waldhorner, re: your comments about differing concert-hall sounds - my point exactly! yust like w/stereo systems. live, unamplified music can sound way different in different venues. which one is right? who knows - whichever one ya like the best, i guess. that's what i try to do w/my home rig... of course, i want a flute to sound like a flute, & not a saxaphone! ;~) doug |
tubes may *not* be as reliable as solid-state - so what? that's why i won't sell my electrocompaniet ec-1a solid-state preamp - a very nice piece in its own right, it can be used if/when the melos music director is getting fixed! (like now!) :>) i can't imagine *any* solid-state preamp coming anywhere near the sonics of this piece, at anywhere near the price ($1800, used). definitely worth the trouble. doug |
hey joe, where ya going w/that toob preamp in yer hand? ;~) i can't afford a solid-state preamp that sounds as good as a lower-cost toob-unit! i tink ya gotta spend at least 6k for a solid-state unit to avoid the "drawbacks" that less-expensive tube pre's avoid, even if tubes have their colourations. what preamp are ewe considering replacing yer bat with? doug |
hi waldhorner, lotsa folks argue about which *concert-hall* is most accurate, where does it stop? ;~) doug |
waldhorner, i agree w/ewe. my only point is that there isn't necessarily a *correct* sound. short of extremely elaborate multi-channel ambient-surround-sound processing, ya won't get a *correct* sound in the home. so, when setting up yer home system, yust try to get it to sound musical to ewe. i *do* have a nice ambient-surround processor that i can insert, along w/my main two channels, if i like. it can be very effective in giving venue ambience for some different music. but, i'd be kidding myself if i thought it sounded *live* and, sometimes i've found that it sounds better at home than live, so it's not always a question of which is correct, but which is pleasing. of course, all that said, i do value accurate frequency response in my audio equipment. doug |
hi bob, for tone controls, mark levinson's old company *cello* made some spendy preamps w/tone-controls. but, they're solid-state! ;~) they sometimes appear f/s used, but still wery spendy. never heard 'em myself, except at a show, but they always have garnered excellent press. for less-than-perfect recordings, i have a dbx-3bx in a tape-loop, & a jvc xpa1010 surround-sound ambience processor w/settings for 20 different hall-venues, driving a 4-channel amp & corner-speakers, from a 2nd main out on my preamp. both of these are completely out of the circuit-path when not in use, and the surround-sound is out of the main speakers' signal path, even when in use. these devices are very useful for making less-than-perfect recordings enjoyable. doug |
toobgroover - that dsp-1 was the 1st ambient-surround set-up i heard, & i wanted it *bad*!!! a few years later, s'phile reviewed the jvc-unit i now have, & they said it was in another league from *all* the processors awailable at the time, including the yamaha & the lexicon, which were also highly rated. well, it was yust a matter of time before i knew there'd be one in my system. when i finally had the $$$ & the space for one, it took several years to find one, at *any* price, forget a reasonable price! i'm glad i have it, it's really nice for good 2-channel set-ups, & makes multi-channel recordings superfluous, imho. too bad these yamaha/jvc-type audio processors never really caught on... yure right about it being unobtrusive - if it's set properly, ya don't even know it's on - until ya turn it off! :>) dig that thing out & put it to use! ;~) doug |
hey, leafs, i finally got to hear my brother-in-law's res-audio cd-50 yesterday, & it *is* excellent - but that's when run thru his a-r ls-16 tube preamp. he said he can't listen to it run straight into his amp for more than a half-hour, cuz then the sound is way too etched, harsh & grainy. his a-r 100.2 amp, while solid-state, has a *like tubes* characteristic. interesting to me, tho, was listening to the buena-vista social club on his cd set-up. while it was wery nice, i much preferred my vinyl copy on my turntable. les depth, on the cd, and, surprising to me, also less detail... doug |
good for ewe, eldragon! same experience i had replacing my linn kairn pre w/an melos music director! :>) happy listening, doug |
i think there's an inneresting dichotomy here - w/tubed amps, ya gotta spend a *lot* of money to get a total sound as good as reasonably-priced solid-state amps. (craig, mebbe the s-f power three wooda done it for ya). and, i tink yust the opposite is true w/preamps - ya gotta spend a *lot* of money to get a solid state preamp w/a total sound as good as a more reasonably-priced tob preamp. one person's opinion... doug |
tubegroover, ewe could be right - for *me*, while i *do* love what tubes do, i *also* can't give up the accuracy of ss at the frequency extremes, or the dynamics of ss. as far as preamps go, there seems to be lotsa tube-gear that really makes no sacrafices in these areas. but tube amps, on the other hand, seem to require large sums of money to make that tube "magic" w/o sacrificing what reasonably-priced solid-state does. so, i guess, if ewe *have* to sacrifice, due to budgetary constraints, then yure right - lower-cost tube amps will be a better solution if ya can manage w/out full-range frequency response & dynamics. as far as someone lending ewe a pair of levinson/boulder/etc, amps - i tink that's going in the wrong direction - if i could *borrow* amps in *that* price-range, i'd be looking at mebbe some manley/aronov/vtl amps... ;~) meantime, as i'm on a budget, i'm happy w/my electrocompaniet amps getting a signal from my melos pre... :>) |
hey craig, why stop at vtl's mb450? why not the mb750's or wotans? ;~) regards, doug |
