Profundo's Winning Combo

How this Oakland resident has lived all these years without knowing about the Profundo distributors in El Cerrito, just two cities over, is beyond me. Regardless, I'm sure glad I got to meet them, because their combination of Transfiguration, Trenner & Friedl, and Heed was making extremely mellow sound. Whether it was Norah Jones singing "Not Too Late" or Bruce Springstein's LP, Ghost of Tom Joad, the system sounded beautiful, smooth, and extremely musical.

Auditioned were the Transfiguration Orpheus L phono cartridge ($6000), paired with a Basis 2800 table and Vector 4 arm; entry-level but hardly entry-level–sounding Trenner & Friedl loudspeakers ($4250/pair); Heed Obelisk DT (digital transport—$1850), DAC ($1850), Pre ($1850), and PM monoblocks ($4000/pair). Everything was connected by Cardas Clear Beyond cabling. Not auditioned were the more expensive VivA electronics.

When a subwoofer (I'm not sure which) was switched in, the percussion on soprano Karina Gauvin's recording of Canteloube's Songs of the Auvergne had ideal weight and slam. The system could not capture all the air and depth of the recording in a room so small, but what it did convey was immensely gratifying. This is definitely a set-up that I hope to explore in greater depth when I finally get it together to visit my neighbors.

COMMENTS
stephen Scharf's picture

Agreed, this room sounded very musical and was very, very enjoyable to listen to. One of the best rooms at the show, IMO.

Greg's picture

This room was a joy. It was hard to leave.

RankStranger's picture

Are those Quadraspire stands? Did you come away with any impressions from them? I know it must be hard in such a big show.

Jason Victor Serinus's picture

Hi Stranger,It is absolutely impossible to evaluate stands unless one removes them, listens without, and then tries another stand. Unless that is programmed into a controlled show demo (which, let's face it, would take a long time), it's impossible to conduct in a show environment. I don't have bookshelf/monitor speakers that I'd use to evaluate such stands at home, but I could evaluate amp stands and equipment stands.

Dan Muzquiz, Blackbird Audio/Gallery's picture

@Stranger: Those are indeed Quadraspire stands. We chose to show with them as they don't have a tendency to ring, being MDF with a wood veneer and there is no need (or a way) to fill them.Though the come with spikes for both the bottom and the top of the stands, we chose to couple the speakers to the stands using blutack.Thanks for the compliments, guys. We met a lot of really nice people at this show. Many of whom shared some really fine music with us.We'll definitely show again the next time around.

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