I buy a lot of last year Demos & trade a lot with a Stereo Club
Goals: to the point, balance, musical, & good sound for the price
Upgrade Chart-
Player: mid 1980ish Sony LP player to Pioneer DVL-919 CD/DVD/LD player to Sony DVP-9000es CD/DVD/SACD player
Processor: Yamaha SR-51 to Acurus ACT-3 to Theta Casanova
Stereo Amp: mid 1980ish Yahama to Aragon 8008BB dual mono
3 channel Amp: Adcom 5503 to Aragon 8008-X3
Main Speakers: Polk SDS-2a to NHT VT-2
Center Speakers: Martin Logan Logos (part of other stereo) to NHT VS-2a
Rear Speakers: mid 1980ish Infinities to Martin Logan Scripts (part of other stereo) to NHT VS-2a
Interconnects: Monster Cable 400's to Harmonic Technology Precision-Link to Harmonic Technology Truth-Links to Syngistic Research Phase 2 Looking Glass
Speaker Cables: Neotech Bi-wires to Monster Cable 2.4 Bi-wires to Synergistic Research Phase 2 Bi-wires
Took the Placete Audio Remote Control unit to the stereo club & experimented with the new Arye CD player verus a Theta Pearl/DAC combo. Normal set-up was with a Mark Levinson 335 stereo amp to an Audio Research LS25 tubed pre-amp into Martin Logan Odessey speakers. The Arye was more even & the the Theta combo was more dynamitic. The Audio Research LS25 was more smoother than the Placete Audio. May need more burn in time or Martin Logan speakers always reveal dry type units
To make room for the Placette Audio Remote Control, I took down the whole system & rewired. 3 Harmonic Technology Truth-Link interconnects from the Theta Casa Nova to Aragon 8008-X3 were too long due to a past set-up. I am having the interconnects cut in half which will take 2 to 3 weeks. The Placette Audio Remote Control arrived 1/31/03 & after a little monking around, it plays SACD's beautiful but I seem to have a hum in the right speaker which after a few experiments it sems like the Theta Casa Nova is at fault. I plan to use the standared power cord & move interconnects around to see if the hum will go away. If not, the Theta will have to go to the shop.
System edited: Just bought an Placette Audio Remote Control with Audio By-Pass. This way I am able to do away with the Krell 300i integrated amp used as an pre-amp to run SACD & go through the Theta Casa Nova without changing speaker cables
Last night I put up the Christimas tree & I had to move one of the main NHT VT-2 speakers a few inches closer to the Sony flat plasma HDTV. My wife then said "I want a normal room without all these wires & large speakers." I told her it was okay, but lets wait until the Christimas tree is down to make up our minds. We could move this system up into the bedroom to match a Proscan 36 inch HDTV & use the Krell 300i integrated amp with Pioneer DVL-919 CD/DVD/LD player into 2 speakers with the Sony flat plasma HDTV. I am crossing my fingers :)
System edited: This is more than a normal 5.1 DVD movie playback system, it is also very musical with a closed port NHT Sub Two sub. Sometimes I use a Krell 300i integrated amp in the system to playback SACD's or use the Theta Casanova to playback 5.1 DTS CD's or 24/96 DAD's
