mulveling
Responses from mulveling
| What is meant exactly by the description 'more musical'? Musicality is about room, speaker and component matching. Some experts say dsp can compensate, but I've never found a dsp able to change a speakers fundamental sound enough to fix the room and component misalignment instead you get a flat measure... | |
| What is meant exactly by the description 'more musical'? "Musicality" is clearly not a technical term - how could it be? Of course that applies to a lot of audiophile jargon, to varying degrees. Best to keep it simple. I think it usually means "I really like this", or in the context of direct comparis... | |
| Goodbye Everyone If you expect validation in the form of comments here, you're usually going to be disappointed. However, there's a much larger body of "lurkers" who read and appreciate but don't comment. I sometimes get a very nice PM or hook up on a sale with so... | |
| Phono Stage, Tonearm, Cartridge Question - Which is the most important? This question is really a moving target. Especially as you move from one tier / class of gear to a higher one. But in my cumulative experience, cartridge and phono stage are decidedly most impactful to the net result. Of course you don’t want to ... | |
| 12AU7 Gain Question The 2016 is clearly an error or "misprint". That’s more like a transconductance reading than mu (not possible to have mu that high). I wonder if the doofus seller mixed those readings up (don't do drugs). Don’t use a multimeter. I’d just use them... | |
| Tube amplifier - tube bias and time to warm up I was somewhat surprised that VAC Avatar's manual says nothing about tube matching, even output tubes matching. @inna VAC does recommend sourcing replacement tubes from themselves - which would include the necessary matching and low noise scr... | |
| Tube amplifier - tube bias and time to warm up Is matching output tubes necessary if I can adjust bias for each of four tubes ? Matching is not nearly as critical in that case, but still good to have. A bias reading is measured at just one point (idle), and you want the push / pull tubes to... | |
| Tube amplifier - tube bias and time to warm up Just speaking generally on push-pull tube amps: 0 mA is perfectly safe, unless the bias reading mechanism is severed (very unlikely) and it’s not actually sitting at 0 mA. In any case, you would see the KT88 plates start to glow orange (usually a ... | |
| Looking for a budget Step-up Transformer In that price class, the advantage of a passive SUT should be questioned, versus a Hagerman Piccolo (JFET based MC step-up). Certainly lower noise with the passive, but perhaps compromised sound quality due to the budget transformers. I’d just avo... | |
| 10 gauge power cord. Too much power for tube amp? Are power tubes or signal tubes more sensitive to incoming voltage issues, or amplifier power protection issues, which can lead to an amplifier shutting down? No, if anything they’re less sensitive to incoming voltage issues than solid state co... | |
| Which is better, a fussy speaker or a versatile one? What even is an "excellent room". That’s the most nebulous part of this abstract hypothetical. I find myself quite happy just avoiding obviously "terrible" rooms (also nebulous, but less so). I think a decent room can generally be made to shine wi... | |
| 10 gauge power cord. Too much power for tube amp? Not at all. As mentioned above, that sounds like a problem with your amp's circuitry or your tubes. | |
| I have an odd problem with microphony... Sadly, that is very common behavior for noisy small-signal tubes in high-sensitivity slots (preamps). Especially for older tubes with bigger plates. Phantom whistling, rustling leaves, comes & goes, etc. You either have to move the tube to a l... | |
| Big speakers, are they really the best way to get great sound? Most of us have had that experience - go to a show or dealer, listen to an ostentatious 6-figure dollars (or more) huge speaker, and think to ourselves "god this sounds mediocre or even outright BAD; I vastly prefer my own system!" This IS a good... | |
| Can you touch the tubes? You’re thinking of those awful halogen lamp bulbs popular in the 80s. Tubes are perfectly fine with skin oils on them. They really don’t care. You’re actually far more likely to damage tubes from them slipping through some silly cotton gloves. |