larryi
Responses from larryi
| Some people actively participate but rarely if ever start a thread. I have access to many knowledgeable people, including repair technicians and builders of gear, so I don't have many specific questions about problems that I need to ask here. As for equipment recommendations, I don't go along with something like ... | |
| Are internal component upgrades worth it. Any modification you try should be something reversible in case you don't like the results. Any change in the sound could b for better or worse and there is rarely anything that would constitute a universal upgrade. While often praised, I know f... | |
| If you think about capacitors, check out this video No way to know what went bad on the board. If you suspect certain caps, the only way to test this is to remove the cap from the circuit and test it with a meter that tests capacitance. You could do a rough, in-circuit test with an ESR meter (equ... | |
| How long should high quality speakers last? I know someone with a pair of original Western Electric 753 speakers. They are both probably from the late 1940's to early 1950's. They sound really good. He also has a pair of Western Electric 757 speakers from the same era that I also like ve... | |
| Why do tube amps often subjectively sound more powerful than SS ? For the way I listen, a crucial part of any audition is how softly the gear can be played and still sound full and engaging. How loud it can go is largely irrelevant if it gets loud enough. It’s like the old horsepower rating on Rolls Royce—“suf... | |
| Are EL34 based amps more musical than KT series based ? Or it's purely a matter of design? I suppose everything is important. There are drop-in replacements for the 349 that sound very good, and I could easily live with the MUCH cheaper alternative. However, the 349, as used in my amp, is run very gently and will last a very long time... | |
| Why do tube amps often subjectively sound more powerful than SS ? i tend to find, particularly with lower powered tube amps, the sound tends to be more full and rich sounding and more lively at any given volume level than is the case with solid state. Solid state tends to sound a bit dead and less engaging whic... | |
| If you think about capacitors, check out this video A very young man (just turned 18) who works as a part time tech at a local audio shop, has done repair/refurbishing of hundreds of pieces of gear. He mentioned certain brands of caps that almost never go bad and others that he automatically repl... | |
| How long should high quality speakers last? So much depends on design and whether direct sunlight falls on exposed drivers. As others have mentioned rubber surrounds can go bad quickly. By that I mean that surrounds can become brittle and start to tear or crumble when speakers are as young... | |
| Unipivot tone arms People often say they don't like how the arm tilts if they just stick their finger under the lift and trying to pinch the lift leads to them accidentally sliding the needle across the groove. I say never touch the arm when you are ready to play t... | |
| Are EL34 based amps more musical than KT series based ? Or it's purely a matter of design? Inna, My speakers are S.A.P. J2001 (twin 12” Alnico woofers, bullet tweeter and midrange horn sitting on top) but the midrange horn and compression driver replaced with a Western Electric 713b driver and KS 12025 horn. The system is 99 db/w effi... | |
| Unipivot tone arms With almost ANY arm, I am surprised by comments about handling an arm. I don’t see this as an issue at all. I never cue by hand and my cue lever is never down except when I am playing the record. There is no chance of any kind of error this way. | |
| Unipivot tone arms Daveyf, To the extent that a unipivot might tilt when encountering some sort of irregularity in a groove, might this degree of freedom be a plus in that the stylus will tilt to accommodate the shape of the groove rather than plowing through the g... | |
| LYRA CARTRIDGES VIDEO Although this is a very long video, I recommend this presentation of Jonathan Carr, the designer of Lyra cartridges: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQeut0__a_4 He covers a lot of different ground on cartridge design and what is important to the... | |
| Maybe critical listening skills are bad? It is easy to get caught up in something that a speaker does that is not commonly found in such abundance and the thrill of that experience can cloud judgment; after some time, that very quality that attracted you to that speaker becomes its bane.... |