anton
Active Member
Ever heard of a guy and a girl from the same company of friends who were dating other people for years and then suddenly realised that they were made for each other? Well, that's the story of my speakers and amp. I've had Sonus Faber Grand Pianos for years now and was never truly happy with them. Either with McIntosh MHT100 as an integrated or with McIntosh MHT100 hooked up as a pre to McIntosh 275 they sounded warm and musical, but forced and laid back not to mention extremely sensitive to compression.
After I moved to the new apartment I left them in the big room for HT and started to built a stereo system from scratch in a small room. In less then a year I auditioned and upgraded numerous speakers and amps. McIntosh 2200/275 was replaced by McIntosh 6900, Spendors 2/3 were replaced by Spendors 1/2 (and I can't even list the number of other brands I auditioned in the meantime), not to mentione cables, power cords, power conditioners, speaker stands, even racks! It sounded good, much better with each improvement but something was still missing. I always felt that my friends systems sounded superior, despite much less $$ spent.
Then one day or so I decided to make one final experiment and hooked up my Sony XA9000ES and McIntosh 6900 to Sonus Faber Grand Pianos in the big room (using Acoustic Zen Hologram II speaker cable and Acoustic Zen Silver Reference IC) with Fisch power cords through Fisch Reference Power Conditioner. My jaw was on the ****ing floor the next second and I think it's still there. This is the best sound that I ever heard, PERIOD. And I mean all Hi-Fi stores, exhibitions etc. After all this time it happens that McIntosh 6900 and Sonus Fabers are the perfect combo. What SF's need was a big 200 Wt autoformer SS muscle! The sound is simply perfect - huge, dynamic, powerful, detailed yet extremely comfortable and tolerant to every CD. The poorly mastered CDs sound great while Steve Hoffman mastered (and other top mastering jobs) sound like a threesome with Shakira and Beyonce if you know what I mean. Everything - rock, pop, R&B, jazz, metal, classics, EVERYTHING sounds awesome. Now I will have to squeeze both HT and stereo systems into one rack and change cables every time but it's all worth it. The system of my dreams is finally here. Worth every penny and all the nerves! :tresbon:
:thmbsp:
After I moved to the new apartment I left them in the big room for HT and started to built a stereo system from scratch in a small room. In less then a year I auditioned and upgraded numerous speakers and amps. McIntosh 2200/275 was replaced by McIntosh 6900, Spendors 2/3 were replaced by Spendors 1/2 (and I can't even list the number of other brands I auditioned in the meantime), not to mentione cables, power cords, power conditioners, speaker stands, even racks! It sounded good, much better with each improvement but something was still missing. I always felt that my friends systems sounded superior, despite much less $$ spent.
Then one day or so I decided to make one final experiment and hooked up my Sony XA9000ES and McIntosh 6900 to Sonus Faber Grand Pianos in the big room (using Acoustic Zen Hologram II speaker cable and Acoustic Zen Silver Reference IC) with Fisch power cords through Fisch Reference Power Conditioner. My jaw was on the ****ing floor the next second and I think it's still there. This is the best sound that I ever heard, PERIOD. And I mean all Hi-Fi stores, exhibitions etc. After all this time it happens that McIntosh 6900 and Sonus Fabers are the perfect combo. What SF's need was a big 200 Wt autoformer SS muscle! The sound is simply perfect - huge, dynamic, powerful, detailed yet extremely comfortable and tolerant to every CD. The poorly mastered CDs sound great while Steve Hoffman mastered (and other top mastering jobs) sound like a threesome with Shakira and Beyonce if you know what I mean. Everything - rock, pop, R&B, jazz, metal, classics, EVERYTHING sounds awesome. Now I will have to squeeze both HT and stereo systems into one rack and change cables every time but it's all worth it. The system of my dreams is finally here. Worth every penny and all the nerves! :tresbon:
:thmbsp:
The Domus Grand Piano is a very smooth and forgiving speaker that pairs up very well with budget/lower cost ss amps that may not have the smooth, grain free voicing of McIntosh amps. The combination of integrated NAD and Domus GP for example sounded very warm and enjoyable if not the ultimate statement in resolution and grip on bass but did not have the typical fatiguing characteristics that a combo in this price range may have.
Vinyl too