[Ritmo]

Dear AA friends,

Flew to Dallas again today to visit with my dealer. I spent a good part of the day listening to lots of music and comparing equipment. This was my second visit over the last month.

The equipment:

- McIntosh C48 and MC302
- ARC LS27 and DS450
- Boulder CD Player/Server
- Wilson Sasha
- Kimber Select ICs/Sp cables

The music:
- Chris Botti - Boston Pops
- Yo Yo Ma
- Eric Clapton
- Fourplay
- Jennifer Warnes
- Peter White
- Diana Krall
- Elton John

McIntosh Combo - Very dynamic. Very solid bottom and lively. Presentation was very good with front row presence - this surprised me a bit. Handled dynamics very well. I did feel vocals were not as natural as with the ARC - personal taste I guess.

ARC Combo - Very liquid, velvety sound. Excelled in the mids and highs. Terrific (wide) soundstage and focused image. Very respectable bottom end but short on the power punch of the Mc. Maybe of couple of rows back - but not too far back. Both female and male vocals - very nice, natural. Piano, trumpet and guitar strings sounded awesome - as Alberto would say - delicious. Could listen to this for hours and hours.

ARC LS27 with MC302 - I hoped to get get the velvety smoothness and accuracy of the ARC gear with the bottom end kick of the Mc which I suspected/expected could the right combo. This would have been a reasonable setup but ultimately, I preferred the ARC combo. By the way, not an easy decision.

So, I'm going ahead with the ARC combo. That LS27 is a honey of a line stage. I'm a little concern with the bottom end of the DS450 but our fellow AA member Aerosmith has had the this amp with the Salon 2s and feels is a nice combo. So will see how the first few months go. It should take a few weeks for the gear to arrive. As you can imagine, lots of anticipation over the next month.

Will keep you posted.

Mike