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I remember when I went from KLH 6's to Rogers LS 35A
the imaging and midrange was a whole new planetWhen I went from a Pioneer Class 2 M22 power amp
to a Bryston 2b - the bass and depth again -was a revelationWhen I tried an Apt - Holman preamp for its phono section
into my Mac 5100 - a new world of phono performance opened upThe change that happened when I went from Monster Cable speaker
wires to DH labs silver coated wire ...made it seem like I had
new speakers ...with more detailWhen I changed from a Shure 95ED to an ADC XLM on my Dual 1219
the experience was earth shattering...Your happenings ?
Follow Ups:
The difference I heard when I upgraded from a lower end Kenwood turntable with a cheap Audio Technica cart to a Sansui SR-838 with an ADC cart. I've been addicted to vinyl since.
I had some of the most legendary gear in history. My first Accuphase front-end, which was comprised of the C-200 preamp and P-300 amp completely wiped the floor with them!
The first time I heard Quad ESL speakers
the first time I heard a tube amplifier (on the Quads)
the first time I heard an expensive turntable rig and MC cartridge
the first time I heard a NOS (Monica) DAC
In 1987 I walked into a HiFi shop for the first time in 4 or 5 years and heard the Celestion SL700 set up with Threshold amplification an a Proceed CD player. I was absolutely amazed at what was by far the closest to live music I had ever heard from an audio system. I could not afford those Celestions ($3000), but I did eventually buy a set of Celestion 3 ($250), which provided a much clearer, focused sound with far better imaging than the Infinity Qe they replaced. Soon thereafter I upgraded my speakers to Celestion SL6Si ($950), which provided most of the characteristics I heard from those SL700 speakers. I lived quite happily with those Celestion SL6Si for 10 years before trading them in on a set of Thiel CS2, which was an incremental step up from the Celestion.
The time I heard:Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor on a pair of 1st generation Bose 901 speakers. Amplifier was Mcintosh 275. Source was Advent 201 cassette with CrO2 tape and Dolby B noise reduction. Room was way too small for this system, but I loved the sound.
A family friend's system featuring a Marantz 8B amplifier and 7C preamp. Speakers, believe it or not, were Empire Grenadier and they sounded very good playing classical music.
Led Zep, Stairway to Heaven played, on 4 JBL L100 speakers with a 4 channel receiver. Source was reel to reel tape at 15 IPS. I loved watching the excursion of the white cone of the JBL woofer when the lowest notes were played.
Allison Acoustics loudspeakers, models I, II, III, and IV. These speakers could make a piano sound, well, like a piano.
Magnepan MG-I speakers. I did not know what imaging meant when discussing speakers until I heard the MG-I. My first serious audio purchase after college.
Dahlquist DQ-10 speakers, first powered by a Yamaha amplifier (this model amplifier looked like a squat pyramid with LED power meter lights, then powered by a PS Audio 60 watt amplifier and PS audio preamplifier. I know the PS Audio amplifier did not have the power to drive the DQ-10 speakers to full output, but the coherence, soundstage, and musical nature of this combo put the Yamaha amplifier to shame. Maybe the Yamaha was malfunctioning, but it was easy to hear that one combo sounded like music and the other like garbage.
Listening to a Fisher 400 receiver and noticing that after about 3/4 of an hour, once the Fisher warmed up, it sounded better. It sounded more musical and the playback became more focused and coherent. Thermal equillibrium or something related made a big difference.
Listening to a variety of factory duplicated recordings on reel to reel tape through high quality headphones and and discovering the wealth of ambient information captured all those years ago in the sound booths and in the recording studios. Sinatra singing a long way off at the far end of a large recording studio. McCartney singing a voice track in a tiny recording booth surrounded by sound baffles. This and other amazing ambient information passes through most tube equipment unscathed, but few solid state amplifiers pass very much of this ambient sound.
After years of solid state, hearing this was a real eye-opener. I don't have golden ear by any means, nor do I know the right lingo (soundstage, etc.) - all I can say is the sound made me stop, listen, and say, 'wow.' It just sounded good - just right.
I've had plenty of ear openers, including the first time I heard a pair of properly powered and positioned Klipschorns, first time I heard Stax electrostatic earpeakers, my MAC1700 tube receiver's FM playback, etc.A real revelation occurred when I installed my newly purchased McIntosh MA6200 integrated amp in place of my Pioneer SX-980 receiver in my system. I had thought the Pioneer sounded pretty decent until then. The McIntosh simply blew it away: the bass reproduction was at least 50% tighter, more dynamic, and better defined. I sat there and shook my head as I A/B'd them.
I have had numerous other astonishing (at least to my ears) improvements, but the MA6200 truly stands apart.
Although not a domestic system, my biggest revelation in reproduced sound was the system used for the soundtrack of 2001: A Space Odessy. This was at a first-run, one-screen theater set up for the three projector version of Cinerama.Although too young at the time to take in all the details, I do remember how the audience sat in stunned silence as the opening scene ended with the 16Hz organ pedal rumbling at the end of Also Sprach Zarathustra. It was massive and realistic. Still sends shivers down my spine every time I recollect the experience.
There's no doubt film sound has improved over the decades but I have yet to re-experience anything like this anywhere. Maybe it was the spacey visuals that accompanied the music. Come to think of it, parts of Apocalypse Now do begin to approach the experience. This too has spacey visuals at times.
Whatever happened to the future depicted in 2001??? Every day it feels more like Bladerunner to me.
The future does look more like "Bladerunner" that "2001: A Space Odessy!" If things keep going the way they are going, it is going to look like "Road Wariors"!
First, the sweet sound of a Heathkit tube tuner and integrated amp through a giant mono speaker -- Tannoy 12" woofer/mid and JBL horn tweeter -- our rec room system when I was a kid.Second, the first time I heard an audiophile system, after moving to NYC in the early '80s. The guy eventually had to declare bankruptcy because he spent every penny he had -- and more -- on stereo equipment. Funny thing was, he had terrible taste in music.
Third, the first time I heard a really good turntable -- a Pink Triangle, in Philadelphia, ca. 1988.
Finally, the first time I heard high-end ribbon speakers, about the same time.
And of course, every time I hear something new and fresh from one of my own "mid-fi" systems, as I endless fiddle with different combinations of equipment and speakers and source material. Looking for that musical Holy Grail ...
don't get me wrong, i loved my bozaks, but the 104/2 are just in another league. both have very warm, rich forward mids (104/2 use two B110 mids). both have detailed mid-bass. such as you can hear the body of an upright bass, not just the string attack and the boom. both have a huge scale presentation and lush soundstage.BUT, the 104/2 have much better high frequency response and far superior imaging.
other notables are my old ariston RD11E (not the original RD11) to a minty technics SL-1700 MK2. i'm DD for life!
Rotel 930AX to Theta DSPro GEN III DAC. this was a gift from a friend. astounding sound.
green tarnished monster cable to 10 gauge bluejeans belden cable. night and day and only $.57/foot!.
various cheaper interconnects to affordably priced bluejeans belden. yes, cables do make a difference, but don't go nuts.
I heard this unbelievable rig in the late '80s.All of 10 watts playing a Sam and Dave record at 110 dB!
The amps were six feet tall and had funky glowing tubes.
I walked away with real respect for Bell Labs engineering and '30s sound standards...
--
Al G
The first time I ever heard Magnepan speakers, back in 1983 or so. It changed everything for me as far as how good (and real sounding) reproduction of music could be in the home.
Stacked Quad ESL-57's
Going from a neverending string of box speakers. Design Acoustics/ Sound Dynamics and eventually LS3/5A's etc. to Quads was a revelation. A big one. And then when I went to stacked quads I got even more.Genesis Digital Lens
I had already added a high quality outboard DAC to my MF CD player, but when I added the lens I commented to a few audiophiles that it was the biggest "1 item" change I had heard in my system in a while.Bybee Chargers and RCA interconnects:
From doing a fair amount of reading it seems that I am fortunate to have a system and overall "system synergy" that does benefit from the addition of Bybee filters. Using them from the wall to my amps and between the amps/preamps was an ENORMOUS positive. I understand that others have had less or even no effect in their systems.ROOM Treatments:
I'm waiting until I have the money and space to REALLY do some room treatments. I have no doubt that this will be my next HUGE improvement.
Back in the 70s when I got my Koss 1A and 2 ESls I was converted for life except for a brief foray into DIY ribbon arrays. For once I could hear details I never knew where there. Of course the problem was now I could also hear more differences between various pieces of equipment and I've been on a lifelong upgrade path for the best sounding gear. After trying out several other commercial electrostats I started building my own and in fact I'm in the middle of building a new pair to replace the pair I built about 3 years ago (pictured)..
likewise when I first heard Dayton-Wrights back in '76.
Here are the big changers to my system form my college system until I quit selling audio and went into computers:University bookshelf speakers with a blow midrange to KLH 32 speakers
Garrard changer to a Sansui SR313 table with an ADC cartridge
Royal receiver to a Scott receiver
KLH 32 speakers to ADS 500 speakers
Scott receiver to SAE separates.
Sansui SR313 Turntable/ Rega cartridge to a Hydraulic Reference turntable/Grace 707 arm/ Rega cartridge
SAE Preamp to Conrad Johnson PV-3 Preamp
SAE amp to a Niko dual mono mosfet power amp
Grace 707 arm/Rega cartridge to an Oracle Arm/Talisman S cartridge/ Fidelity Research FRT-3 step-up transformer
Niko Amp to VSP Trans Mosfet AmpThis story ends in the late 80's. There were lots of other changes during that time (cables, other cartridges, etc.) but they did not make a big difference in the sound. I will pot 90's to current if there is any interest.
Dave
Way, way back in time (mid 50's) I was using a Grommes 3 tube kit amp and a Heath/Jensen 8" 2-way with a horn tweeter and a VM changer with a Sonotone ceramic cartridge. I replaced those with an Eico HF-20, a GE A1-400 coax and a Garrard RC-88 with a GE RPX-050 magnetic cartridge. It was a night and day difference.Replacing the GE cartridge with a Fairchild was a huge improvement.
Getting my KLH 17's was a huge step up over the junk I had before, plus, I was now in stereo. This came about as a result of an article about the KLH Model 20 Compact System. For the first time I realized it was the systems engineering behind the system, that counted most.
My Pioneer SX-990 receiver was the first time I realized how good FM could be.
A half hour conversation with Chuck McShane (then Director of R&D for AR) who totally changed my view of sound and speakers.
Those are the biggies. The rest has been incremental changes, and not all for the better.
... a brand new, black cased, digital display model a few years ago. After all, newer and more expensive had to be better, right? That opened my eyes to how good high-quality vintage gear really was from a purely 'enjoy the music' perspective. Started my long journey into more great vintage and, eventually, tubes.
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