Preamp Deal of the Century

Well said Opus88, a good description of the varying nature of recorded music vs. live performances. Sometimes I just can't understand what's going on in my system, it can be spot on one minute and then you fiddle with something and that illusive 'real' quality is gone - best not to fiddle when you feel the magic is in place!

My current pet annoyance is that no matter what I do, my humble $100 Marantz analogue FM tuner sounds nicer (more natural to my ears) than my $5,000 CD replay system with $2,000 worth of fancy cables attached to it. This shouldn't be the case when most audiophiles consider tuners (with their limited bandwidth) to be a secondary source?

With home audio its best to savour the good moments while they last and try to ignore irksome (perceived) problems ...hard to do I know, because of our pedantic male driven audiophile tendancies. Other than that, perhaps we just need to go see more live performances to remain grounded.

Regards,

Steve.

Stevem1960: Some of your last comments certainly are refreshing. Your reference to the sound of the little Marantz in comparison to the $5000 cd replay system and the $2000 worth of fancy cables probably strikes the kind of chord that sounds familiar to a number of others out there. ( I just noticed Tvad's admission, for example.) I also feel it sort of mirrors one of my recent comments (3-26) about objective data or numbers sometimes proving to be irrelevant in terms of what we are led to expect or believe vs. what we actually get. And yes, sometimes things do sound just right, but then that can't leave well enough alone tendency rears its ugly head. That's part of the explanation of how or why I lost what I once had. Oh well, back to the quest for peace of mind sound.

Tvad: I know the feeling with tape recorders, they're an excellent medium. I use to transfer my CDs onto Nakamichi tape decks or a nice Pioneer RT-909 reel-to-reel (Mick's got that machine now) and the results were superb! Kind of like the music got 'analogued' along the way...all for the better. I think the same thing is happening with FM's treatment of CD sound, that's why it sounds nicer.

There's no doubting CD's convenience and generally competent sound, so that's the medium for most of us I suppose.

Opus88: Isn't it ironic that we are being sold more and more technology these days, on the basis of number crunching creates better sound(all at high cost), but in all honesty the truth and beauty of music seems to be locked up in the old mediums like the ancient thermionic bottles we all like (a la tube devices like Supratek); analogue tape or vinyl & to a lesser extent FM transmission; good ol' Class A amplification is still hard to beat and electrostatic loudspeakers are still a reference point. Even some of the old point source loudspeakers like the Goodmans Axiom 80 and Coral Beta 10 (now some 30yrs old) are still unsurpassed.

When you've been doing hi-fi for a few decades, it seems to be a common thing amongst older audiophiles that life goes full circle. Some of the good things you heard are still good. I've tried a lot good gear over the years from valves to digital amps, from Accutons to ribbons etc. and the older stuff still competes (and exceeds) in a lot of areas. Its not nostalgia or your imagination either - it just is.

The high cost of Hi-Fi is hard to justify. Non-audiophiles must think we are MAD spending the dollars we do on equipment, for little improvement. I almost puke(Aussie slang for vomit) when I pick up a copy of Hi-Fi+ magazine these days. Don't get me wrong, this is a good magazine displaying dream-like thoroughbred equipment, but come on, you've gotta be kidding! There are small amplifiers with a toroidal transformer and a few circuit boards in that magazine that cost as much as my new Subaru Outback H6 SUV (bristling with the latest technology and a 180kW hi-tech motor), there's just no comparison for value, and they have the cheek to call the amplifier 'a bargain' at $50,000!

Anyway, time for me to go back to listening to some cool music with the mantra ...'I am happy with what I've got' ...'I am happy with what I've got' ...

Cheers,

Steve.

Stevem1960,

I can relate to what you are saying about "leaving well enough alone". This is the exact reason why I refuse to tube roll with my Cortese. I love the sound I get with the stock tubes. This is the way Mick set the preamp to sound and it sounds fantastic to my ears. I am getting that "magic" sound from my system now. I am not going to screw things up by trying to improve the sound with NOS tubes! I hope everyone can find the magic in their system. It is there somewhere. If and when you find it, leave things alone and enjoy the music!