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Is Exemplar the answer?

I'm looking for the best red book source I can find at around $5000 or under. I came very close to buying an Esoteric DV50, but reconsidered after hearing about John Tucker's Exemplar Audio mod of the Denon 2900. Have you heard this player, and how would you compare it to the best red book sources you have heard. It's fine to have a player that will play every format known to man, and having a universal player is a nice bonus, but my cd collection is almost all red book, and I want to get the most from the titles I currently have.

Thanks
84audio
tvad
9,467 posts
 
My player's on a TG Audio 688 cord, which is fed by a Hydra 4 which is fed by an ErnieM 9AWG Belden Starquad. Once the Exemplar is broken-in, I'll swap in a Michael Wolf source cord to listen for the differences.
pragmatism
11 posts
 
i used the HRS rack for my review of the Denon/Exemplar. A review of teh HRS should appear by week's end. Most of the review is devoted to explaining how resonance control works and why it is valuable. I think the review may encourage you to rethink some choices re: shelving, not because you should only own an HRS -- it's expensive -- but because much of the review discusses issues of resonance control generally. The HRS isolation bases (which are in teh rack) can be bought separately. For anyone who can afford one, I would not hesitate recommending it. It is unrivalled in my experience.
Thanks,
Jules
tvad
9,467 posts
 
Jules, now that you've teased us re: the HRS review, it'd be fair to provide a few more details about rethinking one's choices about shelving.
tbg
5,263 posts
 
Hey, everybody with Denon 2900s, unless you have used the D.P. Memory button while hooked up to a tv to turn off the digital and video outputs, you have not heard its potential. With the Exemplar mods, the improvement is breathtaking of about the magnitude of the Siltech wire option. I learned of this from John Tucker and maybe many of you already knew.
tvad
9,467 posts
 
Exemplar owners...are you leaving the player in "Standby"
mode and powering up with the remote, or are you turning the unit on
and off with the power switch on the player? Does leaving the unit in
"Standby" reduce the life of the tubes? And, if you are
leaving the unit in "Standby", is this because it's
recommended by John Tucker, or something you're doing on your own?

Also, I've noticed a fair amount of high frequency vibration coming from
the transport (I assume). I can feel it when I'm changing interconnects
and I have a slight grip on the back of the unit. I can actually feel the
vibrations in the interconnects themselves. Anyone have a suggestion
for damping these vibrations?
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