While most of us have unique opinions, Miles Davis sounds like he is standing in front of me on my system. The room, I place the system in the corner but the walls are broken up with irregularities and lots of absorbing features, curtains, etc, and the back two walls broken up as well. The result is zero secondary reflections, one perfect spot with full 3d definition.
in this strange room, Project turntable, McIntosh phono preamp, VTL 5.5, VTL S200, custom cables, feeding Totem Acoustic Element Metal speakers with Thunder Sub II as I listen to organ music and like the solid low end.
My previous system was Quad 63ESL’s, Vandersteen's, driven by Mark Levinson and was fabulous with isolating vocalists. My current system does the same, and my opinion is the room treatment is so critical to eliminate secondary reflections.
One disappointment in searching is many high end dealers have crappy listening set ups. I wish the best for you, may your ears be blessed.
$50k - $80k Budget…Opinions please.
Long story short, I sold my beloved 2-channel to reduce family debt. In about a year-ish, I’ll be in a position to rebuild with a hefty budget. I loved my Harbeth + Pass Labs combo. My REL sub died before I really got to integrate it, so opinions wanted there as well. I fully understand the diminishing margin of returns when moving into some arenas, but that’s ok, opinions are strongly encouraged.
I listen to a lot of Miles Davis/Coltrane, Radiohead, Tool, Pearl Jam, Brent Cobb. I’ve often preferred “organic” or neutral, not sure how technical that is.