Listening to Lester Young with the Oscar Peterson Trio, circa 1952 recording, now that I'm done evaluating familiar music. Sound quality is decent based on the age of the recording. There is some distortion in the saxophone scattered here and there. It's not too distracting for me. This one has a little bit of everything: sax, guitar, piano, bass, and percussion. What more could you ask for?

Cheers,

T Cobe

Hey, T Cobe

Re whether we get accustomed to a house sound that we then prefer, I believe there's some "accomodation", but even more so, as you say we create some of that uniqueness by the decisions we have all made regarding power cords, speaker cables, interconnects, source components, amps, speaker type and location etc. etc. Decisions made one at a time usually, and in each case, choosing what sounds best, to us, at an affordable price for that particular piece of the system. So the "house sound" is an amalgam of separate decisions, each relatively pleasing and reinforcing to what our ears want to hear, our tastes in music. And it starts with speakers that can deliver the SQ nuances the other decisions help create. When I first started out with the original T2 fronts set-up, I preferred the way they had sounded at my local dealer, and kept changing/trying things until that wasn't true anymore. Now, since I listen almost exclusively in surround or multi-channel stereo, I can't really compare my set-up to anything at the dealers, as they don't have the same speaker combo's set up for each channel. But I really do love the "house sound", if that's what it is.

I guess I'l always have some curiosity about "what else" I could do to enhance my listening pleasure at home. But I'm also pretty convinced, having listened to similar or the same music or Blu-rays on other systems, including at my dealer, that, for me, music at home has never sounded better.

Happy listening!

Rick

A continuation of the "house sound" discussion:

If I were to rank the importance of my decisions in getting to a SQ I love, it would be:

1. Speakers. Not even a close second. If they can't play it, why bother to send it.

2. Sources/amps. Have to feed the speakers "good stuff".

3. Power cords. This is very different from how I started out conceptually. But, having tried various types and finally Anti-Cable Reference 3 power cords, I can say that they have made more difference than all my interconnect and speaker cable decisions combined. I can say that they make sources sound like they have better amps, better DAC's. EVERYTHING gets more natural, detailed. Somewhere in a post, Anthem stated that the Anti-Cables did more for his system than all the interconnects and cables additions combined. I totally agree. I was and am blown away with what they can do. An aside, when I shipped them out as loans for the summer, I replayed an Eagles Blu-ray with the stock cords just to recheck the before and after. With the stock cords back on the OPPO and Marantz, it went back to "I am listening to a great concert" from "I am THERE at a great concert and it is mesmerizing", with the Anti-Cables on. A veil had come back, a veil I didn't even know existed until I heard the concert WITH Anti-Cables.

4. Speaker cables. My Signal Cable Ultra's definitely added detail and punch.

5. Interconnects. Same here, more detail and punch. (I have NOT yet tried T Cobe's Nordost stuff, which apparently also adds amazing detail, and will do that).

So that's my priority list. T Cobe, if you choose to try power cords first before any final decisions on speaker cables, I totally support that direction. I never thought three years ago that power cords would even be a part of my thought process. But they sure are now.

Happy listening!

Rick

Hey T Cobe: I see you've been auditioning speaker cables. If you are interested, I have a pair of Mapleshade Double Helix V.2 speaker cables with Plus Upgrade just sitting around. They are a 16ft. stereo pair (don't let the length detour you)

Rick: you are wanting to experiment with different interconnects? If an rca interconnect would be something you'd be interested in, I have the Anti-Cable Level 6.2 Absolute Reference RCA available...

Let me know.
shop.mapleshadestore.com/mobile/Double-H...ductinfo/DHELIX2-PL/

Where did the week go?! It's hard to believe it's already Friday. I have a batch of jambalaya and jalapeño cornbread cooking upstairs, Blues and Roots singing through the T1s, and a distiller's edition of a Caol Ila whiskey in my glass. Needless to say, it's shaping up to be quite a Friday night!

Anthem: That's a very kind and generous offer on the speaker cables. I'll let you know but I'm always hesitant to borrow items that may get lost or damaged. Particularly expensive ones. I just ordered a few power cables and plan to get those in place for a bit before I move onto the speaker wire. I'll have to save up my discretionary account a bit before I even consider speaker cables. After I finish with my 2-channel cables, I'll need to move onto my home theater setup... It's never ending! Thanks for all your input on great gear and music!

Cheers,

T Cobe

Thanks for the offer, Anthem!

I won't do anything until I get back to TX mid September. I have decisions to make... more Anti-Cables for the amp and Triton towers? Nordost or Anti-Cable interconnect trials?? TBD. I'll be reading posts all summer regarding power cords, interconnects. Decisions, decisions.

In the meantime, I'm trying to see how I can connect my SONY headphone to the Blu-ray player here via USB to run audio through the Dragonfly Red to the SONY.

Always something to keep our brains connected!

Rick