drbond
Responses from drbond
| Do good power cords have to be stiff? @carlsbad 12G or 14G should suffice for most: 15A outlets have 14G single strand copper, whereas 20A outlets have 12G single strand copper providing power to the outlets. That’s your bottleneck: having 10G power cable feeding from a 14G wire sho... | |
| Do good power cords have to be stiff? Unless your equipment is very poorly designed, I don't think you should be able to tell any difference between any power cords, assuming a decent construction baseline. I can't tell a difference in my system, and the only blind test that I know o... | |
| Why spend more than $25 per piece of equipment on vibration reduction? Here's an observation: my system is set up on a concrete slab; other systems are set up on a suspended wooden/particle board floor. On a concrete slab, you can jump as much as you want right next to the components, including turntable, and you ... | |
| Why spend more than $25 per piece of equipment on vibration reduction? @chorus Interesting: worth a shot at 1.60-1.80 per pad from Vibrasystems. . . they have EVA-BRF pads and EVA-BFP pads, which appear to be similar, but obviously different is some aspect: maybe they'll be better than my puck stands! | |
| Why spend more than $25 per piece of equipment on vibration reduction? @jerryg123 Yes, real hockey pucks are under most components, all of which sit on a concrete foundation (as those on suspended floors may find more suspension/spring elements work better than they did for me). Lighter components (turntable, phon... | |
| Why spend more than $25 per piece of equipment on vibration reduction? In my very limited experience, I found that hockey pucks, sometimes stacked on sponge pucks, have offered satisfactory isolation of a component. However, it would certainly depend on your environment: my components are on a concrete slab, not a ... | |
| Record clamp While I haven't (and probably won't) try millercarbon's recommendation of the Origin Live One Gravity record weight, I have tried two tweaks on my Rega P8, which I plan on upgrading soon: Firstly, the P8 without any weight or clamp did have qui... | |
| Turntable upgrade recommendations: SME vs AMG vs Technics vs other @sokogear What particular specifications in the phono stage do I look at to match with the pre-amplifier and the cartridge? (I learned the hard way (from @dover pointing out to me in another thread) that one very important specification to be m... | |
| Turntable upgrade recommendations: SME vs AMG vs Technics vs other @tms0425 Thanks for sharing. My plan is to first upgrade my phono stage from the Manley Steelhead to something else. I expect a more detailed phono stage will allow me to better distinguish the differences between various TT. With the clamp a... | |
| Another turntable Sounds like you're looking at about the same options as I was. Here's an extensive thread that outlines some options: https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/turntable-upgrade-recommendations-sme-vs-amg-vs-technics-vs-other Audiogon Discuss... | |
| Tube rolling ARC amps & Steelhead @astolfor Well, the output buffer tube selection is quite readily evident: Philips 5687 JAN gives a brighter slightly more detailed presentation, which is also more grainy (not smooth) Tung Sol NOS 5687 gives a smoother presentation, which s... | |
| Tube rolling ARC amps & Steelhead @astolfor I always like to compare the sonic differences of small tweaks, and switching out the tubes in my Steelhead as a phono stage should be a fun activity over the next month or two. . . I'll do some tube rolling, and get back to you in thi... | |
| Tube rolling ARC amps & Steelhead @astolfor The Manley Steelhead is an excellent component, as I've had it in my system for 10+ years; however, as a buffer stage, I think it's best suited for a mid-priced audiophile system. As a phono stage, I currently think it sounds very goo... | |
| Tube rolling ARC amps & Steelhead @astolfor After upgrading my speakers, I just didn’t like the sound of the Steelhead as a pre-amplifier/buffer. I ended up buying an Ypsilon PST-100 Mk2, and I liked that so much that I upgraded to the SE version. However, I am still using the M... | |
| Turntable upgrade recommendations: SME vs AMG vs Technics vs other Thanks for everyone's input. It sounds like SME is a leading candidate, and I may consider an extra Kuzma tonearm sometime in the future after that just for comparison. In the meantime, I've been playing around with tweaks for the Rega P8: whi... |