I have been working on this system for over 14 years. For about 5 years i had Wilson Sophia's and a Sony SCD 777ES player and no plans to upgrade. A year ago i added a Thorens turntable and a NAD phono preamp and i liked the vinyl sound right away.
I wanted to replace the Sophia's with Sasha's but when i found a pair of Mission Pilastro (my favorite speaker of all times) i bought them right away. I have been looking for a pair for over 7 years, there were ony 35 pair ever made and now i am lucky enough to own one of them.
The only upgrade plans i have are a new amp and preamp, ML 532 and 32.
Added the Master Reference turntable, a Transparent Powerisolator 8 filter and a Pagode Reference for the new turntable.
Replaced the Transparent power filstration system with a Isotek one, the G2 Nova is definetly better than the Powerisolator 8 but i can't say the same thing about the Titan vs the Powerisolator MM.
Also added a Clearaudio Reference Battery Power Supply for the phono preamp (this one is really good), a Outlet Limit clamp and replaced the Double Matrix with a Audio Desk Systeme record cleaner.
Master Clock for the DCS system. Makes a huge difference.
DCS Purcell
Firewire Upsampler
Clearaudio Master Reference w CMB
Upgraded the Master Solution.
Clearaudio Master TQ-I
With Clearaudio Sixstream cable.
Clearaudio Goldfinger V2
Great sounding cartridge.
van den Hul Colibri
With gold coils. The Goldfinger is better in every way.
Clearaudio da Vinci V2
I used for 2 months than upgraded to the Goldfinger.This is a very good cartridge. I prefer it to the VDH Colibri.
Clearaudio Stradivari V2
My first MC cartridge, a huge step up from my old Thorens TD 124 mk 5. Got me hooked on Clearaudio.
Clearaudio Balanced Reference
best phono preamp i had, i upgraded from Clearaudio Balance +. Added the battery power supply.
Mark Levinson 383
Integrated amp. never going to sell this on.
Mission Loudspeakers Pilastro
Only 35 ever made. I looked for it for 7 years. Never going to sell them. I had Wilson Sophias and wanted to upgrade to Sasha. They are in a completly different league.
Transparent Audio Reference XL
Unbalanced from DCS to ML and from phono preamp to ML.
Transparent Audio Reference XL
Speaker cable, i upgraded from Reference
Finite Elemente Pagode Master Reference
With Cerabase feet. 2 stands each with Cerabase feet. Under the turntable shelf another 4 ceraballs to handle the weight.
Clearaudio Magix2
16 Isolation Feet for turntable. I moved from Europe 1 year ago, didn't need them in Europe but in the US because of the wooden structure of the home they do a great job.
Clearaudio Double Matrix
Record Cleaning Machine.
Clearaudio Titanium v2
Added the Titanium for the Universal Tonearm.
Clearaudio Universal w. VTA
9' tonearm with the optional VTA base with sixstream cable.
Isotek Titan
Used just for the ML33h amplifiers.
Mark Levinson No. 32
wanted this for years, great preamp
Mark Levinson 33H
Very musical amplifiers, they work great with the speakers. Same amplifiers used by JA in the Stereophile review where i first saw the speakers.
Isotek Nova GII
Replaced the Transparent Powerisolator 8 and it's definetly better.
System edited: A couple of ugrades: A Clearaudio battery power supply, a Outer Limit record weight, Audio Desk Systeme vinyl cleaner and replaced the Transparent power units with Isotek Titan and Niva G2.
I was very satisfied with the Transparent power system, i also have the MM2 for the power amplifiers but i just changed all of them to the Titan and the Nova GII from Isotek and i think the Isotek products do a better job. Anyway the Transparent products are very very good and if you are planning to buy one i am sure that you will be very happy with it.
System edited: Replaced the turntable with a Master Refernce, added a Transparent Powerisolator 8 filter and a Pagode Reference stand for the new turntable.
I used a exd USB to sdif converter ( only made for dcs equipment) connected to the Verona clock and the Purcell upsampler and the purcell linked to the elgar plus with firewire. All cables are siltech royal signature gold. I use a macbook pro. I streamed dsd files and 24/192 straight and upsampled to dsd. I mostly listen to vinyl, souns much better in my opinion.
I tried computer audio but i wasn't impressed and i listen every dat at work to music from my pc and i don't want to do that at home as well. Mission is a british company, i just like this product from them. It was a statement product, they have 13 drivers each , they weigh 360 lbs each and i had to have them. Thanks.
System edited: Added a ML no. 32 preamp, No. 33h Amplifiers, Tranaparent Powerisolator MM2, Clearaudio Universal x VTA Tonearm. Huge difference over the ML 383, still love the ML 383 but the No. 32 + 33H combo is in a completly different league.
