Dennis de Chiara's System

Date of "Visit": 24 February 2002

the system Inner Sound Eros MkII VPI TNT Jr. TT rack CD rack     e-mail to: Dennis de Chiara

Had begun my love of audio when I was thirteen, when I built my first 12 VDC power supply to power an Audiovox car radio with home made speakers. I soon discovered outboard amplifiers and vinyl, hooking up a Gerard turntable to a Radio Shack 4 watt per channel amp, which I actually enjoyed, though not for long. (That ceramic cartridge had to take years of life from those LP's, which I STILL have--the records, not the cartridge). Reading all the magazines, I couldn't wait until I had the means to get into the true high-end, which would take me many years. I can recall the development of my equipment piece by piece, over the past thirty years, having just recently assembled a collection of gear that I am now both happy with and proud of. I just "finished" the system, having received the Inner Sound products this past November. I discovered Inner Sound over the internet, recommended by someone I met in a News Group (Thank you Chuck!). After careful research and speaking to the Genius himself, Roger Sanders, designer and Numero Uno at Inner Sound, I knew I just had to have the Inner Sound system in my house. The system is just amazing. The soundstage, detail and imaging are incredible. Along with music and hi-fi, I also enjoy watching movies, bicycling, my wonderful girlfriend, Lori (who I met on the internet six years ago--yes, we have been together ever since), our Rottweiler, Nikita, computers and my work. While I also have a DVD-Audio player (and integrated home theater), I will not discuss this here, as, although the resolution of the DVD-Audio is exceptional, I have failed to see what that has to do with true, two channel music reproduction. The last concert I went to did not have musicians playing behind me. Lori and I have lived together for six years, but she is so supportive of me and my hobbies, that a WAF does not exist. She loves what I love and if I bring home a piece of new gear, she just hopes it does what I hope it would do, aesthetics never being an issue. I take her on sound auditions and she has never preferred one piece over the other, because of how it looks. Yes, I do know how lucky I am! My listening room is less than ideal, as it is our living room, but it is offset my strong addiction for this hobby. House shopping again next year, and I hope to have a dedicated listening room. The dimensions of my listening area (part of our great room) are 14 ft. wide by 10 1/2 ft. deep and 8 ft. high. I am currently looking into room treatment. I listen to 40%Jazz, 20% Vocals, 20% Classical and 20% Classic Rock. I wilI listen to most anything except country, RAP and that new "angry" music. Would say I have approximately 500 CD's and 200 LP's, but the collection is growing in leaps and bounds. I would say I listen to CD's 70% and Vinyl 30%. I would also say that while I feel Vinyl does sound more dynamic, with more front to back sound staging, the CD player is among the best I have heard. I am finally now actually enjoying listening to CD's! Evaluation music: CD's: Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherazade, Fritz Reiner, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, RCA Victor Astrud Gilberto's Finest Hour, The Girl From Ipanema, Verve Dave Brubeck Quartet, Take Five, Columbia Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon, Capitol Vinyl: Beethoven Piano Sonatas, Fur Elise. Bella Davidovich, Phillips Beethoven Fifth Symphoney, Beethoven Edition, Deutsche Grammophone, Karl Bohm, Vienna Philharmonic Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon, Capitol Dennis de Chiara was born in 1960 and is an insurance intermediary. He lives in Islandia, New York. System's Components   Turntable: VPI TNT Jr. + arm: JMW 10.5 + cartridge: Benz Micro-Glider High output CD Player: Meridian 588 Phono Preamp: Inner Sound Line Preamp: Inner Sound Power amps: Inner Sound ESL and Inner Sound Bass Amp/Crossover Speakers: Inner Sound Eros MK II Speaker cables: Inner Sound Interconnects: Tara Labs 55i Interconnects and Inner Sounds own Power Conditioners: Chang Lightspeed and Richard Gray Power Company with Classe Power Cord Accessories and misc.: VPI TNT 16.5 record cleaner Bright Star TNT base, filled with 100 lbs. of sand Solas equipment stands Marrantz 5000 remote Rotel RDV 1080 DVD-Audio Boston Acoustics VR-12 Center Channe, and VR-60 rear channels w/sub-woofers Dennis's comments about his System: AA: "Dennis, how would you describe your system's sound?" DdC: "It doesn't really sound like anything. It has a wide soundstage, both left to right as well as front to back. There is much detail and transparency. You don't hear the speakers at all. I can hear the first violins from the second and the violins from the violas. I can actually "see" where each instrument is. To me, that is the essence of this hobby, along with the love of music, of course."  AA: "Do you think there is room for improvement?" DdC: "Of course, as I learn more and listen more. While I am quite delighted now, I am sure there is much I can do with the room acoustics and cables. I need more music."  AA: "Have you got plans for upgrading?" DdC: "I am interested in researching balanced cables. All my gear (except the turn table) have both single ended and balanced inputs/outputs. I would like to gather more information and, eventually, do a home audition. I am also interested in room treatment. Perhaps upgrading the phono cartridge next year as well."

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