emaidel
07-08-2008, 04:14 AM
Most of us here have had numerous different amps, speakers, turntables, etc., all purchased in that pursuit of the elusive "perfect" combination to produce better and better sound. Some of my purchases over the years provided little or no differences, but others were all but staggering.
Perhaps the single biggest audible difference occurred when I abandoned my Lafayette/Criterion based quad system and went gung-ho high-end. I replaced a Lafayette LR-5000 quad receiver and four ESS-manufactured Lafayette/Criterion speakers with a pair of Dahlquist DQ-10's (the same ones still in use today!) and a Luxman L-100 integrated amp. That my older system and the newer one could each be called "stereos" seemed downright wrong, since the new stuff sounded that much better. In all the previous years, whenever I bought a new component, I often asked friends and relatives if they could hear the difference. Most politely said, "Yes, I think so," only to shut me up. Now, all said they'd never heard such an enormous difference between the older equipment and the newer. I had crossed a threshold I'd never go back from.
In terms of a single product, that's a tossup. It's either the original AR turntable I purchased in 1964 to replace a crummy Garrard AT-6 record changer, or my most recent purchase of the Marantz SA-8001 SACD player. The AR turntable is a legend in this industry, and at its original list price of only $58, the best bargain ever. It completely eliminated the loud and annoying rumble I was getting from the Garrard changer, and added a new clarity to everything, even while using the same cartridge. (And, you could hit the turntable platform with a hammer and not have the arm skip!)
The Marantz SA-8001 has also provided a huge difference over my previous Adcom GCD-600/GDA-600 combination, and continues to get better and better sounding every day. As it's an SACD player, listening to SACD's has also provided an all new sonic experience for me. I would say that the difference between it and the older Adcom stuff is far greater than that between the AR turntable and the Garrard changer, but it also costs $900 as opposed to the $68 the AR turntable was selling for when I bought it.
There were also enormous differences when replacing phono cartridges, but the two scenarios listed above probably fit the bill as those that made the most difference.
Perhaps the single biggest audible difference occurred when I abandoned my Lafayette/Criterion based quad system and went gung-ho high-end. I replaced a Lafayette LR-5000 quad receiver and four ESS-manufactured Lafayette/Criterion speakers with a pair of Dahlquist DQ-10's (the same ones still in use today!) and a Luxman L-100 integrated amp. That my older system and the newer one could each be called "stereos" seemed downright wrong, since the new stuff sounded that much better. In all the previous years, whenever I bought a new component, I often asked friends and relatives if they could hear the difference. Most politely said, "Yes, I think so," only to shut me up. Now, all said they'd never heard such an enormous difference between the older equipment and the newer. I had crossed a threshold I'd never go back from.
In terms of a single product, that's a tossup. It's either the original AR turntable I purchased in 1964 to replace a crummy Garrard AT-6 record changer, or my most recent purchase of the Marantz SA-8001 SACD player. The AR turntable is a legend in this industry, and at its original list price of only $58, the best bargain ever. It completely eliminated the loud and annoying rumble I was getting from the Garrard changer, and added a new clarity to everything, even while using the same cartridge. (And, you could hit the turntable platform with a hammer and not have the arm skip!)
The Marantz SA-8001 has also provided a huge difference over my previous Adcom GCD-600/GDA-600 combination, and continues to get better and better sounding every day. As it's an SACD player, listening to SACD's has also provided an all new sonic experience for me. I would say that the difference between it and the older Adcom stuff is far greater than that between the AR turntable and the Garrard changer, but it also costs $900 as opposed to the $68 the AR turntable was selling for when I bought it.
There were also enormous differences when replacing phono cartridges, but the two scenarios listed above probably fit the bill as those that made the most difference.