When upgrading rolls down-hill
Earlier this month, when Mahleu stopped by to pick up some goodies we had a chat about various topics including "upgrading" and when it really is UPgrading. I feel that when I was doing the whole "audiophile" thing there was a stage when I had a very nice system - a collection of equipment that performed together in a spectacular fashion. But then it all went down-hill after a friend suggested I "upgrade" the speakers. Since the day I got the "new" speakers I just never could get my system sounding like it used to before and it made me lose interest in a way. That was back in 2008.
My system, in top form (for my ears anyway) consisted of:
B&W Preference 6 loudspeakers
Valve Audio Exclame 100
Technics SP-10 mkII motor (in a 7 layer MDF plinth)
Rega RB300 arm with cable and counter-weight mod
Dynavector 17D3 mc cartridge
E.A.R. 834P phono stage
Marantz CD-65DX cd player
Van Den Hul speaker cable
Nordost interconnects
Lerange equipment rack
This system sounded amazing in so many ways. Huge sound-stage, great bandwidth and overall extremely pleasing sound. The a friend suggested I get a set of Sonor Altair I speakers (at the time available for a good price). Two weeks later the B&Ws was shipped to a happy buyer in Capetown and the Sonors was set up. From the first few moments listening to the Sonors I was not very happy. One or two months later they were shipped out and Quad 21L speakers was connected. They sounded very bland and not exciting at all. A month later in early 2009 I got my hands on some B&W 603 S2 speakers and the system sounded a bit better but still not as with the P6 speakers.
Eventually all of the other pieces of equipment was also shipped out (due to a variety of reasons) and earlier this month the vinyl record collection also followed. You can say I basically have lost interest... lost interest in chasing after illusive pieces of equipment BUT not in music.
I guess, one day, when the finances and general situation looks a bit more rosy I will try and assemble a system again but for now I cannot really care.
Earlier this month, when Mahleu stopped by to pick up some goodies we had a chat about various topics including "upgrading" and when it really is UPgrading. I feel that when I was doing the whole "audiophile" thing there was a stage when I had a very nice system - a collection of equipment that performed together in a spectacular fashion. But then it all went down-hill after a friend suggested I "upgrade" the speakers. Since the day I got the "new" speakers I just never could get my system sounding like it used to before and it made me lose interest in a way. That was back in 2008.
My system, in top form (for my ears anyway) consisted of:
B&W Preference 6 loudspeakers
Valve Audio Exclame 100
Technics SP-10 mkII motor (in a 7 layer MDF plinth)
Rega RB300 arm with cable and counter-weight mod
Dynavector 17D3 mc cartridge
E.A.R. 834P phono stage
Marantz CD-65DX cd player
Van Den Hul speaker cable
Nordost interconnects
Lerange equipment rack
This system sounded amazing in so many ways. Huge sound-stage, great bandwidth and overall extremely pleasing sound. The a friend suggested I get a set of Sonor Altair I speakers (at the time available for a good price). Two weeks later the B&Ws was shipped to a happy buyer in Capetown and the Sonors was set up. From the first few moments listening to the Sonors I was not very happy. One or two months later they were shipped out and Quad 21L speakers was connected. They sounded very bland and not exciting at all. A month later in early 2009 I got my hands on some B&W 603 S2 speakers and the system sounded a bit better but still not as with the P6 speakers.
Eventually all of the other pieces of equipment was also shipped out (due to a variety of reasons) and earlier this month the vinyl record collection also followed. You can say I basically have lost interest... lost interest in chasing after illusive pieces of equipment BUT not in music.
I guess, one day, when the finances and general situation looks a bit more rosy I will try and assemble a system again but for now I cannot really care.
