Thanks, Mike and Eric. I've had my Sapphire XLs for about two weeks now. I live in a condo complex (no leaving them on while at work) and leave for Cape Cod on weekends, so the breaking in period is going a bit slow. BUT - if these speakers continue to improve then I'm in for some fantastic listening. The last two days there has been a marked improvement. A few things come to mind. First, there are an awful lot of bad recordings out there. This becomes evident when I play a great sounding one. Second, I need to bring other aspects of my system up to speed - cabling, especially. I've ordered some DH Labs cables from the ACI website.
How do these speakers produce such incredible bass? WOW! They not only go deep, they are 'tuneful' also. No one note booming. And this will continue to improve - right?
There have been a few instances where the realism of certain instruments has been startling. The accordion on a Los Super Seven CD made my head spin in its direction. And this while rocking out! The background singers on several Al Green songs were clearly a group of individual voices. The intro to 'The Peanut Vendor', recorded in 1926 by Louis Armstrong, is a trumpet AND a sax. I can't imagine how many times I've listened to this track and never noticed that. A stage right knock on a door during a Harmonia Mundi SACD of 'Figaro' sounded like someone was locked in my bathroom, trying to get out. And this is a two channel rig - awesome!
It's with a heavy heart that I shut down my system for the weekend before I head out to work this morning...
