A little background on me, humble beginnings.
As a kid I started out listening to old bookshelf speakers and an old receiver. However by the time I was 14 I worked my way up to a pair of Cerwin Vega VS120's paired with an NAD 2200PE and a NAD PREAMP. For my purposes back as a teenager, this system left little to be desired, tons and tons of slamming BASS and in your face highs. For super loud rock and rap, there was nothing that this system couldn't make sound amazing to my youthful ears. For a little background on the speakers, they were initially sold at Circuit City, but they weren't the easiest speakers to drive being that they were four ohms. So Circuit City would see returns of their junk receivers that would fry under the load of the Cerwins, so Circuit City quite stocking them and I bought there last demo pair. They had a 12 inch bass driver with a large magnet, a 4 inch mid and a little screaming tweeter on top. I cranked these so much that the screw holes that held the bass driver into the cabinet stripped out and I had to turn the bass driver a few degrees and make new holes, Seriously these speakers cranked and they could take a beating, I had them cranked for hours at a time when I would DJ my friends parties with them. The NAD was 200 watts per channel and dynamic power swings upwards of 600 watts. This amp was just what the doctor ordered for the Cerwin Vegas. In concluding if a person was ever so inclined to recreate the iconic college/high school party where the music is pounding into the night with decent clarity and tons of Bass the NAD / Cerwin Vega Combo, is in my opinion the perfect set up.
Growing up, later on after I was first married I wanted to climb up the ladder.
Paradigm Monitor 7 v2 and NAD 214, B&K AVP3090 this system started me off on a midfi journey. It was clear, somewhat analytical with a certain amount of detail more than what you would see in the big box store gear. It had good bass response that seemed fairly tight and fast. Problem was for me it didn't have the wow factor, that air and timing that just blows you away. Don't get me wrong it sounded good, and most everyone I knew liked the sound, it was smooth and clear. But for me it wasn't what I wanted to settle down with. The vocals weren't all that engaging and the highs seemed harsh at times. So again I sold it on Ebay and moved on up the ladder.
Mirage M1 and NAD 214 & B&K AVP3090, MID Level Marantz dvd player . At this point I had some money from a student loan and I was determined to work my way up. My uncle was major Audiophile, and was also in the same boat as far as moving up the ladder. So he offered me to sell me his Mirage M1 speakers for 1200. These were the speakers, that all growing up, I admired when I would go over to his house for family functions. They were big, intrusive and to me sounded amazing. The were a bipolar design with an 8 inch bass driver a 5 inch mid and tweeter on top, this was on the front of the speaker and on the back was the exact same configuration only it was designed with a crossover so the drivers weren't out of phase.
At first try they were, well ,, disappointing. What I failed to realize was the grade of electronics my uncle had was no where near the quality of my humble NAD 214. So I sold the NAD and bought a Classe Ca200 and paired it with the B&K AVP3090 and the Mirages. Now I was getting there, it was amazingly more defined and now actually had a defined sound stage with the much needed clarity and depth that I remembered from when I listened to it at my uncles place. Still though it was missing something. Cables-- So I bought all the cables my uncle had used when he had the Mirages. This included TARA LABS Temporal Continueum speaker cables biwired with Audioquest hyperlitz Diamond Interconnects,and Audioquest Lapis interconnects. The cables made that final difference and finally gave me what I wanted. All of the cables made the difference but the Tara Labs speaker cables made the biggest difference, not to underplay the importance of the interconnects as they made a clear and audible difference.
Now with the system complete a review of all--- Its true a system is really only as good as the performance of the weakest link.
SPEAKERS The Mirage M1s had a BIG sound stage and detailed imaging that I had been looking for. Probably the best thing about them was the sound stage, because they were bipolar they carried that BIG Beautiful sound with ease. Its tricky to explain there are more detailed speakers out there but they cannot do what these Mirages could do. The Mirages carried the sound so smooth and deep, its extremely difficult to explain to people who haven't heard them before. The bottom line with the Mirages, they stood around 5 feet tall, weighed around 200lbs and were bipolar designed. The sound was big with an equal balance of power and beauty. To me some of the best sounding ever built to date. People with an extremely analytical ear don't always appreciate the M1's, as I said before, there are more detailed speakers out there. However for me its about the music and how the music makes you feel when you hear that perfect song that sends shivers down your back, and these Mirages could do that with ease. Some may argue that the old Cerwin Vegas could do that, the difference is the Mirages were still very detailed and analytical, the Cerwins lacked in this area. With the Mirages it wasn't only about the detail, it was about the entire presentation of the sound, the imaging, the sound stage and the overall engagement of the music.
The Classe Ca200, at 380 watts per channel weighing in at 70lbs it was a wonderfully robust amplifier, smooth detailed with quality imaging and a wonderful sound stage. It mated very well with the Mirages easily driving them as they were intended to be driven. One of the best improvements this amp brought to the table was the timing pace and balance of the sound, the sound just flowed with a smooth and even flow, without any grain or fatigue. A seriously strong amplifier, one I wouldn't hesitate in purchasing again.
B&K AVP 3090 This was an old ass prepro from B&K, that being said, it really was a sleeping giant. Later I bought a B&K Reference 30 prepro and I have to say the old AVP3090 had a warmer smoother tone than the newer Reference 30. Granted for home theater applications the Ref30 was a better unit as it could do more surround formats and was easier to use. But for this blog its all about the two channel with the home theater as a side note, and for 2 channel listening the AVP 3090 was really a good sounding preamp. My uncle with his Jeff Rowland and Dali gear even commented that the B&K really sounded amazing for the price point.
Marantz DVD Player, this was a decent sounding player, it wasn't by any stretch an audiophile grade player, and was the weakest link in the system. Still it did ok.
CABLING- As mentioned before the Tara Labs temporal continueums were the most noticeable difference as far as the cables went. Originally I had purchased a cheap pair of Tara Labs speaker cables and they weren't even close to the Temporal continueums. The Tara Labs Temporoals really seemed like a further extension of the Classe it seemed to have the sound the Classe was designed to have, but which wasn't apparent with the cheaper speaker cables. The Audioquest diamonds added a noticeable amount of detail and transparency that I was lacking before, the Lapis did the same only to a slightly lesser extent.
Its always funny what people who aren't into high end audio gear say about audiophile gear and cables. This always makes me laugh because its almost like the most ignorant people are always the most analytical about whether audiophile gear offers a real difference. Granted audiophile gear is typically a lot of money, and certainly there are those who think that the difference is not worth the additional amount of money. That is a real argument and, although I do not agree, I can understand the reasoning behind it. However the sour grapes attitude of those who say that the difference is not real and that audiophiles are imaging things, is in my opinion, nothing more than an angry rant of someone who is so unhappy with the price they cant stop and hear the difference. The reality is everyone has their thing that they enjoy spend money on, my dad built hot rods, a friend of mine loves to eat expensive cuisine, some like top quality wines. Regardless of what it is, everyone has their thing that they enjoy. The audiophile hobby is one of the more expensive hobbies, yet one of the most involving ones that I've been involved in.
After a few years I got a little board and I wanted to try something else.
So I kept all the gear except I sold the B&K and bought a Proceed AVP-S. The difference was huge. The MSRP of the Proceed was around 5000, unsurprisingly as it was from Madrigal the parent company of Mark Levinson.
With the Proceed the devil was in the details, the devil being the amazing detailed sound. Seriously the sound came alive from the first time I turned it on. The sound was so transparent, smooth, perfectly paced and at times dead silent. One of the attributes of really good piece of gear is the silent gaps between the notes and this is where the Proceed shined, it was so dead quiet with the perfectly clean transparent sound with the bass much more controlled than the B&K. It blew me away, how good it was. The down side, if there was one was not even marginal, it wasn't quite as warm as the B&K. However the overall improvement over the B&K was so overwhelming that it wasn't even the same system, it was clearly better.
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