[chessman]

Originally Posted by Dawgneck

Greetings and Happy New Years, fellow BAT aficionados. I thought I'd type the first 2015 update to the BAT forum. My last post was in 2012. I was looking to replace my aging Energy Veritas 2.8's at that time. I auditioned the Andra II/III, Vandersteen 5A, Sophia 2/3, Rockport Avior, Revel Salon2 and a few others. All the speakers sounded great but I narrowed it down to two exceptional sounding beasts – the Avior and the Salon2. Both were stunning but the speaker I purchased was slightly more transparent on the top and possessed a slightly tighter, deeper bass on the bottom – the Revel Salon2. I also purchased a Marantz NA-11S1 music player. I preferred it to the Lumin A1 player but I hear the new S1 is a killer player so I will audition it soon. After I burned in the equipment for a month, I sat down for some critical listening.... The sound from this combo was beautiful! Clean, solid, sweet transparent music was delivered with a dark background, thunderous deep bass and a completely flat frequency range. It was stunningly musical and the BAT equipment added a warmth I expected and foresaw when I first purchased the amp and preamp. I mated the Salon2 to the 600SE with TOL Furutech speaker cables, switched out all interconnects and power cords with Furutech's TOL offerings and reached a plateau I never experienced with my equipment before. I was never that satisfied musically in my house (the word musically was tossed at the recommendation of my wife). You probably noticed the past-tense wording I used to describe my system's sound. We found a nice fixer-upper in March and we're currently remodeling it. The equipment is boxed up and awaiting it's new home: a 20 x 40 room that will also house a 4.5 x 9 foot pool table (hooked on 1-pocket). I wanted a larger sound room but I expect acoustic problems due to the room's dimensions, cathedral ceiling and wood flooring over concrete. Perhaps Jeff Fritz can give me some tips. His room is similar in size and has what appears to be a cathedral ceiling. Speaking of Jeff's room (here: http://www.audioaficionado.org/membe...hs-system.html ), his Rockport Altair is stunning! I auditioned the Altair at Gary Hjerpe's shop in Arizona a few years ago and was floored. I also auditioned the Arrakis at Gary's shop: The Arrakis is too large for any house I can afford to place it in.... But the Altair? It is on my short list of must purchase items! Once I get the acoustics straightened out in the new sound room and rebound financially from the house and remodel costs, I’ll begin my quest for a used pair of Altairs. I heard the new BAT equipment sounds better than my current items, but sorry, Victor: I don't plan to upgrade. I'm totally satisfied with the 600SE and 52SE. As a matter of fact, I'll probably grab a 2nd 600SE used and feed each Salon2 its own amp. This will likely happen before another pair of Altairs show up on Audiogon. So, what are your plans for 2015?

I sure love my VK-52SE and VK-600 SE. Hope you are back up and running soon!