Russ, thanks for the great listening session. As always, you are a gracious host and we all had a great time. It's a bit late, but I'd like to post a brief report.
This was my second time at Russ's. I won't list all his equipment here but he has a very nice, involved system set-up. The core of the system is a pair of Anthony Gallo Nucleus Reference speakers driven by Quicksilver tube monoblocks. The lower frequencies from Sony multichannel preamp are fed through Outlaw ICBM, digital equalizer and his hand-made multichannel digital power amp to a pair of hand-made stereo subwoofers.
With the combination of measurements and fine-tuning by ear, Russ has achieved a seamless integration of the main speakers and subs. The system sounds dynamic, powerful, detailed and tuneful. You get the best of both worlds: sweet and airy treble and luscious mids from the tube amp and the Gallos; and the chest-pounding bass from the stereo subs and digital amplification. The integration is so seamless that you never "hear" the subs. The wood bass and bass drum kicks seem to come from where they should be coming from: somewhere between the Gallos.
For surround sound, Russ uses a pair of small Maggies for the rear channels, driven by the same digital amp modules as used for the subs. If you want to hear the potential of a well-recorded and mixed surround music, you've got to hear his system. I was blown away when I heard Kodo's 'Mondo Head' here for the first time, and it was no less impressive the second time. We also had an interesting comparison of different surround mixes of Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side of the Moon.'
We also had a brief two-channel playback comparison: Russ's Sony NS999SE's CD playback; its SACD playback; Ah! Njoe Tjoeb 4000 CD Player with upsampling board (mine); and Russ's hard disk based PCM playback (Apple lossless compression, i-Tunes and outboard soundcard). We used Rebecca Pidgeon's 'Spanish Harlem' which bore repeated listening well.
I'd have to say the SACD was the best, with its detailed textures for bass, sweet and extended treble and 'air' around instruments. As for other PCM playback, each had their own strengths and it was hard to judge which was better. My Njoe Tjoeb had that rich midrange and the sound balance tilted a bit toward the low end while the Sony's balance tilted toward the treble which was more extended. The computer playback had a surprisingly liquid texture and very quiet background.
If I'm forced to state my preference, it would be Ah! the first (I admit I'm biased), the computer playback the second and the Sony the third. But I repeat that this is just my preference and that the differences were very subtle.
We had a great time listening to our favorite music, both two- and multi-channel, marveling at Russ's wonderful system and talking audio. Russ, I can't thank you enough for your hospitality. Also, please send our regards and thanks to April and the boys who kindly opened their house for us and let us have fun.
