fsonicsmith1
Responses from fsonicsmith1
| ARC REF 750 They are beasts. Banks and banks of capacitors though the huge C core trannies need to burn in as well. | |
| ARC REF 750 I have both the Ref 150 SE and Ref 80S with a Ref 6. The two amps have a very similar presentation. They both need a TON of break-in. 500-800 hours. I was a bit let down by the brand new Ref 80S at first. I was not patient enough. I can't prove th... | |
| Tonearms without anti-skate, damage to records? Lewm, are you responding to me? If so, I mentioned "scientific data" meaning something quantitative with a verifiable, repeatable explanation as to the methodology used. Peter Ledermann's observations and descriptions are useful but do not qualify... | |
| Tonearms without anti-skate, damage to records? Unbelievable how the cantilever vibrated back and forth with incorrect AS but once AS was set no back and forth movement of the cantilever assembly. For how long? For the length of the side? I doubt it very much. Mr. Boisclair may have demonst... | |
| Tonearms without anti-skate, damage to records? The above is absurdist. Most of it has nothing to do with the topic at hand. In the big picture, everything about vinyl playback is imperfect. It is much like using a tube amp, only more complicated. Stylii wear no matter what you do. With a longe... | |
| Who else can't sleep the night before their fancy new gears arrive? The plural of "gear" is "gear". I did get fancy new gears on my Pinarello Dogma once though. I could not sleep the night before either. | |
| Does anybody pay a pro to dial their system in? Your Benchmark DAC is hardly larger than the a typical remote. What this means is that it relies on op-amps rather than a robust conventional output stage. Not to once again declare that the emperor has no clothes but every time I see a Benchmark ... | |
| Disservice: XLR interconnects I've said it before. It all depends. With my ARC Ref 6 and Ref 150 SE I tried six different XLR cables many on loan from a well-known PA webtailer and throughout a spectrum of price points. At the bottom rung price-wise were Mogami's and at the to... | |
| Describe the "new HiFi sound"? Judging by what I hear at audio shows, "the new hi-fi sound" is sterile, precise, cold, stainless-steel metallic, operating room bright. Not all, but what predominates. | |
| Matching Power and Speakers -- Much Ado about Not-that-Much? (Tube amps and speakers) @8th-note I am sorry but you are beyond harsh, you are just extreme. Extremism is to be avoided 99% of the time. Frankly, Mr. Karsten borders on the same end of the spectrum but at this point I believe he is just too hell-bent on the scientifi... | |
| Matching Power and Speakers -- Much Ado about Not-that-Much? (Tube amps and speakers) I have his Nautilus. It drives both my Devore O/93's and Spendor D7.2's very well. I do have a small listening room. And after about six months of using it to drive the loudspeakers it has been relegated to headphone use. The Nautilus is a beast ... | |
| Decware and “The List” I own one Decware product, the Zen Line Conditioner. As it pertains to the list, it was kind of fun to check the list to see where I was at. It helps to have something on order that is not vital to your system. The ZLC replaced a line conditioner ... | |
| What's A Good Upgrade From A Manley Steelhead? @rooze There have been times when I thought the Steelhead might be holding me back from pure listening bliss. The culprit proved to be one mediocre pressing after another. Perhaps a present-day state of the art phono stage would have made them sou... | |
| Some famous reviewers have atrocious listening rooms! Noting that the reflective qualities of Michael Fremer's record collection could be responsible for his listening environment, I don't see that a pair of glasses being regarded as a reflective surface only inches from our receptors [ears] wouldn'... | |
| What's A Good Upgrade From A Manley Steelhead? I am not one for cliche's but you would have to wrest the Steelhead out of my cold dead hands for me to give it up. It is seductive and rapturous when given a decent set of grooves. As I type this I am listening to the remastered version of Kate B... |