This is an update of my old system really - I upgraded to a pair of Shahinian Obelisks from the ARC's and had sold my Kenwood minidisc recorder and Nakamichi tape deck as I rarely used them.

I thought it best to keep the audio and video parts of my system separate so they are on completely separate racks and power distribution blocks.

Theres definately a meaty, tactile quality to the sound with a delicate top end thanks to the supertweeters of the Obelisks. These speakers really need a powerful, capable amp to control and get the best out of the Obelisks and I'm glad to have the Nu-Vista to hand which more than fits the bill - its an amazing amp. The sound is 'of a whole'. I've always been after replicating the feeling of being in a small venue, listening to a performance.

The front end is a Sony CDP 3000x CD player used as a transport, its rigid top loading metal construction makes for an excellent transport. This is connected to a Musical Fidelity Tri-Vista 21 DAC input via cool cables pure silver cable.

The other cables are Monster Z series for the speakers and QED silver Spirals connecting the DAC to the Amp.

Both the Musical Fidelity items (NU-Vista M3 and Tri-Vista 21) were Stereophile Class A components and the Shahinian Obelisks were in the top 100 all time components.

For future upgrades, I'd look at speakers with greater power handling than the Obelisks and a CD player once I hear something capable of outperforming the Tri-Vista without having to sell a kidney to be able to afford it.

It's an all rounder that I'm after and I think I've pretty much nailed it, playing rock, blues, world, rap whatever etc. to an very high audiophile standard rather than an polite chamber muzak you always hear at shows and at demos - you know what I mean!