Yay! 
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Not actually in my system yet because staying with a mate in Brighton for the weekend - we popped over to Chrisā yesterday to pick up the M7.
We did swap out his Audio Research Ref3 pre-amp for the M7 yesterday evening (he has a Cambridge Audio streamer and a class D power amp driving Magnaplanar 1.7i panels)
We were both gobsmacked how much better it sounded with the M7. 
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Life sounds better with a M7. 
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Maybe one day, but the Spendors were only bought because they were cheap (they wonāt displace my Zu Definition 2), so Iām going to need to create a āsecond systemā, the budget for which is approx nada.
I have an offer of a loaner Marantz PM6005, which will hopefully tide me over until the next time bling defeats reason (I really didnāt need the Spendors, butā¦).
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I hope it was you that bought chelseadaveās monos?
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Indeed it wasā¦
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Good man! Iād have had to slap you if it wasnāt! 
Would have had most of that myself if I couldāve afforded it!
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I donāt want to pollute any sale threads so Iāll ask the question in here.
Since there has been a few recent Audio Note Japan boxes up for sale Iāve been curious as to just what is it that makes them so highly regarded by you lot ?
At risk of oversimplifying things: they just sound really fucking good - lots of resolution, but no brittle āhifiā nonsense, just make music sound like the real live thing.
Also, they are expensive, rare, obscure and Japanese, so they must be good.
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First company to use silver traffos / effortless presentation.
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Sorry I realise itās a bit of a stupid question in the first place as these things are always subjective.
I think the main thing for me is that Iāve never actually heard any of the systems Iāve seen evolve on here so they remain a bit of an abstract thing.
Iām rambling but I have to say I am grateful to you mad bastards for steering me in the right direction (despite me making a few wrong turns) to where my set up is now as itās a thing of wonder (to me).
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Same here. Never been to a bake off or a hifi show. Although I have heard two other hifi systems, both considerably more expensive than mine. Which was nice.
Have just spent a few years buying bits and bobs and eventually finding combinations that I like.
There will always be sonic compromises though due to money, of course, and WAF. I am grateful for what I have and happy to compromise if it means I can sit in the sweet every session.
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Not hifi
Music boxes
Thatās why I have one or twoā¦
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The game changers for me have been the Heco Direkts and the Luxman amp.
I sometimes regret trading in my Project Xtension turntable as it would sounds amazing in this set up but then Iād likely not be where I am now so horses for courses.
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This is what I feared - my Luxman will have to suffice in giving me that little bit of Japanese magic.
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Doh ! I recently bought a ref 3 
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Itās doing something nice, but hard to precisely nail down.
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Things get a little clearer A/B when playing large scale complex pieces (Think Orchestral) the staging gets more separated and with some depth changes too. Iāve got the new version here, Iāll ask S if you fancy a short loan? It is very difficult to clearly define on every piece, as you say itās doing something but something new my ears arenāt used to on a fair few known pieces. I found a number of good all analogue examples also depended on how instruments were panned in the mix. Iām not sure about the unit you have however, Iāve not heard one?
I played quite a few things through it but not extensively and not a wide enough cross section.
I have noticed a little bit more depth and separation but not really gone back and A-Bād to check.
Yes please.
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Iād imagine tracks with steered stereo effects in them - studio-engineered stuff - might be revealing. I always use those as a kind of quality test for upgrades vs. sidegrades of kit, as some kit canāt do it wellā¦
First dibs on your unit please Donk if you decide to flog 
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