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My New Ride Is Coming! (Hopefully)
My new car journey is apparently nearing an end! I was going to do a thread months ago but was honestly not sure that my order was going to go through due to the automotive chip shortage, COVID delays, etc.
Here's what happened....I currently drive a 2014 Mercedes Benz CLS 550, I've always enjoyed it, nice comfortable care to drive. I was planning on trading it in for something next year, when it had about 85 - 90,000 miles on it. I've kept it looking almost new. So back in late December, I took it in for a service, one of my injector coils went out but it was an inexpensive repair, couple of hundred dollars. When I went to pick it up, the service advisor looked at me and said that in their inspection, they...."found something". Immediately I thought...oh hell. They found several oil seals leaking. So I asked him, well, how much would it be to fix it like it's supposed to? He responded with a stutter and then........$13,000! He told me they could go in there, clean it up nice and do a temporary seal but that would still run about $3,500 and would probably last about 1 to 2 years. He told me that it's not bad right now, doing nothing I'd be OK for probably about 6 to 12 months, but then you'd start seeing oil. So like any good Audio Aficionado member, I thought, YES, new car time! I did a ton of looking and reading and after a month or two, I decided on a 2021 E 53 AMG. I thought about going for a BMW M5 or E 63 AMG, but I'm still toting the kids around etc and those two really would be a bit of overkill. At the beginning of February, I put in an order and spec'd it out. It took 3 weeks just to find an allocation here in Atlanta but finally got one scheduled to be built at the end of May. I spoke to my dealer on Friday and he said it's locked and should be done the second week of June. I have a couple of pictures that I snapped back in January of some customer's car with the same color scheme that I ordered...I think it's really sharp, going with the Selenite Grey Metallic, black AMG wheels and Nappa greyblack interior: Car and Driver has the E 53 as the number one car in it's class as well as Motor Trend giving the E class the Car of the Year award in '21. Here's some pics of the interior I went with. Performance wise, it's MB's inline six cylinder with 429 HP and reached 0-60 in 3.9 sec and STILL gets almost 31 MPG on the highway!!!!! That's what I'm talking about!
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Library: Speakers: Avalon Acoustics Isis, Subwoofers: (2) REL Acoustics 212SE Amplification: D’agostino Momentum preamplifier, D’agostino S250 stereo amplifier Digital: dCS Rossini CD/SACD transport, dCS Rossini DAC/streamer/master clock. Analog: Brinkmann Taurus table, Lyra Etna Lambda, Audio Research Ref. Phono 3 Last edited by audioguy3107; 05-30-2021 at 10:32 AM. |
#2
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I'm going with the Titanium grey/black Nappa leather interior with red stitching, it's pretty much awesome. You have an option of black or red seat belts....I'm not a flashy guy whatsoever, but I said wth and am doing the RED seat belts. I just think it looks seriously cool, I must be about the only one since most if not all the cars I saw online have the black belts.
Euro model w/red seat belts: Car and Driver review: https://www.caranddriver.com/mercedes-amg/e53
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Library: Speakers: Avalon Acoustics Isis, Subwoofers: (2) REL Acoustics 212SE Amplification: D’agostino Momentum preamplifier, D’agostino S250 stereo amplifier Digital: dCS Rossini CD/SACD transport, dCS Rossini DAC/streamer/master clock. Analog: Brinkmann Taurus table, Lyra Etna Lambda, Audio Research Ref. Phono 3 |
#3
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Buck... Super Sweet ride! Big Congrats
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Ivan FLORIDA MX136, MC1.2KW(10) MC2KW(2), MCD1100, MS750(2) MVP881, C1000C/P/T, MPC1500, HT-2 SUBS(2) HT3F(2) WS350(2) XRT2K, XCS2K, XR27(2) XCS350(2) JL GOTHAM v2 SUBS(2) SILENZIO MUSIC SERVER, LUMAGEN RADIANCE SCALER, SONY VPH-G90U 4K PROJECTOR, STEWART 120" MOTORIZED SCREEN, CINEMA-TECH SEATING, WW PLATINUM CABLES Reference System: ACCUPHASE A300 AMPS, C3900 PRE-AMP, DP1000 CD/SACD TRANSPORT, DC1000 DIGITAL PROCESSOR, DG-68 DIGITAL EQUALIZER, T1200 FM STEREO TUNER, PS1230 POWER SUPPLY, HRS-SXR CUSTOM RACK w/ M3X SHELVES, TAD REFERENCE ONE MK2 LOUDSPEAKERS, WW PLATINUM CABLES CAPE COD MX150, MC501(2) MC1.2KW(10) MC2301(2) MR88, MVP881, MCD1100, MDA1000, C1000C/P/T, MPC1500, ESOTERIC K-01X 30th ANNIVERSARY (BLACK) SACD/CD PLAYER, G02-X CLOCK, HT3F(2) XRT2K, XCS2K, XR27(2) JL GOTHAM v2 SUBS(2) JL FATHOM F113v2 SUBS(4) SOUND ANCHOR STANDS(2) KALEIDESCAPE STRATO & TERRA SERVERS 80-TB, LUMAGEN RADIANCE SCALER, SONY VPH-G90U 4K PROJECTOR, STEWART 120" SCREEN, SONUS FABER STRADIVARI, SILENZIO MUSIC SERVER, FORTRESS SEATING, WW PLATINUM CABLES Analog Rig: CLEARAUDIO INNOVATION WOOD, UNIVERSAL ARM w/ Da VINCI' CART, 2nd UNIVERSAL ARM w/ GOLDFINGER STATEMENT CART, HRS-MXR REFERENCE RACK-GLOSS BLACK w/ M3X SHELVES, AESTHETIX RHEA SIG PHONO-PRE, BRYSTON BHA-1 HEADPHONE AMP, WW PLATINUM CABLES Reference System: BURMESTER 911MK3 AMP(3), 088 PRE-AMP, 089 CD PLAYER, 100 PHONO PRE-AMP, 948 POWER CONDITIONER, ACCUPHASE DG-68 VOICING EQUALIZER, AVID ACUTUS REFERENCE SP TT, GRAHAM PHANTOM II SUPREME ARM, BENZ MICRO LP-S CART, GRANDIOSO P1X/D1X STACK, G1X RUBIDIUM MASTER CLOCK, N05 NETWORK PLAYER, SILENZIO MUSIC SERVER, HRS-SXR CUSTOM RACK w/ M3X SHELVES, SONUS FABER AIDA SPEAKERS, JL FATHOM F113v2 SUBS(2) SOUND ANCHOR STANDS(2) WW PLATINUM CABLES Library System: GRANDIOSO M1 MONOBLOCK AMPS, C1 LINESTAGE PRE-AMP, K1X CD/SACD PLAYER, G1 MASTER RUBIDIUM CLOCK, E02 PHONO-PRE, SILENZIO MUSIC SERVER, AERIAL ACOUSTICS 20T V2, AERIAL SW12 SUBS(2), CANTON REF K1’s, VPI HRX TT w/ SDS POWER SUPPLY, ORTOFON CADENZA BLACK CART, KLAUDIO RCM, SHUNYATA DENALI 6000/S v2, SHUNYATA OMEGA QR’s, WW PLATINUM CABLES Esoteric/Bryston System: ESOTERIC C02-X PRE-AMP, P-02X TRANSPORT, D02-X DAC, G02-X CLOCK, BRYSTON 28B3 CUBED MONOBLOCK AMPS(4), BRYSTON BHA-1 HEADPHONE AMP, SHUNYATA DENALI 6000/S v2(2) EVEREST 8000 POWER CONDITIONER(2) ALTAIRA CG & SG HUBS, AMR-DP777-SE DAC, SILENZIO MUSIC SERVER, TAD REFERENCE ONE MK2 LOUDSPEAKERS, QUADRASPIRE RACK, WW PLATINUM CABLES Accuphase/Canton System: ACCUPHASE E800 INTEGRATED, DP570 CD/SACD PLAYER, T1200 FM STEREO TUNER, DG-68 VOICING EQUALIZER, PS530 POWER SUPPLY, CANTON REF K3’s, CANTON REF K5’s, SILENZIO MUSIC SERVER, HRS MXR REFERENCE MAHOGHANY RACK w/ M3X2 SHELVES, WW GOLD CABLES |
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here's a couple of stock photos:
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Library: Speakers: Avalon Acoustics Isis, Subwoofers: (2) REL Acoustics 212SE Amplification: D’agostino Momentum preamplifier, D’agostino S250 stereo amplifier Digital: dCS Rossini CD/SACD transport, dCS Rossini DAC/streamer/master clock. Analog: Brinkmann Taurus table, Lyra Etna Lambda, Audio Research Ref. Phono 3 |
#5
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My New Ride Is Coming! (Hopefully)
Beautiful car Buck, that’s going to be a really cool ride. But you’re definitely going to need a new hat to go with those seatbelts.
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Tony D'Agostino Momentum S250 MxV & HD pre; Linn Klimax Organik DSM, SonicTransporter, EtherRegen; Acoustic Signature Typhoon Neo, Koetsu RSP, Boulder 1108; Sf Il Cremonese; Shunyata Everest, Altaira, Sigma & Alpha v2 |
#6
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Very nice - congratulations!
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#7
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Congrats, that is a beautiful car!
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McIntosh MA12000, Hifi Rose RS150B Streamer, Roon Nucleus + Server, JBL Classic L100 Classic 75s, REL S812s (x2), Pioneer PL-630 Vintage TT with Hana SL cart. |
#8
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Beautiful car. Congrats buck!
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#9
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Buck... congrats!
Cool ride indeed. But it's not cool that a Mercedes with only 80K miles on it has this kind of problem...
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Stereo: Hegel H590, Grimm Audio MU1, Mola Mola Tambaqui, Burmester 948 - V3 & V6 racks, Vivid Audio G2 Giyas, REL Carbon Special (pair), Silent Angel Bonn N8 Ethernet Switch & Forester F1, Wireworld Platinum Eclipse IC and SE SC, Furutech Digiflux AV: Hegel C-53, Marantz AV8802A, Oppo BDP-203EU, Pioneer Kuro 60", Vivid Audio C1 & V1w's, Wireworld Platinum Eclipse, SE & E Second system (veranda): Halgorythme preamp and monoblocks, Burmester 061, Avalon Avatar, Sharkwire & Wireworld cables |
#10
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Very nice. Terrific looking ride.
Wife's C350 Sport ~same color as your pic's and over 90K miles. Also had an oil leak (cam seal gaskets), but thankfully was only an $800 fix. Keep trying to talk her in something new. But, her car is like a billfold for us guys.................. once comfortable she never wants to change.
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Glenn... Canton Reference 9 Clearaudio SM Pro Focal Bathys JLA 10" Dominion Kuzma Stabi S w/MC & MM Magnepan 1,7i McIntosh MA8950 & MR88 Oppo 203 Roon Nucleus Rose Hifi RS150B Shunyata Gemini-4 Sony ST-A6B, TA-F6B, ST-J75 & PS-X75 Sorane SA1.2 & TA-1L Stillpoints LP1v2 WW Pt, Au & Ag |
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