I had a moment today...

[a_mattison]

I was in Palatine, IL today and dropped by "The Edge" Audio to see what they were all about. I walked in with one of my favorite demo CD's and was immediately intimidated by the extreme niceness (I'm not a journalist) of the store. The salesperson walked up and greeted me and I told him, "I can't even pretend to buy anything in your store. I just thought I would stop in and see if you have anything cool to listen to." He smiled and said the 2-channel room was upstairs and to see what I could find. He "wasn't sure what they had up there"....with a smile.

I walked up the stairs and saw a pair of Genesis 300 speakers hooked up to a full Krell system. Krell Evo 402 amp, Krell Evo CDP and Pre.

I stood in disbelief for a few minutes not sure if I should take it upon myself to turn everything on... it was so quiet in the store...... oh what the hell. I put my CD in and began listening. (oh yea... first of all, I had no idea how much the Genesis speakers cost...$35k...until the sales guy told me) So I began my normal listening and started thinking...man, the upper range is amazing, but there just isn't a a bottom end... I rushed through the CD and thought I was having another dissappointing listening similar to my experience with B&W's and McIntosh... I went downstairs and told the guy that they seemed pretty nice, but you would think a speaker that huge would have some bass. ....um.... He pointed out to my ignorant ass that I didn't turn the other set of amplifiers on...they were bi-amped.

I went back upstairs, turned EVERYTHING on and .........

WOWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!

This is the most amazing thing I have ever listened to. The imaging was so perfect that during a drum solo I could see the drum set on the stage and visualize the drummers arms. Also, There's no sweet spot. You could stand anywhere except a foot from the side walls and imaging was still amazing. In a jazz song (that would be really cool if I could remember the name of) that was on my disk, there is some excelent percusion and piano. I have never heard a more natural piano. The upper ranges were so detailed, natural, but not bright, I thought the instruments were in the room with me. I ended up listening to the entire disk.....50 minutes of music. Then I replayed a couple favorite portions. I've never been so stirred by listening to a CD.

I was so excited when leaving that I literally had the jitters. I couldn't contain myself and had to tell somebody, so I called Heiney9 and blabberd incorherantly. He probably thinks I'm a little nuts at this point, but it was still a freakin great afternoon. Unbelievable.

P.S. I keep reading what I wrote above...I really just can't articulate what I heard at the store. All that I can say is....emotion...pure emotion came from that system.

[janmike]

Glad you enjoyed the day. It is great when you hear something that just WOWS you.

[schwarcw]

Thanks for sharing your moment of audio nirvana. It has a way of putting things into perspective for us. Most of us will nver get there. But, with a little luch and some educated purchased, we can get to hear some very fine tunes. Never forget, it's about he emotion evoked by the music and not who has the biggest wanger. Do the little things, like set the mood in the room, dim or tunr off the light, don't eat, drink sparingly. Don't guzzle JD cause a Sony boombox will wound good after a few cannon balls swallows. Close your eyes and visualize the sound without all the distractions of sight, smell and taste. Play the music at moderate to low volumes, your brain will process the music much easier, especially with a complicated piece of music like classical or jazz. The music will sound a lot better. Give it a try!

I'm not preaching meditation or yoga bullshit, just audio sensory enhancement. Go for it.

BTW, Don't try this with hip hop

[SCompRacer]

Like Carl said, thanks for sharing. There are some friendly audio stores in the Chicago area, and some snob shops as well.

[a_mattison]

Like Carl said, thanks for sharing. There are some friendly audio stores in the Chicago area, and some snob shops as well.

The guy at this store was very pleasant. Not overly conversational, but he didn't care that i was playing with his stuff.

Hopefully tomorrow my ears readjust to my system because right now it doesn't so great. :) Better upgrade....:D

Picture of the Genesis 350 attached. Very similar to the 300's that I was listening to.

[a_mattison]

Thanks for sharing your moment of audio nirvana. ....
BTW, Don't try this with hip hop

What!!!:confused: :confused: Most of my demo CD is 50 Cent!!! :rolleyes: :D :p ;)

[Early B.]

That's great, matt. If it's any consolation, you can probably get very close to that sound you heard at a mere fraction of the cost. You can start by selling off your entire HT rig and focus exclusively on a 2-channel system. We'll be more than happy to help you out :).

[a_mattison]

That's great, matt. If it's any consolation, you can probably get very close to that sound you heard at a mere fraction of the cost. You can start by selling off your entire HT rig and focus exclusively on a 2-channel system. We'll be more than happy to help you out :).

I've got plans for a 2-channel system. See my sig.... barely building, but I'll get there. I think I've decided on LSi 15's, ADCOM GFA-555, GDA-600 and the Nak...Source? not sure yet. I'm gonna keep the HT system for now. I just got it where it is. :eek: Don't encourage! It's hard enough to hold off the upgradits!

[SCompRacer]

Once upon a time Normanality and I took a 1.5 hour ride to pay for some Silver Amazings I was buying from some guy at Audiogon. My wife had the SUV so we couldn't pick them up that day. Turns out he was wealthy. We heard a $200K system there with Magico Model 6 four way speakers. He had 100 amp service going to his professionally treated audio room. 8 huge amps on the floor. It was an eargasmic experience. Made me want to put all my stuff on the curb, but reality returned. The guy was very nice and used his sons SUV to bring the speakers to my house and helped set them up. He even listened and didn't put my gear down. That day is forever burned in my memory.

You can be thrifty and get great sound. Get your ears on as many speakers as you can. There is a VMPS dealer here in Plainfield, Cinema & Sound. Check them out. Lots of bang for the buck with them speakers. If you find yourself down this way, stop by and get your ear on my electrostats. I never thought I would own a pair until I heard them.

[daboyz]

I'm just waiting for my shot at nirvana, man I'm happy for ya!

[heiney9]

Don't feel bad Aaron, I enjoyed the call from you to blabber incoherently (your words) wish I could have been there. Sounds like a great time, and I probably would have had to been physically removed at the end of the day when they were closing ;). A word of caution....if you raise the bar too high frustration sets in :mad: .

H9

[hearingimpared]

I would give my left nut to have an audio store close by where the salesman and owner didn't have their noses stuck to the ceiling. . . nothing gets under my skin more than that!!!

I'm so glad you were able to casually enjoy such awesome stuff!!!

[MSALLA]

I would give my left nut to have an audio store close by where the salesman and owner didn't have their noses stuck to the ceiling. . . nothing gets under my skin more than that!!!

I'm so glad you were able to casually enjoy such awesome stuff!!!

I have not found one in the tri-state area. Either bad product or snobby people.

[a_mattison]

It was a pretty nice store too. The guy that was there was wearing a baseball hat, and casually dressed. He was sitting in one of the theater rooms watching ESPN. They had NHT's, Moon, PSB??? and a lot of other brands.

The Genesis towers had obviously been there a while. they were pretty dusty. Having never seen them and didn't know what they were, I initially thought, "What the hell are these big, old, piece of crap speakers that they have hooked up to the cool Krell stuff?"...Oops

anyway, Anybody in the area that has a chance should go check the place out.

[AndyGwis]

Dallas has a place called Audio Concepts, Keith (sucks2beme) told me about them.

When I walked in first the first time to see what they were about, I was alittle intimidated by how nice it was. They carried Audio Research, Revel, Wilson's, bunch of NAD, Linn, etc.

Guys were really nice, there. The gentleman that showed me around was very friendly and happy to tell me what everything was. He had been there 22 years of the store's 23 years, which is kind of cool.

I didn't even bother listening to anything. Just walking by the Audio Research setup in front softly playing some tunes on a pair of Revels started to wow me. I'm finally getting happy with my setup, don't need any reason to start from scratch, again.

[TN_Polk_Lover]

. . . Not overly conversational, but he didn't care that i was playing with his stuff. . .
Taken out of context, this could be an interesting sig. line. :D

[Fireman32]

Great story. I wish there was a store like that around me that was that nice. A home theather store opened about 10minutes from me and i stopped in to check them out. They mainly did installs of HT but wanted to see what they had for audio. The owner was there and I spoke to him for about 10 minutes and asked about carrying Polk and he stated that they dont but he has a set of 54k speakers for sale. He did not seem to happy in me asking to listen to them unless I had alot of cash on me and wanted to buy.Oh well I wont send anyone there.

[hearingimpared]

Great story. I wish there was a store like that around me that was that nice. A home theather store opened about 10minutes from me and i stopped in to check them out. They mainly did installs of HT but wanted to see what they had for audio. The owner was there and I spoke to him for about 10 minutes and asked about carrying Polk and he stated that they dont but he has a set of 54k speakers for sale. He did not seem to happy in me asking to listen to them unless I had alot of cash on me and wanted to buy.Oh well I wont send anyone there.

See this is what I mean about these nose stuck to the ceiling guys. . . you're not even welcome to check out their wares unless you look like you are capable of a purchase.

[Fireman32]

See this is what I mean about these nose stuck to the ceiling guys. . . you're not even welcome to check out their wares unless you look like you are capable of a purchase.

We shall see how long he stays in business.