Combinations that exceeded your expectations?


Putting the right equipment together is a real art--mixed with a good bit of dumb luck. Fortunately, experience sometimes does help get really stunning results by matching equipment from different manufacturers. I'd like to hear what equipment (like speaker/amp or interconnect/speaker cable or source/preamp) when paired together others found elevated their system to another level. Though entire systems are interesting, I'd prefer to narrow it to the juicyest equipment you've had the good fortune to pair up--and by all means name names.
rrgordon
Thanks to Albert Porter I recently tried a number of isolation tweaks and of all things... the relatively inexpensive Mod Squad Soft Shoes made my CD's sound as if I'd upsampled them. Go ahead, try and take it from me! Also, I heard a Musical Fidelity HT600 amp at a friends, and never forgot it. It has endless reserve and never chokes, no matter how hard you push it, or what speaker you connect it to. It always retained its character no matter what cables or power cord I tried. I have never been happier with any audio product (with the possible exception of owning Duane Allman's Marshall 100 amp for about 5 years, but that's another story!) It made more of a difference than any interconnect or cable switch in getting me closer to the truth. I would think very carefully before "upgrading" it. Those two pieces combined with my Acoustic Zen Reference Silver interconnects give me that "musicians are in the room feeling", and a few chills occasionally.
BAT VK30 preamp, YBA CD Integre CDP, and the real sleeper, Linn Classik. The Classik is quite simply the best value in audio today and MUST be considered for your second or third system. It's that good. Sold my NAD L40 in a heartbeat, not even close in terms of sound. This stuff represented a MAJOR step up in my listening enjoyment and matched perfectly with the rest of my gear. Jeez I love BAT preamps...
About 10 or 12 years ago, I walked into my first hi-end audio store and heard beautiful music from one of the rooms. I walked in and saw a record player, vacuum tubes & strange looking speakers. It was a Sota turntable, conrad-johnson PV something pre-amp & MV50? power amp, into Spica Angelous speakers... What a fantastic synergy! Of all the components I've heard since that day, only Magnepan MGIIIa's, 3.3r's and my Pass Aleph 3 have made that much of an impression on me... A close second is my Rowland Model 2 with BPS & the current Pass Labs X series amps.
I have to admit, I'm really skeptical now when I read about some breakthrough product in the audio press. 99% of the time, the product is a big letdown...
ARC 100/2 power amp, Audible Illusions preamp, Gallo Nucleus Reference Speakers. This is an unbelieveable combo. I have been into audio for 25 years and I am finally satisfied. Now I just concentrate on enjoying music.
BAT VK50SE preamp, BAT VKD5SE CD Player, Levinson 33H monoblocks, Aerial 10t speakers. All interconnect/speaker cable Transparent Ultra or better.

A salesman from a large NY store heard this in my room and said: "We've done $200,000 installations that do not sound this good".

I'm happy.