AudioAficionado.org - My visit with Vintage Pete

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It has been over two years since I drove down to Largo for a visit with Pete. In that time he has been busy with all sorts of upgrades to his main sound system and his bedroom sound system. The bedroom system grew from a two channel setup to a full blown 5.2 surround sound bedroom system with a 4K Sony XBR widescreen television. Pete has been a busy beaver. I did not take any photos during this visit, so the photo above is an older one, but you get the idea of what's going on.

When I arrived Pete was outside nonchalantly saving me the parking space next to his Lexus. After a warm and long overdue greeting we set about comparing the two vehicles. Both Lexus look good parked next to each other.

Once inside Pete's home we set about discussing what he has done to the living room sound system, and there's plenty. Newly rebuilt crossovers in the JBL L220A speakers along with new surrounds on the woofers, and new WBT terminals on the rear of the speakers have injected fresh life into these amazing speakers. Pete upgraded his speaker cables for the left, and right channels, as well as the huge JBL B460 subwoofer to Wireworld Silver Eclipse speaker cables, all driven by three McIntosh MC501 power amps. There's new Silver Eclipse balance interconnects from the McIntosh MDA1000 DAC to the C40 preamp, as well as a Wireworld Gold Starlight Balanced digital cable between the MCD1000 transport and the MDA1000 DAC. There are now Silver Electra power cords delivering power to the components. I am certain there are other cable upgrades I may be missing, but you get the picture. Pete got serious about cabling. He replaced an aging JBL subwoofer crossover with a much more sophisticated Sumo Delilah active crossover. Stillpoints Ultra Mini isolation feet were added under the MDA1000 and MCD1000, plus a Wireworld Super Nova glass optical cable from the MS750 music server to the MDA1000. And lets not forget the addition of the PS Audio P12 AC regenerator that powers the entire sound system. AC distortion on the public utility power went from 4.1% to 0.1%. That became a major factor in the the sound system's ability to develop a deep and wide sound stage that revealed micro details I had never heard from the system before. There is also a beautiful Oppo UDP-205 UHD disc player in the main system. All together we are talking about a serious living room sound system that has been expertly installed in Pete's meticulous manner.

As we began to listen to music on the sound system it became immediately apparent to me that Pete has substantially raised the performance bar on what was already a great sound system to a point where it now stands toe to toe with some of the best sound systems I have heard. The separation of instruments and voices, the air so to speak has developed a remarkably transparent and three dimensional presentation. Much of the music we listened to extended beyond the physical locations of the JBL L220A speakers. We listened to CD's, the music server, the Crown reel to reel tape machine, vinyl on a well preserved Harmon Kardon T60 belt drive turntable with the Ortofon 2M Black moving magnet cartridge, and we played digital files from my laptop through the Bryston BUC-1 USB to Coax converter feeding an input on the MDA1000 DAC. Each source provided us a fabulous helping of music, deep bass, crisp and well developed mids and highs. Impressive is an understatement.

Pete and I stay in touch with each other via email, PM's, and telephone, so I have been privy to Pete's intentions. I fully expected his main sound system to have gained a performance edge over what I last experienced, but I was not prepared for how the compliment of incremental upgrades over two years has elevated the sound system's performance. It sounds like a whole new system, and it sounds excellent.

Then there's the effort and expense Pete has put into creating a 5.2 surround sound system in his bedroom where he can get comfortable on his bed and literally be in the center of the action. Not only did Pete upgrade the living room television to 4K, he added a 4K Sony XBR widescreen to the bedroom. He has installed JBL ceiling mounted speakers for the rear channel, a JBL wall mounted speaker for the center channel, and a pair of stand mounted JBL 4401's for the left and right front channels, all powered by a McIntosh MC206 power amp and a MX120 surround processor. There are also two JL Audio E110 subwoofers, one on each side of the bed. I climbed up on the bed, got comfortable, and Pete played the Equalizer 2 BluRay disc on the Oppo UDP-203. Holy mackerel, you are in the movie, and of course the surround sound system is dialed in perfectly. If I had a surround sound home theater system like this in my bedroom, I don't think I would ever get out of bed.

All in all we had a great visit, played a ton of music, discussed the impact of the individual and cumulative upgrades on the main sound system, and we reminisced about equipment we used to own, our youth, and days gone by. The time flew by, and after a fine breakfast it was time for me to head home. It is always a joy to visit with Pete, either here at my home or down at his place. There's never any shortage of things to discuss and music to be played. Thank you for your hospitality, Pete. I am positive we will get together again.