This is very cool to read through this, wow some really great systems here. Mine has been evolving quickly here as I had a system I was happy with although I was changing it little by little. Then I heard something similar to what I have now on a business trip at a audio store (Glenn Poors Audio), I came back home to listen to my system at that time and decided I had to have what I heard in Illinois and could no longer live with mine.
New system:
***Source: Esoteric Xo1-Le--Love this for both redbook and sacd
***Preamp: BAT REX--WOW is all I can say about this pre and love that bat went to lengths to match up tubes and make it so I don't have to do any tube rolling. It even has a optional switch to use a different set of tubes that are already mounted in and gives you just a bit different flavor.
***Amps: VK600M-SE--mono 600 watts and they put things where they should be so well on stage and effortless, quick, and seemingly limitless power...
***Cables are now under demo but will most likely be the Kubala Sosna emotion or elation series.
***Power cords and conditioners are all Running Springs Audio, Dmitri on front end, Dukes on amps, and HZ Crown Jewel power cords.
***Speakers- Wilson Audio Sasha... I was doing demo on these speakers and had at-least three people tell me it was the best speaker they had heard anywhere. One said how he thought it was a break-through in speaker technology somehow. I am very proud that they are in my system for sure.
***Racks are Critical Mass Systems Platinum PXK's which is there newest version of the CMS line and will most likely lead to the discontinuing of the older CMS racks.
**The racks are the thing that really took this system to the next level. It was great for sure without the racks but once they were put in the system is better than great and is what I would say unbelievable. The racks took me from saying I feel like I'm at a live event or saying wow it seems so real. Now I feel more like I am the mic feed and there is no live performance being amplified or recorded. It is weird and hard to explain but I hear so much more in the music now than I did on my previous system and this system prior to the racks being put in place. I don't know how they do it but they get rid of the air-born sound vibrations caused by your music playing which get into your audio circuit and cause it to either speed up or slow down a signal which leads to distortion.
My stage now has no boundary and although my speakers are only 9 feet apart my stage can spread nearly 20 feet wide on symphony stuff at times. The depth is amazing and the walls of my room are not a boundary for my stage. All that said about stage it also is most quick and detailed. Somehow this system manages to be quick, detailed, and laid back all at the same time, and seems to adapt to what ever music is played through it. I have only one more step to go besides choosing the cables and that is speaker setup. I think I have it as good as I can get it. That said I am paying a guy who is supposed to be one of the best to come in and set my speakers for me. He comes in a couple of weeks and it out of Illinois. I'm curious to see how much if any improvement he can make.
