tom_nice
Responses from tom_nice
| Phono Stage for passive preamp control Might not the output impedance (generally high) of a tube phono preamp make trouble for a passive preamp? I know that Gordon Rankin of Wavelength strongly recommends an active preamp for use with his Tangent phono preamp, output impedance 1500 ohm... | |
| Phono Stage w/Pot for analog only rig I worry about anything correctly describable as a volume pot (as opposed to a ladder stepped attenuator), since in my experience even an potentiometer with an audiophile rep, like Alps Black Beauty, say, degrades the sound and can take away some o... | |
| to pre or not to pre....that is the question.... Martin Colloms, reviewing Wadia 860 or 861 for Stereophile, said guardedly that he thought a very good active preamp was necessary for best performance. From my own experience with an Accuphase DP-75 and a CAT SLT Mk III with factory simplified si... | |
| cartridge recomendations Lewt me second Veridian's recommendation of a Denon DL 103D, which you can get for $229 from Denon USA, phone # (310) 974-1010. It's a classic that's still competitive. | |
| Absorbtion or Diffusion with dipolar speakers??? I tried both behind my Quad ESL 63's and opted for absorption, though I'm a big diffusion fan in general. It's great for front and back walls but not for behind dipolar speakers, in my experience. I didn't get good results with an Argent Room Lens... | |
| Diffusers- do it yourself If you have a table saw, I have the answer for you, in the form of detailed DIY instructions for making your own Skyline-type two-dimensional primitive root diffusors. Mine are based on prime 31 instead of prime 157, which makes them simpler, less... | |
| Suggestions for optimizing Argent Room Lenses? A lot of experimenting is called for! But why not start with them 8" or so closer to the listener than the speakers are, and flanking the speakers (on the outside), and toed in a bit more than the speakers themselves are. You could also try to con... | |
| Room treatment - diffusion question Above 300 Hz, there's an incredible amount of "bouncing around", and Rives is certainly right about even speakers with no obvious "back wave". Read F. Alton Everest's "Sound Studio Construction on a Budget", and you'll see that he favors two-dimen... | |
| What makes a good transport a good transport? You might find an Audio Alchemy DDS Pro for around $500. Kalman Rubinson of Stereophile once had one in a system of his. I've compared it with Sonic Frontiers SFT-1, a tie as far as I could tell, and with an Accuphase DP-75's transport and with a ... | |
| Goldring 1012GX stylus question Thanks everyone! I expected to find people who could straighten me out on this, and I wasn't disappointed. Unfortunately, though, a new stylus, as Dave said, is a pretty expensive proposition. Well, c'est la vie. | |
| Passive preamps and poweramp's input impeadance Two comments: (1) I've successfully used a 10K ohm passive with a Pass Aleph power amp, input impedance 23K ohms, and Nelson Pass told me that others report the same success, (2) if you can rig up a simple resistor network, you could find out whet... | |
| Audio Aero Capitole 24/192... anyone know if the Why not ask M. Combelles at the company? I've received two helpful replies to my emails, though it may take a little time. I've assumed that the volume control manual knob is analogue and what the remote volume control is digital, but I'm not sure... | |
| Oak ledge in dedicated room? I'd worry a lot more about the parallel walls away from the proposed ledge. Suitable treatment elsewhere should improve your sound, while the ledge by itself, as already suggested by Ejlif, will, if anything, help a little, not hurt. I always reco... | |
| FOR CEC Owners I'm mating a CEC TL 1X with an upgraded Sonic Frontiers SFD-1 MKII DAC, and love the analog-like sound. Previously I was using a Sonic Frontiers SFT-1 or an Audio Alchemy DDS Pro transport, and briefly an Accuphase DP-75 as transport. Nothing gave... | |
| Open bookcase as diffuser? It doesn't need an open back--it would be a very crude and unpredictable (not easily predictable, at least) diffusor either way, if you just do things at random. If you want to turn it into something along the lines of an RPG diffusor, get in touc... |