Well I'm back. My "Best of Stereophile" needs to be revised with my latest upgrades. I always felt my speakers (MMG and Q100e) were my weakest link and that has been confirmed. With the addition of the Martin Logan Scenarios and the upgrade REL Strata III, I have more detail and solid bass than I ever imagined was possible on my budget. The Scenarios play much louder with less power required than the MMG. The REL Strata III is much more flexible than the Q100e. In addition, it provides deep bass without the strange noises at higher levels. I cant imagine any other changes that could provide this level of improvement
I am using Audioquest Type 4+ speaker cables and Monster Cable M550 interconnects. I dont believe in spending large amounts of cash in cables. Dont believe the hype. The key is to keep all cables as short as possible.
I have to say there is nothing like a REL. It has a level of flexibility that is unmatched. Perfect for bass augmentation of very high quality speakers. If you are primarily into movies there are a lot of good subs out there. If this is for music primarily REL has no competition at this price range.
TDS Passive is the tweak for the non tweaker. This unit make real tangible improvements in sound quality (more detail and greater harmonic content). Sales of the unit suffered from poor marketing and limited corporate resources. The technology is patented and based on real science not techno-babble. TDS received awards from Discover Magazine and CES for innovation. If you can get one used or obtain the new version from AR (Recoton Corp) do it.
