Well, it has all changed again, I should just relist it as it has changed so many times since creating this as the "3rd" system. One thing is for sure, Ever Evolving has been accurate.
Awesome little digital tuner from the late 1980's.
Audio Note AN-Vx - Interconnect
I have two sets; I run one from my CDP to preamp and one from my tuner to preamp. Symmetrical 99.99% silver litz coax 20 strands 0.09 mm
Audio Note AN-Vz - Interconnect
Silver IC, 1m RCA
Analysis Plus Big Silver Oval
Constructed of pure silver over a stabilizing strand of oxygen-free copper, woven into a patented hollow oval geometry in an oval-coaxial configuration. 9 gauge.
Clearwave Loudspeaker Design Symphonia 72R
The Symphonia 72R has a custom sandwich layered non- resonant 2 inch thick front baffle with a solid hardwood layer for driver de-coupling. The drivers are flush mounted level to the front baffle to eliminate edge diffraction, and the driver openings have chamfered flares at the backside of the opening to eliminate early reflections inside the box. Top of the line RAAL tweeters and Accuton drivers.
Wadia 170iTransport
I use this with a 160g iPod Classic.
PS Audio DigitalLink III
Mine has the Level 4 Cullen modifications.
Furman IT Reference 20i
This power conditioner and protection unit has made the biggest difference I have ever intruduced into a system; I wish I would have purchased something like this a long time ago!!!
I guess I haven't been around in a while, time certainly does fly ;) No reason in particular that the Wilsons suprise me, it just wasn't what I was expecting to see. If your enjoying them and have had them for over a year(which is good for you) I would have to agree that nothing is wrong. The constant changing of equipment becomes tiring, better to just relax and enjoy the music.
Thank you for the kind words Shardone. The amazing thing for me is that nothing has changed in over a year! (Well, one minor exception, about 6 months ago I picked up another Audio Note AN-Vx interconnect to use on my tuner and sold my VD David power cord to fund it; I suppose I should update my page.)
Gosh - I love this room. This is stunning. Three years ago I had a space like this with cathedral ceilings and wood everywhere - it was magic - all I had to do was roll off the upper mid and treble a tad and it was absolutely magic...bass sounded simply awesome!! Awesome gear too. You are very lucky indeed.
Too funny Tommy! And, you have two? you are blessed! I agree, they are the best treatments and priceless. BTW, you guys should hear "Itsy, bitsy spider"!
Brian, I have 2 sets of the same treatments. They are superb at suppressing sound across the entire frequency range. They are also very sturdy. With proper care and maintenance these treatments should last as least 18 years, more if you are too careful. Congrats on getting the absolute best treatments available. They truly are priceless!
Wow Brian, havnt checked up on you in a while and I see big changes indeed. Any thoughts on going back to tubes now that you have the Watt puppy 7's? I bet your old MA2275 would have better synergy with the wilsons over the 802d's. Great job, room looks fantastic as always.
So I don't sound too critical of the 802D's I will state up front that the WP7's list price is almost double the 802D's. I agree with your assessment of the boomy bass with the 802D's; in contrast the bass of the WP's is simply awesome...something I have longed for for 20 years. There isn't one aspect that I feel the B&W's excelled at in comparison's...it hard for me to put to words how big a change it was. In my instance this has been (most likely) the biggest change I have ever made.
Big change indeed Drubin. It is hard to know where to start on the Wilson's. For me they truly are a wonderful speaker -- neutral, coherent, very articulate, transparent, awesome bass...; the inner details were the first thing to strike me, as my amp was warming back up, and I am guessing that to be (at least) partly due to the extreemly quite enclosures.
The build quality and fit and finish are above reproach with only one possible exeption, which they addressed on the new models, the velcro on the front is out of place on a speaker like this and the sound deadening material looks somewhat like an after-thought, but I am nit-picking; as I say, they addressed this on the newer models, like WP8's and Sophia II's.
Hi Brian. I noticed you changed from 802d to the Wilsons. I also recently changed my 802d to something else, in my case the Usher BE-10, which have been compared to the Wilsons. I am curious what your thoughts are on the strengths of each speaker and the major differences between the two? For me, I found the beryllium tweeter of the Ushers to be faster, and more realistic to me, even though the Diamond tweeter is very smooth and nice sounding. I also preferred the bass of the Ushers over the BW, which could sound boomy to me. In contract the Ushers are very tight and controlled. The midrange is where I am a bit more conflicted. The Usher beryllium mid is uncolored, neutral, crystal clear, and dynamic. I can imagine with the wrong electronics they can sound a wee bit cool and clinical. In may case, the paired them with a Cary 306 cdp, Pass Labs XA160 amp, and Classe cp-700 pre. All of these components are known for being a bit warm, and very smooth. At times, I do miss the mids of the 802d, especially with female vocals. I really do think BW has done something right with their mids, voices sound so real, palpable, and full of emotion. Overall, I prefer my Ushers.
System edited: I have upgraded my speaker cables from the Virtual Dynamics David series (bi-wires) to their Master series (single-run), wow what an improvement. I made the change to single run as I replaced the 802D's with Wilson WATT/Puppy 7's, they don't need the bi-wire; the speaker change is a HUGE improvement.
Hi Mark, being that I can't take the walls out of the room, I can't really evaluate how they effect the sound. I know that the windows can, and do; I have thick blinds I can drop down if I desire. Thanks
