emaidel
11-28-2008, 05:22 AM
Each year at about this time, I drag out my assorted CD's and LP's of Christmas music and begin to play them. While Handel's "Messiah" isn't necessarily only a Christmas piece, like many others, it's only around Christmas that I listen to it.
A pleasant phenomenon I've experienced for as long as I can remember is that when playing Christmas music each and every year that I've done so, the sound of the material is better than it was the year before. I've just about always done something to my system to improve its overall sound, and I look forward to how much "better" much of the music sounds each and every year.
Of course, some of those improvement were quite subtle (with the change of, say, just a phono cartridge), but this year the difference was flat out startling. Yesterday afternoon I put on my favorite recording of "Messiah" (Martin Pearlman conducting the Boston Baroque Orchestra and Chorus, on Telarc) and was all but flabbergasted. Everything had such incredible definition, depth and a life-like presence, that it seemed as if I were listening to much of this beloved music for the first time. And so, what was the reason for such an improvement? First and foremost, it's the Marantz SA-8001 which just stomps the crap out of any CD player I've ever owned before.
Secondly, and this is a very important observation, it's the installation of the "Hi-Fi Tuning" fuses I installed in my Dahlquists (one main fuse, and one for the tweeters in each speaker). The 8001 makes a huge difference, but was a considerable investment . While $900 for such a fine piece of equipment is considered a steal by many, it's still $900! The Hi-Fi Tuning fuses on the other hand are only $40 each, and while that may be an eye-popping price for just a fuse, it's a drop in the bucket when it comes to how much better these fuses make my speakers sound.
So, as I've only played the Messiah CD's so far, it'll be a blast to hear how much better all the Fresh Aire Christmas CD's sound, as well as the many others that I own.
One thing: what am I going to do to my system next year?
A pleasant phenomenon I've experienced for as long as I can remember is that when playing Christmas music each and every year that I've done so, the sound of the material is better than it was the year before. I've just about always done something to my system to improve its overall sound, and I look forward to how much "better" much of the music sounds each and every year.
Of course, some of those improvement were quite subtle (with the change of, say, just a phono cartridge), but this year the difference was flat out startling. Yesterday afternoon I put on my favorite recording of "Messiah" (Martin Pearlman conducting the Boston Baroque Orchestra and Chorus, on Telarc) and was all but flabbergasted. Everything had such incredible definition, depth and a life-like presence, that it seemed as if I were listening to much of this beloved music for the first time. And so, what was the reason for such an improvement? First and foremost, it's the Marantz SA-8001 which just stomps the crap out of any CD player I've ever owned before.
Secondly, and this is a very important observation, it's the installation of the "Hi-Fi Tuning" fuses I installed in my Dahlquists (one main fuse, and one for the tweeters in each speaker). The 8001 makes a huge difference, but was a considerable investment . While $900 for such a fine piece of equipment is considered a steal by many, it's still $900! The Hi-Fi Tuning fuses on the other hand are only $40 each, and while that may be an eye-popping price for just a fuse, it's a drop in the bucket when it comes to how much better these fuses make my speakers sound.
So, as I've only played the Messiah CD's so far, it'll be a blast to hear how much better all the Fresh Aire Christmas CD's sound, as well as the many others that I own.
One thing: what am I going to do to my system next year?