SPEC2man
Are we there yet?
So it was time to lay down the birthday money for a new cartridge; I had put it off as long as I could. Yardwork was done, laundry, dishes, floors swept ... I figure I'm probably going to spend more than I should, I better get my ducks in a row with the little lady. You just never know where your wallet might go, when you start looking at little diamonds. I jumped the train and 45 minutes later I was standing outside Echo Audio in downtown Portland. I'm always a little excited when I open that old creaky door. It's a truly wonderful place and I had a pocket full of bad intentions. I was greeted by Kurt as I always am ... he was helping a lady with her cell phone. Kurt's the only person I know who has time for everyone. She was a slightly elderly woman ... seemed out of place but Echo knows no favorites. As I made my way to the back wall I could already see new toys abound ... Levinson No. 23, Krell KSA, Modwright pre, lots of Mac gear and a set of just slightly used Ryan Audio 630's. I had intended on picking up a Denon DL-103 for my backup table but Kurt pulled me in the back and after a 20-minute discussion, I had a Hana SL in my hand. On the way out Kurt tells me "Hey, do you have a minute, I want you to listen to something that just came in" That's always a prelude to something wonderful. As he sits me down my eye focus straight ahead to the rack ... Modwright phono pre, same table, CD and Sonos I am accustomed to seeing. Then I glance down and there they are - a flawless set of Dan D'Agostino Momentum monoblocks. Holy crap are they beautiful. We spent the better part of an hour listening to everything from Sachmo to Zeppelin. My jaw stayed on the ground the whole time. The amps are simply amazing. I suppose a $65,000 set of amplifiers SHOULD sound amazing but these amps made everything sound better. We tried the Ryans, a couple sets of KEF's and a set of Wilson Benesch ARC. We spun vinyl, CDs and even Tidal pumped through the Sonos was fantastic. We ripped it up pretty good - they never even got going. Gobs of power and bass authority like I have never heard. They really showed off the difference between each type of speaker. I have heard and owned a lot of great amplifiers in my life, but NOTHING compared to what I heard yesterday. Used price? $35,000 and maybe a touch less if you're nice. Way out of my comfort zone but it was a hell of a demo just the same. I can't imagine they come up used very often ... The story goes they were originally purchased by the man who started Priceline who lives in Seattle, bought em and just didn't like em. God knows what he replaced them with but he took a hell of a hit.
Billionaires, cant live with em, can't live without em. Needless to say, I bought lotto tickets on the way home ... I'm scared to look.
Billionaires, cant live with em, can't live without em. Needless to say, I bought lotto tickets on the way home ... I'm scared to look.