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  #91  
Old 02-19-2020, 11:56 PM
Charles Charles is online now
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Also, I like to mention something about Mac. The nasty word "scrim" was used in reference to the Mac sound earlier in this thread. I never heard this word before and I have a fairly large vocabulary. Looked it up on Google: coarse, harsh, opaque. This in reference to Mac when compared to AR.

Let's consider one of my main channels. Nothing but pure Wel Signature beginning with the AES/EBU digital cable, then the Wel IC (retail, 14,200.00 then the Wel speaker cable 19,000.00 retail). Wel Signature is solid silver and very heavy guage.

Niagara 7000 power conditioner (8,000.00) all Dragon pc's HC or source where appropriate.

The Dragon pc's are mostly solid silver.

The Niagara 5000 is 4,000.00. The 2 HC Dragons are 13,900.00 for a total of 17,900.00 and the grand total is 55,000 for one channel. This does not include the Niagara 7000 but does include the pc for the MCD1100. Total is about 55,000.00 per channel but let's round down to 50,000.00 per channel because of some overlap.

This is very expensive top line gear. Silver is known for transparency and coolness compared to copper.

The speakers are XVX Chronosonics. I maintain that if Mac's truly were scrimmy, I have a system that would immediately reveal any scrimmyness, whatsoever.

My system is smooth with zero scrimyness. In addition it is exceedingly transparent and dynamic. Some of you in fact most of you can't remotely match my cables or speakers in quality, IMO. You have bought AR to soothe the gear in your system that Mac otherwise exposes as scrimmy.

You come on the website to tout your AR and its superiority over Mac but you have never encountered someone like me who's calling you into account and taking exception.

Dags are IMO very transparent and have no flaws, again my opinion. I could without hesitation swap out my Macs for Dags. What I would wind up with is a more intense front of the auditorium presentation but with zero scrimyness or anything else, again my opinion, because I have heard and lived with the old Krell for years.

However with Mac I can achieve the similar result by turning up the volume about a decibel.

There is no limit to how loud I can play my XVXes without my Mac producing scrimmyness. When Mac says that their sound is the sound of the music itself I have found them correct.

Hope you enjoy and I liked the bear pic a lot.

Last edited by Charles; 02-20-2020 at 01:00 AM.
  #92  
Old 02-20-2020, 12:31 AM
damacman damacman is offline
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I believe a great many online discussions could be far more civil if folks prefaced their replies with IMHO ... In audio, there is no Best, no Right, and no Absolutes. It's all a compromise based around preference.

As a Mc owner for three decades, it sure would be easier thinking Mc was Best if I'd have never owned a Spectral amplifier ...
  #93  
Old 02-20-2020, 12:43 AM
Charles Charles is online now
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Quote:
Originally Posted by damacman View Post
I believe a great many online discussions could be far more civil if folks prefaced their replies with IMHO ... In audio, there is no Best, no Right, and no Absolutes. It's all a compromise based around preference.

As a Mc owner for three decades, it sure would be easier thinking Mc was Best if I'd have never owned a Spectral amplifier ...
Your Spectral amp/gear just might not sound so good when placed in my system with my AQ and XVX and then compared to my Mac. Any flaws would be immediately apparent.

You see folks like you (this tread is full of them, it's like catching flies with sugar, they just can't resist, I'm having a great time) have their favorite gear in systems tailored to get a really good sound that they like, in your case Spectral. They begin by praising Mac...., but then just like clock work comes the "if I hadn't...." and you can fill in the blank with your prized piece from here on out. damacman, thanks for making my point.

Last edited by Charles; 02-20-2020 at 01:34 AM.
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Old 02-20-2020, 12:59 AM
damacman damacman is offline
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Charles - presently, I own an MC225, (2)MC2300s, an MR75, an MC7300, (2)MC2600s, a C200, a pair of XRT22s, and a D150 - most in use daily.

I traded the DMA50 for an MR71 in the 90s.

My username isn't daspectralman.
  #95  
Old 02-20-2020, 12:59 AM
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Scrimmyness, $50,000 per channel and grizzly bears. Fantastic.
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  #96  
Old 02-20-2020, 01:13 AM
2fastdriving 2fastdriving is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by damacman View Post

My username isn't daspectralman.
OK, now that's funny!
  #97  
Old 02-20-2020, 01:39 AM
damacman damacman is offline
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OK, now that's funny!
I have my moments. Point is that no brand has a corner on Best. I own just as many pieces of non-McIntosh gear and the MR75 is my only McIntosh source - and it's actually quite a good one. I have my reasons and being daft of deaf don't apply.

Who am I to challenge the opinion of any poster in this thread in regards to what works for them? How on earth can I appreciate the fruits of their efforts from behind my keyboard?

While I agree with Charles' position on McIntosh being oft compared unfavorably to the brand of the day, and that these comparisons imply McIntosh to be a reference, I'm not naive enough to think that there isn't a lot of really excellent gear offered by many excellent brands. Nor should you.

Lighten up.
  #98  
Old 02-20-2020, 01:48 AM
Charles Charles is online now
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Quote:
Originally Posted by damacman View Post
I have my moments. Point is that no brand has a corner on Best. I own just as many pieces of non-McIntosh gear and the MR75 is my only McIntosh source - and it's actually quite a good one. I have my reasons and being daft of deaf don't apply.

Who am I to challenge the opinion of any poster in this thread in regards to what works for them? How on earth can I appreciate the fruits of their efforts from behind my keyboard?

While I agree with Charles' position on McIntosh being oft compared unfavorably to the brand of the day, and that these comparisons imply McIntosh to be a reference, I'm not naive enough to think that there isn't a lot of really excellent gear offered by many excellent brands. Nor should you.

Lighten up.
I agree. Folks that own AR or Dags are true audiophiles in the best since of the word. I couldn't imagine auditioning all that gear. Very, very sophisticated and their opinions I listen to and give them weight and respect.
  #99  
Old 02-20-2020, 01:57 AM
Charles Charles is online now
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While all this has been going on I've been listening to the Fred Hersh Trio Dancing In the Dark and Duke's Big Four.

This XVX is a different animal. Never heard anything like it. I mean never. It's the best acquisition by far I have made. It's useless to try to describe the sound this speaker produces except to say the music just pours forth from it so beautifully and gracefully. It is dynamic and quick beyond belief. Every time I climb my stairs in the morning I can't believe it's really there in my room paid for and in perfect condition never touched by human hands except the dealer's/installers. Sometimes dreams come true.

The financial pain of the purchase is long since over. All my accounts have reloaded. I'm flush once again. Life is great. Retirement is great. I'm livin the dream.

Last edited by Charles; 02-20-2020 at 02:17 AM.
  #100  
Old 02-20-2020, 02:28 AM
jpgr4blu jpgr4blu is online now
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Charles:
The XVX is a remarkable speaker. I heard it at Innovative audio last month which the eminent recording engineer and Wilson ambassador Peter McGrath presented with Dag Momentums, the same amps he uses in his home system like Dave Wilson did in his home system. Those suckers are just Dag fanboys who never heard Mac gear. I know you know better. Now go get 'em.

P.S. Although I did not use the word scrim in this thread, that word precisely defines the effect that Mac gear has on sound--- as if a very fine, but slightly opaque run of fabric was draped over the speakers to smooth out the sound and obscure microdetail. I used all silver cables from Kimber when I had my Mac system to balance (brighten) what I felt was perhaps a too smooth (although lovely) sounding amp--but I did not realize until later that cables can only "tune" what the amp presents. That is, I could brighten the smooth sound but could not recover the microdetail that never hit the speaker cables. By transparent, I don't mean harsh, I mean more real. Your speakers are the best I've ever heard. I'm sure they sound fabulous in your system. But I can assure you that the overwhelming majority of audiophiles who have heard speakers of that calibre with Dag, Constellation, Soulution, Dartzeel, Pass, Gryphon and other more transparent, albeit much more expensive, amps would agree that you are driving a Ferrari with snow tires. Uh oh---here he comes....
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