Here's one for you "source first" fanatics. $10K plus in front end (actually 12K plus, but who's counting), and less than $200 for the rest of the system. In addition: turntable azimuth was not set, anti-skating was not set, tracking weight was "kind of" set, damping fluid was not installed, vacuum pump was not on, three sets of adapters and "interconnects" (I use the term loosely) were used between the table and the receiver, and the MM phono stage was fed by a cartridge with a low output (.18 mv I think).
I'll be darned if it didn't sound good anyway. Lots of focus, detail and punch!
I was just looking at some Sansui G-7500s on Ebay,,I remember in the 70s how great some of my friends systems sounded.Seems like they all had a huge, powerful ,full ,phat,juicy sound that beats a lot of high dollar stuff today!Im thinking of finding a G-7500 soon.How would you describe the sound?Thanks,Ray
Ah, just wrap your drivers in MDF with a fancy veneer or black lacquer, don't forget the $20k internal wiring connecting a single Mundorf capacitor to the tweeter, give it a fancy name like Viola Bona Cera, and you got yourself a true high end speaker...
My own system is the epitome of mismatch. I've got a Levinson No. 38 preamp fed by a Marantz CD5004 thru a Musical Fidelity V-DAC, and outputting to a Hafler 9270 driving a pair of large DIY 7" two-way monitors (a competent design, despite the DIY stigma) on Target stands.
I think Source First only makes sense if you plan to have several pairs of speakers on hand and swap them out periodically. I don't yet own enough speakers (hopefully of my own design) to do that, though.
I'm sure you would have been really impressed had we been able to hook up my Realistic Minimus integrated (3 watts per channel) instead of the Sansui receiver. Unfortunately, the speaker outs on the Realistic were rca jacks, and the speakers came equipped with bare wire terminations. Next time I will try to make sure that there are a couple of extra rca jacks around - I'm sure that Realistic will still kick some ass being just over 30 years old and all...
Well, you sound like you are in the running, along with a bunch of us, for most "unbalanced" system owner.
By the way, the $252,000 Gaku-On amp that was in the dealer's system is on loan from one of his customers. That amp is merely a backup amp in the customer's system. The customer has a tri-amped system that uses two Gaku-Ons, one for bass, the other for midrange, and a "cheap" Kageki on top. The Kageki is used instead of another Gaku-On because a real difference in sound was not discernable. I would nominate this owner as "most unbalanced," except for the fact that he can easily afford this system.
I also have a Debut vacuum table and a Vector arm, so I guess we both share the same kind of madness.
JKane - Yes, I remeber the Kracos with the tweeter cone in the middle that you had to glue back on once in a while :) If we'd had a pair of those we would have tried them.
Larryi - I am crushed to learn that I have been outdone, though I will ask for an official enquiry - after all most of the equipment in that "other" system were well matched, and I'm quite sure that the interconnect from source to preamp was less than 20 feet long, and in one piece, not in three like my system. They just aren't trying hard enough over there...
Not quite the most unbalanced system. I was at a dealership two weeks ago who had a set-up that utilized an Audionote M-10 linestage (@$50,000), an Audionote Gaku-On power amp ($252,000), front end componets that I cannot now recall, but not cheap, a set of speaker cables that cost $17,000, all hooked up to a $2,000 pair of Proac speakers.
*ROFLMAO* THAT rocks!!! Now... what would've been better? Hooking up a pair o' Ye Olde Kraco 6x9s in plywood boxen to the receiver... you remember the ones... with the OHSOBRIGHT orange foam surround and metallifilm tweeter?
