Guess what has just arrived?

[kfr01]

Originally Posted by Olskool

Good evenenig Karl thought I might give you an update on the performance of my system with the LS27 replacing the Yamaha RXV- 2095 and pairing it with the VS-115. You guys with exquisit Hi End Systems must absolutely drool all over yourselves when your system is really performing at optimum. The performance improvements emanating from my simple little system now is completely unbelievable to me! I expected improvement and can tell you I only dreamed about having such sonic performance and musical pleasure. But first a little scary stuff to share...

Yesterday Bill, Loop4fun, and I went to a Nordost demo session at our dealer , Accoustic Audio. Somebody remind me to either not go to these or leave my wallet at home from now on! Gotta admit though the money spent was very well worth it! We were thorouly educated and convinced about improvements power cables, interconnects and speaker cabling could make as result of the demo from the Engineer with Nordost (Lars). I purchased a set pair of Nordost Vishnu's since they were making room for the new models and they offered these demos at an ok price). Yep, rushed right home and put them on and was horrified at the initial performance coming through my speakers! Very hard, sharp and edgy, with poor definition initially. After checking to confirm all was connected properly I proceeded to let it play to see if I was going nuts or not and within 20 minutes or so, right before my ears it started pulling together and refocusing. I was about 85% back in the groove but still not feeling all the love by bed time (ok, another 2:00 AM finish). I called the dealer today to ask If he could offer guidance and confirm I could trade these back to him if I just could not come to grips with the results. His answer was prompt and comforting, no problem! He offered a suggestion however. He suggested I remove the low end APC power conditioner in my power stream and promised I was losing performance there. Got home tonight, removed it from the line up, confirmed connections, reset IsoPods and lit it up; Nirvana! Even before it warmed up there was a stark difference. Last night I was really concerned that I had lost some of the bottom end detail and throattiness i've enjoyed from the system previously - nowhere near an issue now; full range, deep, detailed, clean with plenty of headroom from the soundstage. Real music coming out of it now and the speakers have finally dissappeared! This is more than i've ever experienced in my system. Next week I will borrow a couple sets of balanced interconnects and can let you know how that works out. If it gets any better I may never sleep again or return to work! Sorry to be so windy but you gotta know I'm excited! Definately not a technical or any other kind of writer but I hope this helps you understand my experience with ARC. Larry

Larry: Thanks for your write-up. I'm glad that things sorted out! Yes, the one downside of a high resolution system is that it is difficult to rest when something is a bit off. Are you running balanced interconnects?

Do you like the user interface on the LS27?

The LS27 and VS-115 combo... how are male and female voices? A symphony? My one concern about the combo is that all the tubes would provide too much warmth and not enough control. That said, the allure of a silky smooth midrange is interesting to me!

[BillK]

The interface on the LS-27 is actually really nice.

If it weren't for two factors I'd probably have one on order:

1) Soundstage restriction (may have been break-in, the demo only had around 330 hours on it)

2) Not an LS-27 specific issue, but since it doesn't mute unused inputs, I could "hear" my tuner when it was switched to the processor output (not surprising, given the processor input is unity gain, but I've gotten lazy with my Levinson No. 380S. )

[Olskool]

Originally Posted by kfr01

Larry: Thanks for your write-up. I'm glad that things sorted out! Yes, the one downside of a high resolution system is that it is difficult to rest when something is a bit off. Are you running balanced interconnects?

Do you like the user interface on the LS27?

The LS27 and VS-115 combo... how are male and female voices? A symphony? My one concern about the combo is that all the tubes would provide too much warmth and not enough control. That said, the allure of a silky smooth midrange is interesting to me!

Thanks Karl. I will begin auditioning balanced interconnects next week. The improvements from just the power cables, and iso cones, convinces me the balanced inters will make even larger improvements using them. The remote control is so logical, easy to use and comfortable feeling I rarely even think to Ogo to the front panel. Initially I thought the lack of tonal control might be a problem but tonal pass through is clear, accurate and without additional coloration. When I demonstrated the VS-115 against the Mac it was obvious the Mac was considerably warmer and Tubey. As a matter of fact when the decision was made for the VS over the Mac I wondered if i was going to get as much warmth as i wanted. Now that i have it, the system is very musical overall. Important to note i like deep, clean but throaty bass. I believe im understanding what is meant by fast bass response now. Not having enough experience with other high end systems I am reluctant to say to you it would meet your tastes though. Vocals will be a report I will have to share with you another time as everything played thus far has been focused in jazz instrumental. Having a system capable of exposing poor audio including vocalizations is new for me so not sure yet what I hear each time. Overall, excellent low noise floor - audio and featured instruments and vocals rise up from blackness very well, the soundstage is definately distinct and well imaged - I suspect with more solid power from an great amp and the stage would expand nicely. The demo we listened to two days ago was using an ARC integrated amp with 200 watts per channel and that stage filled the room at times. As far as hearing other input from unselected sources i have not had something else running when listening to any other source. I hope this helps.