Nazim Ata's 
System
Date of Visit:
30 April 1999

the System

the rack

JM Lab Mezzo Utopia

 
Nazim and I first met outside and then went to his place together. The moment we stepped in, Rachmaninov's 2nd Symphony caught my ear. It was being played on his system by his wife. Later on Nazim explained to me his counter WAF strategy: although he does not often listen to classical, knowing his wife's preference for this music, he started to enlarge his CD collection with classical items, thus his wife started to use it and even like it. Now when she hears lesser systems in their friends houses she cannot stand the sound. Nazim also says that the recently acquired JM Lab Mezzo Utopia speakers have very high WAF, his wife just loves them, (especially since they replace the previously owned huge Dunlavy's).

As in most other audiophiles' systems I noticed that Nazim also used wooden cube supports underneath the speaker cables (a small portion of it can be seen in the right hand side of the rack picture). The purpose is to prevent the cable from touching the floor. The suggested height is around 10-15 cm. I wanted to test the efficacy of this tweak and Nazim very gladly agreed. Although I was very skeptical about this tweak, their inclusion made an obvious difference in clarity and inner detail. Very worthwhile indeed!!!

Nazim is a member of Istanbul Hi Fi Club and listens to jazz (70%), classical (15%) and to nostalgic soul, rock, pop music (15%).

System's Components
 
CD Player: ARC CD2
DVD Player: Denon 3000
Line Preamp: ARC LS 15
Power Amp: ARC VT100
Speakers: JM Lab Mezzo Utopia
Interconnects: Transparent Ultra XL
Speaker Cables:  Transparent Reference

Nazim's comments about his System:

AA: "Nazim, how would you describe your system's sound?"
NA: "Detailed, natural, relaxed and effortless even on high levels."
AA: "Do you think there is room for improvement?"
NA: "I would wish to have a little tighter and more extended low frequencies."
AA: "Have you got plans for upgrading?"
NA: "On shorter term I would like to upgrade the power amp to either ARC VT200 or to Classe CA401 (a very recent model). But I will make a home trial before deciding. On a longer term I'm planning to upgrade the preamp to either ARC Ref 2 or to Classe Omega. For me it is a must to keep at least one component with tube in my system [nice to hear  that - AA]. "
 
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