DAVID ROBINSON'S SYSTEM

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  Von Schweikert VR-9SE loudspeakers; Nova Rendition II loudspeakers outfitted with Walker Audio Reference High Definition Links (HDLs) on the upper bi-wire, and Townshend Audio Supertweeters; all contacts treated with Walker Audio Extreme SST Contact Enhancer.

• ELECTRONICS
  Red Rock Audio Renaissance monoblock amplifiers; Linn Klimax monoblock amplifiers; Wavac PR-T1 preamplifier; Joule Electra LA-150 line stage preamplifier; EMM Labs Switchman-3 (SWM-3) 2/6 channel preamplifier; Linn Klimax Kontrol preamp; Walker Audio Reference Phono Amplifier; Joule Electra OPS-2 dual mono phono amplifier; Aesthetix Rhea phono amplifier; E.A.R. 324 phono amplifier.

• SOURCES
  DIGITAL: EMM Labs DAC6e 2/6 channel DSD D/A; EMM Labs CDSD SACD/CD Transport; EMM Labs Philips SACD 1000 w/optical DSD and PCM output (2/6 channel); Linn CD-12; Theta Digital Pro Gen Va D/A converter; Panasonic SV-3900 DAT player with Vimak DS-500 A/D converter; Tube Research Labs modified Sony SCD-CD595 SACD player.
  ANALOG: Walker Audio Proscenium Gold Signature reference turntable system  with the Magic Diamond cartridge and direct connection to the Walker Audio Reference Phono Amp, Second Edition (upgraded to the latest version, with the Walker Audio Power Supply, Second Edition, also upgraded to the latest revision, both as of 09/2005); Linn LP-12 turntable, with the Akiva reference cartridge, Ekos tonearm, the new Lingo power supply, Cirkus subchassis, and Linn reference silver phono cable; Revox B-77 Mk. II 15 ips half-track reel-to-reel tape recorder; Pioneer RT-707 7.5 ips quarter track reel-to-reel tape recorder; Nakamichi Dragon reference cassette deck; Magnum Dynalab FT-101 tuner w/Audioprism 6500 internal antenna.

• HEADPHONES
  Beyer Dynamic DT-990 headphones.

• CABLES
  Interconnects by JENA Labs, Cardas, Omega Mikro, Harmonic Technology, Empirical Audio, Kimber, Stereovox, and Linn. Speaker cables by JENA Labs, Cardas, Omega Mikro, Kimber and Linn. Power cables by JENA Labs, Cardas, Omega Mikro, First Impression Music, Kimber, Silent Source, and VansEvers.

• ACCESSORIES
  AirTight Disc (LP) Flattener; Digital Systems and Solutions RealityCheck™ CD duplicator; Walker Audio Prologue Rack; Walker Audio Prologue Turntable Stand; Walker Audio Valid Points and Valid Points tuning kits; three Walker Audio Velocitors (latest version, upgraded as of 09/2005) on Velocitor Stands (line conditioning for Walker Audio Proscenium turntable system and its associated Linn Kontrol preamp); Walker Audio Prologue Equipment Stands; Vibraplane turntable isolation platform; Sistrum SP-101 amplifier stands and SP-4 multiple platform rack; Black Diamond Racing "The Shelf" and cones; Gryphon Exorcist system demagnetizer; Extremephono VCS Platforms w/Black Diamond Racing cones under the Switchman-3; Dedicated Audio Cable Tower cable supports; ceramic cable supports; additional equipment racks by Michael Green and Target; Shakti Stones and Shakti Onlines; Tice Signature III Power Block (line conditioning for tertiary sources), VansEvers Clean Line; VPI 17F LP cleaning system with the latest Record Research Lab LP cleaning/deep cleaning systems; Disc Doctor Miracle Record Cleaning System; Walker Audio Extreme SST Contact Enhancer; Walker Audio Ultra Vivid SACD/DVD/CD enhancer; Record Research Labs Shine-Ola SACD/CD surface treatment; Bedini Ultra Clarifier; and acoustical treatments by ASC, VansEvers, and Michael Green.

My listening room is of irregular shape, being 12.5' wide x 13.5' long in the right section, and 18' long in the left (equipment) section, with a ceiling height of 8'. It is cambered left and right, with no perpendicular edge on the sidewalls to ceiling transition. Construction was done with 2" x 6" studs; wall-within-a-wall on the left and right sides (media storage in a room to the left; equipment storage in a room to the right). The room is on the second floor, directly over the garage—no competing sounds! The neighborhood is quiet, being located on top of a hill some 500 feet above the valley below; the listening room faces south, away from the main access road.

Power to components in the listening room is fully dedicated. 10 gauge Romex was pulled directly from the panel, all from the same pole to avoid ground loops. Four 20 amp runs were done, and Hubble hospital-grade plugs were installed. All lights and peripheral components are on separate circuits. Circuits have been tested for proper ground and polarity.

Robinson's Home Theater System

• Linn Unidisk 1.1 universal video/audio player

• Linn Kisto Controller

• Linn 5125 5.1 channel amplifiers (x 2, bi-amped configuration)

• Linn Akurate 242 L/R front channel speakers

• Linn Akurate 225 center channel speaker

• Linn Akurate 212 L/R rear channel speakers

• Linn Melodik subwoofer

• Theta Digital Data III Laserdisc transport

• Mitsubishi SD-HD2000U D-VHS/S-VHS digital HD VCR

• Samsung SIR-T165 HD digital receiver/converter

• Toshiba 65" HD rear projection TV

• VansEvers Cleanlines line conditioner

• Cables by Cardas, Linn, and JENA Labs

• Walker Audio Super "Super Version" SST Contact Enhancer

The home theater system is housed in our "great room." The dimensions are 18' wide by 24' long, with a peaked and vaulted ceiling that's 16' high at the center of the lengthwise room line. The fireplace forces a "shift left" of the High Definition TV and the L/C/R playback, a necessary compromise that skews the sound somewhat, but still allows for a satisfying home theater/surround sound experience.

DAVE AND CAROL CLARK'S SYSTEM

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  Reimer Speaker Systems Tetons (with the Hi-Vi Isodynamic Planar tweeters and series crossovers) heavily treated with Marigo VTS Dots, with Townshend Audio super-tweeters.

• ELECTRONICS
  Clayton Audio M100 monoblock amplifiers, Sutherland PhD phono stage (treated with Marigo VTS Dots), Blue Circle BC3000 preamplifier w/Tunsgram tubes and BCG3.1 power supply.

• SOURCES
  Cary 306SACD/CD player treated with Marigo VTS dots and Shakti Onlines and Stones. Transrotor 25/25/60 Leonardo turntable with a Shelter 901 MC cartridge w/Marigo dot. Sony RCD-W1 and Magnum Dynalab MD-90 tuner. Sennheiser HD540 headphones and Meier Audio HA-2 headphone amplifier. Polk XM tuner upsampled via the Cary 306.

• CABLES
  Audio Magic Clairvoyant 4D, JPS Superconductor+, Soundstring, and Silver Sonic Revelation interconnects, and Audio Magic Clairvoyant 4D or JPS NC speaker cables. Elrod EPS2 Signature (preamp and digital) and JPS Aluminata (amps) and Kaptovator AC cables (Transcendance uses two).

• ACCESSORIES
  Audio Magic Transcendence power conditioner, Bybee Slipstream Magic Bullets, Blue Circle BC86 Noise Hound (amp circuit) and Audio Prism QuietLines (throughout the house). Dedicated 20 (amplifiers) and 15 amp (everything else) AC circuits. Tons of Shakti Stones and On-Lines, and Original Cable Jackets (frig's AC and on DSL phone line). Various Marigo VTS Dots used extensively throughout the system and room (window behind listening seat). EchoBuster acoustical treatments and Shakti Hallographs. BDR cones and board (turntable), Blue Circle Cones, DH Jumbo cones, Stillpoints, Vibrapods, Mondo racks and stands, and Townshend Audio 2D (speakers) and 3D Seismic Sinks (CD player, preamp, and Transcendence). Walker Audio Ultimate High Definition Links and SST. Various hard woods placed here and there along with numerous Peter Belt treatments. audioexcellence az AudioDharma Cable Cooker for all cables.

Our listening room is about 18' long x 14' wide and has 9' coved ceilings. All walls are lathe and plaster with suspended wood floors (construction is 1928 Spanish) which have been reinforced directly under the speakers with concrete pillars. While this is our living room, it has become dedicated more to audio than to casual conversation. As such we have employed a fair amount of room treatments (EchoBuster, Marigo, and Shakti products), as well as two dedicated AC lines. Speakers and equipment have been painstakingly measured and set up to offer the best presentation possible. Our musical tastes are pretty much all over the map, but we do prefer music that is more slanted and "alternative" to the accepted norm—regardless of the genre. I should add that in my room, the Reimer Tetons are pretty much flat to 25Hz.

When we listen to music, Carol and I prefer a full-range sound that places the performers out into the room. We like a more "in-your-face" sound as opposed one where the soundstage sits well behind the speakers. Additionally, we like our music with a bit more "syrup" than most so our current system is slanted towards the richer and warmer side of things. Another thing we do like is detail and imaging. Yes, a well-defined soundfield that offers a well-lit stage is what we are after—though one that stresses musicality over sterile neutrality. Not lush mind you, but a bit perhaps a touch darker than most.

Secondary System (office)

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  Chario Hyper Reference 2000.

• ELECTRONICS
  Kora Explorer 90 SI integrated.

• SOURCES
  EAD T-1000 transport and DSP-1000 II DAC.

• CABLES
  Interconnects are either Bogdan Audio or DH Labs Revelations. Speaker cables are either JPS Ultraconductors or Bogdan Audio.

• ACCESSORIES
  Audio Magic AC cords, Blue Circle BC86 Noise Hound, dedicated 20 amp circuit, and Vibrapods.

Home Theater System (in a different room)

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  Paradigm LCR350 fronts and center, 250 surrounds, and a Velodyne DSP12 subwoofer.

• ELECTRONICS
  LINN Classik Di.

• SOURCES
  Sony Grand Wega 42" LCD HDTV television and a Hitachi Hi-Fi VCR.

• CABLES
  Luminous Audio speaker cables, AudioQuest interconnects, AudioQuest or Cardas S-video cable, Cardas component video cables, and Audience, Elrod, JPS, and DH Labs AC cords.

• ACCESSORIES
  Equi-Tech 1.5Q balanced power, Gingko Cloud 10 platform, and an Electra-Clear EAU-1 parallel AC unit.

MYLES B. ASTOR'S SYSTEM

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  Martin-Logan Prodigy.

• ELECTRONICS
  Conrad-Johnson Premier 140 amplifier, ART preamplifier, Series 1 (soon to be updated to Series II when that huge PFO sign-on bonus check arrives!), Premier 15 phono stage, and PASS Labs Xono phono stage.

• SOURCES
  Altis Audio CDT-III transport and 24/96 Reference DAC, Sony SCD-1 SACD player, VPI Scoutmaster turntable with 9" arm (awaiting the imminent arrival of an HRX), Lyra Titan V2 and Helikon and Clearaudio Discovery cartridges.

• CABLES
  Audioquest Amazon interconnects and Everest speaker cables, Phoenix Gold Arx 300 Series Bronze Level interconnects, Transparent Audio AES/EBU digital interconnect cable, Shunyata Research King Cobra V2 AC cord.

• ACCESSORIES
  Sound Application AC outlets, Goldmund cones, Symposium Platforms and Roller Blocks, Silent Running Audio VPI Turntable Platform, Silent Running Audio Craz equipment stand, Audio Physics cartridge demagnetizer, Thor Audio Phono burn-in, Cartridge Man stylus gauge, MOBIE, Walker Audio damping discs, Shatki Stones, Lyra SPT, Kontak, RRL Super Vinyl wash and RRL Super Deep Cleaner, Oznow Zero Dust stylus cleaner, Cable Elevators, and Roomtunes.

Special Mention: Sony's 34-inch, 16x9 aspect ratio, Model 910 HDTV—that all too often makes tearing myself away from Law and Order and its spin offs or a good movie and turning on the audio system, extremely difficult!)

Room: Although my new city listening room is similar in size to my long time Bronx digs, (18 x 12 x 8 vs the old 19 x 13 x 8 ft.), the speakers now fire along the long instead of short wall resulting in a significantly different presentation. Instead of the verrrryyy…. wide soundstage and musically rich sound of yesteryear, my new listening room remains musical but significantly less colored and more transparent with a narrower but deeper soundstage. And I'm not finished experimenting with and tuning the room's acoustics, so I expect even better things out of the frequency extremes (not to mention that the new VPI HRX should shore up other areas!).

Software: My musical library currently numbers approximately 8000 LPs (considerably thinned out before last summer's move) and 700 SACDs, DVDs and CDs. Musically this breaks down into roughly 85% classical (Consisting of the original Mercury, RCA, Lyrita, Harmonia Mundi, EMI, Decca/London, Argo and many other wonderful labels), 5% jazz, 5% rock and 5% assorted (world music, soundtracks, country, etc.).

Select Stereo Spectaculars

• Yasukaza Amemiya: Summer Prayer RCA RVC-2154

• Malcolm Arnold: Sarabande and Polka EMI ASD 3823

• Benjamin Britten: Rejoice in the Lamb Argo ZRG 5440

• Kimio Eto: Art of the Koto Elektra EKS-734

• Bill Evans Trio at Shelly's Manne-Hole OJC 263

• Gil Evans: Out of the Cool Impulse Stereo A4 (or Alto Edition)

• Picaflor: Latin American Music for Guitar and Mandolin  Titanic Mn-5

• Rashomon  Carlton Deluxe Stereo STLPX 5000

• Songs from the Fayrfax Manuscript Musical Heritage Society MHS 4649

• Mel Torme: I Dig the Duke; I Dig the Count  Verve V6 8491

• Edgar Varese: Arcana, Integrales, Ionisation Decca SXL 6550

• Sarah Vaughn: Send in the Clowns Pablo 2312-130

• Charles Wuorinen: Percussion Symphony Nonesuch H-71353

Listening habits: In a nutshell, the system must first and foremost, sound musical, not mechanical. The system should in those oh-so-rare rare, but precious moments, transcend the mechanical and recreate the illusion of the real event. At the same time, this musicality shouldn't result from gross colorations or distortions, such as that displayed by bad single-ended amplifier designs.

Though I can appreciate the diversity of approaches and paths to attaining audio nirvana, I absolutely loathe upper midrange aberrations. Specifically, that upper midrange brightness (note that what many think is a rising top end is in actuality traceable to problems in the upper midrange area as defined by HP). This upper midrange brightness results in part from non-linearity, not the frequency domain distortions (for more on this, see the early seminal papers on capacitor design by Curl and Marsh.) Another reason for this upper midrange distortion(s), although far less common in current equipment, is the presence of ferromagnetic leads/material in the signal path.

Other than that, I'm highly partial to systems that create a realistic soundstage (in other words, a quartet sounds like a quartet and not a symphony or vice versa) and imaging (I've never heard an orchestra sound, even in the worst musical venue, err Avery Fisher Hall, sound like amorphous, ill-defined blobs of sound), a wide frequency response, and musically consonant, not over-etched, low-level resolution.

That said, I'm probably a bit more tolerant than some to a slight loss of macrodynamics (the type one might have to sacrifice with the best electrostatic, though not anemic like early Quad speakers, that despite all their attributes, just couldn't overcome one of their most significant weaknesses). Maybe I'd be less tolerant of this flaw if large symphonic works were a listening staple in the Astor musical repertoire. Or possibly it's because I place more value on microdynamics (damn those tradeoffs!), or what musicians term dynamic shadings. Dynamics shading, along with the unspoken element, musical silence, are probably two of the most important components of music that receive little or no attention from many audiophiles.

Listening Panel: Tiger (a 2½ year old, male Tawny Spotted Bengal cat) and Sweet Pea (a 1 year old, female, Snow Bengal cat).

MIKE LAVIGNE'S MAIN DEDICATED 2-CHANNEL SYSTEM

Six months ago I moved to a new (for me) home. This home is on 4+ acres and has a barn where a new 2-channel room is being constructed (the designer of the new room is Rives Audio). Until about August 20th my 2-channel system is residing in what is my long-term Home Theatre room. This room is 14' x 18.5' x 9.5' and is located off my kitchen/family room area through double doors. Currently I am using no acoustical treatments in this room. The dedicated 2-channel room in my previous home was somewhat small (12' x 18' x 10.5') but was heavily treated acoustically. A main motivation for moving at all was that I felt my room was a considerable limitation to my system performance.

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  Kharma Exquisite Reference 1D.

• ELECTRONICS
  Amplifiers are the Tenor 300 watt Hybrid monoblocks. Preamp is the Placette balanced passive RVC (remote volume control) which is single Vishay resistor based. The passive switchbox is custom built to my specifications by Jennifer Crock of JENA Labs. The switchbox is with my sources near my listening position and the RVC is between my amps between the speakers. There is a 7 meter XLR interconnect from the switchbox to the RVC and a 1 meter XLR to the amps from the RVC. It is important to keep the interconnect short from the passive to the amps.

• SOURCES
  Vinyl front end is the Rockport System III Sirius. The phono stage is the Lamm LP2 Deluxe. Cartridges are the vdH Colibri XCP (polycarbonite body, copper windings) .85mv output, vdH Colibri XGW (gold windings, Myrtlewood body) .65mv output, and Koetsu Rosewood Signature Platinum II .2mv output. Digital source is the Meitner EMM Labs DAC6 and EMM Labs CDSD transport. The new room will be set up for multi-channel hi-rez. The multi-channel implementation will await the budget to catch up after the new room project.

• CABLES
  Six sets of Valhalla interconnects; one 7 meter XLR, one 2 meter XLR, two 1 meter XLR, and two 1 meter RCA. Transparent Audio Opus MM speaker cable. Various other miscellaneous cables. Power cables consist of six Elrods; two EPS Statements for the amps, two standard EPS-2"s for the DAC and transport, one EPS-3 for the phono stage and one EPS-3 for the Shunyata Hydra (original version). I also use one SLVR by TG (Bob Crump) on the Rockport motor drive.

• ACCESSORIES
  Shunyata Hydra (original version) for my sources only; the amps are "nude". Zoethecus racks - I use all Z-slab Reference level racks, one 2 shelf, one 4 shelf and two amp stands... all with constrained layer Z-slab shelves. The Rockport has its own isolation stand. For resonance control, I am using the Symposium Svelt Shelf, SAP Relaxa 1 (magnetic levitation shelf), Black Diamond Racing (BDR) shelf, numerous BDR cones #3 and #4, numerous Vibrapods of various weight capacities, Walker tuning kit which includes numerous brass cones and brass lead-filled pucks, still points, many various cones, blocks of wood, foam pads, large Granite Tiles for mass loading, maple-block slabs for tuning, etc, etc. Other weird stuff I use are four Shakti Stones, Walker HD links (original version), Sennheiser HD-560 headphones, many Ceramic cable elevators, Bedini Ultra Clarifier, Furutech Disc Demagnetizer RD-1... and a bunny rabbit that watches me listen from the window... (seriously). Vinyl set-up gear is the VPI 16.5 record cleaning machine with various brands of cleaning solution and LAST Record Preservative, various stylus cleaners and stylus treatments. Onzow Zerodust stylus cleaning pad, Aesthetix Benz MC stylus cartridge demagnetizer, Cardas degaussing record, Hifi and Record Review set-up record 1 and 2, Wind's ALM-1 electronic stylus gauge good to .01 gram, Shure stylus gauge, Graham Azimuth box for setting azimuth, Zerostat static gun. In my new room I'll have 11 dedicated 20 amp lines (10 gauge Romex "home runs") into a dedicated panel. Each dedicated line will use a JENA Labs deep-immersion cryo'ed duplex outlet. As my budget allows I plan on a dedicated power service from the street just for the dedicated panel and installation of the Equi=Tech 10kv Wall Panel System.

Software/media

3500 LPs... almost all 45rpm reissues and releases, many of the LPs released in the last 10 years, lots of Mofi including the box sets and UHRQs, not many original pressings (a few here and there)... and a good representation of pop, jazz and classical across the board. All my records are clean and well cared for. I have them organized in three categories... Pop, Jazz (includes blues and world music) and Classical. I then have 4 levels for each category... level 1 is for my 45s, level 2 is for my "A" records that I listen to frequently, level 3 for "B" records, "others" and less pristine copies, and level 4 for used records not yet cleaned or sorted. My next focus will be to pursue more original pressings.

3500 CDs... most of the XRCD, Mofi, and other "audiophile grade" CDs. Again, 3 groups, 2 levels.

500 SACDs, 25 DVD-As, organized into 3 categories; I'll be focusing on multi-channel here soon.

I haven't been buying much media for the last year or so (I have plenty for awhile anyway) since I promised my wife I'd be revenue-neutral until the new room was paid for... and... have you ever moved almost 8000 LP's, CDs and SACDs?! What a pain!! (I'll never do that again).

The wife is a "saint!" Sometimes I can't believe that she puts up with me.

Home Theatre Room System

This is an existing room in the main house. It is 14' x 18.5' x 9.5' and is currently not treated acoustically. I have had the HT gear installed into a wall which conveniently opens into a closet on the other side for easy access. All the cables are buried into the walls and ceiling. Currently my 2-channel system is cohabitating with the HT system in this room. Soon (6 to 8 weeks) the 2-channel system will move to its new digs and the HT system can be optimized.

• Projector: Marantz VP-12S3 DLP front projector. Great HD DLP projector.

• Screen: motorized Stewart 130 white screen; 100" diagonal.

• Processor: Lexicon MC-12, I can switch from 3 HD video sources and the DVD player, great DSP for film.

• Amplifier: Proceed AMP5 and HPA2 (7 channels).

• Subwoofers: Velodyne Servo F1000X (2)

• Speakers: front, Revel F30, center, Revel C-30, side, Revel S-30, rear, Paradigm Studio 20.

• DVD: Pioneer DV47Ai

• Cable: Comcast HD with DVI output

• Direct TV satellite: Sony HD-200

• Recorder: JVC HM-DH40000U D-VHS. This machine is primarily used to view pre-recorded HD films on the D-Theatre format. WOW!!! I can also tape HD programming but I need a Firewire source.

• Software: 500 DVDs, 10 D-Theatre HD tapes. I am waiting for HD-DVD before I buy many more DVDs.

• Cables: Who cares?! Decent is good enough here.

This system can be spectacular on film. I am looking forward to doing some acoustical treatment so it will hold together when things get really going.

Family Room System

This room has a 26 foot ceiling and a massive floor to ceiling river-rock fireplace. There are 2 story clerestory southwest facing windows with a mountain view. It gets lots of ambient light. With the fireplace the TV must be in a cabinet to one side of the fireplace with windows on the wall right next to it. I have installed the 50" plasma into the cabinet on a articulating arm so I can swing it out for a better viewing angle and to point it away from light reflection. This is a gathering place where the system is secondary to the environment. The gear for this system is in a closed cabinet below the plasma.

• TV: Fujitsu P50-XHA30WS 50" plasma. Amazing picture.

• Receiver: Rotel RSX-1056. The Rotel sounds great and has all the features you would want for a fairly high-end home theatre.

• Speakers: Dynaudio Audience 52se. I needed small speakers that would fit into the shelf above the plasma…they sound wonderful.

• DVD: Toshiba SD-5109 progressive scan.

• Cable: Comcast HD with DVI output.

• Direct TV satellite: Hughes HTL-HD with DVI

Work-out Loft

This is a second floor open loft where we have a treadmill, elliptical trainer and stationary bicycle.

• TV: Sharp LC37G4U. This is a thin flat screen LCD TV, like a plasma screen. Great picture. It makes working out much better.

• Cable: Comcast HD with DVI.

Whole House Music Distribution

Much of this system was pre-existing when I purchased this home. Although it works great I would not have spent the money for it. Having said that, it is very nice for background music and is very easy and convenient to use.

Bang & Olufsen: this system consists of a main controller, the Beosound 4000 (this has the magic glass doors that open when you wave your hand in front), which plays CDs and cassette tapes. There are 5 in-room Beolab 3500's that receive signal from the 4000 and have speakers amps and interface integral in one unit. The Beolab 3500's are wall mounted. There is another room with a Beolab 2000 which is a table-top unit that has the same functions. There are outside speakers that also are integrated. I have 3 remotes and can control the system from any room thru the remote.

GREG WEAVER'S SYSTEM

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  Von Schweikert Audio VR-4 Generation III Special Editions, Von Schweikert Audio VR-4 jr, Buggtussel Somu, Buggtussel Circa.

• ELECTRONICS
  Marsh Sound Design P2000b, Channel Islands Audio VPP-1 (passive) preamplifiers. deHavilland Electric Amplifier Aries GM70 Monoblocks, Spectron Musician II (Class D), Channel Islands Audio D●200 Monoblocks, Channel Islands Audio VMB●1 Monoblocks. DSA Phono ONE, Monolithic Sound PS-2 with HC-1 supply, and Channel Islands Audio VPP-1 with VAC-1 Supply phono stages.

• SOURCES
  Oracle Delphi Mk III/with Mk V suspension and other mods (including sapphire thrust plate), Origin Live Silver 250 Arm, Clearaudio Virtuoso Mk II, Denon 103-D/with vdHul Mods, Monster Sigma Genesis 2000, Monster Alpha Genesis 500, Sumiko Blue Point Nude, McCormack UDP-1.

• CABLES
  Audience Au24 bi-wired speaker cables, Harmonic Technologies Magic Woofer and Tweeter bi-wires, Audience Au24 single ended and balanced interconnects, Magic and ProSilway Mk III interconnects, Audience powerChord AC cables, Magic and Fantasy AC cables, and Platinum CyberLink. Audience Au24 interconnects, digital, and speaker cables.

• ACCESSORIES
  Grand Prix Audio Monaco Modular Isolation System equipment stand. Audience adeptResponse, Furutech eTP-80, Monster Cable HTS 800, Quantum Products, Inc. Symphony Pro's for power conditioning. Aurios 1.2 MIB (speakers), Extreme Phono Solid State Stylus Cleaner, Nitty Gritty Mini-Pro, Buggtussel Vinyl-Zime, Disc Dr. Miracle Record Cleaner, KAB phono Tools, AudioQuest DM-100 demagnetizer, Cascade Audio Engineering Foam and tubes, CornerTunes, DIY "Room Lens" Helmholtz Resonators, Furutech RD-2 demagnetizer, and Auric Illuminator.

CHIP STERN'S SYSTEM

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  Joseph Audio RM25si Signature MKII, Dynaudio Special 25, and Meadowlark Swallows.

• ELECTRONICS
  VTL 5.5, Rogue Audio Stealth phono, Manley Massive Passive, Rogue Audio Magnum 99, and Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista preamplifiers. Sim Audio i-5, Mesa Tigris, and Linn Classik integrateds. Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista 300 and McCormack DNA-500 amplifiers.

• SOURCES
  Linn Unidisk 1.1 Universal Disc player. Upscale Audio Ah! Njoe Tjoeb 4000 vacuum tube CD player (in 24/192 Super Tjoeb configuration). California Audio Labs CL-20 DVD-CD player. California Audio Labs Delta transport/Alpha 24-bit/96kHz vacuum tube DAC. Rega Planar 25 turntable (with Rega RB600 tone-arm and Grado Statement Master cartridge). A Marantz PMD430 portable cassette player/recorder.

• CABLES
  Acoustic Zen Silver Reference II interconnects. Active-Shielding equipped Synergistic Research Designer's Reference² X-Series interconnects with mini-power couplers and Active Shielding equipped SRDR2 Solid-State Reference speaker cables. Audioquest Panther interconnects and CV-6 speaker cables. Monster Cable Sigma Retro Gold interconnects and speaker cables. JPS Labs Aluminata and Kaptovator AC cords. Acoustic Zen Gargantua II and Active-Shielding equipped Synergistic Research Designer's Reference² AC cords.

• ACCESSORIES
  Two PolyCrystal equipment racks, a PolyCrystal amp stand, and PolyCrystal speaker stands. Equi=Tech Q650 and 2Q Balanced Power Isolation Transformer Systems. Monster Cable AVS 2000 Automatic Voltage Stabilizer. Mondial Magic-Splitter. NEC CT-2070S monitor. JPS Labs Power AC Outlet Centers and JPS Labs Kaptovator Outlet Centers.Ringmat 330 and Signal Guard II Isolation Stand (turntable). Shakti Stones (Electro-Magnetic Stabilizers); PolyCrystal cones. Argent Room Lens. Echo Busters Bass Busters and Absorptive and Diffusive Panels.

ROBERT H. LEVI'S SYSTEM

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  Avalon Eidolon and REL Stadium III subwoofer.

• ELECTRONICS
  E.A.R. 324 phono preamplifier, E.A.R. 890 amplifier, NuForce Reference 9.02 a,plifiers, Pass X1 preamplifier, and an E.A.R. 834L Tube Line Stage.

• SOURCES
  VPI Scout/JMW 9 tonearm, VPI SDS Controller, ZYX R100H phono cartridge. ModWright Sony 999 SACD/CD Player with Signature Truth, Mod/Bybee Filters and Revelation Cryo Silver Umbilical. Alesis Masterlink 24/96 Recorder/Playback Deck, Theta Pro Gen.5a DAC Modified for 24/96 Playback. Grado Statement Phono Cartridge. Pioneer DVL 919 LD/DVD Player, and a Marantz DV8400 DVD/SACD/CD player. Magnum Dynalab MD-108 Reference Tuner, Marantz 10B FM Tuner, and Scott 350B FM Stereo Tuner, AQ 7500 FM Antenna, Stax 7t Electrostatic headphones, Grado Reference 1 headphones, and a Grado headphone amplifier.

• CABLES
  Harmonic Technology CyberLight interconnects, Soundstring interconnects and speaker cables, or Kimber Select balanced, Kimber TAK phono AG, Kimber Hero balanced and single ended interconnects, Eichmann Express 6 Series 2 interconnects, and Acoustic Zen Silver Reference II balanced interconnects. Kimber D-60 Digital Interconnects. Kimber Select 3038 Silver speaker cables, Harmonic Technology Magic Reference Silver speaker cables.

• ACCESSORIES
  Monster Reference 350 Mark II v2 Power Conditioner and World Power Power Wing, Kimber Palladian power cables, Tara RSC and Decade power cables, Tiff power cables, Tice power cables, Tice Clock, and Audio Prism Quiet Line IIs. Cable Cooker 2.5, Winds Stylus Pressure Gage, Bedini Ultra Clarifier, VPI Record Cleaning Machine 16.5, Soundstring Pro Power Cables, and Kimber Pro 10 Gold Power Cables.

LARRY COX'S SYSTEM

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  Ensemble Figura.

• ELECTRONICS
  E.A.R. 509 amplifiers and E.A.R. 864 preamplifier both with a mix of Mullards, Telefunkens, JJ Electrics and a mish-mash of whatever gets good sound out of the system, and an ATC SIA 150 integrated amplifier.

• SOURCE
  Audio Note CD3.1x CD player. Amazon Model 2 turntable with a Moerch DP6 arm and a vdH retippted Koetsu Rosewood Standard.

• CABLES
  Ensemble Dynaflux and Calrad balanced interconnects. Speaker cables are either Ixos 6003 or Belden 1219A.

• ACCESSORIES
  A Lovan Classic Rack, Townshend Seismic Sink, Calrad balanced microphone cable as an interconnect, Silver Audio Silver Bullet 4.0's, assorted Vibarpods, Final Labs Daruma III isolation bearings, Black Diamond #3 and #4 cones, with Black Diamond Whatchamacallit's, DH Cones, Discsolution, ASC Tube Trap Bass Trap and assorted other stuff. I hear the differences these items make, but only use them to optimize if the review isn't going well. Too much work to swap out a piece and balance it on Darumas and then take that out and plop the next component on the Daruma's again. Using all these consistently is a pain as what works with one component isn't a welcome addition for another.

As a listener I favor a rich tonal balance and a natural scale of music. I listen at medium to louder levels—when was the last time you heard an orchestra played at "good night" levels. I don't much care about imaging or hearing a hyper display of decay or attack of musical transients. My system is set up to image, but that is just so that I can be assured that if there is spectacular imaging, I can tell you, but it isn't for me. From where I've sat in concert halls, live music events or even at home with a real piano, there isn't that much decay to be heard. While it is nifty to hear a vivd portrayal of music's attack and decay, it isn't often a part of the original event in my listening seat. Often, it occurs to these ears that an exaggeration and is often part of a lean and bright character; although not necessarily.

My reviews are more likely to be positive than negative as I'm not interested in writing about or having to listen to gear that isn't enjoyable to me. My overall preference has been for vinyl over digital and the body of tubes over solid state. I prefer the simple and straightforward over the complex and high maintenance products—I'd prefer to own solid state CD player with a remote control but not enough to give up tubes and vinyl, at least so far. As far as music goes, I want a reproduction of the music I would listen to, if I weren't an audiophile, versus swapping my likes for what is well recorded. My tastes are fairly catholic, I love Ry Cooder, Israel Kamaka wiwo ‘ole (a huge Hawaiian singer), Steve Forbert, as well as punk and 80's new wave like The Clash, X, Graham Parker, and film sound tracks like 1900, Twin Peaks, The Mission, Chocolat, 40s era jazz, like Joe Williams, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, and classical music I love Mozart, some Bach, some Beethoven, Edward Elgar, Spanish classical guitar (Julian Bream and John Williams) and I am developing an interest in Benjamin Britten. Now you know almost as much about me as my wife.

JOHN ZUREK'S SYSTEM

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  Von Schwieckert VR4 jr, Optimus (Linaeum) Pro LX4 Minimonitors.

• ELECTRONICS
  Cary SLP-88 preamplifier, PS Audio HCA-2 amplifier, and a Wright 200 phono stage.

• SOURCES
  VPI Scoutmaster/JMW9 Tonearm /Benz Micro Glider, Cary 303/200 CD player, Sony DVP-NS755 SACD, and a Marantz CDR 630.

• CABLES
  RS Duet Palladium, Phoenix Gold, Dunlavy Reference, Acoustic Zen MC2 interconnects, Acoustic Zen Satori speaker cables.

• ACCESSORIES
  Standesign racks, Argent Room Lenses, VPI HW-16.5 Record Cleaner, Monster 2000 power conditioner, Vibrapods, Sonex panels, and AudioPrism Quiet Line filters, Pandanfeet isolators, Auric Illuminator. Gretsch, Tama, Conaway Custom Drums, Buzin, Sabian, Zildjian Cymbals.

• OFFICE SYSTEM
  Headroom Supreme headphone amplifier, Sennheiser HD 600 headphones, iriver 450 CD player.

MARSHALL NACK'S SYSTEM

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  Kharma CRM 3.2 and Kharma Ce-Sb-10 sub woofer.

• ELECTRONICS
  von Gaylord Audio (formerly Legend Audio Design) LAD-L2 Signature line preamplifier, von Gaylord Audio Nirvana Mk II monoblock amplifiers.

• SOURCES
  Linn LP12, LINGO, EKOS tonearm, ARKIV II cartridge, AHT Non-Signature phono preamp modified by Walker Audio, Extremephono Limited Edition and Graham IC-30 arm cables. CEC TL1X transport, von Gaylord Audio 2 chassis DAC.

• CABLES
  Interconnects by Kubala-Sosna, Harmonic Technology, Stealth, Kondo, Kharma Enigma. Digital Cables by Kubala-Sosna, Stealth, and Kondo. Speaker wire by Kubala-Sosna, Harmonic Technology, Harmonix, and Kondo. Power Cords by Kubala-Sosna, Harmonix, Golden Sound, and Shunyata.

• ACCESSORIES
  TAOC Rack, Golden Sound Intelligent Chip and Magic Rings, Walker Audio Tuning Discs and Valid Points for LP turntable, Harmonix RFA-78i Room Tuning Discs, RFS-66ZX Tuning Feet, RF-900 and RF-999MT Tuning Spike Bases, Acoustic System Resonators, Argent Room Lenses, Echo Buster & Sonex acoustic panels, Reimyo ALS-777 and Shunyata Hydra power conditioners, Furutech e-TP80 and Ensemble Mega PowerPoint outlet strips. ERaudio Space Harmonizer component platforms. Shun Mook Tube Resonators.

I have a LONG, rectangular listening room—32' long x 12' wide x 8' high—ideally suited for the rule of thirds: speakers are positioned one third into the room and about 24" from the sidewalls, facing straight ahead; the listener sits another third into the room. Two dedicated 15-amp lines power the system.

After years of trial and error, I've pared down room treatment to: Harmonix RFA 78i Room Tuning Discs, 4" Sonex panels at the first reflection points on the sidewalls, an Echo Buster Bass Buster, three Argent Room Lenses and a quartet of Acoustic System Resonators. The speaker placement in tandem with these room treatments gives me an amazing amount of layered depth and good image height, but a somewhat compromised width.

Most often you'll hear Baroque music in our home, followed by other classical repertoire and a bit of jazz. The system is voiced for harmonic richness and musical involvement over accuracy and detail.

My secret weapon is my wife, Lynn, who provides invaluable musical insight. With decades of training as an oboist, and now serving as VP of a community orchestra, she knows what sounds natural and what doesn't. Many are the times she's pulled me back from the brink after a multi-day audio binge.

ERIC BARRY'S SYSTEM

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  Spendor S100 on Sound Anchors, Linn Isobarik DMS on Linn Stands, Neat Elite, Rega Ela, and B&W Matrix 804 with Sound Anchors.

• ELECTRONICS
  Naim Nac 102/NAPSC/Hicap, Naim Nac 112/Hicap, and Naim 32/Snaps preamplifiers. Naim Nap 250, Naim Nap 140, and Naim Nap 110 amplifiers. NAD 712 receiver. Naim Prefix/Hicap, Naim Stageline/Hicap, and Dynavector P75 phono stages.

• SOURCES
  Naim CDS I, Naim CD5/Hicap, Rotel RCD 955AX, Sony CDR W10 CD players, VPI HW19 mk. IV, Linn Sondek LP12 (no Cirkus), Rega Planar 3, Naim Armageddon turntables. SME IV, Linn Ittok, Linn Akito, Audioquest PT5, Rega RB300 (Incognito rewire) arms. Monster Cable Sigma Genesis 2000, Denon DL103D, Rega Exact, Dynavector DV10x5, and Grado MCZ cartridges. Nakamichi DR2 cassette deck.

• CABLES
  Naim and Chord.

• ACCESSORIES
  Disc Doctor, Zerodust, Hunt brush, Wiremold power strips, Last 4, Cardas Din-RCA adapter. Quadraspire Reference AV, Target wall shelf, and QS&D stands.

Eric Barry has written for his fanzine Tracing Error (www.tracingerror.com) and for Listener magazine. He has been collecting records with a focus on underground rock and jazz and an audiophile for the last fifteen years. This fall he will be entering graduate school at Rutgers University to study the social history of technology and the political economy of culture. He is researching the engineering, production, distribution, and consumption of home audio equipment from 1920 to 1970. He can be reached at eric@tracingerror.com.

BRAD MORRICAL'S SYSTEM

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  Apogee Caliper Signatures and Ribbon/hybrid DIY project .

• ELECTRONICS
  Audible Illusions M3A w/ John Curl gold phono board, Jolida JD3000b, and PS Audio Phonolink preamplifiers. Sphinx Project 14MkIII, Spectral Acoustics Digital, and Golden Tube Audio SE100 amplifiers.

• SOURCES
  Michell Gyrodec SE w/Rega RB300 arm and Ortofon Vero II cartridge, Cambridge Audio Diskmagic Transport w/Monarchy Audio DIP and Monarchy Audio 22Bse DAC. Samsung SPN4235 42" Plasma.

• CABLES
  Monster, Kimber, and XLO.

• ACCESSORIES
  Behringer UltraCurve 8024 with Digital in/out (this is a new one from a friend and works much better this way so I think I will do that review on it afterall once I have sorted it out completely), Behringer Ultradrive DEX 9624 digital crossover (for the DIY project), Behringer UltraCurve DEQ 9426 (new version of the other Ultracurve and I will soon be putting it through the paces). Sennheiser HD540 headphones.

My listening room is about 16' x 13' x 7 1/2'. There are no special treatments on the walls as of yet but this is in the planning. I have approximately 500 CDs and about 150 LPs at this stage but my buying habits these days lean heavily towards LPs with the purchase of the Gyrodec SE. My musical tastes run from rock and grunge, classic Jazz, modern Jazz, and Classical. About the only thing I cannot stand to listen to is country! I also regularly attend live concerts of both Jazz and Classical music (living in Zürich affords great opportunities for live music), which can be breath taking and also useful for a reviewer as a reference standard.

I am quite involved with making my own recordings (primarily violin and piano but also a friends rock band!) and use these in my evaluations of gear. Being present and even intimately involved with these recordings gives me an inside knowledge to how they should sound when reproduced. I am using only minimalist techiques: 2 condenser microphones (Octava MC012) a microphone preamp (Behringer T1953), directly to DAT (Denon portable). I have found that this combo does a very nice job of capturing what I am hearing live at the event.

I would describe my goal in building the perfect audio system quite simply: to reproduce the sound as close to what is on the recording as possible. Especially when I am using my own recordings the sound must be very close to reality. To this end I have found the Apogee speakers do a wonderful job of music reproduction. Tonally they are not perfectly flat (working on correcting this... see Accessories) but they are so lacking in the colorations present in most box speakers and so low in driver induced color and distortion that the music gets through intact much better than most other speakers I have heard. When I play a recording the sound of my system is one of great resolution but not in the analytic and relentless manner I have heard from other so called high resolution speakers. I would call it liquid (especially with the Sphinx amp) but it is not laidback strictly speaking, rather music is presented in an utterly non-fatiguing manor yet maintains a solid punch and drive. Overall, my system is very good at resolving low level information, superb transient response (bettered only by electrostats and then just barely), natural tonal character (referenced to live unamplified music), low in coloration (I hate gear that puts very much of it's own signature on the sound), and yet can handle fairly large dynamic swings. It is because of these capabilities that I find my taste running more to the relatively uncompressed classical and jazz recordings. For me, the ability for a system to remain linear and full sounding even into low listening levels is much more important than the ability to play loud. Having owned many low efficiency "cones in a box" and dead sounding, high feedback, solid state amps, I now realize that the retrieval of low level information at "realistic" listening levels to me is where the life and realism in reproduced music lives.
 

BOB NEILL'S SYSTEM

Primary System

DAVE GLACKIN'S SYSTEM

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  Eminent Technology Model 8 loudspeakers Cardas-wired and mounted on Sound Anchor stands. Headphone listening can be done with an EarMax tubed triode headphone amp and a pair of Sennheiser HD-580s.

• ELECTRONICS
  Klyne SK-2A headamp. Music Reference RM-5 tubed preamplifier. Vacuum Tube Logic Deluxe 300 tubed monoblocks outfitted with 6550 WE Sovtek tubes.

• SOURCES
  VPI TNT with a 10" JMW Memorial arm, a Benz Ruby cartridge, and a Black Diamond Racing (BDR) record clamp. The turntable currently rests on a prototype Platus Platform (rather like a Vibraplane but perhaps better, my BDR "The Shelf for the Source" is waiting in the wings. Sony DVP-NS500V SACD/CD/DVD player and a Shanling CD-T100 tubed 24/96-capable and HDCD-capable CD player. McIntosh MR65B tubed FM tuner. Technics RS 1500 semi-pro 2-track 15 ips tape deck.

• CABLES
  Biwired Cardas Golden Cross speaker cables. Cardas Cross and Cardas Golden Cross interconnects. Cardas Golden Power Cords for the VTLs. Hovland Music Groove tonearm cable.

• ACCESSORIES
  The headamp, preamp, amps, SACD/CD/DVD player, and TNT power supply are isolated with various combinations of Black Diamond Racing Pyramid Cones, Pucks, and Shelves. The turntable rests on a VPI TNT stand filled with 200 lbs of lead shot, spiked to a reinforced floor. The equipment before the power amp is isolated in a walk-in closet, while the amp and speakers are in a dedicated listening room treated with RPG Diffusers, Room Tunes, ASC Tube Traps, and a big Navajo rug. The electronics in the closet are on a Target B5 stand. Everything except the amplifier is plugged into two Audio Power Industries Power Wedges. Wall power outlets are Winston Ma's FIM Model 880 Duplex Receptacles. CDs are treated with Torumat CDX-16-3. LPs are cleaned on a Nitty Gritty 2.5 Fi using Torumat TM-7XH. A Hunt EDA Mark 6 record brush, the best I know, is used for dry cleaning of LPs.

Dave Glackin is a solar astronomer and Earth remote sensing scientist. He has degrees in astronomy from Caltech and in astrogeophysics from U. Colorado. His past employers include Sacramento Peak Observatory, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, and Caltech's Jet Propulsion Lab. He has been with a federally-funded R&D center in Los Angeles since '86. Dave is an advisor to NASA, NOAA, DOD and other agencies. He lectures internationally, chairs international conference sessions, leads scientific expeditions, performs educational outreach, and has done private consulting. He published his first book in '99.

Dave is a Fellow of The Explorers Club of New York and a member of the Adventurers' Club of Los Angeles. He has explored in Europe and Asia, and has been around the globe. He has done wild caving, ocean kayaking, ski mountaineering, skin and SCUBA diving, remote desert southwest exploration, and sports car club racing, and has worked in the hot pits at Indy Car races. He has stood in the eye of a near-force-5 hurricane, and has been invited to Hopi Indian ceremonies that few outsiders experience. He is an avid chaser of total solar eclipses and large meteor showers, and has traveled as far as Western Australia to see them. His other activities and interests include 3D photography, pro audio, and voiceover work.

His interest in music began in junior high with the tenor sax, and continued in high school with the alto sax and the theremin (the latter in a band best forgotten). His interest in audio started while an undergrad, accelerated while in grad school, and really took off afterward. He listens mostly to analog, on a nearly-all-tube system in a dedicated room. He is a member of the Hollywood Sapphire Group of audio professionals. He listens mainly to classical, jazz, blues and folk music. He has been a writer for Positive Feedback since '93. Dave would like to pass his regards on to our readership, noting that the extremely high demands on his time allow him precious few hours for audio these days, and regrets that he cannot engage in e-mail dialogues for now. Please bear with him, and enjoy his articles.

BRUCE KINCH'S SYSTEM

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  Modified NEAR ME50.

• ELECTRONICS
  Herron VTPH-1 tube phono and VTSP-1/166 preamplifier, and a modified Precision Fidelity M8 tube/mosfet amplifier.

• SOURCES
  Rega 3, Well Tempered, Thorens 121, and Logic turntables, Lyra Lydian Beta, van den Hul MC-10, and Grado Sonata cartridges.

• CABLES
  JPS, van den Hul, and Goertz.

• ACCESSORIES
  An accumulation of the usual bricks, mats, cones and pucks.

GARY L. BEARD'S SYSTEM

Main System

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  Audio Note AX-2 Signature bookshelf speakers (in for review), and an REL Strata III Subwoofer

• ELECTRONICS
  Fi-Xi passively integrated 2A3 amplifier, George Wright WPP100C Phono Stage

• SOURCES
  Music Hall MMF-9 Turntable with Project Carbon arm and Maestro MC Cartridge, George Wright Step-up Transformer, and a Marantz CC65SE 5 disk CD player. Squeezebox and Squeezebox2 (in for review) music servers, and a Birdland Odeon-AG Dac

• CABLES
  Kimber 4TC speaker cables, Kimber Silver Streak and Hero IC's, Final Labs IC's, and Shunyata Sidewinder and homebrew Belden/Hubbell/Marinco power cords.

• ACCESSORIES
  Richard Gray Power Station 400 power conditioner, Final Labs Daruma 3II isolation, Vibrapods, Lovan Classic equipment rack, DIY points, ceramic cable supports, and various homebrew isolation tweaks.

Multi-channel Computer Room System

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  Hsu VT-12 Ventriloquist Speaker System, and a Hsu SFT-2 Subwoofer.

• ELECTRONICS
  Panasonic SA-XR50 Digital Receiver.

• SOURCES
  Pioneer 578A UDP.

• CABLES
  Acoustic Research IC's and West Penn commercial speaker cabling. Monster Toslink digital cable.

PC running XP Pro playing Apple Lossless files from a Maxtor 300 gig HDD through a Terratec 6Fire DMX Soundcard via Toslink digital connection to the Panasonic receiver, or streaming wirelessly to a remote Slim Devices Squeezebox connected via Coax to the Yamaha DSP-A1 through a Niles speaker switcher for whole house sound. Pretty cool!

Home Theater and Whole House System

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  Mix and Match Mini-monitor Speaker systems: Infinity SAT/SUB, PSB, Polk Audio, Mirage Omnisats, Phase Technology SAT/SUB.

• ELECTRONICS
  Yamaha DSP-A1 receiver and a Yamaha TX-950 tuner.

• SOURCES
  Sony DVP-S7700ES DVD player

• CABLES
  Radio Shack IC's and Belden oxygen-free speaker cabling

• ACCESSORIES
  Monster Power Strip

My system changed drastically in 2004. This change was both difficult and liberating. As a result of this change in gear and mindset, I have decided to enter the exciting and every growing world of low-cost high-value audio components. For the moment my main system does not include a reference speaker so finding one is my first order of business. I would like to try my hand at a bit of DIY too, but that is a few miles down the road yet. My main system is currently roving throughout the house, with an eventual planned settlement in a dedicated space (presently the high school senior hangout and music room) to be used primarily for listening to vinyl. At a minuscule 11' x 9' with an 8' ceiling; this small, yet real world space will be a challenge, but hopefully—with the proper component choices and acoustical treatments—it will ultimately become the listening space I have always longed for. My little multi-channel system has really opened my eyes to the potential of the format, whether it is SACD, DVD-A, or some other high quality form. My experience using a PC (both as a digital source and for storing nearly 7000 Lossless music files), feeding a wireless music server and the Panasonic digital amp, has shown me that like it or not, more of us will be using computers for music during the years to come. While I do enjoy most musical genres; including classical, jazz, bluegrass, American roots, western swing, world, and folk music, rock is still my first love, and I hope to get time to write about it too. As a member of the PFO community, I appreciate your support. Thanks and rock on!

STEVE LEFKOWICZ'S SYSTEM

Main system

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  Sound Dynamics 300ti.

• ELECTRONICS
  PS Audio 4H preamplifier and phono stage, Antique Sound Labs MG-SI15DT-2 or B&K ST-140 (105-watt version) amplifiers.

• SOURCES
  Linn LP12, Ittok tonearm and Dynavector 19A moving coil cartridge and Marantz SA-8260 SACD player.

• CABLES
  All interconnects and speaker cables are Nordost Solar Wind. All power cords are factory stock.

• ACCESSORIES
  The Linn sits on a Sound Organization wall mount shelf made specifically for the LP-12. The Marantz SACD player rests on four Bright Star IsoNodes and sits on an original Sound Organization floor stand also intended for the Linn. The ASL amp usually rests on three Solid Tech "Feet of Silence." The Sound Dynamics speakers sit atop a 12 inch tall set of $50 wood stands that tilt back five degrees. All the rest of the electronics sit on lightweight particle board shelves attached to tracks mounted on the wall. Monster Power HTS2000 power line conditioner, Headroom "Little" headphone amp, Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro headphones, Nikko Gamma FM tuner, I use no specific acoustic room treatments other than my old ice hockey goalie pads (which work quite well in the room corners).

Secondary System

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  Linn Kan (early, but maybe second-generation series), Loth-X Ion 1

• ELECTRONICS
  Antique Sound Labs AQ2004 DT preamplifier, Antique Sound Labs AV-8 Wave amplifiers.

• SOURCES
  AMC CD8 CD player.

• CABLES
  Interconnects are Monster or Straight wire, very inexpensive (about $20 each). Speaker cables are Monster "Superflex."

• ACCESSORIES
  Either speaker uses 24 inch Sound Organization stands. All the electronics sit on the top of a dresser in the room.

SASHA MATSON'S SYSTEM

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  Sonus Faber Concerto and Tannoy PBM8.

• ELECTRONICS
  Cary 300SE Signature monoblock amplifiers, 300PB Power Capacitor Bank, Audio Research LS7 preamplifier, and an Audio Electronic Supply PH1 phono stage.

• SOURCES
  Rega Planar 25 turntable, Clearaudio Aurum Beta S Mk.II cartridge, Cary Audio CD308T CD player, and a Sony DVPNS500V CD/SACD player.

• CABLES
  Audioquest Coral interconnects and Hudson Audio Technology power cords.

• ACCESSORIES
  VPI HW-16.5 record cleaning machine, VPI Magic Brick DB-10, Bright Star Iso-Rock isolation platforms, Atacama speaker stands, and a Monster Power Reference Power Center.

JEFF PARKS' SYSTEM

ALBERT PORTER'S SYSTEM

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  Dali Megaline

• ELECTRONICS
  Aesthetix Io Signature with dual outboard power supplies and NOS tubes. Aesthetix Callisto Signature with dual outboard power supplies and NOS tubes. VTL 750 Reference mono blocks (woofers). Air Tight ATM-3’s (ribbons).

• SOURCES
  Walker Proscenium Signature turntable, custom built in all black with Walker Prologue base and optional air suspension system. Cartridge is Koetsu Rosewood Signature Platinum. Technics 1520 Balanced open reel to reel tape machine (7.5 & 15 IPS, quarter and half track). CD, SACD, DVD via a Sony DVP S9000es with Scott Nixon Tube DAC.

• CABLES
  Purist Audio Design, Dominus, Primus, Auctorita, Venustas and Opis for interconnect, AC and speaker cables except for Omega Mikro AC cable on the Walker motor controller.

• ACCESSORIES
  Symposium Roller blocks under CD, Iso Bearing under Aesthetix Phono, Mod Squad Soft Shoes under power supplies and Sound Anchor stands under amps. Stands for Walker and open reel tape machine are custom built from 6061 aircraft alloy from my drawings. These are finished in gray Nextel.

Home Theatre System

• Vandersteen VCC-1 for dialogue and B&W Signature 7 Nautilus (in wall) for side channels.

• Sony Grand Wega 55" HDTV is moved between the Dali Megalines for movies. Cabling for all HDTV, DVD feed and HD Satellite feed is Blue Jean Cable Company (custom terminated Belden with Canare).

• Listening Room Acoustics
  Designed and built by Advanced Environmental Concepts according to plans from Russ Burger Design Group. Acoustical treatment applied to vertical walls of the space including the area where the ceiling vaults to second story level. There are also floor to ceiling RPG panels behind each speaker. All the treatment is obscured by acoustic cloth by DesignTex of New York installed into Whisper Walls rail system. Overall look passes for traditional living room with lightly textured, painted  sheetrock unless closely examined.

Like many audiophiles, I discovered my passion for music at an early age. For me this was around age 11. My degree is in fine art although I worked for a number of years for LTV Aerospace illustrating systems for fighter planes. This was as close to a career in art as I could find at the time.

In 1965 I took a position as salesman for a high end audio store in the Dallas, Ft. Worth area. At least this way I could enjoy music even if it meant being poor. I learned more than I thought possible from an old recording engineer who worked beside me each day, and remarkably my enthusiasm made me the best salesman the store had ever had.

This store and the three that followed exposed me to almost every brand of audio ever made. My success in retail was blessed with an offer as factory representative for a number of high end audio manufacturers. Among them Infinity, ESS, Sennheiser, MB of Germany, Ampex, JBL Commercial, Crown International and Yamaha.

Eventually I grew tired of the constant car travel, covering five states behind the wheel with demo gear and samples as my only companion. For relief I took my camera, another part of my fine art training. I constantly took photographs of the people, stores, people and the scenic views out of my car window to entertain myself on the long trips.

One day in 1972 during a visit to a high end audio store in Dallas, a fellow graduate from my university recognized me. He was the creative director for a local advertising agency. After catching up on old times, he agreed to review my photography. When that day came, I was shocked to be offered the job on the spot. I needed a time to put down roots.

This agency was a good home for two years until I was stolen away to do photography for the Neiman Marcus Christmas Book. Shortly afterward I was offered a multiple year contract with Southland Corp., providing people and annual report images. This was lucky as the requirement was only to be on call as needed. With this freedom I freelanced my services to other companies and advertising agencies. These include Southwest Airlines, Interstate Battery (race cars, and product), Exxon/Mobil, Quest Medical, Bank of America, Redman Industries, GAP, Raytheon, Fidelity Investments, Texas Instruments and others.

I managed to make photography fit with my passion for audio by doing product photography for Atma-Sphere, Audioquest, Purist Audio, PSE, Counterpoint, Aria Audio, Soundlab, Essence, Musical Fidelity, Aesthetix, Benz, Basis, Graham, Sound Anchor, McCormack Audio, to name but a few. Through all of this, I have somehow managed to keep the same beautiful female through 32 years of what life throws at us all. We have a wonderful son, John who is the love of my life. He loves music plays guitar, composes and edits on his computer and has a passion for a wide variety of music.

I host a group of music loving friends that meet at my home every Tuesday night to spin LP and CDs. This has been every Tuesday without fail, for 27 years and I have learned almost as much from the visitors I share music with as I did in the audio business. Most of this group are audiophiles and have varied interests and experiences. Some are solid state only, some tube only, so our testing and equipment swapping has allowed me to stay in touch in an active way.

I dislike isolating myself with only one point of reference. There are many paths to high end excellence and this helps me realize what is most important to me. Hopefully I have helped others along the way.

www.albertporterphoto.com

FRANCISCO DURAN'S SYSTEM

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  DALI Euphonia MS4.

• ELECTRONICS
  Antique Sound Labs MG-SPM25DT monoblocks, Canary CA-301Mk-II amplifier, and Reference Line Preeminence lA passive and Canary CA-601Mk-II preamplifiers.

• SOURCES
  NAD T531 and Antique Electronic Supply CD-1 (temporary) CD players, and a Taddeo Digital Antidote Two.

• CABLES
  Either JPS Superconductor+ and FX interconnects and a double run of JPS Ultraconductor speaker cables, or Analysis Plus interconnects and Oval 12 speaker cables, and Monarchy and various DIY AC cords.

• ACCESSORIES
  Balanced Power Technologies BPT 4SE, Brick Wall Series Mode Surge Suppressor, Audio Prisim Quiet Lines and Noise Sniffer, Vibrapods, Black Diamond Racing Boards and cones, Final Labs Daruma-3II Isolation Bearings, various ferrite rings, Target rack, Yamaha KX-380 cassette deck, custom made wooden cable lifters by Mr. Clark senior, and all the NOS tubes I can afford!

MIKE PESHKIN'S SYSTEM

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  I use Infinity P-FRs. I was impressed by their looks, and further impressed by a number of reviews, but when I finally decided to buy a new pair of speakers, the way the Infinities made guitar music sound convinced me they would be mine. When I met the head of sales for MIT Cables at that time, she told me about the development of the speakers (she had worked for Infinity before joining MIT), and reinforced my desire to have them in my home. (Of course, it may have been that she was one of the most beautiful women I'd ever met.) The P-FRs are very efficient (96dB). The manual states they can be driven by as little as 10 watts. I have always driven them with considerably more than that, 100 watts at present

• ELECTRONICS
  My preamp is an Anthem Pre-1 (internally selectable, 61 or 78 dB). When I replaced the original Sovtek 5V4G in the outboard power supply with a Mullard 5AR4, a very good preamp was transformed. Putting Mullard 6922s in the input and output stages and Mullard 12AT7s (CV4024) in the phono stage made it a giant killer! Using Walker Valid Points pumped up the sound quality a few more notches. An MIT power cord feeds the power supply. The amplifiers are 100-watt Monarchy 100SE monoblocks, whose outputs have been modified by Lloyd Walker. These are warm, yet very detailed amps. The combination of the Pre-1 and the 100SEs produces a sound that I'd been reaching for since I got seduced by high fidelity sound—warm, perhaps too warm for many listeners, but not so much as to destroy great recordings or homogenize all recordings. Any equipment change I make is easily discerned. MIT power cords connect the amps to the wall socket.

• SOURCE
  My CD player is an Audio Alchemy CD Pro, a player with a laid back sound, but capable of showing both the details and the defects in any music played through it. The great sound of this player is enhanced—shockingly so!—by the use of Walker Valid Points. Another tweak is the use of an MIT power cord. To play LPs, I have a VPI Mk. IV turntable with a JMW10 arm, sitting on Valid Points. I use a Benz Glider cartridge, now growing hair in its ears, and a new addition, a Dynavector 20XL.

• CABLES
  Interconnects and speaker cables range from home-made "twisties" to MIT and Goertz.

• ACCESSORIES
  I live in farm country. Farmers have need for repair facilities, including welding shops, of which there are plenty. Although my turntable sits on a Target wall stand, all other equipment sits on racks designed by me and welded by a gentleman who does lots of work for the farmers in this area. Many, many techniques are used to control vibration and isolate the components—multi-layer shelving employing the use of hard woods and/or cork, foam rubber, and MDF. I experiment regularly with different combinations of materials, using spikes, Vibrapods, sorbothane, and other things under the shelving and on top of the racks. Bags of lead shot or sand are used on top of the speakers and in other places within the system. I use Monster power conditioners for the sources and the preamp, but no conditioning for the amplifiers. Other conditioners in the house are Adcom. A VPI record cleaner with both homemade and commercial solutions is used to clean LPs.

The equipment is housed in my living room. Others have tried to make me move to my unfinished basement, but I do not wish to divorce myself from my family. The room is on the small side (15.5' x 14'8" x 7'10"). My wife is a spinner/weaver and collects textiles ranging from small rugs to camel blankets, which are hung on the walls. The house is close to 100 years old, and has lathe and plaster walls. The wooden floors are covered with wall to wall carpeting, the ceiling with acoustic tiles that I painted to reduce their absorptiveness. The sound of the room is neither too lively nor dull and lifeless.

ART SHAPIRO'S SYSTEM

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  ESP Concert Grand and REL Stadium II subwoofer.

• ELECTRONICS
  Convergent Audio SL1 Signature preamplifier and and Manley Labs Neo 250-Classic 250 monoblocks.

• SOURCES
  VPI HW-19 IV turntable, Graham 1.5 arm, and Grado Master Reference cartridge. Wadia WT3200 transport and Kora Hermes II DAC, Revox A77 open reel deck, Nakamichi 480 cassette deck, and a Sansui TU-919 tuner.

• CABLES
  Nordost Silver Shadow digital interconnect. Monster Sigma 2000 Retro interconnects and Cardas Golden Hex 5C bi-wired speaker cables. Tiff, Marigo, Gutwire G-Clef and Gutwire Power Clef AC, and MIT Z II power cords.

• ACCESSORIES
  Brickwall PW8R15AUD power filter and dedicated AC lines.

VICTOR CHAVIRA'S SYSTEM

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  Marten Design Miles II (primary system) and B&W DM 302 (secondary system).

• ELECTRONICS
  Magnum Dynalab MD-208 receiver (primary system) and Troll integrated (secondary system).

• SOURCES
  Phillips DVD-963SA player (primary system) and Apple Mini-Mac (secondary system) and a LINN Axiss turntable with the Adikt cartridge.

• CABLES
  Nordost Quattro-Fil interconnects, Analysis Plus Oval 9 speaker cables, and El Dorado power cords (primary system). JPS Ultraconductor speaker cable, Nordost Blue Heaven interconnect (secondary system).

• ACCESSORIES
  Audio Magic Stealth Power Purifier, Vibrapods, Townshend 3D sink Table), and Echo Busters (primary system). Monster Cable HTS1000 power center (secondary system).

STEPHEN BEST'S SYSTEM

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  B&W Nautilus 805 on FS-N805 stands, B&W ASW-2500 subwoofer.

• ELECTRONICS
  Musical Fidelity A300 integrated.

• SOURCES
  Marantz SA-14 CD/SACD player, Rega P3 turntable with Denon DL-160 cartridge.

• CABLES
  Cardas Golden Reference interconnects (unbalanced), Cardas Golden Cross
  speaker wire (internal bi-wire), Cardas Hexlink 5C power cords.

• ACCESSORIES
  Dan A Digital [iso:form] vibration isolation platform (wood version, under
  both CD/SA-CD player and turntable), Thor Surge-Shield Premium A2 power
  filtering.

My listening room (a shared living room) is 5.6m x 3.5m x 2.7m and open on one side. The system has been calibrated with a Radio Shack Digital Sound Level Meter to be pretty flat but with a slight suck-out around 125Hz and a larger one around 50Hz ... the best I can do with rearranging furniture, treatments etc. Acoustically, the room is more dead than lively.

My listening habits run to mostly classical (chamber, instrumental, voice, orchestral) from medieval to stuff composed last week. I also enjoy a bit of jazz.

BRYAN GLADSTONE'S SYSTEM

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  ProAc Response 2 with Target stands.

• ELECTRONICS
  Jeff Rowland Consonance (phono stage removed) and a Conrad Johnson Premier10 preamplifiers. Krell KPA phono preamplifier w/upgraded power supply. Jeff Rowland Model 1 or Conrad Johnson Premier 11A amplifiers.

• SOURCES
  VPI HW-19 IV with VPI PLC, Eminent Technology Tonearm 2, Wisa pump and surge tank. Benz Micro MC3 cartridge. Meridian 508.24 CD player.

• CABLES
  Cardas Golden Hexlink 5c interconnects and speaker cables.

ED MORAWSKI'S SYSTEM

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  DIY with Scan Speak 9700 & 8535 Drivers and Series Crossover or Magnepan MMG with modified crossover and stands.

• ELECTRONICS
  DK Design VS-1 Mark II integrated and Bel Canto EVO2 digital amplifiers (bridged) and an E.A.R. 864 preamplifier.

• SOURCES
  Musical Fidelity Nu Vista D CD player, Roku M1000 SoundBride Music Server, and Musical Fidelity 21 TriVista DAC.

• CABLES
  Empirical Audio interconnects and speaker cables, Stealth XLR interconnects, Analysis Plus Oval 9 Speaker cables, and Cardas Cross XLR interconnects

• ACCESSORIES
  DIY Flexy rack of plexiglass, dedicated circuits with Brick Wall surge suppression, Balanced power transformer feeding the CDP and Acoustic First foam panels. Vibrapods, Herbie's Magic Feet and good old hockey pucks. Stillpoints ERS paper

For me, equipment must be clean, neutral, and detailed to deliver the maximum amount of information possible from a Redbook CD. More power is better than less from my view! I also prefer a forward and dynamic overall sound, with detail and resolution, but one with a good soundstage and palpable imaging. I tend to favor the mid and upper ranges of music, but the bass must be clean and tight—just not necessarily super low. Oh, and I can not stand noise, static, or distortion of any kind. The one thing I've learned so far is to keep an open mind.

Home Theater System

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  USHER X-719 (Main), North Creek Music Okara II (Surround), and a ACI Titan Subwoofer.

• ELECTRONICS
  Panasonic XA-45 Digital Receiver.

• SOURCES
  Panasonic RP91 DVD Player, TIVO Series 1 & 2 DVRs, Time Warner Digital Cable with HDTV, and a Panasonic 56" RPHDTV monitor.

• CABLES
  ZU Speaker cables and Audioquest interconnects.

• ACCESSORIES
  Soundesign rack, Target stands, and dedicated circuits with Brick Wall surge suppression.

MIKE PAPPAS' SYSTEM

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  Avalon Diamond Eidolons.

• ELECTRONICS
  Linn 5130 preamplifier and Klimax monoblock amplifiers, and a Spectron Musician II amplifier.

• SOURCES
  Linn CD-12, Sony SCD-1, and Genex GX-8500 Direct Stream Digital 8 channel recorder. EMM Labs A to D and D to A DSD converters.

• CABLES
  Cardas Golden Reference and Cardas Neutral Reference speaker cables. Cardas Golden Reference, Cardas Neutral Reference, and Jena Labs interconnects.

• RECORDING GEAR
  Neumann TLM-103, M-147, U-87, U-87ai, KM-184 Sennheiser MKH-20, MKH-40, MKH-60, MKH-70, and MKH-800 microphones. Grace Design 801R microphone preamp.
  Cardas 24X2M microphone cables.

JOHN BEAVER'S SYSTEM

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  The Ultimate Monitors.

• ELECTRONICS
  Bruce Moore Companion III (w/Advanced Electronics Module) tube pre-amp and Bruce Moore Custom M-225 Monoblock amplifiers.

• SOURCES
  Marantz SA11-S1 SACD player with Reference Audio Mods Level 2 modifications

• CABLES
  Xtreme Powercords, Interconnects & Speaker Cables

• ACCESSORIES
  APS Pure Power 1050 Power Regenerator, Snap Tex Acoustic Treatments, Verastarr StarrDock 5-shelf granite rack, and Real Traps Acoustic Treatments.

I got into the audiophile hobby by way of my interest in Home Theater, and the emerging DVD technology of the late 90's. For the past 4 years I've been the Audio Forum Administrator over at the Home Theater Talk website. I spent most of those years evaluating many different HT processors, DVD players, multi-channel amplifiers and 5.1 speaker systems. In the past year my focus has switched to exploring high quality two channel audio systems. I prefer audio systems that have high detail, non-colored, non-rolled off sound. I enjoy a good soundstage, but my priority is tonal accuracy of the musical instruments I'm listening to, and a high level of transparency.

JOHN MAZUR'S SYSTEM

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  Decware RL 1.5.

• ELECTRONICS
  Eastern Electric Mini Max preamplifier with N.O.S. tubes, one pair of Amplifier Technologies Incorporated (A.T.I.) AT1502 amps, bridged running in monoblock configuration, First Watt F1 amplifier, Great American Sound (G.A.S) Thaedra, Thoebe and, Thalia preamps, G.A.S Ampzilla II, Son of Ampzilla, and Grandson amplifiers, Golden Tube Audio SE40 tube amplifier.

• SOURCES
  Consonance Reference SACD 2.0 CD player, Magnum Dynalab MD90T FM tuner, analog - 1901 Edison Home Phonograph.

• CABLES
  DNM Reson interconnects and speaker cables.

• ACCESSORIES
  PS Audio Humbuster and P300 power regenerator with Multiwave II, VansEvers Cleanline Jr., Room Tune Echo Tunes and Corner Tunes, Godar Model 1 FM antenna.

My listening room is "L" shaped, measuring 13' wide x 26' long in the stem of it. My office is located at the bottom and to the left of the stem. With that configuration, my left speaker has no boundary. My equipment rack is located along the wall on the bottom of the "L". The speakers are usually located 7 feet out into the room firing up into the stem of the "L". The listening chair is located halfway up into the stem. My AC power to the system is coming straight from the panel to the system.

What I listen for when I evaluate equipment are the "thrill rides" which transport me into and give me a feel for the venue of the performance. I look for it to be a "portal" in which I can be carried to that event. I value soundstaging, with depth and breadth being the first priorities. Imaging should have dimension, roundness, and density. I look for a sound infused with "Cinerama" and "Technicolor." When that can be achieved with a two-channel system and not by having surround sound, then I am satisfied.

I do not own a home theater system. While it is entertaining in its own right, I like the feeling of using my imagination to complete the "video" portion while listening to music.

JOHN BRAZIER'S SYSTEM

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  Reference 3A MM De Cappo i's atop  Z5 24" Sound Organizations Stands. Each filled with a unique mixture of sand from Mother's Beach (in Marina Del Rey, CA) and sand from Venice Beach.

• ELECTRONICS
  Edge G3 integrated.

• SOURCES
  Naim CDX2, which is sometimes cabled with Naim's Crystal RCA to Din, but otherwise cabled with Acoustic Zen Silver Reference IIs.

• CABLES
  Acoustic Zen Hologram Speaker Cable (single wire), Acoustic Zen Silver Reference II or Naim Crystal for connection between CDX2 and the Edge G3.

• ACCESSORIES
  Acoustic Zen El Nino Power Cords, Wiremold Outlet Strip.

Secondary System

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  Sennhiesers HD600 Headphones with Cardas replacement cable.

• ELECTRONICS
  Consonance Cyber-20 Tube Headphone Amplifier.
  SOURCES
  Rega Planet as transport, Perpetual Technologies P-3A DAC.

• CABLES
  Custom Spec'd 75ohm silver digital Cable from Acoustic Zen.
  ACCESSORIES
  Audio Selection Cones under CDT, bag of Maine's Finest Oatmeal on top of CDT.

RICK GARDNER'S SYSTEM

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  Esoteric Speaker Products (ESP) Concert Grand Signatures (all upgrades and specific modifications).

• ELECTRONICS
  Balanced Audio Technology VK-50-SE line stage preamplifier, Linn phono stage, and BAT VK-500 solid-state amplifier.

• SOURCES
  Sony SCD-1 and Sony 333-ES SACD players. Teac VRDS-20 transport and Timbre TT-2-1000 DAC. Wilson Benesch Full Circle Table (.05 Arm and Ply MC cartridge). Sony CDR-W-33 CD Recorder.

• CABLES
  Jena Labs interconnects, speaker cables, and power cords.

• ACCESSORIES
  ESP distributor strip. Liberal use of Black Diamond products (The Shelf for the Source, Those Things, Round Things, Cones, etc.). Delux Justarack and Townshend Audio Seismic Sink.

LESTER J. MERTZ'S SYSTEM

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  All DIY - 1) LJM Originals, Transmission Line w/Dynaudio 17W75 and Morel MDT30, 2) LJM Modified, BK16 - folded horn w/Fostex FF165K and Peerless Soft Dome, 3) LJM Originals Floor Stander w/Vifa P17WJ and Vifa DX25SG, 4) LJM Modified Dynaudio Aries, and 5) LJM subwoofer w/Audio Concepts AC12.

• ELECTRONICS
  Blue Circle BC21.1 preamplifier, LINN phono stage, and Sonic Frontier Power 1 (55w) with Svetlana's 6550c Output and 6N1P Drivers, B&K ST 140 (105w), and Sound Valve 110 SE amplifiers.

• SOURCES
  Arcam CD 33 T, Linn LP12, Grace 707, Signet Mk 110 E (mc) into Monolithic PS 1.

• CABLES
  Audience Au24 (on loan from Keith Oyama), Ridge Street Audio Design Poiema, DH Labs Air Matrix, DH Labs Silver Sonic, LJM, RS microphone, Maple Shade Double Helix, Synergistic Research Active Looking Glass, van den Hul The Second, van den Hul D300 Mk III Hybrid interconnects. van den Hul D352 Hybrid speaker cables. Blue Circle BC02, Kimber Kord, Synergistic Research Active AC Master Coupler, and LJM Originals - Marinco Plugs and Belden 14-AWG AC cords.

• ACCESSORIES
  Acme Audio Labs cryogenic treated outlets and Hubbell outlets, Mod Squad Tip Toes and cones, Mana Sound Frame, FIM 305 (roller balls), Vibrapods, Maple Shade Iso-Blocks, Maple Shade Maple Boards, Marchland XM9 electronic crossover, Boos Blocks, Rock Maple Granite Slab, Target Stand TTSA5, LJM Wood Blocks/Equipment Stands, VPI 16.5 (record cleaning machine).

JIM GRUDZIEN'S SYSTEM

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  Dali Grands.

• ELECTRONICS
  Naim Nait 5i and Xindak 6900SE integrated amplifiers.

• SOURCES
  Naim CD5i and a GamuT CD-1 MKIICD players, and a Denon 3300 DVD audio/video player.

• CABLES
  JPS Labs Superconductor FX, Dali Wave 5000, Analysis Plus Silver Oval-In, and Wasatch Cable Works 105-U interconnects and Dali Silver Wave Four and JPS Ultraconductor bi-wire speaker cables. JPS Labs Power AC+ and digital AC cords.

• ACCESSORIES
  Tripp-Lite Line Conditioner LC-1800.

TOM CAMPBELL'S SYSTEM

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  Harbeth Compact 7-ES; Spendor SP 3/1P (secondary).

• ELECTRONICS
  Coda/Continuum Unison integrated amplifier; Marsh Sound Design A-200S solid state power amplifier; Marsh Sound Design P-2000T tube preamplifier; EAR 834P tube phone preamplifier.

• SOURCES
  VPI HW-19 Mk III turntable with Audioquest PT6 tonearm; Grado Reference Sonata cartridge; Sony DVP-NS999ES SACD/CD player; vintage Luxman AM/FM tuner.

• CABLES
  Signal Cable interconnects, speaker cables and power cords; River Cable FLEXYGY speaker cables; Siltech ST-48 interconnects.

• ACCESSORIES
  Vibrapods spread liberally through system; QS&D 4-shelf component rack; Sonex acoustic panels in listening room.

CLAY SWARTZ'S SYSTEM

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  Main speakers are heavily modified Koss Model 1A, center channel speaker are Radio Shack with Linaeum tweeters, side channel speakers are Goodman mini monitors, and the rear speakers are Radio Shack with Linaeum tweeters.

• ELECTRONICS
  Main amplifier is a modified Crown Macro Reference, center channel amplifier is a Parasound HCA-600 bridged to mono, side channel amplifier is a Sumo, and the rear channel amplifier is an Adcom GFA 565. Preamplifier is a modified by Andy Bartha, and an Outlaw 950.

• SOURCES
  A modified Marantz 8300 omni-player, a Monarchy DT 40A LD-CD player, a modified MSB 196-24 DAC, a JVC HR S5500U VHS player, a Teac X-2000R reel-to-reel, a Panasonic HDTV satellite receiver, Lumagen Vision Pro and a Mitsubishi Platinum Plus 55" television (HDTV capable).

• CABLES
  Cardes Golden Hex speaker and interconnect cables and Jena Labs interconnects, digital, and video cables.

• ACCESSORIES
  Lead bricks, lead sheets, Bright Star Big Feet, Shakti Stones, Sonic Hallographs and On-Lines, Tekna Sonic speaker dampeners, ebony and mpingo feet, 2 dedicated 20 and 30 amp circuits, Bright Star Airbase. The room is 20' x 19'. Room and is treated with custom Tube Traps, wall treatments, panels, and Corner Tunes.

KARL LOZIER'S SYSTEM

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  Genesis G-6.1 with integral dual Servo controlled 12" subwoofers each cabinet.

• ELECTRONICS
  Herron VTSP-2 (tubed) preamplifier. Pair of Herron M-150 (solid state) amplifiers. Herron VTPH-1MM phonostage.

• SOURCES
  Allen Wright’s VSEI level 5 Modified Sony 9000ES SACD/CD. Cary model 306/200 CD/HDCD. Toshiba SD 9200. Esoteric DV-50s. VPI – Mk II mounted with SME IV Tonearm + Grado Reference cartridge.

• CABLES
  Preamplifier to power amplifiers are Kimber Select series (or Herron Special) other inputs are Kimber Selects and KCAB, or Harmonic Technology Pro Silway Mk11. AC power cords are Kimber PK-10 Palladian and Purist Audio Dominus. Loudspeaker cables are Kimber Select or DiMarzio Super M-Path.

• ACCESSORIES
  Bright Star Isorock 3 Platform and Isonodes. SSC pucks, Iso-Blocks and Denon CDR-W1500 CD/HDCD player/recorder. Front-end Conditioner, Shunyata Hydra 8 + FIM 880 AC receptacle.

• BACKUP SYSTEM
  106 year old mono only system: Edison Home Phonograph cylinder player model CH16002.

The listening room allows only one possible setup arrangement. The area allows use of a 10-foot wall to backup the loudspeakers, though that end of the room is 15 feet wide with 5 feet being the entrance area. The first nine feet of the room therefore is 15 feet wide and then expands to well over 20 feet wide and 34 feet long (total). Therefore the loudspeakers "see" more than 700 square feet. Walls are old time lathe and plaster, concrete floor with Berber type carpeting. The room supports extended deep bass response and the response is electronically limited by manufacturing design to 16 Hertz, and extends fully and solidly to just below 20 Hertz in this room and is adjustable in all-important aspects including phase. They are rather svelte appearing and top off at only 42 inches tall and 11 inches wide with above average sensitivity. They are basically dipole radiators. Later models, such as the 500, 501 and so on contain one less bass driver per side while maintaining the almost unmatched (for its size) bass response and have eliminated the expensive titanium dome midrange driver, going to a more conventional cone. The Herron electronics, together and separately, come very close to being neutral. The solid-state units have no hint of common transistor edginess and the tubed units have seemingly no added bass fullness or bloom. The Cary player correctly decodes the under appreciated HDCD recordings by Reference Recordings and Dorian. I often question if the best SACDs and DVD-As surpass the better HDCDs by Reference Recordings comparing in stereo only; the HDCDs are not multichannel. Because I usually do a great deal of music reviewing, and most truly new recordings are digital, I find myself listening far more to CDs, HDCDs, SACDs and DVD-As than vinyl. I usually agree with those who believe that a great LP played on a fine-tubed system can almost magically envelope the listener with unsurpassed musical enjoyment. The very finest and in general the most recent digital efforts, are quite excellent and I could easily believe that in most measurable ways, are actually more accurately reproducing the microphones' outputs.

As time goes on, I become more convinced that to have an excellent recording and front-end components allows some moderately priced amplifiers and loudspeakers to be surprisingly satisfying. Please, make every effort to support the truly new recording efforts by companies such as RR, Dorian, Telarc, Chesky, AIX, Delos and others. Without them, improvements in source material will become scarce and the huge corporations will not be stimulated to record and release much of any significance for our musical enjoyment.

HOME THEATER SYSTEM (Multichannel in a separate room)

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  Left and Right are Lil Rascal IIIs, Center is a pair of Napoleons, surrounds are at 2 separate areas each with a left and right Napoleon and a pair of Thunderbolt subwoofers—all by Nola (formerly Alon by Acarian - note manufacturer's name change).

• ELECTRONICS
  Denon AVR 3805 Receiver.

• SOURCES
  Sony NS999ES Multichannel SACD DVD video and CD Player, Toshiba 9200 multichannel DVD audio and video/CD Player, and a JVC HR-S7800U Super VHS HiFi Tape player/recorder.

• CABLES
  Interconnects by Kimber, Harmonic Technology, and DiMarzio. Loudspeaker cables are mainly Kimber's Monocle X. AC power cords by DiMarzio, Harmonic Technology, and Kimber.

• ACCESSORIES
  Isolation platform and feet by Bright Star Audio. FM only system: McIntosh MR 77 FM tuner and McIntosh MA 6100 preamplifier plus NHT SuperOne loudspeakers.

• BACKUP SYSTEM
  Gramaphone Company's 80 year old His Master's Voice record player family model with large horn and crank.

MIKE MALTER'S SYSTEM

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  Energy Veritas 2.4 main speakers, Vandersteen (2) 2Wq subwoofers, Energy Veritas 2.0R rear speakers (home theater use only), Energy Veritas 2.0C center channel speaker (home theater use only), M&K 5000 II subwoofer (home theater use only), Energy Microstar 12 subwoofer (home theater use only).

• ELECTRONICS
  Parasound AVC 2500u preamplifier, Parasound HCA 2250 amplifier, Audio Research VT 100 MK II amplifier, and a Creek OBH-8SE phono-stage.

• SOURCES
  Sony DVP9000 ES CD, SACD & DVD and MMF-7 turntable with Goldring Eroica H cartridge.

• CABLES
  Granite Audio 470 Silver interconnects and Tara Labs 1800 bi-wire speaker cable.

• ACCESSORIES
  PS Audio P600 (set at 60Hz 120 volts), PS Audio Ultimate Lab Cable, PS Audio Lab and Mini Lab cables, PS Audio Ultimate Outlet, and PS Audio Power Ports on my two audio outlets.

DANNY KAEY'S SYSTEM

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  Marten Design Miles II.

• ELECTRONICS
  E.A.R. 899 integrated and E.A.R. 324 phono stage.

• SOURCES
  Sony SCD-1 CD player, Brinkmann LaGrange w/2-arm and Brinkmann EMT cartridge. Brinkmann Tube Power Supply.

• CABLES
  Audio Magic and Analysis Plus interconnect and speaker cables.

My system resides in my living room, which is of classic Spanish style and design, ca. 1920s. Measuring about 15 x 20 I have the usual bad suck out problems at about 80 cycles typically associated with such a room configuration. I've had my fair share of luck searching for the "right" speaker; one of my main concerns is finding a speaker system that is full range, whilst still maintaining a proper soundstage with depth and field. Requesting review samples of large full range speakers is always a major pain for obvious reasons. Fortunately for me, I came across the relatively new (to the US) Marten Design speakers which I had enough time to spend with at the distributor's home who happens to live in the same town; Long Beach, California. The Miles II which he had on display at the time proved to be the "instant" click I was searching for; with an all ceramic driver array courtesy of Thiel & Partners, Germany (the actual brand name is more commonly referred to as "Accuton") the Miles' offer an incredible amount of bass response from a twin 7 inch ceramic driver setup, while giving me all the rest of the sound in a superb and quite fascinating way. As my listening room also serves as my "living" room, I have to make some compromise for the all important "wife acceptance factor". 

In this case, I have decided to forfeit ultimate soundstage depth for a little more bass reinforcement due to the speakers being closer to the rear wall. Even with this trade-out, the soundstage of the Marten's is quite extraordinary and resembles more mini monitor like features than anything I have heard so far; the speakers truly "disappear" out of the equation and when playing back tracks of proper recording quality the level of realism is quite freighting. An E.A.R. integrated 899 serves as the systems main control center, driving the Marten's with gut-wrenching 75W per channel KT90 tube power—nothing of the sweet and tubey cliché warm sounding variety mind you; nope this is the real deal, bass notes come across with such force and impact that you'd think a 500 watt behemoth was the driving force! A "classic" Denon tuner serves as my airwave catcher, while CD/SACD playback is being handled most recently by the almighty Sony SCD-1, due to get a full mod courtesy of Dan Wright at Modwright. Rounding off the source units is the superlative and impeccable Brinkmann LaGrange 2-arm turntable, with the Brinkmann 10.5 arm and EMT cartridge on one armpod and an AudioCraft 4400 with Shelter 501 MKII cartridge on the other end. Signals are routed and amplified via the awesome E.A.R. 324 phono stage. Various Audio-Magic cables, interconnects and power cleaners are handling the equally important signal transmission part. A recently found ReVox G36 reel to reel all tube recorder/player takes care of fantastic pre-recorded 71/2 ips tapes from the 60s.

My musical taste varies greatly and is about as "audiophile" as Norah Jones can be considered the Billie Holiday of 2004. I enjoy classical music, concerto's, symphonies and ballet's; complimenting it with a good dosage of Yello, Coltrane and Miles. Down beat Kruder & Dorfmeister as well as electronic music that's well composed and delivered are also my cup of tea. Heck, you will also find me spinning older Michael Jackson and recent Madonna stuff just as well as I enjoy the Dire Straits and esoteric folk/country/rock/R&B/Phily soul Lambchop. How do all John Barry James Bond soundtrack's sound like? Perhaps a dose of Martin Denny? Come on' over, I have it all! Please, leave your Norah Jones, Diane Krall's and others at home, as I am really not much of a clichéd audiophile connoisseur.

Finally, a bit of my back ground—I was born in Pakistan, have Serbian parents and grew up in the center of the (classical) musical center of the world: Vienna, Austria. I speak four languages, German, English, Serbian and Italian and have been residing in the US for the past several years. My interests are mostly high-speed sports related, I used to race downhill mountain bikes and was an avid go-kart racer throughout my teens—at some point I plan to get back into automobile racing. I make my living as consultant in sales and marketing and enjoy the company of my wife and daughter more than anything.

Feel free to drop me an email, dkaey@positive-feedback.com I'd love to hear from you!

JOHN ACTON'S SYSTEM

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  ProAc Tablette Reference 8 Signature (primary) and JAS-Audio Orsa (secondary).

• ELECTRONICS
  Audio Zone Amp-1 integrated amplifier.

• SOURCES
  SimAudio Moon Nova CD player.

• CABLES
  Audience Au24 and Analysis Plus Solo Crystal Oval interconnects.  Audience Au24 and Analysis Plus Oval 9 speaker cables.  Custom Power Cord Company HCF (series 2) and HCF Special (series 2) power cables.

• ACCESSORIES
  ASC Tube Traps, Studio Traps and Sound Panels.  Lovan Sovereign equipment rack.  Target HR/70 speaker stands.

GREG EWING'S SYSTEM

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  Magnepan 1.6QRs, 1 12" Titanic II spiked and sealed subwoofer.

• ELECTRONICS
  Parasound HCA-1500 amp, Harmon Kardon HK-3475 preamp/tuner, Hypex HS200 200W subwoofer amplifier, Stax headphone amplifier and phones.

• SOURCES
  Sony SCD-222ES SACD CD player modified with LC Audio LClock and Black Gate capacitors.

• CABLES
  Kimber speaker cables, Kimber and Canare Star Quad interconnects.

• ACCESSORIES
  Taddeo Digital Antidote II, Bright Star Audio IsoNodes, Audio Prism QuietLines, Auric Illuminator, lots of ferrite rings.

ED KOBESKY'S SYSTEM

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  PSB Alpha T.
  ELECTRONICS
  PrimaLuna ProLogue Two integrated amplifier, Rotel RQ-970 phono stage.
  SOURCES
  Rega Planar 3 turntable with Linn Basik LVV tonearm and Denon DL-110 cartridge, Rega Planet CD player, Sony DVP-NC875V DVD/SACD player, Pioneer DV-563A universal player.

• CABLES
  MonsterCable Interlink 400, 250 and 200 interconnects; AudioQuest Alpha Snake interconnects; MonsterCable XP speaker wire, others.

• ACCESSORIES
  Record Doctor II record cleaning machine with Disc Doctor brushes, Sennheiser HD580 headphones, Rotel RLC-900 line conditioner.

My main listening room is approximately 9' x 9' with 8' ceilings. It occupies a spare bedroom on the second floor of my rented townhouse, which is located in a quiet suburban neighborhood. Shared walls necessitated the placement of my rear-ported speakers nearest an interior wall. By coincidence, it's a load-bearing wall, allowing for unusually stable equipment placement. I can walk around while an LP is playing, leading me to believe above-average construction standards were applied.

Given the square-shaped room layout, setup by the ‘rule of thirds' is impossible. As a compromise, I selected 10' speaker cables to allow plenty of flexibility with on-the-fly speaker placement. Depending on the electronics and music, I may place the speakers closer to the rear walls or farther away, but usually toed in to some degree. (My long, rectangular living room— equipped with an overachieving Denon stereo receiver and DVD player—is also used to audition speakers when they can't be properly accommodated in the main listening room.)

ROGER S. GORDON'S SYSTEM

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  VMPS RM 30 floor standing speakers (-3dB at 37Hz) with VMPS Large Subwoofer (-3 dB at 17Hz).

• ELECTRONICS
  deHavilland Aries 845-G single ended triode mono block amplifiers on main speakers with two Electron Kinetics (John Iverson) Eagle 400 solid state mono block amplifiers on subwoofer. Herron Audio VTPH-1 phono stage and VTSP-1 preamplifier, and Vacuum State JLTI phono stage.  Active crossover to subwoofer a one-off design by Brian Cheney of VMPS with power supply by John Curl.

• SOURCES
  VPI TNT-5 with Synchronous Drive System and 12.5 JMW arm, Van den Hul Colibri XGW and Condor XGM, and ZYX UNIverse SB cartridges.  Sony SCD-1 with Modwright Absolute Truth Mod, plus SuperClock II, Superclock II Power Supply, and Richard Kern's Transport Mod.

• CABLES
  Bent Audio phono cable that includes terminal box for swapping resistors to change cartridge loading, Purist Audio Venustas and Audio Magic Sorcerer interconnects for connecting equipment to preamp and Harmonic Technology Cyberlight P2A for connecting preamp to amps, and Audio Magic Sorcerer bi-wire loudspeaker cables.

• LINE CONDITIONERS AND AC
  Sound Application XE-12 cryoed with Elrod Power Systems 3 Signature power cord. Power cords:  Audio Magic Excalibur, Coincident, Purist Audio Design Venustas, Silent Source, and Wireworld Electra III+.

• ACCESSORIES
  Room Treatment: Listening room designed by Rives Audio utilizing materials from RPG, Inc. and self constructed ceiling panels designed by Rives Audio.
  Vibration Control: Turntable - Lead Balloon stand with the legs filled with a mixture of kitty litter, sand, and lead shot, with 3" maple butcherblock. Electronics - Black Diamond Racing Cones  under phono stage and pre-amp; Silent Running Audio 3" VR isolation stands under Sony SCD-1 and tube amps.  Tubes - Herbies Audio Lab HAL-O tube dampers on all vacuum tubes.
  EMI and RFI Control:   Bybee speaker filters, two pairs.

FOWN-MING TIEN'S SYSTEM

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  Thiel CS 2.2

• ELECTRONICS
  Aesthetix Callisto line stage, Scott Endler Passive Stepped Nude Attenuators, and Jeff Rowland Model 10 amplifier, Onix H34 tube integrated.

• SOURCES
  Digital: McCormack Audio UDP-1. Analog: Oracle Delphi MkII, SME 3009 tonearm w/ Cardas cabling, Denon 103 cartridge.

• CABLES
  Paul Speltz Anti-Cables speaker cables, CryoTweaks Trinity speaker cables, CryoTweaks Silver Reference MkII interconnect, Aural Thrills WBT Gold digital S/PDIF coax interconnect, custom Dodson "secret skunkworks" digital S/PDIF coax interconnect, and Eichmann eXpress6 AC power cable, Electraglide Reference Tri-Glide power cord.

• ACCESSORIES
  Tice Power Block power conditioner with Hubbell 20A hospital grade outlets, Hubbell 20A hospital grade outlets in wall, Bedini Ultra Clarifier, Auric Illuminator Optical Playback Resolution Enhancement, Quantum Symphony Pro, Black Diamond Racing cones Mk3, Polycrystal amp stands (2), and Verastarr Granite Vibro- Slabs.

Home Theater System

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  Rocket by Onix RS750 front channel speakers, Rocket by Onix RSC200 center channel speaker, Rocket by Onix RS550 rear channel speakers, Infinity HPS-1000 subwoofer.

• ELECTRONICS
  Sherwood Newcastle AVP-9080R pre/pro, ATI AT2505 amplifier.

• SOURCES
  Sony 32" CRT TV and a Pioneer DV-AX10 Universal disc player.

• CABLES
  Onix SP-200 and SP-100 speaker cables, Aural Thrills digital S/PDIF coax interconnect. Onix Master power cord, Zu Disco RCA interconnects, Eichmann eXpress6 RCA interconnects, DH Labs interconnects.

• ACCESSORIES
  Quantum ElectroClears, AudioPrism ACFX Power-Line filter, API Powerwedge 110, API Power Enhancer.

GREG MALTZ'S SYSTEM

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  B&W Nautilus 802 (L&R), B&W Nautilus HTM1 (center), B&W Nautilus 805 (rears).

• ELECTRONICS
  VAC Avatar integrated amplifier with SE Mod, YBA Audio Refinement Multi-3 three channel amplifier, YBA Audio Refinement DSP2 preamplifier, Pioneer 503CMX Plasma display.

• SOURCES
  Sony SCD-1 SACD player, Sony PS2 DVD player.

• CABLES
  Alphacore Goertz MI2 bi-wire speaker cables from Avatar amp to N802 speakers, Alphacore Goertz MI1 bi-wire speaker cables from YBA amp to NHTM1 and N805 speakers, Alphacore Goertz Silver Sapphire interconnects used between preamplifier, both amplifiers, and SCD-1, Monster Z optical cable from PS2 to YBA preamplifier, Monster Z component cable from PS2 to plasma display, Electraglide Fatman power cords, PS Audio Lab Cable power cords, CPCC Model 11 power cord.

• ACCESSORIES
  B&W cast aluminum 1 1/4" spikes for N802 speakers, PS Audio P600 Power Plant, Vistek Aurios Media Isolation Bearings under the SCD-1, Bellogetti AVS1000 rack, FS Nautilus 805 stands for rear speakers, Svetlana EL34 tubes for Avatar, Pioneer Elite Urishi frame for plasma display, Pioneer PDA5002 Video Card for plasma display.

Without enough rooms in my pad to adequately indulge my hobbies, the goals with this system are to achieve a home theater that sacrifices as little as possible in terms of my criteria for high quality audio. Those criteria are mainly oodles of detail and solid imaging and sound staging, I like a forward, somewhat in-your-face presentation, but with good front-to-back imaging that closely mirrors intimate, live listening experiences. My favorite genre is small-ensemble jazz of the '60s, but I listen to an incredibly wide variety of material, from Bach to the Beastie Boys. I have a passion for films as well as music—thus the plasma display—and sometimes indulge in video games, so for the time being I'm using a PlayStation 2 as a DVD player. Even on this modest source, I can achieve a seamless surround field controlled by the YBA preamp, in which the VAC tube amp, set to "home theater" mode and decoupled from the internal preamp, drives the front L/R speakers and the YBA three channel amp drives the center and rears. I hope to explore multichannel SACD and a better DVD source soon, as well as HDTV and HD-DVD someday.

CARL HRUZA'S SYSTEM

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  Magnepan 3.6R – Heavily modified with new XO's and internal wiring.

• ELECTRONICS
  ARC LS15 preamplifier (upgraded) and a Simaudio Moon W10 monoblocks.

• SOURCES
  Audio Alchemy DDS Pro Transport, Audio Alchemy Dti Pro 32 Digital Interface, Musical Fidelity A3 24 Upsampling DAC. VPI 19 Mk III ET2 Conrad Johnson Nuvista Head amp. Pioneer Elite DV 47Ai Universal Player.

• CABLES
  Virtual Dynamics Nite II Bi-wires, Virtual Dynamics Reference Series powercords, CVH Designs Flavor 1, 2, and 4 powercords, Purist Audio Colossus interconnects, AudioQuest Amazon interconnects, MIT reference Digital, various other interconnects.

• ACCESSORIES
  PS Audio 600 Powerplant with Multiwave II, Blue Circle NoiseHounds x2, modified Sound Org Magnepan stands, DIY cones, platforms, vibration control, Lovan equipment racks, and Auralex Acoustic treatments.

Room: A rather large room at 45' x 28' with a cathedral ceiling rising up to 28'. Having a minimal of acoustic treatments, the room is quite lively though not overly so. I have various options for placement and I've settled on a position that has the Magnepans 68" into the room and 9' apart, with the chair 11' 2" from the speakers. This gives me the best compromise between bass performance and midrange clarity with good width and reasonable depth of soundstage.

Listening habits: Having moved from a much smaller listening room I've had to re-configure my system to take advantage of the larger space. The Magnepans give me a great sense of scale, both in stage height and width. Depth could be better, but that seems to be a characteristic of the planar design rather than a room/speaker interface problem. I find myself enjoying classical music more than ever, the room is able to hold a large assembly of performers and portray a sense of realism that I haven't heard in many other systems.

Quite often I'll move from Classical, to Big Band, to intimate Jazz to 70's rock, within the space of a 3 or 4-hour listening session, so my tastes are pretty varied.

The Magnepan/Simaudio W10 partnering has been a revelation for me. Having tried smaller SS amps from the likes of Krell, McIntosh and Belles, along with tube amps from Cary and Conrad Johnson, the Sims really get a hold of the Magnepans and force them into sonic submission with a vice-like grip!

With my setup and seating arrangement, my system tends not to resolve micro-dynamics very well, and doesn't have bass that shakes the room, but neither of these characteristics are generally considered attributes of a planar design anyway. So, I've setup to focus on what the speakers do best: clarity and purity of midrange, tonal accuracy and a believable rendition of scale. When I'm evaluating new components and looking for subtle nuances, I slide the chair forward a little and can connect better with inner details and micro-dynamics. But for enjoyable/recreational listening, give me a 20' wide soundstage with believable images and I'm in musical bliss.

JIM OLSON'S SYSTEM

Primary System

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  Wilson Watt Puppy 7.

• ELECTRONICS
  E.A.R. 834L preamplifier, Audio Research VTM200 and Mark Levinson No. 33H monoblock amplifiers.

• SOURCES
  Linn UNIDISK player, VPI Super Scoutmaster/Lyra Helikon, and a Magnum Dynalab MD108 Reference tuner.

• CABLES
  Nordost QuatroFil cables.

• ACCESSORIES
  ASC Studio Traps and Echobusters, Polycrystal rack, and a Chang Lightspeed for power conditioning.

Secondary System

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  Von Schweikert VR-4jr and Senheiser HD650 headphones

• ELECTRONICS
  Chord CPM 2600 integrated.

• SOURCES
  Altis CDT3 transport and Van Alstine Transcendence DAC.

• CABLES
  Kimber Select cables.

• ACCESSORIES
  Audience power conditioning.

KELLY TANG'S SYSTEM

• LOUDSPEAKERS
  JM Labs Micro Utopia BE.

• ELECTRONICS
  Bryston 7BSST monoblocks amplifiers.

• SOURCES
  EMM Labs DCC2/CDSD.

• CABLES
  Shunyata Aries IC, Audience Au24 speaker cabling. Shunyata Anaconda VX (DCC2), Python Vx (CDSD), and Taipan Alphas (7BSST Monoblocks) AC cords.

• ACCESSORIES
  Partington Dreadnought Ultima speaker stands. Hydra 8 and Quantum Pro power conditioners. Hutter Racks, Symposium Ultra Platform + Cerabase (CDSD), Cerapuc (DCC2) support stands/racks. ASC 20" Tube Traps (2), Echobuster Panels (3), Doublebuster Panel (1), ASC Sound Panels (2), Bass Busters (4), Corner Busters (4), and a Persion Carpet (1). Shakti Stones.