Spent a couple of hours listening - here are my observations. I am extremely critical, so please take this into account.
I used my Shanling CDT100, with recently upgraded valves, as a source exclusively. Listening material ranged a little, but in the interests of expediency (didn't have much time), I used the typical female vocals to show up faults. Main material was Norah Jones, COme away with me - I have played this so much the laser has almost burned through the thing!
Oh, and please excuse any typos, or shorthand references - I'm not being paid for this so really couldn't be bothered ...
OK, The first component I substituted in my reference system was the Straight Wire cable. My goodness. I am seriously considering not honoring my word to give this away with the system. Between my amp and preamp (Musical FIdelity F19 and F25) I typically run a SE conenction, Transparent Super, because every time I have used a balanced cable (VdH D102 III Hybrid), it sounded dead. Well, the Virtuosos provided the best of all worlds. The Black silences that only a balanced connection can bring, with the smoothness and sweet musicality of teh SE conenction. I AB'ed many times, and kept on coming back to the balanced connection. My system has never sounded better!
Then came teh Classe Thirty Pre. Sounded like, well, a good old school transistor preamp. A little cold, but very quiet. Imaging and general tonality didn't come close to my reference, with a far flatter, less lyrical approach overall. That said, it is less than a quarter of teh price of my preamp - so I wasn't unhappy.
First I connected one amp, running the power-hungry Dynaudios. The Classe has a slightly fat midrange, which complemented the preamp's coolness. Bass definition suffered a lot though, as did the general sense of air that only a massive amplifier can create. Adding another amp, driving the speakers in dual bridged configuration, sorted out most of the bass definition problem, and was a assive improvement on teh single amp. there was no downside to this. The system had a pace and drive that it previously lacked, although texture and imaging wasn't up to the standard set by my reference.
FInally, I was keen to listen to the DAC. This was interesting. tonality improved greatly, and the system gained some of the fluidity that I felt was lacking. While the image was smeared slightly, and the soundstage was narrower, the improved tonal nature of teh system ultimately made for a far more pleasing combo than before.
All I can say, is that whoever put this system together in the past knew their Sh1t! With my Dynaudios it still lacked certain elements, but I would imagine that the Martin Logan CLS that it was designed to run, with their extended highs and holographic nature, would have made up for the lack of air, the closed nature of the system. Those aren't for sale, though
For R12 500, you can add a decent set of SOnors or Paradigm floorstanders, and a relatively solid transport for around R10k, an have a kick-@ss system, probably better than anything you can find for under 60 or 70 grand new.
Looking at the state of teh second hand market, I will probably end up holding onto the kit - maybe using it to drive the Logans for my office system. Quite looking forward to that, actually ...
