i also had a great time, & want to thank merle for going above & beyond the call of duty, suffering from an uncomfortable skin rash, & grilling excellent italian sausages in oppressive heat. well, at least i thought it was oppressive, until sunday, monday & today rolled around - it's yust getting worse!
anyways, i agree that merle's all-rega system had an excellent synergy. smooth, nice soundstage, plenty of detail. especially in the sweet spot. tho i didn't get the chance to listen to the rega tuna.
nice as it was, i confess that i most preferred the rega rig when my tiny proacs were playing. even tho they couldn't reproduce chinese drummers at any appreciable wolume w/o bottoming out their 4.5" woofers. on all normal music, the bass was excellent. tho i still prefer using a sub, even w/full-range floorstanders. and, for those who may say i am biased, because they're mine, all i can tell you is that, in merle's system, the proacs outshined my diapason adamantes lll's, which retail for ~2.5 times the price of the proacs. hell, i think every other speaker we listened to sounded better in that rig than my diapasons. which once again goes to show that room & system synergy play a paramount roll in getting good sound.
i also enjoyed listening to rim's single-driver omega hemps - excellent midrange, & i was not feeling i was missing any extreme highs. the lows were also good - only a subwoofer addict such as myself would have any issues at all.
i unfortunately didn't get to hear the quad monitors, all except for the tail end of one tune. too much gear, not enough time. but, my impression was a siimilar sound to the regas, if not quite as full-range. merle's regas - small floorstanders - really impress w/full-range sound, using their side-firing 7" driver. for someone w/a small to medium sized room, not wanting to mess with subs, & not wanting to spend a ton of money, these 3-way regas might be yust the ticket. and, they will play music like chinese drummers at decent wolumes, something my 50% more expensive proacs' cannot do.
speaking of the proacs, i would pass on the ones linked to agon, above. that price is in euros, which equates to $1700 plus shipping. may as well buy local, if you're paying retail. but, patience will let you nab a used pair for ~$1200, ime...
thanks again, merle, for a nice afternoon.
doug s.
