helomech

Responses from helomech

Which Would You Choose?
The Michi S5 is a stellar amp and better than than any Hegel or MF. Hegels are noisy (loud hiss) and their damping claims are absolute horse manure. MF is not the brand in once was. These days they employ inexcusably cheap parts in all their pr... 
New blog post: Living with Focal Speakers
@erik_squires I suppose that depends on the specific tweeter in question. But the modern ones I was referring to, as used in the Aria line, are actually a regression from the old JM Labs designs. When a manufacturer offers six performance tiers... 
Electronics for Harbeths -- $5-10K
$5K-$10K amplification is going to easily outclass your speakers such that the Harbeths become the new bottleneck. I understand why that would be hard to believe given all the hype surrounding this brand, but take the Harbeths along and compare th... 
New blog post: Living with Focal Speakers
  In most speakers theXover is the main weakness in lack of quality rebuilding it with much higher Xover parts is= to adding 50% more on your speakers in refinement imaging as well as soundstage depth speakers are built to a price point ,even ... 
Benchmark or McIntosh....
I have never heard the Benchmark amps, but what you describe is exactly what their preamp sounds like. I’ve owned both the amp and preamp and currently still have the preamp. That’s not really the case at all if the LA4 preamp is matched to a s... 
Should I graduate to floor standers or will larger bookshelves suffice?
@jonasandezekiel  Yeah, the BMRs are low sensitivity, but then so are most stand-mount speakers in reality. Despite exaggerated specs that many manufacturers like to claim, it’s rare to encounter a medium size stand-mount speaker with a sensitivi... 
Should I graduate to floor standers or will larger bookshelves suffice?
Look into the Philharmonic BMR HT Towers. You’d have to spend close to 3X the money on nearly any other brand to get similar performance. Add a sub for the lowest octave and still save thousands.   
Help settle a streaming argument!
@audioman58  There are suckers born every minute.   
Acoustically Treating a Bomb Shelter
This has to be the most interesting thread to come up on Audiogon in months. I’d love to see pics of the space. I’d consider the big Perlisten towers for that space since they can be driven to high output and have controlled directivity.    Que... 
Tube sound is not about warmth. It's about correct presentation.
There is nothing academically superior about tube amp performance. It is less accurate than competently designed solid-state, full stop. If a solid state system sounds poor, lacking, irritating or incorrect, the most likely culprit is the speakers... 
Benchmark or McIntosh....
Benchmark if you place higher value on resolution. Mac if you have inefficient speakers that require headroom.   
Help settle a streaming argument!
Ask this same question on other audio forums and you’re likely to get a very different consensus. The difference lies in the prevailing belief systems adopted by the largest demographic of these forums. Members here generally dismiss the notion th... 
Real or Surreal. Do you throw accuracy out the window for "better" sound?
Throwing accuracy out the window most often produces inferior sound IME.   
Perlisten S5t
@thyname    To give you an idea of my previous speakers, they replaced B&W 803 D3. Before them I have owned several other speakers, including Revel F228Be, Revel F208, B&W CM10 S1, and a few more lesser speakers. How would you say the... 
I Am Not an Audio Snob
@stereo5    LMAO! Apparently your ENT isn’t worth his/her salt. Time for hearing aids bro.