Progression monos and preamp joined my setup
 

Finally the delivery with pair of Dan D’Agostino Progression monos and Progression preamp has arrived. What can I say - it is fabulous. Small photo report from personal meeting and unpacking.

WOOHOO for you Andrew. Congratulations Sir -- they are going to "light" up your Alexxs' like no other Sir.

From one Dan D'Agostino Progression Mono/Preamp owner to another -- So happy for you.

Best Sir,

Bob

There were six people present when Dan D’Agostino progression has arrived. Two audiophiles (one has 30 years of experience in this hobby, second - former musician and vinyl lover), two guys - father (former radio equipment engineer) and his son (music lovers who sell the equipment (mostly setups McIntosh and Sonus Faber), me and one of my friends. And while Dan D’Agostino equipment was reaching room temperature. Serious discussion has started.
The two from first mention above group insisted that Progression will make big difference comparing to McIntosh, the second group was stating that money was wasted and we will not hear any big difference compearing to McIntosh MC52 and pair of MC601.
Avoiding descriptions of technical discussion (especially that MC52 is designed by Lyngdorf inside and is the best in the class) the main argument of McIntosh guys was that the most improvement I received from Wilson Audio Alexx speakers and there will not be noticeable improvement with Progression.
So, having both equipment we started the series of short tests:
1. MC52+pair of MC601 (photo 1);
2. MC52+progression monos (photo 2)
3. All Progression preamp and pair of monos (photo 3)
To be continued....


https://www.audioaficionado.org/atta...0&d=1522212984




.

Thank You very much, Bob.

Wow Andrew! Congratulations, that’s one sweet setup. I can’t wait to see the results of your session comparing to the Macs.

Beautiful. Audio jewelry from one of the very best audio engineers in the world.

Beautiful system
 

Congratulations Andrew the preamp and amps look great. I so want to read the results of your comparisons.

Wow. This is about the third person who has moved tp Dan's Progression Series in the last month. Way to go !!!

Maybe there should be a group discount[emoji41]

Andrew, BTW Sir, it was my experience with the progression monos & preamp combination fresh out of the box was less than stellar. They sounded horrible; but, after the 1st hour they opened up a bit and by the time they reached the teen hours, they really started to shine up through their 30th hour. After that, they settled down.

The other owner on AA I know of, Vern (Sharp 1080) had a similar experience with his -- maybe he'll chime in regarding his break in experiences.

So, right out of the box, maybe it's premature to do a A/B as you started amongst your friends.

Dan D'Agostino recommends the amps remain ON (not standby) as long as their isn't any power concerns like fluctuations, potential storm disruptions, etc.

Best Sir,

Bob

Sexy!!

https://www.audioaficionado.org/atta...1&d=1522213004

:yes:

Progression monos and preamp joined my setup
 

Andrew,

I guess I have had my pair slightly longer than Bob's. To my ears that first hour they were very flat sounding. No depth, instruments sounded compressed and without that sensation of hearing music reproduced with feeling. That all changed the next day for sure. I leave them on now as they sound their best when in that mode to my ears. They sound fine when first powered up but seem to become even smoother overall from top to bottom and richer in tonal character with voices when I leave them on. I was standing right next to Dan D'Agostino in the store when I heard him recommend to one of his dealers to "leave them on". It was cool to talk to him and his lovely wife Petra. These are the best amps I have ever owned, and I have owned a few like the rest of you audiophiles! ;)

The caliber of systems owned and enjoyed by AA posters never ceases to amaze. If they had an Audio Rig Hall of Fame, several of our fellow member's systems would qualify including this one.

Killer setup!

The system will become more pronounced over a normal course of time.

I do turn the D’Agostino on for long periods come the weekend and turn them off, average 15 hours a day. Yes, you feel some heat but things do sound better hours after start.

Also I like your commitment to power, grounding, cables and tweaks - happy listening!

Thanks to all of You for congratulations and comments.
.... continuing from post 3:
For the A/B comparative short test listening material we choose following:
1) Malia & Boris Blank album Convergence, song Celestial Echo (it is good to test bass)
2) Shelby Lynne song Just a little loving (it is good to test women vocal and naturality of cymbals sound in the drum kit)
During first test (All Macs) we also made comparation between MC52 internal Dac and Berkeley Audio Reference Series 2 DAC which was played through BA Alpha USB.
Everybody understood that it is a "just out of box" short test for DAN D’Agostino Progression equipment (we made only 1,5 hour to break-in) and to make full critical listening test we have to give them some more time to break-in (as Bob (vintage tubes), Vern (Sharp 1080), For the Love of Music has mentioned in their comments)
But we were interesting to make comparation as they arrived.
Avoiding description of A/B switching. I will just say in general test results:
McIntosh setup played really good and I was considering MC601 to be the best in the class, until the moment that we swiched them to Progression monos. Bass was so deep that nobody could believe that the changes was so dramatically huge. It was not like, for example, when You change one cable in Your system and then You have to search for the changes by Your ears making test at least 10 times and paying attention on some instrument or group of instruments during each listening session to feel the difference. It was really huge easy-to-hear difference!!! When MC52 was changed to Progression preamp McIntosh Guys has raised their hands and recognized the total superiority of Dan D’Agostino. The sound stage was deep and clear, Shelby Lynne was staying in front of us and her voice was so natural and transparent, the sharp edges around her words which was present in Mc setup disappeared, voice become so smooth and sweet that nobody wants to stop listening. McIntosh guys left my room little disappointed, they believed in effect of Wilson, they believed in effect of McIntosh, but they couldn’t belive that changes with Dan D’Agostino will be so dramatically huge. I even can’t imagine how they will be sounding after break-in period.
Now I am waiting for my Transparent Reference G5 cables to change all my G5 Ultra. Until they come I am doing all day beak-in for Dan D’Agostino Progression components playing all king of music. Critical test day is coming.....

[QUOTE="Andrew Zakon;908599"]Thanks to all of You for congratulations and comments.
For the comparative test listening material we choose following:
1) Malia & Boris Blank album Convergence, song Celestial Echo (to test bass)
2) Shelby Lynne song Just a little loving (to test women vocal and naturality of cymbals sound in the drum kit)
During first test (All Macs) we also made comparation between MC52 internal Dac and Berkeley Audio Reference Series 2 DAC which was played through BA Alpha USB.
Everybody understood that it is a "just out of box" test for DAN D’Agostino Progression equipment (we made only 1,5 hour to break-in) and to make full critical listening test we have to give them some more time to break-in (as Bob (vintage tubes), Vern (Sharp 1080), For the Love of Music has mentioned in their comments)
But we were interesting to make comparation as they arrived.
Avoiding description of A/B switching. I will just say in general test results:
McIntosh setup played really good and I was considering MC601 to be the best in the class, until the moment that we swiched them to Progression monos. Bass was so deep that nobody could believe that the changes was so dramatically huge. It was not like, for example, when You change one cable in Your system and then You have to search for the changes by Your ears making test at least 10 times and paying attention on some instrument or group of instruments during each listening to feel the difference. It was really huge easy-to-hear difference!!! When MC52 was changed to Progression preamp McIntosh Guys has raised their hands and recognized the total victory of Dan D’Agostino. The sound stage was deep and clear, Shelby Lynne was staying in front of us and her voice was so natural and transparent, the sharp edges around her words which was present in Mc setup disappeared, voice become so smooth and sweet that nobody wants to stop listening. McIntosh guys left my room little disappointed, they believed in Wilson, they believed in McIntosh, but they couldn’t belive that changes with Dan D’Agostino will be so dramatically huge. I even can’t imagine how they will be sounding after break-in period.
Now I am waiting for my Transparent Reference G5 cables to change all my G5 Ultra. Until they come I am doing all day beak-in for Dan D’Agostino Progression components playing all king of music. Critical test day is coming...

Transparent Audio Cables has arrived.
 

Today Transparent Audio Reference G5 speaker cables and balanced interconnects has been delivered. Every cable is specially calibrated to connect WA Alexx Speakers and Dan D’Agostino Progression monoblocks, and also mono-blocks and Progression preamp correspondingly. Quality of production and packaging is beyond expectation hope that sound will be also.:music:

Andrew,

I am pretty sure you have an enormous smile on your face? I can imagine in my mind how good it must sound with the addition of the Transparent G5 cabling. Prepare to be amazed at the change. I am curious as to what you are hearing? Congratulations on the useful addition.

Andrew,
Congratulations on a killer setup. Really look forward to your impressions as they break in.

Andrew,

Wow... Congrats on your amazing system and recent upgrade! Out of curiosity, have you had the opportunity to hear the Wilsons driven by tube pre-amp/amps or were the McIntosh electronics the only other ones used before the D’Agostino?

Unfortunately I had only opportunity to listen Wilson Audio Speakers only with McIntosh nontube amps and preamp in my setup. At high-end shows I also didn’t noticed WA paired with tube gear.

WA is often paired with VTL and doshi tube amps with great results.

Progression monos and preamp joined my setup
 

You beat me to it. The first real good demo that I heard XLF's on were the big VTL's. Dire Straits was the featured group. It sounded so good! Before I bought the Dan D'Agostino Progression I borrowed a pair of ARC Reference 250 SE monoblocks. You definitely get soundstaging and depth and great sonics from those ARC amps. I could have lived with them except when it's time to retube them both!

My experience with Wilson have been with VTL and McIntosh.

My first set of Wilsons were Sophia 1s initially powered by VTL ST-85 (tubes) with a SS pre-amp. That was then upgraded to a VTL ST-150 amp, with the VTL TL-5.5 pre-amp. This was my main front end for many years and was incredibly satisfying.

Due to conveniences with the family and integration into my home theater system in the main room, I eventually sold of the tubes (both the amp and pre-amp) and went with a McIntosh SS amp running the Sophias (using a pre-pro).

I found myself becoming much less emotionally involved with music with this set up.

I then upgraded to Wilson MAXX 2s using the same electronics. It was a major improvement, but I still missed the "beautifulness of music", if that makes sense.

I changed my front end electronics back to VTL, this time with a S-400 amp and TL6.5 pre-amp. Now all that musical bliss is back!

Congratulations, thats kicking it up quite a notch :D

Thanks. That’s for sure.

The synergy between the VTL amp and pre-amp helps for sure. I’m sure it’s the same for the D’Agostino electronics.

Vern, how long did it take to break-in Your TA Reference G5 cable before they started sounding properly?

The problem is that my Ultras G5 sounded much better then Reference G5 (just out from the box it sounded terrible, it sounds like somebody put an curtain over the soundstage), now I have break them in for 16 hours. But still I am not satisfied with the sound (Ultra had tighter bass, more air and more detailed sound I have owned them for almost for 2 years in my setup).

Andrew,

I changed from Super to Reference Gen5. I had a similar experience. No soundstage and they seemed to have less low end punch. I heard the change after 20 hours of playing. The bass did return but with more definition with it. Wide open and without issues now. I was still using it as a home theatre and stereosystem at the time so it was faster.

Give it time. My reference gen5 took a week to seem "right" to me.

Thank You for advice 2fastdriving.
Today received an answer from Transparent Audio:
"Reference Level cables require around 100hours of break-in and your speaker positioning should be adjusted every time a performance level change is made in cabling. The reason for this is that more musical information is passed on to your speakers with every upgrade in Transparent cables, including more low-frequency information which is what I suspect you are hearing in the bass."

Yep, Wilson Audio has been shown with Doshi tube gear at both RMAF and AXPONA.

And we will again..very soon.

Andrew, congratulations! You have the best! Alexx/Momentum combo is one of the absolute best speaker/amp combos in existence in today's highend world. And everything else about your system is just about as good. I'm a Mac guy all the way (I love the sound of my 1.2KW's) but I view D'Agostino as basically Krell with a new name. You have his reference amps! You have the best IMO.