VonSchweikert/Silverline
Thanks guys. Looks like each speaker has its fans.I've heard the VR-5 has upgrades available. Anyone know what they are, how they affect the sound, and how much they cost?Lastly, can you recommend a good dealer in the NJ/NYC area for Gershman/VonS... 
Multipurpose floorstander speaker
On the used market I'd look for something like a Soliloquy 5.3 or a Silverline Panatella, both of which will put out enough bass to do justice to rock(and home theater) but also hi-fi enough to handle intricate jazz recordings(and neither requires... 
Adding Tub Preamp to HT setup
Other tube preamps with HT passthroughs you may want to consider: Sonic Frontiers, Rogue, PSE. Great way to seamlessly integrate tubes into your HT system. By the way, are you using the EAD as a DAC?Whether this will benefit your system goes to pe... 
Which volume do i use?
The real question is which has a better volume control, the cd player or the preamp(taking into consideration the extra connections of a preamp). You don't want to use both for volume control, so you want to find out which is best. Find out what v... 
Preamp strategy advice for 2 ch. HT
Depends. If your priority is 2-channel music then go the stereo preamp route. If you're into surround music/movies then maybe a high-end pre/pro is in order. Either way, with the unknowns with the new formats I'd be hesitant to invest big dollars ... 
Are you manufacturer's paying attention?
I think the Bel Canto piece is going to push amp manufactureres into the digital age very quickly. Not only does the EVo series challenge some of the best amps around, it does it at a cost(to the manufacturer and consumer) that embarasses the old ... 
Sunfire Theater Grand ll
If you're serious about 2-channel I'd recommend getting a decent Denon receiver for surround processing and use a higher-end 2-channel preamp with a home theater pass-through for stereo listening. The home theater pass-through will allow you to se...