jfuquay
Responses from jfuquay
| Fantasy or reality? Inexpensive solid state preamps that get you 80% there? I’m going to say that getting to 80% is fairly easily done in electronics, especially solid state. I don’t think there are that many secrets in circuits or components, having built five DIY amps and preamps, mostly Pass designs. But I don’t think ... | |
| Classical music newbie needs your suggestions I had a college friend share his appreciation of classical music with me. Since it sounds you’re beyond that, I’d now say to find a copy of Ted Libby’s NPR Guide to Building a Classical CD Collection. (Ignore the “CD” part of the title.) The great... | |
| Pass Labs Speaker Choices The first Magnepans I ever heard were driven by a First Watt amp, I forget which one. The owner thought it showed that a good power supply and solid engineering provided plenty of juice if you weren’t aiming for rock concert sound levels. I took i... | |
| How Did Your First Audiophile Experience Impact Your Audio Journey? During summers at home during college, I worked with a guy who lived on some acreage outside of town. At some point during the season it would be time to cut and bale his hay, and I would help Perry, a wiry little man with a withered leg who never... | |
| Ditching Class A Amps due to Heat - Sort of a Poll I like the sound of Class A and also Magnepan speakers. So a dilemma. My solution is low-power Pass diy amps with high-sensitivity speakers for casual listening around the house, and a Class D amp with tube front end driving the Maggies in my list... | |
| How many people do you think have the same DAC, amplifier, and speakers I don’t know, but my local audio group meets this weekend and our host has my DAC, a PS Audio Directstream. I’m really eager to hear how the rest of the (much more expensive) system plays it. | |
| Audio Science Review = Rebuttal and Further Thoughts Djones51: almost, but not quite. First you have to believe that our measurement technology perfectly represents human hearing. Of course it doesn’t. A sound wave hits a microphone and is interpreted by a machine. The same sound wave hits an ear dr... | |
| Audio Science Review = Rebuttal and Further Thoughts Much of this falls under what the late scientist Steven Jay Gould called “argument from personal incredulity.” That means a person simple cannot accept the truth of something because it is so far outside their personal experience or prejudices tha... | |
| Is there such a thing as a FOREVER DAC/streamer? My DAC is my most expensive component, a PS Audio Directstream w/ streamer card. And I’m glad because streaming is more and more of my listening. It’s software-based, and they’ve issued a number of updates that are easy to make with just an SD car... | |
| Magnepan .7 Alternatives While I like my .7s, what I really like is acoustic music. I honestly don’t think they are the best choice for amplified rock and the like. Also, when I auditioned the .7 at a local dealer (lucky me!) with a Rogue Sphinx, a Node was the source. I ... | |
| What are/were the best sounding cheap components you have ever had? Yes, I liked my AR-Xa turntable in 975 for $95, but that’s nearly $700 today for an all manual TT. Same math with large Advents, where $250 a pair is about $1,800. So for modern gear, I think my $299 Musical Fidelity V-90 DAC was great. After audi... | |
| Basic question about power/watts I own Maggie .7s and drive them with a Rogue Sphinx (100w@8 ohms and 200w@4 ohms). I bet you could get a used one for $1,000 or less. You could always get something with more wattage, but I will guarantee you it is a good combo enjoyed by many oth... | |
| Class D Amplification Announcement It’s technology. It will change. I personally think we don’t much understand how our brain interprets reproduced sound, leading to a whole host of different personal preferences. I like Magnepan speakers. I can’t drive them with flea-watt amps. I ... | |
| What is your take on high efficient speakers vs. low efficient speakers? Interesting question because it puts two legitimate concepts in opposition. One is the view that the less you mess with the signal, the better the sound. Therefore, simple, well-designed amps are “best.” And those are going to tend to be low power... | |
| When a budget speaker is preferred to a high end one... I think that when it comes to speakers, the smallest choices in design can make big differences. Mark Twain said the difference between the right word and almost the right word is the difference between lightening and a lightening bug. Some design... |