larryi
Responses from larryi
| Opinions on Marantz SA-7S1, Nagra CDP I heard the Nagra CDP in a friend's system for several hours. I liked the sound -- clear, detailed and open, without being overly edgy and brittle. None of us preferred it over the Naim CD555 that it was being compared to, but, it is about half th... | |
| Attractive room treatment is it possible? Yes, as noted above, a room built from the start with built-in treatment can look quite nice. A friend has a Rives-designed room that looks beautiful. Bass traps are built into the corners of the room and are covered in fabric so nothing is visibl... | |
| Manufacturers don't get it. make tubes visible. Most tube gear, except perhaps hybrid linestages (with just a few teeny little tubes), have the tubes proudly displayed. I don't care that much myself about looks, but, if it good looks help with sales, that can more than pay for cosmetics. The st... | |
| Top ten tube preamps My personal favorites are:Audionote (uk) M-10 (silly expensive and WAY too many big boxes, no remote control, but magnificent in the right system. The M-7 sounded very good at a LOT less money, though it too is pricey.Emotive Audio Epifania (with ... | |
| Class-D amps - a different re view I wonder if Class D tends to shine more in certain applications than others. I note that some of the big supporters here have notoriously difficult speakers that would tax most amps. For example the Apogee Scintilla has an impedance curve that dro... | |
| I have just purchased the latest Sound Lab M1 Hi Winston,I don't have any amp recommendation for you (I'm in the high efficiency/low power camp), but I thought it was an interesting coincidence that we both have an Epifania, Vector arm and Basis table (I have a Debut Vacuum and a Lyra Titan c... | |
| New Cartridge for SME 309 If I recall correctly, VPI is no longer making the HW-19, so upgrade parts may indeed be hard to come by. As far as alternative tables, particularly the ones you mention, I've heard a cheaper model Michell with an SME arm.To me there are two basic... | |
| New Cartridge for SME 309 Hi, I didn't mean to imply that you should go to a top grade cartridge, but that the arm and table certainly would do justice to ANY choice, even the best available cartridges.As for upgrades, I don't know if it is possible to actually buy a parti... | |
| New Cartridge for SME 309 A friend of mine has a 309 on an HW-19 IV. The 309 has the the dampening trough and the upgraded pivot bearings. This is a terrific arm/table combination.I don't know about the specific cartridges you are looking at, but I can say that the table/a... | |
| Class-D amps - a different re view The Rowlands I heard, were huge monoblocs (what happened here to compact size of Class D?). I have not heard the later iteration of this design. I am not surprised that it is much better. Typical of any relatively new technology is that the learni... | |
| Class-D amps - a different re view Atmasphere,I take issue, just a bit, with the notion that there is one technology that represents no compromises, based entirely on sonic considerations. I know that all triode, no feedback, and no output transformers have a lot of theoretical adv... | |
| RoHS legislation impact on the high end industry I was told by a small manufacturer that the biggest problem with lead-free solder is a quality control issue. It is hard to do a visual inspection and immediately see a cold solder joint. | |
| Changed preamps. Seems like less power now? As others have noted, it could be the anthem has lower gain. It could also be an issue of the type of profile for the volume control (linear vs. logarithmic).With regular potentiometers, it is actually preferrable to be working toward the higher r... | |
| Deep Cleaning Records With Steam? I've used a Black and Decker steam cleaner on records with problem spots. I had no problems with warpage. You would have to apply the steam for a very long time to actually heat the vinyl enough to have any sort of problem. I have done this as an ... | |
| "S" shaped tonearm ? One can get the proper geometry by just bending the head of the arm (like most tonearms), so that is not the reason for the S-shaped arm. I believe that the S-shape is an attempt to balance the mass of the arm about the axis drawn between the pivo... |