January 2
A very happy New Year to everyone.......
Well, I'm now running with a full setup of complimentary components, and have been enjoying a couple of days of listening.
The system is composed of:
Speakers: Omega Compact Hemptones on Skylan 4-post stands
Amplification: Heavily modded tripath amp with attenuator and SLA power supply
source: iMod
Cables: The Chord Co. Carnival speaker wire w/ Linn Banana plugs, Audiopath Silver iPod cable
I LOVE the simplicity of this system!!!!!!!
And the sound is spectacular!
These speakers are really singing with the iMod and the Tripath. the system is not very kind to poor source material, but it provides a sublime clarity and vibrance with the majority of my music.
The sound is more forward than laid back, with an amazing reproduction of vocals (male and female) and a mind boggling soundstage. The details - subtle overtones of instruments, texture of vocals, etc - are much more apparent than with other systems I have heard, but not at the expense of musicality.
My experience so far is that this is true for 90% of my music. The exception tends to be poorly recorded and overproduced material, which is (at the moment) too bright and harsh to be listenable.
I'm keen to see if any of this changes as the iMod "burns in", and have set up a format to use my iPod Nano as a reference to see if my ears can detect any shifts. At the moment, my ears sense a noticeable difference between the nano and the iMod, and I'll take notes over the coming weeks with 5 or 6 diverse reference tracks.
My initial impressions are that the iMod sounds much more 'organic' in this system than the nano.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again....these hemp drivers are incredible!
The speakers have really opened up with the more complimentary components, and I am looking forward to spending many evenings getting to know them better.
More soon......
Warmly,
Michael
