 |
| Letters -- October 2004 Likes "TWBAS" October 20, 2004 To Jeff Fritz, [Regarding "The World's Best Audio System"], I'm very impressed with your style of writing (I went to Ultra Audio's archives and read the other installments). It's informative, concise, and actually carries honest opinion within it -- very infrequent these days in the audio rags. "TWBAS" is a really fine idea for a continuing audio column, and I very much look forward to future installments. Nice work! George Taylor "Best of the best" for "TWBAS"? October 15, 2004 To Jeff Fritz, Now I'm confused about the whole purpose or intent of your "TWBAS" column. I thought it was intended for review and admiration of those products that, regardless of personal preference, we could all easily acknowledge as being state of the art. I admire Blue Circle products and have used several of them in the past, but the units just reviewed in "TWBAS" aren't even the top-of-the-line offerings from Blue Circle, which also has its AG preamp/power-amp offerings. I'm sure Mr. Yeung will agree that at a 50% greater retail price and probably a lot more of his own blood, sweat, and tears, the AG lineup is clearly Blue Circle's attempt at state-of-the-art audio -- and his best candidates for "TWBAS." So then why cover lesser products for "TWBAS?" Is it free advertising for the BC206, which is a new product, and the BC3000 Mk II, which is an update of an already existing product? If my assumption about the purpose and intent of "TWBAS" is correct, then I submit that these products are irrelevant for "TWBAS," given, as I just stated, that the same company already has superior products that they themselves represent to consumers as their best. So where are we going with "TWBAS?" Is it to become just another review column, or is it going to really look at the best of the best? P. Blenkinsop Your letter reminds me of the introduction of two products. First, when the Wilson Audio Sophia was first released, many listeners preferred it to the then-current WATT/Puppy 6. This prompted Wilson Audio to go back to the drawing board to put in place improvements in the WATT/Puppy platform (that they had learned during the Sophia's development), and as a result the superior WATT/Puppy 7 was born. The WATT/Puppy 6 was double the price of the Sophia, an obvious problem for Wilson dealers when the Sophia was introduced. Second, I owned the original Krell Audio Standard amps, which at the time retailed for $32,000. When the FPB-600 was introduced, I had a conversation with Patrick Bresnehan at Krell, and he told me that the '600 bettered the KAS amps in every way -- sonics, power output, distortion. The '600 was about a third of the price of the KASes. You'll have to talk with Mr. Yeung about where the BC206 fits in sonically within the current Blue Circle line. But to ignore it in light of "TWBAS" simply because it does not cost more than the older AG components would be intellectually dishonest, knowing what I now about this industry. As for free advertising, in "TWBAS" to date I've written about Halcro, Meitner, Gryphon, and next on the list will be Boulder, none of which advertise. The other subjects, Wilson, Lamm, Shunyata, and Blue Circle, do advertise within the SoundStage! Network. Truthfully, I cover what I'm interested in hearing. Thanks for your letter and, I hope, continued readership....Jeff Fritz More tweaking "TWBAS" October 11, 2004 I agree with the previous letter writer. Let's do some tweaking on the front-end of "The World's Best Audio System"! Another Brit, which I may have talked about before, is dCS. In my humble opinion, "TWBAS" will not be complete without the dCS ensemble having been tried. Also, you may want to consider the new Zanden 2000 transport and 5000 Signature DAC, which employ Zanden's I2S (that's I-squared S) interface (the DAC also has an external power supply now). As the Zanden has only single-ended outputs, you could connect it to the Halcro dm10, then use Halcro's "minimal path" connection into the dm68. The tube front-end might give a little more warmth to the Halcros. Also, the Halcros sound quite exceptional when paired with either of the two largest from the JMlab Utopia Be speaker lineup. L.J. Phillips P.S.: The dCS combo connected to the Gryphon Sonata Allegro and Signature mono amps sounds pretty marvelous. Very astute observations, L.J. You're not the first to suggest dCS, and you're right -- it is quite appropriate for coverage in "TWBAS." With a couple of exceptions, 2005 has been deemed, unofficially by me, The Year of the State-of-the-Art Front-End for the column. I already have Weiss lined up, as mentioned before, and hopefully dCS and some other contenders later on. I'd love to hear the Zanden, too; it's just beautiful stuff. So much gear, so little time!...Jeff Fritz Best source for "TWBAS" October 6, 2004 To Jeff Fritz, You have assembled a nice system, and one that is surely close to state of the art. Your sources could use some tweaking, however. A trio of Brits from Linn, Meridian, and the new Naim Reference would make for a fine comparison to the Esoteric and Meitner rigs. If CD playback is a priority then you cannot ignore such players. CD is what most audiophiles still listen to. Nigel You've suggested some very good possibilities. The three British companies you name are fine alternatives in a field crowded with formats and playback options. If I'm not mistaken, even Linn and Meridian both make multi-format players as their current top digital sources. This does not mean they are not balanced towards CD, but formats are on the minds of everyone producing machines these days. Well, perhaps there are still some CD-only statement players left. I have contacted representatives from Weiss, for one -- a company that has just introduced a dedicated transport to go along with the Medea DAC. You should read about that early in 2005....Jeff Fritz
Ultra Audio is part of the SoundStage! Network. |
