mikelavigne

Responses from mikelavigne

Why are modern arms so ugly?
i love beautiful industrial design. the Linn CD-12, Mark Levinson #33, and the Rockport Sirius III are 3 i've owned where they combined high performance and elegance.i can appreciate the vintage arms and their simplicity. to me it reminds me of a ... 
Swiss amps
Klinerm,sorry for the late response, i just saw the question.the darTZeel 458 monoblocks are the best amp i've yet heard. and that was for 30 days in my room.what i love about the dart amps, and this goes for both the stereo 108 i live with daily ... 
Modern Linestages
people who buy $20k line stages can typically go to live music when they choose. it's more a matter of how their allocate time. some might enjoy bringing the best possible reproduction to somewhere they can enjoy it on their terms whenever they ch... 
Modern Linestages
is every expensive preamp worth it? no. do some deliver the goods? sure they do.i have 'one of those' over $20k preamps with built-in phono stage. it's too bad it's sounds better than less expensive pre's, or even other expensive pre's, but it doe... 
QRP pressing of "Tea for the Tillerman"
listened to 'Tea for the Tillerman' last night.it's one of the quietest pressings i've ever heard and is very dynamic and vivid. Congrats to Chad for the great work.i also got the 'Folk Singer' but have not yet listened to that. 
Oppo BDP-95 sounds GREAT?
last spring a friend brought over his Oppo BDP-95 to compare to my Playback Designs MPS-5 digital player. he basically had the same question; how close could it come to the 'big boys' in terms of 2-channel music?we went back and forth with a numbe... 
QRP pressing of "Tea for the Tillerman"
my 'Folk Singer' and 'Tea' will be here Monday, i've heard great things about these QRP pressings too. 
CD's vs Vinyl - Finally hear the difference
even though i'm as pro Vinyl as anyone, and know that mid and higher level vinyl playback has significant performance advantages over CD's, i think it's a mistake to say there is something 'wrong' with CD's. i think it's more that CD/Redbook/16/44... 
Where is the next generation of direct drive?
Any news about Kodo The Beat ?not exactly sure what you are asking. i owned the Beat for 9 months and loved it. below the price of the NVS it would be my first choice. direct drive, 2 arm boards, beautifully built, low noise, speed correct and spe... 
Where is the next generation of direct drive?
Sonofjim,the new turntable concept on the Wave Kinetics site will be somewhat lower in price, as a understand it at this point. it will have a separate motor/platter and arm tower as it's currently concieved. it will have a small form factor and f... 
Where is the next generation of direct drive?
i've been a big direct drive and idler fan for quite a few years. i've owned 3 upgraded direct drive (and idler) vintage tt's; the Dobbins Technics SP-10 Mk2 and Mk3, and the Dobbins Garrard 301. i've had the GPA Monaco (6 year old design) in my r... 
Swiss amps
the best company is Soulution, reasonnable expensive price........and as musical as dartzeel and FM, more power tahn Dartzeel.....have you heard the darTZeel NHB-458 monoblocks?i own the dart stereo amp, and had the 458's in my room for a month la... 
Isolation transformer - does it offer protection
i have no technical experience or reference.OTOH i do use an Equi=tech 10WQ Wall Panel System which uses a 10kw balanced isolation transformer for my audio circuits in a dedicated room. i have all the lights, HVAC and non audio electical on a sepa... 
What defines a good tonearm
I just wanted to get a copy.right. :^) 
What defines a good tonearm
Dear Mike, Did you actually hear a difference between a Reed 2A and a Reed 2P? I thought the only difference between those two was the fine-ness of the VTA adjustment up and down.Lew, my first Reed was not designated 'A' and in fact was somewhat '...