My wife and kids were away this week, so I moved all my equipment to a comfy space in the basement where it would be nice and easy to set everything up in a way that would let me experiment a little. And do you know what I discovered? I'm just not very good at this whole audiophile thing. Didn't seem to matter what I hooked up, I got too involved listening to the music that I ended up forgetting to take much note of anything.
However...
I had the Redgum playing in the system for a couple of weeks prior to this. About a day after I put it in there (replacing my CI Audio VMB1 monoblocks and the Space-tech-labs QA001 preamp), I asked my wife what she thought. She said that it didn't seem to have the same "bounce". I tended to agree that it didn't seem quite as dynamic - just a little reserved or something. But that was immediately out of the box. After that I did a lot of listening late at night. Not a lot of volume. I was impressed with the clarity the amp presented. And the bass drive. I found myself appreciating the bass lines on old rock tunes more. At least, that's how it seemed at that time.
The biggest problem I have with my system comes from the slightly edgy high frequencies. I gather this may be primarily the work of the Fostex drivers in the Omega Super 3 XRSs, and may be greatly improved when I replace the Fostex drivers for Louis's new hemp drivers. However, with the current drivers I tended to think that this harshness in the treble was emphasized by the Redgum amp. Things seems a little sweeter with my tube pre-amp and the gainclone amps.
Anyway, the system is still set up in the basement, and I may take a chance to do a little direct comparison in the next couple of days. I'll report back soon.
Chad
