artmaltman
Responses from artmaltman
| Integrated amps and stereophile ratings confusion? I owned the MD-208 and feel that class A rating is overly generous. It's a great piece, especially for a receiver, but I have heard class B integrateds whose sonics I prefer (e.g. LFD Mistral). All the class A separates I've heard are FAR better t... | |
| Help. What phono preamp to buy? Find a used Sonic Frontiers Phono One. Clasa A Stereophile, $2000 new but probably half that used. Great detail and authority with tube palpability. I keep trying other phono stages, being tempted by the latest hot item, but then I return to the S... | |
| I have some regrets selling... My uncle gave me his old Fisher 400 tube receiver (circa 1963) - real wood case, warm lovely sound, great tuner - in mid-1970's and I traded it in around 1980 for a really great (at the time) high end system.10 years later I sought out a Fisher 40... | |
| Reliability of Golden Tube amps.... I'm not 100% sure but I think they are long out of business. They did have a reputation for poor reliability but they had a lot of happy customers too. I personally purchased a new one and within a week it broke exchanged it for something else.I r... | |
| Are silver coated cables a bunch of hype? Cardas recommends against silver. Check out his web site www.cardas.com, I forget if it was in the FAQ or "insights". I think the category was "construction".Art | |
| Alon II MK2 vs Thiel 2.3: Best Value "Used"?? Make sure to get the upgraded drivers on the Thiel. (Can't comment on the Alon). | |
| I don't understand Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue" I only play the LP, not the cd, and I am in complete awe of it. I love side one in particular. Describe your stereo system, maybe it's not optimized for realistic reproduction of acoustic instruments?I tried playing a cd of Kind of Blue in my car ... | |
| money getting tight? I personally am seeing prices lower than I would have otherwise expected. Seems like a buyers market to some extent. However, popular products (e.g. Thiel 1.6) still sell in a heartbeat. | |
| Is CJ DV-2b one of the best cd player? The DV-2b has a lovely, natural sound like other CJ gear. It is not up to date in terms of chip design and level of detail in the sound. I owned one for quite a while and loved it, and found it reliable. You can probably do better for the money, s... | |
| Reasonable preamps with phono stage I've owned a AI M3 and two M3a's. Clear, detailed, musical, full of authority. And it's fun to experiment with different tubes (tube set is not expensive). AI has been around forever, in audiophile years, and as far as I can tell is still very pop... | |
| Are Nordost really the Rolls Royce of cables? Quatrofil and Valhalla are awesome, friggin supernatural. That said, if your system is already overly bright these might not be the ones for you. Oddly, I found that I can be happy with cheaper speaker cables (Analysis Plus Oval 9 work fine in my ... | |
| How old is too old ?.... Upgrading speakers will add detail and linearity, but...You still may prefer the 104's. British speakers of that era captured a beauty offered by music that modern speakers with all their speed and "accuracy" have difficult reproducing.Upgrade as ... | |
| Concentra II rowland help Check your cabling and power cords. At the least, use a 10 gauge power cord. Don't even play it again until you get a 10 gauge power cord. To add dynamics, pacing and speed try the Shunyata Taipan power cord. It's a relatively new model and does n... | |
| Speaker suggestions for Cary SLI-80 tube amp Do you think the SLI-80 would drive the Thiel 1.6's? 90db at 2.83, impedence drops to around 3.5.thank you.Art | |
| Review: Dynaudio Contour 1.8 mkII Speaker I have personally found that speakers often sound bright and thin in stores. This can be due to lack of breakin or poor setup. It's a real shame, and it's one reason I turn more to the Internet to buy stuff used and try it out; that is, the in-sto... |