1-Where did you hear the best ...


"Theory is when you know everything but nothing works. Practice is when everything works but no one knows why. In our lab, theory and practice are combined: nothing works and no one knows why."


1-Where did you hear the very best sound(s) system(s)?  

 i- In a show  ii- In a store  iii- In a private place               Please elaborate.


2-Where do you believe we can mostly find the best sound systems between the three aforementioned places?

i- In shows
( maybe because they can take the time to put together cost no object components synergistically ... )

ii- In stores
( maybe because they have the expertise and time to build excellent systems and have plenty of time to implement it in a decent acoustic environment ... )

iii-In private places
( maybe because some people are wealthy enough, competent enough, passionate enough and have time enough ...  And, of course, being wealthy, competent and passionate means they do benefit of an excellent dedicated room ... )


3- Do you think that most of the very serious audiophiles are doing better than the stores where they bought their equipment ? ( I know, most of the time we ended up buying our components from various places but, let's compare our systems with comparable ( pricewise ) offerings we can find in stores ... )

Do you think you are personally doing better than stores?


In theory, we might have an idea of the answer of question number 2, while question number 1 refers to practice ... Question number 3 being in fact a logical consequence of the two previous ones ...


4- Which best sound system would you like to hear? 



Gentlemen, you start first!

All right, quickly

1- ii & iii
2-iii
3-no
4- I'm still thinking !!!


It is my first thread which I am starting, please don't be too rude with me!
128x128effer

Showing 6 responses by effer

mgattmch,

you meant the Apogee Full Range?


Without any doubt magnificent speakers ...
Sometimes, complaining is their first raison d'être ...

This could be an entire thread by itself: Sound quality at shows ... 


One of the best system I have heard was in a store ( in Montréal ). I do not recall exactly every component but it mainly consisted of Audio Research preamp and amp with Sonus Faber speakers and the Kronos turntable.

It was exquisite.  I only heard a couple of pieces of chamber music and jazz but it was very very good ... 

There was another store downtown with the KEF Blades and Chord electronics in a huge dedicated room ... I would have liked to hear that system ... 
In a private house,  I have heard, in a big room, measuring something around 15' x easily 25'-30',  Magnepan Tympanis 1 modded ( he added ribbon tweeters ) +  subwoofer + 2 Classé Audio DR-2 in monoblock configuration.

The panels where easily 7 to 10 feet away from the back wall ...

Even though the owner was the type of listener who enjoys to play his music at low to moderate volume, the sound was immersive, very natural and lifelike ... Nothing was aggressive.

I remember when he played Tchaikovsky 1812 Overture ... 

This is why, later, I ended up with a very similar system ...


Great for you ebm.


Are we worthy enough to know what is your system and more about your listening room?
Wow!

Your speakers must certainly disappear and let only the music flow in the room ...

Do they easily go down to 25 Hz in your room?

How would you rate the synergy of your system on 100? At a certain level, it becomes difficult to improve ...

I am a panel afficionado, but I would like very much to hear these Magico ... 


unfairlaine,

Hearing no compression is ... addictive when everything else is first rate ... 

Little anecdote: When it was released, I bought an Oracle Delphi MkIII. I was still studying at the university ... It was a big purchase! It completed my first system with a pair of MG I, Quad 405-2 and Quad 33.  I had so much pleasure with it ...
About Q3, especially part ii ( Are you doing better than stores ... )

I ask because last year I had the chance to meet a lot of people selling interesting equipment ( because I wanted to build a third system in the place I stay when I am working in a remote place ... ) and I noticed that even though these gentlemen had good system, it was far from being optimally set. Most of the time, speakers were too close to the back wall and too distant one to another resulting in a soundstage with almost no depth ... I looked like people were placing theirs speakers primarily for the look as it was a simple furniture ... 

In my case, I consider that the speakers tell you where you place them, if you want the best results, sound wise ...

So it is sad to see a lot of good equipment not giving their best performance ...