The stage has come to an exacting focus that is more razor sharp than I could have wanted, with a sense of depth that it never had. Everything is incredible now, though there is such a crisp clarity that the midrange seems a little thin. Most of this came into focus after some speaker placement tweaking. I had to toe them out a little more than before which made a huge difference.
I also went dumpster diving at the granite store (they said I could take all the scraps) for huge slabs of marble and granite that I've put underneath the preamp, cd player, and amp. I got some box like shelves about 12" high (actually shoe holders), and put two 1.25" thick slabs of granite on that, with the amp on top. I got a .75" thick slab of marble under the cd player, and another 1.25" granite slab under the preamp. This probably helped staging as well, and all shelves are rock solid now, literally. The bigger slabs under the amp weight about 50lbs each (guess) and are about 30" squares.
The preamp gets really loud very fast as well, which is unlike what most people say about passives. The volume pot doesn't track very well, or at all, once it reaches really low volumes, and the right channel cuts out before the left which is kind of annoying, but only when it's really low. I contacted McCormack Audio about it and they said they sacrificed perfect tracking for good sound. It is unnoticable when both channels come in and at all normal listening levels. I tried cleaning the pot with DeOxit, but no difference.
Got a lot of new cd's including 2 box sets, one Buffalo Springfield and one Brubeck Collection. They're both good and very different. Also got Mahler 3rd symphony, and Neil Young Silver and Gold. Buffalo Springfield has this old, rough edge to it that reminds me of Bob Dylan, except it's Stills, Young and 2 others. Brubeck is awesome as usual and there are some recordings from the 40's in the set. Mahler is ok, not quite what I thought.
Posted by Mike at February 19, 2005 11:47 AM