liamowen
Responses from liamowen
| What is the first thing you do when you unwrap a new vinyl record? I clean it on my ClearAudio Smart Matrix record cleaner with Audio Intelligence record cleaner, followed by store bought distilled water. Then I play it. | |
| Any regrets in selling gear? I sold my Conrad Johnson MF2550SE amp because I had new CJ tube amps. Make no mistake, the tube amps are superb, but I have wished over and over that I didn't sell the solid state amp. It was spectacular. I was thrilled to get rid of my Musical... | |
| Dog pissed on speaker Get electostatics. See if the charge goes to ground (the dog) and see if he's interested in coming back after that. | |
| Best sounding headphones you have owned? Focal Utopia 2018/2019. That's easy. Sound great, very comfortable and great soundstage and range. The best I have ever had, by far. | |
| Grado Customer Service (Bad) I have had really good luck and customer service from Grado, both with headphones and cartidges (back in the day). One time when I called, I even got John Grado on the phone. He was very nice and helpful. I like their house sound for headphones... | |
| Do you trust your ears more than measurements? I can almost always tell a tube amp from a solid state amp. I can always tell vinyl from other sources (and no, it's not because of clicks and pops). I can tell the difference and tube amps and vinyl sound better to me. Granted, I had to work m... | |
| Help me find a pre-amp If you have $3,800 to spend, get a used Conrad Johnson ET5 preamp and buy a Telefunken 6922 tube from Brent Jessee. If you can stretch to $7,000, buy a used Conrad Johnson GAT1 and don't look back. | |
| Question: What are some of your best pieces of advise to someone new to the hobby? Buy what sounds good to you. As others have said; don’t be afraid to buy lightly used gear. Your money goes a lot further. But, also be careful not to pay for the other guy's usage and his time owning the gear. Reach a little on your initial pur... | |
| Which is REALLY the best Conrad Johnson Preamp @jjss49, nope. The next reply is in 2023. I have had an ET3SE and the ET5. Bought both used; $1,800 for the ET3SE and $4,200 (new/demo) for the ET5. I did an A/B comparison and I think the ET5 is the best bang for the buck. It's hard to make... | |
| Why do speakers improve with more powerful amps? I remember when I had my Adcom setup GSA 555-2 (250 wpc). They were bridgable mono's, so I purchased another one of the same amps and series. The end result? My system sounded like a PA system. Loud as hell and very unpleasant (sibilant). I s... | |
| Advice on how to liquidate system I have nominal hearing loss in one ear and much more significant hearing loss in the other ear. With the addition of hearing correction (expensive hearing aids), I could hear the music more clearly but it lost most of it's passion / live quality ... | |
| Can a better power cable make a difference if NOT plugged directly into an outlet? All good purity cables, if properly insulated and wound, will enhance the sound quality no matter where you are in the chain. They help to properly align and pace the electrons passing through. At least I think that's what Henry Kloss said. | |
| Sold a component and bought it back, am I nuts? Sorry, man, the genius thing has already been flushed from my consciousness. You can feel free to use it as long as you would like, though. | |
| Sold a component and bought it back, am I nuts? A self-proclaimed genius? That's how it usually works. Getting a component back that you should not have sold in the first place, is truly good luck, though. Reminds me, I need to call the guy who I sold my CJ MF2550SE... | |
| Low level listening If I can't listen to my system at a fairly robust volume, I put on my headphones. I like to hear music presented in such a way that it's hard to distinguish from being there. When was the last time you were at a live show and said "I can't hear ... |