mulveling
Responses from mulveling
| Analog Upgrade - Where to start? As you see, us audiophiles don’t have very strong opinions on this stuff lol. From here, the only way to add clarity to your particular situation will be to try something. Maybe you’ll fall into the camp of Raul and friends, who like clean SS phon... | |
| VAC preamps - too expensive? @jumiaI am not good to answer that; vinyl is the only source in my main system! But, I can't see how it wouldn't help streaming too. It's such a beautiful sounding line stage now that it's settled in my system (and tube-rolled to Amperex Holland 7... | |
| Best Preamp and Amp combination, interesting finding!!! Preamp transitions in my system have been the hardest of all components. Beyond the obvious sonic signature at a "macro" level, they also do a zillion subtle sonic things that gets ingrained into your perception of sound over time. With phono stag... | |
| Analog Upgrade - Where to start? You have a truly fabulous deck. I would agree with the other posters that you should focus 100% on phono stage for upgrade, even though the Stellar was probably a recent purchase for you. I’m partial to the VAC tube MM stages. Then add a good exte... | |
| what are the pros and cons of either amp power specification? If it’s Solid State output-transformerless, then being rated the same power at 8 ohms and 4 ohms is generally NOT a good thing. It typically indicates that the PSU and/or output stage and/or heat dissipation is not robust enough to handle the incr... | |
| VAC preamps - too expensive? @wrm57 The phono stages are what kept me coming back to VAC. The 6-tube MM stage is ridiculously good. The Master’s version (and the Ren SE) is tweaked and has exotic parts, but any version of their 6-tube phono is solid 24K gold for our vinyl. Ev... | |
| VAC preamps - too expensive? The Master’s retail without phono was $27 / 28K, so is it now $30K MSRP? I mean, I knew inflation was coming so I went on a buying spree this spring, including my Master. I think it took maybe 10 weeks max from order to delivery in early May...If ... | |
| VAC preamps - too expensive? Dropping gems like "absurd" and "they profit more", it sounds like you are just here to complain about not being in the target market of VAC, rather than seriously considering a VAC preamp. Have you even heard one before? VAC specifically made a d... | |
| Best preamp with built in phono stage? Agree with others that VAC preamps have superb built-in phono stages as an option. The 6-tube stage is better (Signature, Master lines) but the 3-tube stages (Renaissance) are still great. Their new units are pricey but good used models sometimes ... | |
| VAC preamps - too expensive? The VAC preamp lineup is not "clever" marketing trying to trick people into spending more. It’s true high-end gear for extreme enthusiasts who love the VAC sound and are beyond their phase of continually churning through $2K - 10K models on audiog... | |
| Opinions Needed: Hales vs. Tannoy Have you heard Tannoy dual-concentrics before? I was smitten first time I heard one many years ago (Eyris DC3). The D700 is from before even that model, but I remember my old dealer (whom I trust very much) was a huge fan of that particular D700 m... | |
| How much difference does a phono preamp really make? Not only are those 2 very basic phono stages, probably with the same kind of chip based circuitry, but a 40dB MM stage (like the Consonance, and probably your Aria built-in) is going to be way underpowered for your Denon’s 1.6mV (this results in 0... | |
| Why are equipment racks so expensive? Actually the build quality of their new feet is kinda lame for the price IMO. Maybe they work, but the supposed burn-in process into hundreds of hours is not something I'll ever tolerate in my vinyl-only main system. BUT their racks are a work of ... | |
| Original Legacy Studio Speakers I swear my Signature III sounded mediocre until I boxed ’em up for sale. Then I got a local interested buyer who wanted to demo them - and set them up quickly in a different location, where they just so happened to sound AMAZING. Ah, such fun time... | |
| Original Legacy Studio Speakers It doesn't look too suspicious to me; seller states these are the original version, and I believe they were in production for a while which makes it quite likely there were changes over the years. The drivers probably don't cost much to begin with... |