A matter of degree

Now that PS Audio has moved across the street to our new facilities our old home is vacant. We've got to search for a new tenant to lease the space. In the meantime, we have plenty of big, empty, rooms to put stereo systems in. We've set up Arnie Nudell's reference system in the room that once was our entryway and admin area. After a lot of work getting the speakers back to operational status we've finally gotten a chance to listen to them again. Wow. I played the San Francisco Symphony Mahler 3d and felt like weeping. It was one of Arnie's favorites and I was reminded of him and the sound he liked—there it was again, in the room, just the way he demanded—as if the orchestra was in the room. Extraordinary. I played a few other pieces and wasn't quite so happy. The bass was wrong: too much, too big, and then the woofer amp croaked. Sigh. The Mahler loves a bit of overblown bottom end, but Shelby Lynn's Just a little lovin' not so much and Boz Scaggs Thanks To You was the straw that broke the woofer amp's back. The Mahler was still playing in my head when I walked through our home front door to the music of The Allman Brothers live vinyl on Sprout and LS50s. Meh. The difference was so stark as to make me cringe just a bit. But then, the Allman Brother's music is so good… It's all a matter of degree.