Which components knocked you out on first listen?

Apogee Duettas. In the mid-80's I heard these at a Denver dealer, Listen Up, with the at the time requisite Krell KMA 100's and a CD source. The room was long with the speakers up on an elevated platform; subdued lighting with the speaklers gently spotlit and a hushed ambience implied that something special was going to happen. And it did. Lush, seamless sound issued forth which was powerfully extended on the bottom as well as being extraordinarily delicate and airy on top. And this was on chamber music from my nascent CD collection! The music floated; the huge speakers disappeared; I flipped out.

I scraped up the green to buy these about 18 months later. I used them with a Counterpoint SA-20. I subsequently had Levinson ML-2's and a Rowland 5 on them all of which I felt were inherently better sounding amps than the Krells. I could never duplicate the sound I heard that cold, rainy day in Denver. Setup is everything.

Jeez.. Mike.. you make it sound so appetizing and makes one go rush out and demos these items .. being 2 hrs from Montreal.. I have to go test these Tenors.. I have to also find a pair of those Kharmas !.. but I do not think there are Canadian dealers..

I have to admit.. my big knockout was when I put in my first Mark Levinson Amp .. I had swapped out an ATI amp.. what a revelation.. not that the ATI was a bad amp, on the contrary.. but the ML amp was soo good and detailed.. next was the AA Capitole MK II.. was my first high end CD player that I found was worthy of replacing my ML DAC and transport.

good thread !

Flip, I will second the Nestorovic system. Both the Type 4's and System 12 are wonderful speakers, and the NA-1 tube amps are gorgeous, graceful and powerful. (It is regretable that they are out of production).

Cheers,

Charlie

Krell power amps way back when with B&W 801's cooking. Also the Hovland HP-100 preamp, sounds like music.

I have to second the Nestorovic Type 4 speakers. Made by Mile Nestorovic who was the main design engineer, I beleive, when Macintosh tube amps were at their zenith.
He started his own company that some feel make the best tube amp, speakers and subwoofers in the business. They are rare and expensive. His subwoofer design is genius. The type 4 are his top of the line speakers. They are a pyramid shaped, time and phase aligned 3 way, with a leaf tweeter, 5 inch domed upper mid, and 8 inch lower mid. In a System 16 they are placed on a 20" stand with anonther pair of type 4 speakers placed on top in a head to head arraingement along with 2 subs. I was on the speaker merry go round at the time I heard these. Had a pair of Maggies that were the best of all I had tried so far including stats and many high end dynamics but I was still searching until I found these. Love at first listen and I knew my search was over (at least for now). These loudspeakers reproduce naturally what is in the music. All frequencies are very well reproduced and balanced.
Another impressive point is the diffusion. You will never believe that there are two columns of loudspeakers. It is a feeling that you are covered in all directions with music. It sounds as close to the real thing that I have heard.