552 Home Demo

Posted by: David Antonelli on 27 May 2003

All,
Well first of all I'd like to thank Jean Luc at Dimexs and Glen at Audio Two for arranging this one week extended home demo. The 552 has arrived and I am about to pick it up and slot it into my Nat 01/CDS2/52/500/Wilson Benesch ACT 2 system. The stereo Gods have indeed been extra kind as my downstairs neighbors just moved out yesterday, the last moving truck wheeling off into the distance without even a teddy bear falling out the back. Anyone who followed my posts from several years ago would know how great a feeing this is for me. Even a month ago the war vet's wife came storming upstairs in her pyjamas at dinner time pounding on my door because I was listening to a fourth generation Northern Soul tape at low volume on a 50 dollar sony portable with no hyper bass woofer. Just think what happens when I turn up the volume just a tweak on the real system!

So last night it was all systems go and I played Johnny Cash singing Depeche Mode on repeat at full blast to celebrate the occasion and get a sense of what my system sounds like at high volumes. This is all in preparation, of course, for the 552, which I plan to make the best use of this week to see if I want to stretch to one.

So, stay tuned!

Dave
Posted on: 05 June 2003 by smike42
quote:
Originally posted by Tuan:
quote:
Originally posted by smike42:
My 552 home demo has arrived and well it sounds OK.

For the first hour I played a few bits on CD and it was OK. I only have a CD3 but it lifted the performance to the level of a CDX2/XPS at least (remember the preamp was cold to start with).

Smike


If this is the case then the CD3 is more than good enough, what happen to the "source first" theory? Now the pre-amp is the most important thing on the chain?


Apologies am I trying to say too much with too few words? I am not saying the CD3 is as good a source as a CDX2/XPS but that a CD3/552 to me sounds as good as a CDX2/XPS/82/2*HI through my active briks. However, the gap between my CD3 and my TT is as big as ever. When I tried a CDX2/XPS at home I found the sound quality much closer to my TT but then the 82 was the limiting factor on the overall sound quality. So in my case, when vinyl is my preferred source anyway, I see much more value in upgrading my preamp first and when funds permit I may then look at my CD source.

Smike
Posted on: 06 June 2003 by Minky
quote:
Have you got that CDS3 yet?


Richie,

Nope. For the reason have a look at the "Nait can drive NBL's" thread.