Harpsichord, smarpsichord. :-0 Actually, I just don't know what one is supposed to sound like. I see many live, rock and some jazz, shows a year. I know what that sounds like in good venues and in not so good venues. In all cases it is reality in modern music. Nothing but amps and PA systems in between. I'm getting very close to that sound, the in your face dynamics, clarity, detailed and integrated all at the same time. I have heard "my kind" of music on Doug and Paul's system several times and it just does not move me. However, for the music that is more in their preferred genre their system does move me. That is just what I hear coming from my perspective on how I want to reproduce music. And, the only real difference in our systems is the speakers. We just prefer a little different blend of spices, so to speak.
I hope I am not coming off as taking pot shots at Pass, and I do think that Peter's system sounds very good. There is no doubt in my mind about the distinct sound of high-end SS, but beyond that I just haven't listened to his system long enough to offer anything more. Hey, I love my Classe SS amp and Aerial 10t's in the theater. It is just a different way to make sound. There is no doubt about the bass handling capability of a quality, big SS amp. I'm not as sensitive to many things, and it usually takes me some listening time to figure out what I'm hearing. I would like to hear Peter's system again someday to get a better appreciation for what it sounds like to me. I'm sure I never felt the need to stop listening in the time I was there. But as Doug can attest to, I can tolerate some awful, awful sounding things while I'm figuring things out. :-)
The more I think about this load mismatch I tend to agree that this was the cause of all things sounding bad with the Alaap/Pass combo. I mean, that is a pretty bad load mismatch and I would expect that causes reflections in the interconnect cables, and that could sound like what Ian described that he heard. I agree with Peter that I don't think we heard that at his house, but it wasn't pretty. Difference in speaker, perhaps? It would be interesting to me to hear that sound again so I could try to dissect the sound, but I would not subject anyone to that kind of torture. ;-)
I do want to say that this kind of mismatch with a walk-in component has happened several times now with a certain dealer up in this area we know. Not surprisingly, things always sound bad unless all of the gear is something they sell. That is just my personal observation. FWIW.
Well, I guess we've gone way off topic. I used to own a 2.2 before I moved on to the Triplanar. I've heard many good things about the improvements in the Phantom. I hope I get to hear a properly setup Phantom some day.
I hope I am not coming off as taking pot shots at Pass, and I do think that Peter's system sounds very good. There is no doubt in my mind about the distinct sound of high-end SS, but beyond that I just haven't listened to his system long enough to offer anything more. Hey, I love my Classe SS amp and Aerial 10t's in the theater. It is just a different way to make sound. There is no doubt about the bass handling capability of a quality, big SS amp. I'm not as sensitive to many things, and it usually takes me some listening time to figure out what I'm hearing. I would like to hear Peter's system again someday to get a better appreciation for what it sounds like to me. I'm sure I never felt the need to stop listening in the time I was there. But as Doug can attest to, I can tolerate some awful, awful sounding things while I'm figuring things out. :-)
The more I think about this load mismatch I tend to agree that this was the cause of all things sounding bad with the Alaap/Pass combo. I mean, that is a pretty bad load mismatch and I would expect that causes reflections in the interconnect cables, and that could sound like what Ian described that he heard. I agree with Peter that I don't think we heard that at his house, but it wasn't pretty. Difference in speaker, perhaps? It would be interesting to me to hear that sound again so I could try to dissect the sound, but I would not subject anyone to that kind of torture. ;-)
I do want to say that this kind of mismatch with a walk-in component has happened several times now with a certain dealer up in this area we know. Not surprisingly, things always sound bad unless all of the gear is something they sell. That is just my personal observation. FWIW.
Well, I guess we've gone way off topic. I used to own a 2.2 before I moved on to the Triplanar. I've heard many good things about the improvements in the Phantom. I hope I get to hear a properly setup Phantom some day.