I visited stereofool's house last weekend. He has Piega C8, Butler 2250, AR Ref1, RaySonic CDP, Linn Sondek LP12, AR phono stage, JPS SC, grover balanced and SE whiteys, equitech, foam corner traps and first reflection absorbtion. Insulated wood panel walls, lots of built in bookcases and a huge bass trap integrated into the ceiling. We had planned to do some acoustic tweekin of the room, but by the time I actually got there a month or so later, Steve had tweaked the new Piegas pretty well. I couldn't hear any acoustic issues at all, nice job Steve! I marvelled especially at the incredible bass that he had goin on. Deep and satisfying, meeting well with the extremely present midrange. I couldn't believe it was coming from 3 6" drivers. Finally Steve spilled the beans, his ACI Titan was playing along with the Piegas.
Fooled again! Same thing happened to me at RMAF07, the subs blend perfectly, only noticable when turned off.
Anyway, another hour goes by, I'm starting to notice a little blur in the upper bass, a little chesty on the occasional vocal or piano note. Knowing that there is no blur in Piega or ACI separately, I asked Steve if he ever messed with the phase angle of the sub. Nope... What the heck, worth a try.. we are audiophiles anyway right? I twisted the phase 90 degrees and it cleared up a lot. It was late at night so that was the most we were willing to fiddle at that point. The sound was cleaner but not as fat and satisfying anymore. Bringing up the sub crossover to 40Hz and turning down the sub made it come right in. Magnifique! What was great before was now one of those rare audio listening experiences that you remember for a long time...
Steve's system has tubes in every component. I think this is why the midrange was so luscious. It did not seem rounded at all, it was very subtle, but also sounded fat and huge, palpable. Big and luxurious but also fast and quick. Combined with the bass of the AR preamp, Butler SS, and ACI plus the speed and control of Piega it was the best bass I have ever heard. Maybe by now Steve has got it set back to the way it was before... murmering, "another damn audiophile screwing with my system..."
We had a quick listen to the Linn TT. Everytime I hear that high end vinyl sound I think, "I gotta get a turntable." Incredible.
Visiting a master audiophile for a day is the most rewarding thing you can do as a novice. I brought some gear to swap in and test, blablabla... But soon after I arrived and heard his system, I realized this wasn't gonna be the usual gear swapping G2G. Just Listen and Learn!
Thanks for a great visit and lots of learning, Steve!