Sony, Hegel, and Friends

In the room set up by Holm Audio of Woodridge, IL, Sony SS-AR1 loudspeakers ($27,000/pair) dominated a system in which Nordost Odin cabling—Odin power cord ($15,999/2.5m), interconnects ($19,999/2m) and speaker cable ($25,999/2m)—transmitted signals from a Rega RP6 turntable ($1990 with Rega Exact cartridge), Hegel HD25 32-bit DAC ($2500), Manley Chinook phono preamp ($2250), Hegel CDP2A ($2650), Hegel P20 preamplifier ($2900), and Hegel H20 amplifier ($5750). On Randy Crawford's CD, We'll Fly Away, the sound was very smooth and non-fatiguing, but lacked sparkle.

COMMENTS
Jonathanliew's picture

Absolutely right; i was there and i found that probably the weak link was the speakers that did not match the rest of the rig ; i think something like Aerial Acoustics 7t or Devores Gibbon 8 would have done this system more justice! i am an avid hegel user, i found their product unlike any other and i use the P30/H30 COMBO at home feeding Sonus Faber Amati - and this is my "to the grave" system ; after many years of spending so much of money -  i finally found something that works in all types of music i listen to without wanting to continuously tweak the hell out of the system lol, i hope hegel comes up with a DSD DAC soon! as i am in the market for one.

Perhaps the Sonys would shown their true merit if paired with the p30/h30?

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