Why will no other turntable beat the EMT 927?

Raul, though this is a thread about the EMT 927, I will indulge you.

You asked why no one posted how he improved his system or something about listening to live music. I will describe a few of the things that I have done:

About six years ago I wanted to decrease distortion and increase transparency. So I hired an electrician. I bought 45' of JPS Labs IN-Wall AC cable and three high quality Furutech IEC connectors. I gave them to the electrician. He then replaced my three wall AC outlets and ran three lengths of 15' JPS cable from three dedicated 20 amp circuits on my panel through the floor and terminated the other ends in the Furutech connectors. They go to each of my mono amps and to a conditioner to my front end electronics and turntable. There are no outlet connections in my system. The noise floor dropped and I decreased distortion.

Another example is that I was unsatisfied with the isolation supports for my amps and turntable. I ordered three Vibraplanes, preloaded them with custom cut steel ballast plates and properly isolated those components. The result was dramatic. In particular, the bass frequencies were cleaned up and this increased overall clarity, tonal accuracy and balance, and extension and impact. This decreased distortion still further.

I recently made a trip to Vienna to see the State Opera. My host was the Director of Archives for the Wiener Staatsoper. He told me that he wanted me to experience the energy created by the instruments as heard and felt close to the source of sound. I attended three closed rehearsals and sat six feet away from the first violinist and conductor. Four hours a day, for three days. Then, for each of four nights I sat in the Director's box and heard four different operas. You can image the quality of the sound and music in that great hall. And the difference in sound from the orchestra pit to the second balcony, first row center.

When I returned home and listened to my system with the memory of that energy and sound in my brain, I realized that I needed to adjust my cartridge loading, phono gain and volume settings. I also confirmed cartridge alignment. Based on what I heard live in Vienna, I changed my settings which lowered distortion and helped my system sound more like the real instruments.

All of this was in service to what you call "right" or "wrong" with live music in a great hall as the reference. My regular BSO seats are seventh row center.

I hope this is an example of what you mean by someone attempting to lower distortion and listening to actual live music as a reference to improve his system.
The funny thing is, now I "like" my system more.

Ecir38, I did at the High End Munich show 2012 in connection with the Silbatone Western Electric show. It was very impressing! Maybe a somehow underrated table.

Dear Peterayer: I have no doubt that what you experienced in Viena listening at near source field live music was the most enlighted, learning and full of enjoyment of any other music experiece you had on your life.

I assumed because I had that kind of full experiences too in several ocasions. This is IMHO the best music reference we can have and a must to live it.

So, you understand very clear what means: low distortions and certainly what's right or wrong and that's al about.

Btw, looking to your system and even that your system place/room is not a big one but due that your magico's 7 inch. drivers are handling a wide frequency spectrum I can tell you that you could be nearer to teh recording and nearer to what you experienced in Viena adding to your system two active subwoofers in full stereo fashion. You will lower distortions as you never imagined. An opinion only.

Regards and enjoy the music,
R.

Raul, Thank you for the suggestion. I did own two JL Audio F110 sub woofers which I bought to integrate with my Magico Mini 2s for exactly the reason you mention. Unfortunately, I tried very hard to have a seamless integration and it never quite sounded right.

I then had a guy with lots of experience try to integrate the two and though some things improved like bass impact and extension, overall clarity, tone and presence did not and we both ultimately preferred the system without the subs. I think the issue is my room with that fireplace between the two speakers.

Regarding distortion in these Magicos, I'm quite pleased with how they sound. I'm sure that in purpose built, dedicated room it could be better.

Raul, I should add that Alon Wolf of Magico strongly discourages the use of subwoofers. He told me that if I wanted more bass extension, I should just buy a larger Magico speaker instead. These speakers are known for their lack of distortion.

I have heard two of my friends' systems with subwoofers. They each have larger full range speakers, and in their cases, sub woofers did smooth out bass/room issues and increased overall clarity.