Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo In Search of Increased Dynamics

I love the combination of the Line Magnetic Premium 845 integrated amplifier and the Harbeth Anniversary 30.2 speakers. I was listening to some Wilson Yvettes driven by a pair of BAT monoblocks and BAT VK33SE preamp, and the dynamics were certainly superior to my system's.

So, I picked up a BAT VK33. I only have a few hours on this critter (tubes really do break in) but out of the box it has taken the system to a significantly higher level. Bloom, air, dynamics all improved. I listened to Stevie Ray Vaughn, The Sky Is Falling and near jumped at the intro. Listened to some Beatles from the remastered vinyl set, Michelle, Eleanor Rigby, Yesterday it was beautiful.

Ludovico Einaudi's haunting works were great to hear. Dean Martin's Dream with Dean, Getz Gilberto's Girl from Ipanema were right up there with the best I've ever heard them.

Anyway, the upgrade affliction is now at bay for a bit.

Hope you all are having a great Sunday.

You ever think about building a room and setting it up as a reference listening space professionally? Might be worth looking into. You can afford it and there are very talented design people in Cali.

Every other month you drop a few K on the hobby. You totally deserve a good room as a canvas to play in. . To be fair your room may sound great.... but I betcha your gear is not your bottleneck.

Great dynamics means a clear separation between the range of sounds near the noise floor of your room to the extent of human hearing of over 100db. The best thing you can do to improve dynamic range is lower the average room noise floor of your room by decreasing decay times.

Getting loud cleanly is relatively easy. Getting back to quiet quickly and in a controlled way should be as equally important. It is cheaper and easier on your hearing too!

No question, the room is the limiting factor. If you think this hobby is expensive, homes in Orange County are crazy expensive. I'm comfortable in this place, it's pretty nice. It's my home office, so for the most part, I'm listening to the news while I work. Now that I have the streamer, I get more music time.

I like to post here about my new gear, because only a very few people will read about it. I get the satisfaction of posting while keeping it all fairly private.

If you find yourself in Southern California, let me know and I'll throw some steaks on the BBQ and crank up the tubes.