Joe Hutch
Mate of the bloke
I'll have a go.
Another two-system review:
System one. This has seen the most change over the years. It started off as a Roksan Xerxes X/Rega RB 300 plus various cartridges (the current one being a Hana ML), an Exposure X integrated amp, and Audiovector speakers. It went through a valve amp phase (Border Patrol power amp), with various active (Tom Evans) and passive (MFA) preamps and phono stages (Tom Evans, again). Several CD players and DACs came and went. I really liked the sound of the second Border Patrol valve amp I briefly owned, but wanted something fuss-free and didn't want the cost of replacing the valves. When I retired and had money to spare, I took a long hard look at all those boxes and wires and decided to go integrated. The Devialet D-Premier became the heart of the system. I picked up a s/h Meridian G08 CD player at a good price, and traded in the Audiovectors for some Spendor D7s. All that remains from the original system is the turntable and tonearm. I have a Stax headphone system for late-night listening.
What do I like about this system? Mainly, its even-handedness. I listen to a wide range of music, classical, pop/rock, and jazz, and the system doesn't favour any genre or artist. Even crap recordings are listenable, and well-recorded music is addictive on this system. It's also low-maintenance, which is good because I'm cack-handed and useless at repairing things. I mainly listen via CD these days; although the vinyl side of the system is great (the Devialet's built-in phono stage is better than any standalone I've heard) the sheer faff of playing records is becoming a bit of an effort as I get older, plus I've heard most of my records many many times and really don't need to hear many of them ever again. Having said that, I dusted off Exile on Main Street the other day, and it sounded better than I remember having heard it before, despite my hearing being much worse.
System two. This has basically remained unchanged for many years. The amps and CD player are all Exposure, bought new in 1998, and the speakers are Harbeth P3esr, which replaced a pair of Mordaunt-Short MS20s about ten years back. I have another Stax headphone system, but I use that less frequently than the one in the main system, as this set-up is way up at the very top of the house, so there's no-one to disturb if I use the speakers. The only problem is that the room gets very cold indeed during the winter, so it's mostly a spring/summer system.
What do I like about this system? It's simple, straightforward and easy to listen to for hours on end. Also, I know it really well because I've had it for so long. I mostly listen near-field, because of the room layout, but if I need to be over the other side of the room, I can turn the volume up and it never becomes 'shouty'.
I've sometimes pondered swapping bits between the two systems, but the only thing I've actually tried was using the Harbeths in the main system, when the Audiovectors had gone and the Spendors hadn't arrived. It didn't work very well, probably because the main system room is very well damped, with rugs, bookshelves and thick curtains, whilst the room the Harbeths usually occupy is sparsely furnished, and they just sounded 'wrong'. I expect some experimenting with toe-in and placement would have solved the problem, but as it was only a stop-gap solution I didn't bother.
What the two systems have in common is a lack of harshness and thus listener fatigue. I've been to a few hifi shows in recent years, and sat through many demonstrations at dealer's showrooms, and more often than not I've found them a) too loud and b) too harsh. I usually want to escape after a few minutes. But with either of my systems, I can listen for hours on end, or at least until I'm poked with a sharp stick and told to clean the car, take out the rubbish, or whatever.
Another two-system review:
System one. This has seen the most change over the years. It started off as a Roksan Xerxes X/Rega RB 300 plus various cartridges (the current one being a Hana ML), an Exposure X integrated amp, and Audiovector speakers. It went through a valve amp phase (Border Patrol power amp), with various active (Tom Evans) and passive (MFA) preamps and phono stages (Tom Evans, again). Several CD players and DACs came and went. I really liked the sound of the second Border Patrol valve amp I briefly owned, but wanted something fuss-free and didn't want the cost of replacing the valves. When I retired and had money to spare, I took a long hard look at all those boxes and wires and decided to go integrated. The Devialet D-Premier became the heart of the system. I picked up a s/h Meridian G08 CD player at a good price, and traded in the Audiovectors for some Spendor D7s. All that remains from the original system is the turntable and tonearm. I have a Stax headphone system for late-night listening.
What do I like about this system? Mainly, its even-handedness. I listen to a wide range of music, classical, pop/rock, and jazz, and the system doesn't favour any genre or artist. Even crap recordings are listenable, and well-recorded music is addictive on this system. It's also low-maintenance, which is good because I'm cack-handed and useless at repairing things. I mainly listen via CD these days; although the vinyl side of the system is great (the Devialet's built-in phono stage is better than any standalone I've heard) the sheer faff of playing records is becoming a bit of an effort as I get older, plus I've heard most of my records many many times and really don't need to hear many of them ever again. Having said that, I dusted off Exile on Main Street the other day, and it sounded better than I remember having heard it before, despite my hearing being much worse.
System two. This has basically remained unchanged for many years. The amps and CD player are all Exposure, bought new in 1998, and the speakers are Harbeth P3esr, which replaced a pair of Mordaunt-Short MS20s about ten years back. I have another Stax headphone system, but I use that less frequently than the one in the main system, as this set-up is way up at the very top of the house, so there's no-one to disturb if I use the speakers. The only problem is that the room gets very cold indeed during the winter, so it's mostly a spring/summer system.
What do I like about this system? It's simple, straightforward and easy to listen to for hours on end. Also, I know it really well because I've had it for so long. I mostly listen near-field, because of the room layout, but if I need to be over the other side of the room, I can turn the volume up and it never becomes 'shouty'.
I've sometimes pondered swapping bits between the two systems, but the only thing I've actually tried was using the Harbeths in the main system, when the Audiovectors had gone and the Spendors hadn't arrived. It didn't work very well, probably because the main system room is very well damped, with rugs, bookshelves and thick curtains, whilst the room the Harbeths usually occupy is sparsely furnished, and they just sounded 'wrong'. I expect some experimenting with toe-in and placement would have solved the problem, but as it was only a stop-gap solution I didn't bother.
What the two systems have in common is a lack of harshness and thus listener fatigue. I've been to a few hifi shows in recent years, and sat through many demonstrations at dealer's showrooms, and more often than not I've found them a) too loud and b) too harsh. I usually want to escape after a few minutes. But with either of my systems, I can listen for hours on end, or at least until I'm poked with a sharp stick and told to clean the car, take out the rubbish, or whatever.