Moon Nova or Eclipse?

I felt the same way, I can't afford the Cadillac, and that doesnt make the Chevy a waste of time.

Hello,

I am a past owner of two SIM I-5 integrateds ( didn't learn the first time around) and I honestly feel that this ''house sound'' that the SIM have is faulty to begin with. I tried desperately to match the I-5 with a host of speakers and cd players - I always had this exagerated bass, thin-sounding midrange and dry overall sound. I wish I had a kinder way of saying this - but I feel that Sim amplification often is the limiting factor. Nice cosmetics, but way overrated sonically speaking. Pop in a small electrocompaniet EC-3 integrated instead of the I-5, and watch a world of neutrality and flexibility open-up. I do not own this amp any longer, but it followed my two I-5's and it's no contest in this price range at least. As for the W3, why would you want more of the same?

Regards,
Mike

It's interesting you should say that, because I've always thought Sim had a house sound more on the warm side, and the Moon systems I've heard always impressed me as having a full midrange and detailed highs. As for the W3, I thought some more power might yeild better, more controlled bass. The Focus 2020 have 3 12" woofers each, and although they are highly efficient thats still alot of cone to move.(maybe I'm wrong in that conclusion, but the experimentation is half the fun). 95db sensitivity, 4 ohms ,10-600wpc leaves a huge window of choices, and I'm not locked on any particular amp, but the source is next on my to do list

I have very limited experience w/ the Sim Audio Nova - my friend just bought a brand new unit 3 weeks ago. He's burning it in for 1000 hrs (he got this # from speaking to other Nova owners. Sim Audio told him 500 hrs, BTW). I have listened to the Nova in his system (Audio Research SP-6A pre, BelCanto SET40 & ExcelArray speakers) & from whatever I heard, the Nova sounds very nice indeed! His system is SET-based which imparts a certain midrange quality so it very hard for an outsider like me to quantify the Nova. After the 1000 hrs burn-in, he is supposed to bring the Nova to my house & we'll listen to it in my system. I'll be better able to quantify it then as I know my system better.

However, even with this limited experience, I can say that the Nova IS NOT a waste of time!
From whatever I have *READ*, the Moon Equinox is a waste of time!

Sonicbeauty (& Mthieme):
I think the degraded sound you were hearing from the I5 is more a result of the preamp section. SimAudio's amps have always been pretty good, but not their preamps. You had an integrated, so you couldn't separate the two to figure that out.
I've heard that their digital sources were or are EAD based, which would account for some of the edginess in the presentation.