R's Music System

If one has followed the evolution(or development if u like to call it that) of friends' hifi system, one will be probably be amazed as to how the change of equipments could affect the sound so much! I have one such experience to document in this diary entry. I've followed my friend Mr.R, in my neighbourhood over a few years, to know this to be true! Then, the time of KEF floorstanders driven by Passlab amplifications and Classe CD source and now, Marantz sacd 1, Parasound preamp and parasound monoblocs driving a pair of Proac 3.8 speakers; depicted a very significant difference in the sound/music reproduction of those 2 time periods! As I recalled the big differences and gradual changes of the sound as the equipments get some further 'running in' , have me anticipating the possibility of much greater improvements of the the overall sound presentations and even more enjoyable listening sessions to come! From what I heard over the recent past few weeks when the changes to the sound of new replacement equipments started to be more apparent, I have to dismiss the idea of a quick writeup, but instead waited out to do a writeup till the sound gets even better!!! Now what I perceived of the sound presentation, was centred around the keyword: control. That good control all round, not superlative yet, maybe there will be more surprises to come, that I may not know yet. Maybe the gears could still show sign of greater improvements to come, as I could find more differences with each visits. signifcances of those room Pretty sure those room treatments (to be detailed in part 2 of this writeup) which were progressively put in place, contributed to the comfortable sound of the system. One matter is clear in my mind, room treatments do brings out more of the music! Mr.R being more of a music lover than a hifi enthusiast, is clearly shown with his choice of music spinned for his visitors. Very varied and nonetheless shows his love of music from his very large & impressive collection of CD based softwares of redbook CDs, SACDs and have many a visitor salivating over his many CD boxsets!!! And yes I know he also enjoys fine wines and good coffee. Alright, you have to ask, and what did I listen to with every listening sessions. You name it, Classicals, jazz, progressive rocks, country and western, music from the 60s, 70s, 80s, and some 90s. Each of the listening sessions, between an hour to sometimes 2 plus hours, were made up of a good cross section of various music genres. Almost always calling it a night followed with a supper session too. At the first ever listen session of the Parasound monoblocs, I asked specifically for the replay of the Dream of the Opera CD, followed by Fleetwood Mac's 'Dream' track, Tracy Chapman's "Baby Can I Hold You', Diana Krell's 'Look of Love', some Police tracks, some Karajan's work, Bob Marley and even Tsai Chin. The content of the music replayed, come as no surprise, good control at least as much as the Proac 3.8 could take it! If one don't go for that brute force test that is. The high, mid range & bass were more than sufficient for a not so overly aged person like myself. It will still take some much younger listeners to provide their views of the overall sound, to know if different age groups have listened to the same sound. At subsequent listening sessions, the listen materials were all different, still the system could hold the music together and the overall sonic presentations still provided those many enjoyable listening sessions and we have always set the sound loudness at a comfortable level for those many listening hours! And I am grateful to have The Wise One and Village Boy to keep me company during the many listening sessions and contributing to the discussions over supper.