Pubul57, I believe you would end up holographic with the EMM CDSA SE if you get the "X" upgrade. Synergistic Research produces truly world-class products. With the addition of the SR PowerCell 10SE and Galileo speaker cells and interconnects cells the quality of the sound produced by your EMM would likely be elevated to an even higher level. It is just a matter of unlocking its potential.
What it all comes down to is that you have to listen to each CD player in a system that is designed for it. Most players need to be modded or upgraded and special components, cabling and tweaks have to be added to bring each player up to its full potential. No news here.
It is the same with speakers. Some high end speakers may sound awful until all the elements in the system are matched to produce the synergy they need to find their full potential. I have seen this with my Merlin TSM mmi speakers. Out of the box they sounded unremarkable. But once I got everything in my system matched to their potential they began producing the world-class sound I knew they were capable of producing. I might have concluded -- prematurely -- that there was something lacking with them -- the same with the EMM right out of the box -- when, in truth, it was only the synergy of the system that was holding them back. Now they produce world-class sound.
I recently compared a lot of well-known high end speakers in very expensive systems at Adelphi in Singapore. I took a lot of time in the listening rooms to note the attributes of many of the world's best speakers. The Merlins are among the very best. Although I don't have floor-standers -- I have the latest iteration of the Merlin monitors in a small listening room at home -- they could easily fill a medium-sized room with beautiful sound driven by my Marantz PM-15 (the original 1994 model).
Likewise, with a player like the EMM that has such great potential it is only a matter of looking for the solution to the problem of synergy to find it. The fact that the solution is undoubtedly there has been driven home to me by the enormous improvement in sound from my own EMM by adding the SR PowerCell, some excellent cables and tweaks (a high-end fuse, SR MiGs, etc.). I have not done the "X" upgrade and do not have cabling that can be called "fully-loomed high end". Yet even at this stage my EMM produces beautifully layered 3D sound. It may not be "holographic wrap-around" yet but it is wonderfully satisfying to listen to from morning till night -- full of fine detail, natural tone and just the right warmth.
What it all comes down to is that you have to listen to each CD player in a system that is designed for it. Most players need to be modded or upgraded and special components, cabling and tweaks have to be added to bring each player up to its full potential. No news here.
It is the same with speakers. Some high end speakers may sound awful until all the elements in the system are matched to produce the synergy they need to find their full potential. I have seen this with my Merlin TSM mmi speakers. Out of the box they sounded unremarkable. But once I got everything in my system matched to their potential they began producing the world-class sound I knew they were capable of producing. I might have concluded -- prematurely -- that there was something lacking with them -- the same with the EMM right out of the box -- when, in truth, it was only the synergy of the system that was holding them back. Now they produce world-class sound.
I recently compared a lot of well-known high end speakers in very expensive systems at Adelphi in Singapore. I took a lot of time in the listening rooms to note the attributes of many of the world's best speakers. The Merlins are among the very best. Although I don't have floor-standers -- I have the latest iteration of the Merlin monitors in a small listening room at home -- they could easily fill a medium-sized room with beautiful sound driven by my Marantz PM-15 (the original 1994 model).
Likewise, with a player like the EMM that has such great potential it is only a matter of looking for the solution to the problem of synergy to find it. The fact that the solution is undoubtedly there has been driven home to me by the enormous improvement in sound from my own EMM by adding the SR PowerCell, some excellent cables and tweaks (a high-end fuse, SR MiGs, etc.). I have not done the "X" upgrade and do not have cabling that can be called "fully-loomed high end". Yet even at this stage my EMM produces beautifully layered 3D sound. It may not be "holographic wrap-around" yet but it is wonderfully satisfying to listen to from morning till night -- full of fine detail, natural tone and just the right warmth.