emaidel
01-26-2008, 06:03 AM
As I continue to enjoy listening to my system, I believe I've found the perfect blending of components that give me the sound I've been trying to achieve for years and years. I've often talked about how pleased I am with my Dual CS-5000, and how it's far and away the best sounding turntable I've ever owned. Still, I prefer the sound of CD's to it, and by a considerable margin.
While my CD equipment isn't earth shattering, it's still very, very good. It's an Adcom GCD-600 changer connected (now, with a German-made digital coax cable from a defunct company with the same name as another [Benchmark Audio]) to an Adcom GDA-600, which is connected to my pre-amp with Kimber solid silver cables. The sound from this combination of stuff is striking: none of the harshness or shrill characteristics often attributed to CD's, and even old CD's, which I thought sounded crummy when I first bought them over 20 years ago, actually sound pretty good. When I A/B a CD and and LP on the same material, even when such a comparison in the past favored the LP, the CD all but eats the LP's lunch.
My speakers, as I've often posted (or, perhaps, "boasted") are Dahlquist DQ-10's with completely rebuilt woofers (by Regnar), and still sound wonderful. The sub (Definitive Technology SP-15F) is now about 6 years old, and provides a fine match to the 10's.
But what, oh Lordy, Lordy, am I going to do when something breaks? My amp (Adcom GFA-5800) is now at least 12 years old, and my preamp (Parasound PLD-1100) is about 8 years old, as is the then TOTL Parasound tuner (don't know the model number off hand). And, while I've only owned the CS-5000 for a couple of months now, it too is probably 20 years old.
Everything works just fine (save a burned out light, or a stuck On/Off switch), but sooner or later something's going to up and die on me, and then I'll have to replace it. But the question looms, "Replace it with WHAT?"
I suspect, that when the time comes to do that, it's going to cost me a bundle. I purchased everything I own (save the CS-5000) at a 50% discount, as I was "in the business" when I bought each item. I'm now retired, so I can't possibly hope for such a discount again.
Right now, everything still works and sounds fine. When the day comes that the amp blows up, or the CD player stops functioning, I'll look to the advice of AR members as to what to do. Most of you have been really useful in this category for others asking similar questions, and I have no doubt you'll direct me to some really good values. In the meantime, I'll just consider myself lucky that nothing's broken!
While my CD equipment isn't earth shattering, it's still very, very good. It's an Adcom GCD-600 changer connected (now, with a German-made digital coax cable from a defunct company with the same name as another [Benchmark Audio]) to an Adcom GDA-600, which is connected to my pre-amp with Kimber solid silver cables. The sound from this combination of stuff is striking: none of the harshness or shrill characteristics often attributed to CD's, and even old CD's, which I thought sounded crummy when I first bought them over 20 years ago, actually sound pretty good. When I A/B a CD and and LP on the same material, even when such a comparison in the past favored the LP, the CD all but eats the LP's lunch.
My speakers, as I've often posted (or, perhaps, "boasted") are Dahlquist DQ-10's with completely rebuilt woofers (by Regnar), and still sound wonderful. The sub (Definitive Technology SP-15F) is now about 6 years old, and provides a fine match to the 10's.
But what, oh Lordy, Lordy, am I going to do when something breaks? My amp (Adcom GFA-5800) is now at least 12 years old, and my preamp (Parasound PLD-1100) is about 8 years old, as is the then TOTL Parasound tuner (don't know the model number off hand). And, while I've only owned the CS-5000 for a couple of months now, it too is probably 20 years old.
Everything works just fine (save a burned out light, or a stuck On/Off switch), but sooner or later something's going to up and die on me, and then I'll have to replace it. But the question looms, "Replace it with WHAT?"
I suspect, that when the time comes to do that, it's going to cost me a bundle. I purchased everything I own (save the CS-5000) at a 50% discount, as I was "in the business" when I bought each item. I'm now retired, so I can't possibly hope for such a discount again.
Right now, everything still works and sounds fine. When the day comes that the amp blows up, or the CD player stops functioning, I'll look to the advice of AR members as to what to do. Most of you have been really useful in this category for others asking similar questions, and I have no doubt you'll direct me to some really good values. In the meantime, I'll just consider myself lucky that nothing's broken!