Electrocompaniet EMC II CD Player

Hey Subaruguru, why so worried about spending a few hundred bucks on the Spider when you've purchased a cdp that's worth maybe half of what it retails for? Maybe. Sonics aside, there just ain't much inside the EMC-1UP. Don't get me wrong, I love my EMC-1UP as much as the next guy, but aside from being heavy, it's not that well built. At $5500 retail, it's waaaaay over priced IMO.

I'm still willing to give the Spider a try. Cello's assessement is interesting, but may not apply to me. If I end up having the same opinion of it, I'll still be happy to have a clamp that's of better quality than the cheap little puck included as stock. Frankly, they should include the Spider as standard on EMC-1s if you ask me.

Tvad, This will be a long response:

I agree completely that there is an imbalance of more positive to negative reactions / reviews of equipment. I think that is in part due to the enthusiasm of someone "who has found it" for that moment and they want to share a positive experience with other audiophiles.

On the other side, I think it is not in a person's nature (there are some exceptions) to complain in a public forum. Think of how many times you have seen someone not happy with their dinner or a dish, gripe at the table to their dinner companions at a restaurant and then not say anything to the waiter. They usually just don't go back to that restaurant.

A lot of the threads like the Electrocompaniet threads are started by people who are enthusiastic about a certain piece of equipment and want to share their joy or are looking for information to help in the decision in making their next move on the upgrade trail.

All of audio is a very subjective experience much in the same vein as the appreciation of art. I think there is plenty of room for someone to love a piece of equipment based on their taste while someone has completely the opposite reaction. There is also a huge subjective issue with regards to the variables of the synergy of other pieces of equipment, power, room design and software quality used in one’s system. You might have a totally different experience listening to my system and I yours.

In the debates over the EMC-1UP and the Spider, the discussion relates to the perceived benefits and perceived value. Most people on the post love their Electrocompaniet. A good many think it is over priced based on the perceived (or actual) build quality, but they love the sound. A good question to ponder is “ what is out there in the same price range as the Electrocompaniet that comes close or beats the sound quality”. To date, I have not found it. Build quality ? My EMC-1UP has been running almost 24/7 for going on two years and I have not had the first bit of trouble. Ask Mike as FS Audio (an honest, decent dealer) privately what his view of the Electrcompaniet is and what benefits he hears out of the Spider (I have not spoken with him, but he has a good reputation0. He does have a conflict of interest since he sells Electrocompaniet, but he has a reputation for being knowledgeable and honest.

In my case, the Spider did big things for my system’s sound. A good friend (who has an incredible ear and writes reviews for classical music concerts) and who has listened to my system found all of the same improvements that I heard and in the same order of magnitude.

My system is quite resolving and possibly I am hearing things other people might not or my system may have needed a Spider much more than yours.

How do you put a price tag on the improvements the Spider produces ? It depends on how much it did for you. I heard enough improvement for it to be considered a system upgrade, like a new AMP, great power cord or dedicated power lines. So what is that worth ? To me, the Spider looks like it is worth under $ 100.00 tops $ 200.00, but the sonic improvements would have me pay a great deal more than the $ 350.00 I paid. I am smiling every time I listen. I am also getting harder pressed to eek out more improvements as time goes by and the Spider was one of the easier less costly ones.

Fortunately and unfortunately, I can no longer run balanced out of the XLR outputs of the Electrocompaniet since I changed over to a tubed pre-amp (Supratek Cortese, tube pre) that only accepts RCA for the input side of the pre. The Cortese was such an upgrade over my previous Sim Audio Moon P-5 pre-amp that I will have to live with the RCA outs of the Electrocompaniet. Thanks for the advice on that one. I am hoping that upgrading the internal wiring to the RCA output of the Electrocompaniet with Shielded Silver wires and silver solder will give me some improvement. As I mentioned before, I am looking into doing the Steve Nugent mod.

I am looking forward to hearing from some more EMC-1-UP owners that install the Spider to see if my reactions are that of a majority of one or they also see significant improvements.

Tvad I was not referring to you at all with the "complaining in public" comment. I was addressing your point of the imbalance of there being a great deal more positive reactions/reviews than a greatly lesser amount of negative comments/reviews and why there might not be so many negative reviews.

The lack of negative reviews might also be driven by the owner, about to sell his component on Audiogon, not wanting to slam a product that he is about to sell to another Audiogon member.

I appreciate the fact that you are not hearing an improvement in your system where I am in mine. For my edification, I wonder if anyone could weigh in on what might cause the drastic difference of the reactions to the benefits of the Spider on our two systems. The component list that makes up my system is listed in my post of 1-06-04.

I will probably end up doing the Steve Nugent mod next time I go on vacation and let you know what it does for me. Hopefully by then, he has come up with some new great ideas for his mod.

I intend to ask Steve if there is anything to do about improving the RCA side of the outputs beyond just changing out inner connecting wires to the RCA outs.

I do welcome the critical comments as much (probably more) than the positive. It is hard to make an informed decision when one is getting a limited view of the issues.

Happy Listening !