Hi all,
I've been busy, but wanted to report back after having settled in with my Soundscapes for little awhile. In short, they are outstanding and meet my very high expectations. The biggest challenge was getting them up the four flights of stairs into my apartment! Thank goodness the delivery guys did this!! I'm pretty sure I would have hurt myself if I had tried. My setup now is: Mac Mini/Stock USB Cable/Peachtree Nova DAC and Pre Section/Bluejean Cable IC's/DAC Cherry Amp/Mapleshade Speaker Cable/Salk Soundscape 10's.
I'm very new to this hobby, so take any comments I make with appropriate large handful of salt. I have had the the opportunity to hear lots of very high end setups. (Speakers including: Magico, Wilson, Magnepan, Rockport, Quad, B&W, Vandersteen, Totem, etc.). My listening sessions with those were relatively short and I can't really compare other than to say I'm thrilled with the Soundscapes.
Music is awesome. We've been listening to a lot of jazz lately (Diana Krall, Miles Davis, Coleman Hawkins, Clifford Brown, Clifford Jordan, Steve Davis etc., etc.). Also country (Randy Travis, Johnny Cash, Rosanne Cash, Shelby Lynne, etc.), gospel (Fairfield Four, Mahalia Jackson), and rock and classical. All are terrific. I've bought and explored more music lately than I ever have in my entire life! That's what this is all about, right?!? This is a whole new world to me. Playoff baseball on the Soundscapes is tremendous too!
I'm also very happy w/ the DAC Cherry amp. Tommy is a pleasure to work with. Prior to the Soundscapes, I had a pair of Totem Mites running with the Peachtree Nova. (Big upgrade!!) As you would expect, the Cherry was a huge improvement over the Amp Section of the Nova.
Thanks to all those on the forum that helped with suggestions along the way. And thanks again to Jim and his team for designing the Soundscapes. They're absolutely an outstanding product and tremendous value as far as I'm concerned!
What's scary is that I'm guessing the Soundscapes will improve even more with tweaks to my setup? My electronics could probably be improved upon (especially the Peachtree DAC and preamp?). Also, I didn't spend much on cables, no power products, speaker placement isn't ideal (the Soundscapes are about 8 feet apart and only a foot or so from the back wall with 50inch plasma on a large tv stand in between them.) I'm going to stick with my setup for awhile, but will be curious to get your thoughts on biggest bang for the buck improvements...
Last but not least, to no one's surprise the fit 'n finish and is top notch. I'll try to post a picture later. Thanks again all.
take care,
Jim
