The ML1's definitely play above their size. They sounded far bigger than they look, and yes, they are hefty. In my opinion they are very transparent to the source and we definitely heard shortcomings in the source until the better DAC's were inserted. They had nice punchy bass, but I do wish I could hear their big brothers. I think they will need to be paired with a sub for a room as large as Evan's. That tweeter is very nice indeed.
The Fritz Carbon's were the polar opposite of the ML1's, being a bit darker and warmer and much more forgiving and laid back. Mike's episode 700's were very nice too, and a bit of a surprise to me at how nice they sounded overall. The Clements bookshelf speakers I brought over were outclassed completely, sounding disjointed and rough, but then I kind of expected that since they were priced way lower than the others and not billed as "Audiophile". In fact Evan's original Cambridge speakers sounded better.
As for Carl's DAC's, it was a way overbuilt design using 4 NOS DAC's and a beefy power supply filled with boutique parts. Carl can provide the details, I'm sure. The Minimax was also very nice, being a bit more detailed than Carl's NOS DAC. I do like that it can be switched between tube and solid state, one sounding better on one set of speakers and the other better on another. It was pretty neat that of all these small speakers there was such a variety of different sounds coming from them. No two sounded alike (and I bet you thought designers were all shooting for the same goal of accurate sound - nah).
We also heard Joe's system, where Carl's preamp added a nice additional warmth and texture to the sound, although Joe's preamp is no slouch either. Very nice and enjoyable sound - something I could listen to forever.
Bob
