Lately, malfunctioning or broken equipment has triggered purchases and major changes elsewhere in my system, resulting in serendipitous benefits in my system.
A little back story before revealing the latest in this interesting, but albeit very expensive cycle. Six months ago I bought a pair of Vivid G3’s to replace my Martin Logans because my Spectral DMA 260 did not like impedance curve of the Martin Logans and kept tripping the protection circuit before I reached the desired SPL when I wanted to let it rip. Unfortunately, my speaker wire, MIT Matrix HD 60 had spades which shorted due to the connection design of the Vivid’s, rendering my Spectral amp non-functional and gone for more than 5 weeks to Sunnyvale to get back to original condition.
So to prevent another Spectral problem and because the Vivid’s were a step up for me, of course I needed “better” speaker wire for my “better” speakers. While the Spectral was in Sunnyvale being repaired, I felt it was a serendipitous time to upgrade my speaker wire and go biwire with banana’s to make the Vivids and Spectral happy. I took my HD 60’s with spades and, with the help of another $6K and my old wire, a bought a new entrant into the MIT line with more points of articulation, the MIT SL Matrix 90 biwired with bananas. While the Vivid’s and Spectral were happy with this new configuration, I was not because of the sound of this SL Matrix line compared to the HD 60’s was to my taste, sterile, despite 30 more poles of articulation.
Upon the amp’s return I had the stability of the Spectral I sought, with greater SPL potential, only to have my Meitner DAC die, rendering my system nonfunctional again. Now I have new speakers, a happier Spectral, supposedly better speaker wire, and nothing to make sound.
Enter the next step in my serendipitous expedition. After 10 years without spinning a single record, it was time to get back into vinyl, since it does not need a DAC and I realized I missed the “sound”. So I bought a VPI Prime with a 3D printed tone arm, which of course needed a better cartridge than my 20 year-old Spectral Reference with about 100 hours on it. I had come to love the sound of the Benz Micro Ruby on my friend Marty’s system and thought I would buy a Ruby. But Marty and I have encouraged each other to “go for it” with regard to audio purchases for the past 45 years. Bye to the Ruby idea when Marty said you might as well buy the best Benz and get a LPS, which I had heard at Harry Pearson’s and loved.
Of course my phono section in my BAT preamp was now not good enough for the LPS, so I bought a Pass phono section, which of course required another MIT cable to connect to my preamp. I thought I was done until I got some rumble from my JL’s and then bought a Vibraplane for the VPI. That cleaned up the sound so much that I then “needed” a VPI SDS speed control, which is truly remarkable. At least I was done with the phono section, or so I thought.
About this time, the Meitner returned from a visit, which became an extended stay, to Meitner in Canada. Now I was set, or so I thought, because the DAC worked and I had some pretty good vinyl sound, and could finally after 3 months, listen to my new speakers. As Marty and I tweaked my latest system, we came to realize how good the Vivid’s are and how wrong the MIT SL Matrix was for my system despite the biwired bananas. The accuracy was there, with incredible images, but it sounded too analytic. In an effort to remedy what I thought was wrong with my overall sound I began to explore what would become one of my biggest audio purchases in 50 years, a new Spectral SV reference preamp and a Spectral reference 300 amp. But you know the routine already, new preamp and amp means new speaker wire, which because it is connected to a Spectral amp, means MIT. So now for my yet to be delivered new Spectral gear, I took the SL Matrix 90 biwired bananas and traded them in to my long time MIT dealer, Scott Warren is a truly a fine gentleman and gave me the option of returning the SL Matrix 90’s for something else. Scott, gave me full value, because like Terry Menacker and Allen Goodwin, he is one of the “goodguys” of audio. All it took was another $4,800 to get me what I hope will be my final speaker wire, MIT Oracle HD 90 Rev 2 biwired with bananas to make the Vivid’s, Spectral and hopefully me happy.
This time serendipity came in the form of a Nor’Easter called Jonas. I live on the very end of a peninsula that sticks out into Barnegat Bay and directly in the path of Jonas with its 65 mph winds and projected 9 foot storm surge. This was not good since my house is 8 feet above high tide. So after all of what I have just described and having pretty good sound with incredible images, I now had to dismantle everything and move it to my second floor in case the house was flooded as was my former house during Sandy. Oh, I forgot to mention that I have a broken arm with a break in the neck of my humerus and a fractured condyle that affects my shoulder, which meant I could lift nothing, especially my JL woofers, my amp and my very heavy Vibraplane.
As a segue to why I wrote this post, my trusty 50” Pioneer Elite Pro plasma had to go upstairs as well. I already had second system in my bedroom with another Pioneer Elite plasma, but now had equipment everywhere, not to mention piles of power cords, a Triton and Typhon, and two Pioneer Elite Plasmas.
I thought this voyage was over, but I forgot my addiction. While overall it was not so bad because I never got water and all I had to do was get the equipment back downstairs. Enter the broken arm and the fact that although I did not get water, I got several feet of snow, as did everyone else around me, which meant there was no one to help me move the equipment back downstairs, because it would be just as heavy going down as it was going up and my arm was still broken.
In true audiophile form, I concluded that it was providence that my Pioneer Elite Pro was now upstairs because I had planned to replace the older Pioneer Elite that formerly proudly ruled the roost in my bedroom with the superior living room Elite. Right on schedule, as he has done for the past 45 years Marty called and said “did you see the deal on the Samsung SUHD 65” 4k?” and you can get it Costco, return it if I don’t like it or decide that I need an OLED, and can warranty it for 5 years for $85. How could I pass on this weird Samsung promotion of the latest technology with nano dots, “S” designation, which means it will be compatible with the next generation of HDR UHD signals that are likely to become the broadcast norm in the next year or two. Since it would only cost $1975 and had free delivery, I had no choice because it was almost as good as the LG OLED and cost 1/3.
Before I share my latest and hopefully last (sure) serendipitous move, let me tell you that Samsung has it together and the industry “S” technology is truly a step forward. I did not have a clue what the “S” designation meant until I read a wonderful summary on HDR and why it is so important and why I had no choice but to buy the Samsung. I have included two links that are truly worthwhile if you have made it this far in this post. The first is the best explanation of HDR and the political reasons to move in that direction.
www.avforums.com/article/what-is-hdr.11039.
The next link explains the major technologies that should be considered if you are considering a 4K TV.
http://www.electronichouse.com/daily/smart-tv/4k-ultra-hd-tv-oled-nano-crystals-coming-2015-tvs/
And finally, well almost finally, the link to Costco for the SUHD 65” 4K TV in question because the Samsung promotion of a 42% reduction from street price and $5K less than list for the UN65JS850DFXZA ends on February 6.
http://www.costco.com/Samsung-65"-C...-LCD-TV-UN65JS850DFXZA.product.100178040.html.
And finally, the last step, for now, in this “serendipity experience” – two Steve Blinn Designs racks, one for the VPI, Vibraplane and SDS, and one for my equipment including the new siblings, the Pass phono stage and new Spectral gear. So $80k+ later, I am stable again for the time being!
A little back story before revealing the latest in this interesting, but albeit very expensive cycle. Six months ago I bought a pair of Vivid G3’s to replace my Martin Logans because my Spectral DMA 260 did not like impedance curve of the Martin Logans and kept tripping the protection circuit before I reached the desired SPL when I wanted to let it rip. Unfortunately, my speaker wire, MIT Matrix HD 60 had spades which shorted due to the connection design of the Vivid’s, rendering my Spectral amp non-functional and gone for more than 5 weeks to Sunnyvale to get back to original condition.
So to prevent another Spectral problem and because the Vivid’s were a step up for me, of course I needed “better” speaker wire for my “better” speakers. While the Spectral was in Sunnyvale being repaired, I felt it was a serendipitous time to upgrade my speaker wire and go biwire with banana’s to make the Vivids and Spectral happy. I took my HD 60’s with spades and, with the help of another $6K and my old wire, a bought a new entrant into the MIT line with more points of articulation, the MIT SL Matrix 90 biwired with bananas. While the Vivid’s and Spectral were happy with this new configuration, I was not because of the sound of this SL Matrix line compared to the HD 60’s was to my taste, sterile, despite 30 more poles of articulation.
Upon the amp’s return I had the stability of the Spectral I sought, with greater SPL potential, only to have my Meitner DAC die, rendering my system nonfunctional again. Now I have new speakers, a happier Spectral, supposedly better speaker wire, and nothing to make sound.
Enter the next step in my serendipitous expedition. After 10 years without spinning a single record, it was time to get back into vinyl, since it does not need a DAC and I realized I missed the “sound”. So I bought a VPI Prime with a 3D printed tone arm, which of course needed a better cartridge than my 20 year-old Spectral Reference with about 100 hours on it. I had come to love the sound of the Benz Micro Ruby on my friend Marty’s system and thought I would buy a Ruby. But Marty and I have encouraged each other to “go for it” with regard to audio purchases for the past 45 years. Bye to the Ruby idea when Marty said you might as well buy the best Benz and get a LPS, which I had heard at Harry Pearson’s and loved.
Of course my phono section in my BAT preamp was now not good enough for the LPS, so I bought a Pass phono section, which of course required another MIT cable to connect to my preamp. I thought I was done until I got some rumble from my JL’s and then bought a Vibraplane for the VPI. That cleaned up the sound so much that I then “needed” a VPI SDS speed control, which is truly remarkable. At least I was done with the phono section, or so I thought.
About this time, the Meitner returned from a visit, which became an extended stay, to Meitner in Canada. Now I was set, or so I thought, because the DAC worked and I had some pretty good vinyl sound, and could finally after 3 months, listen to my new speakers. As Marty and I tweaked my latest system, we came to realize how good the Vivid’s are and how wrong the MIT SL Matrix was for my system despite the biwired bananas. The accuracy was there, with incredible images, but it sounded too analytic. In an effort to remedy what I thought was wrong with my overall sound I began to explore what would become one of my biggest audio purchases in 50 years, a new Spectral SV reference preamp and a Spectral reference 300 amp. But you know the routine already, new preamp and amp means new speaker wire, which because it is connected to a Spectral amp, means MIT. So now for my yet to be delivered new Spectral gear, I took the SL Matrix 90 biwired bananas and traded them in to my long time MIT dealer, Scott Warren is a truly a fine gentleman and gave me the option of returning the SL Matrix 90’s for something else. Scott, gave me full value, because like Terry Menacker and Allen Goodwin, he is one of the “goodguys” of audio. All it took was another $4,800 to get me what I hope will be my final speaker wire, MIT Oracle HD 90 Rev 2 biwired with bananas to make the Vivid’s, Spectral and hopefully me happy.
This time serendipity came in the form of a Nor’Easter called Jonas. I live on the very end of a peninsula that sticks out into Barnegat Bay and directly in the path of Jonas with its 65 mph winds and projected 9 foot storm surge. This was not good since my house is 8 feet above high tide. So after all of what I have just described and having pretty good sound with incredible images, I now had to dismantle everything and move it to my second floor in case the house was flooded as was my former house during Sandy. Oh, I forgot to mention that I have a broken arm with a break in the neck of my humerus and a fractured condyle that affects my shoulder, which meant I could lift nothing, especially my JL woofers, my amp and my very heavy Vibraplane.
As a segue to why I wrote this post, my trusty 50” Pioneer Elite Pro plasma had to go upstairs as well. I already had second system in my bedroom with another Pioneer Elite plasma, but now had equipment everywhere, not to mention piles of power cords, a Triton and Typhon, and two Pioneer Elite Plasmas.
I thought this voyage was over, but I forgot my addiction. While overall it was not so bad because I never got water and all I had to do was get the equipment back downstairs. Enter the broken arm and the fact that although I did not get water, I got several feet of snow, as did everyone else around me, which meant there was no one to help me move the equipment back downstairs, because it would be just as heavy going down as it was going up and my arm was still broken.
In true audiophile form, I concluded that it was providence that my Pioneer Elite Pro was now upstairs because I had planned to replace the older Pioneer Elite that formerly proudly ruled the roost in my bedroom with the superior living room Elite. Right on schedule, as he has done for the past 45 years Marty called and said “did you see the deal on the Samsung SUHD 65” 4k?” and you can get it Costco, return it if I don’t like it or decide that I need an OLED, and can warranty it for 5 years for $85. How could I pass on this weird Samsung promotion of the latest technology with nano dots, “S” designation, which means it will be compatible with the next generation of HDR UHD signals that are likely to become the broadcast norm in the next year or two. Since it would only cost $1975 and had free delivery, I had no choice because it was almost as good as the LG OLED and cost 1/3.
Before I share my latest and hopefully last (sure) serendipitous move, let me tell you that Samsung has it together and the industry “S” technology is truly a step forward. I did not have a clue what the “S” designation meant until I read a wonderful summary on HDR and why it is so important and why I had no choice but to buy the Samsung. I have included two links that are truly worthwhile if you have made it this far in this post. The first is the best explanation of HDR and the political reasons to move in that direction.
www.avforums.com/article/what-is-hdr.11039.
The next link explains the major technologies that should be considered if you are considering a 4K TV.
http://www.electronichouse.com/daily/smart-tv/4k-ultra-hd-tv-oled-nano-crystals-coming-2015-tvs/
And finally, well almost finally, the link to Costco for the SUHD 65” 4K TV in question because the Samsung promotion of a 42% reduction from street price and $5K less than list for the UN65JS850DFXZA ends on February 6.
http://www.costco.com/Samsung-65"-C...-LCD-TV-UN65JS850DFXZA.product.100178040.html.
And finally, the last step, for now, in this “serendipity experience” – two Steve Blinn Designs racks, one for the VPI, Vibraplane and SDS, and one for my equipment including the new siblings, the Pass phono stage and new Spectral gear. So $80k+ later, I am stable again for the time being!
