Hello, I'm Brad.
I live in Utah.
Not new to high-end audio, after graduating college I got a set of Vandersteen 2ce's, then upgraded to B&W 801 S3 a year later, then when something was still missing, I got a Conrad Johnson Premier 11 amp.
Vinyl was so much better than digital at the time.
I currently have a pair of Dali Helicon 400's that fill the living room with music and HT sound driven by a recently acquired Audio by Van Alstine SET 120 Control amplifier because my 30-year Sony finally died.
For my dedicated listening, I had\have Emerald Physics CS2.7's. I used them for several years and loved them once I got everything setup properly and tri-amped. The microphone setup sucked, but I figured out how to tune the sound by ear (and trial and error) using the digital eq and crossover settings. Night and day difference in sound compared to the microphone setup.
For certain reasons, I left those sitting unused for several years, and then recently when the opportunity arrived to get back into dedicated listening again, I tried using the EP's but all four bass drivers were nearly dead. I verified it wasn't the amp, source, wiring, power, etc. Getting replacements was going to cost $1000 ($250 x 4). But given when I originally purchased them used from Agon, and two of the bass drivers had problems and I had to go to Clayton Shaw's house to get them replaced, I figured those drivers are unreliable, and I was leery about sinking more money into new ones.
So I set them aside and purchased a set of used Horning Perikles speakers, as I wanted that live sounding holographic music I got with the Emerald Physics, as compared to the awesome room-filling high-end sound I get with the Dali's.
I have two James Burgess 45 SET amps I was using for the mid and high drivers of the EP's, and a PS Audio GCA 250 (old Class-D) I was using to drive the EP's woofers.
The 1.5 W 45's are not quite powerful enough to drive the 96db sensitive Horning's, even bi-amped with the GCA on the bass, with a lot of the music and loudness that I like, like the EP's could. So I'm thinking of getting a new amp for the loud music sessions and use the 45's for the quiet vocal\mello music.
So I'm on here to get access to the Trading Post and Search functions to investigate and potentially purchase an amp.
I have a few tweaks I always use no matter the system that I might post about as well.
Oh, and I should be getting a pair of Rythmic L12 subwoofers soon, as the Perikles bass don't go down nearly far enough or loud enough.
And I ordered a Merason Frérot DAC to replace my MHDT Havanna that seems to add noise when connected to this system for some unknown reason.
I have ZMF Verite Closed headphones, with an Ayon HA-3 MkII (45-based tube amp) and an Ampsandsound Kenzie Ovation amp. All incredible with the right tubes and several audio 'adjustments'.
Due to the nature of my job and family life, I've been able to listen to headphones a whole lot more often than the dedicated system. I'm hoping to change those percentages some now due to changing circumstances.
