hgabert
Responses from hgabert
| Accuphase C-290V: how good is it? I haven't compared it to the Lamm L2. But I can say that it is very good. Sweet, natural sounding over the entire frequency domain. The soundstage is fantastic. The nice thing is that I find it emotionally involving - - rare for a solid state pre.... | |
| Polarity Questions.. Yes, correct polarity matters, but I don't obsess over it. I also have the 390s and some music is better inverted, some is better normal. Is it label-dependent? Here is a list which I obtained through a previous post. Normal or "0" polarity: A&... | |
| Invert Polarity in Digital Domain Edesilva: Could very well be that the phase invert button on my pre-amp is dysfunctional, as it does make a popping sound when I engage it. Who knows? Undertow: Yes, "direct/non-inverted" can sound more direct and even compressed, but it depends o... | |
| Invert Polarity in Digital Domain Hi George, this sounds very interesting, and thanks for the post. However, I'm confused: are you saying that there is one absolute polarity for all (or nearly all) digital media, and that the above label lists are bogus? This is, if you have speak... | |
| Invert Polarity in Digital Domain Speakers are B&W 802 Nautilus (old style, not with the Diamond tweeters). | |
| Invert Polarity in Digital Domain Thanks, Dopogue.This is very helpful!!!P.S. I think I know why I don't hear any differences by switching the preamp's polarity (I have the VTL 5.5): It's a phase reversal (according to the manual), and so might not be a true polarity inversion. I ... | |
| Invert Polarity in Digital Domain Thanks for posting some of the labels and their general polarity settings (as you have experienced it)! I need to test that.My speakers are B&W 802 Nautilus, and I am not sure if they are "polarity-coherent." For example, the well-known audiop... | |
| Transparent musiclink plus w/MM or XL I like the old XL better than the MM version. XL has more texture, more detail. MM homogenizes the sound, more "hi-fi", if you will. But I presume it may be system dependent. Try out both, if you can, and trust your ears (and your ears only!). | |
| Bypass preamp, better sound, yet fatiguing? I had a Powerplant P-300 for a while, powering the preamp and CD player, but then I installed dedicated outlets (three total; one for each mono block, and one for CD and preamp), and I felt that the sound was more dynamic without the powerplant, s... | |
| Bypass preamp, better sound, yet fatiguing? Well, it's not the cable. Just tried a Transparent reference MM XLR cable, directly from the player into the VTLs, and it's still "too" detailed (i.e., fatiguing). Maybe there is an issue with the impedances (i.e., impedances are not well matched ... | |
| good amp for b&w N802 VTL MB-450s. I'm happy, it sounds very life-like. Before, I had McIntosh MC352 (while also good, imaging and soundstaging were definitely poorer, and everything sounded a tad more "mechanical"). But the VTLs let the music come through! | |
| B&W N802's and Room Size I agree (160 x 2 per side could be sufficient) - - I must not have noticed that the Macs were bridged. Sorry.But I'm curious if MC162 bridged sounds just as good (or worse, or better) than a MC300 or MC352, which are designed as stereo amps. | |
| B&W N802's and Room Size No, the room size will not be a problem (my room is about the same size). But the amps won't cut it, I'm afraid. You need more power than 160 W/side. I run my N802s with VTL 450s and I need every last drop of power.The N802s are very power hungry,... | |
| VTL Tetrode/Triode I'm not sure whether or not the upgrade of the input stage to the differential design has any sonic benefits IF one's cabling is all unbalanced, single-ended, with conventional RCA connectors. But it does make a difference if you're running balanc... | |
| VTL Tetrode/Triode Zaikesman: thanks for the above, informative post. I'll try that, as this will be a more "fair" comparison. But in any case, I suspect I will continue needing to run with full banks in tetrode, unless I upgrade to a MB-750, or to the Siegfried (ye... |