My ERC-1 arrived today. As others have mentioned ad naseum the packaging is excellent; doubled-boxed with high quality foam inserts, and thick board. No way this sucker could be damaged short of a drop from a considerable height. The first thing I did was put the batteries in the heavy aluminum remote. I remember the procedure from the Marantz Sa-11s1 I used to own; one must patiently screw out six tiny screws, and insert the batteries; tedious, but it does make a person appreciate the industrial art that went into this remote.
After the remote was done, I went about installing the ERC-1 into my system. First, I took out the Grant Fidelity tube processor out of the system. I placed the ERC-1 on top of the Oppo blu-ray player. The ERC-1 is one heavy piece of equipment, and although the Oppo is nicely constructed, the ERC-1 makes it look cheap by comparison (and the Oppo costs more). Still, the ERC-1/Oppo combo looks good in the rack. I connected the ERC-1 to my Integra 9.8 processor using the Emotiva's balanced outs. Cables were the X-Series XLR's from Emotiva (very nice cables; every bit as well constructed as my reference Signal Cables). The power cable I used was A Signal Cable power cord that had been connected to the tube buffer.
Well, with everything connected I hit power, and nothing happened. I'll give ya'll a good laugh; for twenty or so minutes I re-hooked the power cord to my Furman power conditioner, even switching out the Signal Cable power cord for the stock, but nothing happened. Frustrated, I finally grabbed a flashlight (it's very dark behind my rack, but I know where everything is by memory). Ah, Ha! There is a power switch on the Emotiva that I forgot to switch on! So, with my stupid moment of the day behind me, I was finally able to turn the ERC-1 on.
I have had in order the following players in my system within the last five years:
1. Pioneer Elite DV-79AVi Universal DVD player
2. Marantz Sa-11s1 SACD Player
3. Oppo DV-980H Universal DVD player
4. Oppo BP-983 Universal Blu-Ray player
By far the most musical player was the Marantz by a considerable margin on CD; not so much on SACD because the Marantz was stereo only. The best qualities of the Marantz was it's ease of presentation. It was polite, but still resolving; yet it's warm character was almost tube-like in character. I sold it primarily because I wanted to upgrade other parts of my system (Note: at the time I owned the Marantz I had the Proceed AVP2 SSP in my system; one of the most musical SSP's in history).
I always run harsh sounding rock CD's as an initial test when I do a system change. Frankly, if a component can have a positive impact on such processed, harsh sounding music, then I'm pretty confident I'm going to like it on audiophile-grade recordings. Here is what I listed to tonight:
1. Ultimate Santana: Smooth, Black Magic Women
2. The Who's Greatest Hits: Won't Get Fooled Again, Eminence Front
3. REO Speedwagon's Greatest Hits: I Don't Want to Lose You, Roll with the Changes
4. Guns N' Roses Use Your Illusion Vol. 1: November Rain
5. Dream Theater Scenes From a Memory: The Spirit Carries On
6. Elton John Number Ones: Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me (live with George Michael)
Santana blew me away. Never have I heard instruments and so clearly defined. Detail, Detail, Detail. Best of all, not harshness; bright, yes, but this is rock, not chamber music. What a start!
Things continued right along with The Who, another bright, brittle sound even more so than Santana, but the same tonality and detail with the "turn the volume down" character that always existed before in effect.
REO Speedwagon's Roll with Changes was simply awesome; I was feeling pretty good by this point; you know the feeling; it's that warmy's that happen when you know your feeling good.
Both the Gn'R and Dream Theater pieces were oustanding; I heard Dream Theater perform this entire set live at The House of Blues in Orlando, and it's the only time I have heard anything approaching that level of emotional involvement.
Finally, the Elton John/George Michael duet was good, but it was probably the weakest of the songs; really, though, the sound engineer really goosed the vocals in this one so I can't really blame the ERC-1 for presenting what I know to be a problem; it was the only time I had to turn the volume down a bit.
What can I say? Believe me, or don't, but this player meets or exceeds the Marantz Sa-11s1 in my system for a pittance. You need to buy this player if you care about music, and don't have a mega-buck player already. Hell, at least test it out; you may be able to recoup some of those thousands.
Initial Grade on Harsh Rock Music: A
