I got to listen to Tommy's system yesterday. What a treat, and both he and his wife were such gracious hosts.
His system is in upgrade mode right now, so I really want to stick to some observations I made, not about his system so much, which is very transparent,resolving and looks like an audiophile version of Angelina Jolie, but about other things that surprised me.
1. Yes, he has made a Sonos believer out of me. For background listening, and for ease of significant others, its cheap, it works, it streams, what else could you ask for? Yes, I noticed differences vs a disc I brought, he has a very revealing system. But for parties or background? It was just fine. It was fast, it was easy, it was fun.
2. He has big honking speakers, but the way he has things positioned and the matching of his components, it is MUCH LESS visually obtrusive than my system. It fits and does not dominate the entire room. Very impressive there. I think Tommy ought to think about audio design. His system really really SHOULD visually dominate the room, but it is very organic in it.
3. I brought a bunch of cables as he hasn't finalize that part of the system. What was very revealing to me, for instance, in my system , Nordost Valhallas widened and shortehed the layers against virtually any other cable I have tried, in his it minimized the soundstage width...very very strange, but it hammers home the point that system matching, for your exact system, is critical. The different cables did different things in his system sometimes, and sometime no. I am sure people experienced in listening to other's systems know this (ie reviewers) but I was just amazed at how those cables, although they still were speedy, and transparent, although thinner than the rest, did the exact opposites in our systems as regards soundstage widening.
4. What I listen for, and what is important to me, for instance, full bass notes, is less important to him. He was listening more for inner detail. Listening to the same tracks, we would often find different things, and neither of us would notice what the other heard. Therein lies the subjectiveness of system matching or listening to what others tell you. We definitely heard many of the same things, but the relative imporance of them to each of us was widely different. He listens at a lower level than I generally do, and that changes things as well.
5. Definitions of things. We both agree that he had a short soundstage, but he thought the width of his soundstage was just fine whereas it felt too narrow for me. But here's the rub... for him, my system makes people's heads be as big as large ballons, and seems totally unrealistic. So who's right? He's right for his system, and I'm right for my system. The bottom line is, if one is happy with what their system is doing, then it's right for them. We'll try some different things in his system to help that soundstage get higher (cables could add 18" when we were playing) and then we'll try some different things in my system to fix its perceived imperfections. With these comments, please don't get me wrong, this is a great system. We both are audiophile nitpickers, most people would probably never notice what we notice. I could easily easily live with his system, in fact, I am definitely jealous of the sound he has at the pricepoint, it is better than systems I have put together at much more money!!
6. Some things though, were completely the same in both of systems. The use of Tara Labs the One power cords for instance. It did the same exact things in his system as mine, and further, we both heard the same exact things. Total agreement on those I think. Different thoughts on everything else we did. Speaker cable is the first thing I would work experiment with, to him, the ICs made a much bigger difference. It just highlights for me, the importance of system matching, and more importantly working to a goal for a system. Tommy is much more systematic than me, although we both have definite importances.
So for those who have only gotten to listen a little at a dealer's, I urge you to find someone as gracious and patient as Tommy to be an audiobud with, I learned so much in a few hours, and I am sure our collaboration will make both our rigs more enjoyable. Plus, only one of us had to buy some of those cables and then sell 'em on audiogon;)
Tommy, I can't wait to hear your rig with the finishing touches!
Best,
Chris
