My system has been many years in the making and I'm extraordinarily pleased with where it is now. It satisfies my major requirements of Hi Fi: even tonal balance, great imaging, surprising dynamics and scale for its size, doesn't favor a particular type of music and, above all, it's reliable, quirk free and always works when I want it to work (I have zero tolerance for quirky gear). It is of course no "assault on state of the art" and certain areas of performance can always improve, but it performs well beyond its price point and never fails to connect me to the emotional context and organic nature of music. My future plans include upgrading my turntable, cables and interconnects but for right now I just couldn't be happier with it. Comments, questions, concerns, anecdotes and poetry are always welcome and appreciated. Thanks for looking!
Two chassis CD player with PSX power supply. It's a smooth, well-balanced player and of course a great synergistic match for the P5 and W5; especially when run balanced.
Sim Audio Moon P-5
A great preamp. Quiet and flexible.
Sim Audio Moon W-5
190 wpc. It's well-known for being able to deal with and control very difficult loads. I'm sure the DeVores aren't giving it much of a challenge, but they sure seem to respond to it when I crank up a little Crystal Method!
Rega Planar 3
Classic budget deck
Rega RB-300
The reason why the Planar 3 is the 'table that it is.
Monster Genesis 1000
A very low output moving coil cartridge designed by the man who is now making ZYX carts. Smooth and quiet.
DeVore Fidelity Gibbon Super 8
Killer two-way floorstander in ebony/bird's eye maple. Over the past four years I've had 16(!) pairs of speakers come through my living room - primarily because of work. For the most part, they all had their strengths. A few were ridiculously large for my apartment and were not allowed to perform to their full measure. Others just didn't gel with my electronics or room and to be honest, there were also a couple of turds in there. After years of dreaming of the day I'd have an enormous listening room, I've finally learned to embrace my smallish living room as a great place to enjoy listening to music. Less air to move allows me to spend less $ on speakers. And these DeVores really let your money go a long, long way. I was prepared to spend close to double what the DeVores cost, but I feel confident that I couldn't have gotten more performance, or more importantly, more FUN! I can't say enough about these and heartily encourage folks in apartments and condos to give them serious consideration.
DIY/Cardas DIY
Some DIY XLR cables a friend built from bulk Cardas wire - I wonder when he wants these back...
Kimber 8VS
I've had this stuff for years and it's always done exactly what I've needed it to do...reach my speakers. I do have plans on upgrading my cables and interconnects within the next year. I've had great success mating the Sim product with Cardas and Harmonic Tech so I'm kinda leaning towards one of those.
Solidsteel H-5
A very solid rack with reasonable isolation. I like its clean, smooth lines.
Second favorite throne in the house
My new listening chair
NuVision NVX32HDUM
An outstanding 32" LCD monitor. It looks fantastic through an upconverting DVD player and breathtaking on HD.
Great looking system,man. I especially like the oversize Miles covers that frame the listening stage-nice! I see you have a shot of "Water Babies"on your wall as well. That title track is a killer on a good system,I'm sure the Devores do it justice,right? For Miles with a funkier edge, I like the "Panthalassa" sessions. They take me back to the Bitches Brew era while STILL sounding hipper than anything done in a similar vein since then. Ok,enuff already-continued luck with your horns. We "late-bloomers" need all the breaks we can get!
I saw your nice comment on my system. Thought I'd check out yours. Very nice indeed. Your gear is a step up from NAD gear, but like you I'm happy. Your room looks great. Beautiful speakers! What occurs to me looking at your system is the lonliness of the single chair. I've got the same single chair in my room. Its odd and funny to think of all us audiophiles sitting alone in our music rooms listening to stunning and emotional music. I wish we could connect more than we do. The regular people just don't get it. I've pretty much given up TV in favor of my stereo at this point. I just pick stereo (and a nice cocktail) over TV everytime. It's amazing how it's enriched my life. Email me anytime if you ever want to chat. Cheers and love your system. :)
Yeah, I started on alto sax about 18 years ago when I was 30. I have taken lessons on and off and am now taking lessons weekly again. My wife gave me a Yani 990 for my birthday and I love it.
Funny, but my stereo room is actually too damped to serve as a practice room. My horn sounds better in a much more lively environment.
Yeah, I'm kind of a two-bit player. I was a jazz performance major in college and I've gigged on and off over the years. I certainly don't play as much as I would like but I'm taking steps to get back into it.
My horns are my most treasured posessions - especially my tenor. It's a prototype Selmer made before they introduced the USA and Paris Super Action 80. It's a strange horn. The engraving isn't quite finished for some reason. I've played a lot of horns and this tenor is really special. I've been all over the world with that horn and through a lot - many good times and a few rough times. Actual humans aside, that horn is my best friend.
The alto is a Super Action 80. It's a great solid horn with a slightly more brilliant tone than most Selmers for some reason.
My soprano is a Mark VI. It was from late in the production of the VIs. The action needs work and it has a couple of strange pitch issues but I still love it.
Yeah, I feel really bad for you - what with your struggle having TWO separate systems and a marvelously stunning room to support both. We should have a little photo shoot in the music room and post your systems here, then people could really understand why you're singing the blues. That Silvertone is in your Will to me right...?
John,
Thank you so much for the nice comments! Yes, I recall you using the Sim product at that show. And I must agree about the folks at Simaudio - they really are fantastic people! Your system looks great as well. Like many I'm drooling over your LP collection. I'm headed for a turntable upgrade sometime in the next six months so don't be surprised if I email you for a bit of advice! Thanks again and Happy Listening right back at 'cha! -Shaun
Nice job Shaunepp, this looks like a great sounding system. I used the Eclipse, P-5 and W-5 a couple of years ago for the Silverbacks at the New York show. Great gear and those Sim guys are great too. I love all the instruments around the room, it just makes it all the more real. Happy Listening! John DeVore
Geez, what an audio nerd!! You take after your old man, who loves his vintage Silvertone Audio System circa 1957. You really know how to shame your flesh and blood, who, stricken by poverty finds it impossible to acquire hibrow gear such as yours, and that of your fellow audiophiles, Lovingly Yours, The Head Hoser of the Epp Clan
Hi John, Thanks for the comments! You must be in heaven with your Verity Audio speakers - they're fantastic! I've spent a fair amount of time drooling over Parsifals at various trade shows; they sure make great music!
Hey, Great system ShaunEpp! I know how long you've been searching for speakers... It seems that everything is coming together for you!! Also, I really like your Honda Element Hi-Fi sticker, but from the picture it seems that someone has spilled coffee on your front seat??? WTF??? That person should at the very least lend you a bunch of interconnects and buy you a couple beers and a whole mess of wings. later Nate
Huge fan of the Gibbon Super 8s here!!! I think they are far and away the best value in speakers, if not all audio, out there today.
I still have mine but it took spending 6x their price to improve on them. When I sit then right next to my Verity Audio Parisfal Ovations (in the big leaf maple finish, hense the 24K msrp) they have more in commen then otherwise.
