Thanks for cooling me a bit Alberto !
I know very well the type of sound that you describe, although I never bought such a system.
In Paris, there is a shop specialized in this forgiving and beautiful sound. If you come to Paris for a visit, I will bring you there. "Alain Choukroun" is the name.
He was the first high end audio store in Paris. You would be very surprised to see that most of the systems displayed there are right on your needs and searchs !
I listened to many systems there and he carried the Shindo line before this line was no more compliant with RoHS. And unfortunately, I never listened to the Shindo gear there...
To be clear, I love those systems. They don't give you everything. They often lack bass power and slam. But they have a wonderful quality : they sound almost always very good, not matter the recording you listen to !
The reason why I never bought such a system is also very simple : how will I feel years later with a somehow "colored" sound ? Will I have the same excitment or will I get bored ?
I think that all depends on your music tastes and collection.
One day, someone here mentionned with lots of humour that the problem was your discs choice and taste and not the absence of tone controls
!
On my sytem, I have a few recordings that don't sound wonderful but are still quite enjoyable, on good days
!
I know that you have much more of these recordings than I do. Hence you need a more forgiving system.
I would say that 90 % of my music sounds extremely good on my very neutral system without tone controls, and it gives me more overall than the very musical systems of Alain Choukroun built around Leben, Ear, Rega, Tannoy, Mulidine, Harbeth.....
What excites me with the Shindo sound you and others on the web describe, is that it goes obviously beyond "forgiving". They seem to rediscover the essence of music. Probably that Stephen will have much to say here too, and I will be very interested in his opinion because he had almost the same system than I had at this time with same speakers and the 501's.
Thanks a lot for your detailed reviews. Some fresh air !
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alberto
Jerome,
I thought about you while writing this review - and I almost sent you a message NOT to read it .
Unfortunately, as far as I know there are no Shindo dealers in Chicago - but someone else might chime in and correct me.
In any case, as I mentioned in the review, this is a very polarizing amplifier. I think people will either love it or hate it. If you like the very nice and neutral sound of the C1000s and have been happy without tone controls I am not sure you'd like the sound signature of this amplifier.
I am not saying this just to make you feel better (although that's also nice) but to emphasize that my enthusiasm and excitement is based purely on my subjective preferences - which are quite off the beaten path.
I thought many times about the McIntosh C1000s to go with my MDA1000, but in the end I knew that I would be ruining their beautiful balanced design and clean/neutral sound by shoving my C34V preamp with tone controls in the middle  .
One question for you Jerome. How would you define the sound you are after? If your definition is not something like: "Very warm, relaxed and forgiving - even if it's at the expense of some speed, resolution and neutrality" then you are not missing anything. This would not be the right amp for you.
Now, for people with tastes like Vintage Pete on the other hand ... .
Alberto |