helomech
Responses from helomech
| Which area of components to spend the most $ on? Boy I was wrong all my life! Speakers distort more than any other part of the chain. There are good speaker values to be had, but many more that are way overpriced. I'm guessing your former speakers were the latter, and your new speakers are the former. If you ever want to su... | |
| Budget phono stage under $100, cheap but refined, does it exist? Minus one on the Mani. Mine was defective from day one.Oh but their CS does live up to the company name.Refunds minus shipping both ways and restock fee.A restocking fee for a defective item? I'd hope that was only the result of a miscommunication... | |
| Are DAC's overpriced? Not that you need to spend a fortune to achieve this. On the contrary, if you are smart and selective and take advice from the RIGHT people, you can get there on a budget. I think for an entire system, the threshold is probably $20K-$30K. Anyth... | |
| Why so many used focals? ^ Good find. Rest assured you chose well - much better speakers than what Focal produces at that price point.There's an old saying in engineering Steve, "If it looks right - it usually is".The Kanta 3's look right. I don't know why, but rear port... | |
| Higher Efficiency Speakers Maggies would certainly be a downgrade from your Sig IIs. | |
| What is the best way to tame a slightly bright speaker? Get speakers with non-metallic cones. | |
| Why so many used focals? The Focals I've auditioned were far overpriced for the sound they produced. Music Direct is closing out a few models at prices closer to where they should've been priced to begin with. | |
| Integrated amplifier search I’ve had tubes before. Anthem pre amp, pathos classic one, and antique sound labs integrated. I’m sure I’m missing a couple. They didn’t do much for me and I’m convinced good solid state gear can go toe to toe with tubes. Best of luck then. I've y... | |
| Magicos are chesty I love the sound of polypropylene cones. My first higher end speaker was Energy Pro 22 with a poly mid-woofer woven onto a rubber surround.That said, my experience is that polypropylene cones almost always sound more rolled off in the 1 to 3 KHz r... | |
| Magicos are chesty The problem is that polypropylene is non-fibrous and tends to store rather than dissipate acoustic energy so it vibrates characteristically - not a good material either for a speaker coneWrong. It and paper are the best materials for a speaker con... | |
| Ahhh--Problem solved. Adding a REL sub-bass unit... Yup, a well-integrated sub (or two) can do that. The key word is integration. I think many fail at integration because they have their sub(s) crossed over too high and with far too much gain. | |
| Integrated amplifier search I’m willing to go up in price. My wife has tolerated my audio habit long enough and I don’t listen critically nearly as much as I use to, so going down in size is no problem for me. The Sony has intrigued me for a while. I don’t remember if it ... | |
| Integrated amplifier search There’s really nothing out there that packs equal power and features in a smaller footprint, especially for the price of the Halo. Parasound keeps pulling rabbits out of the hat when it comes to value/$. Just look at their new $599 phono stage. Wh... | |
| Topping Dacs D-50, DX-7, and DX7s I use the old Topping D20 in one of my systems - a great DAC for PCM duties. I'd pit it against any oversampling, filtered DAC. | |
| Speakers with the most detailed midrange? (non-ESL/planar) @prof I can't speak for all their speakers, but the Bliss Silvers I own are very neutral. I've compared them back to back with my Spendors and the JMRs were only a tad more forward. They're certainly not anymore forward or bright than ATC or Harbe... |