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January 19, 2007 - 3:12pm
#1
"I want this stuff!" Do you really?
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Yep, sounds like a bunch of overpriced underperforming components to me.
How about an Exposure integrated and a Rega Apollo CDP? For about $2,250 those Triangles are singing!
RG
Take 40 watts/channel of 12ax7, 12at7, EL34 based Jolida JD202 and a 12ax7 JD 100 CD Player for about a street price of $1500 and get over it. The tubes will take the Triangle Cometes to near 40hz strong and a great sense of 3D. Not quite Clifton's Magellans, but still very nice and that JD 202 lit up at night, by the fire, is pure magic.
I've allways said it "The man knows" !
Thanks for reading "Cheapskate." Hey, you took my old name. That's okay. I guess you are a man after my own heart.
Clay, from what I read, it appears that you have not listened to the Musical Fidelity gear in question. I always marvel how audiophiles can voice strong opinions about a product or products without having listened.
If you have auditioned -- and please correct me if you have -- you would have heard the superiority of this current MF gear over the stuff it replaced. As I wrote in my review, the tubed line stage section of the integrated amp is so good that it's worth the price alone. Further listening with my McIntosh MC 275 power amp (using the MF's preamp outputs) confirms this. It's an oustanding piece of gear. The previous models were merely very good.
Ditto the CD player -- substantially better than the old X-Ray on its own.
Of course there are alternatives to the MF gear. In the next issue, I discuss some very fine and affordable Rega pieces. There's affordable gear from Creek. Cary's Concept series -- review coming up in the April issue -- is outstanding and affordable. Lots of choices. But there is something very special about the MF gear -- the way it sounds, the way it looks, the way it might appeal to music-loving non-audiophiles (size, simplicity, styling).
Clay, go have a listen, and then get back to us.
There have been a lot of comments on the Triangle Comete Anniversaire speakers. As they continue t o break in -- Triangle speakers DO take forever -- they get better and better. The standard Comete model, with the same drivers, continues to be available. Good listening!
Yes, Sam, I took your former nickname. Having spent many years trying to put together systems that produced the best sound for the money, I figured that the label you no longer used might fit me pretty well. That is, however beside the point of this response. My point is to respond to your condemnation of my raising questions about MF's latest bargain products without having auditioned them.
You're right, Sam, I haven't auditioned the new X-Series gear, and I probably won't, despite the fact that Music Direct would offer their usual 30 day return privilege.
Where you're not right, Sam, is in suggesting that I voiced strong opinions about the quality of the products. I didn't voice any personal opinions at all, only the opinions expressed by you in your review. I've read your reviews for years, and have not only enjoyed them, but have generally come to trust your opinions.
Was my arithmetic wrong? Unless it was, it is reasonable to take your review to say that if this system were to provide performance meeting the expectations of the typical Stereophile reader, the price would be about $5K, and additional gear would be required beyond the basic system. I opined, relative to that, that given such a budget there are lots of answers to getting fine sound from typical audiophile speakers, at least some of which would be better if only because they were simpler. Do you disagree?
I'm of that opinion still, but I'm not happy about it. We have a vested interest in the success of firms like MF - they make some great products. It doesn't bode well, however, when they invest in products for which there is no market. They've already swallowed the results of hitting the market at too high a price point on the previous X-Series. Now, for $3K, they have a product which non-audiophiles will like (if as you point out they ever become aware of it), but which doesn't measure up to the standards of the only buyers who might be happy to spend that kind of money or more for two channel sound. I wish them luck.