Last night I hooked up the Nord amps, the BMR Towers, the DAC and the Turntable. Balanced and speakers cables are all Bluejeans best offerings. First impressions are the sound is a bit harsher than I am use to, the room is boomy and the over all sounds lacks life and imaging. My wife couldn't describe the sound other than the bass sounds like a buzzing bee.
I have a ton of work to do with speaker placement and calibration. Not to mention the room is probably too small to pull off this system in the first place.
As a point of reference, the audio system I have in my media room is a Denon AVR with Klipsch Reference Series RB-81 II Bookshelf Speakers and a set of Klipsch Reference R-112SW Subwoofers. That system is so clear and three dimensional with sound coming from around and behind you in 2 channel not to mention the tightness in the bass and lifelike voices. I think the grand total for just the 2.1 part of that system was around $2500 and was the catalyst for me wanting a dedicated room I can share with my wife so we can both experience the amazing quality of good 2 channel music. Shamefully, this new system in components alone is just over $9000.
After auditioning the new system in its entirety for a while my heart sank and felt sick in my stomach that I couldn't gain any of the bliss from my other music system. Even my wife looked at me. She didn't say it but her eyes were asking me what the hell have I just done! Solo projects like Eddie Vedder, Johnny Cash or even Norah Jones all sound less offensive but do not have the clarity and realism I am use to.
Like I said, I have a lot of work to do to fix this dilemma. Being that the 2 channel room was designed to be a completely new and unknown experience, all the elements are still alien to me and so much needs to be looked at. This was an experiment to begin with and like with any new invention, tweaking and repairs need to be made till the final product is ready for prime time.
I will provide an update when the butterflies return.