So, my friend Mr. Golden Ears (Robert) came over last night for an extended listening session. The last time he was over, I had a broken in RED fuse in the preamp, and a brand new one in the amp. Last night, all three fuses were at work ... amp, preamp and phono, with all three fuses broken in at this point.
We played a variety of music, all of which sounded better than ever. The most striking was a Pacific Jazz stereo recording, recorded in 1956, that I have of the Chico Hamilton Quintet (STEREO-1005). Now here we had that realism similar to the Optimal Enchantment room at the Newport show three years ago that I alluded to earlier. Fred Katz's cello was particularly good with correct tonal balance, woodiness, resin and all in three dimensional relief. Robert called me again this morning raving about Katz's cello that he heard last night. That's saying alot considering Robert's second nickname is "Mr. Cynic."
This Chico Hamilton record is one of my favorites in the entire collection and I know every groove in it. With the simple exchange of three fuses ... $300 bucks total plus tax and shipping .. and walla! an entirely new record collection.
No joke guys ... this was as good as going from my ARC Classic 60 to the ARC REF-75 ... and that's saying a ton. Put another way, better than going from the REF-75 to the REF-75SE ... and that's saying another ton.
So now, instead of sitting just outside that wonderful soundstage reproduced in the Optimal Enchantment room of three years ago, the system now allows one to sit at least on the inside edge of that soundstage.
Delightful, to say the least.
We played a variety of music, all of which sounded better than ever. The most striking was a Pacific Jazz stereo recording, recorded in 1956, that I have of the Chico Hamilton Quintet (STEREO-1005). Now here we had that realism similar to the Optimal Enchantment room at the Newport show three years ago that I alluded to earlier. Fred Katz's cello was particularly good with correct tonal balance, woodiness, resin and all in three dimensional relief. Robert called me again this morning raving about Katz's cello that he heard last night. That's saying alot considering Robert's second nickname is "Mr. Cynic."
This Chico Hamilton record is one of my favorites in the entire collection and I know every groove in it. With the simple exchange of three fuses ... $300 bucks total plus tax and shipping .. and walla! an entirely new record collection.
No joke guys ... this was as good as going from my ARC Classic 60 to the ARC REF-75 ... and that's saying a ton. Put another way, better than going from the REF-75 to the REF-75SE ... and that's saying another ton.
So now, instead of sitting just outside that wonderful soundstage reproduced in the Optimal Enchantment room of three years ago, the system now allows one to sit at least on the inside edge of that soundstage.
Delightful, to say the least.