Today I had the great pleasure to listen once again to Ian's system. We had a wonderful and fun time listening to and debating the sound of his system with the new cartridge. His vinyl playback has greatly impressed me before, but this time it was different. It was incredible. It also was the best resolution that I have ever heard from any system, and that by a significant margin.
Ian's playback chain now stands out by its immense harmonic integrity. I have commented on that characteristic of his Magico M Pro speakers before, but now it is audible that the entire chain is one whole in this respect, even more so than previously. While it was evident right away from a piece for acoustic guitar that we were dealing with something special, the harmonic integrity was on full display on a magnificent recording of piano works by Liszt (Alfred Brendel, Philips). I have never heard such convincing overtones from reproduced piano sound before, it was uncannily natural. The detail in the sound was wholly integrated, it did not scream "listen to how much detail there is!", it was just there in all its richness and subtlety, quite like live. While Ian had trouble so far finding great placement of these speakers in his room, today everything appeared to fall into place. There was depth and great presence, and the notes just beautifully hung in space at some distance, believably suggesting that we were sitting in a concert hall.
A recording of Mozart string quintets (Philips) was another occasion for a joyful jaw drop. I knew this recording from excellent playback elsewhere, but this time there was an as yet unheard wealth of natural and effortless detail in the violin sound, in the vibration of strings and body. Transients were superbly clear and fast. Solo violin is in my view among the hardest things to reproduce on a system, and Ian's vinyl playback resolved violin sound unlike anything else I have experienced, and that in a natural, easy going manner. The transparent presence on this recording was once again startling, with the players now more upfront compared to the piano recording.
A light, and at times humorous, orchestral piece by an English composer was next. The sound was translucent and light, but not thin by any means. It is hard for a system to strike such a balance, but Ian's system succeeded brilliantly. The violin section produced the best sound that I have heard from this group of instruments on any system, and it was better by a significant margin than on Ian's system last time, even though that had already been outstanding. So finely textured with a silvery sheen but also believable body, it was just impressive. Triangle sound was marvelous.
Quite different were the earthy sounds from Bartok's Dance Suite (Dorati, Philharmonia Hungarica on Mercury), while once again the clarity and separation of instruments were striking. The original pressing from the 1950s had become a bit noisy, but I didn't mind at all while normally I am quite sensitive to surface noise. Ian suggested, in case it bothered me, that we switch to a re-issue of the same recording, but I found that unnecessary.
We ended with a piece from a Sonny Rollins LP. Everything sounded right, from the big and round tones of the saxophone to the percussion with believable transients on cymbals, impactful drums and great sounding stand-up bass with immaculate definition of tone and pitch. The new speaker placement (a bit further back and apart) contributes favorably to the presence of bass as well.
That last piece also showed the advantages of a large speaker, which can capture the size of an instrument such as a close-up saxophone better than smaller speakers; I recognize the limits of my mini-monitors here, great as they may be sounding otherwise. On the other hand, the M Pro is also capable of reproducing small size in a convincing manner that I have not yet heard from any other large speaker (Peter A agrees with me on this, we both are very critical when it comes to correct reproduction of small size). The exquisite presentation of the instruments in the Mozart string quintet by the M Pros was a case in point.
All in all, it was a remarkable session, and the best sound I have ever heard. It left an enormous impression on me.
Bravo, Ian!
- how many of the Lampi cult have actually heard expensive originals? Lampi is the David that keeps slaying the Goliath. A slingshot is sufficient, Uzi submachine gun not required
