I can't get no satisfaction ...... smile

I think building a system with good neutraility will get you close to what you are looking for . I've built a system that sounds very involving night or day , hot or cold , Jazz or rock/pop , good recordings or bad . I won't say it makes a poorly recorded disc sound like a good one , but almost all disc's are very listenable and enjoyable but never frustrating . It's taken many years , much listening and of coarse $ to finally get a system that sounds right all the time with all music , and there's no hint of anguish just pure pleasure .

no stereo can replicate the sound of a live orchestra. that can be vexing.

I don't whats vexing about it , we new from the first audio component we purchased many years ago that it would not sound like live music and to this day we no that a new piece of kit , no matter how great will leave something behind .
What we can do is create a music maker that will entertain and dazzle us into joyish submission .

Inna,

I used to have a goldring 1042 i bought it cause the reviews looked pretty good. I found it pretty resolving, kinda so so, but didnt really do anything especially special. The denon 103 is very balanced and quite complete. It makes a very coherent picture of the music without over emphasizing in any areas to make some fault. It tries to be neutral and succeeds quite well. It produces timbres that are a little "greyed". It is of course not world class in transparency. It is still a great cartridge for what it is! at its asking price.

Lyra makes great cartridges. The little denon might make you as happy or more happier but i have no experience with the lyra you are considering. What i'm trying to say is the denon is a no brainer and that its a cartridge the plays higher than its price and can sound better than many more than double its price. [i think thats a fair statement]. Anyways just something to think about. That said...lyra makes some of the best cartridges available.

I have quite a few tubes [happily] in my system. When summer comes i dont feel like adding more heat and then try to listen. Something says..."you should go outside" so playing music when its hot feels a bit couped up and how can you enjoy music if your feeling suffocated!{smiling}

Tmsorosk,

My sound, i would say is very neutral and very transparent, maybe extraordinarily transparent even? Dynamics are extremely effortless while remaining gentle and relaxed. Then add to that timbrel fidelity and then think about a single saxaphone playing. The transparency is in the inflections of his fingers picking and choosing the notes, how fast he is or isnt moving from one to the next, all the different levels of breathing pressures are laid bare as he plays, the brass of the instrument is gentle soft, beautiful and shimmering and then add nothing else to it, no artifacts, just clear beautiful sax, with speed and timbre. But its not hyped speed, just as it appears in real life. which is faster than most think.(think)

Of course we are talking degrees and in what league? I thought i understood those terms, speed, transparency, timbre but i didnt really until i arrived at the system i have today. My system redefined those concepts altogether.

This has made my "ear brain" more acute and astute to musical cues and subtleties....i like to think so, anyways![smile]but at a much higher level then in my previous system when i thought i understood many of those concepts before. When this happens our expectations go higher and minute details and subtleties of musical cues become even more so desired.

I'm glad that you have that level of satisfaction. Like i said i'm very close to a very special sound but i'm just looking for a little smidgen of some quality not yet identified and a overall more general level of satisfaction over a broader range of records.

I have alot of non audiophile friends and family who say... of stereos that sound terrible, wow it sounds great!... but i hear all the problems with the sound that they dont! Because the standard they use to measure against, is what it is and because it is low of course it sounds great!

Ever go to record shops that have records playing? Some of those people listen to records at that level through those kinds of speakers all the time and think it sounds great! You know what it makes me think? If you are only going to playback your vinyl at that level, get a cd player or ipod because i dont hear the advantage of the format. Of course some people like the nostalgia part of playing a record. Fine, i guess.

What am i trying to say? ...i'm not sure[laugh]

I guess i'm trying to say, i'm glad you're so satisfied but i wonder if your system would make me feel the way your system makes you feel. It might?

Or

I wonder if you heard my system if you could enjoy it all the time, everytime, as you do yours. We'll probably never know.

It will depend on how sophisticated our musical "palettes" are, how high our expectations are and the degree to which we know what is possible in the current state of the technology.

The last one there, i think is determined by how many different systems we've heard and their calibre.I'm not assuming anything or implying anything, i'm just thinking out loud.

Also, i know digital has progressed very far but i still believe that vinyl is the better format. That is my personal bias.