The negatives of transplanting your A/V system(s) are numerous and obvious. Suffice to say that sometime during all the dusting, unscrewing, lifting, sweating, organizing, packing, moving, unpacking, reorganizing, cursing, drilling, lifting, sorting, sweating, wiring, and leveling you might experience a "moment of clarity" in which a receiver and a pair of mini-monitors flanking a 14" television seems like an impossibly sensible system configuration. There were a few such moments, usually while supporting most of the weight of the aforementioned television, but it could have been worse. Thankfully I have yet to accumulate enough gear to require a medium sized container ship, and, although inevitably unpleasant, my move claimed no significant victims; human or electronic. For those of you with speakers larger than your fridge, or proponents of mass loading vibration control (be it with sand, marble, lead shot or a combination thereof): may you have great friends with strong backs.
There are, however, upsides to a full-scale audio uprooting. For one thing it's a great time to do the kind of maintenance you might not otherwise bother with. Components get dusted, contacts get cleaned, shelves and stands get re-leveled, cable organization is improved. If you're lucky, as I was, you might also be making one of the most dramatic system upgrades possible by moving into a better sounding room. Having been extremely happy with my pervious space I was worried that my new, more reverberant living room would be a step in the wrong direction.
Initial reconnaissance at the new domicile left me with enough raw data to keep the audio centres of my brain churning for the weeks leading up to the move. Normal people would have worried about parking permits or setting up phone service. I wrestled with all the possible system configurations, wiring setups, and "aesthetic compromise contingencies," should my finance react negatively to what would, inevitably, be the best sounding setup. Miraculously, the contingencies were unnecessary and I somehow got away with murder, placing equipment in the both living room and the dining room. Placing my Energy Veritas 1.8's on the living room side of the large double doorway separating the two rooms and the components in the corner on the dining room side of the doorway proved to be the most effective setup. Having only speakers in the living room is also quite a clean and elegant solution, keeping the clutter to a minimum in the living room and the electronics better isolated from vibration produced by the speakers. Not surprisingly, she's more impressed with the former advantage than the latter.
The audio gods were most definitely smiling on me but I was still concerned by the significant structural differences from my old space. Not only did I now have exposed hardwood floors to contend with, the large double doorway into the dining room effectively doubled the volume of the space. I've never been a fan over overly live rooms and I feared that even with a decent sized area rug and furniture that that's exactly what I was going to have. Once again my fears were allayed. It sounds fantastic! The room's extra liveness and the fact that more than half the rear wall opens into the next room makes for an incredibly open, effortless sound. More than ever, the speakers transcend their boxes and breathe, presenting a huge, seamless sonic image at the back of the room. The increased volume of the space also greatly improved the bass, the system displaying bottom octave extension, authority and grip I didn't know it was capable of. The sound might benefit from the increased focus and imaging precision that a little more damping would provide, but I'm otherwise extremely pleased, having discovered no serious sonic flaws in the past several months of listening. If you've got a similar room I highly recommend this type of staggered room configuration. If not, next time you're house hunting keep an eye out for the big doorway.
Naturally the system has been evolving in the new space, as it did in the old. I recently swapped out my vintage Rega Planar 2 for a very recent Planar 3 and, due to a lack of space adjacent to my main equipment rack picked up a Target turntable shelf, putting the spiked Ikea Lack table which used to support the Rega into service as an end table (how many pieces of audio furniture can do that!). The Planar 3 sounds outstanding on its new shelf, which is rigid as all heck, a snap to level, and securely bolted to an exterior wall. Combined with the fact that it's a room away from the speakers and sitting on top of Black Diamond Racing Cones and "Those Things" (rectangular, threaded carbon fibre bases for the cones) it's hard to imagine it being better supported (short of a Vibraplane perhaps). With the Audio Technica OC9 and Shure V15 type MR cartridges, and phono stages from Anthem and Rotel (look for those reviews in my next column) records sound not only wonderful, but spectacularly good for the money.
Another notable development came from granite bases for the speakers, improving bass response and imaging precision considerably. I got mine from my local monument maker for about $100/channel but good old Ikea sells a variety of chopping blocks in both wood and marble which are cheaper and worth checking out for placing under either speakers or source components. These are especially handy for those wishing to protect hardwood floors from repeated spiking. Otherwise my audio energy has been occupied by a budget beating CD player from Rotel, and a potent power amp from Anthem.
Rotel RCD-951 CD Player: Sugg Retail $600 (CAN)
Let's start at the source. Once piece of gear which has significantly contributed to the great sound I've been getting in the new room is Rotel's RCD-951 CD player. Smack in the middle of Rotel's digital lineup the 951 falls below the much pricier RCD-991 ($1,800) and RCD-971 ($900) in terms of model hierarchy but, according to Rotel, uses circuit configurations originally designed for its more expensive brothers. An 18 bit machine, the 951 uses a Burr-Brown PCM-69 DAC, and, unlike most similarly priced players, features HDCD compatibility via Pacific Microsonics' PMD digital filter/decoder.
Enclosed in a thin and fairly non-descript box with a centrally mounted transport, the RCD-951 also features a coaxial digital out and a simple, full-function remote. Like most other Rotel products the look is basic black, plain and simple, and the build quality is decent but by no means extravagant.
Fortunately there's nothing non-descript about the sound of this player. Impressed at the very outset by its smoothness and musicality I listened casually to the 951 for a couple of weeks to ensure that it was completely broken in before making any notes or comparisons. Even during this stage it was abundantly clear that this was a lot more CD player than $600 was supposed to buy and I found myself double checking the price in the 2000 AIG A/V Almanac.
My listening notes are peppered with words like "liquid," "silky," "lush," and "smooth," which pretty much tells the tale. The 951 is a wonderfully musical player which conveys a lot more resolution than its 18 bit, 44.1 KHz architecture would suggest. Definition was excellent with gobs of high frequency and low level detail on offer. The Rotel could really "see" into dark corners, recovering low level ambient information with a dexterity few, if any, players in this price bracket could muster. This quality not only allows the player to produce a more realistic and enveloping sense of the recording's original acoustic, it's a major factor in distinguishing adequate digital sound from excellent digital sound. With HDCD encoded discs the Rotel was even better in this regard, edging a little closer to the resolution offered by 24/96 discs and sounding a more natural overall with better microdynamics.
The 951 was no slouch when it came to imaging or soundstaging either. Its knack for low level detail made for a convincingly deep soundstage which refused to collapse at low volumes. Imaging precision was also exemplary, orchestra members being clearly defined within the soundstage on good symphonic recordings. Performance at the frequency extremes didn't disappoint either, the Rotel possessing a smooth and airy treble and, especially paired with the mighty Anthem Amp 2, superbly well articulated and tightly controlled bottom end.
Was there anything wrong with the sound? Well, I wouldn't go as far as to say no, but there was certainly nothing that jumped out and screamed "FLAW!". In addition to all the above the crucial area of midrange performance was not neglected, the 951 painting vocals with admirable neutrality and body, and generally sounding as transparent in the midband as any other similarly priced (or not so similarly priced -- see below) competitor. No, it doesn't offer the transparency or musicality of the best digital gear, and it's not likely to make even a modest vinyl front end like mine jealous, but for the money, it comes spectacularly close.
Comparisons with my Panasonic DVD-A310 confirmed all this and more. I was surprised to find that the Panasonic sounded a little harsh and congested in comparison to the Rotel. It also couldn't match the Rotel's soundstaging prowess, sounding spatially compressed by comparison. The surprise came from the fact that the A310, with its 24 bit, 96 Khz DACs, also plays well above it's league, boasting an impressive level of resolution at the price ($899). After going head to head with a number of players passing through my system in the past year (including the Myryad, the 3D Lab CD 400, and, most notably, the Rega Planet) the A310 has fared remarkably well, keeping pace with all but the much more expensive 3D Lab ($2295). All this would suggest that the Rotel is an even more formidable dark horse, capable of embarrassing players at twice the price. Either way, a telling fact about my time with the 951 is that I quickly lost interest in making comparisons and just wanted to listen to music through it.
If you're shopping for a CD player in the under $1500 range the 951 should be at the top of your audition list. Although I have no personal experience with the 991, the performance of the 951 suggests that Rotel's top of the line digital machine could give a few audiophile favorites in the $2000+ range a serious run for their money.
Anthem Amp 2 Power Amplifier: Sugg. Retail $2599.00 (CAN) 
An equally important contributor to the excellent sound in the new room has been the Anthem Amp 2 power amplifier. A hybrid design the Amp 2 is an attempt to combine "the musicality and finesse of vacuum tubes, with the solidity and control of solid state." It may sound like brochure copy (probably because it is) but, based on what I've been hearing over the past couple of months, it rings amazingly true.
The Amp 2 produces 31 dB of gain using four stages. "First, a vacuum tube buffer and phase splitter are used to provide a high input impedance as well as phase inversion for bridged mono configuration." Next there's a "constant current sourced, double differential cascode input stage" which in turn feeds "a high current, Class A transconductance/driver stage" which is coupled to "a cascode configured bipolar output stage, utilizing 12 Motorola 150 watt devices per channel." Two mil spec 6922 tubes are used in the input stage.
The result is an amp capable of 200 watts per channel into 8 Ohms (with less than 0.05% THD) and 300 wpc into a 4 Ohm load (with less than 0.1% THD). For owners of the thirstiest loudspeakers the Amp 2 can also be bridged to produce a heroic 600 wpc into a single 8 Ohm channel.
A substantial brick of steel and aluminum the Amp 2 is 16" deep, 5.25 inches high and weighs in at 55 lbs, unpacked. Simple and unadorned, like the other Anthem gear, the Amp 2 is very stylish, a single green LED centered in a vast, symmetrical expanse of silver brushed aluminum broken only by a push button on/off switch at far right (should silver clash with your other gear or décor you can also get a black faceplate). Build quality matches the attention to design, and, while not Rowland bomb proof, this Anthem is seriously solid.
The business end of the Amp 2 is equally clean and simple. Binding posts are very well spaced, not only from each other, but from the two single ended input jacks and removable IEC power cord socket mounted in the middle of the rear panel. While the spacing is likely to make users of cumbersome cables happy, the five way biding posts may not. An unusual type (probably designed to comply with strict new European regulations) this plastic-nutted post works fine with bananas, but spades can only be loaded from one 
side, which may prove cumbersome with big bulky cables. Aside from this nit pick the amp proved extremely user friendly and utterly reliable, performing its duties without a hint of drama. Once fully broken in the sound remained utterly consistent (assuming it was fully warmed up), which made getting a fix on the Anthem's character that much easier. While it runs a little hotter than most solid state amps, it's no furnace, idles with no discernable noise (electronic or physical), and can be left on for long periods of time unsupervised.
A lot of purists might be tempted to associate the word "hybrid" with the word "compromise", arguing that trying to combine two competing technologies into one design is only likely to dilute their inherent strengths, resulting in a mediocre product which benefits from the advantages of neither and suffers from the shortcomings of both. If you prefer to see the glass as half full, a good hybrid design might offer the best of both worlds, using the strengths of one approach to bolster the weaknesses of another. Either way, if you're as dogmatic about your amplifier type as you are about your Mac or PC, then the electronic miscegenation going on inside the Amp 2 is likely to put you off. Too bad, because the Anthem is an incredibly well balanced amplifier, one which juggles sonic compromises as well as any I've heard.
I wouldn't call myself bass freak, but it tends to be the first thing I notice when listening to new gear in my system. It was definitely the first thing I noticed about the Amp 2. The word that kept coming to mind to describe the Amp 2's bass was "traction". When it came to bottom end the Anthem put rubber to road with phenomenal control, but never sounded too dry or over-damped. Articulation was also excellent, allowing complicated bass guitar and drum passages to emerge from the speakers intact. In fact, the Amp 2 performed as well as any amp I've ever heard on Sarah McLaughlin's "Into the Fire" (from the album "Solace") a bass torture test if ever their was one, delineating the subterranean synth notes with great finesse. On good organ recordings and bass rich electronica the Amp 2 was spectacular, and, with its prodigious dynamic capabilities, unflappable at high levels.
More importantly, the Amp-2, unlike some other bass stars, is no one trick pony. Great bass performance can get pretty tiresome if an amp overemphasizes the lower extremes or simply falls short in the mids and treble. This is certainly not the case here. I was consistently impressed by the sense of balance and integration the Anthem displayed on all music. To the credit of the hybrid design, there are no major compromises made to get that great bass, and the result is an especially musical and satisfying sound.
While not in the ultra transparent class the Amp2 sounded very neutral, the midband gaining a hint of extra warmth but rendered with very convincing timbre and body. While not an especially airy sounding amp, the Anthem is very open with no shortage of top end detail, trading the laid back, spacious qualities of some amps for a slightly more present and upfront sonic perspective. This is no to say, however, that the Amp-2 sounded closed in or aggressive, because it didn't, it just put you a little closer to the front of the hall. It still managed to throw an excellent soundstage which extended well outside the left and right boundaries of the speakers. Imaging precision was also very good, but slightly less impressive, with, the locations of sounds a little more vague than I've heard with similarly priced amps.
Speaking of similarly priced amps, I spent some time comparing the Amp-2 to Bob Carver's Sunfire Cinema Grand and MDG's Allegrio, an exercise which definitely helped put the Anthem's sonic character into perspective. I was not surprised to find the Anthem had the best bass of the three, making the extremely well controlled Sunfire sound a little tubby by comparison. In terms of sheer transparency, imaging precision and transient attack, the two pure solid state amps acquitted themselves nicely, matching or bettering the Anthem in these respects. Going back to the Amp 2, however, I was struck again by it's balance and integration; qualities which are better rolled into a broader term: musicality. It's a little slippery to describe, but there is an inherent rightness to the sound of the Amp 2, a naturalness which made the other amps sound slightly clinical and more electronic by comparison. Yes, it has some small flaws, but its compromises are made with such subtlety and grace that the sonic whole adds up to much more than the sum of its parts. Simply, the Amp 2 gets out of the music's way more completely than most and makes for a very satisfying and involving sound. As with the Rotel CD Player, it's few minor flaws are very unobtrusive, and I found myself growing disinterested in comparisons and falling under the spell of the music. Both are products I could live with for the long term.
While I take issue with the implication that musicality and finesse are qualities exclusive to tube-based gear (not to mention that solidity and control are exclusive to solid state), Anthem has succeeded in building an amp which does exactly what they wanted it to do: "combines the musicality and finesse of vacuum tubes, with the solidity and control of solid state." If you're neither a die hard tube head nor a dyed in the wool transistor stickler, then you might find that the best of both worlds is exactly what you're looking for.
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