My wife finally got it


My dear spouse has never objected to my audio expenditures and has tolerated the hobby with an occasional "roll of her eyes". Last night, after dinner, I went into the music room, and put on an LP; as I do many evenings. It was the Sheffield Labs/Los Angeles Symphony/Eric Liensdorf Firebird.
My 5 year old daughter and our dog were in the room in front of a toasty fire, the lights were dimmed VERY low (I need to set the mood:)). I was completely immersed in the music. My wife was moving around the house, but mostly doing something in the adjacent family room. When the stylus hit the run-out groove at the end of side 2, she walked into the room and said: "That sounded better than ANY CD I have ever heard. That was beautiful!" Light dawns over Marblehead ladies and gentlemen! She followed up by saying: "Now I understand." We have been together for 10 years, and that is the first time her equipment comments have not been on the order of: "that was nice, but I can listen on the boombox in the kitchen". God, I LOVE that woman!
slipknot1
Hi Slipknot1, Makes all your efforts seem worthwhile.
Nice to hear stories like yours. Never had a women who gave 2 cents in my audio setup. I am always asked, could you please turn it down. Happy for you. Hope it continues.
I had the same sense of pride the first time my wife heard my vacuum tube setup. She remarked how much better it sounded. She didn't know the difference between a tube and a transistor, but she knew what she liked...
A further update to the story: This afternoon she mentioned (without my prompting), "I remember you saying you were thinking about a new turntable. How much are we talking about? As much as the new kitchen?" It's true that I have been thinking about upgrading from my current ProJect 6.1/Blue Point setup. Help me out here guys: What do you recommend I look at? Including the Teres I know TWL will suggest. (It's on my shortlist) ;)
Slipknot, if you want to look at 2 other TTs that are in the same league as the Teres, and are actually "spin-offs" of the Teres Project, look at the Redpoint Audio TTs, and the Progressive Engineering TT. They use the same bearing and motor as the Teres, and the PE even uses the same motor controller. Redpoint has a different controller. I think the Redpoint is ugly, but sounds good. The PE is very nice looking, but has too light of a platter, as far as I am concerned. Teres is still best overall, in my book. They also have a new model out called the 150 that has the shot-filled wood base, that is not as expensive because it's birch instead of Cocobolo. Sounds better than the acrylic, and cost is only slightly more.
TWL-
If I decide to keep the ProJect and upgrade the cart, I might be looking at something on the order of a relatively HO moving coil or a high quality MM. You had answered my thread earlier on the output voltage of the Denon 103. I have followed your responses in the past on turntable threads and respect your opinion. The ProJect 6.1 I currently have was near the top of their line a few years ago and is a good table, with a great arm (for the $ anyway). Any replacement opinions for the Blue Point? I don't want to send my wife into sticker shock, and I'm afraid I might if I spent the money required to get a large jump in performance over what I have now...