System edited: Changed to the ARC Ref 5 linestage and the Ref 2 phono. With a couple hundred hours on the tubes I am thrilled with the results. To summarize the things that I heard. The bass is more tunefull, goes lower and has more slam. It has more of a spooky-ness to it in that it seems more detached from the speakers. I could understand voices better in all recordings. The high end has more air, is sweet but still seperates sound sources better. There is a significant increase in dynamics top to bottom. If you want it to, it rocks! Soundstaging at first struck me as being a bit more layed back and it can be depending on material. Over time I realized that is the most three demensional it has ever been and that the system projects better than ever. Vinyl playback is the quietest its ever been. I feel that I am getting the full benifit of a balanced phono pre. There is more detail everywhere, but not the highs are tilted up kind. I think that is part of my praise of improved voices,highs and soundstaging. I simply hear more information. Ambient sounds are there in a way that did not exist before. Equipment changes were from Ref 3 and Einstein Turntables Choice Balanced phono. I credit the improvements equally between the Ref 5 and the Ref 2 phono with a little extra added in for system synergies. The surprise is that the Ref 5 is as much better as it appears to be over the Ref 3. I had it up and running for a couple days before the Ref 2 phono so I had a chance to have just that change in my system.

tdaudio November 09, 2009 21:43

Chadnliz, I doubt the difference between systems is all that large.

I care more about 2 CH sound than surround but both are good.

My center is a Dunlavy (had a Dunlavy system when I moved) SMG (SMG1?) and is behind the screen. Its a good speaker and it works well with the 5As. I might go for a VCC5 some day but right now the VCC5 is one or two inches too deep to fit!!! It can be done some day.

tdaudio July 17, 2007 23:28

Thanks, Shadrone. The room is very nice and I am happy, but it could be better. I built the house and at this point I know even more. We keep learning...

I bet your room is a nice place as well. I've never heard ATCs and I would like to.

The surrounds are JBL SA2s if I recall(boxes are long gone) which are low on the long line of JBL Pro HT stuff that goes way out there. One speaker can be seen high up on the right in the shot looking back. They are 2 way horn hf di-poles and are fine for HT.

Could not agree more about being able to hide equipment as much as one can.

TD

tdaudio July 17, 2007 23:15