crustycoot
Responses from crustycoot
| McIntosh MT5 tonearm swap out? FWIW, I tried balanced vs. unbalanced on a PhonoBox DS3 with an AT OC9XML and found there to be no discernible advantage to the balanced connection. It was noisier than I liked either way. I switched to a different turntable using unbalanced and ... | |
| My wife weighed in…she wants piano white tower/bookshelf Focal Sopra No.2 in Carerra White…$21K per pair. Easy to drive, easy to love. | |
| Amplifier used w/ headphones and no speakers connected, can it be damaged? In my 50 years of audio sales, the advice has always been…no problem with solid state, and no good with tubes. One instance where solid state can have an issue is with amps lacking a common ground. When I was in college, I had a Quad 33/303, nei... | |
| 3 tone control integrated amp/preamp I think a “midrange” tone control is too undefined a parameter. I use a C-J line stage that has EPL loops…same as tape monitors…and a Schiit Lokius to help add or subtract color from recordings. Not as good as parametric but way simpler to use. ... | |
| AR XA turntable needs new cartridge... The original XA had a silicone oil damped vertical bearing, and a simple sleeve horizontal bearing. Even if you have maintained these with fresh lubricant, the friction is higher than you’d find on most new tonearms. If you haven’t maintained th... | |
| Bluesound Node130 LPS upgrade... I got the LHY LPS for my N130 and it went together easily and has performed flawlessly for over a year. I use it with USB out to a Mytek Liberty DAC. I like a lot of small boxes on my shelves! | |
| Upgrading my integrated amplifier for my Magnepan 1.7’s Money to burn? Upgrade to MG 2.7i…the ribbon will “elevate your listening” more than swapping amps…especially when you have a GaN FET already. | |
| Phil Lesh I’m not a concert going kind of Deadhead…only saw them once, at Watkins Glen…but I love their records, and Workingman’s, American Beauty, and Blues For Allah are my faves. Side 1 on BFA is genius level musicianship, and Phil was a big reason it. ... | |
| The Great DAC Mystery The subject matter is waaay beyond my comprehension but to all those saying “just go with what sounds good to you” I have these thoughts. As a longtime admirer of David Hafler, Edgar Villchur, and Peter Pritchard, engineers who made great sounding... | |
| Steve Morse pays tribute to Jeff beck I am almost 73, and one of my first music crushes was the Yardbirds with Jeff Beck. Having A Rave-Up was my first album purchase. Jeff’s melodic ear added a dimension to his blues chops that his contemporaries Clapton, Page, Green, and Taylor di... | |
| Lack of Surround Sound Signal from TV to Processor... Why? Try borrowing a newish AVR with all channel preamp out…a Yamaha, Denon, Sony or similar, with HDMI 2.0, and see if that doesn’t solve your problem. The TV probably puts out surround sound only via eARC, and you don’t have it! | |
| ???YOUR Personal Favorite???Why??? Focal Sopra No.1. Better than B&W 805 D4, and to me even than Focal Utopia Diablo. New Dali Epikore looks interesting. | |
| Does Anyone Know the History of the Early Sota Turntables? I owned two Sapphires in 1985-7. I had trouble with hyperextended springs with both, and moved on to a Well Tempered TT/TA, which was new then, and kept it for 30+ years. | |
| Fosi V3 Mono Break-In I have a pair with a single 48V/10A supply and splitter. I am surprised how warm they get for class D, but overall find them excellent. In my use application I can swap them out with a new- build Dynaco ST35 and they do not sound worse! | |
| Speakers for Luxman LX-380 First, that Luxman L380 is a gorgeous piece of equipment! 20W of tube power is enough to make excellent sound with a huge variety of reasonably efficient speakers. Just avoid small ones that try to have deep bass…and adjust your volume expectati... |