Absolute top tier DAC for standard res Redbook CD

Matt

I curious why you eliminated the Vandy Sevens. Seems like the three you have chosen are not in the same league as the Sevens.

If your prepared to spend the kinda of money the Sevens are and it sounds like you are, You would make the biggest mistake of your life if you don't give them your highest consideration in this decision. Just last night I was in MD at a dealer where Peter Mcgraff was using his hard drive to play tunes on a $500+k system including the Wilson XLF's, DCS Vilvaldi stack, Boulder latest amps and preamp and high end Nordost cabeling. I came home after the show and listenened to some of the same cuts of music albeit not on his HD and the Sevens are some much more dynamic,rich, full bodied with better timbre its not even close IMHO. If the only way you have heard them is in a hotel room at a show that is not properly set up. Come to Pa to my house and listen you will not be disapointed. Only a two hour drive from Newark.

Lol. see what you did to me Wisnon! Post a list and a preference and fans of other companies will come out and defend their honor....

Ok. I was actually expecting this so I'll addres it head on.

My initial game plan purposely excluded any powered woofer speaker. So the two obvious choices in this price range that were cut were the Vandy 7's and the Schweikert VR-55's; both powered woofers. I feel that one of my Burmester amps true virtues is their low frequency reproduction. So I really wanted to keep that job on the shoulders of my amps. I was true to that plan until I heard the Perfect8 speakers, which utilize a powered separate woofer enclosure.

I gave the Vandy and the Schweikert a fair listen at the show to get a taste for them both. The Schweikert is physically a bit on the large size for my room, but the Vandy is relatively small. I liked what I heard, but nothing grabbed me and said "you have to look into these further". I felt that the Schweikert would be too big as I am really trying to find the right speaker to give me the performance I want and the flexibility to put them where they will sound their best. It's a challenge.

I'm not making a purchase just yet. And there is a Vandy dealer here in NJ that I can go visit. I'll find time and give them another listen.

Richfield_Hunter - do you know which amp they use for the internal subs? It's that typical 400 watt spec which strongly suggests a Hypex UCD400 or more likely the OEM UCD variant. It's a very good amp and used frequently in the high end world for internal or external powered subs mated to expensive speakers.

Matt,

Franco Serblin was the original founder of Sonus Faber:

More chat here, including my opinion:
http://audioshark.org/speakers-10/franco-serblin-ktema-speakers-any-opinion-5258.html