Oddly enough, it was the electronics that pushed the system over that limit, not the speakers. I had the chance to hear an entire top-end Levinson backend playing through a set of Aerial 10Ts. Probably $75k worth of electronics, driving $7k worth of speaker.
That being said, I’d love to hear a set of Wilsons someday.
You’re talking my language here - Punch Bros, Sarah Jarosz, Aofie O’Donnovan, etc. If we’re going “across the pond”, toss in some Martin Hayes Quartet for good measure (mind you, the clarinet is my favorite over the strings from The Boy In The Gap). Any recording that suspends the instrument in the room with you gets my vote.
I suspect the common thread for many “audiophile” recordings for me is they tend to communicate more intimacy with the players - you can hear the breath and click of the pads on the clarinet, the creek of a throne as the drummer leans into the first note, the thump of the hammers and dampers in the piano as they come to rest when fingers release the keys or the foot lifts from the sustain pedal.
My goal is simply put: honesty.
I want to hear what the artists intended in the mixing and mastering rooms. I would no more want an amplifier with “character” than I would introduce a graphic EQ with the dreaded “smile” in the chain. My ideal system does everything it can to get out of the f’ing way of the music, and simply play EXACTLY what was recorded - be that a live recording of Bruce Hornsby, or a recording of Gustav Holst.
Bring me into the studio or performance hall. Those places don’t have “buttery mids” or “high frequencies that sparkle”… they simply are the performance.
I would loooove to hear an ATC setup sometime. From everything I’ve read, they are one of the few speakers I’d consider giving up my beloved Thiels to make way for. Beautiful setup, Op!
nothing will ever match that feeling when you first experienced that sound. I remember there was this indescribable quality to the sound… even though I know my current system is better than the one that introduced me to the hobby, it just doesn’t sound the same as that one, magical system the day I walked into the showroom.
Clark Music, Syracuse, NY - 1989.
My buddy and I had heard from our HS band director that they had great stereo gear so we took a drive to the city. When we walked in, they played some modern jazz - either Rippingtons or Flim and the BBs - and my jaw dropped.
It was an NAD integrated amp - had this big “440w” sticker on the front (part of their PowerEnvelope line in the late 80’s/early 90s - I can’t find the model, but I ended up buying a 3240pe for my first amp that was part of the same line) fed by a Denon CD player driving a set of Polk Audio RTA 10t speakers.
I remember the smell of the place, and there was this quality to the sound being produced that was unlike anything I had ever heard. I was hooked - INSTANTLY.
Leave my dac & preamp on all the time, but have my amps hooked up to a switched power strip that triggers off of current draw when I turn on the TV, bringing all the more hungry components online. Works pretty well, and keeps my amps off unless they are being used (mind you, they’re class-D amps, so they probably don’t use much power when they’re not playing something).
Main reason I don’t do this with my preamp is it has about a 30 second power-on process (it’s a shiit freya S), so I don’t want to have to wait for it to complete that.