- T+A components and connections, as I like the moving needles, clean look and scientific approach. They deliver a crisp and clear sound, in a nice, heavy design. Visited the factory already, very friendly people over there;
- REL subwoofer & connectivity as I like my bass to be present. Alas, the sub is on the other side of the living room;
- Shunyata power cables, flexible and outstanding;
- Tempo Electric silver speaker cables, 10 & 12 gauge, with a very colorful look (it's in the living room after all), to bi-wire speakers on the amp.
For isolation, I have custom made oak slabs, on top of several soft fat dots, for the components. The speakers are on Gaia I, standing on custom made marble plinths as I have an old wooden floor.
While it looks expensive, I've been upgrading equipment for over a decade and bought some items second hand, after a manufacturer review. Being in Belgium (Europe), it's just a short drive to Germany and Netherlands where people seem to be more fond of high end audio stuff.
I bought my first T+A components in Germany and the shop owner, Andreas, kept asking "but do you like the music you hear?" until I stopped yapping about technical characteristics. Which I do, and hope you will as well!
Hi @rman9 ! I like it a lot, haven't changed my system after getting the T+A components (and moving all power chords to Shunyata Research). I'm actually a bit jealous on the APM, I'm looking for such an item since forever
Agreed @jond ! As I mostly listen to metal, I initially intended to buy a McIntosh MA9500. Then I learned I pay about 30% more here in the EU than I would in the USA. I can't rationalise that... so I started looking for EU producers. T+A popped up quite fast, I just had to wait to replace my pieces one by one. Such is life :)
Thank you for your comment and feedback, @dcpillai . I started with T+A power cables, but they were too stiff to bend. The guy I bought them from, told me about Shunyata Research. So I did some research myself, saw their flexibility and decided to jump. As I have 2 C19 and 2 C13 sockets on the 3 devices, it was quite an investment.
It's hard to judge if it had a major impact, I didn't do proper testing and the main driver was flexibility (and uniformity). I selected T+A and the silver cables to stick to a pure sound. My sound path (I use Roon) is network storage -> T+A -> speakers. So the sound is at raw as it could be, with only the Fyne Audio speakers adding a warm touch to the pure black metal I often listen.
Conclusion: I'm really happy with the setup as is. I didn't pay that much attention to differences.
Thanks @mjcmt ! The decor could stay mainly due the Audiogon forum, where people helped me to keep it in good shape with audio equipment on top. Wouldn't have found Herbie's Audio Lab otherwise, for example.
