The distinct pleasure...
Last weekend, I had the opportunity to listen to Dave's wonderful system.
In a word: Wow.
Dave, much like his buddy Dan (DTB300) has done a superb job at blending his components together through careful research, long hours of auditioning, and, of course, jumping on great deals for new gear.
A sampling of what we listened to:
Joss Stone
Sarah McLaughlin
Chuck Mangione
Eric Clapton
Dave is as we all know a Diehard Analog fan. I had Sarah McLaughlin on CD, and as luck would have it, Dave had the same album on vinyl. We were able to do a nice comparison. Dave has listened to way more vinyl albums than I have and he was able to to point out some interesting differences. Most notably, the way the piano sounds (more decay). Both renditions sounded terrific. Logans are perhaps best known for the way female vocalists sounds through them. Sarah's Angels was just terrific through Dave's gear.
A+.
Also, in the last few months he purchased a velodyne sub with the built in SMS. He got this idea from Dan who uses that piece of equipment to integrate his sub into this 2 channel system. Dan has a very bright room (basically it's a concrete bunker) and adding a sub into such a room is notoriously difficult. Dave also has a somewhat live room (it doubles as his office) and has to deal with a large gun safe right next to one of his Vantages. Dave's sub, much like Dan's, really solidifies the bottom end. It didn't sound boomy to me, or overpowering at all. Dave isn't much of a tweaker (in terms of equalization). Once he finds a set of parameters that he's comfortable with, he'll leave it alone and use those settings across the board.
Dave's system is truly awesome and, like many people here, has opted to make the most of what he has in terms of acoustics and budget. Instead of dropping nearly 10k on summits, he bridged the gap with a great sub, room treatments and recently got a new preamp (Audio Research). If you take away those pieces and spent the difference on better (more expensive speakers), I doubt it would be any better. In fact, it may be way worse, since the room treatments have greatly enhanced the listening experience. There was a tremendous difference in sound when you are standing/sitting near his desk as opposed to sitting in the chair that's in the sweet spot. Amazing what a few feet will do!
For those that don't know Dave on a personal level, you couldn't meet a nicer guy. He's very knowledgeable and was a great host.
Naturally, I had to check out his trains and you should see what he has in the backyard! Too bad he was injured playing softball, because I wanted some Live Steam!!
Bravo, Dave. Job well done.
Erik
