What was the best sounding system you've ever heard?

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Sarchi, Apr 13, 2006.

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  1. Metralla

    Metralla Joined Jan 13, 2002

    Location:
    San Jose, CA
    That sounds like Elliot Kallen at The Tweak Shop.
     
  2. MacGyver

    MacGyver Forum Resident

    Location:
    IRRIGON, OR. U.S.

    my own:


    PIONEER VSX-D1S 130w/ch. A/V Stereo Receiver (1990)
    PIONEER PD-3000 Reference Compact Disc Player (1987) (JPN market version of U.S. market PD-91)
    PIONEER PD-M90X Reference Multi-Play CD Player (1987) (the very first REFERENCE/ELITE multi-play CDP)
    PIONEER CT-S800 (1988) full-featured TOTL single-well cassette deck, with casted-iron transformer
    PIONEER DV-09 Reference DVD Player (1997)
    PIONEER CLD-3030 Compatible Laser Disc Player (1988)
    PIONEER GR-777 Ten Band Stereo Graphic Equalizer (1988) (TOTL remote controllable EQ with dual spectrum display)
    PIONEER CS-G503 Four-Way Stereo Loudspeaker System (199?)
    PIONEER SE-305 Stereo Headphones (1974)
    PIONEER MR-100 Multi-Room IR Receiver (1989)
    PIONEER CU-MR100 Remote Control Unit (1989)
    PIONEER CU-AV100 Programmable Remote Control Unit (1988)
    PIONEER CU-AV200 Programmable Remote Control Unit (1989)

    -MISC.-

    ELAC MIRACORD 46 Direct Drive Phonograph Turntable (197?)
    DENON DCD-1500 CD player (1986)
    PIONEER PD-M6 Multi-CD player (1986) ( the very first PIONEER magazine CD changer)
    JVC HR-S8000U S-VHS VCR (1988)
    MITSUBISHI HS-U70 S-VHS VCR (1988)
    ROLAND BOSS BR-1180 Hard Disk Digital Audio Recorder (2002)
     
  3. Metralla

    Metralla Joined Jan 13, 2002

    Location:
    San Jose, CA
    of course.
     
    Synthfreek and kevintomb like this.
  4. Jay F

    Jay F New Member

    Location:
    Pittsburgh, PA
  5. Jeff Wong

    Jeff Wong Gort

    Location:
    NY
    While I don't know if it was necessarily the best system I've ever heard, the listening room at Cello when Mark Levinson was still there was incredibly impressive; the treatments in the room (including ceiling diffusors) made it so that speaking voices did not change in volume whether you were 1 foot away or ten feet away from the person to whom you were speaking. It was amazing. By law, the room could not be made 100% soundproof because of fire codes, but, when the special doors to seal off the windows were closed, all the street noise was pretty much non-existent. Levinson played a saxophone/piano duet recording he made of Lee Konitz with Michel Petrucciani and the scale of the grand piano was realistic and the sound holographic. There was the sense a phantom 9 foot piano was in the room. The DAC was something that started out as an Apogee with Wyde Eye digital cabling. I don't remember if the speakers were the Stradivari, but, the preamplifier was the Palette. I don't remember listening to much music I was familiar with to get a sense of the system, but, boy, that room itself left an impression.
     
  6. bhazen

    bhazen ANNOYING BEATLES FAN

    Location:
    Deepest suburbia
    A couple of years ago, got to hear a true top-line all-Naim setup. Their then-new CD555 into (IIRC) NAC555 pre, NAP500 amps, variously HiCapped, XPS-ed etc. into active 3-way DBL speakers.*

    I didn't want to leave the room. Even when playing music I wasn't all that keen on, I was glued to the spot! Amazing. Naim truly have a way with music playback.

    BTW I can't wait to hear the new Naim Ovator line of speakers, which feature an innovative new driver that handles all the mid and high frequencies.


    *This was at Hawthorne Stereo on Roosevelt Ave. in Seattle, one of the two or three best hi-fi shops in the NW IMHO.
     
  7. bhazen

    bhazen ANNOYING BEATLES FAN

    Location:
    Deepest suburbia
    You have lucky customers!

    (I cannot believe the crap systems many record shops here, particularly used-vinyl, have for sound systems...)
     
  8. vinyl_puppy

    vinyl_puppy Der Weaselschnitzel

    Location:
    Santa Rosa, CA
    Bingo!!
     
  9. BigManAndy

    BigManAndy Active Member

    I don't have anything to compare too. So mine wins, everyone else I know doesn't have stereo systems anymore. Either nothing at all, just tv speakers, or real low end tiny all in one home theaters (reciever, amp, tuner, dvd) that well are junk in the long run. At least from my experience.

    All I got is:
    Technics sl-1200mk5/AT-440MLa
    Paradigm 7SE
    Onkyo TX-SR304 (bottom of the line, but still has a nice clean sound)
    Cambridge Audio 640p

    No body else I know personally cares about sound, or music like I do. So I'm all alone. lol

    I know most of you guy's stereos would blow me away!!
     
  10. KeithH

    KeithH Success With Honor...then and now

    Location:
    Beaver Stadium
    Exactly what I was thinking.
     
  11. Metralla

    Metralla Joined Jan 13, 2002

    Location:
    San Jose, CA
    Sad, isn't it?
     
  12. motorcitydave

    motorcitydave Enlightened Rogue In Memoriam

    Location:
    Las Vegas, NV, USA
    Yeah, most of our stereos would blow you away...but your stereo is better than nothing, and is better than what most people have, really. :cool:
     
  13. John Buchanan

    John Buchanan I'm just a headphone kind of fellow. Stax Sigma

    I think I've pretty much arrived at the sound I want and consider it amongst the best for me. I also liked an Audio Research/ Magneplanar Tympani 1D based system. Both that and the current system allowed decent volume listening that allowed you to talk with someone easily without the shouting that always seems necessary for a speaker box based system. Unusual criterion I know, but it seems to apply to any non-fatiguing system I have heard (and those are few and far between).
     
  14. Luckydog

    Luckydog Active Member

    Location:
    london, uk
    The playback room at One Little Indian in Chelsea around 1995. Tannoy custom built in monitors, I recall. Such flawless clarity, image, spine tingling stuff. Anyone noticed on this thread how so many systems that leave a life affirming impression are vintage or based in the past..........why is that ?
     
  15. MacGyver

    MacGyver Forum Resident

    Location:
    IRRIGON, OR. U.S.
  16. Puma Cat

    Puma Cat Forum Resident

    Location:
    East Bay, CA
    Yeah, that's interesting. My own system, at the least preamp, and power amp, are approx. 15 years old. It might be that gear from that time still had qualities of musicality that people really like. I've heard from a no. of folks lately that they think the current "high end" doesn't appeal to a lot of folks, so much detail that folks find it tiring, dry and unmusical. This might be driven by the reviewing sensibilities of the contemporary audio press. I've spoken to many folks, both consumers and dealers, that are of the opinion than many "magazine-review" based systems don't sound very musical.

    For example, there are a lot of very fine products out there, like Jolida, that you will never read a review of in Stereophile or TAS. Personally, reading Stereophile and TAS from time, I think that the editors often have their head up their *ss about what comprises a musically engaging system. This is also why I think Tone Audio is hands-down best music and audio that I read. I find Jeff and his staff to be much more real-world based and focussed centrally on music than the geekdom of audio hardware. Plus, the production values and quality of content blow the hard-copy press into the weeds, and the quality of the photography is off the charts.

    Maybe the peak of audio design, at least in terms of what folks found compelling, was 20th century stuff rather than 21st century stuff.
     
  17. motorcitydave

    motorcitydave Enlightened Rogue In Memoriam

    Location:
    Las Vegas, NV, USA
    I dig TAS. Stereophile ain't bad either.
     
  18. BigManAndy

    BigManAndy Active Member

    Amen brother. its not the best, but its not the worst. I would like to swap out the receiver at some point and go separates and be set, the rest I'm totally content with and see no reason to upgrade.

    I'd love to hear some of the awesome setups on this forum.
     
  19. motorcitydave

    motorcitydave Enlightened Rogue In Memoriam

    Location:
    Las Vegas, NV, USA
    Cool. Sounds good. I would like to hear them too!
     
  20. Jim T

    Jim T Forum Resident

    Location:
    Mars
    Jolida JD 1000 100 watt/ch EL34 tube amp, JD 100 CD player into a pair of ESL 989Quads. Pure magic. Track 3 on Roger Water's Amused to Death the piano floated in air and sounded the best I have ever heard. My system at home is close, but no cigar.

    I've heard clearer, deeper, more 3D, deeper lows, more shimmering highs, but not more musical or involving ever.


    Jim
     
  21. wgriel

    wgriel Forum Resident

    Location:
    bc, canada
    You have a very nice system imo. Sure, others are going to be more "revealing", but you've got a nice musical combination. Those Paradigms are surprisingly nice to listen to. Sure they don't reveal every last nuance and detail, but for pure musical enjoyment they are a hell of a lot of fun.

    And sometimes we get caught up in the "detail chase" which is interesting, but I don't think necessarily translates into more musical enjoyment.
     
  22. wgriel

    wgriel Forum Resident

    Location:
    bc, canada
    I haven't heard a lot of esoteric gear, but the best I ever heard was at my local hi-fi shop: Source was an AudioNote LP3, I don't remember what the electronics were, speakers were B&W 800Ds. This was a pivotal moment for me, because at that point in time I really didn't know that vinyl could sound good! It wasn't very long before I bought a turntable after hearing this setup.
     
  23. padreken

    padreken Senior Member

    Location:
    San Diego
    You've got nothing to hang your head about-I've heard every piece of gear in your system except the Onkyo, and it's all good stuff. My son still uses my old Paradigm 5se speakers.
     
  24. padreken

    padreken Senior Member

    Location:
    San Diego
    The most memorable system I can remember hearing (at a local dealer) featured those Maggie Tympanis-he put on the 12" EP of Yello's Oh, Yeah and it sounded absolutely amazing, unbelievable scale and impact.
     
  25. Fugly

    Fugly Forum Resident

    Location:
    Marion, Ma
    Over the years I have heard many systems, each of which have left an impression (positives and negatives). It is those positive impressions that drive this obsession I have had since I was about 10 years old when I first heard a Fisher receiver driving some JBL's. From there I was hooked..... Probably my most recent quest is to recreate a system I heard in an off the beaten path audio store in Westport, Ma (name escapes me). The system created the most natural holographic sound stage I have ever heard. Although that was 15 years or so ago, the memory of that large sound stage and the air around each instrument and singer on the stage is forever ingrained in my mind..... That system was pushing the hundreds of thousands $ point, cabling alone was worth more then my entire system ever has...... My quest now, and has been for years is to recreate that feeling and sense of being there within my budget..... Not an easy task, but as with everything I do the thrill is in the ride, I have learned what does and doesn't work and I'm pleased to say, although I will forever tweak, my system provides that sense of being there, just not on such a grand stage. So for me it's not so much the "Best sound room" as it is the experience and what drives us to obsess over this crazy hobby.
     
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