I can't believe I read the whole thing! OK, I skipped over some of Volley's ramblings, (who hasn't?) and I have these comments:
1) I still don't care for most Beatles songs
2) There are some great cap comparison links here - thanks
3) Volleyguy you:
a. are crazy stubborn
b. completely ignore really, really good input & advice
c. infer cause/effect where none exists, and then
d. make broad unfounded generalizations
4) I have enjoyed reading (almost) every word! Thanks again.
I too am stubborn, but finally gave up and bought new speakers. First though I built my own from scratch (took a year), tweaked them for another year after that. When I couldn't match, much less exceed, the sound of my existing KEF 104/2s, I thought seriously about rebuilding them (the KEFs that is). By then I'd had enough tinkering and thrown away enough money that I bought some new Gallo Ref 3.1s. I am very happy with these unique speakers (not pushing them - they are NOT for horn guys).
Volley - God bless you and I sure hope you find what you are searching for. Your love and passion for these speakers is commendable and it seems your quest will end successfully. I am now back to just enjoying my music collection. Hope you will get to this place again soon as it's very peaceful here. In the meantime, I am enjoying following your journey and at times seeing more of me in you than I'd like to admit. Passion about the intangible and indescribable does that to us all.
Dan
PS Do you think I should replace the caps in my new speakers with Duelund CAST? .... just kidding :)
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You are certainly crazy stubborn, but that is not necessarily a bad thing :) I have great respect for your quest to restore the sound of the horns you clearly love. It's an achievable goal and you are almost there. Congrats!
In retrospect, I should have done the same the same thing with my KEFs. Instead I set out to build new speakers that ended up being very good, but not knock your socks off great. Clearly my goal, to build better speakers than a classic KEF line was ridiculous and not achievable. So you're already way ahead of me.
You are right that even high-end speakers use cheap crossover parts. That had a lot to do with the speakers I built, and also the ones I eventually purchased to replace the KEFs. The Gallos have no cross-over for the tweeter! The mid has a single cap and the woofer a single inductor. I figure the fewer xover components, the more will be spent on drivers and system integration. Now I'm the one making broad unfounded generalizations :) But it is true that when the time comes, I'll be able to find a viable replacement for this very simple crossover design. And when I do, I'll certainly listen to Duelund caps - not kidding.
Looking forward to reading how the final xover sounds.
Dan |
Funny I was listening to a Rudy Van Gelder CD: "Red Clay" by Freddie Hubbard as I read this and yes, it sounds very good. Agree that you have to be selective with your source material with a highly resolving system. I also recommend Chesky, Mapleshade, and Stereophile (Rendezvous is a good jazz album) modern labels. I've enjoyed the ABKCO reissues of some classics like the Stones and Sam Cooke: these sound great in Redbook and SACD. Volley, since you're a Beatles fan you may like the Rolling Stones reissues. To be honest, I am meither a Stones nor a Beatles fan, but the clarity of the ABRKO reissues in SACD has let me enjoy these songs for the first time - really they are that good! Sam Cooke will be in the room giving you a private concert - it's amazingly life-like. Finaly, I'll plug DMP and GRP as maybe the best of early digital recording. They have some issues with metalic sounding highs, but they really like to play with the dynamic range on their albums and it can be a fun work-out for you and your system. |
Glad to hear that your horns are singing again and that you're more than happy with the CASTs. Thanks again for sharing each step of the way - really enjoyed it :)
I'll bet that when you get a good digital source, you'll end up either throwing out or never playing the vast majority of 70s and 80s CDs. This was my experience as I upgraded my system. You will hear the compression and the editing in most CDs of the that era. Not to mention they just don't sound very good. At first I thought it was my CDP. But eventually came to realize it was most of my CD collection. Bummer :(
The good news is you can always enjoy them in the car where they sound just fine :) |
Regarding the era of poor CDs, I mean that the CDs published in the 80s and early 90s of bands from the 60s, 70s, 80s, generally sound very bad. As you noted with albums, there are always exceptions, but they are typically not mainstream labels.
Overall, I enjoy my SACDs as they have a nice analog sound to them. Of course, the format can't make bad source material sound good, and I have some SACDs that just make me want to cry because the songs are great, but they sound like you're listening to them on a cheap AM radio. No matter, the SACD format is dead and I suppose Blu-ray HD is the next thing to try. You should be able to catch this wave and bring some high res digital to your horns.
Volley, I haven't played a record since the early eighties. I made the mistake of selling all my records for next to nothing. Not sure if it's the nostalgia, or it's for real, but I do recall analog sounding better on much less expensive equipment than I have now :) Of course, I do remember the hiss, the scratches, alignments, the rumble, and hearing footsteps as people ran through the house. No perfect solution I suppose, just an endless series of trade-offs.
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Volley, as I said earlier, I do not listen to LPs anymore. But here are my observations on CDs as a source.
First, you need a good player for standard (redbook) CD playback. There are many out there, but it does make a difference. As a direct example, I have a cheap Sony CD/SACD player for SACD and I also have a Musical Fidelity 3DCD for redbook. When I first bought the Sony, redbook sounded flat and lifeless. It was not enjoyable to listen to any CDs. SACD sounded liquid and engaging - analog like if you will. Something was clearly wrong so I sent the Sony off for audiophile upgrades. When it came back, SACD still sounded great, but the biggest change was redbook now sounded almost as good as my MF 3D CDP. Right there, was a world of difference between CDP players that no change in source CDs could negate. So first you have to find a good/great disc player. There are lots out there, but I don't recall Linn being one of them.
Next, as we've just discussed, there are differences in source material. Buy some CD and SACDs that you know are good and use them as your reference source material. Now you can compare the sound of CD/SACD to LP.
One word of caution is that SACD is pretty much dying. Still lots of Jazz and Classical material available. So I while it clearly sounds better, I wouldn't spend to much more for it and focus on the redbook sound. My experience may not be universal, but it's harder to find a great sounding redbook than SACD CDP. |
Volley, as I said earlier, I do not listen to LPs anymore. But here are my observations on CDs as a source.
First, you need a good player for standard (redbook) CD playback. There are many out there, but it does make a difference. As a direct example, I have a cheap Sony CD/SACD player for SACD and I also have a Musical Fidelity 3DCD for redbook. When I first bought the Sony, redbook sounded flat and lifeless. It was not enjoyable to listen to any CDs. SACD sounded liquid and engaging - analog like if you will. Something was clearly wrong so I sent the Sony off for audiophile upgrades. When it came back, SACD still sounded great, but the biggest change was redbook now sounded almost as good as my MF 3D CDP. Right there, was a world of difference between CDP players that no change in source CDs could negate. So first you have to find a good/great disc player. There are lots out there, but I don't recall Linn being one of them.
Next, as we've just discussed, there are differences in source material. Buy some CD and SACDs that you know are good and use them as your reference source material. Now you can compare the sound of CD/SACD to LP.
One word of caution is that SACD is pretty much dying. Still lots of Jazz and Classical material available. So I while it clearly sounds better, I wouldn't spend to much more for it and focus on the redbook sound. My experience may not be universal, but it's harder to find a great sounding redbook than SACD CDP. |
Looks like your guy Aurthor S. recommends the Krell Standard SACD Player which can be found for about $2K used. |
