Opinions on why this system is uninvolving

I know why! All (most) are Stereophile recommended components. Listen before you buy!

Bwhite, I don't mean to take this thread off track but I can say one thing, I've talked to you before on this digital issue and you sure know your stuff on good sound, regardless of $$. I really enjoy your "reviews" !! ...Pat

I am the original poster and I'd like to update you all on how things worked out becasue I have made a lot of changes. I have finally gotten the Revels to sound great. I still have the Hovland and I took BWhite's advice and kept the EAD transport. I bought an Audiomeca Ekianthus (also BWhite's suggestion) and that helped a lot. Then added Cardas Golden Cross speaker cables and Neutral Reference interconnects, which got things smoother. Traded the MFA amps and the Proceed amp for Bruce Moore Custom 225 monoblocks and that made the greatest difference. Now I can finally play the Revels as loud as they should be without fatigue, but by the same token I can play them at lower levels and not feel deprived. Vocals are now fantastic although perhaps not as great as on the Quad ESL 63/Gradient subwoofer combo I also bought but am thinking about selling. The Quads on many recordings are more intitmate (e.g., real sounding; timbres, trasnperency, liquidity, etc.) than anything I have ever heard, but then on some recordings they simply can't match the dynamism of the Revels. I have also experimented with a REL sub with the Revels which seems to work well, but I haven't had one long-term enough yet to tell if I really want it, or whether what I'm hearing is simply novelty.

In any event, I really appreciate everyone's help.

Znak_m, good to hear that you are pleased.

Per my original post near the top, I have found that the amplifier is the most critical component for so many sonic areas including 'involvement'.

Only because some to many amplifiers have some to many deficiencies that some to many simply overlook or are unaware of.

-IMO

Hi,

As a dealer we run into this all of the time. There is no doubt that room acoustics/components/speakers and their interactions certainly play a role. We've found though that most of the difficulty lies in the inherent problems in cable designs limiting the system's performance. That's why we have chosen Sahuaro Audio cables to finally solve this problem to our customer's delight. Sahuaro is a breakthrough product, based on "physics" rather then the traditional "electrical engineering" concepts, that allows components/speakers to reach their full potential. Although we represent many component and speaker lines we suggest starting with Sahuaro first. It will provide that natural and emotionally involving ultimate performance that we are all searching for and save you money in the long run. You might just find that your system is really every bit as good as you had hoped it would be.

Enjoy!
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