[Geoff Rymer]

Hmm, I just built up a new PC, and it's in a supposedly quiet case (Antec Sonata II) with all the drives isolated by rubber grommets, but the fans are still noisy...

 

[Hermitt]

I fondly remember when my uncle started to duelve into the hi-fi market in the middle 80's and came home one day with a McIntosh c-55 preamp, mc-2255 power amp, a mr-80 am/fm tuner all with beautiful walnut enclosures and a pair of McIntosh XR-7 iso-planar radiator system, along with a tandberg cassette and a Bang&Olufsen beogram 4004 turntable (which I currently own) I recall at the time the complete setup was a bit over $12k which was kind of absurd to most of us

His brother (who always competed with him with everything) also bought the exact system , but with 4 Dalquist speakers that were stacked (1 pair inverted on top of the other) I dont remember the model of the dalquist tho :/ I spent many hours sitting in front of those huge Mac speakers listening to great stuff like MFSL Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, on through stuff like Andreas Vollenweider Yanni and Kitaro. Was good times

 

[lohrm1@excite.co]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Duggeh /img/forum/go_quote.gif Within the realms of realism dream rig ;D - quad stacked (2x2) Quad ESL2905 electrostatics with Quad subs behind and a Precide Kithara on each side. Each one of the 14 speakers (yes 7 per channel) running from a Quad 909 monoblock. Stick a Quad 99 pre-amp in there between the 909s and my TOTALLY silent PC with Chord64 DAC, my Meridian CDP and 0o0o0o, lets have a Transrotor Artus for the vinyl. Not forgetting the AKAI 747 reel to reel. The maxed ES-1 for my Quad panelled jecklin float electrostatics and the infinately long room to eliminate the electrostatic backwave. Id like a very comfortable chair and a butler to do the VPI thing with all my records for me too. Thanks. If I werent doing this essay at the last minute, I'd probably put all that together in photoshop to see how it looked...

Now THAT's a system I could get cozy with! I've had two sets of Quads, and would love to hear the new ones...

 

[Asr]

 

[aluren]

i'd ask for A-mei, the taiwanese singer on my avatar, to sing to me. her vocals is my dream rig! nothing else can sound more intimate!

 

[ayt999]

Asr - other than that it looks pretty and makes the rig look nicer, why do you have the aristaeus there but no electrostatic headphone that you can use it with?

 

[Asr]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ayt999 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Asr - other than that it looks pretty and makes the rig look nicer, why do you have the aristaeus there but no electrostatic headphone that you can use it with?

Uh... er... I didn't realize what its outputs were.

Ba dum pish? My fanboyism for anything HeadAmp is more than I thought.

Scrap the tube amp then, no other tube amp exists in my dreams other than the Aristaeus.

 

[milkpowder]

I'd be pretty happy with P-01/D-01/G-0s -> CPA4000E -> SPM1400E -> Grand Utopia Be. It's not extreme in the world of extreme high end hifi, but I can tell you it sounds wonderful already. Sorry about the picture quality: it was quite dark in the listening room. I ended up spending 2.5 hours in that room that afternoon for good reasons

The Grand Utopia Be were pushed back into the corner when we listened to the Divas...

<- my brother, a budding audiophile

I got him the ER6i awhile ago, now he's wanting a pair of E500

He's also developed a keen interest in CD transports

 

[saturnine]

^

Way closer than I'll ever get to my dream system for sure!

 

[chesebert]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aluren /img/forum/go_quote.gif i'd ask for A-mei, the taiwanese singer on my avatar, to sing to me. her vocals is my dream rig! nothing else can sound more intimate!

Listening to all her CD from the 1st release. I noticed her voice quality degraded over time. sad but true. I guess she doesn't know how to sing. sure got a good voice, or rather had a good voice.

 

[milkpowder]

This is what I would call a properly extreme (pure McIntosh) stereo rig:

I saw this at the 2006 Hong Kong High-End AV Show, but the pictures are from the 2005 show. I still can't believe all those components are part of the same system

Or this rig:

<-translation from top to bottom: speakers, transport, DAC, preamp, poweramp, power conditioner, WB turntable

All image credits go to AVBuzz.com, used without permission.

 

[grandenigma1]

why does their stuff have to be ugly?

 

[milkpowder]

What about these?

I'd kill to have either rig

 

[tom hankins]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chesebert /img/forum/go_quote.gif From up to down stream. See not so expensive isn't it I am one of those low budget shoppers

Your speaking my language! Add the Ayre P-5xe phono stage and my turntable, change the speakers out to my Thiel CS7.2s and you have my system. I have heard the new amps and they are next on my list. I own everything else so far. SO FAR SO GOOD!

 

[Zanth]

Dream dream? Everything custom made, everything, by the best designers in the world. If I have to raise a few from the dead so be it!

I'd be thinking:

Custom electrostat system by Stax, not the other guys (apparently only the Omega I and the T2 were actually built by Stax), though if we could get Martin Logan working on headphones...I'd give them a shot.

Custom dynamics by Grado, custom amp by E.A.R.

Custom speakers by Sonus Faber and custom amps by Wavac.

Custom tt...hmmm this will be the hardest...I'd want Tim De Paravincini to get together with the guys at Teres Audio and SME and design something with the build quality of SME, the theories of Tim and the looks of the current top Teres models. For an arm...I'd want something like the Schroeder but with the build of a SME, maybe a super SME! Carts...hmmm, a Koetsu/Grado collaboration would be the most idea in the world for me and then EAR and Manley Labs would have to get together and design the uberest phonostage ever.

I'd have a NAS somewhere in the house (2-3 TB's for sure) streaming to a superb DAC...E.A.R. would have to be involved, maybe Linn and EMM, heck throw in Bermester and Wadia and we have a total shoot out among the greats.

That leaves cables, if we can figure out a way for electrons to fly through a vaccuum perfectly, I'm all in.