Anyone heard the E.A.R. "Acute"?

I always thought Van Alstine priced their gear at the lower end of the spectrom. It seems like EAR prices their gear on the higher end of things. I think the biggest problem with EAR is there customer service. I have read quite a few threads about their lousy customer service. Though no one has ever complained about the sound quality.

I've owned the EAR Acute 3 for about 1 1/2 years and have never had one issue with the player. It is without a doubt the most musical player I've ever heard or owned. I would also recommend tube rolling as a good NOS tube provides that little bit of magic people talk about. The only player I would be interested in going to would be the new Acute 4/DAC 4 combo.

Sense63 - Which NOS tubes have you tried and which ones were your favorite? What are musical tastes? Always glad to hear of another who loves the EAR Acute. It is a great player.

I live a 15 minute drive from Van Alstine, twice in last couple months I've taken gear over to him to fix loose jacks which were MY fault for using death-grip locking IC's

He showed me why it happened, fixed them both on the spot,charged me nothing,.let me listen to his yummy new Janzen electrostatics and was I on my way in 30 minutes .

CalvinJ,

Just talked with Kevin at Upscale - did you ever try his Telefunken E88CC/6922's on his site? He said that are very open and have a sweeter midrange than the Siemens. These are interesting to me as well.