What s/he listens to, what s/he listens for, how s/he
listens, and what s/he hears will be the main concerns of the advanced audio
practitioner, and any “rules” come from and serve this approach. The big advantages
and opportunities offered by a Macondo/DSET design come at the considerable cost
of extreme complexity in terms of acquisition, set-up, and maintenance, and
this especially in light of Romy’s very true and very important observations
about his old console/table radio. With careful consideration and navigation
one can seriously enjoy serious Music with a lot less grief. While some satisfaction may derive from thinking one has achieved some sort of audio summit, the cold facts
are that it is not easy/comfortable to keep a complex system in optimal order
to deliver its best, and in my experience big, complex systems that are “off” can
be a form of torture, or maybe worse, an end in themselves. Intellectually, 3-way speakers with sub(s) “should” “do it”, and there are SS amps out
there that can be acceptable in specific situations, the same in this regard as
a given tube amp. “Advantages” of SS (best case) are power and ease of use/repeatability.
As for power conditioning, I guess everyone has this problem, more or less. My
choice in my own case has been to “build around it”. Not sure what I would do
if I could not do without it, but I suppose there is no sense building to a
dead end.>>
Paul S
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