e-mail to:
Andrea
Bedetti
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I
had a "mission impossible" to do and, possibly, to work out.
To find a Hi-End system able expressing itself in a good
way, inside a rather small sitting room: an irregular room
(six meters x four meters), with an exit, without a door, to
the kitchen.
That meant to find a good sound power,
avoiding to twist the same resonant emission. A suitable
choice was to identify electronic components (pre amp &
power amp) in pure A Class, so that to give back a good,
detailed sound, even with a low volume.
Fortunately, I live in the north of
Italy, in Varenna, on the Lake of Como (but I work in Milan
as journalist and university professor (I teach Philosophy
and Aesthetics of Music), not very far from Vigevano, where
there is a small firm, AM Audio, specialized in very pure A
Class components. There I have found what I needed, a very
good coupling with A-6 pre amp and A-40 power amp. To
balance at best the sound, I decided to join to the
electronic components the speakers AM Audio RM-4 Improved,
without active crossover.
The outcome has been a warm, full, and
smooth sound but at the same time, a well definite sound,
with deep basses and a bright top end. A perfect coupling to
whom, like me, listens JUST classical music (about 7,000
CD's and 1,000 Lp's).
To these components, as far as the
turntable concerns, I have joined the marvellous Michell
Gyro Dec Mk V, provided with a SME Series II 3009 Improved
arm and with the excellent Exact Rega, one of the best
moving magnet cartridge, at present, on the market. The CD
player is a "collector's piece", the Enlightened Audio
Designs Series III Cd-1000 at 20 bit, now out of stock,
especially suitable with A Class components.
A last thing. About possible WAF's
problems. I am living alone and, during weekends, I am
reached by my fiancée, a classic pianist that loves
my Hi-End system sound. Probably, I am a lucky
man.
Favorite Test
Lp's:
- Music for Virginal
Colin Tilney (Original instruments) Archiv Produktion,
Stereo 2533 379
- Alban Berg Lulu Teresa
Stratos, Yvonne Minton, Hanna Schwarz, Franz Mazura,
Kenneth Riegel, Toni Blankenheim, Robert Tear, Helmut
Pampuch, Orchestre de l'Opera de Paris, Pierre Boulez DGG
Stereo 2740 213
- Béla
Bartók The String Quartets Julliard Quartet CBS D3
37857
- Claudio Monteverdi
L'Orfeo Nigel Rogers, Emilia Petrescu, Anna Reynolds, Ian
Partridge, James Bowman, Monteverdi-Chor Hamburg,
Camerata Accademica Hamburg, Hamburger Bläserkreis
für alte Musik, Jürgen Jürgens Archiv
Produktion 2723 018
- Johann Sebastian Bach
The twelve concertos for Harpsichord and Orchestra
Huguette Dreyfus, Luciano Sgrizzi, Luigi Ferdinando
Tagliavini, Yannick Le Gaillard Ensemble Baroque de
Drottningholm Erato STU 71180
- Paul Hindemith Sonatas
for viola/piano and viola alone Kim Kashkashian Robert
Levin ECM 1330-32
- Giuseppe Tartini Four
Sonatas for violin Roberto Michelucci, Marijke Smit
Sibinga, Franz Walter Philips Stereo 9502 009
- Franz Joseph Haydn
Piano Concertos No. 11 & 4 Arturo Benedetti
Michelangeli Zurich Chamber Orchestra Edmond De Stoutz
EMI Stereo 29 0855 1
- Haydn - Hummel - L.
Mozart Trumpet Concertos Wynton Marsalis National
Philharmonic Orchestra Raymond Leppard CBS IM
37846
- Thomas Morley The
First Booke of Ayres Nigel Rogers, Nikolaus Harnouncourt,
Eugen M. Dombois Telefunken Die Alte Werke SAWT
9568
Favorite Test
CD's:
- Baldassar Castiglione
Il Libro del Cortigiano Doulce Mémoire Astrea E
8604
- Thomas Simpson Taffel
Consort Novus Brass Quartet Claves CD 50-9510
- Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphony No. 5 in C Minor Jean Sibelius Symphony No. 2 in
D minor Concertgebouw Orchestra George Szell Philips 464
682-2
- Antonín
Dvorák Slavonic Dances opp. 46 & 72
Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks Rafael
Kubelik DGG 457 712-2
- Johann Sebastian Bach
Goldberg Variations Rosalyn Tureck DGG 289 459
599-2
- Richard Wagner Der
fliegende Holländer Theo Adam Anja Silja Martti
Talvela Ernst Kobuz Annelies Burmeister Gerhard Unger
Otto BBC Chorus New Philharmonia Orchestra Otto Klemperer
EMI 7243 5 67408 2 2
- Richard Wagner
Parsifal Peter Hofmann Kurt Moll José van Dam
Siegmund Nimsgern Victor von Halem Chor der Deutschen
Oper Berlin Berliner Philharmoniker Herbert von Karajan
DGG413 347-2
- Antonio Vivaldi Le
Quattro Stagioni Sonatori de la gioiosa marca Giuliano
Carmignola Divox Antiqua CDX 79404
- Mussorgsky Pictures at
an Exhibition Scriabin Le Poème de l'extase
Stravinsky Pastorale &endash; The Firebird New
Philharmonia Orchestra Czech Philharmonic Orchestra
London Symphony Orchestra Leopold Stokowski London 443
898-2
- Gustav Mahler Des
Knaben Wunderhorn Elisabeth Schwarzkopf Dietrich
Fischer-Dieskau London Symphony Orchestra George Szell
EMI 7243 5 67236 2 7
System's
Components
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Turntable:
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J. A. Michell Gyro Dec MKV
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Arm:
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SME Series 3009 S2 Improved
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Cartridge:
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Rega Exact MM
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CD player:
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Enlightened Audio Designs CD-1000 Series
III
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Line Preamp:
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AM Audio A - 6
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Phono Preamp:
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AM Audio MM - 20 Reference
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Power Amp:
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AM Audio A - 40 Reference
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Speakers:
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AM Audio RM - 4 Improved
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Interconnects:
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AM Audio AM - S5
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Speaker Cables:
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AM Audio AM - P5
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Andrea's
comments about his system:
AA: "Andrea, how
would you describe your system's sound?"
AB:
"I would describe my system as
very "musical". That means there is no listening fatigue
at all, thanks to the pure A Class philosophy. I am used
listening music for several hours per day and I need a
warm sound. It is an emotion to listen the brass
instruments, the polyphonic voices and the power of the
organs, not to mention the lightness of the
strings."
AA: "Do you think
there is room for improvement?"
AB:
"I think the improvement is
the first audiophile rule. But, at the same time, it is
impossible to achieve. It is always a work in progress,
without an end and with just a master: our hearing."
AA: "Have you got
plans for upgrading?"
AB:
"Yes, of course. It is my
intention, in the next months, to buy the esoteric DV-50
universal player TEAC, a real, wonderful "monster",
because I would like to listen SACD. Moreover, in the
future I would like to complete the power amps with an
integrated tube amplifier, like JoLida JD-502B or Antique
Sound Lab AQ 1007. But now, first of all, I have to buy a
headphone amp (I know, the "purists" will hate me),
probably a Grado RA1 or a RudiStor RP3, for my Grado
SR60. Anyway, when there is news, I will revisit the
site."
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