• Home
• Forums
• Archives
• Dealers
• About

Systems: dealer top picks

By Michael Jones

October 2007

Previous issues of AudioEnz have set some specific constraints of the systems chosen by our five dealers - usually by price, room size of type of system. For this systems article I've asked our dealers to come up with their best hi-fi systems, with only one constraint - that the components chosen be either in stock or normally in stock in their stores.

Here's the wide variety of systems chosen by our dealers:

The Listening Post, Christchurch

McIntosh MCD-201

Paradigm S8

McIntosh Audio have been at the pinnicle of audio development for generations. Founded in the late 1940's their list of world wide aclaimed audio components stretches down the road, arround the corner and along the street a little. Still hand made in New York, the pride, attention to detail and build quality of McIntosh is second to none.

We are very proud to be the agents for Mcintosh Audio.

Our current "no holds bared" system in-store will rock your socks off and drag the tears from your eyes:

• McIntosh MCD-201 CD/SACD player $7495
• McIntosh MC-2200 tube pre-amp $10,995
• McIntosh MC-252 250w stereo power amp $9995 x 2
• Paradigm S-8 floor standing speakers $11,995 (in Piano Black)
• Wire World Gold Eclipse interconnects $3000 x 2
• Nordost Heimdale speaker cable $2800
• Custom made audio rack $1300

A total of $60,575 and worth every cent.

The disc spinner is divine. Detail, emotion, timing and transparency. Its transport runs at four time normal speed on CD play back and two times on SACD, drawing down this "extra" data to ensure perfect error free reading of digital information. Its DAC's are, after even just a quick listen, obviously flawless...

The Tube pre-amp offers a warm and inviting sound while doing the basics so well that even at very low volumes, you would think it was not there. The power amps are both stereo, but with the click of a small switch they become "push/pull" 500w mono blocks.

The sound... well, where do I start? The combination of amps Autoformer out-put tranformers and perfect amplification stages means power and effortless control of all frequencies. The speakers sound as impressive as they look and love the control delivered and never sound vailed or under whelming.

Play Norah, Diana, Eric and Mark... you will know them so well after a listen, that the music masters will be on a first name basis from here on...

Turning this system on each morning and pressing play makes you feel like you have "arrived" and having to turn it off each night seems like such a waste.

Gear of this quality makes you understand why the best things in life and not free—Crighton Weir

Totally Wired, Dunedin

Quad ESL-2905

Perreaux SX60

Meridian G91a

Sometimes you find something so unarguably better that it seems to make a mockery of all the preconceptions you might have harboured. This is what we have found with the new Quad Electrostatic panel speakers. We’ve all been bought up with speakers in boxes, shops full of them. Big ones, small ones. Tall ones, short ones. Endless variations on a slab sided theme. Some even sound pretty good. But we are going to suggest you seriously consider something else.

The original Quad Electrostatic was introduced some 50 years ago. Today it is a collectible and appreciating audiophile classic and almost every pair made is still in use. They do some things very well indeed, but are also limited in many ways when compared with modern dynamic designs. However we are not asking you to look at a 50 year old speaker. The new models ESL 2905 and 2805 are completely reworked and modern expressions of the electrostatic design, making the most of contemporary materials science, engineering and production values.

Let’s consider a few factors of a practical nature. The Quads are a reasonable size, but being flat panels, they don’t actually register as speakers - and their positioning is more domestically friendly in that they can be widely spread, going within centimetres of side walls. This actually makes for an even more expansive sound stage. They do sound best when a metre or more from a rear wall, but in some rooms this can be a positive advantage - the very nature of their design means that Quad Electrostatics have an uncanny ability to make even modestly powered amplifiers fill the room with music. They plug into the mains yet only consume a miserly 6 watts - less than one tenth of the power of your average light bulb.

With the two models of ESL - the 2905 (at NZ$14,000 the pair) being the larger, the 2805 (NZ$12,000) less tall - there is no difference in terms of quality. Simply put, the 2805 is more suitable for smaller rooms where the physical presence of the bigger brother may simply be too much.

Don’t assume that you’ll have to spend a fortune on partnering electronics - they really are a breeze to drive. Perreaux’s overachieving miniatures - the Silhouette series SX60 mono power amplifiers $2000 the pair) are often in use with the ESLs down here. Match these with the latest Quad CDP2 ($2000) and we’d challenge you to find any combination that sounds nearly as good for this amount. That would make a system for as little as $16K.

However you’ll also find that the qualities of the very best amplifiers and source components are even more readily apparent with these speakers. Our own choice would be Meridians G91A - a combined DVD/CD player, radio tuner and full featured surround sound preamp at $13,600. It does everything we want, delivers great performance in all formats and manages to be both easy to use and technically advanced at the same time. Even at this level. I’d still start any audition with the little Perreauxs - we regard them that highly.

It would be easy to continue on with a sequence of ever more esoteric and expensive components. But that would almost defeat the design ethos behind the Quad Electrostatics - they are an original loudspeaker design that any aspiring audiophile or music lover should take the time to hear, regardless of musical tastes, system, budget or room considerations. Everything else will then fall into place on its own accord...—John Ransley

The Listening Post, Hamilton

Wadia 921/931

VTL TL7.5 preamp

Wilson Audio Watt/Puppy 8

This is an article that we can get truly excited about! We all know that the better a system is, the closer it brings us to the performances we love. And as we all know, being completely and utterly immersed in great performance is one of life’s most rewarding experiences.

So break out your cheque books, gentlemen, and let us show you Nirvana.

Start getting used to the words “worlds finest”. We have spent the last 30 years travelling, listening, comparing, and enjoying the best equipment in the world. Our recommended system is comprised of our favourites.

Our source is the four box Wadia. The 270SE transport spins the disk and outputs a high quality digital feed. The two 921 mono block decoding computers turn this pure digital data stream into extraordinarily music. The 931 Digital Controller coordinates the whole affair and offers choice of decoding algorithms, volume control, input selection and so on. Performance is the finest we’ve heard from a digital source. $78,998

We’d recommend connection of the Wadia with The Aural Sympohonics optical interconnects. These are custom made for the Wadia four box, and are the only interconnects we’ve heard which will let the Wadia deliver everything it’s capable of. $9,000

For amplification we’d recommend the VTL TL7.5II/VTL Siegfried combination. This is one of the two best amplification products on the planet, and certainly the best valve amplifier product. The Siegfried’s deliver a staggering 800W of glorious valve power. Both units use extensive use of microprocessors to keep the valves operating at their absolute best, and to make owning valves a stress free experience. $32,995 and $89,995 respectively.

In an ideal world we’d partner these with the phenomenal Wilson Audio Alexandria X2’s ($284,000). Unfortunately we don’t have a pair of these in stock so are beyond the scope of this article. Instead we’ll use the legendary Watt Puppy 8’s. At less than one fifth the price of Alexandria’s, the Watt Puppy 8’s offer extraordinary value. $50,000.

We’d recommend connection of the VTL’s and Wilsons with the Analysis Plus Gold Oval interconnects and speaker cables. These cables use a mixture of pure gold and high purity oxygen free copper. The Gold Ovals are Analysis Plus statement product, and represent the best cable design possible with current technology. They are certainly the most transparent and communicative cables we’ve heard.

No high end system would be complete without room treatments and vibration control. For vibration control we’d recommend the Still Points. Typically they will lower your noise floor, allowing fine detail and musical textures to shine through. In most systems we also find they remove a layer of “grain” and offer a more relaxed and liquid presentation.

For room treatment we’d recommend a Rives consultation. One of our technicians will visit you listening room, make a detailed plan of it, then make a number of acoustic measurements using a calibrated microphone and high end acoustics software. We then send this information to Rives Audio in the USA, who will do the analysis and provide a treatment plan for the listening environment. Once the treatment plan is approved by the client, and installed by our technicians, we complete a second set of measurements and fine tune the treatment plan for optimum performance. At $5000 (excluding treatments) this is one of the best investments any one with a high end system could make. Few people realise just how much impact their room has on the performance of their system till they hear differences.

We shan’t bore you with all the normal audiophile crap. When you get into this league neutrality, dynamics, speed, clarity, and authority should all be givens. The only possible criticism would be that sound stage height could be a little greater, which is precisely what you get when you move up to the Alexandria’s. What makes this system breath taking is the way it can transport you to your favourite performances, and connect you so directly with the emotional in your music.

The only way to really understand why some one would invest in a high end system is to experience one. Till you’ve spent some time with a great system you simply can’t understand what a rewarding and uplifting experience recorded music can be. Once you’ve lived with one, life without one seems empty. Our system comes in at a total of $306,310.

In the immortal words of Friedrich Nietzsche “Without music, life would be a mistake”.—Romesh Anandaraja

The Real Music Company, Wellington

Rega P9 turntable

Naim CDX2

Naim NAC202

Naim NAP200

Naim Allae

Recommending a top-line system from usually stocked items is easy when you are a Naim dealer, albeit near impossible to do in 500 words! This gives us access to a system based around the remarkable Naim CDX2 CD player ($9,000) and the Rega P9 turntable ($7,500) resplendent with a Lyra Helicon SL cartridge ($3,250), with the preamplifier duties performed by Naim’s NAC202 ($5,000), with Naim Stageline ($750) and connected to the matching NAP 200 power amplifier ($5,000), assisted by power delivery from the Naim HiCap ($3,200) and PSC power supply unit ($3,200), all ideally matched to the Naim Allae speakers. All the electronics are further enhanced by their placement on the peerless Naim Fraim (base level $2,200, additional levels $1,400) and the addition of Naim speaker cable ($35/m) and the obligatory Naim CD interconnect, the Naim HiLine ($1600).

The sources. The similarity of the Naim CDX2 and the Rega P9/Lyra is their unhesitating musicality. While the P9 comes a comprehensive outboard power supply the CDX2 can add one as an option, giving too sources that will ensure hours of “what is the better source’ debate. Rest assured that whatever you feed this system with, the cohesion and overriding musicality of both sources will continue to astonish you.

The pre/power combination is mid-field in the Naim range, and offers a tantalising glimpse of what their bigger brothers can get up to. A good pre-amp gets out of the way allowing the signal to pass through without coloration while offering a balanced output that the power amp can then deliver in as pure a form as possible. To assist in this the pre-amp is a capable of accepting two additional power supplies, one for the digital circuitry and one for the pre-amp itself. Without these add-ons the pre-amp gets it power from the power amp so by adding them we release that requirement from the often hard working power amp.

The Naim Allae speakers respond to whatever we can provide a signal from, effortlessly detailing the enhancements of different combinations of source components. Placing the turntable and the electronic on Naim’s own in-house designed stand called the Naim Fraim is always a great demonstration of just what a good stand can do for a system. The new-ish Naim interconnect, the Naim HiLine is also another dramatic demonstration of how to free the sound from those shiny silver discs, providing a freedom around the artists that is immediately captivating. As Naim make their own speaker cable, you only have to decide between the white and black options to have a perfectly matched cable.

As always full installation is obligatory with a system from Naim and is included in the prices listed below. Note that prices are fluctuating along with the New Zealand dollar as I write so are all “subject to change”.—Allan McFarlane

Eastern Hi-Fi, Newmarket, Auckland

Dynaudio Confidence C4

Musical Fidelity KWSACD player

Project RPM10

Everyone wants to show off the biggest, baddest systems they have in their stores and we never get the chance. Whilst I could get a bigger and even badder system the AudioEnz publisher restricted it to a system that we actually have in store.

I start with the speakers, these being the mighty Dynaudio Confidence C4s ($29,999). These are so good I bought a pair myself, as I couldn’t stand having to listen to them everyday at work and not have them at home. They do need a big(ish) room to really allow the bass to fully develop, as they can put out so much it could be too easy to create a bass monster in your room.

What I find to be a stand out feature of these speakers is the midrange which is completely natural sounding, and as most will know, if you get the midrange right then any deficiencies at the frequency extremes can be forgiven to some degree. Fortunately the C4’s have a grain free transparent treble and a prodigious bass that will blow you away. They offer a huge slice of the Evidence series pie for a fraction of the cost.

The C4’s like power, and to keep those woofers under control we have a Musical Fidelity KW550 integrated ($14,999). This beast supplies the C4’s 4 ohm load with nearly 1000watts, which is enough to bludgeon any speaker into submission. Somehow the MF amp manages to use all this power in a way that is still able to confer delicacy to music that I wouldn’t normally expect from such a high powered amp. It does have a 6SL7 valve preamp section though which I expect helps a lot. Anything from girl and guitar through to death metal is served well by this amp, which has the ability to present a deep wide image. The on board phono stage is actually quite nice, and is switchable between MM and MC, but no adjustable loading. In a nod to the ipod generation there is a 3.5mm input jack on the front of the amp to allow the connection of a portable player of whatever flavour you like.

Front end for this system at the moment is the matching KW SACD player ($12,999). It is in a massive chassis, which I suspect is there not only for bling factor, but to provide some sort of mass loading to prevent vibration infiltrating the circuitry. It has both a solid state and a tube output, I prefer the tube output myself, as it seems to be a little bit smoother and slightly less edgy then the solid state output, its pretty close though. The only annoying thing is the time it takes to read the TOC and decide if it has to play a CD or an SACD, but most SACD players that I have dealt with have similar issues. You can’t argue with the sound though as it is rich and expansive and very detailed but not to the point of edgy brightness.

For every enlightened being vinyl is the only path to Nirvana so I have hooked into this system a Project RPM10 turntable ($3499) with a Grado Master Reference cartridge ($1549). They are just so much turntable for the money. It has the right combination of attributes to make the end product so much better than the individual parts would suggest. The 10” carbon fibre tonearm can take some pretty serious cartridges without stifling them. Once you hear this turntable it is hard to justify spending more than its modest price tag on a vinyl front end.

We have used Audioquest Mont Blanc speaker cable ($2999/3m) and Niagara interconnects ($1699/1m) to hook everything together, with typical great results.

I love this system, it isn’t the most expensive option we could offer by any stretch, but it is one we enjoy everyday here in the shop.—Neil Young