Some components simply endear themselves to audiophiles
COMMENTS
A small, white plastic turntable with a radio built in that came with two plastic speakers. Cost: $20 in 1977. I fell in love with music with that "system." To this day I can't remember Fleetwood Mac or Boston sounding so "good" on my now $30k system as it did to me on that lttle white record player back in '77.
Although I'm in love with my Simaudio Moon Limited Edition, fully differential electronics (Moon W-5 LE power amp; P-5 LE preamp; Eclipse LE CD player) and Induction Dynamics ID-1 loudspeakers, I'm probably most fond of the Eclipse LE CD player. Red Book CDs are my main source of music, and the Eclipse LE has made my CDs (particularly audiophile caliber CDs) sound better than ever. That said, it's really the system synergy as whole which really deserves the most praise and recognition.
Adding the Lindsay Audiophile speaker cables to our speakers in our TV room. The state hockey tournament was on its third day when we made the change. All of a sudden, the real sounds of skates on ice, pucks on sticks, layer upon layer of crowd noise. I was as close to being in the crowd as I could be without being there. I sat there with a smile that would not go away. The biggest change I EVER have encountered in any of our many systems over the years.
A Yamaha TX-950 AM/FM tuner purchased 10 years ago for $420. Picks up and reproduces quality FM broadcasts better than any tuner I have ever heard. Incredible detail and absoulutly no unwanted background noise. Now If I could stop the decline in the availability of decent FM broadcasts listening would be even better.
My favorite component of the many different I have owned is a tie between my Conrad Johnson tude preamp and my Thiel speakers. I had been a solid state pre-amp guy for years. I went over to a friends house to listen to his new Van Alstine tube pre-amp, and I fell in love with the sound and smoothness of tubes. So, I thought I should upgrade my pre-amp with a good tube unit. I wanted a better unit than my friend. I emailed CJ and I received a respose from Lew Johnson. He gave me an idea of what would be good for my listening taste. Awesome company. I bought a used pair of Thiel 1.2's from the same friend. Fell in love. Moved them to my bedroom system and bought new Thiels. I listen to Jazz in my listening room, the artist are with me!! WOW!!!
Your heart goes into your throat when you switch it on, as those fans and relays kick into life, you can feel the power surging into the capacitors, as the 430v rails come to life. Switch it from standby to on, and you hear the delicate tinkle of 16 tightly matched JAN GE 6550's as acoustic Zen is enabled. Glancing through the perforated cover and seeing those 32 valves glowing, reminds me of looking into the core of a nuclear reactor. And when it's doing its thing, music just pours out of it straight into your soul. I
The Carver Receiver circa 1984-85. It sounded good, had LOTS of power, and provided that "pride of ownership" factor due to all of the favorable audio press it received. It was also the first "quality" component I ever owned, and it sure was fun. Wish I hadn't sold it!
Elrod Power Systems Statements Power Cords. After having borrowed them from The Cable Company to see how they would sound in my system, they proved to be the greatest upgrade overall to the sound of my system and listening enjoyment.
Carver Original Amazing loudspeakers,purchased new in the mid '80s. These were panned by the revewers, I wonder if they actually listened or just hated Bob Carver. I have owned many speaker systems from Axiom to PSB, from Meadowlark to MartinLogan. I'll tell you now the original Carvers were very special. I have listened to Apogees, owned Maggies and sounlabs. All good speakers, but not one of these evere approached the di-pole bass of the Carvers.
Mine was the original Ohm F loudspeaker, designed by Lincoln Walsh, which I owned from about 19731980. Nothing is as beautiful as a truly coherent wave from a speaker radiating in 360 degrees and with no crossovers. (A friend still tells me that he has never heard a better loudspeaker.) As with all loudspeakers there were faults: they were inherently inefficient because of the 360-degree pattern and required 200Wpc to operate. But their eventual downfall was that they blew out often and the large heavy driver had to be shipped to the factory in New York (I
The ARC SP3A-2 I once owned was the one component most responsible for dragging me into the "high end." Using it with an AR TT a pair of Magnepan MG-1's and some worked Dynaco tubes I was very happy. It may not have been as accurate as my current preamp, but it sure sounded sweet and rich. It made me think of raspberry brownies that are so sweet they make your teeth hurt. What an exquisite pain!
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