Well I decided to run the S3's 24.7 for the break in and this morning I was over the 350 mark.So I sat and gave them a good run through with some critical listing.
My first impression was that they had opened up a great deal and that they sounded better than when I had 100 hours on them.But something was still missing.I tried each of the settings from low to medium to high.Joe Abrams had told me it was best to set them at medium if that is where they where sounding the best in my system even though the low setting is where they should be set per the instructions and my amps input sensitivity of 33kohms.He told me the settings are not written in stone so experimentation is best.The pair I have going from the cdp to preamp are set to high per my preamp frequency input of 100kohms and I left that at the correct setting.
Still I was very disappointed with the overall sound.In the last 2 years I have owned and sold amps and receivers as they where not producing what I wanted.I first started with receivers and moved to separates.I have gone through Sony,Yamaha,Rotel and Pioneer on the receiver end.I have gone through only Rotel preamps ,and amps in the separates.All with my B&W speakers(683's)I remember a few years ago when I ran my home built speakers and a lowly Sony receiver and was so happy back then.This all has a point believe it or not.Anyway so I decided to back track to when I first got my B&W's and all the other components.What was I doing that made my home built speakers and receiver sound so good?What had I added since those days?I have added a dedicated 20amp circuit for the amp.I added a APC H15 Power Conditioner.The APC was bought at the same time as the B&W's and at the start of my higher end journey.Could it be the APC that cdp and preamp and everything else but the amp is plugged into?I have another dedicated 20amp circuit that has nothing plugged into it so I decided to remove the cdp and preamp from the APC and go straight to the wall socket.I was not expecting much and surely not what I was about to hear.
I let the amp and preamp and cdp warm up for a half hour before I sat back down and when I started the first cd I was blown away.Never in the last 2 years has anything I had sounded so good.My speakers melted away and left me in a musical paradise.I have never been able to get all my sources to sound good and now bluray,hd tv all are exceptional.
Now my only thought is part of that the MIT IC's?I could not get any IC to really sound good before.But at this point in time it is a non issue as it is just sooooo good right now that MIT S3's are here to stay.And will be getting one for my center channel tomorrow.
So in the end my APC unit has been limiting and coloring my sound all along.I am so jazzed that after 2 years I can settle down and quit fussing and enjoy what I have....at least until the next time.