System #52 (Ascent)

Jean-Marie VANGOETHEM
Liege, Belgium

My system:

cd player: LINN Ikemi
Preamp: LINN Wakonda
Amp: Chord SPM 600
Speakers: ML ASCENT
Cables: NORDOST Flatline Red Dawn all around ( speakers and interconnect )
Rack and stand: hand made rack ( I did my best, but have sometimes two left hands )

Some works in the living ( and listening) room to make it "cosi" and more accoustically appropriate:

Two walls are covered by false stones ( looks like old farmer , I love it )
Wall paper on the other walls.
Soft hollogen applics on the wall
Hallogen light on the ceil


Music: jazz, classical and neo-classical

system #52

the electronics

I give you a 10, for presentation.

Very nice system Jean-Marie.

Thanks for posting it.
Joe

Nice set up Jean Marie

I see that you use Nordost cable did you try other. If yes wich one.

GRIN said:

Nice set up Jean Marie

I see that you use Nordost cable did you try other. If yes wich one.

Click to expand...

Before that, I used the Linn black, because LINN give their own cable with their gear's.
I tried the blue heaven too
In fact, I was going to buy the blue heaven ( because red dawn is 2 times more expensive) but my dealer had a set of second hand red dawn for half of price that new blue heaven ( what a lucky guy I was )

After upgrading the Linn black to red dawn, I had the impression to own an other system. The enhancement is HUGE.
The stereo image is much more precise, dynamic very extended, in fact, an other sound. Also there are quick, very.

I tried both ( blue heaven and red dawn ) just to have an idea. REsult: if you want to go for Nordost, go for red dawn. It worth the money, really.


JM

You sure give too much, but I appreciate, thank you.

For your's, I will give ....... only...9.5 ( I'm joking )

JM

Hi Jean-Marie,

Very nice system.

It's good to see that there are more ML lovers in our little country.
I have been trying to find them on the Belgian HiFi forums, but have not been very successful so far.

ief

ief said:

Hi Jean-Marie,

Very nice system.

It's good to see that there are more ML lovers in our little country.
I have been trying to find them on the Belgian HiFi forums, but have not been very successful so far.

ief

Click to expand...

Hi compatriot,
Effectively, I didn't find any ML owers in Belgian forums neather.
This is the paradox of Internet. We are "neighbour's" and we meet together on a US forum.

Could you let us know a little more about you ( where are living in Belgium, wich system do you have etc... ) ?

JM

Hi again,

Well, I'm living in a village about 15km south of Brussels.

I got to know ML during the beginning of 2004. My old system was falling apart and I started to browse the market. I quickly ended up in some well known HiFi shops in Brussels. One of them (Noir et Blanc) is reseller of ML and was able to fit the Mosaics in my modest budget (4000€ speakers, amp, CD and cabling). I thought the Mosaics had something which no other speaker was able to deliver. The way it filled the room with music and the details it could come up with were ... well, what words to use ... just amazing. It made me want to re-listen to every single album I've heard before. I got the ML together with the Arcam Amp65+ and CD73T. As you can see, most of my budget went to the ML's.

Towards the end of last year I spent a lot of time on forums and resellers web sites (besides listening to my new system ... ) and got to know what amazing possibilities exist in the huge HiFi world. I got to know the tube amplifier Primaluna Prologue2. About a month ago I bought the Primaluna to replace my Arcam amplifier.

I'm very pleased with my current set up, but during some of my visits to my reseller I heard the Aeon i and the Prodigy speakers and I can tell you that the Mosaics will not be the last ML's I buy.

I hope I can (quickly) come to a point where I will be able to afford one of these even more magnificent ML's.

ief

ief said:

Hi again,

One of them (Noir et Blanc) is reseller of ML and was able to fit the Mosaics in my modest budget (4000€ speakers, amp, CD and cabling).

ief

Click to expand...

4000€ is enough to set a very musical system, don't need to spend €25000 for that. I believe that your system is somewhat amazing. Glad you really enjoy.
I understand you're looking for the day you'll can afford higher ML speaker, but take all your time, gradually the bird makes its nest.

I see that you experienced both type of amp, solid state and vacuum tube.
Just for curious guys like me, could you let us know what you preferre ?
Why was you going for vaccum tube amp ?


PS: I know noir et blanc and Mr Marc Sergeloos.

I clearly prefer tube amplification. The warmth and dynamics in the music are amazing, and can only be created with tubes (comparing amps within the same budget of course ...).

The music with my first amp was cold and remained in the background.
The reseller had a second hand Jadis Orchestra, so I asked him whether it was possible to listen to it in combination with my speakers. On the main Belgian audioforum many people owned a Primaluna Prologue 2 and they seemed very excited about it. So I asked the reseller to make me listen to it in comparison to the Jadis. First he made me listen to the Prologue 1, which was nice, but it did not have the detail the Jadis had. It had a lot more dynamics, but that's it. So we moved to the Prologue 2 ... and that was it. It was the perfect mariage of the dynamics of the Pirmaluna and the detail of the Jadis.

ief

Very nice setup, Jean-Marie!!

Jean-Marie said:

Hi compatriot,
Effectively, I didn't find any ML owers in Belgian forums neather.
This is the paradox of Internet. We are "neighbour's" and we meet together on a US forum.

Could you let us know a little more about you ( where are living in Belgium, wich system do you have etc... ) ?

JM

Click to expand...

Hi Jean-Marie and ief, you might find a few other Belgian ML owners on this site, which unfortunately is not very active http://www.cinetson.org/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=1&sid=71b21b3b2dd0626bdd5439d2d52b6f2d (in French).