Source recommendation poll

I hate to interrupt the squabble, but if we could stay on topic, I would be most appreciative.

 

Bottlleneck,

I didn't realize this forum was UK centric when I joined. Unfortunately, I haven't found good US based forums on the subject. Audio asylum is a pain to navigate and others are filled with kids who think that the sony DVD players are the pinnacle of audio nirvana.

BTW, NY has only 3 or 4 high end dealers, so it's not like it's awash in high end equipment. Furthermore, a vast majority of them are just plain assholes.

 

Oh I see, Im sorry.

The adverts in stereophile perhaps gave a false impression on me.

A couple of quick points - its been mentioned but needs re-iterating - I have never heard a Mark Levinson system, and there are only a handful of shops in the UK that sell it, so few people would be reccomending it IMO.

Wadias are great - not least because they have a good upgrade policy - you could do as Graham did and upgrade an 860 bought second hand on audiogon for example. - I cant imagine anyone thinking a Wadia 861 is a BAD choice. Its a lot better than what Ive got! lolol.

Id point again to the latest tweaked version of the resolution audio CD55. Its supposed to be very different to their other products, and has been reccomended above the Wadia by a dealer I know well who stocks both products. I havent heard it - but its worth seeking out and surely very available in the US. Second hand seems unlikely with such a new model though.

NB - do you have a turntable? If not, have you thought about feeding the CDP straight into a power amp? (using a CDP with a volume control on it). Benefits of this are startling.



Cheers
Chris

NB - dont worry about the 'Mana Wars' - its an arguement between 3-4 people that goes back about a milenia or two.

 

Bif, Unfortunately the same here too, if you want to listen to some good gear you have to travel, IME they are only 8-10 dealers in the UK that would stock this equipment and be of HELP, and we have to travel to listen to it, I would have thought in NY they've wounld have been plenty of of them
Although, the UK isn't the size of 1 us state, we too have to travel to get a listen, and a lot of guys won't concequently ending up with the wrong gear
I'm with GrahamN on this I took me 5 months to find the right amps and about 10 or so home demo's longer for the speakers, but I got great products in the end at a fab price all ex-demo saved over £3000 ($4800) just by carefull choices, also relying on a group of brits to decide on anything is well quite frankly impossible A lot of us import gear, it's cheaper, and we get to get the stuff we normaly wouldn't get a sniff at, plus the fact we get the in home Naim sheep hearding here which is a totaly different tangent.
Have you tried contacting the manufactures direct and asking them for best place for you to listen to the kit your interested in? may help Bif. WM

 

A serious reply.

James, so this 'squabble' doesn't go round in ever decreasing circles and bore us both and everyone else rigid:

If people like Mana, fine. It just gets a bit tedious having it rammed down your throat all the time. The guy wants to buy a CD player, presumably as his main source. Even the afficionados would claim vinyl as their main source with much less concern for digital. JW still recommends buying best you can afford and then puting it on Mana, doesn't he?

Mana does not do anything to the second half of notes in absolute terms only in relative terms to what myself and many others perceive as a more neutral support. I wish I hadn't heard this with Mana since if I hadn't I could have continued to enjoy its great benefits of extra detail and dynamics and doubtless stayed on better terms with your good self.

Again, the LP12 thing is not an absolute, obviously, its a relative thing, relative that is to other decks which have greater pitch stability. Don't forget, the Ittok was the best arm for your 'warbling' deck not long ago, and you spent a year trying to convince me to buy Epos's before you discovered ATCs, you defended 135s to the hilt. . . Point is we all change, discover new things. We discovered different things, let's just leave it at that.

Pear Audio: I've met JB once and he seemed very nice. JH is a friend of JB, just like you and JW, So?

Love and kisses,

Alex

 

Well, it seems that I have my work cut out:

I'll have to sample the Wadia 861 and compare it against the Sim, Naim, Levinson and MF products. I hope I can complete this mission while I'm still young. :bookworm: :banghead:

 

WM,

There are a number of low end hi-fi dealers here. By low end hi-fi, I mean stuff like Arcam, Creek, Rotel, etc.

However, there are only 4 supere high end dealers that carry Wadia, Krell, Levinson, Classe, DcS and such. Part of the reason for that is because manufacturers ensure that dealers don't have to compete in a given area. That means that you won't find two Levinson dealers within a 50mi area. This is the kind of shit that they pull off with their dealer contracts. It's almost a conspiracy to ensure that nobody has to compete. Furthermore, the dealers are prohibited by contracts with the manufacturers to sell their stuff mail order. Therefore, if a dealer is a major asshole (and most of them are), there is no recourse unless you're willing to travel far and wide. Even then, there's no guarantee that the other dealer will be any better. In a sense, this perpetuates the asshole factor as dealers feel very secure in their positions, feeling that if you really want a piece of particular equipment, you have no place to go.

Since you guys are all in the UK, you should consider setting up meets where you'd take turns hosting a meet. This way, others would come over and sample the stuff and compare to their own. They can bring their own electronics (within reason of course) to help compare.

 

Bif, we do, and on a regualr basis as well we call em 'Bake offs' gives all the others guys chance to sample cdps/amps/speakesr and cables, remember not all the guys have that sort of cash to loose on a cdp bif, a lot of us mod stuff and get ex-demo, far better prospect. we only have 1 wadia dealer in the UK, and at one point this year I had twice the amount of his stock sat on my bench
It may take a while, however it will be worth the wait I feel, cheers WM

 

Only 1 Wadia dealer in all of UK? I think that calls for a revolution!!! I'll be your George Washington. I need a job. Besides, it's either that or applying as a new dictator of Iraq. :JPS:

 

OFFICIAL - Cheltenham is home to more Wadia's, speakers, and fat wire, than the rest of the UK put together.

 

Let me rephrase that, 1 importer (MDC) and maybe 5-8 dealers that sell it (not what you call a franchised I feel) that sell the stuff, but not technicaly stock it, but that appiles to lots of gear too, not Just Wadias's. basicaly if a dealer hear's something he likes and ther's a big enough profit margin in it for hijm, he'll stock Cynical me, Nah WM

PS I think Cookie is slightly embelishing things a touch

 

Who's the importer WM?

Cheers
Chris

 

Chris MDC, nice chaps though Helpful too.


http://www.mdc-hifi.co.uk/prd.asp?ManID=2&PrdID=0

 

Yeah I'd be helpful to if I was making $4K just for shipping a box on to a dealer

I was going to buy Wadia, but given their appalling attitude to the global market and price fixing, I decided to go elsewhere. In these days of free trade, what gives a company the right to protect it's thieving collaborators margins by limiting distribution and threatening dealers who don't play ball.

Audio Video Logic in Canada are clearing out 861's at substantial savings on US retail. How substantial? Sorry can't tell you. They are not even allowed to quote the friggin price over the phone except to locals, as should they do so, they would lose the Wadia Account

So sadly Wadia product is a big no no for me, I don't deal with companies that employ market fixing in such as shameful manner. Same goes for many of the companies associated with our hobby sadly,

 

Did you expect everyone to recommend just the one player? What's the weather like in 'NY'?

Alex, yes we move on and discover new things, that doesn't necessarily mean that the old things were crap. I'd still recommend Epos speakers with Naim power amps, it's a good match.

I like you as a person, but your on-line persona has changed and you seem to be taking it/yourself all a bit seriously nowadays.

Mr bifcake decided he can't afford/doesn't want a CDS2 (although his post about it was uninterpretable to me), so I suggested a close alternative which I have heard. I'm trying not to 'ram' Mana down any orifice, merely recommending it as an adjunct to the kit.

 

In relation to Wadia I noticed in the latest Stereophile (Oct) which has the "Recommended Components List" that all Wadia kit has been removed from the list "because of uncertainty over availability" Are Wadia on the rocks? What's up?

Michael.

 

Wait until Xmas, things are afoot WM

 

Merlin,

All of the companies that produce Class A equipment are a bunch of thieves. That goes without saying. Alas, if you want the stuff, you have to put up with the shakedown. If you want to go with companies that don't participate in price fixing, then you're limited to class B equipment such as Creek, Adcom, Rotel, etc.

Devil,

I didn't expect everyone to recommend a single player, but I was secretly hoping they would Weather wise, it's about 20deg Celsius and very windy.


Someone mentioned that I ruled out the CD S (Naim?) I didn't mean to give that impression. I haven't ruled anything out yet. I am completely open minded at this point and looking to get as much info on as many products that I can. The only criteria is the products be readily available.

 

20 C at 5 a.m.

Looks like you are in for a very hot day there.

 

Temperatures are expected to reach 23deg C today and then drop to 15 tomorrow night. This is actually the best time of the year in NY. The summers are too hot here and the winters are non eventful for the most part.