Finally back here to answer Baranyi request.
I have mentioned here a few times of the great discovery of the Counterpoint SA5 full-function MM-only preamp. I shared much praise here before of the SA2 head amp that I used with the Aria. But when I moved to So Cal I needed a line stage and the SA5 was a great great discovery. It has its problems of frequency extreme coverage and mediocre detail, but this unit screams musical enjoyment.
My apt system was becoming a bit too tubey and the SA5 was such a killer performer at a friend's house that I sold it to him. The newer products from Wyred4Sound and AudioHorizons were no match to the SA5 recreation of harmonics and decays. He sold both of those and runs with the SA5 now for nearly 2 years. And they were not at all what I was looking for either.
I was then on a hunt for a replacement. I could not find anything and then another SA5 became available so I jumped on it. It was great to have that back! And I still had a few special 6922 tubes from my stash. This held me over as I was looking for something else to try.
Remembering the ARC SP-10 vs CJ Premier 3 dominance in the early 80s along with the SA5, I stumbled across the CJ Motif MC7 for sale here soon after getting the second SA5. The MC7 was the "replacement" for the Premier 3 in the mid 80s. A friend in Tucson did this "upgrade" and he never looked back. I stayed with the SP-10 many years later. But with the MC7 here available, I thought I'd give it a try. It's design was for the phono lover with ability for MC and MM and a line input.
The MC7 turned out to be a great surprise. I had found a sleeper. Finally Finally I had found something that stood out! It was hard to admit but the MC7 was a nice refinement to the SA5. There was just a slight reduction in the 3D magic of the SA5 but with the MC7, the noise floor was lower and more detail throughout. Surely, the MC7 was a step in the right direction and a big one at that.
I will move back to MN in December. Once I get the CAT amps re-tubed and the basement room cleaned up to set up the system there, I will have the Aria to make a better assessment to the MC7's true abilities and weaknesses and report back then. But for a phono lover on a budget, I think the MC7 would be an awesome place to start and build the system from there.
The other incredible discovery has been a Silent Source Ref IC. I had discovered and used another SS IC years before and was greatly impressed. Michael Elliot of Counterpoint/Aria talked of SS on his website and now I know why he liked this cable line. As much as I liked the mid-level SS years back, nothing came close to the Jade Ref's combination of clarity AND 3D performance. Only that the SS was shielded and I needed this for the one phono connection. The SS Ref here was for sale at a killer price. I bought it but could not use it on my apt system as it was XLR. So I took it to MN and tried it on a friend's system. The performance of this caught us both by surprise. For the price I got it (1100), it was clearly the greatest cable find I ever had. We all talk about neutrality.
From all the cable lines I have experienced, I would have to say that the SS line "appears" to be the most tonally neutral with killer low-level resolution. For those out there who need a super quiet shielded cable, this may be the answer.
John
