I've asked you kindly (and privately) before to keep your personal attacks ouf of the forums and i'm asking you again now publicly.
Please have some respect for the other readers.

I for one am finding this interesting reading and would prefer to see it stay public. If someone is uncomfortable with the thread then they can just skip over the thread when reading and move on to the next. I'm glad there are some people starting to show up on here that are willing to argue the other side of things. Previously, if only reading this board a new user would think that cables, amps, and just about anything else other then the speakers and the room that they are in makes no difference. Without doing extensive testing for myself, I'm not sure which side I fall on, which makes the reading that much more interesting to me.

Chess, please don't misconstrue my disagreement with your opinions as a personal attack on you.

If there is a dogma, on this board, barring disagreement on these matters, let us know. Until such a pronouncement is made I'll figure we're all entitled to our opinions and are free to express them in an adult and respectful manner - out in the open, on a public board, rather than through PMs.

I can hear the difference between various speaker types. I really like Axioms. I can hear differences between amps. My favorite modestly priced tube amp is the ASL MG SI 15DT. My favorite mid priced multichannel is the Anthem PVA 5/7.

I can hear differences between CD Players. My current favorite is the Ah! Njoe Tjoeb 4000 with the upsampler and Siemens ECC288 tubes.

Now, maybe you can't hear these differences. Maybe, I'm kidding myself. Nevertheless, I hold my opinions in good faith and only feel the need to express them because of what I perceive as a rather hostile, dogmatic, inflexible and intolerant attachment to a contrary set of opinions by some posters on this site.

So, I urge open and polite discourse, modesty as to the correctness of our respective positions, and tolerance of contrary opinions.

I own enough Axiom speakers to feel part of the family. If there are 'belief requirements' which must be adhered to in order be welcomed on this site, then I would probably, smile and nod, smile and nod, and slowly back out.

I'd also rather see this stay in the open, all of these points help keep my brain active . Believe me; compared to an F1 forum I belong to this place is very, very laidback.

This is mainly for 2x6spds, but comments are welcome.

1. How would you rate this CDP with others in the sub-1000 dollar range players?
2. Have you tried (most of) the other mods offer (I presume you bought it from Upscale)?
3. How reliable is the transport mechanism so far (it's based on an old Marantz/Philips, right)?

Sorry for the silly questions but the Ah! and various other tubed CDPs have piqued my interest for a while.

Happy listenin'

Hello OGS20

I got my Ah! from Kevin at Upscale, a very classy bunch of folks. It is based on the Marantz chassis. Originally, I got it with the Big Foot option, Direkt Power Kord, Ediswan (1964 vintage) tube upgrade, and the Burr Brown OPA 627s. Loved it!

Never had a chance to compare it to the Heart 6000 though I've heard good things about that unit. I did compare it to a Cambridge D500SE but there was no comparison. The Ah! is just in a different league as to audio reproduction.

I listened to an Adcom CDP which was very good, but don't recall the model number - it may have been a bit over the $1000 level. Didn't have a chance to do enough listening to say whether I preferred one over the other.

I compared it to the Toshiba SD9200 and Philips SACD 1000, and prefer the Ah!, although I did buy one of each of these HiRez units for my solid state HT systems and for their SACD/DVD-A capabilities.

I ended up getting the upsampler and a pair of Siemens ECC288 tubes for the Ah! These take quite a while to break-in.

Interesting you should ask about the transport. The transport failed in my Toshiba, taken care of under warranty. I'm holding my breath as to the Philips because many other folks who grabbed one of these units have suffered transport failures. So far the Ah! is holding up just fine.

If you find yourself in Southern California you're more than welcome to come by for a listen.

This has to be one of the most entertaining and informative threads I've come across on any board in a long time. It has awakened parts of my brain that have not seen activity probably since college.

Pushing the boundaries of personal belief, whetever they are based on, is always a healthy endeavor. Thanks to everyone who has participated in the spirit of open debate thus far.

And chess, please don't leave. We value your opinion here, too. I believe the comments were directed on your method of delivery, not on the content of your comments themselves. Criticism does not equate to a personal attack. It comes with the territory of open debate.

Yeah, chess, I haven't even read through this thread yet, but go ahead and say "Don't do it in the PM, please!" I believe people in this forum are all civil and mature enough to describe our disagreements without making a personal attack. In the end we may have to agree to disagree (again); but reading through everyone's opinions is still so much fun.

Cooper, would one place said beach pebbles on dry sand, or the wetter sand located closer to the water ? :>
I'm telling ya, I just love Mondays.. All this 'catchin up' to do on the forum reads..
Between this and the PAINFULLY BRIGHT thread over in Stereo, I'm not getting much work done this morning !
As Hercule Poirot would say, "It is good to work the little grey cells, no ?" "Oui.."

Speaking of opinions, here's mine:

Self-described audiophiles spend oodles of cash on expensive equipment in order to feel that they are different from everybody else, have more refined tastes than everybody else, and belong to an elite cadre of individuals with heightened senses. If you disagree with any of the myths to which they subscribe, you are opening yourself up to ridicule as one who has inferior senses and/or impaired reasoning. To disagree with an audiophile reaffirms to him that he is better than you - you can't even hear the difference between two stereo cables!

IMO this thread seems like it doesn't belong on the Axiom forum. Axiom owners are generally value conscious people, either unwilling or unable to shell out $20,000+ to get to your mid-fi level. Y'all would fare better hawking that snake oil elsewhere.