realworldaudio

Responses from realworldaudio

So where should the tubes be?
Tube - lets you listen to music.Solids - focuses attention or the greatness or failings of the gear.Use tubes throughout, but keep the chain as short as possible. ;  
When are people going to wake up and realize listening is a skill?
Millercarbon, great post, great analogy!Lots of very diverse answers in the thread... To enjoy the music, to gain instant gratification you do not need any special training. That's the same as being the PASSENGER in the car. The driver position in... 
What is it about spinning vinyl?
We tend to forget that listening to music is a 100% subjective experience, and the state of mind is the key component that dictates the experience. As with many things in life, the returns are commensurate with the effort we put in. With LP, w... 
So how much do you think the placebo effect impacts our listening preferences?
This issue is all about insecurity and lack of self confidence.If you go the right direction, it will go away. But it needs work, and trust in yourself.I noticed that many audiophiles who are in the middle / early stages of their audio road try to... 
Noise floors
Excellent post! Indeed, I found that ambient noise is a terrible problem in the US. We are so used to it we don't even notice. I grew up in quieter areas and when I moved into metro Honolulu, for first five years I thought I was going crazy becaus... 
Lay Off the Newbies!
Fully agreed, we need to practice common sense and look at who is asking instead of just giving a canned answer.  ;  
What's your dream speaker?
I'm lucky, I have my dream speakers. Altec 288/515 drivers. Come up with a radical concept, built from the ground up (based on how loudspeakers, music instruments, and the human hearing works), the design took 20 years to develop. It's operating m... 
A full range speaker?
Millercarbon has it right - the low extension depends more on your room than you would think.I do not see yet the question answered though: can a single driver speaker reproduce an orchestra?Yes it can. Fostex FE204 Voigt pipes I built can. It has... 
What are the current useless terms in this "audio world"
To me it's the supremacy of the "mike feed". What we hear in the studio listening to the mike feed is not what the mike actually captured, but it's the sound of the monitor amp / speaker. So, if it "sounds just like the mike feed" it means your am... 
What speaker has the best tweeter?
The one that does not give you listening fatigue & the feel that "it's playing too loud".  
Speakers as the principle component/other components are servants
**Why is science a starting point, yet not the end point?*As a research scientist my answer is:Electronics / electromagnetism / acoustics should be the stating point of every design, and biology / pshcyhoacoustics should be the end point of all ... 
Cartridge recommendations?
At that price level I also second a Grado Prestige or an Audio Technica.If you listen exclusively to Jazz and Pop, Grado will take you to (relative) heaven, but it's abysmal for classical (to my ears). Has rich but muddy midbase that adds a lot of... 
What Are Your Reference Discs? or Specific Reference Tracks
I'm right there with millercarbon. I used to keep demo discs and records.However, I learned that when you have a set of them, and develop them system to play those at their best, then you skew your system towards making those sound good, and the r... 
Class A amplifiers
It depends on the design of the amplifier,whether the manufacturer pushes it close to the limit or not, and whether it is provided ample heat sinking or trying to save on an undersized heat sink. My good friend has the legendary Mark levinson clas... 
The Hungarian lands tomorrow.
Get your Bartok ready! : )