Nice to hear from you glupson. The Stones sounded great. No issue there. Let It Bleed sounded much better at home than at the dealer showroom demo with their expensive monoblock amps. I think Pink Floyds Dark Side of the Moon disc itself is defective or came dirty brand new from Mobile Fidelity. That's really been the only disappointment so far. It sounded crackly on my old system too. I'll check out the Pink Floyd SACD you suggest.
It's been a pleasant adventure so far re-listening to recordings I've had, some since the late sixties. Some sound so different. A number that I always thought of as so-so have pleasantly surprised me upon a new listen.
The Magico A3's sound so revealing. My old Dahlquist DQ 10 speakers had their really good moments, but the Magicos have those moments all the time on a consistent basis. And tonight it seems the bass is tightening up. I can't figure out if its just my imagination or particular recordings. That's kind of why I posted this, to find out is this is the kind of thing to expect as the system burns in.
Mike |
David and lak, I’m not really concerned about the break in, I’m only curious what it entails sonically and the scope of the changes to expect. For instance what difference in the Magico A3’s sound might be apparent after 400 hours. Thanks.
Douglas, I expect my system will go up in value like a vintage Ferrari, as well as sound better, like a fine vintage wine tastes smoother as it ages. There’s already been a significant mark-up on the A3’s.
Chayro, you called it right on the Desmond alto solo. That’s the kind of thing mellowing out I was wondering about with the process of burning in. The bass response seems to be getting a little less subdued, and the soundstage may be improving a bit. I’m not sure if I should be making any adjustments to the cartridge’s arm height to reduce the treble response a bit or should I wait longer to let the system age a bit, before I work on that, speaker placement and other adjustments.
shkong, you’re right about the CD player being the weak link. I bought that to upgrade my old system a few years back after I’d acquired a hundred or so CD’s. Most of my source material is vinyl records. At some point I’ll have to upgrade that component and DAC especially if I continue to purchase CD’s. I appreciate your DAC suggestion, but I’ve dropped so much cash on this new system I have to stop for a while while pursuing other interests that also weigh on the budget. By the way, were you the person who was considering purchasing the vintage Western Electric(?) horn speaker system, or was that someone else? I could never find that thread again and have wondered how that turned out.
Appreciate your advice shkong. Hopefully some of the edginess will subside as time goes by as you suggest. That factor made me think something might be out of adjustment. I’ll need to be patient, which I can be sometimes.
Mike
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Millercarbon, appreciate your input on most of the changes happening early on. I didn't understand what might be occurring with the Magico's for example over a 400 hour burn in period.
Sleepwalker, I take it burn in, not break in is the correct terminology. If so, I stand corrected.
Stereo5, you describe exactly the sound of the old Mobile Fidelity recording. I'm looking forward to getting one of the SACD recordings you and Glupson recommend as I hadn't played that record for years because it took the magic out of that great recording as you said. There's supposed to be some excellent pressings of the Stones :"Let It Bleed" , I read about on a fairly recent thread here, I'm going to track down too.
Glupson, thanks for the links
Noromance, I did have the original US pressing of Dark Side from when it first came out, but gave it away after getting the inferior Mobile Fidelity one. My mistake.
Geoffkait, is there a version of Dark Side of the Moon you prefer and might recommend? There seem to been so many versions and pressings from looking at your linked list.
After 400 hours of burn in time audio nirvana should be a given, but maybe not judging from your experience. I probably wont get 400 hours in until next year sometime to know for sure.
For those of you who are using my thread here for bickering, please get a room, or at least entertain yourself somewhere else. I'd really prefer to be learning something about equipment burn in periods and what should be occurring during them, which some of you have kindly addressed. Thanks,
Mike
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Thanks glupson. I will try that and would like an improved Let It Bleed recording.
Geoffkait are you aware of another version of Let It Bleed I might like to sample as well. I’m open to suggestions.
Mike |
Glupson and Geoffkait, thank you both for your suggestions. I'll check out both your links soon as I have a minute. I wish I had a DSD player to try out that format. I understand that a standard SACD player will not be able to play DSD's. Correct me if I've misunderstood.
Are recordings in a DSD format not similarly compressed like some other formats? I'm completely unfamiliar with DSD. My old Phase Linear 4000 pre-amp had a Peak Unlimiter function that was supposed to help "de-compress" recordings. Bob Carver loved all those fun special features designed into his equipment.
As it is, it's vinyl or CD/SACD only. I've never owned a SACD disc for that matter, although my Marantz SA 8005 will play them, so I'd like to try that format as well as the DSD if I could. Most of my source material is vinyl, with maybe a 150 CD's. I do mostly buy CD's anymore as new records are so expensive for no apparent or legitimate reason. And the only used record store in nearby Roanoke closed it's doors about a year or two ago further limiting choices.
Mike |
Tobor007, that’s an interesting idea.
Kren0006, thanks for sharing your experience with your new system. It’s surprising that minor speaker placement and angling changes can make such a difference. I’ve put off playing with speaker placement until my new system has had more time to burn in. The bass response seem to be improving on its own at this point.
I am looking forward to making speaker placement adjustments now with your input that minor changes had a significant impact with your system. I’m fairly limited on where I can place the speakers in the listening room so am limited to minor adjustments.
There are constraints on how far out from the wall I can place the speakers or how much further I can move them apart from each other. My room is roughly 22’ X 13’ with a high 12/12 pitch cathedral ceiling running lengthwise. At present the speakers are about eight feet apart from one another on center on the long wall. I could squeeze out another foot apart maybe, but that’s about it. The back of the speakers are currently only eleven inches out from the wall. I am unable to place them any further out without creating a foot traffic roadblock.. I spoke with Magico before purchase and they said the A3’s would perform adequately with a minimum of 7" between them and the wall. That’s one of the reasons I got them, as well as that they are not a ported model requiring a greater distance.
So minor adjustments making a big difference is good news to hear Kren. Thanks,
Mike |
Glupson, thanks for the explanation and the link. I'll read through the explanation on how to play the SACD on the Marantz link you provided. Am I to understand the DSD material is not sold in a disc format, but only as a file download? I'd like to try out a SACD. At the time I bought the Marantz it appeared the only content available in SACD was primarily classical music, and pricey at that, so I never bothered with it.
If I recall correctly from when setting it up, I think I use the DAC portion of the CD player to play the audio content coming from my Samsung Smart TV. I've yet to reconnect that since I moved all my equipment, so you've reminded me to get that done.
Millercarbon, Thanks for your time in writing that long explanation. After reading though your post twice, I will have to study your explanations some more and learn from them.
Mike |
Jepatey, I do have a number of earlier Pink Floyd albums on Harvest. I’m giving Obscured by Clouds a listen right now. I unfortunately might have given my brother the original Harvest Dark Side of the Moon when I thought I was upgrading to the original Mobile Fidelity version back then. Next time I’m up on Long Island visiting I’ll have to rummage through his stuff. It’s probably long gone though.
By coincidence I just happened to receive the new Music Direct Summer 2019 catalog in the mail a few minutes ago. I’ll take a look through it to see what Pink Floyd material they have in it. Their asking prices for vinyl records are always appalling though. I purchased most of my 1960’s and 70’s rock albums for $4 when they first came out. Since these companies use their old masters to press new vinyl their cost can’t be more than a few pennies per copy.
Mike |
Millercarbon, Thanks for your clear and cogent explanation about what I may be hearing or experiencing with various recordings played on my new equipment. I’ve honestly been a bit confused about what I’ve been hearing when playing some records or CD’s; whether it’s’ the system still burning in, the recordings themselves, speaker placement or anything else impacting the sound. Curiously on a couple of recordings no sound did seemed to emanate from the speakers at all. Usually, at least a couple of the instruments or voices can be localized as coming from one or other of the speakers, the other between the speakers somewhere. The other day I noticed one instrument playing off to the right of the speaker on the right side. What’s next, sound coming from above and below?.
By and large I’ve been very pleased, but somewhat baffled by the experience. A few recordings sound the same as ever, many more much clearer and well defined, some simply great. I was listening to Coltrane’s Live at Newport (redbook) CD the other night. It was wonderful, particularly his soloing being captured in such a vivid and well defined.manner, like uncovering buried treasure as you said. Also like you said I’m likely now being able to hear the difference between recordings much more clearly than ever before. That makes sense and explains a lot. I guess without thinking about it, I was anticipating all recordings to sound equally better. Thanks.
Glupson, you are correct it does get confusing. If I understand you correctly an SACD does have DSD content and will play on an SACD player. Otherwise if I wanted to play a downloaded DSD file, I could somehow on my CD/SACD player via digital input, whatever that might entail. Since I don’t ever plan to download music, that should not be an issue anyway, unless CD’s go the way of the dodo and I’m stuck doing that.
I have way too much fun buying CD’s and records anyway. I was excited today, for example, to find Volume 2 of Miles Davis’ "Live at the Blackhawk" on Amazon Music, having owned Volume 1 for many years. It’s way too much fun to get CD’s in the mail, or find second-hand records occasionally, to want to download instead. Let the kids do that. I still go to real bookstores too and I happily threw my cell phone in the garbage when I retired. So much for the electronic age, although these internet forums can be informative and fun. Thanks for the explanation Glupson. I'm glad to have learned something.
Mike
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Dan, hopefully you're correct, and I can only hear the parts I like. I guess with the speakers 400 hour burn in period a full year's warranty period might be exceeded. But the Magico's are built like a brick, so no need to worry. There are way too many scams out there as you imply. Take it easy,
Mike |
