Welcome to my De-compression Chamber. This is where I go to relax and enjoy music or movies when I can find the time.
*MUSIC comes First, with stereo being my primary listening mode. Surround and movies are secondary...but not by much. The system is better for movies than any theater I've ever been to. The system was designed with a few primary goals in mind. I've listed these goals below in no particular order as they're all critical to me.
Audiophile Criteria: *Full Range Main Speakers *Very good Pace, Rhythm & Timing *Zero Listener Fatigue *As upgradable as possible wherever it makes sense *Even, natural sound. Meaning, no parts of the sound or imaging are emphasized over others unless that's how the recording was mastered. *The entire system had to be time and phase aligned. (Yes, it makes a big difference.) This is a much bigger deal to me the more I listen. Non-Time Aligned speaker systems have a leading edge to the highs that I find fatiguing and un-natural. *Precise imaging without exaggeration or loss of micro or macro dynamics.
I have a similar system except that I don't have the 2 channel gear you have because I am on a 2 channel strike until there are digital outs for sacd for the cb II :).
I mentioned this in another system post, but try getting 2wq's for your rear VSM's, they really make a difference...
Have you ever tried phantoming the center channel? I do when listening alone and I find it to be much better than the VCC-5 (which I own as well by the way). Let me know what you think...
I have the xtreme dacs btw and I like them very much, but I never compared them to the superiors because I needed exactly 8 channels and the price difference wasn't that much (3 superiors vs 2 xtreme) -- so I cannot tell you the difference unfortunately, but from what I heard, it is moderate in movies and more significant in music.
