Guarneri Mementos' Observations

[miner]

PLEASE, keep the GMs. These are on my BUCKET LIST of toys to own. I currently use the Cremona Auditor Ms with a REL B1 sub - quite satisfying easily integrated, BUT those GMs are begging for me to come get them. Thak you for the time you spent with your write-ups. Plus, you are fortunate to have a wife who enjoys your hobby, too.

[TOGA]

Ron, Not kidding, this is true, a pair of these are posted for sale, " near you", they re JL G213. I even called him. Ok but I'm joking. I know they're not for you. Ha. They are more suitable for to Theater.

[bachrocks]

MyPal, thank you. The GMs are keepers.

Dan, thanks for always great advice. BTW, do you see any issues running the GMs wth one MC275 and a powered sub? I mean, will the speed of the powerful SS amp in the sub with the perhaps slower speed of the tube amp match? Will these work coherently?

Julian and 1KW, thanks for the support. I feel confident starting with one sub now. And definitely, I need to much more carefully arrange the speakers in the room. I will recruit my wife to listen, and I'll--of course--be the speaker mover.

Toga, your support is beyond anything I could have ever dreamed about. You know I treasure your help!

[bachrocks]

This next installment of my notes involves my strong feelings for a cable. Strange, I know. Sounds creepy, actually.

A Cable Love Story

After finishing the listening tests I posted previously, we arrived at the best sound. This was a Thursday evening. While away at the in-laws on Friday and Saturday, Togo called or emailed me that he needed the Anaconda PC back to do some tests in his system. I became anxious. OMG, was I losing the one PC that seemed the heart of the system?

When he picked it up on Sunday morning, we spent some time listening to it. Then, I removed the PC and put on the Acrolink replacement Toga brought. I was nervous. What would it sound like?

Thankfully, as we listened, I proclaimed I could hear no differences. I felt a little better that the sound quality was not taking a dive. Later that night, alone, I started to listen to music. Very quickly, I felt depressed and put on some movie to watch. I couldn't listen to music without the Anaconda PC. And it was gone.

The next day in an email, Toga asked me about the Acrolink. I relayed the above story to him. He sympathized. The next morning, he called me to ask about lunch. Usually, I jump at the chance, but I had some work to do so politely declined. He then informed me he wanted to let me borrow (and possibly buy) the Anaconda. that's why he wanted to meet. OH?

I immediately said I am being selfish, but I wanted to meet him for lunch after all. What a great guy, huh? He bought me lunch and gave me back the cable. What a lucky person I am!

So, that afternoon, I put the PC back in place. I didn't play any music. I just walked around looking at the GMs, knowing they would sound glorious if I played music. This was peaceful. Enjoying an audio system without music.

Later, I put on some baroque lute music I adore, and very softly let it play. I was not testing anything here. I only wanted to welcome back the PC slowly and carefully.

In the evening after I put the wife to bed, I still could not listen to music. I just felt relieved that the PC was back in place. I put on some Ambient 2 music by Eno/Budd and lay on the couch. the music was barely audible. I wanted to fall asleep listening to my system. I never do that, but it seemed so natural.

Honestly, it felt like a caring mom watching me as if I were sick. After I woke up the next morning in the bedroom, I just lay there, thinking about how secure I felt knowing the Anaconda was in place.

Life is strange. I never imagined I could be so crazy about a power cord. It felt like a girlfriend returned after an argument. I was in love, not puppy-love, but snake-love: same thing, different name.

[antipop]

Originally Posted by bachrocks

What I later discovered is that my wife cared more about our audio system than I imagined.

It's funny how they look like they don't seem to mind our system where they actually care a lot. My girlfriend now asks me to put some music and she listens to it whereas she never used to do it. She mocked my room treatment until I pressed play then she said it sounds nice but I know it meant a lot more than that.

Originally Posted by bachrocks

I think my room is not acoustically poor. I enjoy the sound, sometimes, deeply so, but I also have this suspicion that the sound could be better, much better, and this has led me back to a component that I fell in love with when it came out, the MEN220, although I have not heard it yet.

Ron, before shelling out your $ for the MEN220, I would spend some time in REW (Room Eq Wizard) to test the room. I've been through that and there are some things that active room correction cannot correct which have a tremendous impact on sound (reverb, first reflexion point,...).

The software is free and you only need to buy a mic and a soundcard. That will cost you less than $200 and some time but you'd know what needs correction afterward.

I thought my room was ok but I was wrong. I went full blast on room treatment and I will never look back. It changed the sound of my system in deeper way than any other change could have made and for a tenth of the costs of new speakers.

[jdandy]

Originally Posted by bachrocks

This next installment of my notes involves my strong feelings for a cable. Strange, I know. Sounds creepy, actually.

A Cable Love Story

After finishing the listening tests I posted previously, we arrived at the best sound. This was a Thursday evening. While away at the in-laws on Friday and Saturday, Togo called or emailed me that he needed the Anaconda PC back to do some tests in his system. I became anxious. OMG, was I losing the one PC that seemed the heart of the system?

When he picked it up on Sunday morning, we spent some time listening to it. Then, I removed the PC and put on the Acrolink replacement Toga brought. I was nervous. What would it sound like?

Thankfully, as we listened, I proclaimed I could hear no differences. I felt a little better that the sound quality was not taking a dive. Later that night, alone, I started to listen to music. Very quickly, I felt depressed and put on some movie to watch. I couldn't listen to music without the Anaconda PC. And it was gone.

The next day in an email, Toga asked me about the Acrolink. I relayed the above story to him. He sympathized. The next morning, he called me to ask about lunch. Usually, I jump at the chance, but I had some work to do so politely declined. He then informed me he wanted to let me borrow (and possibly buy) the Anaconda. that's why he wanted to meet. OH?

I immediately said I am being selfish, but I wanted to meet him for lunch after all. What a great guy, huh? He bought me lunch and gave me back the cable. What a lucky person I am!

So, that afternoon, I put the PC back in place. I didn't play any music. I just walked around looking at the GMs, knowing they would sound glorious if I played music. This was peaceful. Enjoying an audio system without music.

Later, I put on some baroque lute music I adore, and very softly let it play. I was not testing anything here. I only wanted to welcome back the PC slowly and carefully.

In the evening after I put the wife to bed, I still could not listen to music. I just felt relieved that the PC was back in place. I put on some Ambient 2 music by Eno/Budd and lay on the couch. the music was barely audible. I wanted to fall asleep listening to my system. I never do that, but it seemed so natural.

Honestly, it felt like a caring mom watching me as if I were sick. After I woke up the next morning in the bedroom, I just lay there, thinking about how secure I felt knowing the Anaconda was in place.

Life is strange. I never imagined I could be so crazy about a power cord. It felt like a girlfriend returned after an argument. I was in love, not puppy-love, but snake-love: same thing, different name.

Ron....... . . "Ode to Anaconda" . .

[jdandy]

Originally Posted by bachrocks

Dan, thanks for always great advice. BTW, do you see any issues running the GMs wth one MC275 and a powered sub? I mean, will the speed of the powerful SS amp in the sub with the perhaps slower speed of the tube amp match? Will these work coherently?

Ron.......A powered subwoofer will have no issues integrating with a single MC275. When I had a single MC275 powering my PMC EB1i speakers I also had the JL Audio Fathom f113 subwoofer in the mix. Smooth as silk mix with the PMC's. You will be fine.