dgarretson

Responses from dgarretson

Audiophiles vs DIY-o-philes
Chris, I distinguish modifiers from general DIYers in this regard. A modifier has the opportunity to start with a stock component & control variables by making small incremental changes. After 10 or so such changes to a component the ear has r... 
Audiophiles vs DIY-o-philes
Components in the "bread basket" of the marketplace(say up to $10K) are good for modifiers, insofar as they can be well engineered while compromised in the parts bin. Sometimes fairly simple parts upgrades can take them to a much higher level.This... 
Audiophiles vs DIY-o-philes
Mrtennis,Expressed in terms of economic principles, the problem is that rapid price inflation at the high end has transformed audio into just another luxury goods market. A luxury goods market (e.g. yachts, exotic cars, art, and high-end real esta... 
Audiophiles vs DIY-o-philes
"the key to remember is the value in use equals the value in exchange" I'm not sure what you mean here, but if you mean that your valuation of equipment is based on what the market will bear on resale then you are obviously not a DIYer. Modded equ... 
Audiophiles vs DIY-o-philes
The toughest thing for non-DIY audiophiles is to leave superstitious pretentions to art behind & accept that many even high-priced commercial components are compromised & built to cost. The problem has been aggrevated by the trend toward i... 
Why so little Primare gear on A'gon? Bad rep?
Magnolia/Best Buy carried Primare CDPs for awhile. I had never heard one before, so I compared it in the showroom to every comparably priced Sony & Denon universal player on display. The Primare smoked them all. The salesman said they weren't ... 
Grand Prix Monaco review in new Stereophile- OUCH
It's difficult to imagine a direct-drive TT with more impressive engineering credentials than the GPM on its dedicated stand. Fremer acknowledges the positive attributes applauded by fans of DD(clarity, attack, excitement), while largely dismissin... 
new eagles album
Eagles songs are very hard to get out of your head. The Eagles were the only thing that really bothered The Dude in The Big Lebowski. Be careful. That said, I have a nice DCC pressing of Hotel California. 
Iron and Wine, The Shepherd's Dog
Some good contributions from Becker of Califone also on this Beam album. 
BAT Preamps, why such polarized opposite opinions?
Audiosoul, a dividend of modding is to extend the life of a component in one's system--sometimes for a very long time. Any reduction in long-term resale value should be netted against the repeated depreciation hits that would have otherwise result... 
BAT Preamps, why such polarized opposite opinions?
I accord with Lewm & Flemke that a perception of sluggishness & treble roll-off that one senses with BAT is a signature of the identical oil coupling caps used throughout much of the BAT tube line-up. Switching to good teflon such as V-Cap... 
New Teres Direct Drive Motor Available as Option
Lew, while browsing one of my father's old EE textbooks from the early 50s, I read that a block of iron placed on top of a transformer improves coupling between the magnetic fields. This is how how a VPI brick is constructed. I don't know about th... 
does anyone sharpie thier CD's???
The idea has been around for 10 years marketed as AudioPrism CD Stoplight green pen & CD Blacklight luminescent green mat. The red spectra of the CD laser is cancelled by green, instead of being refracted back at the edge & across the disk... 
Magico 3
Roypan,This is exactly what I thought listening to the V3 at HE2007. Incredibly fast, transparent sound (which is always my preference), but I just couldn't decide whether something was missing, or whether the speaker might be difficult to relax w... 
Maple or Granite
Try the $7 springs, then the $8 Cones, then the $100 Stillpoints.