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by joegator81 on Ever Evolving

Description

With the addition of the Philharmonic BMR speakers there is a full bodied meat on the bones sound that I just haven't heard in my system before. They are plenty detailed but so organic for lack of a better word and easy to listen to. Also, quite punchy and dynamic.

 Previous speakers were LSA1 Statements which were probably just a little too small for my large open great room. They had a beautifully open and detailed soundstage with "air" in between instruments but I couldn't get the punch and body/presence that I desired (again, I chalk it up to room size). However, they were fantastic in their way and not at all hard to listen to. 

The Space 294 table is lovely and quite a step up from the clearaudio concept I used before. What improvements? Just a more solid, assured, detailed, and flowing sound. The Concept, great as it was, just sounds like it has to try compared to the Nottingham. Not unreasonable considering the price difference. 

The Nova II is super quiet, clean, neutral and dynamic. Nuff said. 

The AVA Synergy amp was designed to be a solid state amp with a little tube DNA in its sound. I can't disagree. Much better than a previous van Alstine solid state amp that I didn't like at all (way too hard and brittle sounding, very in emotional). The synergy is a whole other beast, a real winner. 
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Components Toggle details

    • Oppo BDP-83
    Universal Player: CD, Blu-Ray, SACD, HD-DVD, etc.
    • Nottingham Analogue Space 294
    • Clearaudio Concept MC
    The lone holdover, looking to upgrade
    • Shure m97xE
    Definitely a great entry level cartridge. Very smooth when some other cartridges shout at you. I don't think i'd ever get rid of this one.
    • Musical Surroundings Nova II
    Phono Preamp
    • Avahifi Synergy amp
    • Philharmonic Audio BMR
    • Rhythmik Audio E15
    Dual e15 subs used for stereo and home theater
    • NuPrime DAC 10
    Dac and line pre
    • NuPrime Dac 10
    Dac and line pre
    • IsoAcoustics Speaker stand
    • Clear Day Cables Double Shotgun
    Speaker cables and jumpers
    • Audio Art Cable ic3se
    Interconnects
    • Isopods and cones Isolation Pods
    • GIK Acoustics 244 and corner traps
    • Auralex Acoustics Inc. corner traps
    • Homemade isolation stand - aluminum frame , IKEA bamboo platform Isolation Platform
    • Mapleshade Cork isolation

Comments 1

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Owner
I wanted to add more specifics to the changes my system has gone through. So here goes:

Speakers: Monitor Audio Bronze circa 2000 > Salk Songseries. Obviously it was time for an upgrade. Leaps, bounds, gorges of distance between the two. The MA's were great speakers... bought those in college when i worked for Bose ;) but the improvement in dynamics, tightness in bass, detail, and soundstaging is amazing.

Subwoofer: Klipsch KSW 12 circa 2000 > Epik Legend

Receiver: Onkyo Dolby Digital circa 2000 > Denon (no pre-outs) > Onkyo TX-SR707

Power Amp: Van Alstine 240/3 > NAD c270. Both are very good, just different. The NAD works better for me.

Preamp: Parasound Classic 2100

Phono Preamp: Cambridge Audio 640P > Musical Surroundings Phenomena II. Great for expirementation. Warmer and more natural sounding than the 640P. Though the 640 was a great starter.

Turntable: Technics 1700mkII > Clearaudio Concept. There was a huge improvement in soundstaging. Depth has also improved. The center image is now much more firmly locked than before.

Cartridges: AT 120E > Ortofon 2m Black > AT 150mlx > Shure m97xE (on the Technics) and Concept MC (on the Clearaudio). I really wish i still had the 2m Black to compare to the MC. Probably shouldnt have sold that one.

joegator81

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