Lots of challenges with this upstairs room - the room is extensively treated (that large black "thing" in the corner was tuned to remove an especially bad resonance), but low bass still makes the whole house shake (the speakers are flat to 25). One advantage of the Alsyvox's in a relatively narrow room is that they can be placed within 6 inches of the side walls, but of course if I could widen the room I would:-)
Love at first audition. Zero regrets: Will never exhaust their potential, but wonderful as is.
The Backert Labs Rhythm 1.3
Acquired after extensive listening (thanks Dr. Vinyl). Like the amps - see next item - these strike me as offering truly exceptional performance at anything short of stratospheric prices that I won't be able to hear in my system or afford.
New Audio Frontiers 845 SE Special Edition
This company's products should in my view be much better known. One listener found them comparable to the $80,000 (roughly) Audio Note Ongaku. I have no idea if that's true - just to say I have heard a number of fine amps in my room and this has been a keeper for a while....
Scheu Analog Das Laufwerk No.2
Another super value-for-money (I know, doesn't fit with the splurge on the Alsyvox but that's a long story!). The less expensive turntable in this line was rave-reviewed years ago in the Absolute Sound, I believe. It's as heavy as you could(n't) wish, and just presents a wonderful soundstage and detail: I replaced the belt drive with a unit from Sterling which is just better built. I am not yet settled on a long-term cartridge - will audition the Ds-audio 003.
Audio Note (UK) CD 3.1X:11
Not the quietest - no filtering, no upsampling - but creates a visceral, engaging reproduction of music which I find really appealing. I have tried to find a DAC/Streaming set-up for sub-$15,000 to match, but so far what I have heard - while smoother than the Audio Note and without moments of uncontrolled (jitter?) - has just left me under-involved.
VIVA Phono Preamp (F1?)
This is the junior version - normally a single unit, but I got a rare sample with a non-tube external power supply.
A big thank you to everyone who has visited and commented to date. I started down this road some decades ago, and have deeply enjoyed listening to a wonderful library of Lps (a suggestion to lovers of classical music look hard for single instrument recordings from the Titanic label) and CDs. The Alysvox are very special, and the NAFs (and the Backert/Scheu/Tru-Glider) are a very musical (texture, dynamics, soundstage and transparency) supporting cast. Audio Note - as many of you know - embodies a uniquely different path to CD reproduction - RedBook only. Yup, there can be "noise" and some occasional spurious nasties, but I find the sound engaging which for me matters most.
On the room placement - great respect for all suggestions. I did have Martin Logan CLX much where baylinor suggests, and they worked best there. But even though one might think the wave patterns from the Alysvox might be similar, the current positioning (40% of total distance from front wall to speakers 40% to listener, 20% to back wall) - which is recommended by some planar experts) just works best to date. Bass Tube traps were unsuccessfully tried - but not floor to ceiling. But I am restricted given other room treatment. More experimenting ahead.
Meant to add that I am using a Tru-Glider tone-arm. Trying different cartridges just now - I like the Hana Umami which is what I am using right now - it does a lot of things right and as with much of my gear, is I think really good value. I will soon audition the DS Audio 003 just to hear something completely different.
