I am an electrical and mechanical engineer who's been in this hobby over 30 years now. Our system is entirely dedicated to our love of music and we listen critically every day. With 1500 CDs and SACDs, and countless digital files comprising just about every type of music you can think of, we cover a lot of ground. Today, we mainly use the TIDAL streaming service. I have learned that achieving highest quality sound is primarily dependent on setup execution, and not on component cost.
The goal for my stereo is to get a concert-level performance for any kind of music I want. I can go from EDM night club to Parisian jazz bar, and anything in between with the tap of a screen. In all cases, I want it to feel real and alive, vibrant and immersive. We live in the woods where volume level is not a concern.
The Nanos are extremely efficient and have powered subs, so my amplifiers only need several watts to blow me away. The Nanos' efficiency guarantees that nothing is ever lost in translation, and they spellbind for hours on end anyone who sits in the sweet spot. Having experienced their sound of life, I don't think I could ever go back to conventional speakers.
I own a wide variety of amplifiers because the Nanos allow each one's personality to shine through; and getting to know them in otherwise the same system (speaker/room/human) is great fun and highly instructive. It has given me the opportunity to expertly hone my hearing and to delight in a new sound experience every month or so when I change amps. There is no one best amplifier anyway, just like there isn't one best musician.
I find that high value is an elegant guide to attaining my desired result. I also feel that a huge amount of experimentation is needed to establish a true reference point for one's self. As such, here is a list of past equipment I've had in my little music room that has led me to what I have today:
Velodyne DD-15
Audio Research Reference 3
Lavardin IS Reference BPT BP-1 Signature Plus Devialet Expert 120
Aesthetix Calypso
MBL 1431
Nordost El Dorado Nottingham Analogue Spacedeck
Nottingham Ace Space tonearm
Dynavector Karat 19A mk2
Audio Research SP6-C1
Threshold S/150 mk2
Acoustic Research XA
Finale Audio 2A3M-FFX McIntosh MX110Z
LTA Berning ZOTL10
McIntosh C48
Triode Labs 2A3 SET
Wyred 4 Sound STP-SE
Audio Research LS26
Kora Flash
Primare Systems A30.1
Marantz PM6004
Kora Galaxy
Kora Eclipse B/C
Triode Labs 2A3S
Rogue Stereo 90 with 6550
Ayre C5xe mp
Finale Audio F168R 6BM8 Transcendent Mini Beast OTL Pass Labs XA30.5 Conrad-Johnson Classic I McIntosh MC452 BC Acoustique A3 Atoll IN-100 Wright Sound WLA12A Tom Evans Linear A Classe Delta CA-2200 Plinius SA-50 Mk3
McIntosh C46 McIntosh MC122 Audio Aero Prima Mk2 Unison S2K Cairn Fog v3 Kora Titan monoblocks Cairn Fog v2 Ayre AX-7e Kora Eclipse version A Kora Galaxy Reference (x2) Cairn KO2 Pass Labs Aleph 30 McIntosh C42 Kora Eclipse version C WAVAC MD-300B Kora Eclipse version B 47 Labs Shigaraki 4717 Focal JM Lab Electra 926 Reference 3A MM DeCapo i MIT AVt 1 non-biwire Monitor Audio RS1 Innersound i-Pre Zu Birth McIntosh MC202 KEF iQ10 NAD C720BEE van den Hul Orchid XLR Rega Apollo NBS M/S II MIT MI330S3 RCAs Sony SCD-C333ES Cayin CD-50T QED Silver Anniversary XT Gutwire Basic 2 Van den Hul First Ultimate mk2 QED Qunex 1 Cary SLP-98 Triangle Antal ESw Kimber Select KS1121 B&W Nautilus 804 MIT T2 biwires Rogue Audio Magnum 99 Kimber Kable 8TC Belles GR8 passive Energy Connoisseur C8 Monitor Audio Silver RS6 MIT AVT2 biwire Primare CD31 MIT Shotgun S3 Sony SCD-XA777ES Pro-Ject RM 6 SB, Blue Point #2 McIntosh MC7100 Cambridge Audio 640C Audio Research LS3b Classe CP50 (x2) Epos ELS3 California Audio Labs Icon MkII Omega Loudspeakers TS1 Music Hall CD25 McIntosh C712 (x2) Sony ST-550ES McIntosh MA6500 Consonance CD2.2 Guerrilla Hyper DH Labs Q10 McIntosh MC2125 Jolida 302b Conrad Johnson PV10a Marantz SA-8260 Odyssey Stratos Arcam CD72 Sony SCD-CE595 McIntosh MC7200 (x2) Classe DR10 Paradigm Reference 100.2 Elac 101 Triangle Comete ES Classe CA200 Nordost Flatline Mk2 Nordost Solar Winds Kimber KCAG Atlas All Cu Navigator van den Hul Orchid RCA Bryston 4B Adcom GFA-545 mk2 BAT VK-3i Jolida JD100 Yamaha TT-400U Krell KSA100 Krell KAV250 Conrad Johnson MV55 Kora Explorer 90SI Granite 657 Jolida 1701A Totem Acoustic Hawks 3A Master Control Kora Explorer 150SB Myryad Z140 Klipsch Heresys van den Hul The Second van den Hul D352 van den Hul Mainsstream NAD C740 Rotel RCD-1072 Signal Classic cables
German ultra-high-efficiency speaker with full dynamic range. The active-design approach and ideal sensitivity maximize dynamic headroom in the most natural and logical way possible. The result is music is never lost in translation. It's the most incredible sound I've ever heard from a speaker. So alive and so clear! They make most other speakers sound like "cones-in-a-box" by comparison. Having the lowest possible distortion allows the personalities of each amp to shine through like no other speakers in my experience. Avantgarde manufactures everything either in-house or locally for their speakers. This has become a rare thing these days, but it's critical when making top-level equipment since it allows them to fully optimize every component, as well as the sum total. And not only that - they offer impeccable customer service too. Their entire business model achieves the goal of combining precision engineering with a wholistic understanding of gestalt and purpose. The end result is priceless.
Mark Levinson No. 523 preamplifier
This preamp is a marvel. It doesn't make itself sound "great!" right off the bat, but it instead psychologically infiltrates you into realizing how wonderful it is. It takes a while to realize that its beautiful musicality is actually accompanied by a depth of resolution that is a cut above anything else I've had or have. And not only that, the volume control is beyond silky, its lowish gain is perfect, the display is easy to read from my listening seat, the input names are customizable, the remote is blows away anything else in terms of build quality, and the preamp actually looks like 20 grand. It's really special, especially with my MC152. A match made in heaven.
Tom Evans Audio Design Vibe preamplifier
TEAD's preamp, considered to be the world's best by a couple 6moons reviewers. All I can say is that after going through 16 preamps, the Vibe is the only solid-state piece I've fallen in love with. The TEAD Lithos regulators allow for huge bandwidth and huge dynamic range that yield equally superlative sound. It's an amazing design that only Tom Evans seems able to come up with in a simple and elegant way. Mega-detailed, mega-transparent, and mega-musical. It's so good that it sounds completely different with each amplifier I hook up to it. I've never had a preamp like this before.
McIntosh MC152 amplifier
After a not-great experience with the MC452, I decided to give McIntosh one last chance. It is hard for me to get by without blue eyes after all these years, and I will forever remember the sound of my MC7200. I came to the conclusion that the phase irregularities of the 452 might be due to the fact the circuit is optimized for a power level above what my speakers require. After all, it's very hard to perfectly balance so many transistors, especially at low-power outputs.
It turns out that reducing the transistor count by 75% does the trick! The 152 is by far the finest solid-state amp I've had in my system. It's incredible. It's smooth and rich, yet fast and delicate. It's really rare to find an amp that can combine such clear resolution with enveloping musicality, but this one does it better than any I've experienced so far. The 7200 has been resurrected - and this time with autoformers! I'm in love with this little amp.
Tom Evans Audio Design Pulse power supply
Optional power supply for the TEAD Vibe preamp. One box houses Lithos regulators and capacitor banks while the other box houses a custom-made 70VA transformer that Tom and his team designed for this preamp. I've opened it up and was surprised to see so many parts in both boxes! Very very complex for what is badged as a "simple" power supply. It's no wonder it costs so much. I also think it looks much nicer than the new Pulse 2 supply.
Kora Electronics Crescendo tube preamplifier
French-made, fully-balanced, single-gain-stage vacuum tube preamplifier. It was designed for use with Aries monoblocks, and what a wonderful combo they are, but this preamplifier is unbelievably good with all my amps, whether run balanced or single-ended (a rarity). The Vibe is killer solid state, but there is something very special about the sound of this preamp. It balances extreme clarity and resolution with a friendliness and sophistication that is unique in my experience. It's such a shame that so few people will ever get to know this design. This is the second one I've owned - I kicked myself for years for selling my first one, and I thank my lucky stars I found another! Current tubes: pair of 1957 Raytheon black plate 12BH7
Kora Electronics Aries hybrid monoblocks
Totally unique French design using a 12BH7 to feed 2 HEXFETs in single-ended parallel. On paper, it looks like it'd never work, but in fact these little amps sound magical. What is special about these amps is their wonderful coherence and the accuracy of their timing. They have an ease about them and yet the treble information is all there. Jazz suits them perfectly. I call it "Kora Coherence" because all the Koras exhibit this trait no matter how different the design - and Kora has made quite a range of designs, unlike 95% of hifi companies. They were true hifi artisans and these little monoblocks make that imminently clear. Current tubes: 1960 GE gray plate 12BH7A.
Unison Research S2 SEP
Italian single-ended pentode amp using EL34 tubes. I recently recapped the entire thing with upgraded capacitors, and optimized the operating point for even better performance. It basically runs as a "mostly-triode" amplifier with lower plate current. The sound has gotten even more musical, without hurting resolution whatsoever, and as a bonus my tubes will last much longer. Downside is that now it only makes about 4W (instead of 10), but my speakers don't care.
This amp loves to boogie! Tons of fun to listen to and get this - it has the most potent bass of any of my amps! It can shake the walls if the recording has enough extension. It often feels like my favorite amp since it is unfailingly musical with terrific detail and a deliciously smooth presentation. It's similar to the F138FFX but with an even bigger soundstage and more nuanced image separation. I want to point out too that it has foil-wound output transformers - the cheap transformers in the new versions of this amp don't even come close to this level of quality. Current tubes: Psvane 6CA7 TII, NOS Philips 6189W.
REL 212 SX subwoofer
This replaced my trusty old Velodyne DD-15 subwoofer with 2x12" active and 2x12" passive woofers. Honestly there's no comparison. The 212 is just so much better in every way. It makes the DD-15 sound weak and boomy in comparison. Integration was surprisingly easy (although my speakers already have 2x10" subs in them).
Rogue Audio Model 88 amplifier
I recently stumbled upon this most incredible amplifier. It is actually a Tempest integrated but I'm running it in "preamp bypass" mode so it acts like a regular amplifier (Stereo 88 version 4) since the preamp is passive. It sounds phenomenal with my solid-state TEAD Vibe preamp (it doesn't really get along with the Crescendo for some reason).
It clearly sounds best in triode mode, 30 Wpc, and I'm currently using my preferred EH KT88 in it, and 8 Ohm taps. My comments relate only to this arrangement. The pentode mode lacks microdynamics, and the treble is crude in comparison. It's a completely different amp in triode.
Simply put, this is the only amp that truly rivals the 152. Resolution is as good, though restitution is not, but then dynamics are surprisingly similar, and it makes everything sound so alive! Not the finest in soundstaging, but everything else is superb. One of the cheapest amps I've ever owned, and yet in terms of "hifi," it's nearly the best. What a find!
PS, I tried a Rogue Stereo 90 just to see, and even after I had optimized the circuit and run in a new set of tubes, it just didn't have the magic of the 88. It runs the tubes too hard and everything falls on its face in the vain attempt of making it barely more powerful. The 88 is way better.
McIntosh MC240 push-pull amp
The classic 1961 MC240 needs no introduction. After 50 years of use, it naturally needed a complete overhaul so I spent two solid weeks rebuilding it to perfection by replacing all the capacitors, diodes, rectifiers and bias resistors with proper parts, and tweaking all the voltages to exactly match specification. It is no surprise this amplifier is a legend when you hear it play music. It's warm and relaxed with tremendous inner detail. Full tube sound at its finest. Current tubes: quad of TAD 6L6GC-STR, pair of GE gray 12BH7s, pair of clear-top RCA 12AU7s, trio of Electro-Harmonix 12AX7s
McIntosh MCD301 sacd player
The CD player that has it all: body, dynamics, tone, subtlety, extension, potent bass, natural midrange and airy highs. It allows the performance of the music being played to come alive like no other sources I've heard, whether vinyl or CD based. It has psychedelic imaging and a walk-in soundstage that I still can't believe to this day. I recently A/B tested it against an Ayre C5xemp and it was no contest. I don't understand why the C5xe is so loved by reviewers because in my system it sounds constricted and small in comparison to my 301.
HiFi Rose RS151
Amazing in every way. Each time I upgrade something it my system, I hear new levels of information from this streamer. And the screen is stunningly beautiful. The music video feature has be much more entertaining than we expected. It's a clear winner worth the price.
Electrocompaniet AW60 FTT amplifier
Giving solid-state another try, this time a 60W amp from Norway. It is very revealing and exposes the different recording styles in a very clear way. The highs aren't quite as nuanced as my tube amps, but for solid-state, it has a very impressive soundstage and liquid midrange that isn't easy to find at any price. It's no wonder their flagship models are so revered - these designers really know what they are doing.
Furman IT-Reference 20i
If you don't have a power conditioner, you have to get one. As an EE, I knew a constant voltage isolation transformer was the best way to go. So I bought this 80 lbs. beast and it literally transformed my system. The soundstage became huge and immersive, details pop out of thin air, it's really amazing what clean power can do.
Piega P-4L mkII ribbon speakers
Fantastic Swiss speakers that have an aluminum cabinet. Effortless sound and shockingly powerful bass from such a small tower, which makes it perfect for TV room use. It's very hard to beat a ribbon tweeter when it comes to articulate highs. These little speakers revolutionized the TV watching experience. I've placed them near the back wall so the bass is just right - I've had people ask where the subwoofer is, but there isn't one!
Emotiva Stealth DC-1 DAC preamp
Really slick design with analog input and fully-balanced circuitry to match the Cairn KO2. I use its built-in DAC for iTunes, Bluray, and DirectTV. Warm and inviting sound that is clear and composed. Hope to score a Cairn Nitro with DAC board eventually to replace it.
Cairn KO2 Class A/AB solid-state amp
French-made fully-balanced solid-state amp that now drives the Piegas in the TV room. Super powerful, fantastic build quality, terrific soundstaging, a bargain on the used market, can be switched between Class A and AB (10W versus 100W), and has an "auto-on" feature that is super handy for the TV room.
van den Hul, Blue Circle, and MIT power cords
A variety, each with a job and purpose. I particularly love the BC power cords and want to get more of them.
van den Hul and Cardas interconnects
AJ van den Hul and George Cardas are the cable wizards of the world, in my opinion. They truly understand what they are doing.
Cardas speaker cables
It's really hard to beat George's cables, but eventually I want to get van den Hul speaker cables - if I can ever figure out which one to get!
DIY rubber eraser cable lifters
Found these very-soft erasers at a craft store for $2 each. One thing is for sure about their performance - I can't feel the vibration on the cables with my hand anymore!
Dedicated power circuit with hospital outlets
it makes a difference...
VTI BL503 and BL404 audio racks
My audio racks, super nice for the money. They are the best deal going, hands down. I got the silver poles, silver caps and black shelves. Price is for both racks.
Hey Arthur, no French here, but I recently took my Luxman out of the Furman for a time and what a pleasure when I put it back. Fuller, warmer, more dynamic and just plain more enjoyable.
Bonjour Rex - oui ça serait avec plaisir. Regardez votre émail car mon ami vous a répondu avec mon adresse pour me rejoindre. Je vous appellerai depuis mon bureau puisque à la maison je n'ai qu'un portable qui revient trop cher a utiliser. Je serai de retour au travail mercredi prochain après le nouvel an. A très bientôt et je vous souhaite bonne année!
Hello Arther,my name is Rex and i live in France,i have been a audiophile for fifty years,with many systems owned and changed,not necessarily being better,there is a pair of Kora Ataries mono block amps on offer,please would it be possible to talk to you on a land line about them?hope we can talk. kindest regards Rex
I hope you can give me some tips for optimizing the sound of a pair of Avantgarde UNO G2. I have just started a new thread on this topic where I have given more details about my room and electronics. I hope you would not mind to have a look at this thread. You can find it here:
AGs are interesting because it's hard to predict which amps will sound great and which won't. Hunches and desires don't always match up with reality. I thought I might be crazy for getting a 450W amplifier for them but I'll tell you what, they sing beautifully with my MC452. It's really unbelievable. My favorite reviewer Roy Gregory is famous for saying (although Chris Binns says it too) that high power amps can't sound agile and quick. Well that's not true at all with the McIntosh. On the other hand, we felt sure the WAVAC 300B integrated would be killer, and it wasn't nearly as good as expected. It just sounded vague and confused, with prominent lower-mid bloat.
I don't move the speakers around much anymore - their positions are dictated more by the room than the components - but I do change toe-in for each amp. The Nanos have a superbly even lateral response so it becomes clear very quickly when the toe is off (at least to my ears). Their only anomaly is in the presence region but adjusting for that is even clearer.
I've always wanted to try the Lamm ML2, especially since I have a fascination with the 6C33 tube, but I haven't. At this point, I'm too satisfied with what I have to try anything else.
Aball- you are the man, for being willing to do what it takes to reconfigure the system and move the speakers every time you change amps. I have only used relatively low power on mine, first the Audiopax mono blocks and now the Lamm SET, but I gather that a big amp can sound great on the AvG's.
Actually, it makes them good to judge ALL aspects. I'll try to give a brief explanation why: Resolution is a combination of bandwidth and dynamic range. Their bandwidth is similar to any good full-range speaker. However, their dynamic range is roughly 4x greater, which in turn makes their resolution 4x greater! Dynamic range is the scale of signal magnitude that is possible. The beauty of high sensitivity is that not only can that magnitude be great (with little power) but, more importantly, it can be very low without hitting the driver/motor limitations. This low-level information is what creates dynamic shading and microdynamics, both of which are critical in conveying emotion and flow of music.
When the speaker's capability is lower than the amplifying components, then the speaker limits the quantity of information you can hear. This is the typical case of most systems because speakers have a very tough job, and designing drivers for very low distortion at low signal levels is extremely challenging.
But when the opposite is true, then what you hear is the sound signature of the amplifiers themselves. Suddenly, you can truly hear all aspects of the amplifiers for the first time, what their microdynamic capability is, what their dynamic shading capability is, and what kind of noise floor they have. Macrodynamics get reproduced regardless, so these are the determining factors. Only the latter of those three is potentially bad, but the other two have such huge implications in the reproduction of music, that the extra hassle of finding a well-designed amplifier is more than worth it. When less information is lost, all aspects of the musical performance are improved.
Yes, the Classe was a bummer. But alas, they won't all be winners. The Plinius Mk3 also had a high noise floor - not quite like the Classe but still too high for the Nanos. It's kind of funny that their dynamic range can't even compare to my tube amps.
I've read some say it's the speakers' fault for having such high sensitivity, but that's like saying it's ok for people to steal from you if you don't know it's happening. Besides, it's clear I haven't had much difficulty finding amplifiers that are well designed. If their fundamentals aren't right, then their singing won't be either.
Hey Arthur, I owned a CA2200 back in 2004, with the matching pre and CDP. Beautiful (looking) matching setup, but I soon after picked up 802D's and sold the setup as it wouldn't sing in my room.
I tried a Classe CA2200 to see how it compares to the 452 and, it didn't. It has a very high noise floor that is totally obvious on horn speakers. With the music paused, the 452 is absolutely dead silent with my head in the horn, whereas I could heard the CA2200 from the next room! It's literally that bad. I peered into it with a flashlight and confirmed that it's a cheap power supply with a small transformer for a 200W amp. It looks and sounds to me like B&W is boosting their profit margins to Classe's detriment.
Turning it up loudly to swamp out the noise revealed a pretty nice midrange, tight bass that is light and shallow, and a treble that isn't very nuanced - although the high noise floor was probably the reason for that. On a friend's Wilsons, the noise floor was acceptable so I'm confident the amp was operating normally. But one thing is for sure, it's no McIntosh design. The Mc is more expensive but it sounds so much better and is so much better built, it isn't even funny. And that's too bad because Classe used to make really classy stuff I enjoyed a lot in the past. But it sounds like times have changed.
Hey Brian, same to you! As a matter of fact, I thought of you the other day. I remember a long time ago we were talking about the sound of McIntosh SS amps and you mentioned you felt they had a recessed midrange. Now that I'm back to having a big Mc, your thought came to mind and I wondered whether you would still feel that way when hearing one of these new ThermalTrak amps. Then I thought back to my MC202 which I absolutely agree was laid back with recessed mids - and recessed highs as well! I just never liked the autoformer amps as much as their direct-coupled ones.
Compared to my tube amps, the 452 still doesn't have an upfront presentation, favoring instead to focus on an expansive stage, which suits classical music perfectly. Actually concerts in general are well suited by this "you are there" presentation style.
On its own merit however, the 452 strikes a beautiful set of virtues. I listened that night to Rickie Lee Jones, Neko Case and lots of Greg Brown and was totally consumed by the emotional connection and the "they are here" feeling, proving the mids are no longer recessed per se. I'm constantly impressed by this amp's range of capability. Not soft and not laid back - yet liquid and natural. It's the finest balance I've heard yet. The 601s my buddy has are the same way, so I expect it's the new BJTs. In any case, we all agree it was exactly the right direction of change for McIntosh, and I'm really impressed with it. I no longer believe in the value of auditions, so I bought it sound unheard. Luckily it has turned out to be a perfect fit for my system, and for me.
Good stuff Arthur. Congrat's on your journey and putting together a nice system/room. Count me in as one that would hunt you down if ever traveling through W. VA.
Thanks! The posts couldn't be recovered. Oh well, starting off fresh is fine - I'm not so sure anyone ever read all the old stuff anyway. Many people don't even read the main summary as it is.
I'm always amazed how little time most people spend on speaker placement. They just plop them down based on where they 'look' good, and then spend tons of money finding gear to make them work in those spots, when in many instances, some readjustment of the speakers would have taken care of the bulk of the problems! All for free! It's a benefit that should never be underestimated or overlooked, and should always be the starting point when setting up a system - once the right size speaker has been chosen, but that's a whole other discussion.
nice system..and sorry to hear u lost your post..was it no way to be recovered ?
Nice system indeed
"To see the music "...i think i can see the music, after i heard my friend system which are Wavestream pre amp and V8 mono , driving a pair of Rockport Altair, Meridian 808.2 CD
all i can say...without the correct speaker placement, i heard music....until a few hours effort..i see the music
Thanks! I regularly alter toe-in. Pretty much each amp requires it slightly differently for soundstaging to be just right. Even certain cable swaps will require a change. So you're right - it is critical to get this right! It always is with successful speaker designs. However generally speaking, they're in the range where they point just off the sides of my shoulders.
I have tried crossing them in front of me on many occasions, with a bunch of amplifiers and sources, and it does work super well with certain systems. Overall I found they sounded best that way when I had the speakers far out into the room, listening in the nearfield. When I pushed them away from me, I was able to get them to work similarly well with about the same angle, except crossing behind me instead. I simply readjusted the subwoofers to compensate for the increase in bass the corners gave me.
When I get a new component, I will move the speakers all over the place and even try wacky positions just to see what happens. This in turn allows me to optimize their positions for that particular system. That's when I really learn the most. I do the same thing when I setup stereo systems for family and friends. I have to get an excellent feel for the room and the equipment to determine the best arrangement.
What a great looking room! Clean and simple. You're right about after listening to horns, you can never go back!How much of a toe in are your speakers? Do the drivers point towards the outside of your ears? With my Uno's in my room, I find I have to toe in so much that the cross point is the front of my nose. I've experimented A LOT with toe in and have always went back to this configuration. Everything just snaps into focus and imaging is crazy scary.
I use all 5 of my amps - both McIntoshes, the Kora Aries, the Unison S2 and the Linear A. I'll use one for 1 or 2 months and then swap it out for another to enjoy a new perspective. In the summer I only really use the 452 or the Aries because the others throw off so much heat.
The 452 is way overkill on AGs: It is the equivalent of using a 35,800W (yes, 35.8kW) amplifier on typical monitor speakers of 89dB and 4 Ohms! But I'll tell you what, it is magical. The 452 makes the 301 sound like the world's finest turntable - without all the noise, wow and flutter. It is fantastic. These new ThermalTrak amps are a big leap in performance over the previous McIntosh SS amps. It's no wonder Charlie Hansen of Ayre chose the same devices for his MX-R monoblocks.
Thanks for the invite! Likewise, you can come by and hear my system with any amps you want, and then we can go to my neighbor's so you can see his Lamborghinis! There are lots of great driving roads around here. I'm a huge BMW fan and fully exploit the back roads for maximum enjoyment. I'm only a half-hour from the Blue Ridge Parkway, which is very scenic and fun despite the low speed limit.
Aball- congrats on the Uno(s)! What amp are you using, the Tom Evans or the McIntosh? A dealer friend- who had Avantgardes- claimed that he got great results (on a Duo) with a largish Mc tube amp, notwithstanding their efficiency. Your room looks great. We have talked about a drive through those mountains south of you- if we do that, I'll gonna let you know we are on our way. (And of course, you have a standing invite to nYC, if you ever get up this way- at least until we move! -planning on Austin, but that's a whole other thing). enjoy your rig. I'll bet it sounds fab.
Sure, come on over! I'm part of a little audio club here so you can check out a lot more than just my system if you like. I'll email you.
I don't use the EL84 amp in the summer - it's a veritable space heater. But you're right, it's a wonderful tube that does so much right and so little wrong. It's my favorite of all power tubes.
I am so curious about the Uno Nanos and the el84 amp. I'm in Roanoke a couple of weekends a month. Let me know if you'd be open to a visit sometime...m norkus at g mail. Great system!
System edited: I have added my audio racks to my equipment list. I have been asked about them many times before and kept forgetting to add them till now.
My audio room dimensions are at the bottom of the list.
