Last Saturday I visited Winslow. I took along my Myriad pre and power amps and my Denon dvd player.
The object was to find the weakest link although I suspected that the dvd player would be the one.
We started off by listening to Winslow's setup. A cd payer who's make I cannot remember, ARC pre amp and valve power amps ( I always forget the make ) and then the Van der Steen speakers. The system sounds really great and considering how much Winslow paid for it, it shows that there still are bargains around. Second hand equipment definitely is the way the go. Great value for money.
As predicted the Denon dvd player is no match for a stereo cd player. This has been mentioned many times on the forum.
The Myriad pre / power combination sounded quite pleasant on the Van der Steens. The surprise came when we hooked up the Klipsch speakers. Wow it sounded great. I never thought the Myriad amplification was this good.
So what did I learn from this all. Firstly it is great to spend time with someone who is prepared to go through the hassle of connecting and disconnecting components so we could go through the various scenarios. Thank you Winslow, you are a great host, we had fun.
Secondly, an old truth, a signal cannot be improved by the components down the line. Get the best cd player you can afford and leave the dvd player to the HT system, even a expensive dvd player with pure direct out, cannot compete.
By putting great components together randomly does not guarantee the best sound. The Van der Steens are a cut above the Klipsch speakers yet the sound was better with the Klipsch speakers. Matching a system by "try before buy" is a very good way to avoid disappointed after having bought a component.
I know this info is old hat to many people on the forum but perhaps someone will get some benefit by reading this.
The object was to find the weakest link although I suspected that the dvd player would be the one.
We started off by listening to Winslow's setup. A cd payer who's make I cannot remember, ARC pre amp and valve power amps ( I always forget the make ) and then the Van der Steen speakers. The system sounds really great and considering how much Winslow paid for it, it shows that there still are bargains around. Second hand equipment definitely is the way the go. Great value for money.
As predicted the Denon dvd player is no match for a stereo cd player. This has been mentioned many times on the forum.
The Myriad pre / power combination sounded quite pleasant on the Van der Steens. The surprise came when we hooked up the Klipsch speakers. Wow it sounded great. I never thought the Myriad amplification was this good.
So what did I learn from this all. Firstly it is great to spend time with someone who is prepared to go through the hassle of connecting and disconnecting components so we could go through the various scenarios. Thank you Winslow, you are a great host, we had fun.
Secondly, an old truth, a signal cannot be improved by the components down the line. Get the best cd player you can afford and leave the dvd player to the HT system, even a expensive dvd player with pure direct out, cannot compete.
By putting great components together randomly does not guarantee the best sound. The Van der Steens are a cut above the Klipsch speakers yet the sound was better with the Klipsch speakers. Matching a system by "try before buy" is a very good way to avoid disappointed after having bought a component.
I know this info is old hat to many people on the forum but perhaps someone will get some benefit by reading this.
