john_l
Responses from john_l
| Krell FPB200 or Levinson 334 ? The retail markup on high end audio is 40%. To deserve that they should allow you to a/b them. Otherwise just buy them BOTH on the used market for the same price, then sell one of them. I didn't care for the fpb200, but I will also note I heard it... | |
| Top Audio Designers Of All Time? Pass - for elegant and impossibly simple designs, Conrad-Johnson for directively building lush sounding components, Johnson (audio research) for building the most natural sounding high resolution amps I've heard, Vandersteen for building affordabl... | |
| speaker degradation question I think that speakers do experience some level of degredation over the years. I know my 12 year old vandersteens were starting to sound loose and 'chuffy' in the bass. This may have been due to my listening to more modern designs. I understand tha... | |
| Amps & Maggies...what is your take? I drove my 1.6QR's with the McCormack DNA 1/A, and Conrad Johnson MV-50. They were both excellent. The surprise was the 45 watt MV-50. It drove them with power to spare. It didn't have the detail but has a warmth and forwardness was wonderful to l... | |
| Aleph-3 Questions I heard the volksamp version of the aleph 30. It's one of the very best solid state amps I have heard. I recall that when we ran it straight out of the wadia 30, the sound was some of the best I had heard. When we ran it through an Audio Research ... | |
| Who R U? I just figured out something cool. The adcom gfp-750 has a processor input. This is just a switched RCA-RCA passthru. I run the variable outputs of my XA7 CD player into it. This gives me the ability to use the XA7's CD remote for volume and track... | |
| Best and Worst customer service? I haven't had any bad experiences with customer service from high end product manufacturers. I have had EXCELLENT service from Audio Research, Nordost, and McCormack (steve himself!). Couldn't have been better. Definitely several cuts above the ma... | |
| Who R U? The CD made by Buddy and Junior in France is called 'Alone and Acoustic'. From Alligator records , box 60234, chicago IL 60660. One of my all time favorite albums. You can also buy it at Buddy's bar 'Buddy Guys Legends' in downtown Chicago, 748 S ... | |
| Tube replacement for Audible Illusions You might want to call the manufacturer. Lots of times the designers will tell you what they have experienced. Also Kevin Deal at www.upscaleaudio.com has quite a bit of good advice (and tubes) for the AI 3A. | |
| Exercise music I'm more of a runner, but here goes :: Metallica: The Black Album (best of all time), 'S&M';Guns&Roses: 'Appetite for Destruction'*; The Offspring: 'Smash'; Pearl Jam: 'Ten'; The soundtrack to 'The Crow'; Neil Young: 'Freedom', 'Sleeps wit... | |
| Vinyl vs. CD I recently visited a friends house who had a rega turntable and a naim cd player. Both high quality pieces. We played 'The trinity Session' on vinyl, and I have to agree it sounded better than the CD version. It just sounded more 'natural'. There ... | |
| Best of value-based systems I have a great little system that is a set of Spica TC-60's driven by a Denon 1025 receiver and a conrad-johnson SD1 CD player. Wonderful soundstaging, very musical, and easy to listen to. Worth about $800-900 on the used market. I love the fact t... | |
| Audio Physic Virgo or not I have the Virgo's. For WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor) speakers, the Joseph Audio, and Dynaudio line are comparable. The Dynaudio 3.0 has a similar presentation. A little wimpier in the bass. Another great speaker is the Magnepan 1.6QR. It actually ... | |
| Conrad johnson vs. Mccormack Update: I tried out the AI Modulus 3A (a two month old one), and I found that I actually preferred my adcom 750 passive preamp. Part of this is due to the ergonomics. The 3A has very coarsly stepped non-remote attenuators. It added tiny bit of eup... | |
| SPICA revival and modification I think I know what you mean about the blowing up. Ten years ago when I was shopping for new speakers. The TC-50 and angelus were on my short list. I didn't buy them however because the dealer demonstrated that they drove to distortion at moderate... |