e-mail to:
Paulo
Mendes
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My
name is Paulo Mendes, I'm from Portugal (Terceira island
which is an archipelago). I live in Praia da Vitória
which is a city in Terceira island on the Azores archipelago
of Portugal. It's 9 islands west of Europe. I'm an
accountant and I've always loved music since I can remember.
I started on real hi-fi maybe a year a go, went to a
friend's house (Lourival Cunha) and listened at the time to
Audiolab's monoblocs 8000M and had four of them connected to
a 8000Q and B&W 's Matrix 803. The sound just blew me
away compared to what I was used to (JBL, Sony, Pionner,
etc.). So I bought an Audiolab 8000P, 8000C, 8000DAX (still
use the audiolab as a second system in my office at home),
Rotel 1070 CD player and KEF's 104/2 reference speakers.
Despite beeing a great system, it made me start to
understand what high-end sound is all about. So after that I
bought a Marantz CD-12 (transport and DAC), then I thought
maybe I'd stop for a few years. I ordered the Nuvista system
(CD and integrated) which made a big difference, then
ordered the JM Lab's Electra 936 (another great
difference).
And then I said this is it, now I have
just to try to improve on the cables and this is it. Wrong,
wrong, on a trip to Lisbon I listened to a Chord 1000B (wich
I now have for sale). And guess what: it's time to upgrade
again. So I listened to Chord SPM0B and CPA2200, great great
great sound.
But one day I said I will not go to
heaven with sound so I ordered my actual system.
I have around 2000 CD's, now I listen
to 65% jazz, 25% classic rock and 10% all the
rest.
As for CD's I use the
following:
- Keb' mo' - Just
like you (great blues album)
- George Benson - Absolute Benson (great guitar
playing)
- Clark Terry, Freddie Hubbard and Dizzy Gillespie - The
alternate blues (trumpets and saxophone)
- Rachelle Ferrel - Live in montreux 91-97 (voice and all
the rest)
- Pat Metheny - One quiet night (great acoutic album)
- Stanley Clark & Friends - Live at the greek (great
live album)
System's
Components
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CD player:
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Musical Fidelity Nuvista
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Preamp:
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Chord CPA4000E
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Power Amp:
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Chord SPM5000E
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Speakers:
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JM Lab Electra 936
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Interconnects:
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Wireworld gold eclipse III
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Speaker Cables:
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Wireworld gold eclipse III
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Accessories:
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Soundcare antivibration on the every piece
of equipment.
And for the preamp the Ceraball anti vibration
tweak works great.
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Paulo's
comments about his system:
AA: "Paulo, how
would you describe your system's sound?"
PM:
"My system's sound has got
great 3D soundstage, very transparent but without being
to analytical. It's very fast, soft for the ears as I can
listen for hours without getting
tired."
AA: "Do you think
there is room for improvement?"
PM:
"Yes, of course."
AA: "Have you got
plans for upgrading?"
PM:
"I'm upgrading to B&W
Nautilus 802 and PS audio 1000, so I can get better sound
and my investement is protected against surges."
Re-Visit Notes (12 April 2008)
the new system
My upgraded system now consists of the following:
Chord CPA-5000 reference
Chord SPM-14000 ultimate reference
Chord Symphonic phonostage
Aesthetix Rhea with Telefuken Diamond tubes
Rui Borges Turntables Tristar (SME V, SME 312, Graham Robin) (Benz Micro LP, Van den Hul Grasshopper, Denon 103c1) all van den hul cables
Micro Seiki RX-1500 (micro seiki CF-1 with Dynavector D17MKII) Cardas Golden Cross phonocable
Chord Red Reference CD player
Marantz SA14 SACD ver. 2
Finite elemente spider with prom audio's platforms
Hydra 8 and 2
Poth Audio's badman purple power cords
Audio Horizons transparency power cords
Poth Audio custom interconnect cables
Wireworld gold eclipse V all over (sources and speakers)
B&W 800D Jocavi acoustic treatment
What I can say about this system is this (in my humble opinion) it's simply
the best I've heard, they're in the room with you.
The realism is very very very impressive, the dynamics, the Chord amplifiers
are unbeatable in the way they reproduce music.
It's funny if you close your eyes you'll have to open them again just to be
sure that there's no one in the room.
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