erik_squires
Responses from erik_squires
| Bi-amping vs Passive Setup That's not exactly how it works. It's not resistors that provide the filtering but capacitors and inductors (with help from resistors). The impedance goes to infinity in the "unwanted" frequencies, and the current drops to near zero. When you b... | |
| Im going to regret my cable question My view is that cables matter a little more than the network math would lead us to believe. I also believe cables are far more expensive than they are worth. For this reason, having tried cables which DO change the sound and imaging I've pretty ... | |
| Stereophile reviews the active Grimm LS1C but in a no more than a moderately sized listening room the Grimm’s are a treat Based on the driver sizes, this makes sense. It’s great they can bring the bass down to below 20 Hz but physics are unforgiving. They can’t possibly get to 20Hz w... | |
| Flex minidsp Dirac Live I think you have to use your ears to judge the validity of the results and experiment with the different curves. Absolutely. Honestly, you shouldn’t be asking us if it sounds better or not. You should be telling us if it is. :) Of course p... | |
| Who has gone fully active? What speakers and preamp did you end up with? @erik_squires You need at least a 10-1 ratio between the amp and preamp in normal situations @willywonka - I am familiar with the rule of thumb. I just don’t know how many preamps have an output impedance higher than 1k Ohm. And it is actual... | |
| Using non-terminated speaker wire? I don't know if Rhodium delaminates easily but it's a bad choice for low conductivity and hardness. The low conductivity is self-explanatory. The hardness means it's harder to grip. Softer metals deform under pressure and provide better contact. | |
| Did I just cook my preamp? This conversation is going a little nuts. Testing with multiple devices for this is nonsense, except maybe as a learning exercise for new techs. You should let a tech do all of this instead but if you must, wear insulated shoes and avoid any othe... | |
| Who has gone fully active? What speakers and preamp did you end up with? @daniel25 - Interesting that ATC lists the input impedance at > 10kOhms. That does seem relatively low. I'm used to seeing 25k or higher but hopefully it doesn't affect too many tube pres. | |
| Using non-terminated speaker wire? I take it the heat gun (I have one) is for finishing the job with heat-shrink? Yes. There's a lot of left outside the part that is inserted so good to have it well insulated. Plus it looks nice. :) Is this going to present any particular ch... | |
| Standmount speaker suggestion My universal recommendation for excellent stand mounts is Fritz. Bargain prices and just really musical and natural. | |
| Anyone wear gloves to handle vacuum tubes? Not always, but was careful to clean them with alcohol wipes before turning them on | |
| Using non-terminated speaker wire? The biggest issue for me is that most speaker connectors come undone very easily. The lightest movement of the speaker cable, whether you use bare wire or a spade and the nut comes loose. For this reason and others I always prefer bananas and I l... | |
| Have JBL K2s...best Amp pairing please? If you didn’t like the Macs for being bright you’ll love the Luxmans. Excelellent extension on both bass and treble, tube like liquid mids and glass smooth treble. Very close to D’Agostino in sound characteristics. Not nearly as laid back as say P... | |
| Do sound characteristics matter when moving from midfi to hifi? Hypothetically, if going from Sony, Marantz, Schiit am I going to find something that I don’t like about Pass Labs, Conrad Johnson, Coda? Oh hell yes. :) I think that our industry pushes you to upgrade based on perceived value ($$$) instead... | |
| Klipsch vs B&W brightness These speakers are for kids. If you are really deaf you need Triangles. |