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Best HOME system you've ever heard

Hopefully its your own. For some of us were still taking steps to get there. One thing I have realized is that its not all about money. 2 examples.

The best system my Uncle has ever heard was from a friend in Calgary who used a CAL audio cd player, Ayre K1-X preamp, Halo speakers (???) and a budget NAD power amp. My Uncle and the owner of the "Audio Room" had both said it was by far the best home system they had ever heard. To the extent that the Hifi Shop owner was purposly trying to build a room which sounded better using much more exotic electronics, but simply could not.

Second example is when I heard a system that got me into this whole mess back in the 90's. It was simply a Nak cd player, SimAudio Celeste pre/amp and Mirage M-3 speakers. The sound that came from that system was just jaw dropping. Soundstage and dynamics have not been matched since then to these ears. Perhaps I have warm and fuzzy memories of inferior systems of past but that system destroyed a system the same owner put together 8 years later including Totem Mani 2's, copland pre, Moon power, Nak cd. It wasn't even close.

I was curious of the BEST HOME setups you've heard. I hope to hear of stories of how people have come up with crazy and sometimes weird combo's and pulled off reference musical system from them. The $7k Ayre preamp with the $800 NAD power amp had everybody scratching their heads and made quite a few people "angry and puzzled" that story always made me chuckle, who would have thought.
lush
newbee
4,767 posts
 
I don't know about "Best" home system but I can relate the challenges I've overcome which enabled me to get excellent sound in a difficult room. I have a 13x19x9 room with wood floors frame construction. It has a 6x7 opening at the rear into another room and a 6x7 opening into a hallway on the side next to the right speaker. On the side of the left speaker is a large window, all of which makes a room that leaks mid-low bass (big suck out in 40 - 50hz) has a glass first reflection point on one speaker and none on the other. I love finely focus sound WITH a big sound stage - don't like diffused sound at all. What to do, what to do.

I pulled my speakers (dynamic type) out about 5 feet from the rear (short wall) placed them within 18 inches of the side walls (not usually recommended) so that from tweeter to tweeter they are about 10 ft apart. My listening position is triangulated and about 10'6" from each tweeter. Then I toed in the speaker so that the axis of each speaker crossed well in front of me (the angle corresponded to the angle I would have used in larger room without my problems, had the speaker been pointed straight ahead). With this set up I avoided the problem of the 1st reflection points. This gave me tight image focus and, when the recording contained the into, a huge and deep sound field which apparently exceeds the boundries of the room behind the place of the speakers. Not bad for a small and far from ideal room, IMHO!
gliderguider's avatar
gliderguider
294 posts
 
To my mind there are two challenges in building a great home system (three if you count assembling thse initial bank balance...) The first one is figuring out what kind of sound you're after. The second is putting together a room that will do provide the right acoustic environment for that sound. After that, it's mainly a matter of experimenting with enough gear to figure out what design philosophies provide the sound you're looking for, and maximizing those qualities when you find them. In my experience the best gear for a particular system is usually not the most expensive available, but at the same time it's never inexpensive.

I'm after a natural, organic, tonally dense, highly focussed, ultra-transparent sound, with a natural warmth, speed you don't notice and dynamics that sound real rather than impressive. Intimacy is more important to me than scale.

This has led me to a system consisting of a very high quality single ended amp, highly efficient dynamic (non-horn) speakers and a tube-based, transformer-coupled, non-oversampling digital front end. The system is housed in a medium sized, well proportioned, symmetrical, well-damped (but not over-damped) room.

I'm content that for my tastes, my system is the best I've ever heard. I can no longer think of anything I want to change, or even play with.
mejames
986 posts
 
mine is the best system I have heard overall anywhere.
gliderguider's avatar
gliderguider
294 posts
 
To my mind there are two challenges in building a great home system (three if you count assembling thse initial bank balance...) The first one is figuring out what kind of sound you're after. The second is putting together a room that will do provide the right acoustic environment for that sound. After that, it's mainly a matter of experimenting with enough gear to figure out what design philosophies provide the sound you're looking for, and maximizing those qualities when you find them. In my experience the best gear for a particular system is usually not the most expensive available, but at the same time it's never inexpensive.

I'm after a natural, organic, tonally dense, highly focussed, ultra-transparent sound, with a natural warmth, speed you don't notice and dynamics that sound real rather than impressive. Intimacy is more important to me than scale.

This has led me to a system consisting of a very high quality single ended amp, highly efficient dynamic (non-horn) speakers and a tube-based, transformer-coupled, non-oversampling digital front end. The system is in a medium sized, symmetrical, well-damped but not over-damped room.

I'm content that for my tastes, my system is the best I've ever heard. I can no longer think of anything I want to change, or even play with.
jond's avatar
jond
5,846 posts
 
The best I ever heard was a system at Deja Vu Audio in Mclean, VA. It was an Esoteric DV-50 universal player, into one of Vu's preamps and amp. He builds incredible sounding gear. This system fed a pair of single driver horn loaded speakers he had built, utilizing a tubed active crossover. I think it surprised even Vu when he threw in a plain cd of Mel Torme and it was like he was in the room. Amazing! And I couldn't even afford half of it! Ah well, it's good to dream. By the way, I am in no way affiliated with Vu or his store.
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