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- Other Audio Equipment
- Heard on an extended basis or owned all types of 50's vintage and more modern high-end tube equipment. Only the best stuff mentioned.
Vintage:
McIntosh, Marantz, Dynaco, Fisher, Ampex, Bogen, Altec-Lansing, Quad, Leak, Scott, Lafayette, Harman/Kardon.
Modern tube amps and pre-amps a few SS:
Cary, VTL, Krell, Classe, ARC, Counterpoint, Conrad Johnson, Quicksilver, Threshold, Mark Levinson, SET amps.
Tables, arms and cart.:
Linn, VPI, Well Tempered, Oracle, Sota, SME, Benz-Micro, Sumiko, Lyra, Goldmund.
Cables:
AQ, Cardas, MIT, Kimber, Monster, Straight Wire, Tara Labs, XLO.
Digital:
Meridian, Wadia, Theta, CAL, Adcom, PS Audio, Sony, Krell.
Speakers/few phones:
Apogee, Martin-Logan, Magnepan, Tannoy, Quad, Mirage, Energy, Wilson, B&W, Vandersteen, Spica, Rogers, Stax, Sennheiser, Acoustat, Thiel, Unity Audio, Rogers, Sonus Faber, Celestion, JMlabs, Avalon, Vienna Acoustics, Totem, Joseph Audio, Meadowlark, Monitor Audio, Infinity, Paradigm, ProAc.
Recordings, mostly analog some Reel to Reel:
RR, Chesky, RCA Living Stereo, Mercury Living Presence etc., and tons of various rock labels.
Found flaws in nearly all systems but recall the most noteworthy being most of the vintage tube gear, Goldmund/VPI tables, Meridian, Theta and Krell digital gear, and the speakers were the Wilsons, Apogees, JMlabs and ProAc's.
The most impressive system playing digital was an Audio Research system pushing ProAc's. And another mega buck set-up driving JMlabs.
Best analogue included a VPI table, various vintage tube components driving a pair of Mirage M-3's.
What I quickly learned from my mentor was to trust my ears. After several years of exposure to a multitude of high end equipment, attempted tricks and tests of my ability to hear minor flaws in everything, he told me "I was there". He then presented me with the golden ear. Funny as I was able to present that ear pin to my wife after about 5 years of "study".
Trust your own ears.
Signature
It is hard to make the system disappear, leaving just the music.
