HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR SYSTEM IN LESS THAN 30 SECONDS

@audioman58

Thanks for pointing out how the Beatles albums were recorded, although I think many people who just joined the audiophile community in the past 20 years are unlikely to have those recordings, as it seems they are much younger than you or me. (I do have quite a few of the Beatles albums).

What I find missing from nearly any thread is the music someone uses to evaluate a cable- or a preamp or amp, for that matter. One can’t use any old recording and expect to hear "low level detail" (whose meaning the great majority are confused about).

As was the case in the 70s, 80s and 90s, reviewers listed the music they used, so the reader could then find their copy, play it and try to duplicate what the reviewer heard with that piece of equipment.

I saw a thread asking what is "transient response" and it is such an obvious thing to me, as someone who’s spent the last 60 years in symphony halls, the ballet, the opera, and clubs that were intimate enough for them not to use amplified sound. Obviously, one doesn’t listen "for" transient response while at the symphony, but when you hear the sound of massed violins playing pizzicato, you know what "transient response" is. I think the older audiophiles (meaning those of us over 50) have considerably more exposure to live (unamplified) music, given many of us had music requirements even in high school, so we heard live music whether we wanted to or not.

That might help the newcomers. It might also quiet those (but not likely) who claim that all cables sound alike, especially since so many have no acquaintance with the sound of live music, unless it’s amplified at a noisy concert (like the Beatles in Shea Stadium), which is most certainly not going to provide an inkling of low level detail.

TAS used to have a vocabulary of terms (e.g. "midbass," "soundstage," "imaging,"
"airiness," "bloom, " etc. What do people nowadays have? Not much. And when. there’s no definition of a word, people will fill in the blanks. It would be great if we could get back to a common vocabulary, but I have to say, with the attention span of people being shorter than the tail of a Boxer, I’m not sure they’d even want to learn.

Yes. Knopfler’s Ragpicker’s Dream is so well recorded — achingly real. Other go to songs are Mary Chapin Carpenter’s Come On Come On and KD Land singing Helpless on  Songs of the 49th Parallel.  

Also a big fan of Dire Straits and Mark's creations due to the fact that there is silence (blackness) between notes and large swings of sound that do no overwhelm the listener, but actually draws you in. IMHO, Money For Nothing deviated a bit from that and is perhaps the weakest offering on Brothers for Arms. Mark is a recording master of diminuendo/crescendo. 

Many artists - or producers - seem to believe that when a large swing of sound is purposeful, they up the ante and add db levels to boost or heighten the sound - such as TV commercials of old. Mark never fell prey to the 90's loudness wars.

I have noted that many here are touting Shangri-La, which is one album I have not purchased. So when I went to do so, I was surprised it was well over $150? Why? Is anyone expecting it to be reissued? While I have purchased a $150 Steely Dan Aja UHQR album, I cannot fathom spending $150 on an album that is not, in some way, different than what was offered up in 2004 at $30. Guessing that the CD is the better choice.. 

I bought a Pioneer RT-707 and am having it restored at J-Coder

It’s supposed to be a good sounding entry level R2R

Moving up from there are the Technics 1500 or 1720 decks