Hello WLP3,
I was going to respond to your question by describing the process that I have gone through in the last few years and conclude with the comment that if I knew then what I know now, I would have done it all quite differently, and saved a bunch of money along the way.
Instead, I stumbled upon a great thread with two participants, member here ddk, and his friend Jam. Jam explains a process about rejecting the status quo and relying on yourself to discover and learn what you want. Only in this way will you be able to understand your goal and how to achieve it. This was written back in 2016 and I have not read a better group of posts offering advice than these from Jam and his friend David Karmeli (ddk). I recommend reading this thread. It is a sober take on the industry and how the individual hobbyist should approach it. Here is the link:
Players EMT927 American Sound Goldmund Reference Thorens Reference TechDas AF1 Digital CEC TL-0 Weiss Medea Electronics Lamm LL1 Lamm LP1 Lamm ML3
www.audionirvana.org
Tima and I can relate to what Jam writes as we have both recently returned from visiting David in Utah and experienced what Jam is writing about. You should read about some systems here. Some authors explain their goals and their approaches. Reflect on those as you listen to live music and begin to understand what you really want from an audio system. It is not about digital or vinyl, or speaker and amplifier typology. It is about knowing what you want and learning for yourself how to get there. Seek advice carefully, and always assess its value based on your own experience.
After a thirty year absence, I hope you rediscover what all the fun is about and how rewarding the hobby can be.
EDIT: I think Jam gets interesting around page 3, post #32.
PeterA,
Thank you so much for your thoughtful response and attachment. I very much appreciate it.
I will give you a bit of information on my background, and what precipitated my post:
I was raised around music like most of us here. My dad loved music and loved his McIntosh equipment. I have very fond memories of listening to great jazz music with my dad in his room. This exposure to music and and equipment cut my current audiophile teeth.
I listen primarily to jazz, vocals and some rock. For me listening to music is an event for me. I am not a background music person. I like to sit down and listen to great recordings. I appreciate the sonic experience more than the genre of music.
I started to get involved in audio in my twenties when I would go to an audio shop on my lunch hour (Audio Dimensions in Royal Oak, MI for those Detroiters out there) and listen to the big Magnepan speakers. They were unlike anything I had ever heard. Despite my new wife's protests I bought a pair of Maggie SMGa s and a Hafler DH120 amp and preamp combo. Such great little speakers (still have them). Children and other responsibilities put my further audiophile aspirations on pause.
Fast forward to February of this year. I was in the basement and happened upon those Maggies and thought of what fun I had enjoying music with those speakers and thought that it would be fun to create a listening room and get back into audiophilia. I selected a small, spare room off of the family room that I could make into my room. The room is about 11' X 11' X 9' . A bit small but would probably work.
So I started doing some "research" on the internet and various podcasts, etc. and wound up purchasing a pair of Harbeth P3 ESR XDs. Given my location in West Michigan, the closest Harbeth dealer was in the Detroit area. I made an appointment to listen to the speakers, but I had to hurry up because the owner had to set up some Estelon speakers that afternoon for a customer to trial in their home. My $3,600 purchase was more of an annoyance than anything else.
BTW, I had tried to buy some of the new little Maggie LRSs but could not even get a response after multiple emails and phone calls, so I gave up. Magnepans were outdated technology anyhow, right?
I always had an appreciation for the Audio Research gear that Harry Francis used to power the Maggies at Audio Dimensions, but never thought I would ever be able to afford a piece of ARC gear. The introduction of the I-50 integrated brought ARC in reach and I decided to buy one. Again, I had to go to the Detroit area to purchase one. I called the dealer and the salesperson said that they had one in stock but couldn't guarantee for how long, so I bought it over the phone. I picked it up a few days later without having ever listened to an I-50.
The bug bit again after setting up my new gear. Since I am now a card carrying audiophile, I should go to AXPONA '22 in Chicago. I bought a two-day pass and made reservations for a room at the Renaissance. While I wandered through the rooms, it became obvious how inadequate my system was. I needed more and better. There were a few rooms that stood out to me....Borreson, Raidho, Piega, Stenheim, Joseph Audio, Acora and Von Schweikert. I had really never heard of Von Schweikert before finding the forums a few months ago, and there seemed to be a pretty fervent following. They kind of looked like cheap knock-offs of Wilson speakers to me. It's funny, it seems like there are Wilson people and there are Von Schweikert people and the two do not mix. Anyhow, the Von Schweikerts sounded absolutely amazing. More real than anything I had heard to that point. Of course there was probably a million dollars worth of equipment in that room. I had read that the Von Schweikert Unifield 2 Mark IIIs were pretty amazing, and somewhat within reach at $10,000 so I thought I would see if they had a pair I could hear. They didn't, but they did have a pair of Endeavor E-3 Mk IIs which retail for $9,000. I asked if I could hear them and they said that they would set them up for me the following morning for me to listen to. They sounded fantastic. Having been assured that they would not be too big for my room, I bit the bullet and bought the show demos and brought them back.
No regrets, fantastic speakers...but they don't produce the scale of image that the old Magnepans did. Lifesize. I consulted the Oracle on the interwebs and found that they still sound great, but cool people don't listen to them and that they are really hard to drive. I sought out to find a pair somewhere not too far away to listen to this time. I couldn't find 20.7s but I could find 3.7s at a dealer an hour or so away from me. They sounded pretty good but were not broken-in and didn't seem to be set up very well. Rather than place an order for a pair of the 3.7s I decided to sleep on it (pretty proud of myself for that). I set out the following day doing more "research" and finding out that what I really want was not the puny 3.7s but the large-and-in-charge 20.7s. They were said to sound like $100,000 speakers if driven properly. That was the validation I needed to break out the credit card and place an order for the 20.7s! They were a steal at $18,000 (sorry, price just increased from $15k) Just like the giant ones I used to listen to at Audio Dimensions! They should be here in 18 short weeks!
But now what to do about power? One guy says Rogue Audio Apollo Dark monoblocks ($15k) with an RP-9 preamp (9k), one guy says that you can't really use old-school tubes on these any more and the hybrid Aesthetix monoblocks ($28k/pair) plus a pre-amp ($?), another guys says that he has really found "synergy" between the Audio Research Ref 6 SE (used $15k) and the Merrill 118 monoblocks ($38k).
Oh, BTW, I will be visiting Jim Smith in Atlanta on June 7th to learn about proper speaker placement. My hybrid Sumiko Master/Wilson WASP method that I have been using is obviously inadequate. I really need to step it up. I'm sure that Jim will have an equipment ecommendation for me as well. Oh and while I'm in Atlanta, I should stop by the dealer that sold me the VSA E3 MkIIs...I promise, I won't buy anything, honey...
And that is where I am as of yesterday, May 21, 2022. Pretty embarassing to write down. That sure is some strong Kool-Aid they are selling.
Sorry for being long-winded.
