What's the best system you've heard?

[wee tee cee]

Ive only ever been to one hi fi show in the late 80s.

My mate had an inheritance from his aunty burning a whole in his pocket.

Heard a few high end system with rooms packed full of....enthusiasts!

There was an empty room with sugden amps and harbeth or pmc speakers-guy was spot on and let us play anything we fancied.

John martyn solid air- oh boy was I impressed ( but also shit poor pushing trolleys in safeway car parks to scrape through uni)

Sound never left me.....always held onto the thought-one day ill have a system that sounds like that.

[Haselsh1]

Sound never left me.....always held onto the thought-one day ill have a system that sounds like that.

Yeah, just like my experience with the Celestion SL6's. That sound has never left my mind. Big long room and small stand mounts. Absolutely pivotal moment for me.

[Pharos]

I'm amazed as I read some of these posts.

In '70 I bought my Tannoy Golds, and ran them with a 33 and Nelson-Jones 10 +10, and was happy until about '85, at which point I bought some ESS AMT 1aMs which I rebuilt to latest spec. Monitors.

The sound was to me and friends, so far ahead of the Tannoys that everyone was in disbelief, but was that an illusion? Since that time I have had 4 pairs of ATCs, three actives, the latter being 100ASLs which I also rebuilt and spent £1k on.

I then went back to a pair of ESSs and redesigned those several times, and think that these were extremely good, with this path all part of a gradual increase in quality along this time-line.

I now have a pair Of ADAM Tensor Betas, which I consider to be a further development of the ESS speakers, and with much more design effort and rigour. So I am amazed at the eulogising of Tannoys with a 33.

This in my journey, going back to about ;84, and if Tannoys with a 33 really are better, what have I been doing? Spending money and making a prat of myself?

[walpurgis]

I've run Tannoys with a 33/303 combination. It works, in a dull, 'old fashioned' way.

Robust valve power amps or decent solid state Class A are a different ball game though. This is mainly what I use to drive my Tannoys, in conjunction with TVC pre-amps much of the time. The sound is alive and very lucid. I've heard very expensive systems and don't feel I'm missing out. Quite the reverse actually.

[Macca]

.

This in my journey, going back to about ;84, and if Tannoys with a 33 really are better, what have I been doing? Spending money and making a prat of myself?

if you have then so have most of the rest of us

A 33 is pretty poor pre-amp, possibly, in fact certainly, one of the worst I have ever heard. The 303 on the other hand, is a different matter. Used within their limits they are very good.

Being able to hear into the recording and having a sound which communicates and is enjoyable are not necessarily mutually exclusive. But it isn't easy to get the balance right.

[Pharos]

In the 70s I bought a 303 and tried it for a few days, the bass was woolly, and the top not as good as the NJ amp.
Sold it within a week. The 33 is now very old, and upgrade rebuilds are available, neat bit of industrial design though.

[alphaGT]

Way back in 1987, I went to a hi end salon to shop for a CD player. They placed me in a room with the two Sony ES CD players I was considering attached to a Klyne preamp, that was driving the biggest pair of Krell monoblocks I’ve ever seen! They were huge! I wish I could remember what model they were? Most likely the flagship of that year. And they were driving a pair of Martin Login Sequals. I brought a stack of my own CD’s and sat there spinning one after the other until the salesman came in and told me the shop was closing. Truly the most 3 dimensional, right there in the room, experience I’ve ever had. I cannot imagine hi fi could ever get better than that. I’ve been chasing that sound ever since and have never come close.

Although, on another occasion the salesman wanted to show me what I could have bought for the same money I had in my own system. So he played a SOTA record player into a B&K preamp driving two B&K Sonata monoblocks, very affordable amps, driving a pair of Vandersteen 2c’s, it was impressively Musical and the saxophone player was right in the room with us! Most impressive and really hurt my feelings because it was approx. the same price as what I had at home!


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[AJSki2fly]

It is the one below in signature, for the following reasons.

1. A natural and musical rendition of music, which sounds quite accurate with good bass.

2. It did not cost an arm and a leg (relatively speaking), amps and speakers were 2nd hand, and are excellent value.

3. The Gyrodec I know is not what everyone would spend there money on, but with the SME IV, and Cusis MC cartridge(Ben Micro Wood SL with upgrade casing) and Orbe upgrade it goods a great musical rendition.

4. The speakers, well they just speak for themselves, I think that I would have to spend a fortune to better them and paired with the amps it is extremely musical and natural.

5. the Tilbury passive pre-amp is the bargain item in the system that just gives amazing results, totally neutral.

If I won the lottery then it would be Jardis amps and some serious speakers, if I ever get the chance then the next step would be and SME Turntable possible, or maybe a Pink Triangle limited if I could find one

[Lerxst]

I'm glad I can't remember exactly what it sounded like - it was in a high end shop called London Sound in Ruislip a long time ago.

I don't want to listen to anyone else's stuff really - in case it is better. It is rubbish when you have to go back to your own system after hearing a better one. Like driving a BMW 7 series and then jumping in a 1990s Peugeot 206.

[walpurgis]

I'm glad I can't remember exactly what it sounded like - it was in a high end shop called London Sound in Ruislip a long time ago

That shop was on Field End Road in Eastcote, near Ruislip. London Sound was (and probably still is) run by Mike Solomons. The main demo system I recall seeing there was Quad. I heard the 33/303 driving a pair of ESL's. He swapped the 303 over for a 405 and the sound improved considerably. The 405 was a brand new model at that time, so around 1975.

He moved his business to Harrow on The Hill not long after, West Street I believe. Later relocated to Alexandra Avenue, Rayners Lane. Were he has remained as far as I know.