David ...
You gave me an idea for tomorrow. I'm going to swap the RED fuse in the phono amp for one of the BLACK fuses in the CD player in the morning. There's still something that's not right with the two BLACK fuses in the CD player. In the meantime, the CD player remains on "repeat" overnight again.
The black fuses show promise, but so far compared with the red fuses, the presentation is boring. What they are doing reminds me of a system I heard years ago. It consisted of stacked Quads and really good tube electronics. The owner was totally into transparency first. Yes, his system was one of the most transparent systems I've yet heard to date. Upon initial listening I was blown away. But ... 30 minutes into the listening session I was thinking of how I could gracefully exit his home.
I heard another system one time that retailed for over 200k. The owner kept emphasizing how well he "got the rear corners of the stage." I kept thinking ... yes, but where's the emotional connection to the music? 80 grand for a pair of speakers and another 150 grand for solid state electronics ... to get the rear corners of the sound stage? Not me .. I want to hear Sarah Vaughn's chest and throat. I want to hear the natural tone of a soprano sax. I want to hear the beautiful resonances of a bow being drawn across a cello. I want to be made to hold my breath while the music just flows over me in waves of beauty.
The black fuses so far are leaning toward audiophile-ism. they ARE improving, but man, this is one hell of a break in period. I'm going to continue working with them just to see if they finally come around to the musicality of the red fuses. It would be wonderful to have the transparency of the black fuses with the musicality of the reds. We'll see.
Charles' last post hit the nail right on the proverbial head.
