Mine changes fairly often, but if I were to win the lottery now, this would be my current dream system.

My OCD need for matching is quite apparent. 

Vinyl setup...

Acoustic Signature Typhoon/TA5000

Triangle ART P200 phono preamp

Audio Technica AT-ART 20

DAC/Sources...

PS Audio Direct Stream Mk2

Edited April 22, 20242 yr by swt61

PS Audio Perfect Wave SACD transport

HiFi Rose RS 130 streamer

Amplification/Pre-Amp

PS Audio BHK Signature pre-amp

PS Audio BHK Mono 300 pair

PS Audio PowerPoint 15

Speakers/Subwoofers...

PS Audio Aspen FR30

Edited April 22, 20242 yr by swt61

REL Carbon Special pair

 

Obvious choice - Steinway Spirio

 

 

I like the Steinway choice, but would probably go with the whisper songs of fembots. 

 

I try and try to make this forum a more serious place, and all you people do is mock me!

 

No room treatments?

Have you seen me lately? I'm my own room treatment!

I use to play this game a long time ago when I read all the audio mags.. I think if I listen now it would be a bunch of old equipment. But I may ponder and contribute. 'cause you know that this is a serious forum, wish serious peoples. 

-- I have not seen it, but I hear you have a big bass trap... 

Agreed Mikey, I don't read audio mags much at all anymore. There is a set of speakers (Kii Three or Three+) which piqued my interest, either the monitors themselves or the full combo.

Back when I read all the audio mags, Sonus Faber released the Extrema in 1991, and that's the speaker I lusted after for years.

Sonus Faber sounded so good. They were on my list back in the day. 

So I started looking around and I found a few things that initially fall on my list. For right now just speakers and amp.

Oswalds Mill Audio - imperia

pushed by some 300Bs - Pair of WE 97A monoblocks

More to come

Love the OMA stuff! 

Almost went to work for his Brother when I stayed at Al's back in 2013. He has a woodworking shop in Oakland.

I definitely think Steve needs to dream bigger on the audio dream system. PS Audio is not expensive or exclusive enough. 😁

The OMA Imperia was the first thing that came to mind when I saw this thread. JP and I had a demo at OMA and I think it is the best speaker system I have ever heard. Huge presence but intimate sound. I wish I had a bigger house and could justify the cost, for example by actually listening to my OMA Mini system more often...

Your Mini's are what made this a choice for me. Otherwise I would go with something like the Klipshhorn or the crazy Avantgarde Acoustic Trio G3. :}

For digital bits - there are options, but probably: 

dCS - Vivaldi APEX stack.. 

Yes that is the Transport II - Upsampler - DAC - and Master Clock set.  I would trust that they wound get most of the bits right. I have not heard this set but I have liked dCS sound in the past. And I really like the different wave designs on the front. 

 

I had to dream somewhat reasonably, because my harem of twinks is going to cost a fortune to maintain.

I've always been curious, but biased against, the horn speaker systems. I keep thinking honkiness. I'd need to listen to some good ones with some good neutral acoustic material such as classical. I could be all wet. And they don't meet WAF factors whatsoever

And yes, Steve, all the PS Audio stuff kinda surprised me. I didn't know they were still around, and never thought their stuff was all that well thought of.

One thing I am toying with buying is a pair of Schitt Tyr monoblocks to replace my Odyssey Stratos.

Edited April 24, 20242 yr by Pars

I listened to a pair of Avantgarde horn speakers a while ago (one of the larger sets hooked up to some first-rate electronics, like their current Trio G3) - it wasn't honky-sounding at all.

Definitely worth an audition! You need a lot of space for that kind of horn speaker, though.

I listened to a budget set of Klipsch horn tweeter towers and they sounded weird for sure. Not "honky", but not great.

Edited April 24, 20242 yr by HiWire

I'm devastated to hear that the OMAs sound so good.  I don't maintain a life that permits me to even dream about that Imperia system, but my own dreams are also represented in the same picture.  Those slate-baffled Monitors to the left of frame look just perfect to my eyes.  I've never been in NYC long enough to set up an audition but clearly I should.

I'm not in the market for speakers as I am quite content with my Von Schweikerts, even though they are old. I was toying with going to Axpona this year, but didn't. Maybe next year and would try to listen to a horn system such as the Avantgarde's.

I really want to hear those OMA monitors as well, and for good reason...

In the mid 80's I bought a pair of ESS AMT 1D speakers. Those speakers had the Heil Air Motion Transformer tweeter/midrange units. They are the best top end/midrange I've yet heard. The issue was the bass. It was a bit wooly and loose. I've always wanted someone to design a speaker using those AMTs, but with a better low end.

 

Edited April 24, 20242 yr by swt61

When my brothers and I bought a system back in the '70s, the AMT-1s were the runner up in the speaker department, losing out to the Infinity Monitor speakers with the Walsh tweeter. Probably mostly due to bass response. Nothing else that we were able to listen to made the list. Of course that was in Iowa and our resources were limited. Interesting that Nelson Pass worked for ESS, as did his wife.

I wonder how the OMA speaker would sound, because it appears that they enclosed the AMT unit. And I thought some of it's magic was due to it's dipole design.

.

Edited April 24, 20242 yr by dsavitsk

^?