Every once in a while--maybe once per year, when the sun and the moon and all the other planets and stars...and my nasal congestion...and my hearingaids, etc., are aligned--I find that my music-reproduction system sounds better than ever.. This Saturday evening, it happened again, and I have to write that the system sounded better than it EVER has in about 65 years of being an audiofool.. The music was Edward Elgar's Organ Sonata, o. 28 (orchestrated by Gordon Jacobs), with Richard Hickox conducting the BBC National O. of Wales and recorded by Chandos (in multichannel, of course) and released on SACD CHSA 5049.. BEST...EVER.
Frontend is still an Oppo '203 discplayer driving via HDMI my Marantz '8805 pre/pro. Mid-fi? Maybe.. Backend is still the Super-7s with their humble AQ GO-4 speakercables.
Changes in my system from the last best-ever event? Surely the biggest difference is the return of my significantly improved Atma-Sphere MA-1 v.3.1 poweramps but this time with more main-PS-caps bypassing and also after replacing a few slightly noisy output tubes.* Other changes are the inclusion of AudioQuest's best interconnects, Dragon balanced (XLRs).. These 3- and 5-meter singles are quite expensive, but now I know that they're worth every penny.
I've been experimenting with several SETs recently--see earlier notes--but I'll be selling them soon.
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* I use Russian Winged-C 6H13Cs and in the frontend a mix of Tung-Sol round-plate and BRIMAR curved-plate 6SN7GTs/CV1988s.