How Happy Are You With Your (Main) System?

[Audio_ELF]

I'm happy - thats not to say if I had more money and/or more space I wouldn't be looking to upgrade; but I'm happy with the balance between performance and cost...

 

Eloise

[mav52]

I love the tubes, they make music, not sounds...

 

I went there, now bring it!

 

 

Agree

[NOMBEDES]

Happy. Just want to upgrade my speakers, before I lose ALL my hearing.......or I could wait and save the money.....or

[Encore]

No real reason to change. It's taken me years to get to this point and now its time just to sit back and enjoy the music without having to think about the equipment. After all, isn't that what its all about.

 

I'm pretty much there too. Power amp is a bottleneck, though. I am also contemplating getting back into vinyl. But apart from that, I'm enjoying music more than ever before, I think.

[Boris75]

I am not surprised that the first response drew so few votes: people who have no intention of changing anything to their setup are unlikely to be active CA members.

[ringenesherre]

I'm happy - thats not to say if I had more money and/or more space I wouldn't be looking to upgrade; but I'm happy with the balance between performance and cost...

 

That's almost me - except that I have more money and more space, but I'm just happy with the balance between performance and cost ... :-)

 

Cheers,

Peter

[Jsmith]

In the last twelve months I have upgraded my amp, DAC, and added a sub, as well as all new interconnects. Plus I did all of my room treatments in that time frame.

 

Wow, I was originally going to mention that I am pretty happy with what I have an maybe one more planned upgrade, but seeing it on the screen makes me think I should settle down and just listen for a while.

[DaQi]

I thoroughly enjoy listening to music on my system. As I built it piece by piece, I know the strengths and weaknesses of each component. The move to a fully digital source was a big improvement mainly in the convenience which is a big part of listening too. Is it perfect? Far from it, in fact, it is pretty mediocore compared to what is discussed here, but it is good enough that I enjoy the music that comes from it.

 

A couple years ago at a local audio store I plugged my iPod into a truly high-end system and was totally blown away and impressed by the difference. Luckily, the price tag was so far out of my reach that I was soon able to put that experience behind me and continue to enjoy my own system. Funnily enough the salesperson warned me about this ahead of time.

[RankStranger]

I worked in the industry in a mid-fi shop (think Rotel, Denon, Polk, Sonus Faber, etc.) for 8 years so pretty much every part of my system was purchased because it was the best piece I could afford at the time with the discount I got on in-house product. There have been a few exceptions but that covers most of it. I listened and bought what I liked but I didn't audition too far afield because I would usually have to step down a fair chunk to meet budget requirements, considering the discounts I got.

 

Now I'm out of the industry (and a new dad, to boot) I would like to upgrade my power amp, my phono stage and maybe my turntable at some point but I have no illusions about being able to afford to do this in the near future. So for now my set up sounds as good as I can make it sound and far better than I ever expected to be able to listen to in my own home when I first heard good sound.

 

Sooo... "Pretty happy, but know where I want to improve (soon)" (hopefully)

 

RS

[tomstatham]

All my life, I have wanted equipment to play my media according to the idea of accuracy: a straight wire with

gain. Now I no longer believe in that idea. All audiophile

systems color the sound. Just look at the speakers. I like omnidirectional Ohm Walsh drivers but have heard

many other impressive systems.

 

Theoretically, all amplification should be neutral so that

leaves the source and the speakers as variable.

 

I want to have the computer as the source. Even if DSD sounds better, I wish to be able relay all of that

to the speakers as neutral as possible. If I want to

modify that to sound more realistic, I still want to have

access to the unmodified signal as much as is possible.

 

This is my idea of audiophile. Beyond that the considerations are more of a custom personalization.

Maybe my high requency hearing has declined as I got

older. If I compensate for that, it's music as I

remember it, not music as I hear it live.

 

I don't think any system reproduces live music for all types of music but some can come very close. Maybe

you don't really want Jimi Hendrix playing in your living room. you just want to know what he sounds like.

 

--TomS

[Cincy2]

I've had the same equipment for about 7 years (a record) and recently decided to upgrade for a few reasons:

 

1. Computer Audio - I went with a dCS front end that included USB connectivity and the ability to upsample red book to DSD formats. This experiment was a great success. My 1000 cd collection is now on a hard drive and hasn't lost one iota of sound quality.

 

2. Component obsolescence. My amp and pre amp were revolutionary 7 years ago when I bought them (Halcro DM68's). Unfortunately Halcro didn't survive the recession so I'm left with an unsupportable product. I'm trading both for a brand I've been happy with in the past that is thriving (Mark Levinson). Their Model 53 monoblocks will arrive in a few weeks. The dCS DAC can drive these amps without a preamp. It does a great job with my Halcro's.

 

The objective for me is purity of sound on my acoustic recordings with soundstage precision and great detail. Upgrading can be frightening when large investments are at stake but I've had the good fortune to never be disappointed.

[subjective]

Happy. Might go "Aktiv", but I don't what I'd then do with the Dreadnaught.

Would benefit from a preamp upgrade, but I don't have anything particular in mind at this point.

[sandyk]

TomS

A friend of mine had omnidirectional Ohm Walsh drivers . They sounded very good indeed when he turned on his plasma tweeters ( I called them "Flame Throwers") to supplement their drooping top end.The main drawback with the Plasma Tweeters was their "seaside"smell after a while, and their needle replacement costs.

Regards

Alex

[Jeff In San Diego]

I like this poll much better than the old-guy poll! (my "score" was much better too!)

 

Compared to most of the systems I've seen described here, mine certainly is far from awesome...but since I can't afford to upgrade it substantially, I've decided to be very happy with it.

[esldude]

You know I would have answered that I like my system and don't expect to hear better.

 

Yet I recently heard a system with top of the line Wilson speakers. I can only say WOW!

 

My system is pretty darn good, and in a few areas competitive with the Wilson speakers. But overall, those are better. I won't be able to afford such things. So I didn't vote in your poll. More than anything else speakers are where it matters. Though these were backed up by a top of the line DAC, and amps using a computer source. My only other observation is as much as speakers that rooms matter. My friend with the Wilsons has a huge room for them. Big rooms help alot. I remember music stores with little Advents or Boston Acoustics up in the corners that didn't sound half bad. Lots of it was the big space.

 

I also had access to a music club with some K-horns mounted in the ceiling corners driven by a little NAD receiver that frankly simply sounded fantastic. So with a given room speakers matter most, if you can manage it a bigger room helps too. Most everything other than speakers and room are so good these days we should consider it a golden age of audio.

[dave_kiwi]

Given the money I have spent I am very happy. Main system for listening is "can" based, so amps / speakers & room treatment ain't an issue. I suspect that 'round the yearly bonus time I will look at what can be done - but need to weight in the "wife factor".

 

(Actually more mundane things need to be looked at - more drive space / backups as opposed to audio system equipment).

 

In the meantime I enjoy my music :-)

[dave_kiwi]

Given the money I have spent I am very happy. Main system for listening is "can" based, so amps / speakers & room treatment ain't an issue. I suspect that 'round the yearly bonus time I will look at what can be done - but need to weight in the "wife factor".

 

(Actually more mundane things need to be looked at - more drive space / backups as opposed to audio system equipment).

 

In the meantime I enjoy my music :-)

 

The word I was trying to think of was: synergy.

 

Current setup exhibits "good" synergy between the DAC / HEADAMP / CANS - which I think is very important. On an individual basis, my equipment doesn't rank very high on the "cost" scale, but what is delivered in my opinion far exceeds what I paid out.

 

Anyway - me likes, me happy.

[The Computer Audiophile]

I like this poll much better than the old-guy poll! (my "score" was much better too!)

 

Compared to most of the systems I've seen described here, mine certainly is far from awesome...but since I can't afford to upgrade it substantially, I've decided to be very happy with it.

 

Reminds me of the Sheryl Crow lyric:

 

"It's not having what you want

It's wanting what you've got."

[Audio_ELF]

I've had the same equipment for about 7 years (a record) and recently decided to upgrade for a few reasons:

 

1. Computer Audio - I went with a dCS front end that included USB connectivity and the ability to upsample red book to DSD formats. This experiment was a great success. My 1000 cd collection is now on a hard drive and hasn't lost one iota of sound quality.

 

2. Component obsolescence. My amp and pre amp were revolutionary 7 years ago when I bought them (Halcro DM68's). Unfortunately Halcro didn't survive the recession so I'm left with an unsupportable product. I'm trading both for a brand I've been happy with in the past that is thriving (Mark Levinson). Their Model 53 monoblocks will arrive in a few weeks. The dCS DAC can drive these amps without a preamp. It does a great job with my Halcro's.

 

The objective for me is purity of sound on my acoustic recordings with soundstage precision and great detail. Upgrading can be frightening when large investments are at stake but I've had the good fortune to never be disappointed.

Halcro still exist don't they?

 

Mark Levinson Barely survived the audiophile recession and is now part of the Harmon Group IIRC?

 

Eloise

[sjoc2000]

I'm happy, then I'm less than happy, then I'm happy, then...

 

Depends on what I keep learning about here. The system I have now is economical, and performs very well, but if I just had one of those Buffalo Twisted Pear Dacs... :0)

 

Jim

[Audio_ELF]

Halcro still exist don't they?

 

Mark Levinson Barely survived the audiophile recession and is now part of the Harmon Group IIRC?

 

Eloise

Looks like I was wrong about Halcro.

 

However unless you WANT to change your amps; surely they work the same today as they did before Halcro went bankrupt. It's the same with my Saab... Works just as well today as before GM cut the apron strings... And if there's a problem with it; plenty of skilled independent engineers or look at replacing it then.

 

Eloise

[spdif-usb]

Even though I know there are better stereo systems than mine, I am still extremely happy with the sound I am getting right now. I finished building my system at the end of last year, and I took a tremendous amount of risk with the choices I made.

Firstly, DACs based on the ESS SABRE³² Reference ES9018 are often described as "king of detail", but nevertheless, alot of them are said to be harsh-sounding and / or causing fuzzy soundstage. When I purchased my Eastern Electric MiniMax DAC Plus, which was near the end of September last year, it was still in its introduction period so there were no reviews to be found anywhere yet, and I hadn't been given the chance to audition it. I later discovered that pulling the vacuum tube out of this DAC and running it in solid state mode is what makes it an absolute

giant-killer, because IMO it simply blows away the direct competition and more. The MiniMax DAC Plus is the successor and vastly improved version of the old and discontinued MiniMax DAC.

Secondly, my pair of Canton Vento 890.2 DC speakers were facing me with a similar challenge. Meaning, no in-depth reviews to be found anywhere as they're the new and improved version of the Vento 890 DC. I didn't have a power amp yet so, again, auditioning before making my purchase was not possible. With their ceramic aluminum oxide dome tweeters and Displacement Control (DC) technology, these speakers are a remarkable piece of innovative engineering, and IMO they sound like a dream.

Finally, the beating heart of my system had arrived, bringing it to life. It is the Emotiva XPA-2, which can only be purchased online so, once again, I could not audition. It is wonderfully transparent, extremely neutral, and it offers the headroom it takes for a power amp to be in total control of the very power hungry speakers that are my Cantons.

The end result is a phenomenal, three-dimensional soundstage with beautiful separation and air, pristine vocals and a level of detail, microdynamics and "blackgrounds" that I never could have hoped for. It makes no logical sense to me, as this was supposed to be just an "entry-level" system, built on a reasonable budget. Instead, I got a system that brings me so close to the performance it makes me feel like I could almost touch the musical instruments. Everything sounds so rich and lively, but regardless of the music's genre. Listening fatigue is nonexistent, and there is no noticeable coloration either.

[Erwin S]

As always, I am with Eloise! Boy, she even drives a SAAB! No cooler car on the world.

 

The thing I will be upgrading is the room...

 

Some work needed. Acoustic ceiling included in plans!

That's my 17yo kid helping me with the damp foil below the roof or what you call it.

[DigiPete]

The first album in Auro-3D 24/96 9.1 surround has been introduced by 2L - the Nordic Sound.

Auro-3d: Auro-3D / Auro Technologies : Three-dimensional sound

 

Should I become unhappy with my rig for only being that old fashion 5.1?

I can go 7.1 with my current setup, but I'll need an extra Weiss AFI1 to go beyond that.

 

Thanks to smart modular approach, I can just keep adding speakers up to say 15.1 or 13.3

Hmmmm . . . I do believe I still love my current rig!

[Jud]

The first album in Auro-3D 24/96 9.1 surround has been introduced by 2L - the Nordic Sound.

Auro-3d: Auro-3D / Auro Technologies : Three-dimensional sound

 

Should I become unhappy with my rig for only being that old fashion 5.1?

I can go 7.1 with my current setup, but I'll need an extra Weiss AFI1 to go beyond that.

 

Thanks to smart modular approach, I can just keep adding speakers up to say 15.1 or 13.3

Hmmmm . . . I do believe I still love my current rig!

 

13.3, eh? Reminds me a little of when my university was fund-raising and offered me a mantelpiece clock for purchase that the brochure described as "richly dimensional." "What?" I thought to myself, "More than 3?" (Well, OK, 4 including time - it is a clock, after all.)