harrylavo
Responses from harrylavo
| What defines mid-fi versus high-end? Answer: your income. What you can afford is seen inevitably as the "low-end" of audiophilia. The highest end is always to dream for, whether $5,000 or $500,000. Does really high quality sound demand that? No, not at all. But human nature does. | |
| Large room with low budget for speakers High end Magnapans. They can fill any room, and don't cost an arm and a leg. If you can't afford new, go back a few years. Even more of a bargain. Big, enveloping soundstage! Instruments and voices that sound "as in the room" if speakers posi... | |
| Turn off or leave on? In my two systems the transistor gear (one amp, one tuner, one disk player/dac, one separate dac stay on, or at most I may turn off the transistor amp overnight. The tube gear (amp, preamp, headamp, tuner) goes on a half hour before listening, an... | |
| Is a separate phono pre really necessary? Is the transformer you are using made specifically for this cartridge? If so, then you may receive little benefit from the additon of a phono state, which in fact will create redundancy with the stage already in the rogue. Make sure you have th... | |
| Has the cost of HiFi gotten a bit too much? ghdprentice, right on. Economics and economic policy are difficult to understand thoroughly, and sometimes even appear counter-intuitive. And virtually every "simple" cause and effect is wrong. Suffice it to say that even the "pro's" like yours... | |
| Advice needed on MC cartridges Until recently I might have agreed with the conventional wisdom. I have used an Accuphase AC2 MC cartridge into a Counterpoint SA-2 Headamp into an ARC SP-6 preamp for years, because it sounded about as good as you can get. But recently in my se... | |
| CD transports; do they really matter It depends. I use an old sub--$100 Pioneer universal player with the first version of Pioneers outstanding transport mechanism, playing through a Bel Canto DAC, and it has a solid bass which outperforms any Sony mechanis... | |
| The Best Preamp is no Preamp? There is no substitute for listening. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Depends on your equipment and the ease of controlling volume, plus whatever moderating effect (or exacerbating effect) you preamp adds. They will add something. I have a secon... | |
| Decisive moments your your audio journey Easy. Dad's living room system 1952. Large JBL corner horn ... two 15" woofers and horn mids and highs. Driven by 25wpc tube Newcomb Amp w/Preamp. Rek-O-Cut studio TT with Fairchild arm and cartridge. First ever audiophile discs (Cook's "Soun... | |
| How many systems do you have? Three. Main in living room. Secondary in dining room/den (sounds as good but slightly different than main.) Tertiary in bedroom. All handle CD/SACD, first two phono as well. All have tuners. First system has RtR Dolbyized tape; bedroom has N... | |
| Bought powerful/expensive Amp+Speakers but plan to use an old preamp , am I crazy? Listen, after you swap in the new gear, continue to listen to the NAD. If you still love it, keep it. If not, well, there is your next upgrade. Don't get caught up in the "I have to upgrade completely game." I have an old Audionics BT2 preamp ... | |
| Suggest your most desired MSRP $1,500-$3,000 Stand Mount for a Shootout. Get a pair of the older KLH 5's in good condition. They use a different midrange configuration and despite audiophile angst about cross-firing mids, the image very well and very precisely. Would make an interesting comparison, and with some care... | |
| Modern "Vintage" Sounding Preamps Since you have phono as well as line input needs, consider a good used Audio Research SP6B preamp, or the all-tube (include regulation) SP8. The phono input on this line of Preamps was as good sounding or better than almost any other preamp of it... | |
| Not manufactured any more. elliotbnewcomb - AR-2Ax, my first decent speakers while in college. Got em with wedding gift money. Anyone remember the AR sound booth at Grand Central Station, NYC? Sam Goodys? I was just of of B-School and working in White Plains, NY at the tim... | |
| Not manufactured any more. Thumbs up on the Heil AMT-1's. I owned four of them .... used them in a quad system in the mid-70's and then sold/gave them to musician friends of mine (classical) .... one of them uses a pair of them today powered by a Citation 11 preamp and an ... |