Have you ever gone to a HiFi store and then run home...

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MiTT

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to see if your system sounds better than what you just heard?

We have a very cool store here in Denver (Audio Unlimited) that hosts open houses where they demo grooovy new stuff once a month. It seems like I'm forever going to listen to the latest thing and then I'm hotfooting it back home to listen to whatever they might have been playing on my own system for comparison.

Now I know memory is a fleeting thing, but I'm often very pleased with how good my system seems to stack up against some pretty renowned and very pricy stuff.

I've never been "disappointed", but here have been a couple of occasions where I have "lusted" for something I've just heard. Once was JM Labs Nova Utopia Be's driven by a whole slew of Boulder Electronics, and the other was Avalon Edilon Diamonds driven by an all tube BAT stack. Almost always though I prefer the sound of my own system.
 
Nice looking setup Tim.

We don't have high end stores in Alaska so I don't have to worry too much about the lust and latest and greatest craze too much, but definitely understand the compulsion. I have heard Avalon Eioldon' at a friend's house driven by Neverostatic (sp?) tube monoblocks through a klyne preamp and well tempered analog rig and it was a wonderful musically involving system.

I bought ReQuests in 1999 and still enjoy them immensely. I find them still very involving and can and do listen for hours. I am interested in purchasing the "upgraded" panels and admit I am real real interested in sitting down in front of a pair of Summits for a few hours with some favorites.

I used to have my system posted on the old website, I have to get off my ass and get up to speed. I am in a state of flux right now as I am getting a SOTA Cosmos turntable to upgrade from my SOTA Sapphire.

Happy Listening!!!
 
MiTT said:
to see if your system sounds better than what you just heard?
Funny you should mention this, as I was just at my local favorite store this past weekend. I sat and listened to the Wilson Maxx 2's powered by the VTL Wootan (sp?) Amps with top of the line VTL Pre, top of the line Nordost IC's and Speaker Cables (sorry model escapes me now) and an Esoteric X-01 CD/SACD player. $100k (+ or -) system or there abouts. Sorry to say it did not WOW me one bit. It was very nice, but not HOLY CRUD!!!!! as a system of that $$$$ point should be. Yet in another room they had an Aerial setup and in another room another Wilson setup (Sophia's) that wow'ed me (musically) much more than the high priced room.

Almost always though I prefer the sound of my own system.
It is great to hear you really love the sound from your system. This is something a lot of us forget about with all our upgrades, changes, etc. It is all about the music and sitting back and enjoying it. Again it sure is nice to read when someone states they absolutely love the sound of their system.

Sit back and enjoy!!!

Dan
 
I've learned that if you really like the sound of your system and are not planning to upgrade then it's best not to go listen to a system that sounds better than what you have. But as my system has evolved over the last 3 years I now rarely find other systems that sound better to me than my own.

I've also learned that some systems sound better only because the room acoustics are much better than what I have at home. I know my room would benefit greatly with room treatment. That is going to be the next upgrade. Should have been the first upgrade but I didn't know any better then.
 
My general rule of thumb experiences have been; the smaller the listening room in the store the better it sounds. I guess I'm just not used to really large rooms, something about the small rooms brings it closer to home.

The one experience I had worth taking note of was when the Aerius-i came out. It sounded so much more extended in the upper frequencies than my original Aerius speakers. The salesperson said it was mostly because the improvement in CD players (the source) over the last few years which made a biggest difference.

That is when my quest to extend the upper frequencies started................and continues to this day.
 
Interesting. I need to go back and look at your system, but as I recall it's in a pretty big room isn't it? I get more forget full every day so I'm likely wrong.

The store I mentioned in my original post has one small room that always sounds pretty good. It's usually got a set of Tannoy Chruchill's in there run by either Pathos or Audio Note electronics, fed by Clearaudio, Aesthetix and Accuphase sources. That room always sounds good, but not as good to me as their BIG room where the systems that really floored me were running. The BIG room is probably 20' x 40' with a 15' ceiling and a boatload of room treatments. I mean it's like the size of a freakin' raquetball court, but it almost always manages to sound pretty good.

I'm set up in a pretty small room right now, but will be building a large dedicated room over the next few years. As Craig mentions in his post, I'll be paying a LOT of attention to the room (both dimensionally, shape wise and as far as treatments).
 
kach22i - boy was I way off, yes, your space is more intimate, much like my current listening space. :eek:

I had you confused with System 47 (Wardsweb), it looks like he's got buckets of room.

WOW - dementia is a frightfull thing! :confused:
 
My local dealership (Overture, Wilmington, De) is both a curse and a blessing for the simple fact that they are arguably one of the best "listening" Salons in the nation. Their rooms are sonic perfection along with all the high-end goodies that inhabit the spaces within. But as Dan said, and Dorthy before him...."there's no place like home" ! Now if I can only use those ruby slippers to get some of that big-buck stuff over to my house !!
 
MiTT said:
WOW - dementia is a frightfull thing! :confused:
The only room besides my own I can remember is Robin's. Who could forget the earthquake proof wire suspension system. :D

It's kind of funny that for live music people rave about smaller venues, despising stadium setups and favoring small jazz clubs. Yet when it comes to listening environment, bigger is supposed to be better.

Maybe I have it all wrong. Maybe a small jazz club is equal in size to a larger personal listening space. Maybe there is a single perfect size waiting to be discovered.

The latest theory on this was the great outdoors - no room at all.

:cool:
 
I do this all the time!......fun isn't it! It is slightly skewed though - because you know the sound of your system you tend to prefer it.

I know I almost always prefer the sound of my own system. The last one I heard at an audio shop was a pair of B+W 801Ds driven by Musical Fidelity KW electronics.......my little modest system any day!
 
Great question!

Funny I did it about two weeks ago finally got to listen to the Summits uninterrupted. Left the store drove home put the same CD in my system and did the comparison.
 
Statman said:
Funny I did it about two weeks ago finally got to listen to the Summits uninterrupted. Left the store drove home put the same CD in my system and did the comparison.
And what were the results/ your conclusions?
 
The last time I went to a hifi store, I sat down and I did what I shouldnt have done... I critically listened to the Summits. Grea....t...

Now, I'm trying to sell the Vantage in hopes of buying a local used Summit pair.

I shouldnt have done that... :( .

Demoing speakers at the dealer can be a dangerous thing.
 
kach22i said:
And what were the results/ your conclusions?

Summit was uniform and seamless from top to bottom. The store that I frequent has a bad bass problem (suckout) partially due to the construction of the walls and false ceiling issue. Very transparent speaker. I heard it through a Lexicon unit don't remember the model number sorry! Audio Research LS-25 MkII and the Levinson 434 I believe was the amp used. Transparent cable used throughout. If I could swing it right now yes I'd buy a set. I need to hear them again at a different location/better room just to reconfirm my initial listening impression!
 
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