snilf
Responses from snilf
| most beautiful (looking) speakers Thank you, grisleybutter, for the link to Slovenian speakers. I was not aware of any of these, although I’ve spent some time in Slovenia: in Ljubljana and Maribor, but also in Bled, where the cover photo--lake with island monastery--was taken. "Th... | |
| The mystery of good acoustics ozzy62: Yes, of course, you’re absolutely right. And it’s not just the loveseat; the coffee table, too, is an obvious no-no. But I addressed those objections (or rationalized them!) in the narrative. My "system conception" includes the visual aest... | |
| First impressions of the Isoacoustic Gaia 1’s I mostly agree with norton: audiophiles are sitting ducks when it comes to taking advantage of the placebo effect. Furthermore, science can explain a lot about acoustics, and even psychoacoustics; if a given tweak has no plausible scientific expla... | |
| First impressions of the Isoacoustic Gaia 1’s Yes, speaker isolation is definitely real. The puzzle in my mind is why manufacturers of good speakers don’t pay more attention to the speaker-floor interface, given the substantial sums of money that go into their products. I’ve tried the Gaia p... | |
| most beautiful (looking) speakers Scientific Fidelity Tesla. Still my favorite sounding speaker, too, after auditioning B&W, Martin Logan, PSB Synchrony One, Von Schweikert, and several others in my listening room. | |
| Favorite religious song I'm also not a religious person. But I don't have a problem with religious music. The Pärt "Te Deum" is probably my favorite piece of music from any genre from the past year or so. When it was new to me, I listened to it every day for weeks; now,... | |
| Favorite religious song Pre-Baroque: Palestrina, Missa Papae Marcelli Baroque: Bach, B minor Mass Classical: Beethoven, Missa Solemnis Romantic: Mahler, Symphony No. 2, "The Ressurection" Contemporary: Arvo Pärt, Te Deum Popular: Alison Krauss, "A Living Prayer" Cy... | |
| SQ or performance? Thank you, rvpiano, for this post, and thank you—again!—Herr Magister (Mahgister?) for your many contributions to it. A few humble comments of my own, then. First, what we seek in listening to a piece of music is an ability to perceive what is in... | |
| Speakers for string Quartets Lots of good (and predictable) advice here. Electrostatics, the English Invasion (Harbeth, Spendor—and don't neglect B&W, DGG's monitor of choice, favored by John Eliot Gardiner); Sonus Faber, Vandersteen. Quad ESLs get mentioned a lot, and I ... | |
| I miss my Loudness Button and Tone Controls.... You've pressed one of my hot buttons with this post. Of course you should have tone controls; that very few higher-end units (preamps, integrated amps, whatever) come with them anymore is, IMO, one of the consequences of audiophile pretentiousness... | |
| Speaker positioning: why do audiophiles neglect this so much? This is a pretty heated "discussion." Surely part of the reason is defensiveness regarding purchases; one might wonder whether the music or the music system is the priority. I’m not judging here, but "audiophiles" are into audio equipment the way ... | |
| Amir and Blind Testing First, the OP reports Amir as claiming confirmation bias in "analytical mode": "when he switched to an expensive cable he heard improvements, but when he switched back to the cheap one, he also heard improvements because the brain switches from 'm... | |
| Check this system out! I’m sorry, but—are you guys serious? Have you looked at those pictures? Have you read the article, and Mr. Gish’s "Audio Tips"? First, I have to agree with those who wondered about that gorgeous cabinet. We have to assume it’s well ventilated, es... | |
| Will a new Dac improve the sound? Lots of very well-informed advice here already. For what it's worth, I was skeptical about DACs; I've got a Marantz SA8005 SACD player that sounded just fine. Then I found a PS Audio UltraLink DAC at an estate sale, and picked it up for a song ($1... | |
| How long ago did you catch the bug? I’ve been an audiophile since high school. Growing up with a jazz musician/Caltech scientist father, I wasn’t allowed to use the system in his study: a Fisher 400 receiver, an ELAC/Benjamin Miracord turntable (with styli for both 33 and 78 rpm; he... |