My experience with the Uni 3s are once you get the MT units exactly right and the room position locked they're like a blank canvas. You can tailor practically any sound you like by switching around upstream gear. I tried my Levinson stack, budget integrateds from Arcam and Melody to the mid level DK/Designs Integrateds all the way up to Lamms. Same thing wit the front ends from 1991 Thetas to the non-upsampling zero filtered 47 Labs Shigaraki combo up to Accuphase and Emmlabs. Don't even get me started on cables
Next up is vintage gear
I'll be borrowing some Quad IIs this week and later on some Eicos and hopefully a Marantz 9 to see how the low/medium power from the golden age go with these very versatile speakers. Heck I may even try some 300B amps from JE Labs just to see of the TL can be controlled despite the 20 watt lower limit advised by Albert.
Proof of the pudding was that at last years show a Puppy 8 owner sat transfixed and scratching his head when he heard the system we set up where we pulled out all the stops in an attempt to find the Uni 3's performance limits by synergizing themwith some of the best reviewed and universally acclaimed gear of the past decade receiving nods from all major publications from the US, UK, France, Germany and Italy as well as UltraFi, Soundstage net, and PFO.
I guess what I'm saying is that unless you move to a much larger space and I mean MUCH larger, the Unifield probably will not be the limiting factor and will likely become the constant making it a product of great long term value.
Here's a post from last year
We just concluded the Philippine HiFi Show yesterday and the tiniest floorstander stole the show. Our theme was "Past Forward" where we married vinyl and valve technology with some of the latest advancements in digital and materials science technology. The goal was to present a no holds barred effort for full range sound in a size limited environment. We also wanted to show a system that would be scaleable should the owner move to a larger home. In this instance one could easily move and change just the speakers from a Unifield 3 to a VR-5 Anniversary or even a VR-9 SE in the future. It was a rousing success and while there are no awards given, feedback has us ranked up top and head to head in the Hi-End category with a system whose back end cost almost twice as much.
Here's the Equipment List
Loudspeakers - Von Schweikert Audio Unifield 3
Amplifiers - Lamm ML1.1 Monos
Preamplification - Lamm LL2 Deluxe fitted with Mullard CV491s and ecc88s
Digital Sources - Accuphase DP-78 CD/SACD player also acting as DAC for Apple MacBook Pro streaming airtunes via Airport Express
Analog Source - TW Acustic Raven AC-3, Graham B-44 Phantom 2, Dynavector XV-1s, Lamm LP2 Deluxe
Vibration Filters - Critical Mass Systems PXK and QXK racks and platforms and Reference Amp Stands, Symposium Roller Block Jrs for Shunyata V-Ray
Acoustic Tools - ASC wall panels, Lyngdorf RoomPerfect
Interconnects - Verbatim Signature
Speaker Cables - Verbatim Signature (DAY 1) , Von Schweikert Audio Bi-Wire (Day 2)
Power Products - Shunyata V-Ray, Shunyata Hydra 2, All Power Cords Shunyata Python Alpha Helix
Here's a pic taken by the dealer next door in the meantime. Thanks for looking!
