Hi WRP,
I'm pretty impressed with your music room. It looks quite lovely. I can only imagine the work it took to bring it all together.
I'm at a crossroads, of sort. I'm actively engaged in replacing an old lp-based system. The crossroad part seems to be the direction I want to head down. The two predominant systems-think in the Bay Area seem to be: limited production, NOS, handcrafted by Japanese fairies (Shindo, AirTight, et al) and rebuilt classic idler wheel turntables; or, modern manufacturers such as ARC, VAC and VPI. I've had an opportunity to listen to a nice Shindo/DeVore system. Matt Rotunda put on a shockingly beautiful demo for me a few weeks ago. It's been a long time since a dealer's demo moved me, so I'm taking him and his product offerings pretty seriously.
I also heard a Audio Research Corp/VAC/VPI system put together by Bob Kehn,of Audio Image, over in Oakland. The ARC Phono Ref 2 phonostage was astonishing.
The conundrum is that each system was so gorgeous, yet of such different character. The "absolute sound" theology doesn't work in this scenario. Now I know why some audiophiles simply can't let go of certain components. Sometimes you want a nice meaty cabernet;sometimes you'd rather have a classic, stony pinot. Baseball;stickball. Redheads/blondes. Handguns;hand grenades. You get the picture.
I've only heard Matt's Garrard/Shindo Masseto/Cortese,Corton-C.s/DeVore Orangutan system once, and briefly at that. I definitely need to arrange another visit. Less talking and more listening this time. I'm still trying to get my head around the sound+cost. Lovely, but a very dearly priced system. It's not Matt's fault about the price. I walked myself up the Shindo line. The entry level wasn't going to cut it...but the sound got significantly better very quickly as we scaled the Shindo offerings...but so did the price. Well, we want what we want.
Would it be possible for you to share some thoughts on how you arrived at your current music system? You've obviously had a number of pieces come and go through your music room in order to bring you to your present state of satisfaction. I hope this isn't an unreasonable or intrusive request. Any perspectives you could share would be appreciated.
Cheers,
~james
