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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
the_kid's avatar
the_kid
465 posts
 
My buddy years ago had a system that would just amaze. If my memory serves me correctly he had a Pair of Martin Logan Aerius which he spent about a month positioning. They were ran by a CARY SLA-70 Class A Amp which had a Volume Pot installed with a Rotel Transport and a Micromega DAC for the front end. I think cabling was AudioQuest Diamond and Their AudioTruth Silver Speaker Cables.

You could sit in the sweetspot and just be amazed.. I always think of that system's sound. I mean it had a huge soundstage, dynamics, and air to dye for. I of course have heard much more expensive systems but this set up was just enjoyable..
76doublebass's avatar
76doublebass
254 posts
 
Again My System is the best I have ever heard.I know I've seen this posted here before,But my system is different in that I'm obtainig such a level of transparency and realism I just have not heard on other systems.The Martin Logan Quest Z's with the ARC VT-60,and CJ PV-5 Moded just simply sound magical together.I am currently making up my own IC's to bring out even much further transparency and soundstaging
with my system.Since the IC's are not something used on the open market it does create a different reference to work with and strive to puch the sound to its ultimate reference
douglas_schroeder
3,281 posts
 
Threads probably don't get any more subjective than this, but why not indulge?
I recall back in the 70's when I was just a "still wet behind the ears" teen, an upper crust family's son wielded an all B&O Audio system. Stunning visually, and at the time also acoustically. Everyman's dream of audio... The image and sound of that system has stayed with me all these years.

Two things have vastly influenced the enjoyment of my home system:
The Room seemed to be the big factor in my system. Building a noise diminishing environment, coupled with room tuning transformed the performance of my economical system. I built the room as a listening room which can also serve as a HT. It seems that wherever I go and listen to equipment even multiples higher priced, when I return to my sound room, my rig sounds better. I guess that makes the price of the room worthwhile (since I have less desire for upgrades in equipment)!

The other factor was trying "stacked" speakers. It was a calculated gamble (what an oxymoron, eh?) in that I had no clue how well/poorly it would perform and it was a sizeable expenditure, but promised to have a huge acoustic payoff. Simply put, running stacked, biamped speakers has catapulted the sound from just entertaining to scintillating.
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