What are your "WOW" moments in audio?

[beerandmusic]

 

People talk about upgrades and such all the time, and the topic of EVERYTHING MATTERS, but I am curious if there was any SINGLE things you recall that you have done in your audio adventures that you TRULY noticed a whole new level of appreciation, that you feel are truly worthy of a "WOW" moment.

 

for me

subwoofers

First time trying native DSD

Hearing vintage JBL speakers

upgrading my amp

learning to find the sweet spot before doing anything else

using multieq

isolating pc noise

 

a few more subtle, but I believe I heard a notable difference

using silver cables

 

I haven't had any wow moments with DACS...i have even had wow mometns with high quality SACD players, but still none with dacs....but that may be because shortly after i got in, i was using DSD over ethernet, and nothing has clearly reigned superior since those days in the way of dacs....maybe i need to resolve for room and power and then i could note bigger changes in dacs?  But I have heard very expensive setups and for the most part, besides the speakers, i think they have been relatively yawners, at least considering their exorbitant prices.

 

I also was pretty impressed the first time i plugged an android directly into an amplifier...sounded pretty damn good.

 

i still haven't got into room correction or into power besides just using a power conditioner.

 

 

 

[beerandmusic]

7 minutes ago, phosphorein said:

Hearing the Tympany 1-D for the first time after a few years with small box speakers. So transparent and a huge soundstage.

 

Did you hear them first in your home or at a show or dealer?

Are you still running them in your current setup?

[beerandmusic]

4 hours ago, mevdinc said:

My biggest WOW moment was the moment I heard my ATC EL 150s in my room!

 

every time i go to the shows, i am always impressed with ATC and focal...even more so than maggies or wilsons.

[beerandmusic]

So I finally hooked up a pair of vintage JBL speakers (L112), and they sounded ok, but wasn't impressed....I knew they should be off the ground a foot or two, but only had regular 3-4 bookshelf speaker stands, so i put them up there....although the height is not correct, it was still another WOW moment....they sounded a WHOLE letter better on the stands...instantly and easily notable by anyone. 

 

Reminder to make sure you have your carpet spikes if using towers on carpeting and get your height right!

 

For me this is just temporary...i just wanted to try some vintage JBLs....although very impressive, probably won't hold on to them...i just like trying things.

 

UPDATE:  Just hooked up the isolation transformer, and it does seem cleaner and with more detail?!  Could be my mind, but that is what my mind is telling me (smile).

 

I also noticed the voltage on the conditioner is displaying 122v where before it was displaying 120v??  Sounds great either way!

[beerandmusic]

6 hours ago, barrows said:

Not really a fan of spiking speakers anymore here; I have learned that isolating speakers form the floor is almost always the best procedure.  Anyone who has tried isolating speakers via, say, Stillpoints, Herbie's products, or Iso Acoustic Gaia footers probably knows what I mean.

Interestingly, all Raidho Speakers I am familiar with come with bearing based isolation systems.

 

so if you don't use spikes for towers, what do you use to isolate them from floor on carpeting?

 

[beerandmusic]

3 hours ago, gmgraves said:

For me a bunch. When I first set up my Magneplanar Tympani III's and bi-amped them. When I first heard my Martin Logan Vistas, and when I first inserted my hospital-grade Isolation transformer/mains filter! That much of an improvement, I wasn't expecting! Then there was the the 1978 or '79 AES Convention at the Waldorf Astoria in NYC where I first heard the Soundstream/Telarc digital recording of Holst' Two Songs Without Words and those life-changing great bass drum whacks! When the record finally came out, I swear that you could have seen the places in the groove where the whacks appear from all the way across the room!    

 

Did your voltage go up or down compared to without the isolation transformer?

My voltage conditioner was showing 120v without the transformer, and it went to 122v with the transformer?

I don't know if that is good or bad, or that it indicates more efficiency and less noise, or just that it is impossible for a transformer to not step up or step down the voltage exactly?

Either way, since i plugged it in today (just got it, hospital grade 1800w triplite), it does "seem to be "cleaner" and more detail, and possibly even softer?  Could be my imagination and subconscious bias though (grin)>

[beerandmusic]

20 hours ago, barrows said:

 

 

Personally I am using an industrial solution which is a budget choice,

 

elaborate?

[beerandmusic]

6 minutes ago, barrows said:

Look here:

 

http://antivibration.kellettent.com/item/all-categories/vibration-isolation/item-1143

 

hmmm...i was thinking of something home made that would have less surface, like something with 4 feet....ok, thanks anyway.

[beerandmusic]

2 hours ago, gmgraves said:

Yes, stereo sub-woofers are necessary and a real eye-opener. Conventional wisdom says that frequencies below about 200 Hz are totally non directional and that it's the higher overtones in bass information that locates those instruments in space, but it doesn't seem to really work like that because dual subs always have a more solid low-frequency image!

 

very true

 

probably a single subwoofer with proper room treatments and optimally placed would work, but much easier to place 2 subs (wink)....every time i have used 2 subs, it has the sound of more coverage no matter what they say about non-directional (grin).

[beerandmusic]

On 6/3/2018 at 12:13 AM, fas42 said:

. "there's no such thing as a bad recording" ...

 

how does this sound on your system?