Hi William
I like the Leak a lot. Still have Sovteks in it at the moment which are pretty awful. They are really limiting the magic. Also there has been a lot of changes to my system around the same time. I have new speaker cabinets (Shindo style cabinets that Damian made), new speaker wires (Auditorium 23 also from Damian), new turntable (Micro-seiki), new tonearm (Fidelity Research), new cartridge (Garrott P77i), and new phono stage (Graham Slee Reflex M).
I am getting a great result so far, but need to do some tuning as while the bass is very good I'd like it better still. Only minor really, but I'm hoping I can get it sorted. The results are a long way ahead of where I was before!
I will be replacing the front baffle (see pic) with a veneered one when funds allow.
Let me know how you go with the new speaker cabinets.
Cheers, Andy
Ps. To give some idea of scale the TV is 50 inches.
Pps. The Rainbow Diffusor is for sale at $500 a pop
I finally got a chance to have a good listen to Andy's new system a couple of days ago.
As you can see in the attached pic, Andy's using a Shindo style cabinet where the back panel is half open. Beautiful cabinet! Thumbs up! To Damian, I'd like to order some cabinets and hifi racks please
During listening session, Andy covered his 55 inch LED TV with a blanket, wise move there as I usually find the reflection from the glass panel can be a bit distracting. What I like the most about his system is that how his system can convey music in the most musical way, gone are the edginess and brittleness of the modern hifi sound. People will say it's coloured but when the media and the so called expert hifi reviewers in general tell us that lean and analytical sounding is fcukin'
ACCURATE then I will choose coloured anytime anywhere.
I notice his system has all the fundamental attributes to be a great one such as sheer musicality, very engaging and organic, would love to have more harmonic richness, it's there but more would be better. No digital harshness I could detect anywhere. Some things that he needs to address are slight dryness and thinness. His system needs more body and weight. I believe he's got a few tricks up on his sleeves already with the help of our friend Duc in Melbourne
There's also a bit of smear in sound when he was playing bass heavy track. I could hear the vibration of the cabinets causing the smear and the sound became less focus. He's already got a pair of vintage Goodmans Sherwood cabinets to address this issue. I just hope the new cabinets will not thin out his system more. This is a very hard thing to get balance.
Andy, you've done very well there with your Goodmans Axiom 300 (great driver by the way!) and the Leak Stereo 20. Not far away from a great sounding system that we always crave. I personally can't wait to listen to your system again with the new upgrades on the way. I wish you all the best in your journey! Thanks so much for a nice listening session, man I stayed there for 3 hours and it simply felt like 10 minutes at most, I guess that what usually happens when an engaging and musical system is presented, just like when I first listened to stevenvalve's system in the mountains.
Cheers,
William