This will always be in evolution, of course. As are our tastes hopefully...
The room had always been there...It is 27 by 19 with 8 ft ceiling. Long ago I had 6 dedicated 20 Amp circuits installed coming out of a separate Power Box fed directly from the grid. At that time we also jack hammered channels in the cement floor and put all the speaker cables and HT interconnects (Yes, it is that as well!) in aluminum conduits under the carpet.
My recordings have also been here for a while. No system however good will compensate for a poor quality recording. Being mainly a vinyl guy I am lucky to own a large collection of original Jazz and some Classical LP's. They unfortunately don't come cheap but in the right system they bring you as close as you will ever get to the actual real live performance.
The system recently underwent it's second total overhaul in less than 10 years. B&W Sig 800 were replaced by the Big Maggies; Classe Omega Mono by Hovland Stratos. Classe Omega SACD By Wadia 861 with the GNSC Statement and Platter upgrade. This was done to gear towards Classical and Jazz which as I found out I listen to more than Rock these days. In the same line my rocking and rolling VPI TNT V was replaced by a heavenly sounding Forsell. I was lucky to find 2 armwands which allowed easy shifting between cartridges. VDH Colibri and ZYX Universe were replaced by Koetsu Tiger Eye Platinum Diamond ( OMG!). I needed a good quality sweet sounding MONO cartridge which had to be light enough to match the carbon fiber Forsell armwand. I was really lucky to obtain a rare Japanese exotic - Edison Skala Mono. That alone let me hear my old original Mono recordings as if for a first time again! This only happened after some some incomptability issues with the 'mono input-less'IO were overcome...
Then the Aesthetix Callisto came along and it was worth every penny. Before I was using the IO only as it had a line in. I replaced all the speaker, interconnects and power cables with the Cardas Golden Reference. Last but not least came the HRS rack with 11 M3 bases custom matched to every component. The results you will have to hear...
Pictures of the system were made with Leica M8 and 21mm Elmarit lens.
Speed, musicality and dynamics...in cherry finish!
Hovland Stratos Monoblocks
Very good match with the power-hungry Maggies
Aesthetix Callisto Signature preamp
It is the double Power Supply version
Aesthetix IO Signature phono
Also double PS version.
Forsell Air Reference TT
Needs no introduction. One of the best sounding tt out there. This was an upgrade from VPI TNT 5. You suddenly start to hear the music...Wit 2 armwands for Stero and mono cartridges
Koetsu Tiger Eye Platinum Diamond
The holly grail...Mounted on a separate Forsell Armwand. One of the most significant upgrades in my system.
Edison Skala Mono cartridge
A Japanese gem impossible to find in North America. Takes listening to the old mono originals to a new level. Mounted on it's own Forsell Armwand
Wadia 861 with GNSC upgrades
It has the GNSC Statement and Platter upgrade. It is supposed to be one of the most 'musical' player out there.
Crdas Golden Reference throught
speaker, interconnects an power. The only exception is the Harmonic Technology Magic Power on the left Stratos.
Harmonic Resolution System SXR rack and M3 bases
with 11 M3 isolation bases - 9 for the 3X3 rack and to for the Amps.
REL Acoustics Studio mkII sub
Rarely used for music now that the Maggies are (almost) broken in. Turn it on sometimes to compensate for less than perfect recordings...
