Dear Mike,
This morning I had a meeting. After the meeting, I have been listening 4 hrs straight til now. This AS is clearly above my other three tts. The EMT, which I had been listening to more than the other two since Dietrich came installed the Axioms for me, equals the AS only on aspects of musicality and getting out of way. Other than that AS pretty much edges them all. David never described much how AS sounds except for saying it sounds “natural,” “out of the way” and “beyond.” To be honest, I didn’t expect much from AS because I thought the EMT was already it. I even did the unspeakable comparing it more favorabley to my tape front on the kind of music I like. I thought this AS would be just a different flavor. Then it smacked me on the first note yesterday. I am not exaggerating or raving but it is that kind of first note that caught my attention. I know a person like you had
that “first note” experience before. My tone arm guy and I just stared at each other and smile.
So how does it sound? You won’t hear this from David and Christian but I will say it. It has the kind of clarity that exceeds my tape front. No bullsh-t. These are my equipments, my room. And it is what I hear. No need golden ears to hear what is more clear. My tape front might be something wrong I don’t know. And it is my mission to hire a techie to look at. Clarity is what strikes me at first. Mike you have Ed Pong’s tape. It is the same clarity you hear from his tape. May be the Stacore helps clean up the window too, I don’t know. I also put my phono on the Stacore platform. Mike, You and I both have magic grounding boxes and excellent wires. I think you can feel me the degree of clarity when I am talking clarity. I trust that you will be amazed of AS in your system because I can imagine how super transparent and 3D your system is. The more revealing the system the more you will get out of a front end like this. I thought only SAT digs the groove like nothing else, but this AS somehow helps SAT reveal even more of what’s in the groove. (Now I probably got Christian to itch..hehe) I never realized there were sounds of birds in Cello piece of Mike Valentines’ Chasing the Dragon. People think AF1 is quiet, this thing is even more so. In a few months, Bonzo will come. I let him write whatever he wants and you guys will see if I am for real. Another thing that catches my attention is how a singer sings. The movement and fluctuation of voice to the “inner” of the singer at any particular moment, the AS portrays all that. Its ability to draw listeners into the performance is so captivating. In another thread, they are talking the end-game amp/pre amp. To me this is the end-game front. Not that I will stop buying more tt though
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Anything less than stellar about this AS. Yes. Sorry but I have to be honest David. The speed sensor is looking very DIY for a $100,000++ turntable. It is hidden in the back of the tt. I will keep the look secret to the owners so you guys are not going to see it.
Kind regards,
Tang