Mr. Lin
02-18-2008, 09:10 PM
I've been eagerly awaiting a chance to sit down and write this as it's been a very interesting experience for me. I'm friends with a family that travels a lot, and for the past 7 years or so I've watched their house several times a year while they're gone, taking care of their animals, and anything else that needs to be done. I live in the house and stay there every night.
The gentleman of the house is a huge fan of classical, and he has a very nice audio system that I've truly enjoyed listening to all these years. But something changed in the past year: I became obsessed with turntables, cartridges, and all sorts of things audio, spending a great deal of my free time learning, listening, and experimenting. Suddenly I can tell you not only that his system sounds great, but also why. This time around, however, I realized that my personal system has already begun to catch up with his, and possibly surpass it.
I apologize for some of the forthcoming vagueness about certain makes and models, I really should have written down exactly what he has, but I can still give you a pretty clear idea.
The turntable is a Dual 712, direct drive, fully automatic, with a Goldring Eroica cartridge installed (and perfectly setup, this time I checked up on him with my own tools :D). He has a Balanced Audio tube preamplifier, and a Balanced Audio solid state amplifier. Don't know the exact models, but they're quite big, and through a little research I determined they're roughly $2,700 apiece. Unfortunately I've forgotten the brand of speakers, but they're rather grandiose, about 5 feet tall, and made in Germany. He uses entry level Kimber Kable interconnects and an unidentified large-gauge speaker wire that goes about 15ft or so across the room from the turntable and amplifiers.
I brought my own vinyl, as I always have, but I also listened to quite a few of his classical records; he has some really nice ones, all the top labels and in great shape.
At first listen no one could deny it's a wonderful sounding setup. The sound is very neutral, clean, fairly detailed, and, not surprisingly, capable of being very loud while still sounding great. Imaging and dynamics are good. I'm always surprised at how forgiving his system is with poor recordings and dirty records - it's rare for something to sound bad on it.
Yet listening intensely and analyzing his components as best I could (it was hard because they all seem to blur together), there was something that bothered me a little about the overall sound, and for the first week of this stay I couldn't put my finger on it. I really missed my own system (see my signature), but it took some time for me to come up with a reason. Then one night it hit me, and I exclaimed out loud to my girlfriend: "It's too laid back! That's what it is."
Too laid back. Everything sort of feels a bit in the background, it's not as involving or uplifting as you'd think such an expensive system would be. The overall emotional impact really leaves something to be desired.
Considering this over the next week I decided a lot of it must have to do with his turntable and cartridge. While both are very nice, the Dual did create a very audible rumble, and I'm sure all that gadgetry on the tonearm for the fully automatic features doesn't help. The Goldring is reputable, and I know others have reviewed it favorably, but I think it's sound is just a little too cold and boring for my taste. Again, it's hard to say how accurate any of this is since what I'm hearing could be the result of any one component just as it could be a combination of them. It's safe to say his speakers and amplifiers are deserving of a better turntable.
Don't get the wrong idea here. I'm not by any means putting his equipment down, or bragging about my own. I will, however, point out that the total value of his is about $9,000, probably twice what I've invested in my vinyl system. When I got home I eagerly put on a record, sat down, and almost immediately had chills up my spine. I'm here, I've built something from the ground up for my ears, with the best equipment I can afford, and put a whole lot of sweat into getting it just right - it sounds unbelievably great. And it's still a work in progress.
What's the point of all this, you might ask? My point is that now my ability to analyze both music and audio equipment has matured to light years beyond where it was just a year and a half ago, and now I'm able to hear what's great about my friend's system, and what's actually not that great. Furthermore, I have a renewed appreciation and love for my own setup, and I'm proud of myself because it honestly does sound incredible.
How did this happen? I think the bottom line is that I'm far more obsessed with the little (and big) details of this whole game, I've put a lot more thought into my audio system, and it's probably safe to say it's a bigger part of my life than his is to him. Not that I'm saying there's anything wrong with that, but this last stay has been a bit of an eye opener for me, a learning experience, and something to measure my progress against. At this point things are looking up, my friends, but I'm not even close to finished.
The gentleman of the house is a huge fan of classical, and he has a very nice audio system that I've truly enjoyed listening to all these years. But something changed in the past year: I became obsessed with turntables, cartridges, and all sorts of things audio, spending a great deal of my free time learning, listening, and experimenting. Suddenly I can tell you not only that his system sounds great, but also why. This time around, however, I realized that my personal system has already begun to catch up with his, and possibly surpass it.
I apologize for some of the forthcoming vagueness about certain makes and models, I really should have written down exactly what he has, but I can still give you a pretty clear idea.
The turntable is a Dual 712, direct drive, fully automatic, with a Goldring Eroica cartridge installed (and perfectly setup, this time I checked up on him with my own tools :D). He has a Balanced Audio tube preamplifier, and a Balanced Audio solid state amplifier. Don't know the exact models, but they're quite big, and through a little research I determined they're roughly $2,700 apiece. Unfortunately I've forgotten the brand of speakers, but they're rather grandiose, about 5 feet tall, and made in Germany. He uses entry level Kimber Kable interconnects and an unidentified large-gauge speaker wire that goes about 15ft or so across the room from the turntable and amplifiers.
I brought my own vinyl, as I always have, but I also listened to quite a few of his classical records; he has some really nice ones, all the top labels and in great shape.
At first listen no one could deny it's a wonderful sounding setup. The sound is very neutral, clean, fairly detailed, and, not surprisingly, capable of being very loud while still sounding great. Imaging and dynamics are good. I'm always surprised at how forgiving his system is with poor recordings and dirty records - it's rare for something to sound bad on it.
Yet listening intensely and analyzing his components as best I could (it was hard because they all seem to blur together), there was something that bothered me a little about the overall sound, and for the first week of this stay I couldn't put my finger on it. I really missed my own system (see my signature), but it took some time for me to come up with a reason. Then one night it hit me, and I exclaimed out loud to my girlfriend: "It's too laid back! That's what it is."
Too laid back. Everything sort of feels a bit in the background, it's not as involving or uplifting as you'd think such an expensive system would be. The overall emotional impact really leaves something to be desired.
Considering this over the next week I decided a lot of it must have to do with his turntable and cartridge. While both are very nice, the Dual did create a very audible rumble, and I'm sure all that gadgetry on the tonearm for the fully automatic features doesn't help. The Goldring is reputable, and I know others have reviewed it favorably, but I think it's sound is just a little too cold and boring for my taste. Again, it's hard to say how accurate any of this is since what I'm hearing could be the result of any one component just as it could be a combination of them. It's safe to say his speakers and amplifiers are deserving of a better turntable.
Don't get the wrong idea here. I'm not by any means putting his equipment down, or bragging about my own. I will, however, point out that the total value of his is about $9,000, probably twice what I've invested in my vinyl system. When I got home I eagerly put on a record, sat down, and almost immediately had chills up my spine. I'm here, I've built something from the ground up for my ears, with the best equipment I can afford, and put a whole lot of sweat into getting it just right - it sounds unbelievably great. And it's still a work in progress.
What's the point of all this, you might ask? My point is that now my ability to analyze both music and audio equipment has matured to light years beyond where it was just a year and a half ago, and now I'm able to hear what's great about my friend's system, and what's actually not that great. Furthermore, I have a renewed appreciation and love for my own setup, and I'm proud of myself because it honestly does sound incredible.
How did this happen? I think the bottom line is that I'm far more obsessed with the little (and big) details of this whole game, I've put a lot more thought into my audio system, and it's probably safe to say it's a bigger part of my life than his is to him. Not that I'm saying there's anything wrong with that, but this last stay has been a bit of an eye opener for me, a learning experience, and something to measure my progress against. At this point things are looking up, my friends, but I'm not even close to finished.