Fury,
Hope you liked the review of those reference cd's. More to come.. and including one here in this post to keep it legal.
I am new to this hobby, only about a year and half in, and I am damn close to being where I want to be as far as the sound of my system is concerned.
I do not claim to have an amazing system . It does sound wonderful to me! All of my non- audiophile friends have been slack jawed, one woman today was almost in tears when listening to various SACD's . I have two friends who thought I was an ass#### when I told them what I spent on my sytem. (It only retails 7 grand , I paid about 1/2 of this through audiogon and factory direct etc. ) After less than 10 minutes the two friends nodded their heads and clearly understood my passion for audio, and why I "wasted" all of this money . lol
I will give you a short review of my sytems attributes as I see them, and list all components. It is a pretty simple system.
Music sounds super detailed!! symbols , high hat ,triangles all have unbelievable clarity, sparkle and shimmer.
Drums hit hard, sound powerful , deep . just perfect. MUCH MUCH more of all this with "Quantum Destroyer" homemade subwoofer by a friend , in place. (More on The Quantum Destroyer in components )
Midrange voice both male and female sound, lush, sweet, liquid
Highs of Sax, trumpet , all brass sound crystal clear and not etchy
The speakers and system are very musical ,while being ultra detailed, and powerful as hell with subwoofer. PRAT : Pace , rhythm and timing all sound right on .
Honestly , I am still figuring out soundstage and imaging ,and plan to have a some people come in to listen. To me soundstage is wide and instuments well placed , I can sit in the listening seat all night, but I am sure they can be better dialed in.
Fury.. Here are my humble components
Speakers : SP Tech Minis (read about them in their circle if you like ) Works of art on the eyes ! Waveguide technology. Truley the sound can be compared to the best studio monitors out there. Crosses over super low at 600Hz , base down to 40 Hz. Detailed !! Musical !! Astonishing !!
Amplifier : Musical Fidelity A5 (250 watts ) solid state ,clean,pure,detailed and musical and freakin powerful !! (see 6 moons review )
Subwoofer: Quantum Destroyer ( Homemade , its freakin HUGE !! 39 inches high, 60 inches around, about 3/4 the size of a hot water heater
) ,built by Chris ( based on 12 inch Rythmic subwoofer , 370 watt amp. Servo Technology, It is sealed and downward firing ) I read about servo technology on their site, and the designer of the homemade sub explained to me, that this technology, is what makes the woofer stop on a dime. The sub has been measured FLAT TO 14 Hz !!!!!!!!! certain bass notes on Dead Can Dance cd vibrate the entire living room. Low bass, does not make great bass, I know. This subwoofer is seemless in the system , crossed over at 60 Hz, it sounds very musical , and super fast !! Need I say , powerful !!!!!!!!!
aa Listening to Blue Man Group dvd ,when the climax hits on the first song , its like a freakin Sonic Explosion has hit the entire apartment !! If your sitting next to your friend on the couch , you just look at each other and say, "what the F### !! " and laugh. I have not tried the sub for movies yet. lol.... I only added my first sub a few weeks ago ,and it has taken my system to a way way higher level of what I can listen to at high volumes, with impact that makes your head spin. It has made the speakers sound more open, detailed, and just better. Sounstage vastly increased and got way deeper !! The speakers sound great alone !, but the system difference, is night and day.
Cd Player : Oppo 980h Plays SACD's and cd's sound fantastic. Many great reviews on this player. I may try a dac at some point, to augment the sound, to see what happens.
Sony hd Radio xdr etc. I can listen to the hd radio all day if need be.
Interconnect : rat shack Monster THX from amp to cd
Speaker wire : Analysis Oval Nine
I'd be happy to send a picture if anyone send me a personal email here.
Reference cd : Micky Hart: PLANET DRUM ( Former Drummer from The Grateful Dead ) (gold addition I think ) Want to hear how african drums mixed in with all sorts of chanting and drum instuments of all varieties of sounds? Freakin Awesome that how !!
(African, Spiritual, Spacey, New Age, POWERFUL ) Every single track can be considered a demo trac !! Will test Bass Drums, Drum Slam, Dynamics , woofers, subwoofers etc. This cd is VERY well recorded and the music OUTSTANDING !! , I would say the sound is pretty close to SACD . I listened to this entire cd ,over an hour I think, at 100 decibels peaking at about 105 ,with no strain of sound from the cd ,or my system. AWESOME !!!! (some ear strain
)
I highly recommend this cd !! With the right system, or right "cocktails" , this cd should and will be a total out of body experience.
Todd
