Listening last night it became clear that my system is finally complete, minor future tweaks notwithstanding. The Kestrel 2s have loosened up and the Quad 99CD-P and BC eVo2 are doing their magic. What I now have is an incredibly open soundstage – wide and deep but with a wide listening window too – you don’t have to lock your head in one position. Imaging is fine, detail is spot on, vocals reproduced quite beautifully and the lower frequencies are both deep but fast and accurate too. Basically, the whole musical picture is hanging together coherently with a slight warmth. It’s the old adage of listening through the system – I’ve often heard reviewers talking about speakers disappearing and thought it an exaggeration – the Kestrels genuinely do this now. I’m listening to the music now, not the hifi – I actually listened to an entire CD last night and I’m a notorious track swapper – I’ll usually listen to maybe 8 tracks off 6 CDs. Last night, after a bit of this and that I gave Nora a spin (having not been that impressed with this debut album before) and it was just magical – the double bass, the piano reproduced as they should be with her lovely voice hanging in front of the mix. Okay so the generous glass of Laphroaig may have added to my appreciation of the music! The point of the post however is to champion the folk and advice available of Zerogain. I started off with a surround system – a bloody good one which sounded pretty damn good in stereo but by comparison with what I have now it would sound sterile and digital. The change to stereo was partly a lifestyle choice (5.1 suspended until we have a house which can accommodate two separate systems) but I was fascinated to see what the £3.5K I sold the surround system for would by in the stereo world, with used gear as an option. Without you guys, I’ve no idea what I would have ended up with – the usual suspect probably which would have delivered a very pleasant but probably an uninspiring sound. As it was, someone (can’t remember who but many thanks) pointed me in the direction of the Quad 99CD-P as a fine player that would let me go straight into a power amp. We all know whose been singing the praises of the other two components for a long time and he knows of my appreciation. I hadn’t even heard of these brands before Zerogain. It makes you wonder what other hidden gems there are hiding outside the vision of the mainstream publications. So, there we have it – the system is complete and the journey is over – for now anyway. Matt. p.s. anyone looking for speakers at around the £1K mark or just over should investigate importing a new pair of Kestrel 2s from the US – I found it a surprisingly painless experience.
