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In Reply to: Questions and points to consider... posted by RMcCoy on January 4, 2004 at 00:05:14:
Synergies are a bitch, you're obviously aware of it because you own what is reported to be one of the alltime great synergies, in your Neat Mystiques + Naim Nait 5/CD5/FC2. I too have a Nait 5 and CD 5 at home I may keep them just to try a pair of Neats.Given that one of my favorite features of the panny is synergy risk elimination (ie a DAC, pre, power in one box, eliminating many interconnects and separate power cords and tweaks) it greatly saddens me that transports make a difference (they're only supposed to spit numbers), digital cables make a difference (they are only supposed to transport numbers), and power cables make a difference (which I didn't really believe until recently), and potentially power conditioning, and speaker cables. Just dandy. Luckily I'm having great luck with a cheap coax cable (Monster, $60 cdn) and quite cheap fatass monster cable speaker wire (strange stuff, looks fat but has hollow plastic tube in the middle - says "Monster Cable High Resolution Precision Standard Time Correct with Magnetic Flux tubes and LPE Dielectric" on it - whew!), and a monster cable optical - as you can see I was shopping at my local mass electronics store.
With all these synergies, no wonder we can never win as audiophiles - I never could do the Rubik's cube either, but at least it was free to try!
I've found much better luck with the coax digital input so far than the optical digital, and found my cheaper monster cable optical better than a newer audiophile brand (but only on a very short comparison - I got audiophilia nervosa and switched back after 5 hours; the panny always sound pretty bad just after powerdown though, so I could be wrong and didn't want to wait to find out). That annoyed me enough that I said screw it for now, and just listen to digital cable via coax - having too much fun listening to new music hours per day to care.
At least the panasonic eliminates the most costly synergy issues, DAC/Pre/Power all in one (well, and tuner but haven't tried it yet), but sadly it's easy to spend well, well over $5k on the rest of it. I hope we can come up with a consensus on the best budget combo for newbies to break into this hobby with, and then maybe a "reasonable" ultimate combo. I really wish more companies would put out reasonably priced, dedicated TRANSPORTS - it annoys me to have to buy all the DAC circuitry when I just need a bit-spitter. I guess the good thing is that once you buy all those accessories, if you buy a newer all digital integrated from Bel Canto, Solar, Spectron, PS Audio, etc in the future - you can just slide it into your existing configuration and hope one digital to another is reasonably compatible. (I would be interested to hear if your CD5 works if you try it - maybe some of it's PRAT is in the transport mechanism?!)
One thing I will say though from direct experience so far, the more full range a speaker you use with the Pansonic the better - I tried a pair of Epos ELS-3 in my large-ish room and it practically sheared my head off with white glaze. No fault to the Epos, my speakers are 13' apart and I sit 17' away. The woofers in the speakers I am using are bigger than the entire Epos and it's box - and better yet they keep the massive bass frequencies out of it's dedicated 5" midrange driver. Your ROOM has the largest signature of any component on your system, I move often enough to know that the same stereo in a different room is a different stereo. Similarly with the panasonic, your speaker's bass control and articulation can make a big difference, keeping the bass in it's place and in control allows all else to shine through, and jive with PRAT the likes of Naim. Again though, your room plays the biggest role there. In reality, PRAT is in the music, not the equipment - Naim just lets it through (although some have accused them of slight manipuations).
Probably nothing everyone doesn't know already, but worth remembering - if you're using a bookshelf, it's probably fine in an appropriately sized room, but it needs to be capable of at least LS35/A bass type deception, otherwise your ears will be a ringin', because none of the rest of the spectrum is caramel coated. I've said it before and I'll say it again - I'd love to hear the panasonic on a pair of Spendor SP100's (dedicated midrange driver, bigass woofer to keep the bass out of the mid driver's way, british-style politeness) - I may trade my way up to a pair when I get home some weeks or months from now, but in terms of full range performance and clear aritculate bass control, my Quad 989's will surely be up to the task - don't know about my room though. With the speed/holograhpics of the panasonic though, if I could get away without massive planars, believe me I would.
In the end the best way to eliminate synergy issues is to strive for neutrality every step of the way (like we all don't know that right), but still it doesn't always seem that's the goal. If god handed down the perfect amp - straight wire with gain - as many would hate it as love it.
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- Synergies are a bitch... - longtimequadowner 01/4/0412:51:52 01/4/04 (0)
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