Hi all,
As a new parent and a new professor, I'm afraid my funds are limited in any upgrade contemplated and I've spent the year or so I've had my Vantages looking for a front end and/or amplifier setup that would do justice to these speakers in my 14 x 22 attic listening room. I'd originally opted for Mcintosh gear since it was locally available and since like some of you on the board (Robin? Are you out there?) I've always had a yen for that oh-so-classy Mac look and feel. Having spent a few months off and on borrowing McIntosh kit I came to two conclusions:
1) I loved it.
2) I couldn't afford it.
So I decided to upgrade one step at a time, forced myself to return the MC275 and settled on my Synthesis Harmony (Italian dual-mono 12AU7-based preamp and a tuberoller's dream) and Quad 909 power amp and focused on the CDP. I brought in a pretty wide range of players from Cary to Acoustic Arts to Copland to McIntosh (choke...tear...) to Consonance to MF to Wadia (302) and finally, out of the blue, a Rega Saturn which I was able to trade my old player in on very favourably. The Saturn resembles its baby brother Apollo and has upgraded power supplies, class A output stage and DACs (dual, I believe). Same USS Enterprise disc loading bay and same oddball aesthetics but an absolutely extraordinary CDP, and one I think has many of the same virtues as the current ML lineup: superb speed throughout the frequency band and wonderful tonal coherence from top to bottom, see-through mids, fatigue-free highs and a great musicality even on poorly recorded discs. Together the Saturn and Vantages present a realism particularly on voices but also on electronic music that I have never heard before even on far pricer systems. I'm happy to comment more specifically on particular discs if there's interest but wanted to mention the Saturn here just in case it might meet some of your criteria for a new front end. It is far from the most expensive or most aesthetically satisfying players but it is a little sonic wonder, and well worth hearing even if you can spend much more. Really one for the short list, IMO.
keep well and best,
k
As a new parent and a new professor, I'm afraid my funds are limited in any upgrade contemplated and I've spent the year or so I've had my Vantages looking for a front end and/or amplifier setup that would do justice to these speakers in my 14 x 22 attic listening room. I'd originally opted for Mcintosh gear since it was locally available and since like some of you on the board (Robin? Are you out there?) I've always had a yen for that oh-so-classy Mac look and feel. Having spent a few months off and on borrowing McIntosh kit I came to two conclusions:
1) I loved it.
2) I couldn't afford it.
So I decided to upgrade one step at a time, forced myself to return the MC275 and settled on my Synthesis Harmony (Italian dual-mono 12AU7-based preamp and a tuberoller's dream) and Quad 909 power amp and focused on the CDP. I brought in a pretty wide range of players from Cary to Acoustic Arts to Copland to McIntosh (choke...tear...) to Consonance to MF to Wadia (302) and finally, out of the blue, a Rega Saturn which I was able to trade my old player in on very favourably. The Saturn resembles its baby brother Apollo and has upgraded power supplies, class A output stage and DACs (dual, I believe). Same USS Enterprise disc loading bay and same oddball aesthetics but an absolutely extraordinary CDP, and one I think has many of the same virtues as the current ML lineup: superb speed throughout the frequency band and wonderful tonal coherence from top to bottom, see-through mids, fatigue-free highs and a great musicality even on poorly recorded discs. Together the Saturn and Vantages present a realism particularly on voices but also on electronic music that I have never heard before even on far pricer systems. I'm happy to comment more specifically on particular discs if there's interest but wanted to mention the Saturn here just in case it might meet some of your criteria for a new front end. It is far from the most expensive or most aesthetically satisfying players but it is a little sonic wonder, and well worth hearing even if you can spend much more. Really one for the short list, IMO.
keep well and best,
k
