jssmith

Responses from jssmith

What have you been working on in 2020?
I built a pair of Linkwitz LXMinis and made them completely voice-controlled.Chain is Alexa/Amazon Music HD > DTS Play-Fi skill > Paradigm PW Link preamp > MiniDSP 2x4 HD > two stereo power amps > biamped LXMinis. All equipment is... 
A challenge to the "measurement" camp
" Why not do a blind test of measurement?"Already done. Harman can predict with 86% accuracy what speaker people will pick in a double blind test based on measurements. The most neutral speaker with the widest and flattest dispersion is preferred... 
Why Don't More People Into Music Reproduction At Home Play Around With Musical Instruments
I play guitar every day. I'm good enough to play most of the non-virtuoso stuff. And I play bass once in a blue moon. I don't equate playing an instrument with listening to music. They are two separate activities for me ... unless I'm in a learnin... 
Should people with no turntable or reel to reel be considered audiophiles?
Yes.Since vinyl and tape (and tubes) add distortion, I would posit the opposite question.In reality, I think anyone who has more than an average interest in gear of any level is an audiophile. 
How Do You Live The Audiophile Life
Start with Ethan Winer's The Audio Expert.Like any other subject, you can go in blind, stumbling around, being pulled from one claim or review to the next, like almost everyone. Me included. Or you can educate yourself. 
Best debut album
Van HalenBoston 
What Do You Think . . . and How Does It Work?
I just finished building a pair of LXMinis (Plutos are the old version). But I'm not ready to give an opinion on sound because I don't have them in the best location at the moment. And heaven forbid, I'm using a cheap pair of Chinese stereo Class-... 
If you had to start all over again in this day and age
Wireless streaming of FLAC and Amazon Music HD (which I've already done). There's no difference between streaming and a CD ... except convenience and having a massive library at hand. Bits is bits.And I would have stopped creeping up the upgraditi... 
Unreal prices
Only the top dogs have exorbitant prices. I have a few vintage pieces, such as a Pioneer SA-8800 and SX-3800. I bought mine either mint or refurb and I did it strictly as eye candy, although they sound the same as today's amps. Compared to today's... 
Dedicated 20 amp circuit - Electrician laughed!
Listen to him. The man is saving you a lot of potentially wasted money. 
Most recordings you own by a single artist, group, or composer
Buckethead270+ albumsSometimes his whole post-2010 discography goes on sale as a group for about $200. So I bought it. 
what's the point?
What's the point indeed. The blind test tells all. As someone who has taken two blind tests it was a subject that interested me, so I looked for all the blind tests I could find and the only one that ever showed a hint of a possible difference in ... 
10 Audio Cable Myths and Facts
Whole books have been written on reasoning, cognitive bias, etc. You will never change the minds of the committed with facts. But you can change the mind of the uncommitted, which is where the value lies in still addressing the facts.And here's so... 
How will the COVID-19 pandemic affect sites like Audiogon?
Whatever happened to Audiogon during The Great Recession (2008) will happen now. The virus will be history in a few months and the government is throwing trillions at the economy so the jobs will quickly come back. And if people have jobs they spe... 
So What Is Real?
geoffkait19,588 posts01-31-2020 7:54amFremer didn’t go through with the Million Dollar challenge because The Amazing Randi got cold feet and it was Randi who blinked first. Actually it was Pear Cables that blinked. Not Randi. Fremer wouldn't b...