Audio Dream Thread

[imprezap2]

To be honest, I am happy with what I have, but I would not say no to the following gear.

- Magico M3
- Karan Acoustics KAL Reference Mk3 pre amp (or Accuphase C-3850)
- Karan Acoustics KAM 900 Power amps (or Accuphase A-250)
- Revox project R2R
- EMM Labs TX2 CD/SACD Transport
- EMM Labs DA2 Reference D/A Converter
- Ayre DX-5 (Blu ray player)
- Crystal Cable / Cardas cables (Absolute dream / Clear Beyond)
- Listening room (based on golden ratio)

[jimtranr]

What follows may sound like heresy (not the Paul Klipsch incarnation), but feel free to chalk it up to the incoherent ramblings of a fixed-income retiree silver-haired septuagenarian who:

- Began the cruise into audio’s uncharted waters with the purchase of a Fisher 500-C at the Subic Bay Navy Exchange and mated it with a pair of University 312s in home-built bass reflex enclosures upon his return from an eventful—no, make that consequential—WestPac deployment.
- Sold high-end at San Jose’s Garland Audio in the late ‘70s, which had him dining and talking shop with Bill Johnson and Jim Winey, auditioning and discussing the fine points of the HQD with Mark Levinson at John Garland’s home, and having Bob Fulton visit the house, where he immediately proposed slitting big holes in the living-room carpet so the owner could run Bob’s Gold bridge-suspension—oops, I mean speaker—cable from an ARC D-76 to his Tympani 1Cs.
- Regrets unloading some of his audio gear—most notably an ARC SP-3A1 and a D-90—through the years.
- Had a decent-sounding semi-dedicated room that he had to give up in order to make way for other shared-living priorities and now has three systems, each of which is parked in a space that--due to layout, materials composition, furnishings, design asymmetries, and foot traffic patterns--spells “problematic.” (If you’ve seen my bedroom-system thread on the GIK forum, you know what I’m talking about.)

OK, with that utterly boring preface out of the way to provide a semblance of context, here are my thoughts on a dream system.

I’d give total consideration to that most important of all audio components—the room, the room, the room—and its relevant attributes: standing waves, reflections, and speaker boundary interference. If my wife were to win the Publishers Clearing House’s current promotion, I’d help her spend the prize by immediately adding a room of appropriate size, proportions, and layout to properly accommodate our current main system.

Yep, that’s my dream. Put the existing main system into a better room and thereby leverage to the max my existing investment. All I need.

Well, on second thought, there is another dream. But it’s totally out of my control. And no amount of money (well, short of maybe Bill Gates’, Michael Bloomberg’s, or Warren Buffet’s) can achieve it.

The dream? That all recording producers and engineers have the artistic and technical sensibilities of Richard Mohr and Lewis Layton, Kenneth Wilkinson, Keith Johnson, the Shawn Murphy of the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s latest recorded-live Brahms cycle, and Anne de Jong and Bert van der Wolf, who produced and engineered James Gaffigan’s recent outing with the Nederlands Radio Symphony Orchestra in Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony. Here’s where it all starts, and ultimately what we pay all our hard-earned money for. If we're in it for the music, anyway.

Cheers...

[phunge]

Cost no object you say...

Foundation
Well designed and treated room
HRS Audio Stands
Shunyata power cords & conditioners

Analog Source
Koetsu Coralstone
SME V-12 tonearm
SME 30/12 turntable


VAC Statement Phono


Digital Source
dCS Vivaldi


PreAmp
VAC Statement


Amps
Boulder 3050 mono blocks


Speakers
Focal Grande Utopia

[Masterlu]

Nicely Done!

[vinod_david]

[Josep]

Current System
Living Room: VPI Prime > Mcintosh MA6700 > Sonus Faber Olympica III
Room 1: B&O (CD + active speakers)
Room 2: B&O (CD + active speakers)

Dream System
Source: ClearAudio Innovation
Pre: Dan Dagostino Momentum Pre
Pow: Dan Dagostino Momentum Mono
Speakers: Sonus Faber Aida

[Toccata]

Acapella Triolon Excalibur MK V speakers
VAC Statement preamp/amp
Esoteric Grandioso SACD system
Transrotor Apollon turntable/Koetsu Onyx Platinum Phono Cartridge
Studer A-80 reel deck
Cables by Nordost

[doggiehowser]

The Dream System starts with a larger listening room.

With dedicated power lines just for analog sources, digital sources and power amplification.

I have most of my dream system or will have soon


PS Audio DirectStream DAC with Bridge II
PS Audio DirectStream Memory Transport
PS Audio BHK Preamplifier
PS Audio BHK 300 Mono
Acoustic Signature Thunder MkII with TA5000 tonearm and Kiseki Purple Heart NS

waiting for
- PS Audio BHK Phono (if not, Audio Research Ref 3 Phono)
- a replacement speaker for my Thiel CS3.7 with S1 integrator and dual SmartSub2.2

[jzzmusician]

My dream system is simple.

More hours listening to it.
More good music to discover.

Same deal with my motorcycle. It just needs more miles.

-- Bob

My low rent system consists of:

Quad 2805 fully modified by Kent at Electrostatic solutions
Primaluna Dialogue HP integrated
PS Audio NuWave dac
Cambridge Audio transport.

Minimalist yes, but it sounds like music.

[JGM411]

This room with any of the best Wilson or Sonus Faber speakers.