dogearedaudio
Responses from dogearedaudio
| No God No! Say it Ain’t So! Yes, perhaps we will see McIntosh at Best Buy. But I will readily admit that I LOVE my Bose QC headphones and Open Air buds. Both are very comfortable, very convenient and very musical, especially for classic jazz and classical. The headphones ... | |
| Friends hi-fi system not very good, what do you do or say? I would say, "That's a really interesting system. Tell me about it!" That steers the discussion to how he acquired the equipment, what he likes about it, etc. People love to talk about their gear. If he comes over to your house and *asks* to h... | |
| Help Deciding On New Speakers For Small Room, $10k budget A friend of mine is in the same position as you. Small room and sensitivity to brightness. On my recommendation he bought a used pair of ProAc Response 1SC's and they work very well for him. He also uses a REL sub. But I would also agree with ... | |
| Amplifier used w/ headphones and no speakers connected, can it be damaged? You can easily test this by leaving the speakers hooked up and plugging in the headphones. The speakers should cut out with the headphones plugged in. If that's the case there's no issue at all. And if you aren't going to use your Harbeths an... | |
| Seeking a Warm 12AX7 Tube for Preamp The Genalex are warm and rich, not bright at all. | |
| AR XA turntable needs new cartridge... @jasonbourne71 Unless I'm mistaken, you can adjust the tonearm tube length by loosening a screw on the pivot block. Also, IIRC, there was an issue with hum when using Grado carts with the AR. The plastic body of the Grado and the plastic heads... | |
| Cary SLP98L upgrades--yea or nay? @nlitworld I'm using the True Copper Max. Yes, the leads are a PITA. ;-) I had to reduce the number of strands at the ends to fit them on a PCB. @northman I don't know what tubes you're currently using, but I'll put in a plug for the Sylvan... | |
| Cary SLP98L upgrades--yea or nay? I own a Cary SLP-98p and I fully agree with the comments from larry, russ and harpo. Sweet, musical, but a bit "sluggish" and thick-sounding. Nonetheless, you're wise to keep it unless you can afford something a lot better. (I myself moved to a... | |
| Solid State Preamp to replace tube unit The MC240 is a nice amp. Rich, solid sound. I had a pair of the monoblocks years ago and wish I'd never sold them. I wouldn't worry about NOS tubes too much. There are plenty of good new-manufacture tubes available, though they sure aren't che... | |
| Phono Stage advice for Mono listening If you are collecting mono recordings, you are probably aware that there were, in the early days of LP, a number of different equalization schemes. Maybe your collection doesn’t go that far back and you’re mostly dealing with standard RIAA recordi... | |
| Solid State Preamp to replace tube unit I agree with those who point out that, generally speaking, preamp tubes will last for years, and that the CJ preamp you own is an anomaly or just cranky product design. There are a lot of fine tube preamps out there. I’m particularly fond of the 6... | |
| Qobuz and Tidal comparison I prefer Qobuz, sonically. I can hear little if any difference between their streams and my stored tracks of the same music. Like others here, I find their presentation crisper and more lively than Tidal. | |
| Where to purchase cables? Blue Jeans interconnects are pretty darn good. They’re not the ultimate in resolution or focus, but they are smooth and natural and throw a nice soundstage. The sound, to use a vague, subjective term, "normal." And you can easily order custom leng... | |
| Why tube rectification? Nothing wrong with that choice, IMO. Generally tube rectifier failures occur in power amplifiers with high current draws. The Dynaco ST70 is notorious for eating Chinese 5AR4s. In a preamp there usually isn't enough current being drawn to worry... | |
| Why tube rectification? I would just add that, in the case of well-designed tube equipment that enjoys a reputation for excellent sound, trust the designer. ;-) Someone like Steve Deckert certainly makes a choice that works best for him and his customers. |