Cape Cod with Masterlu

[streetspirit]

I had the absolute pleasure of meeting Ivan in Cape Cod just a few days ago. I can't say enough about his genuine hospitality and his amazing systems! Just as Jazzfan (Keith) said, "Wow"!!!

I checked out all rooms and each offered fanstastic sound. The design, planning and attention to detail is unparalleled. I'm talking first class everywhere you look.

The Burmester/Aida room in the basement is off the charts unreal. The actual speaker is breathtaking, the form, the finish and importantly the sounds are crazy good! Each track Ivan played displayed the wonderful dynamics, detail and superb imaging. The soundstage was gigantic. All varieties of music delivered sublime sound. Of course the Burmester gear was gorgeous and the cables were WW Platinum, but again the layout and thought process to build this system is astonishing. An adjacent room behind the Burmester stack holds even more goodies... Esoteric K-01 with the G-01 rubidium clock! I obviously was in heaven!

The Strads with the McIntosh tubes were "delicious" (paging Dr. Alberto!) and again the room with its wall of Mac was a sight to behold. Music from the MS750 was stunning, time flew by as we were having so much fun. Next Ivan fired up some vinyl and we rocked some AC/DC. Unreal sound and super clean, we were just grinning!

The theatre room continued the level of excellence I enjoyed. I remember following the build of the theatre room with awe... The craftsmanship of the room was awesome and the forethought to ensure the room could handle the barrage of sound was evident. Bass hits hard and fast but again so clean with no muddiness. Watching movie scenes via the projector with this surround system is the ultimate. Colors were vivid and striking!

The Sonus Faber Amati Futuras were setup with all Bryston equipment. Preamp, amps and DAC etc. and all played nicely with the Futuras. Truly holographic sound appeared between them. All types of music from pipe organ to indie rock to jazz sounded full and even though Ivan says the room isn't ideal these puppies are dialed in and sound terrific.

Next up were the TAD CR-1s paired with Accuphase. These speakers are bigger than one might think and they certainly play much much bigger. Again soundstage was wide open and sound was supreme. Keith played some outstanding selections such as Dire Straits (Mark Knopfler's guitar picking stood out in my mind), Aloe Blacc (fun to hear some new music and jam) and others that just astounded me. I later played tracks from Elbow's album The Seldom Seen Kid, Jamie Cullum's Twentysomething, Kaskade's Strobelite Seduction, Sigur Ros's Aegis Byrjun and Spoon's Gimme Fiction to change things up and believe me the CR-1s were ready to deliver the goods. The sound was just so good and they weren't even fully broken in yet! I spent a fair amount of time delighting in that room!

If you haven't been up to the Cape (or Florida which is on my list now!) to listen to Ivan's systems you need to get up there STAT! But as others have said, beware, you enter at your own risk... The check writes itself after listening to such phenomenal systems. I couldn't resist the "flu" and after careful consideration I feel a "TAD" bit better... knowing I'll be enjoying some of the finest speakers I've had the pleasure of hearing!

Thanks to Ivan for going above and beyond in all areas!

[bart]

Thank you for sharing and congrats on your purchase!

[Masterlu]

Mitch... Thanks so much for visiting me, and your wonderful review. I enjoyed our time together.

[streetspirit]

Originally Posted by bart

Thank you for sharing and congrats on your purchase!

Thanks Bart! I can't wait to play some classical music too!

[streetspirit]

Originally Posted by Masterlu

Mitch... Thanks so much for visiting me, and your wonderful review. I enjoyed our time together.

The pleasure was all mine! I'll have to work on visiting Florida next!

[bart]

Originally Posted by streetspirit

Thanks Bart! I can't wait to play some classical music too!

Mitch, you new speakers will transduce classical music marvelously. I've heard them do so a number of times now.

[jdandy]

Mitch.......I enjoyed your write up on the Cape visit. I certainly know what you mean about the check writing itself.

Congratulations on the new TAD speakers. I predict those will be in your sound system a very long time.

[streetspirit]

Originally Posted by jdandy

Mitch.......I enjoyed your write up on the Cape visit. I certainly know what you mean about the check writing itself. Congratulations on the new TAD speakers. I predict those will be in your sound system a very long time.

Thanks Dan! That means quite a lot since I've learned much from your posts and reviews!

Mitch