Systems From the Uninvited

I am still going blog ga-ga with the September issue of Stereo Rev…, I mean Absolute Sound. Every year they poll their gold pocket advertisers and come up with the best systems under $2000, or for $3000 or whatever. This of course, makes great fodder for your truly because 1) it is not the best you can buy for the money and 2) it is at best, mid fi sound.

How I wish these systems were truly the best you can buy for a price point. But alas, the writers are never allowed to venture past their advertisers, so a good portion of audio nirvana is missing.

Do not despair, brothers and sisters in sound, I am here to help. And although my bias is well known, the fun will be if their systems will ever beat my systems sonically.

System $1180

• Bada HD-19 CD Player with Jan 5670 Tube $1180
• Yulong Amp4780 amplifier
• Gini LS3/5A speakers

There – I dare you, I just dare you to throw me you NADs, Oppo, PSB etc. for a bake off. This system is capable of some stunning achievements and forays into detail, tonal balance and frequency response when compared to grain grit and rough ride you will get from the usual suspects. The Bada HD-19 yields the sound stage that one would expect from a CD player costing 3 times as much. The Yulong has the headroom of a tube amp with the bass response of a great solid state amp. It is surprisingly musical for its price point. All of this goes into the GR Research A/V 3 that kicks the canard out of any speaker less than $1500. I took the sonic caps upgrade because I know that these electronics can really deliver. A truly wonderful speaker.

System $2447

• Ming Da MC 84C with JJ EL84s and Sovtek LPS 12AX7s
• The Shenda SD100s with Tung Sol 12AX7s, GE 6189 tubes
• Horne Shoppe Horns
• Xindak AC01 interconnects
• Bada SP100 power Cables
• Choseal YF-218U 2.5 M Speaker Cable

The EL84 is truly one of the most remarkable tubes as it is capable of some incredible power and bass response for such a low wattage tube. I picked the JJs for their transparency and clean sound and the Sovteks for their bass. The dual chassis Ming Da has plenty of power in them their caps to power my speakers.

With no op amps and beefy power supply, the Shenda SD100s is the one to beat. For a less then 1K CD player, it is capable or removing every last detail from the disk. With its Jolida roots, the Shenda has the build quality and sound characteristics of player costing 3 times as much.

For its price, very few audiophiles will ever experience the detail, coherency and sound stage presence of the Horn Shoppe Horns. A truly remarkable speaker, when properly broken in (which could take up to 40 days) and placed, is capable of great bass response and lower midrange neutrality. And maybe, just maybe, the Magneplanars that the Sound suggested , is capable of more detail. A truly remarkable speaker.

System Sky’s the limit. $7460

• Doge 6 CD Player with 12AX7 Tung Sols, Sylvania 12AT7s
• Ming Da MC 2A3 Preamp, with upgraded tubes
• Ming Da 3008-A 805 Mono Blocks with upgraded tubes
• Bada Sp-300 Power cables
• Bada HL-3 Interconnects
• Xindak FS-1 Foil Speaker Cables
• GR Research OB-7 Plus

Much has been written about the Doge 6 CD player. This 6-tube design primary strength in a nutshell, is the tube filtering which allows tremendous transparency during the conversion process. Because of this, it does not sound like your average CD player. To think that an Azur is, well, roughly the same price, is one of the great jokes of Audio today.

Truly a straight wire with gain, the MC 2A3 is one of the more remarkable preamps ever built. Its transparency and its ability to amplify low level signals into amplifiers is truly remarkable. It is honest and true to the sound stage and remarkable at rendering music. Check our customer testimonials for enthusiasm, where real audiophiles make their claims. I modified mine with RCA clear top 6SN7s, Amperex 6DJ8s and Sylvania “Fat Boy” 6CA7.

Fitted with Cetron 805 and Shuguang mesh plate 300B tubes, the MC 3008-A will give our selected speakers the power it needs, yet provide a SET midrange with a warm 6550 low end. The amp can be driven hard and does not mind complex speaker loads at all.

For our speakers, the GR research OB-7 with its open baffle design and powered sub really works. The first time I heard this speaker, I was awe struck on how lively and dynamic it sounds. With the 3008-A 805, it really shows what it is capable of detail in the midrange and the lower registers. The OB-7 gives you the sense of immediacy of a planar speaker, with the imaging and spatial relationships of a fine cone speaker. I do not personally own this speaker, but my pal down the street does. And when I go over there, I cannot wait for the show.

Well, there you have it. Systems from the uninvited. Search hard before you buy.