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Collect my friend's GS1000 from Music by Design yesterday. Burning it in now as we speak. Sound really promising without burn in.

Wow such a long reply... took me a few days o read it Anyway I have done any room treatment yet so far, just need a little more furniture in my room. So far my speakers still sound pretty alright I guess. Could hear the height, depth and width. Nice focused mids, could hear the singer standing in front of me, depending on recording. Last but not least, the speakers "disappear" as well when music is played through it. While at it pulling my speakers from the wall/into the room, I had a chat with the guru, TS Lim. He advocates less "treatment", instead, just fill your room with ordinary stuff, bookshelves, CDs, LPs, desk, chair, etc... The reasoning behind this is what some call "room re-enforcement" effect, ie the room reflects certain frequencies more, such that you get the 3D effect, the sense of performers in the room. When sound bounces off the walls, this gives out an echo/a secondary reflection, which the brain as being in space. If you take the extreme case, when you listen to a performance in an old church, the high ceiling and big space gives you a sense of the hall. Coming back to our room, with the speakers away from the walls, sound is allowed to bounce off them and thus create a better sense of space. Lim describes the front plane of the speakers as a mirror - the further you bring the speakers away from the back wall, the deeper your soundstage. Of course each room differs and some treatment is usually necessary in corners, but his point makes perfect sense and flies in the face of commonly held notions of room treatment. I did not believe it at first and thus avoided doing it for years, but now after trying it and hearing the effect, I wouldn't go back. In practice, with the room reflection - you do not need to turn up the volume as much to get the same relative loudness. Also each room will reflect certain frequencies more than others, so some experimentation is required to fine tune and get the right balance. I found that a slight toe-in from direct forward was necessary to get more treble energy to the listening position. Too much toe-in and the soundstage collapses and becomes 2D. With my room, I got more detail in the mids and the bass was re-enforced despite being further away from the wall. The instrumental separation was also much enhanced with voices being clearly distinguished where they appeared as a bunch before. I would conclude by saying that together with (a) clean power supply and ( equipment isolation on footers, © speaker positioning away from walls - rank as the most important tweaks to maximise audio reproduction.

On top of space, room treatment is another big headache as well!

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Don't think you can get it locally. Need to order from Stefan Audio Art. It takes pretty long since James has a huge back log

Happy Birthday Jeff

You can consider the HD600, however you need to budget in for a after market cable. I would recommend the Equinox since it gives more air as compared with the Zu Mobius. However you need to take into consideration the upstream equipment as well especaially your CDP and interconnects.

HD600, not HD650.

Was at stereo last saturday. The K701 seems like a promising can to replace my HD600 with Equinox. Will need to give it a proper audition again.

I've never heard the Marantz PM17. It all depends on the integrated amp. Some integrated amps have really good headphone out as compared to others.

Guess the VA speakers are quite an easy match with SS amplification?

Yes I do. Very similiar experience. Hence I have more or less retired from head-fi.

If you are not limited to LHS, you may want to try WBTs. You can get them from Atlas Hifi. Not too sure about the price, but they are nice RCA jacks both in built and sonics.

That maybe true. That's maybe why I still can't part with my HD600.

Do you use the select series of speaker cables?

Do try the Kimber Select Series. Especially the KS1030 or the KS1130 (balanced). Price is pretty steep though. The KS1030 was about $1300. However the price has increased further. Give Atlas Hifi a call.

So anyone else whom have retired from Head-fi besides, av98m, rameish and myself?

Happy birthday my friend!

That's very challenging since, I have not heard his setup. But I guess you can start off with the Sovtek and if he has surplus cash, can always try the Siemens CCA.

Chris, the Siemens CCA 6922 can be purchased from Music by Design, they have a pair or 2 left. Very nice sounding and balanced tube. Used them in my previous amp the Cary SLI80. The cheaper alternative is the Sovtek 6922, decent sounding as well comes as stock tubes with the SLI80.

I'm not surprised at all. I started off with head-fi but ended up with hifi. A good speaker setup has definately much to offer than a headphone setup but much more expensive.

thanks.. the more i listen the more i feel like drifting from headfi Not surprised at all. There are somethings headphones cannot offer.

Well for MbD, you can always give them a call at 63343981 and see if they allow a trial of the Zu cable. Too bad, I have sold both my HD650 and the Zu cable else you can pop over for a quick listen.

I have not tried the HD650 with the Cardas. HD650 with the Zu was not bright at all in my current and previous setups.

Just my 2 cents worth.... The HD650 does goes well with the Zu cable. The Zu sorts of corrects the fault of the HD650 which is the recessed top end. It definately does not goes well with the oehlbach cable of Jan Meier, since it adds too much weight to the sonic signature. However, the oehlbach does goes pretty well with the HD600. As for the HD600, the most suitable cable which I have heard so far is the Equinox, followed by the oehlbach.