I certainly want to apologise for not being more ftimely with my responses and for not clicking in periodically to see about any other memeber’s feedback or input requiring any reaction or response.

>DAN

back around ’12, my outfit was exchanged almost totally due to attempts by criminals to forcibly enter my premises.

I became abundantly aware just about instantly an enormous amount of havoc can be wrought in what law enforcement calls ‘response time’, and after two such incidents came to grips with the proposition my personal safety was vastly more inmportant, I had to bust a move to upgrade the security in and about my home. ASAP! the only means at hand was to convert equipment into $$$ and lay in the means to be alerted of intruders andf to personally deal with them when necessary. so I did. 

thereafter health conbcerns began looming large and well, overcoming life’s tribulations thus far has not enabled me to get back into the ‘game’ so to speak.

the only new items I’ve acquired of late are more ammunition, new music CDs, and IMO a OPPO 203 UDP, high value pr of ear buds, and an AQ RED Dragon? for the new iMac Retina desktop.

i had been eyeing a Blue Sound node i2 and thought to grab one but obtaining a new AC got a higher priority and I blew the stimulus funds on it. immediately after paying for it the aC in my office died and another one was needed. and in the Sunburn State while in summer time, guess what choice I had?

the present aim is/was to amalgamate the system ‘left overs’ into a PC outfit… and that is still in the works requiring some rearranging of racks, componnets etc., and sadly I’ve just not been up to the task physically.

luckily I have been able to get to both Fla Audio shows of late, ’19, and earlier this year where I visited the OZ presentation of the Vitas 30 INT with and was delighted to hear it. that said, it showed a lot of promise, though I’m not so sure it was a bowl me over event. especially given the entry fee it demands.

my escort and I saw some personal favs there, and a couple new demos which have redirected my philosophy on audio and its consequent tarrifs, or just how much $$$$ does one need to invest to get the knnee bobing and the corners of the lips turned up.

several rooms, new to me, demonstrated systems which rolled in under $10K that were impressive. that said, there were of course others whose tags were uber high that accounted extremely well for themselves too! some in the what I call fairly manageable for many or the mid 20Ks, were as well suprisingly entertaining. Raven room was one that really buttered my bread. 

 if Bill Gates gave me a  check and I could only spend  $100K or less, I’d opt in on the Classic Audio T1s,  Atmasphere Chronos amps, PAD loom, but sans  the TT and add the EMM labs dAC along with a Wolfe streamer, without giving things much thought at all, such was the rooms depiction..

if Bill was more frugal I’d likely oppt for some of the Raven’s offerings and be very happy and defintley grateful.

though there were a number of really strong arguments for going other routes. Daedalus & VAC statement Integrated amp was a compelling room too. so was the Audessy and vAC statement amps. 

I passed on the Magico demo as it was always too crowded so there was another likely enagaging exhibit to ponder or salivate over.

regretably  I missed the Legacy room altogether. bummer.

this is  why I feeebly posted previous to this “anything new or recent” as I’ve a long ways to go from here.

economically speaking, to illustrate the current state of y union, ‘if BMWs were being sold for $1,000 each, all I could do was to spread the word. lol.

hope that sums up things overall, well mostly anyhow.

be well, jim

Life and Health scenarios have entirely overturned my previous acquisitions, and decidedly decimated the audio gear inventory here abouts, so a fully blank slate presents itself with which to begin anew.

with the new year about to dawn, it seemed appropriate to re-visit this thread and add in some personal goals rather than specific items, brands or models which   presently  clutter  the emotional’ side of my  brain.

 IOW, the next direction for a ‘go to’ outfit.

hardware comes and goes, but personal philosophies and or traditions on amassing and sorting out a copetent audio rig tend    to remain rigorously entrenched, only the names change to announce the guilty, er, chosen pieces.

as for  my predominate lingering devotion, I remain married to the notion any top notch stereo rig must begin at the begining, ala the source. no  other part of the downstream system can make up for shortcomings here.  

certainly the ’source’ first concept does not necessitate diminishing any downstream devices. it simply means the voice of any home audio construct will find its throat here, first and foremost.

the ‘soul’ of any stereo leans decidedly on the synergy demonstarted by thesum of its parts in total.

naturally a   digitally  based arrangement is the most viable course for  my circumstances, consequently, and from what I’ve heard, EMM Labs has my vote for D/A conversion duties with its flagship converter, although there are a couple very intersting European alternatives if one keeps on par with the EMM Labs MSRP. 

the late influx of upper end InTEGRATED amplifiers also has captured at least my attention,  but not     as yet without  a fair amount of consternation, especially with the lofty entry fees  associated with many  of them, and my fetish for separates.

of these one box upstarts, the Vitas 030 unit most recently hitting the  market  certainly  is attractive!, though, as said,  not the only gum drop in the jar in this respect.

the only definitive choice  though not totally clear aspect as to brand and model, is the speakewrs, and here is where my usual philosophy is about to make an abrupt lane change. 

Horns. 

it makes sense to get into horns as this genre of loud speakers afford numerous possibilities with amplifier designs and topologies, given I’m prone to using glass amplifiers predominately but , not exclusively, horns, or so it seems offers fascinating options for adding in power amps. 

its said, 80% of the music is made in the first 20 watts’. I’m anxious to see how much of the music can be made in the first 5 or 10  watts if quite effeicient speakers are in place.

prudence keeps,  ‘wading into the pool is the safer  approach than diving in head first’, so there will be   steps along the way to educate and re-educate myself on how the State of the art has driven the fundamental areas of signal development, amplification and reproduction in todays compoenents.

at least it sure seems intriguing on paper!