Post by pawsman on Jun 15, 2015 18:22:01 GMT -5
Just helped a friend John put together a very nice entry level High-End system consisting of a pair of Airmotiv 6s Speakers (bought on sale),
a used XDA-2 (in excellent condition), a Samsung Blu-ray player and Monoprice cables. Since the Speakers were placed close to the front wall, we
shelved the bass down by 2 db, which proved to be a satisfactory setting (the bass was bit congested running flat). We had an extensive listening session on
Sunday with Dan, an Audiophile friend. John listens primarily to Classical solo piano and Chamber music; we played a number of solo piano cuts including
Nojima Plays Liszt (RR-25), Mussorgsky's Pictures at an exhibition (Mercury 434 346-2), Oscar Peterson: Unmistakable (Zenph 88697743512, a real find)
and the new Alkan Mozart Transcriptions on Toccata Classics. We were all impressed with the natural, dynamic and very realistic piano sound; the extreme
bass notes were full and resonant and the midrange/treble was spot on. John played some Chamber music: Lera Auerbach's Preludes, and Sonata for Cello
and piano (Cedille CDR 9000137). This is modern music, with a very wide dynamic range and quite dark and demonic; the Airmotivs acquitted
themselves very well. Finally I played several orchestral cuts: Exotic Dances from the Opera (RR-71), and cuts from Mahler's 5th and 2nd Symphonies
on Channel Classics with Adam Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra (CCS SA 23506 & CCS SA 34213). They reproduced full scale Orchestral
dynamics quite well, though a Sub would be necessary to reproduce the deepest bass notes. In a smallish room, this may be all anyone would ever need IMO,
and you could always add a pair of subs to get the deep bass impact, Organ pedals, and HT special effects.
A very well designed, musical performer with off the charts performance/price ratio-
pawsman
