Any 2 Channel Stereo freaks here?

Yup, I am....not as high-end as you yet....

NAD, Onkyo, Polk Audio....

For $4000 it sounds great.

 

well, not high end but I still use my two channel Yamaha M-2 and C-2a in the living room.

 

I'm still running...
Apogee Diva speakers with DAX
Krell 500 mono blocks
Krell KBL pre amp

I've had this set-up for about 15 years and don't have a need to change them.

 

Actually, I think one should have a home theater and a separate stereo. The best speakers I have ever heard were Snell Acoustics. Unfortunately, the met an end at some point. Best bang form the buck are DCM's. I think they are gone too, or have changed names. My house is so damn noisy I really don't get to enjoy music there, so I do most of my listening in the car, which I invested time and money and I think it sounds devestating. Almost to good for some music.

 

I got rid of my small home theater setup to build a mid-fi 2-channel setup. Rotel pre/amp, and I seem to be the only person in the world who bought the Paradigm Studio/80s.

 

I used to run Divas. LIke nothing on this earth if you have the correct space for them.

 

What is high-end audio? ;-)


Enjoy the Music,

Steven R. Rochlin
http://www.EnjoyTheMusic.com

 

You're right. These speakers need a lot of space. I have them in a dedicated 600sq ft. room.

 

I have a pair of McIntosh MC-30's that I'm going to build a nice little system around some day. I'll probably pick up a Rotel pre-amp and CD player, and a pair of B&W 602's. Not super high-end, but should be nice and listenable.

 

Good for you! I stopped reading The Absolute Sound, Stereophile etc. because they constantly were hyping the latest equipment as being so superior to anything before it, only to talk about how the next thing 6 months later made that thing before it obsolete.

As much as the industry would like people to believe the "latest is greatest" hype, high end sound doesn't improve that much from one year to the next.

John

 

Not really high end either but I've got

B&K components
Vienna Acoustics speakers
REL sub bass (not a sub-woofer according to them!)

I like it.

 

Why no home theater?

There are many who have incorporated components such as high-end mono block amps into their home theater system with switchable pre-amp controllers to go from 5.1 or 7.1 to stereo with the touch of a button.
Perfect for stereo mixes, yet also rocks the house in surround.

 

My main setup is a Sony SCD777es into a VTL Ultimate preamp with an Innersound ESL300 amp driving my Soundlab Pristine IIs. Not too shabby for around $5k on the used market

 

I got a b!tchin system for $1500 at the Bose store in the San Marcos, TX outlet mall. I got it all hooked up to my VCR and my whole place shakes when I watch The Matrix. It's pretty cool how all that sound can come out of those tiny little speakers. Nothing but the best for me
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

It's been a while since I've put any money into high-end audio. System last updated 10+ years ago, Carver tube pre-amp, Carver tube CD, 750W/ch Carver amp, Thiel CS 3.6's.

 

thats what I've got, the two-channel in the living room and the home theater in a back room.

 

While I agree that a clean signal path is nice to have,
I also have to say that as someone who does a large amount of audio production,
from sound design to surround mixing, and everything in-between,
I have never felt the need to remove tone controls, EQs, mixers, or any such component from a signal path in order to "connect with the music".
In fact sometimes I'll add a particular piece of equipment to a track in order to color that sound in a pleasing way.
Sometimes it's doubling a track by running a send to an old LA-2A compressor, or inserting a Fairchild 670 across a buss.
Some kick drums just sound better run through a Pultec EQ.
I even break out my old Studer 2-track and run stuff through it at 30ips for a totally different feel.

It's great that your ears are so sensitive that you can hear the difference between a pre that has a tone control circuit and one that does not.
And if you feel the need to remove such components from your system in order to connect with the music, more power to you.

I guess I'm blessed that I can get just as much enjoyment from listening to an ipod as I can my studio full of gear.

 

you too? I was a Stereo Review subscriber for close to 30 years and when they went to a pretty much all home theater coverage, I cancelled my subscription. It essentailly went from an audio mag to a video mag.

 

I have several different systems languishing in different states of almost ready to run (again):

Lyra Parnassus nude, with heavily tweaked Well-Tempered Big Table
ARC SP-11, hot-rodded by factory with NOS tubes
Arc Classic 60
Crosby-modified Quad 63 panels

Old Quad Monoblocks w/
Old Quads-

various additional ARC components of differing vintage including 150 monoblock, old Dual 75a (recently retubed and re-capped); I use these as ancillary channels in the home theatre system, which is comprised of:
SDI- output DVD player, running into HD Leeza, going DVI into DLP projector, onto large Stewart Gray Screen; Meridian processing; additional power amps by McIntosh, Snell theatre speakers, plus big and medium Velodynes, here's a shot of the theatre cabinets:
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Bill,

Lamour would agree.....You have a great rack there!

 

Still listening to Klipsch after 35 years. Had Conwalls until the in-house decorator said the had to go in 1992. Switched to Heresy's and am amazed by that clear horn sound and smoother highs than some more modern speakers. My Nakamichi tape Deck and Bose turntable are collecting dust in a storage box. May have to get them out after this thread.