jafox

Responses from jafox

CJ LS17 vs ARC LS15
Have you considered the LS5? If you want more body, warmth, the LS5 is THE ARC line stage to do this. It has a 3-dimensionality, bloom and harmonic richness the LS15 can not touch. Look for a MK III as these have a more natural top-end than the MK... 
Thiel CS6 to Von Schweikert VR4 JR - Am i Crazy?
You seem confident about your sources so I would suggest another speaker for you to consider - a used pair of Talon Khorus. These are in the $3-4k range on the used market. I was a long time Magnepan 3.3 owner but wanted a more dynamic speaker so ... 
stands. mdf or steel
Wow, how can you beat logic like Albert's. I guess if you really want confirmation that you picked the right speaker stand material, why not find out what the material is for the Wilson stands. Afterall, I suspect they "voiced" the speaker on that... 
ARC D115 Mk2 vs ARC M300
Oh yes, you will experience much the same when you switch from the D115 to the M300 like you heard from the SP-10 to the SP-11. I too owned the SP-10 for 8 years and after hearing the SP-11, I had no desire to change.The hybrid ARC products are no... 
General transport Question
Common sense would also tell us that a transport is the easiest component to measure and validate its accuracy - you either have the exact data at the correct time interval or you don't. And repeatable validation tests would be equally easy. But i... 
Have AR sp-16 preamp need one with more features
1) What do you mean, distortion when you run another room off of it? Are you trying to drive 2 amps? This could be a problem if the resultant impedance of the two amps is less than 20k or so. You need to check the values for each of these and then... 
Tube Pre with remote and 2 pairs of outputs
Pretty much all the ARC preamps from the mid-to-late 90's have 2 sets of outputs and a remote option. The same is true for BAT products. But in the case of the Bat 3 series, there is one XLR output and one RCA. With the 5 series, there are 2 XLR o... 
General transport Question
Sundance45: Did you actually listen to the Sony compared to each of those standalone transports and hear the Sony that far behind the others? I have what I consider a top-notch DAC and my little dismal Pioneer PD-65, with or without the Genesis Ti... 
all preamps gain and phase.
Yes, Newbee pretty much explained it right on.For years, I had an ARC LS5 II which had a 30/12 db switch. For LP as my source, the full 30db gain in the line stage was needed with lower output cartridges as my phono stage at the time only had 48db... 
tube preamp for Linn/ARC system???
If you like the sound of the older ARC SP series, and you have MC cartridges of less than 1mv output, the SP-6 will not work at all unless you also have an MC step-up device. The SP-8 is an incredible performance step up from the SP-6 but it too d... 
System Components are Warm but Synergy is Bright?
Hello,I try not to put too much credit to cables for dramatic changes, but Straightwire has a reputation for being bright. I had the SW Virtuoso XLR cable years ago and I was amazed at the improvements, i.e., HUGE loss of fatigue, when I switched ... 
balance and single ended what I heard
Metralla's first sentence says it all. What cables were you using? Were they the same model? What gear was being used? Even though a product has XLR connections, it may not at all use a balanced circuit topology. For cases where a single-ended sig... 
1970's Audio Research Equipment, worth having?
If you want older ARC gear, I feel the peak of ARC was from 82-85 or so with the SP-8, SP-10, D70, D115, D250 models. Once they headed into the hybrid line, their sound became way too analytical for me. If you want a sound that is a refinement to ... 
Cables-how can you be sure of authenticity?
I suspect that if one can copy the product, they can just as easily copy the packaging. And therefore, "Certificates of Authenticity", purple silk bags, beautifully painted wood crates, etc., don't guarantee much either.My experience with cables p... 
What's The Best Blooming Tube Amp?
The ARC VT130 is one heck of a bloomer .... especially with KT88s. This is an absolute incredible performer at the often seen A'gon price of $1700. Even today I wish I had kept mine.