Put together a "Fantasy system". Price no object but must be realistic enough to work in your current listening room. Other brand gear OK but must include at least one McIntosh component. Whether you heard the gear or not, it is irrelevant, use your intuition for system synergy.:yes:
I'll start for my 14x17 room.
dCS Scarlatti triple stack. Transport/clock/DAC. (might as well throw a whole wad of cash at the digital nastiness in hopes of taming it.
)
Continuum Caliburn/Cobra S Turntable/tonearm. (Well, the vinyl junkies really like it so it should be enough.)
McIntosh MS750. (Everyone knows this one well. :thmbsp: How can you resist the flexibility of having so many CDs under your fingertips.)
DaRTzeel NHB-18NS preamp. (How can you resist having Swiss precision in your system and a preamp that runs off batteries? No ground loops hum. Not sure if the phono stage would be enough?)
Tenor Audio 350M Reference Amplifers (I seem to really like the hybrid amps with tube drive stage and Mosfets so these $100k amps should give me what I am looking for. Who cares if it is a small company that has been bankrupt once before?)
Magico M5 speakers. (Probably doesn't get much better than this with conventional drivers and size/performance/price for a 14x17 room. Just in case, lot's of bass traps to tame them if the room is too small :yes
Purist Audio Dominus ICs and Speaker Cables. (Because you just have to have some fluid in your cables! :yes
The Harmonic Resolution Systems rack. (How can you place all that expensive gear on anything else?)
Well, there it is, more than a Ferrari but what the hell, it is a Fantasy system. (Who needs a Ferrari anyways when we're getting 12 inches of snow tonight?)
I'll start for my 14x17 room.
dCS Scarlatti triple stack. Transport/clock/DAC. (might as well throw a whole wad of cash at the digital nastiness in hopes of taming it.
)Continuum Caliburn/Cobra S Turntable/tonearm. (Well, the vinyl junkies really like it so it should be enough.
)McIntosh MS750. (Everyone knows this one well. :thmbsp: How can you resist the flexibility of having so many CDs under your fingertips.)
DaRTzeel NHB-18NS preamp. (How can you resist having Swiss precision in your system and a preamp that runs off batteries? No ground loops hum.
Not sure if the phono stage would be enough?)Tenor Audio 350M Reference Amplifers (I seem to really like the hybrid amps with tube drive stage and Mosfets so these $100k amps should give me what I am looking for. Who cares if it is a small company that has been bankrupt once before?
)Magico M5 speakers. (Probably doesn't get much better than this with conventional drivers and size/performance/price for a 14x17 room. Just in case, lot's of bass traps to tame them if the room is too small :yes
Purist Audio Dominus ICs and Speaker Cables. (Because you just have to have some fluid in your cables! :yes
The Harmonic Resolution Systems rack. (How can you place all that expensive gear on anything else?
)Well, there it is, more than a Ferrari but what the hell, it is a Fantasy system. (Who needs a Ferrari anyways when we're getting 12 inches of snow tonight?
)
One problem though, I wouldn't spend that kind of cash on my 14x17 room. 
