$181,000 stereo system

thylantyr
10+ year member

CarAudio.com Elite
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=597419

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/hide.gif.2d479cfd917eedfe201353b91522ceab.gif//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/waycrazy.gif.f4a380c3f94043939fd369defd9e6be2.gif//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/hilarious.gif.02a037aad04aa96f19982b298a3d70a8.gif

This is why you folks need to enhance your woodworking skills even though

equipment purchasing eats into your stereo budget. Over time your skills

improve and you can make a great system for only 5% of that budget

and a really nice system for 2.5% of that budget.

 
Some things just can't be posted on that forum.... My response to his post .. here only ...

snip... from link.

Yesterday afternoon, I went to an audition of the latest and greatest "flagship" McIntosh audio system. Although it was *just* a stereo system, it consisted of:

 

The XRT2K Speaker System. These speakers stand over 7 feet tall and contain 110 drivers on each side of the stereo pair; six 12" woofers, sixty-four 2" mid's and forty, 3/4" tweeters.

XRT2K is an improvement over their older stuff, but not really a design

amazement. Look at the low sensitivity rating of that speaker -- lol

MC2KW Tri-Chassis Amps. Each channel consisted of an output module and two 1,000 watt power modules, combined to supply 2,000 watts per channel. The dealer had to have an electrician come in and run five new dedicated circuits just to supply power to these babies.)

Nice amp but is it worth paying $30k MSRP each ? What's the big deal with 2000w/ch ?

You can get proamps for less with more power at a fraction of the cost.

C1000 Tri-chassis Vacuum Tube/Solid State pre-amp .

MDA1000 D/A Converter

MCD1000 CD transport

More expensive stuff not needed.

It was phenomenal! I've never heard *anything* even remotely close. On some music, it sounded better than any live concert I've ever attended.

Line array's plus high power give you this impression.

The sound was open and "airy" like nothing I've ever experienced in a music playback system. I went with a friend, (who is also a member of this forum) and we were both struck by the size of the soundstage, the pinpoint accuracy of the imaging and the "attack" of sounds like plucked strings and percussion.

My cheap NSB array does the same thing...

And then there was the bass, aahhh..., the bass! In an oddly shaped room, with no acoustic treatment and no EQ or room compensation, the bass was the tightest, cleanest and smoothest I've ever experienced.

I don't have a bass array, but I can build one using $20 Dayton woofers

that would give this type of response.

Nonetheless, every bass note was distinct and clear, with zero distortion.

Line arrays have low distortion.

The soundstage was very wide and very tall, but lacked a little in depth.

Typical response from any line array audition. Depth can be added by using

a digital delay on one channel.

However, that could have been affected by the room they were in, (a large open room with glass windows just 2 feet behind the listeners). The imaging was really good almost anywhere in the room. However, when you found the "sweet spot" the imaging became breathtaking. The sweet spot wasn't very big, (it was right at the equilateral triangle formed by the speakers and the listener), but once you heard the imaging from that spot, the system was a revalation. Voices and instruments hung in space in a way that was totally believable and realistic.

More line array boner stuff.

Voices had startling realism, with no chestiness or nasaliness. On recordings of "live" music, voices took on the large soundstage of amplified reproduction. With "studio" recordings, voices had the pinpoint imaging that made you feel like the singer was standing right in front of you. However, occasionally, some voices sounded overly "big," like the singer's mouth was 5 feet wide and 10 feet tall.

Again, line arrays do this.

This must have been the recording because not all voices sounded that way. I guess these speakers are just so accurate that they are going to portray every recording exactly as it was recorded.

Any line array will do this.

The struck keys of a well-tuned piano...

Nora Jones belting out "Come Away With Me..."

Drumsticks tapping a symbol...

Brushes on a snare drum...

Buddy Guy's fingers plucking his guitar strings...

The "kick" of a bass drum...

Diana Krall's voice...

The breath of an unknown (to me) flutist on an unrecognized (by me) "New Age" selection...

Stuff my NSB array can do.

I heard things with a clarity and depth that I've never experienced before in recorded music reproduction. The clean dynamic range, the sheer, distortion-free volume, and the effortless stereo imaging were head and shoulders above anything I've heard before.

More line array boner stuff.

Summary

The real magic he heard was caused by the speaker and lots of power, not the sources,

and even in an untreated room, you can get that reaction. I can replace all those sources

with cheap stuff and use low cost proamps and he'd never know.

$181k for that. I can do something similar for $2k DIY plus $1k for amps, $250 for

crossover, and $125 for the source. Ideally, a nice preamp would be cool,

but not mandatory. I can probably mimimick his experience more accurately with another

$1k to the budget.

Never reveal DIY to these people, they will never believe that someone

can recreate that experience by only spending less then $5K ... DIY style...

 
Thy, usually I agree perfectly with you, but $125 for a source with $2k in speakers seems a little off //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 
Thy, usually I agree perfectly with you, but $125 for a source with $2k in speakers seems a little off //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif
To clarify, I was referring to the cd player using that term loosely, could be sacd,

dvda, etc.... This source, then drives the next signal processor or preamp or

pehaps the amplifier directly if it has a volume control.

This source doesn't have to be expensive as technology has come along

way, it's not the 50's, 60's, 70's or 80's... Integrated circuits have taken

the place of discretes to do this job in a compact size.

You will be surprised when I tell that you Earl Geddes makes the same

claim, I believe he uses a sub $200 source to audition his high end

loudspeakers, because he believes in the same thing, source electronics are that good

today.

http://www.gedlee.com/

[He's an audio guru x 100].

The only issue that concerns me with sources is noise and if the unit has

flat frequency response, which they usually do. I don't see a need

to spend $500 on a dedicated cd player or spend more on exotic external DAC's

if a $100 universal DVD player measures well.

My source is just that, cost me $126 shipped. Plays all the formats. I have the cash

to spend $5k on a source if I thought it would help, but I choose not to go there

as it's money down the drain.

 
Activity
No one is currently typing a reply...
Old Thread: Please note, there have been no replies in this thread for over 3 years!
Content in this thread may no longer be relevant.
Perhaps it would be better to start a new thread instead.

Similar threads

Only a testament to their durability evl won't last that long id wait until the mojos gave up then go evl honestly and trust me unlike 99.5 of the...
36
5K
Prob over the Budget after building an enclosure(Struggle to find materials for the budget).. But Id like to Try a 21" sub to see if I liked it...
16
2K
Also use the Orange wire. It will be constant 12v. Yes, you can bi-amp your co-axials. You just separate the tweeter wires ftom the terminals and...
1
106
There is a good chance you could add some sort of Bluetooth or AUX input to a vintage stereo such as a 1978 Pioneer, maybe with a separate toggle...
5
373
If you buy a replacement OEM Radio Harness the colors will match up then you can use a wiring harness to connect to that. According to a few...
1
304

About this thread

thylantyr

10+ year member
CarAudio.com Elite
Thread starter
thylantyr
Joined
Location
[Yoda] Belong to us all your base are...
Start date
Participants
Who Replied
Replies
26
Views
1,571
Last reply date
Last reply from
Eugenics
1000006564.jpg

Mr FaceCaser

    Mar 28, 2024
  • 0
  • 0
1000006569.jpg

Mr FaceCaser

    Mar 28, 2024
  • 0
  • 0

Latest topics

Top