larryi
Responses from larryi
| Powerful Tube Amp for SF Strads? A friend has the Strads in a medium sized dedicated listening room (designed from the ground up by Rives). He powers the speakers with a pair of custom-built output transformerless tube amplifiers. The sound is very good. If I have one issue with ... | |
| Who needs a MM cartridge type when we have MC? Gregm,Yes, high capacitive loading will make MM cartridges sound dull (the capacitance of the cable must be factored in as well). Most of the MMs I've heard do not compete with the top MCs for balance of characteristics. They are either opaque and... | |
| Who needs a MM cartridge type when we have MC? Robyatt,The Decca is the best MM/MI cartridge I have have heard -- so lively and exciting (a big contrast to most MM cartridges which tend to be a bit more opaque and dull sounding than MC cartridges). The Stanton CS100 is also exciting, but I got... | |
| Who needs a MM cartridge type when we have MC? Jloveys,That is an interesting coincidence. Another friend just got the Tron phono stage. It would be possible for us to try the Tron in the system with the Allaerts, although it would be a big psychological blow to the owner of the Allaerts if it... | |
| Who needs a MM cartridge type when we have MC? Dgob and Sirspeedy,A friend purchased the top-of-the-line Allaert (@ $13,000) and a Shroeder Reference tonearm that is designed to match that cartridge. The phonostage is the Boulder unit. The Allaert/Shroeder importer installed the arm and did th... | |
| Placette linestage vs. Adcom 750 passive What is being compared here, the Placette remote volume control (passive) or the Placette active linestage (unity gain, but it utilizes an active buffer stage). I own, though I no longer use, the Placette Active. In my system, the Active was more ... | |
| SME V, Tri-Planar or Phantom B-44 From experience, I know that even the tiniest change in a setup parameter (e.g., .3 mm change in height of the arm) will make a substantial difference in sound. I would bet that if one set up two "identical" arms on "identical" tables with "identi... | |
| Why are older tubes so much sought after The same economic issues hold for other components as well. There are tube gear manufacturers who know how to make a better output transformer but cannot make them like they used to. That is because, with the scale of production so much smaller th... | |
| Why are older tubes so much sought after Underlying the discussion of whether this or that tube is better than another is the notion that there is an objective standard and that each tube fits into a specific spot along a worst-to-best continuum. That is hardly the case. It is a matter o... | |
| Why are older tubes so much sought after My guess is that, when tubes were used in everything, there were a lot of manufacturers competing, and this competition resulted in superior product. Also, we tend to now collect and praise the very best of the old lot, and in that sense, older tu... | |
| Heaver grade vinyl vs Standard Two issues being slightly confused here -- heavy vinyl vs. regular weight and reissue vs. original issue.On heavy vs. regular, I am solidly in the regular weight category. Heavy vinyl just screws up my VTA which is set for the vast majority of my ... | |
| VPI motor makes loud pops when turned on & off The switch to the motor is arcing. Either the capacitor at the switch is no longer functioning, or you need to use a higher value capacitor. This appears to be a common problem with VPI motor switches. I believe they recommend replacing the .001 u... | |
| Noisy volume pot on my Dared VP-845 This probably a dirty pot. There are products designed specifically for cleaning pots. You will need to open the unit to get to the suitable place to shoot some contact cleaner into the pot. I like products by Deoxit. They have two cleaners for th... | |
| Class D and High Efficiency Speakers? There is really no inherent sonic advantage to Class D, aside from the ability to deliver a LOT of power, and a whole lot of potential problems, most if not all that can be handled by proper implementation. But, if one does not need a whole lot of... | |
| Harsh on tubes? Most of the tube people I've talked to say that turning off equipment prolongs the life of both tubes and the other components. It is true that, without tube rectification, the tubes are subjected to a pretty quick turn on. But, the thermal stress... |