dbong
Responses from dbong
| Prioritizing Power Cable Upgrades by System Component. I would start with one known good cable from a reputable manufacturer rather than a throwaway that may or may not be the highest quality. On the amp. The difference you hear will probably motivate you to stay upmarket. I didn’t spend a lot, Str... | |
| Is my power chord going bad? Might be flat. Or sharp. | |
| Power Cords - Shielding or No Shielding Shielding doesn’t destroy EM radiation, it reflects it. Same thing happens inside, a shield is going to reflect internal EM in the cable back on itself. So like everything else in audio, you have to balance the +/- of each solution. | |
| Installing dedicated 10 gauge lines Did exactly this in 2 houses. Two different electricians ran dual 10 gauge from the box to dual quads so I could separate tube/SS for ground loops or noisy power supplies. Less than $800 both times without any holes in the sheet rock other than ... | |
| Do power supply units/cables make a difference in sound quality? A cheapish experiment might be just losing the outlet strip and installing a quad on the wall. Surge protected outlet strips in my system did not help, and outlets are relatively cheap to install. | |
| Why do folks spend more on electronics than on speakers? 10 years spent seriously building a ‘budget’ system on mostly used equipment, I ended up with a 10% speaker (LS-50) that really isn’t worth upgrading, yet. Along the way I went through 5 amps, 4 pre-amps, three sets of speakers, three brands of c... | |
| Can a Amp be "timeless" and compete with todays amps? I am running a 20 year old BAT VK-60SE that destroys everything I compare it to (that I can afford). Of course that is kind of the point of this hobby…finding those relatively affordable gems, new or used, that just break the mold for years to co... | |
| Can the top end of a PrimaLuna Evo integrated be tamed w/tube rolling? I had prologue and dialog PL gear. The stock tubes took 100+ hours to break in, and subsequent rolling of the AX/AU small tubes with NOS was well worth it, though more waiting for break in before they too smoothed out. | |
| A budget power cord has speed and transparent but not overly bright. Straightwire black thunder. Call direct if you don’t have a dealer close enough to drive. | |
| Kef LS50s - great like me but need to come up for air 2nd on straightwire. I upgraded to their 2nd to top of line xlr cables and top power cord for amp, second to top for dac and pre. Not that expensive and a huge! improvement. Ultimately though replacing my solid state amp with with a BAT VK60 SE... | |
| Prima luna equipment cable sensitive I have had an RCA come loose once on older primaluna gear. Just tighten. If they were loose and twisted they may have cracked a solder joint without completely separating. Sending them back will beat them up more, just find a local shop to sold... | |
| Why is there no love for Prima Luna? I've owned at various times a PL3, PL7 Monoblocks, and Dialogue Premium Pre. All were excellent sounding and completely reliable. Responded well to tube rolling and the changes to the sound as you could hear the tubes breaking in over the first ... | |
| which is better? Stereo Amp or Monoblocks? Another data point from experience to share.Having run a few integrated, stereo, and mono amps over the years, my best experience was with tube mono amps (Primaluna PL7), by a large margin. However, those tube amps were superior to anything else I... | |
| Revel Proforma 206 w/Primaluna HP integrated? I owned PL gear with Revel M106 which have similar impedance curves to the 206, and have demoed 206s with dialogue premium integrated and seperates. All are great combinations. The Revels impedance curve stays above 4 ohms and doesn't have any nas... | |
| stereo preamp $2-5K suggestions I have and highly recommend the primaluna dialogue premium pre. It just gets out of the way and really smooths out digital. Good imaging and usefully low gain to so you dont have to live in the low range of the volume pot. Works great with solid s... |