loomisjohnson

Responses from loomisjohnson

Best Rock Album in 2013
neal, i don't speak french (i can barely speak english), but i'll give 'em some more time to sink in. all the cognoscenti can't be wrong. 
Best Rock Album in 2013
richard, a bunch of guys whose opinions i respect highly (yours included) have touted this phosphorescent to me recently. i confess that i don't get 'em. they seem to be mining the same territory as fleet foxes or grizzly bear, but not nearly as e... 
Top 10 Alt-country bands
jond, i did check out this roddy wallston on mog and he's damn good--more hard rockabilly than altcount, but who needs labels, right? probably killer live. thanks for the tip. 
small speakers for small room
the psbs and proacs are both vg but won't work at or near the wall. the regas, on the other hand, are impervious to placement and should work well for you. 
Top 10 Alt-country bands
marty, i agree with you about bill lloyd (feeding the elephant is a power pop classic). also agree with ogsarg about wilco--there ain't much country left in 'em. the story i read is that after wilco put out its good-but-conventional countryish deb... 
Top 10 Alt-country bands
good list. in addition to the others listed above, i'd add lucinda, richard buckner (my fave), blue mountain, driveby truckers, richmond fontaine and handsome family. also jason and the scorchers and foster & lloyd, whose "faster & louder"... 
Using a receiver as a pre-amp...many questions
for a variety of reasons--shared power supplies, space and cost limitations, etc.--most avrs have seriously compromised amp sections and would benefit from adding an external power amp. also consider that many mfrs. claimed power ratings for avrs ... 
PSB Imagine T opinions..and how they fare vs Focal
the smaller of the two, which i think is the t--they were $2k 
PSB Imagine T opinions..and how they fare vs Focal
i auditioned both the imagines and the focal 826 (which i believe are slightly larger than, but have the same drivers as the 726) my choice would be the imagines, which are the kind of giant-killer you need to spend a lot more to significantly imp... 
Need multi-channel that's great on 2 channel
frankly, i think you'll get more significant improvement by adding an power amp to your marantz (which is a well-regarded piece) than by replacing it with another avr (should be cheaper, too). 
Help with older gear
in good condition your dragon is worth at least a grand; the krell amp probably as much. according to fmtunerinfo, your accuphase tuner seems to be a rare piece with ebay sales between $441-875; not sure about the current value of the wilsons, but... 
Legacy audio manufacturers
kyocera, the giant ceramics/e made a foray into high-end audio in the 80s and even acquired the post-kloss klh brand. their products were quite expensive and positioned to compete with mcintosh, et.al. i've owned a number of their receivers, cdps ... 
Argo's Oscar nominations look like...
i give argo three stars--well made but not oscarworthy; a bit dreary. i felt the same about the hugely overrated zero dark thirty. on the other hand, django unchained is one of the greatest cultural achievements of the 21st century. 
What's up with America?
a couple of their records were produced by george martin, who did a pretty good job with the beatles. as for their musical merits iw on't comment (altho i did find "sister golden hair" maddeningly catchy). 
Pandora One on Home Audio System
nicholas, upgrading your device can only do so much to improve the source material--you're still stuck with 128kb with pandora. i know i sound like a mog fanboy, but mog broadcasts at 320kb, which sounds immeasurably better, and at least on averag...