Visit with Mark (MPD) in Dallas

Ritmo

Ritmo

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AS Friends,

First, let me appreciate our good friend and audio enthusiast for hosting me yesterday in Dallas. He is quite a guy!

A very good day! Long...I left my house before 5 am to get to Dallas by 10 am. Mark, my friend Fred and I met at Audio Concepts around 10 am.

By the way, the guys at Audio Concepts are very nice and always do a great job.

First round:

- Wilson Alexia, ARC Ref 5SE, CD9, Ref 150 - very musical with extreme transparency. Sounded very good with lots of detail and very nice soundstage. Good but not great bottom end.

- Same system - replaced the ARC Ref 150 with the D'Agostino amp (stereo) - it got sooo much better! Added more reality and depth that was missing with the ARC Ref 150. I am extremely impressed with the Dag amp.

Second Round:

- Mark's home with the Salons using my Ref 5SE and DS450. Sounded just ok. A little dry and not as fluid. We had to use a lower level Kimber speaker cable since the ARC amp is not able to support banana ends on the speker cables.

- Replaced the ARC DS450 with the Classe M600s. A very significant difference - full body with terrific flow, fast, excellent speed and very good detail. Definitely a class above the DS series amps.

- Brought into the mix the CP800. I was impressed with how good this Pre/DAC is for $5K! Very quiet and musical.

So, what's my plan? Clearly moving up the chain to a better amp. The Classe M600s are as good or better than the reviews. My favorite sound is with the D'Agostino but the price of entry is steep.

Lastly, the Wilson Alexias sounded great with the D'Agostino. They are very nice and I'm even tempted to consider them as well - yes the speaker! The best I've heard the Alexias - at least as good if not better than the Doshis and, to me, better than VTL.

Mike
 
Thanks Mike! Sounds like you guys had a great time! I completely concur with your findings. The Alexia/D'Agostino combination is magical.
 
Thanks for the thoughts on your day. It's always nice to listen to new gear, though maybe not when you realize that you'll have to spend some $$$ to get to where you want to go. I think the best part of these type of get togethers is meeting other audio lovers. Mark could open a little bistro right in his house with all the people that come through to visit!

So are there any amps in particular that you're interested in?
 
Ritmo said:
AS Friends,

First, let me appreciate our good friend and audio enthusiast for hosting me yesterday in Dallas. He is quite a guy!

A very good day! Long...I left my house before 5 am to get to Dallas by 10 am. Mark, my friend Fred and I met at Audio Concepts around 10 am.

By the way, the guys at Audio Concepts are very nice and always do a great job.

First round:

- Wilson Alexia, ARC Ref 5SE, CD9, Ref 150 - very musical with extreme transparency. Sounded very good with lots of detail and very nice soundstage. Good but not great bottom end.

- Same system - replaced the ARC Ref 150 with the D'Agostino amp (stereo) - it got sooo much better! Added more reality and depth that was missing with the ARC Ref 150. I am extremely impressed with the Dag amp.

Second Round:

- Mark's home with the Salons using my Ref 5SE and DS450. Sounded just ok. A little dry and not as fluid. We had to use a lower level Kimber speaker cable since the ARC amp is not able to support banana ends on the speker cables.

- Replaced the ARC DS450 with the Classe M600s. A very significant difference - full body with terrific flow, fast, excellent speed and very good detail. Definitely a class above the DS series amps.

- Brought into the mix the CP800. I was impressed with how good this Pre/DAC is for $5K! Very quiet and musical.

So, what's my plan? Clearly moving up the chain to a better amp. The Classe M600s are as good or better than the reviews. My favorite sound is with the D'Agostino but the price of entry is steep.

Lastly, the Wilson Alexias sounded great with the D'Agostino. They are very nice and I'm even tempted to consider them as well - yes the speaker! The best I've heard the Alexias - at least as good if not better than the Doshis and, to me, better than VTL.

Mike
Click to expand...

Mike, thx for sharing yet another Shark GTG! Sounds like a great time.

Dag's and Alexias. There goes that pair again. Something to look into in the future, hmmm...:skeptical:
 
Mike and Mark...glad a good time was had by all. Sounds like you all had fun!
 
Such musical systems to listen to. Sounds like great fun. Mark is the fully balanced audiophile. :cool:
 
Awesome, too bad Texas is so damn far away!!!! There seems to be a ton of audiophiles in That area of the country.
Here's to good times , gracious hosts and great music!!!
 
I would agree with you guys - Mark is a terrific host. Also, he's got a very good ear as well.
 
Thanks Guys, It was great to meet Mike after all this time. We have actually talked a few times in the last year or so and have been trying to coordinate a get-together . Both of us own Salon 2's, and it's always fun to compare different amps on our speakers. I told Mike that the Dag amps were my favorite so far on the Salons, with the Classe' a close second. I call the Classe' amps "the poorer mans Dag" !!

Mike is a great guy !! I really enjoyed our time together !
 
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