yoyoyaya

Responses from yoyoyaya

D’Agostino Integrateds
@OP. The D'Agostino amplifiers have very clean bass - but it is not lean. But it is very far away from the way a lot of tube gear sounds in the bass. The MxV amplifiers are more refined than the Progressions - that's more noticeable from the midra... 
Phono Stage in inputs for 2 tonearms
Passlabs XP-27  
Favorite moment with music in your car.
I don't listen to audio of any kind in the car. You'd be amazed how distracting it is when you become used to focusing exclusively on the road.  
Solid state amp vs tube amps
There's a noticeable difference in sound quality among amplifiers full stop - regardless of what active devices they use.  
4ohms or 8ohms for refurbished WATT/Puppy 5.1's?
@simonphoenix sorry for the delay in getting back to you. I think you could certainly get an improvement from an amplifier upgrade. As one suggestion, Passlabs amplifiers work well with Wilsons as they have lots of current and are fairly forgiving... 
4ohms or 8ohms for refurbished WATT/Puppy 5.1's?
@OP. I'm not sure about the 5.1, but the original series 5 had a couple of severe impedance dips in the bass, including one at 100Hz where there is a lot of energy. But it also had a rising impedance from 5K onward, so it's idiosyncratic. So the b... 
Looking for a simple but exquisite front end
@OP - Passive preamps - in effect a volume pot  in a box - are as rare as hen's teeth. Even buffered passives, which are part active are rare,  so you have a wide range of active preamps to choose from. The best approach is to find a good dealer ... 
Anyone listen to entire albums?
I listen to the majority of my music on CD and LP and almost always listen through on the CD and to one or two sides depending on the LP. I tend to use streaming to find albums I like and then go buy them in physical format.  
Does Every Track Sound Great on Your System?
@OP. There are two possibilities here. The first is that you have room problems. If you have, depending on the key of the song and the bassline, some tracks may sound right and others wrong. The second is just the fact that depending on the choic... 
Accuphase or Leben for heavy metal
@OP  Passlabs X250.8 with an appropriate pre-will work very well on metal. As reflected in many of the comments, you need the ability to play loud with lots of control. A pair of Parasound JC1s would also be ideal - preferably pre owned. Since th... 
How you know your system is improving?
@OP. I use a small number of recordings that reflect different aspects of sound quality. I've used these recordings across many different systems to give a broader set of benchmarks rather than just internally benchmarking my own system. +1 to GH... 
Benchmark Media Systems. Right or wrong
The problem with the Benchmark argument is the logical fallacy of faulty generalisation. Personally, I partly agree with the Benchmark post to wit, there are snake oil companies in the Hi-Fi business. I also agree that many audio cables are overpr... 
Need a modern Class A monoblock, preferably half or compact chassis
Just get a pair of 60.8s. Pass is highly unlikely to release a smaller form factor amplifier. It would require retooling the metalwork for just one model that would probably have limited appeal anyway and the tooling cost would have to be reflecte... 
Looking for advise and recommendations on a nice record cleaner.
Degritter - really well designed and made.  
What if a high end speaker measures really badly?
@erik_squires - that's a very ragged frequency response graph. I don't think speakers have to measure perfectly to sound good - Wilson Audio speakers are not textbook. But there's a difference between small deviations and big ones.