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1: Classical Court, RE: RIP Byron Janis (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2024-03-25, 17:33:15 (71.198.240.59)
I heard Janis in person play the Tchaikovsky 1 with the LA Philharmonic. It was one of the most electrifying performances I have ever heard. For his encore he played the last movement again. I guess h .......
2: Vinyl Asylum, RE: I've always liked that performance, too (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2024-01-23, 19:12:05 (71.198.240.59)
The Angerich performance is superb, much more to my liking than the Horowitz one. But then I was never a fan of Horowitz. I think she was one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century and is not as .......
3: General Asylum, RE: Masterpiece's Hercule Poiret. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2016-01-30, 11:46:51 (24.4.249.99)
That's one that can stick in your head for a long time. It reappears open in the show with interesting variations. The art deco credits are wonderful. Joe .......
4: General Asylum, RE: Peter Gunn Theme- some shows are available. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2016-01-30, 11:43:03 (24.4.249.99)
Some of the shows can be found on streaming channels, but I can't offhand remember which. Shouldn't be hard to find. One features Shorty Rogers. Gunn hangs out at a jazz place. Joe (really old timer, .......
5: General Asylum, RE: The practical limitation "today" is quantum tunneling (nt) (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2016-01-13, 10:31:50 (24.4.249.99)
Yes, tunneling is another way of putting it. It's what makes the sun shine, as the charge on protons is such that it provides a barrier that the protons cannot overcome in the classical picture. Tunne .......
6: Vinyl Asylum, RE: Wait (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2016-01-13, 10:21:47 (24.4.249.99)
I have the ARC PH 5 phono stage and the ARC LS-27 preamp with no phono stage. A 5 mv cartidge can easely put out 10 volts or more with 58 db gain, which would overload most preamp inputs. ARC should h .......
7: General Asylum, Quantum effects on circuits are well known. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2016-01-12, 11:52:45 (24.4.249.99)
As is well know, circuits have been getting smaller and smaller for years, and the most compact devices have hit a limit set by the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. An electron is not a small hard ch .......
8: Speaker Asylum, "Flat" frequency response and distortion. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2016-01-12, 11:25:30 (24.4.249.99)
Many have posted here on how much more complicated things are then frequency response, bandwidth, and power handling. A comment on flat frequency response: what does that mean? A line fit through the .......
9: Vinyl Asylum, Had the same problem. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2016-01-12, 10:51:06 (24.4.249.99)
I had exactly the same problem with my ARC phono stage. The problem isn't so much with the phono stage itself. It can put out quite high voltage (see the spec). It is that 58 db gain and a 5 mv cartri .......
10: Speaker Asylum, High and low frequencies getting confused. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2015-07-22, 12:32:26 (24.4.249.99)
The signal that goes down the wire is not a bunch of separate ones for different frequencies. A single waveform that has all the information in it goes down the wire. Think of the groove on a vinyl re .......
11: Vinyl Asylum, Rewire- no difference for me. Tested with CD copies. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2015-05-18, 12:31:35 (24.4.249.99)
I did the incognito rewire. I used a DV 20XH and I could hear no difference before and after. To my ears it sounded extremely good both before and after. I don't trust my memory of sound completely, s .......
12: Vinyl Asylum, RE: Evaporates? (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2015-04-02, 10:54:36 (24.4.249.99)
Yes, for me the key is to rinse off all the cleaning solution with distilled water before it has a chance to evaporate. The purpose of the cleaning fliud is to remove gunk on the record by either diss .......
13: Hi-Rez Highway, RE: Ayre C 5XEmp v Sony XA5400ES (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2014-02-24, 19:39:55 (24.4.249.99)
I have both in my system. I did a careful comparison of the Sony to the Ayre with SACDs listening in stereo, and clearly preferred the Ayre. The music had much more "texture" to it, that is, the Sony .......
14: Vinyl Asylum, Toscanni. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2014-01-22, 12:49:49 (24.4.249.99)
Until I heard a Toscanini performance onf the 41st, I did not have a full appreciation for it. The recording I have has mediocre sound and is mono, but I don't have the number of the album handy. I'll .......
15: Vinyl Asylum, RE: Thank you, and follow up (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2013-11-30, 12:03:19 (24.4.249.99)
I realize I didn't answer your question about phono stages for the 20XL2. The high end store that my son last worked in sometimes didn't have a single customer all day, and he had a lot of time to lis .......
16: Vinyl Asylum, How much for further imporvements. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2013-11-30, 11:44:44 (24.4.249.99)
While he didn't say it was some percentage of any other more expensive cartridge, it is my experience that once you reach a fairly high level of performance, all improvements tend to be incremental or .......
17: Vinyl Asylum, RE: Thank you, and follow up (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2013-11-30, 11:24:49 (24.4.249.99)
My son had the 17D3 and we both agree that the 20XL2 sounds significantly better to our ears than it does. Though of course I know that the arm and TT can make a significant difference in how an arm s .......
18: Vinyl Asylum, RE: Anybody heard both the Dynavector 20xL and 20xL2? (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2013-11-27, 10:16:20 (24.4.249.99)
I have both, and I feel the 2 is a significant step up over the 1 in just the areas you mention, especially midrange detail. My son, who is in the high end audio business thinks you have to spend a fe .......
19: Vinyl Asylum, RE: Why not use a regular digital scale for VTF adjustment? (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2013-04-03, 10:15:19 (24.4.249.99)
I use one of those cheapos myself. I was concerned about the accuracy at the low end of the scale and checked it with some laboratory calibration weights, a 1g and a 2g. For both the reading was no mo .......
20: Hi-Rez Highway, I think your vinyl rig needs improving. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2012-07-16, 14:44:54 (67.170.201.98)
I'm a year older and started collecting vinyl 52 years ago. I own the 5400 and find it considerably inferior to my vinyl setup (2-ch, classical music). It's also nowhere near as good as my Ayre SACD p .......
21: Amp/Preamp Asylum, RE: More desirable ARC preamps/linestages? (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2012-05-21, 10:30:48 (67.170.201.98)
I have the LS-27. How does it sound? I don't know, becaiuse it's like it's not there sonically. It is as close to a straight wire with gain I have ever heard. The result is great tranparency, absoulet .......
22: Vinyl Asylum, It's true with some brushes. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2012-05-08, 18:11:46 (67.170.201.98)
I've found it's easy to get microscratches with the Hunt. You just rub with light to moderate pressure in the dead wax area and look with a bright light. (The dead wax area is a good place to run test .......
23: Vinyl Asylum, Great, but ... (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2012-05-08, 17:56:33 (67.170.201.98)
many people will chide you about all the contaminants in tap water. Those contaminants are only important if you let the water dry on the record. If you vacuum it off before it has a chance to dry sig .......
24: Hi-Rez Highway, Break in- a myth? (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2012-03-23, 10:37:06 (67.170.201.98)
I own the Sony 5400 and an Ayre C5-xeMP. My Ayre had many hundreds of hours on it. When I first started playing the 5400 it was clearly inferior to the Ayre. The bass was strong, but lacking real deta .......
25: Vinyl Asylum, Testing a cleaning pad or brush. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2012-03-09, 13:19:49 (67.170.201.98)
I use the dead wax of a non-critical record. It's easy to see damage or fine scratches on the smooth surface. For example, it was easy to see that the Hunt brush left fine scratches even with only mod .......
26: Hi-Rez Highway, My cost. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2012-02-23, 16:45:09 (67.170.201.98)
I don't really know how to answer that meaningfully. I traded in an Ayre CX-7e that was a few years old, and the C5-xeMP had about 100 hours on it, as it was a demonstrator. I wouldn't pay $2500 for .......
27: Hi-Rez Highway, Early Edison phonograph. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2012-02-21, 16:30:14 (67.170.201.98)
Many listeners to this device claimed they couldn't hear any difference between it and live music. "Realism" has always been a moving target. I've never heard any system that I thought was indistingui .......
28: Speaker Asylum, It is and it isn't. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2012-02-21, 16:18:29 (67.170.201.98)
Any given instrument is time aligned and phase coherent. However, in an orchestra different instruments can be at very different distances from you. For example, the first violins may be spread out ov .......
29: Hi-Rez Highway, Maybe I didn't make myself clear. Mods (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2012-02-19, 15:06:38 (67.170.201.98)
When I said that the Sony tended to smooth things over, I didn't mean that the Ayre was harsher. With the Sony it is as if fine details in the waveform have been smoothed over, the sound is a bit lack .......
30: Hi-Rez Highway, Exact opposite impression. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2012-02-17, 11:36:04 (67.170.201.98)
I own the the Sony 5400 and the Ayre C5xeMP. With both playing stereo through balanced outputs to ARC electronics and Vandersteen 5 speakers, I hear a major difference. I only listen to classical musi .......
31: Speaker Asylum, RE: AR 2AX (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2012-01-25, 13:46:20 (67.170.201.98)
I never liked the 2AX. I had the same electronics back in the '60s, and my AR 3s sounded wondeful. But when I subtituted the 2AX, it just didn't sound good. That speaker was a result of trying to make .......
32: Vinyl Asylum, They very tremendously in quality. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2012-01-11, 13:17:31 (67.170.201.98)
Sadly, I have found different MF cloths vary considerably in quality. One example: Tap Plastics used to carry one that was superb. Just one wipe and all moisture was gone, with no trace of lint. Then .......
33: Vinyl Asylum, Read his other remarks. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2012-01-11, 13:11:38 (67.170.201.98)
I'm far more concerned about his other views and votes than his view on vinyl, which is likely to have zero affect on my life. He has the power to change how we live in siginicant ways. Joe ::: TOPIC: .......
34: Whiner's Woad, I know the answer! (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2012-01-04, 17:57:01 (67.170.201.98)
Many years ago when I operated a public-access telescope at Griffith Park in Los Angeles, a man came up to me and asked when we were going to be viewing Venus. He said he was born there, as his mother .......
35: Wine Asylum, RE: Playing music to make wine better. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2012-01-04, 17:38:08 (67.170.201.98)
When I want my wines to turn out complex and profound, I play Bach's Art of the Fugue during fermentation. For dramatic, big, mouthfilling wines (e.g., late harvest Zin), I play the 1812 Overture. For .......
36: Video Asylum, Store demonstrations often poor. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-12-31, 10:21:38 (67.170.201.98)
Having seen more than dozen 3-D demonstration setups in stores, I have found nearly all suffer from either improper setup- often they don't even work- or limited viewing content. Since I don't watch m .......
37: Vinyl Asylum, Have them all. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-12-17, 11:30:35 (67.170.201.98)
I have the original DV 20XH and the Shure. The old DV is clearly superior to the Shure, and recently I installed the DV 20X2. The latter is a major step up from the old DV. I have the L version, but I .......
38: General Asylum, RE: Is Bose THAT good?? (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-12-10, 11:26:48 (67.170.201.98)
Maybe your car system roles off the highs and the bass, leaving the midrange prominent. That's where the voice is, and for whatever reason you find rolled-off sound for this particular record more ple .......
39: General Asylum, My entire upgrade over the last year or so was all ... (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-12-02, 11:56:31 (67.170.201.98)
from a showroom. Amp, preamp, speakers, SACD player, TT, and cartridge. Moreover, this showroom concentrates mainly on audio equipment. It's nice to get some expert advice from someone you can trust a .......
40: General Asylum, Exactly what I have! (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-12-01, 11:06:53 (67.170.201.98)
However, until your post, it never occured to me that I have an all US-built system. My SACD player is also US, an Ayre. Not completely US, though, as I have a DV cartridge. It's a great system! My la .......
41: General Asylum, Next major step- binaural sound. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-11-30, 11:32:36 (67.170.201.98)
Listening with headphones to stereo sound can be enjoyable, as you have found, but listening to bianural sound properly recorded takes you to a entire new level. Concert hall acoustics can be very rea .......
42: Video Asylum, RE: pre-amp- my setup. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-11-24, 14:58:06 (67.170.201.98)
I go from the Onkyo 709 L, R preamp out to my stereo preamp, an Audio Research LS-27. That preamp has a processor setting that passes the signal along at unity gain; the signal does go through the ARC .......
43: Video Asylum, RE: 5 channel amp for Onkyo receiver (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-11-23, 11:35:39 (67.170.201.98)
Are you sure you aren't being bothered by the preamp of the Onkyo? They aren't that great, though they do sound better than most under $1000 receivers I have heard, and I find them more than acceptabl .......
44: Hi-Rez Highway, My bad! (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-11-21, 11:37:27 (67.170.201.98)
It is the Susskind on Mobile Fideilty. I have the original vinyl as well, which has better sound on my system even though it is only 2-ch. The only live performance I have heard was earlier this year .......
45: Amp/Preamp Asylum, Even more extreme. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-11-21, 11:19:52 (67.170.201.98)
I was at a show in London once, and the people were extremely inpressed with a high end system. After each record was played there were many enthusiastic comments about the sound, the sound stage, and .......
46: Hi-Rez Highway, RE: Holst: the planets (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-11-19, 11:51:43 (67.170.201.98)
The problem for me is that there is no one recording that has all the various planet recording as my favorites of each planet. I do not like the popular Mehta recording at all (except that it has exce .......
47: General Asylum, That kind of glass is also known as Pyrex. (nt) (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-11-12, 10:56:08 (67.170.201.98)
.......
48: Vinyl Asylum, No Inner Groove Distortion. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-10-28, 11:57:28 (67.170.201.98)
I originally lost interest in vinyl in part because of inner groove distortion (IGD) on my previous TTs. When I bought my Rega P3/RB300/DV 20X a few years ago, I heard no IGD on any record, and virual .......
49: Vinyl Asylum, My experience. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-10-20, 12:52:49 (12.130.118.11)
My Rega P3 developed a short at the RCA in less than a year. I never moved the ICs or put them under stress. I did an Incognito rewire, and never had a wiring problem again. It didn't improve the soun .......
50: Vinyl Asylum, RE: Are suspension tables better at isolating footfalls ? (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-10-20, 12:43:46 (12.130.118.11)
Absolutely. My new Basis turntable is amazingly isolated. You can pound on the table on which it sits and hear nothing coming through. I have a suspended wood floor, an d you can jump on it without he .......
51: Amp/Preamp Asylum, RE: Can you make an ARC LS17 Romantic? (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-09-23, 12:19:11 (67.170.201.98)
You want both accurate and big and warm sound. So-called warm sound is not usually accurate, but a result of a non-flat frequency response. Of course there is nothing wrong with with wanting warm soun .......
52: Vinyl Asylum, Native Californian. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-08-24, 12:20:23 (67.170.201.98)
I've been through many earthquakes, including the 1989 Loma Prieta one where the center was just a few miles from my house. I had not realized how hard the ground could shake until that 1989 one, with .......
53: Hi-Rez Highway, RE: I recently had two Oppo 95s here...... (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-08-19, 09:47:48 (67.170.201.98)
Do you know they both sounded identical when they were new out of the box? It's important to esatblish this before any aging test of one unit. I have found different units can sound different right ou .......
54: Hi-Rez Highway, Still, hundreds of hours? (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-08-17, 11:42:25 (67.170.201.98)
That is the claim for the the 5400. Maybe a few hours or days, as your examples have demonstrate, but I was told that 200 hours on my 5400 was not enough to appreciate how good it is. I now have 400 h .......
55: Speaker Asylum, Vandersteen. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-08-17, 11:09:12 (67.170.201.98)
Since I didn't notice any mention of Vandersteen speakers in this thread (my apologies if I missed any), I'll bring it up. Vandersteen has specialized in no-cabinet speakers, and the results show that .......
56: Hi-Rez Highway, Isn't that amazing! (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-08-16, 13:58:37 (67.170.201.98)
Breakin must be a result of components- resistors, capacitors, wires, maybe solder joints- becoming conditioned in some way. Something is changing in the circuitry. How did the changes , whatever they .......
57: Hi-Rez Highway, Multichannel sound- early adopter. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-08-15, 12:10:23 (67.170.201.98)
I have been convinced of the large advance that MCH can bring for more than 30 years. The ambiance of a live concert hall adds an large amount to the experince of listening to music, among other thing .......
58: Hi-Rez Highway, Break in. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-08-15, 11:42:44 (67.170.201.98)
Frankly I have heard no change after 25 hours. Since I have a reference, the Ayre, it is simple to compare the two. I simply switch the balanced inerconnects between the two. I find it hard to believe .......
59: Hi-Rez Highway, RE: Have you done the comparison. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-08-14, 16:38:39 (67.170.201.98)
For MCH, when I use the ARC LS 27 in bypass and play my Onkyo front channels through it using the pre-out, the sound is degraded compared to just going straight to the ARC gear. The MCH is very nice, .......
60: Hi-Rez Highway, Entire system upgraded. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-08-14, 16:27:01 (67.170.201.98)
I now have an ARC LS 27 preamp and an ARC VS 115 amp. The speaker upgrade was from Spendor SP-100 to Vandersteen 5. oe .......
61: Hi-Rez Highway, Have you done the comparison. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-08-12, 11:13:31 (67.170.201.98)
Sure my Onkyo is well below the standards of the rest of my system, cetainly in cost if nothing else. But I use it for only two things: MCH SACD and video. My main system uses an ARC LS 27 preamp and .......
62: Speaker Asylum, Vandersteen 2 (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-08-09, 14:07:18 (67.170.201.98)
At your price range, you should consider the latest model of Vanderteen 2's. My son has a pair in his rather small bedroom, and they sound great. I only listen to classical music, and for me, Vanderst .......
63: Hi-Rez Highway, Jitter. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-08-08, 11:05:46 (67.170.201.98)
I wouldn't say you can't hear the benefits of low jitter. When I replaced the clock on my Marantz 8260 with one with much lower jitter, I could hear the difference. Of course there's a lot more than j .......
64: Hi-Rez Highway, Different people hear the same thing differently. It's good we have so many choices. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-08-08, 10:20:05 (67.170.201.98)
Having just purchased an Onkyo AV receiver (the 709) which has considerably better sound than any Sony reciver I have heard (I owned three different Sony ES models, all serviceable, all unexciting), s .......
65: Hi-Rez Highway, RE: Kal, if you are still reading this old thread...HDMI (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-08-08, 09:53:00 (67.170.201.98)
Thank you for the information. I guess audio-ony HDMI units would have such a small market that it pays to add the video part while you are at it. The Onkyo 709 that I recently purcahsed for my home t .......
66: Hi-Rez Highway, That's great! (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-08-08, 09:44:19 (67.170.201.98)
I read about the hotel room here, so I thought it had to be 100% correct. Nobody ever makes mistakes here. Probaly somebody saw "ballroom" and thought "hotel." This mistake continued to propagate, tho .......
67: Hi-Rez Highway, Kal, if you are still reading this old thread...HDMI (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-08-07, 11:02:56 (67.170.201.98)
If you have the time, I'appreciate a suggestion. I'm the epitome of an old fogey (retired professor) whose first system was put together back in 1960 (AR, Dyna, Rek-Ko-Kut, Shure). I'm coming a bit la .......
68: Hi-Rez Highway, Nasal Starker cello sound. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-08-05, 10:18:38 (67.170.201.98)
I agree about the Maisky. As for the "nasal" quality of the cello on the original vinyl, that was one of the reasons that I carried the vinyl set around with me when I auditioned speakers. Indeed it d .......
69: Hi-Rez Highway, RE: BTW, Starker is cheaper on eBay (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-08-04, 14:44:17 (67.170.201.98)
I agree, the sound on the Starker SACD is disappointing. Having the original Mercurey vinyl, I was able to do a direct comparison, and the vinyl is far more satisfying for me. Joe .......
70: Hi-Rez Highway, I'll wait and see. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-08-04, 14:39:38 (67.170.201.98)
I have never heard any Sony unit whose sound I really liked, and I've owned more than 15 (amps, receivers, preamps, CD players including the very first , SACD players, DVD players. But different peopl .......
71: Hi-Rez Highway, Not so for mine. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-08-04, 14:26:58 (67.170.201.98)
I should have been more specific in this post. My Ayre C5-xeMP doesn't even have an HDMI output. The newer (and more expensive) D model of course does have it, as it is a "universal" player. Mr. Hanso .......
72: Hi-Rez Highway, The Wispelway performance puzzles me. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-08-04, 14:17:17 (67.170.201.98)
As I posted elsewhere in this thread, I find the Wispelway Bach Suites so different from any other I have heard that I don't know what to make of it. The phrasing can be very strange to my ears, with .......
73: General Asylum, RE: Internet bottlenecks will slow adoption of an (only download) delivery system for at least the next decade or (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-08-04, 14:04:20 (67.170.201.98)
It's quite hard to predict what will happen, but in this technology things can happen much faster than anyone expected. Many people are not aware of Internet2, but it didn't take that long to set up. .......
74: Hi-Rez Highway, Yes.For something cpompletely different... (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-08-04, 10:34:54 (67.170.201.98)
Yes, that is it. To my ear, the phrasing is better and the musical lines are clearer than in his mid-60s recording. To see how different things can be, the Wispelway recording (only on CD, I believe) .......
75: Hi-Rez Highway, RE: The Cello Suites and solo instruments on SACD. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-08-03, 12:59:48 (67.170.201.98)
I have about 15 recordings of these suites, and the range of interpretations is very large. Which one you may like could be a personal matter, and others' recommendations may be of limited value. Do y .......
76: Hi-Rez Highway, RE: SCD-XA5400ES availability (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-08-03, 10:03:28 (67.170.201.98)
When you say "no hype," have you heard it compared to the Ayre? I have owned three Sony SACD players, and none were very good, but the buzz around here is that the 5400 is the real thing. Many people .......
77: Hi-Rez Highway, RE: SCD-XA5400ES availability (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-08-02, 09:54:56 (67.170.201.98)
With all the hype, I couldn't resist one for $809 from the Nerds, and it's on the way. I'll be interested in comparing it to my modified Marantz 8260 (better clock, no muting circuits, better output c .......
78: Video Asylum, RE: You can find 5? (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-08-01, 15:31:34 (67.170.201.98)
Five was my upper limit. Of the five, maybe one are two are movies I really like. I do try, though, based on reviews in the NY Times and other places, but I guess my tastes differ from most reviewers. .......
79: General Asylum, RE: Musicians and sound evaluations. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-07-29, 11:26:24 (67.170.201.98)
I have many things in common with some of the responses below. The better my system has become, the more I tend to listen to the sound quality as well as the music. On many occaissions I have enjoyed .......
80: Video Asylum, Maybe Blockbuster online is NOT SO MUCH BETTER (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-07-27, 12:58:09 (67.170.201.98)
While I am ticked at Netfilx price increases ( and I am one their earliest subscribers), at least they unlimited streamimg for one price. With Blockbuster you have to pay for each video you stream, re .......
81: General Asylum, Musicians and sound evaluations. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-07-27, 12:10:17 (67.170.201.98)
Having helped a number of friends who were professional musicains (classical) buy a system, I found many of them (but not all!) were poor judges of sound quality for one specific reason: they listened .......
82: General Asylum, Classical music concerts. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-07-17, 11:55:17 (67.170.201.98)
Top eight in no particular order (more than three, but I've been around a lot longer than most here): 1. Glenn Gould lecture/recital- Madison, WI, mid-60s. (including discussion and playing to illustr .......
83: Hi-Rez Highway, Uh, oh. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-07-12, 15:30:19 (67.170.201.98)
Are you saying I just made a mistake in buying an Ayre C5xeMP player? If Blu-ray is now the only hope for people interested in the hi-rez highway, maybe I should return it to my dealer. Joe ::: TOPIC: .......
84: Speaker Asylum, It doesn't correct my meter. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-06-14, 13:55:57 (68.170.189.176)
The Rives signals that are supposed to be flat for the RS meter don't remove the big 6kHz bump in the response of the two meters I have. Maybe I was just unlucky with these two meters. Joe ::: TOPIC:: .......
85: Speaker Asylum, RE: 6KHz peak? Two meters. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-06-14, 13:52:31 (68.170.189.176)
As I pointed out in the message below, I have two RS meters bought over a year apart, one analog and one digital. They both show exactly the same 8 db peak at 6 kHz with the same shape. No calibration .......
86: Speaker Asylum, That 6 KHz peak almost drove me crazy! (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-06-13, 10:46:59 (68.170.189.176)
I had some speakers that were reputed to be flat in the 6 KHz region, but my RS meter showed a 8 db peak there. I tried other speakers in my system and got the same result, including my Vandersteen 5' .......
87: Vinyl Asylum, An alternative. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-06-10, 10:59:42 (68.170.189.176)
Others have said it, but at the risk of reptition let me suggest you digitize your records. If you are not buying much vinyl and you are happy with the sound of CDs, this could be an ideal solution. A .......
88: Vinyl Asylum, RE: Read the high-end mags from when CDs came out. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-06-07, 12:19:09 (68.170.189.176)
The high-end audio press was gushing over the sound quality of CDs when they first came out. That did change after a bit when people came to their senses. The lack of background noise and no requireme .......
89: Vinyl Asylum, Read the high=end mags from when CDs came out. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-06-07, 12:10:26 (68.170.189.176)
The high-end audio press was gushing over the sound quality of CDs when they first came out. That did change after a bit when people came to their senses. The lack of background noise and no requireme .......
90: Vinyl Asylum, RE: Dynavector 20x2H - the best... (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-06-05, 09:47:54 (68.170.189.176)
I just upgraded to the 20X2L from the 20XH. The improvement is considerable. At first it was a bit bright, but after about 10 hours it settled down to an excellent balance, perhaps ever so slightly wa .......
91: Hi-Rez Highway, Interesting: my results are opposite of yours. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-05-17, 15:59:18 (68.170.189.176)
I find the Copeland recordings overly bright, even shrill, though very tranparent with a hugh soundstage. They just don't sound very musical to me, but artificial. (My son, harsh critic that he is, sa .......
92: Hi-Rez Highway, Dynamic range and background noise. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-05-11, 12:32:26 (68.170.189.176)
Many listening rooms tax the dynamic range of some SACDs. I have a rather quiet living room, but it is not concert-hall quiet (ignoring coughs, congested breathing, snorring, and other bothersome nois .......
93: General Asylum, DACs can sound different for understood reasons. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-05-11, 11:53:00 (68.170.189.176)
You mention purists claiming that all DACs that work properly should sound the same. A major high-end company announced an upgrade to their CD player, saying that most of the upgrade was the power sup .......
94: Video Asylum, Restaurants with TVs. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-04-23, 10:54:52 (68.170.189.176)
I don't know if it is a cultural thing or what, but most Vietnamese restaurants specializing in Pho that I have been in the SF Bay Area have TVs that are on, even some relatively fancy places (for Pho .......
95: Vinyl Asylum, I don't agree. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-04-22, 10:30:11 (68.170.189.176)
I have a number of classical LPs that were digitally mastered, and the LP almost invariably sounds better, as does my own CD made from the LP. Regardless of mastering, it's often that the sound on CDs .......
96: Speaker Asylum, Very important. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-04-18, 10:54:39 (68.170.189.40)
Since no one has mentioned it (unless I overlooked it), I will. The Vandersteen subwoofer has a built-in equallizer. Whe you buy a 5A or 7 new, the dealer will come to your house with a CD that has ca .......
97: Speaker Asylum, Not so! (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2011-04-11, 11:22:37 (68.170.189.40)
The Vandersteen 5A and 7 have dual 12-inch subwoofers that can provide flat output down to 22 Hz. Joe .......
98: Vinyl Asylum, RE: ReK-o-Cut R 34 (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2010-09-10, 11:05:30 (68.170.189.215)
That was my first TT, though in kit form, and I used it with a Shure M7/N21D cartridge. I alway thought it had superb performance, with clean, detailed sound. The only problem I had with it was that i .......
99: Vinyl Asylum, RE: Fairly shocking - and disconcerting - feedback test. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2010-08-23, 11:11:59 (68.170.189.215)
The record can act like a microphone, picking up sound vibrations and transmitting them to the stylus. If you want to hear what records sound like without any feedback, make an excellent CD from them .......
100: Hi-Rez Highway, RE: Bach Cello Suites (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2010-06-13, 12:28:57 (64.74.212.75)
I have the original Starker Mercurey LPs as well as the SACD and like them qiite a bit I have heard the Fournier performances, and heard him play the 2nd Suite in person, a rather poor performance. Ho .......
101: Video Asylum, RE: I used an analog-to-digital converter made by Canopus... (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2010-04-09, 12:50:54 (64.74.212.75)
I just bought the Canopus 110 from B&H and have it set up exactly as you describe with my Mac. Works great. Joe .......
102: Hi-Rez Highway, RE: Anyone attending the San Francisco Symphony this week?.....Mahler 2nd Symphony (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2010-03-11, 13:45:36 (64.74.212.75)
I find the Fischer a rather boring performance. It took great effort for me to get through it, even with the very fine sound. For another example I suggest Walter or Klemperer. I recently compared a K .......
103: Hi-Rez Highway, Does the spinning disc itself have a future? (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2010-03-11, 13:34:05 (64.74.212.75)
With the price of flash memory dropping so low, already it probably cheaper to record CDs and maybe even SACDs on memory cards. A spinning disc, laser, and all the hardware and software that goes alon .......
104: Hi-Rez Highway, Quick question. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2010-01-01, 16:12:00 (64.74.212.75)
Are you referring to CD or SACD playback? Joe .......
105: Vinyl Asylum, A blank record is not "real world conditions." (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2009-10-08, 14:36:24 (64.74.212.75)
The video never does explain what really causes the skating force. It results from the fact that the tracking direction, which is very close to the perpendicular to the line going from the center of t .......
106: Wine Asylum, RE: Stop by mine! (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2009-09-16, 10:20:16 (64.74.212.75)
If you are flying out of SFO, allow at least 2.5 hours. On a Sunday afternoon it takes about 1 1/4 hours for me to get there, but then I know exactly where I'm going. If you have a car to turn in and .......
107: Wine Asylum, Stop by mine! (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2009-09-15, 16:00:25 (64.74.212.75)
I don't know if this allowed here, but you are invited to stop by my winery, Hillcrest Terrace. We are located on the west side of Santa Cruz. You go out Mission St. to Swift turn south for two blocks .......
108: Vinyl Asylum, Cover off. I can hear the difference. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2009-09-15, 11:19:24 (64.74.212.75)
After trying to decide this issue by careful listening and my memory, I made high quality CD-R recordings of various top vinyl recordings with the cover on and off and the speakers on and off as well. .......
109: Vinyl Asylum, RE: Herbie's Record Stabilizer (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2009-08-17, 10:57:10 (64.74.212.75)
One comment FWIW. I tried the stabilizer on my Rega TT. At first I thought it might have improved the sound, but to be sure I made some high quality CD-R recordings of good vinyl with it on and off. L .......
110: Vinyl Asylum, Note the following. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2009-06-12, 16:24:48 (64.74.212.75)
I was talking about CD-Rs that I made myself from vinyl. If I listen to the corresponding pre-recorded CDs, I generally find them quite poor, many as you describe. Also, the CD player makes an very bi .......
111: Vinyl Asylum, RE: Is vinyl a "hi res" format? No.- a question. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2009-06-12, 13:39:39 (64.74.212.75)
Did you make the CD-r yourself from the vinyl? Pre-recorded CDs are generally no match for the corresponding vinyl. Perhaps my system isn't good enough to hear the difference between the CD-R copies a .......
112: Vinyl Asylum, You didn't understand what I wrote. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2009-06-12, 13:31:24 (64.74.212.75)
I can make CD-R copies of either vinyl or SACDs by digitizing the analogue signal, either out of my phono stage or out of the SACD player. The RBCD CD-R of vinyl is virtually indistinguishable from th .......
113: Vinyl Asylum, RE: Is vinyl a "hi res" format? No. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2009-06-11, 18:32:38 (64.74.212.75)
I can make a RBCD copy of a vinyl recording that can't be distinguished on a high quality system from the original vinyl. So if vinyl is high-res, so is RBCD. Following exactly the same procedures wit .......
114: Vinyl Asylum, RE: Dynavector 20X-H Loading (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2009-06-11, 18:21:18 (64.74.212.75)
My phono stage permits changing the loading on the fly by remote control from your listening chair. On my 20XH I tried everything from 100 ohms to 47K, including 1K. I preferred 47K. Lower settings te .......
115: Speaker Asylum, What are some top active speakers? (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2009-05-09, 11:05:52 (64.74.212.75)
I am not familiar with what are considered top models of active speakers, though I appreciate their appeal. I am using Vandertseen 5's now. What active speakers are in this general class or considered .......
116: Video Asylum, Care to comment on their "justification?" (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2009-04-08, 10:40:11 (64.74.212.75)
The note I got said, that, since Blu-ray discs cost more, they have to charge more. My impression is that the costs of todays' Blu-ray discs really aren't that much more than standard DVDs did just a .......
117: Wine Asylum, RE: So what does a bottle of Domaine de la Romanee Conti taste like? (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2009-03-15, 12:45:43 (64.74.212.75)
First, the DRC owns a variety of vineyards and sections of vineyards that can produce a large range of wines in a single year. Second, different years produce different wines from the same vineyard. T .......
118: Wine Asylum, RE: What causes that certain taste in a syrah? (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2009-03-15, 12:20:34 (64.74.212.75)
There are a number of variations of this aroma. It's often called the "rubber boot aroma" and was common in some Lois Martini reds around 40 years ago. It is often caused by the presence of a specific .......
119: Speaker Asylum, RE: Anyone seen any thermal imaging video of loudspeakers? I have. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2009-03-14, 11:48:52 (64.74.212.75)
I think this could be interesting. The only thermal imaging I've seen of a loudspeaker was of my face, and I wasn't speaking that loud at the time. It was fascinating at least to me. My beard and must .......
120: Video Asylum, RE: The Dark Knight: This may be old news but .... (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2009-03-12, 11:59:58 (64.74.212.75)
I agree about the video and audio. My audio system is flat down to 20 Hz, and there was a whole lot of shaking going on. As a totally personal remark, showing how people cam have different opinions, I .......
121: General Asylum, My mother-in-law... (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2009-03-04, 13:13:06 (64.74.212.75)
She was seated in the sweet spot, which actually isn't that small, and I put on some music. She asked where it was coming from. I said "Those two speakers." She said that was impossible, that the orch .......
122: Vinyl Asylum, I made a suggestion below. Nothing like listening... (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2009-03-02, 12:46:40 (64.74.212.75)
This subject has been discussed endlessly. I made a suggestion recently: http://www.audioasylum.com/audio/vinyl/messages/81/818568.html This is a straightforward way to make a permanent record of the .......
123: Vinyl Asylum, RE: A suggestion before you go any further-quantify the accuracy you need. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2009-03-02, 12:26:33 (64.74.212.75)
I have been involved in the best that audio has to offer for more than 40 years. I have been able to identify any one of more than 30 speakers blindfolded and even some amps blind. In my experience wi .......
124: Vinyl Asylum, A suggestion before you go any further-quantify the accuracy you need. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2009-02-28, 14:46:04 (64.74.212.75)
If you are really serious about this, and you appear to be, you should try to find out what is the maximum error in VTA that produces clearly audible degraded sound, something you would prefer to corr .......
125: General Asylum, What a joke! (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2009-02-27, 14:35:58 (128.114.134.243)
It is claimed that this will reduce reading errors and make them sound better. On a typical CD in good condition there are roughly three reading errors that are not fully and accurately corrected, and .......
126: Vinyl Asylum, If you haven't given them an audition, ... (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2009-02-24, 14:09:50 (128.114.134.243)
you are in no position to criticize. Isn't that what we are always being told about things such as jars full of pebbles, intelligent chips that consist of circuit board material with the claim that th .......
127: Video Asylum, RE: "Really good movies being released...." (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2009-02-20, 11:19:17 (128.114.134.243)
Some examples. I heard that Dark Night was a good seller, but I barely made it through my Netflix rental copy. While I thought the picture quality and sound were superb, as a movie I found it highly f .......
128: Video Asylum, RE: NCFOM- however upscaled on a good player... (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2009-02-19, 14:01:28 (128.114.134.243)
I watched this DVD upscaled on on 58-inch plasma, and I thought it was superb, as good as many of the HD satellite programs I watch. It is not as good as BD or the best satellite HD, but certainly vas .......
129: Video Asylum, Number of really good movies being released is way, way down. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2009-02-19, 13:52:51 (128.114.134.243)
Maybe there is a connection. Joe .......
130: Speaker Asylum, The major problem for me was... (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2009-02-18, 18:17:09 (64.74.212.75)
that I never did like the AR 2 or 2A or 2Ax. While I suspect today I wouldn't care much for the AR 3s compared to my present Vandersteen 5s, in the good old days I and many people thought my system so .......
131: Speaker Asylum, If you are interested in a classic, famous pairing... (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2009-02-16, 18:25:00 (64.74.212.75)
consider the AR 3 or 3A speakers. The combination of the ST-70 and these speakers was one of the highly touted systems of the '60s. My first system was the PAS-3 and ST-70 built from kits with a pair .......
132: Vinyl Asylum, RE: Edward Villchur wrote...and he was wrong. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2009-02-04, 12:11:16 (64.74.212.75)
I owned the original AR turntable and was very happy with how it eliminated acoustic feedback with my Dyna-AR3 system in the '60s. My previous R-O-K suffered terribly from feedback, and that was befor .......
133: Video Asylum, My problem as well, but there is some hope... (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2009-02-03, 14:40:02 (128.114.134.184)
I bought a fine HD DVD player shortly before that became the wrong choice, and I own about 15 HD DVDs, all that I could think of wanting. Now I own a fine Blu-ray player,and I haven't found a single t .......
134: Speaker Asylum, Spendors. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2009-01-03, 14:13:59 (64.74.212.75)
My Spendor SP 100s worked particularly well with my Plinius 8200. You can find this speaker used in your price range, and if the Spendor sound is to your liking, you won't be disappointed. I now drive .......
135: Speaker Asylum, I hear no difference. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-12-16, 10:26:58 (128.114.134.60)
On my 5s I have listened carefully with and without the subs plugged in and hear no difference in the upper bass or midrange and on up to the high end on music with no significant lower bass content, .......
136: Vinyl Asylum, Upgraded in a similar situation. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-12-05, 16:12:14 (64.74.212.75)
I owned a Dual CS 721 with a Shure V15 IV (previously had a III) and upgraded to a new Rega P3/RB300 that cost slightly more than your $500 limit. I was amazed by the difference. Surface noise went do .......
137: Vinyl Asylum, I disliked his later DGG version so much... (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-10-07, 13:52:32 (128.114.134.45)
that I took the set back. This was back in the '70s when I bought it new and had a good relationship with a record store that would let me return records if I just didn't like the performance. Those d .......
138: Vinyl Asylum, If the errors aren't accurately corrected, the data are made up! (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-09-24, 14:06:07 (128.114.134.197)
On a typical CD in good condition there may be three instances in an hour where the error correction routines are unable to recover the data perfectly. In those cases data are manufactured- interpolat .......
139: Vinyl Asylum, There is at least one earlier Grumiaux version. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-09-06, 10:21:10 (64.74.212.75)
It's on the Epic label, also with the Concertgebouw, but I have only found it in mono. I'm not sure it was even recorded in stereo. It is a fine performance as well, with some interesting differences. .......
140: General Asylum, I've been in there a number of times. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-09-03, 12:47:25 (128.114.134.197)
It is very large, with lots of DVDs (Including BDs) as well as CDs and a fair amount of vinyl. Not knowing your tastes, it's hard to say whether it's worth a visit, but there is nothing very close tha .......
141: Vinyl Asylum, Hmm... I've gone 47 years without doing that. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-08-27, 10:49:56 (128.114.134.197)
I bought my first cartridge, a Shure M7/N21D, in 1960. Maybe I've been lucky and now I've jinxed myself! My hands sure aren't as steady as they used to be. Over the years I have dropped a few NM LPs a .......
142: Video Asylum, RE: Leaving aside that CA sales tax pays my salary,... (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-08-09, 12:09:22 (64.74.212.75)
Yes, for that set you will have a hard time finding a good price anywhere around here. I decided to go with a Panasonic because I liked the picture and the price, and I felt that the technology was ad .......
143: Video Asylum, Leaving aside that CA sales tax pays my salary,... (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-08-08, 11:22:16 (128.114.134.100)
are you sure you want to buy something like this from out of state to save less than 10% on sales tax. To be sure, you can also get a lower price than most local stores, but careful shopping may get y .......
144: Vinyl Asylum, I had given up... (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-08-05, 13:10:17 (128.114.134.100)
on thrift and dollar stores, and I also live in the Bay Area. I have never seen anything remotely like this in the dozens and dozens of places I have visited. It's the audio equivalent of a food lover .......
145: Vinyl Asylum, An interesting live performance. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-08-05, 12:52:55 (128.114.134.100)
I attended a live performance of this at the Kennedy Center in DC in which each "picture" was played with a different person's orchestration (I hadn't realized how many versions there were) and was ac .......
146: Vinyl Asylum, My Shure was 10 times better than that! (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-07-20, 16:29:45 (64.74.212.75)
1/2 gram is way off! Mine was off just 0.05 g, but it required real care to get it to work to this accuracy. Joe .......
147: Vinyl Asylum, I checked them with lab standard weights. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-07-19, 11:13:47 (64.74.212.75)
i have bought three of the cheapos on EBay, each about $20 and rated at 0.01 g. I used standard weights for laboratory balance beam devices that were 1.00 and 2.00 g. Since the scales I was testing ha .......
148: General Asylum, Which do you prefer to hear: flaws of system or flaws or recording? (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-06-28, 12:30:57 (64.74.212.75)
In a poor system you may not hear the flaws of a record simply because the flaws of the system dominate and mask the problems of the recording. You are still listening to flawed playback, but the flaw .......
149: Amp/Preamp Asylum, Check your owner's manual. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-06-24, 12:40:13 (64.74.212.75)
It may say how much power it draws while idling. It does not have to be putting music through, but simply on. I think mine draws less than 20-30 watts, but even that may be objectionable to some. The .......
150: Speaker Asylum, My Vandersteen speakers have something very similar. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-06-24, 12:30:54 (64.74.212.75)
The front surface is not much wider than than the drivers and is covered by felt-like material. Joe .......
151: Amp/Preamp Asylum, There's a possibility it isn't break-in. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-06-23, 11:36:20 (128.114.134.215)
When I was auditioning new amps, I had had a Musical Fidelity amp-preamp in use for a week before I went on to a Plinius 8200. My dealer said that the 8200 would not sound very good for at least three .......
152: Amp/Preamp Asylum, 5751's in the SP 16. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-05-30, 10:43:03 (128.114.134.101)
In fact I am now using 5751's in my SP 16. I have generally preferred them to 12AX7s in the past, and in my tube rolling, I tried a number of 12AX7s and 5751s and concluded that in just about every ca .......
153: Amp/Preamp Asylum, Thanks for your reply. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-05-29, 18:19:39 (64.74.212.75)
I have dramatically improved (for my tastes) the performance of my ARC SP 16 by tube rolling, but those are 12AX7s. I have Vandersteen 5 speakers that are quite revealing, and I've found tube changes .......
154: Amp/Preamp Asylum, What tubes have you tried? (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-05-28, 13:36:59 (128.114.134.101)
One tube supplier I contacted said that the tubes in this unit were as good as you can do, and tube rolling would have no benefit. What changes did you hear after tube rolling? Joe .......
155: Hi-Rez Highway, RE: San Francisco Symphony Brahms “German Requiem”-Can’t wait for the Telarc/Atlanta Release (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-05-27, 11:15:47 (128.114.134.101)
Thanks for the post. I have heard this work live once and owned a couple of recorded versions and have always thought it was one of the worse things Brahms ever wrote. After reading your post, I'm won .......
156: Speaker Asylum, RE: isoMike? (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-05-22, 17:03:52 (128.114.134.101)
Thanks for your concern. No, we are not anywhere near the fire, but we can easily see the smoke coming up from it. I have not heard any isoMike recordings and have heard they are quite impressive. Sti .......
157: Speaker Asylum, Binaural sound instead of speakers? (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-05-22, 15:02:51 (128.114.134.101)
After more than 45 years of searching for better sound for classical music, my present system is reasonably satisfactory at simulating the experience of listening to live music, the emotional impact o .......
158: Vinyl Asylum, That's an even stronger recommendation. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-05-21, 17:39:31 (64.74.212.75)
The 9200 was reputed to have a better internal phono stage than the 8200. I suspect my Jarrah was overdriving my Plinius on louder passages. It has a 54 db gain on the lower setting, and with a 2.8 mv .......
159: Vinyl Asylum, RE: Phono pre for Plinius 8200 (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-05-20, 16:06:29 (128.114.134.101)
I thought the Plinius Jarrah was a definite step up over my 8200 internal stage, and you could probably get one of those used for under $500. The gain may be a bit much though. I also thought the EAR .......
160: Vinyl Asylum, TT regulator- balls. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-05-18, 11:41:45 (64.74.212.75)
From time to time I kicked around the idea of driving a TT with a falling weight, like a clock. I've used telescopes with falling weight drives (gravity is very dependable in its constancy) where regu .......
161: Speaker Asylum, RE: Vandersteen 5 Owners: Do you find this speaker to be aggressive in the treble? (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-05-15, 17:01:30 (128.114.134.101)
My 5s sound a bit bright, but I have a bright room. My previous speakers, Spendor SP 100s and Kef 105.2s, not known for being bright, also sounded bright in this room, but I added an L-pad to them to .......
162: Vinyl Asylum, Complete alternative. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-05-15, 16:33:42 (128.114.134.101)
This is probably a waste of time, but I think you are asking a lot from a TT. I bought my first one, a ROK K33H, 48 years ago and have owned many since, but I never had the sense that I could alter th .......
163: Hi-Rez Highway, I wish they would record some Schnabel with this technique. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-05-12, 12:55:22 (128.114.134.101)
After all, we have recordings of Glenn Gould in modern sound. They are not that bad at all. But the only recordings I have heard of Schnabel performing were made before the era of hi-fi sound, and and .......
164: Amp/Preamp Asylum, RE: Phono pre for Plinius 8200 (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-05-06, 15:17:08 (128.114.134.101)
I was never able to find out enough details about the inner workings of the 8200 to figure out if my cartridge would overdrive the phono stage of it or what follows. It's not that easy to find out the .......
165: Amp/Preamp Asylum, RE: Phono pre for Plinius 8200 (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-05-06, 12:59:43 (128.114.134.101)
I have the 8200 as well, using it to drive my Vandersteen 5s. Its phono stage is OK, but nothing special. I did have the Jarrah for a while, but it had a bit too much gain even in its low gain setting .......
166: Vinyl Asylum, It could be very simple. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-05-04, 13:27:51 (64.74.212.75)
How clean is the tip of your stylus Just a tiny bit a gunk on it can make everything sound bad. If you have a good magnifier, you should give it a careful look with a bright light. If you don't have a .......
167: General Asylum, I think I need diffusion, but expensive to find out? (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-05-03, 10:51:20 (64.74.212.75)
My speakers sit about six feet from the wall behind them. Previously I had books and records on wooden shelves on this back wall, but then I got a large flat screen TV that now sits between them. The .......
168: Hi-Rez Highway, One more example. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-04-29, 13:04:14 (128.114.134.101)
I attended a audio show in London and spent many hours listening to some very fine systems. As I was leaving I heard some music coming down a hall from around a corner out of sight that struck me as f .......
169: Hi-Rez Highway, For classical instruments, miles apart. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-04-28, 19:05:37 (64.74.212.75)
Having been at this for more than 40 years and heard many high end systems, some costing in excess of $200,000, I have never hard any stereo system come close to reproducing the sound of a quality vio .......
170: Video Asylum, So I guess I've been lucky. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-04-25, 16:45:39 (64.74.212.75)
I have rented a lot of esoteric foreign language movies from Netflix. These cost a lot more for them to buy then standard DVD movies, and I bet the customer base for them is in the single digits. They .......
171: Vinyl Asylum, OK, that is helpful. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-04-24, 15:31:45 (128.114.199.63)
In my opinion you are not going to make the improvement you want by changing such things as your TT, amp, speaker wires, or interconnects, though they could help in one way or another. It's possible a .......
172: Hi-Rez Highway, I first got interested in Fleisher because of Schnabel. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-04-23, 13:47:46 (128.114.134.233)
I became a big fan of Schnabel's in the early '60s. Fleischer was the one of his students who, it seemed to me at least, captured at lot of Schnabel's insights into music in a very compelling way. If .......
173: Vinyl Asylum, I would like to help, but... (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-04-23, 13:30:36 (128.114.134.233)
I'm not sure what you are talking about. "Weight" and "body" mean different things to different people in sound, just as they do in wine. The responses you have received prove this, as they are all ov .......
174: Hi-Rez Highway, Have you considered anything else? (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-04-22, 16:32:08 (128.114.134.233)
I can certainly understand your interest in upgrading to a higher-level Marantz machine, remembering your extremely well-written and very positive review of your present model. But this amount of addi .......
175: Video Asylum, So now Netflix is going to charge more to rent BD movies. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-04-22, 16:13:19 (128.114.134.233)
One more reason for me not to be in any hurry to buy a new BD machine, along with all the other obvious ones. I've been a member since near the very beginning, and I buy very few movies- just rent the .......
176: Video Asylum, The chart below. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-04-22, 16:07:12 (128.114.134.233)
The chart below corresponds well with my experience. I was faced with the same choice you had. I knew I'd be sitting about 12 to 15 feet from the screen, and I was considering a screen around 60-inche .......
177: Hi-Rez Highway, I have the original vinyl version of the Fleisher. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-04-22, 10:21:01 (128.114.134.233)
I don't have the CD. Do you know how the sonics compare, since you find that the CD sounds good? I don't remember very well how good the vinyl sounds, but I do like the performance very much. I haven' .......
178: Tweakers' Asylum, Warning: quartz and fused silica are not the same thing. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-04-21, 13:10:30 (128.114.134.233)
Strictly speaking quartz is a crystal. Fused silica (sometimes called fused quartz) has the same chemical composition, but is non-crystalline. If the crystal properties are believed to be important fo .......
179: Hi-Rez Highway, I get snide remarks when I say I look forward to more spinning discs! (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-04-14, 14:44:25 (128.114.134.190)
I just posted about this a few days ago. A colleague showed me a new memory device he was developing that would ultimately hold about a terabyte of RAM on a postage stamp-sized card. The cost per card .......
180: Vinyl Asylum, Herbie's Way Excellent because... (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-04-14, 14:28:44 (128.114.134.190)
it sounded best on my Rega P3/RB300. I tried quite a few including spotmats made with cork and plastic, ring mats, mats made with shelf liner (different brands of shelf liner did not work the same), s .......
181: Vinyl Asylum, Do you also have a CD player? (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-04-14, 14:19:26 (128.114.134.190)
Often this problem has to do with something other than the TT. Does the stereo image shift around with CDs as well? Just a thought. Joe .......
182: Hi-Rez Highway, Of course I'd believe you. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-04-13, 10:25:27 (64.74.212.75)
"Would you believe me if I told you that some (but not nearly all) of my LP-CDR sound better on a good redbook player - when compared to the actual SACD/SACD player? " Definitely! Very few modern rei .......
183: Hi-Rez Highway, You don't have to speculate. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-04-13, 10:15:42 (64.74.212.75)
" It is quite possible the needle adds its own noise or distortion ." All you need to do is look at the the distortion produced by a high-quality cartridge. You can find plots here on the VA with a se .......
184: Hi-Rez Highway, No, I copied the SACD layer. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-04-12, 11:12:24 (64.74.212.75)
As I said, I used exactly the same method I used for vinyl. I took the 2-ch analog signal out of my SACD player and digitized it and then burned it to a CD-R. For vinyl I do the same with the output o .......
185: Hi-Rez Highway, The bad rap of the CD. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-04-11, 18:28:25 (64.74.212.75)
CDs get a bad rap because so many of them are so poorly done. They deserve it. As the comments in this thread point out, the RB standard is capable of doing a superb job of encoding music. It's a sham .......
186: Hi-Rez Highway, Extremely important point! (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-04-11, 10:40:07 (64.74.212.75)
No matter how "good" digital playback is, a CD or SACD sounds intrinsically different from a vinyl recording. If nothing else, vinyl has much higher levels of distortion and (often) noise than CDs or .......
187: Hi-Rez Highway, When can we get rid of the spinning disc? (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-04-08, 10:57:55 (128.114.134.3)
Maybe the download is the ultimate replacement for all of our discs of today, but I think a lot of people like portable, high quality media. I recently sat with an engineer in the process of developin .......
188: Hi-Rez Highway, No, I do not have the C-5Xe. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-04-06, 11:33:10 (64.74.212.75)
I still only have your former player. Maybe if I win the lottery... I made a trip to the Analog Room in San Jose to hear the Ayre SACD player again after discovering that quite a few RBCDs sounded bet .......
189: Hi-Rez Highway, I just compared the Fischer in 2-ch and MCH to Grumiaux RBCD. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-04-04, 13:19:58 (128.114.134.3)
I used your former 8260 that I have modified slightly. For the Fischer I very slightly preferred 2-ch simply because my pure 2-ch system is higher quality. For a solo instrument like this, the added b .......
190: Speaker Asylum, The Subdude is incredibly easy to implement! (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-04-04, 12:54:35 (128.114.134.3)
I spent many hours with superballs, maple butcher blocks, sorbothane, blutack, etc., trying to devise speaker isolation supports for my Kef 105.2's. I simply put them up on the Subdudes and viola all .......
191: Speaker Asylum, Ah, I'm not saying you are lying about the effectiveness of your sandboxes.. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-04-03, 11:40:36 (128.114.134.167)
Vibration isolation is a complex issue. The sand itself may not be the reason your boxes are effective. You have added significant mass to your floor. You have changed the way your speaker vibrations .......
192: Speaker Asylum, Reaching way back into my memory... (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-04-03, 11:32:02 (128.114.134.167)
it could be that the Gramma and the Subdude are the same thing. The former is rather strongly colored, while the latter is a dark gray. Joe .......
193: Speaker Asylum, I am talking about the transmission of vibration, not about resonance and possible damping. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-04-03, 11:27:36 (128.114.134.167)
These are different issues. Of course sand bags or sand-filled stands can damp vibrations of flours or stand enclosures, but sound can very nicely be transmitted through a bag of sand. Check it out if .......
194: Hi-Rez Highway, First room inside the front door. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-04-01, 13:37:47 (128.114.134.3)
I am a big MCH fan, but the Ayre is 2-ch only. I have a fine MCH setup at home and have listened to the Fischer Mahler 2 at home in MCH. The sound on this recording is quite impressive. But, as I said .......
195: Amp/Preamp Asylum, One advantage of an ARC SP 16 preamp. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-04-01, 13:17:39 (128.114.134.3)
This model uses 12AX7 tubes, and there are lots of them available, both NOS and new versions of old tubes. I've found that I can change the sound character of my SP 16 quite a bit by tube rolling, so .......
196: Speaker Asylum, Second that. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-04-01, 13:06:15 (128.114.134.3)
My amp was off as well, and I got its impedance directly from the engineer who designed it. I know it wasn't the Vandersteen box that was wrong, as I also used some precision capacitors as a substitut .......
197: Speaker Asylum, Spikes and sandboxes won't really do you any good anyway. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-04-01, 13:03:35 (128.114.134.3)
A spike will simply transmit vibrations without any problem. Sandboxes are also quite good at transmitting vibrations, especially at these audio frequencies. A walk on the beach here in Santa Cruz wil .......
198: Speaker Asylum, That is an issue. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-04-01, 12:53:52 (128.114.134.3)
In fact, I delayed doing this in part because the tweeter would be well above ear level. The lift is about 3-4 inches. I'll measure it when I get home. My listening room is fairly bright, and I have m .......
199: Speaker Asylum, Another Auralex product that has me tempted, a wooden diffuser. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-04-01, 12:42:12 (128.114.134.3)
They also make a diffusing screen that consists of a number of small wooden squares tilted in a variety of directions, all mounted on a larger panel, 2'x2' as I recall. I think a 2'x4' panel of these .......
200: Speaker Asylum, One more benefit from Subdudues. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-04-01, 12:37:38 (128.114.134.3)
Not only do they attenuate vibrations before they reach the floor, they are also designed to attenuate sound waves traveling downward toward the floor. With my speakers and their downward-firing subs, .......
201: Speaker Asylum, RE: Subdudes? you're not talking about a band are you? (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-04-01, 12:26:41 (128.114.134.3)
As I said, a horrible name for a piece of audio equipment. Actually I think they were originally intended for placing under subwoofers or low frequency speakers on suspended platforms. They not only i .......
202: Speaker Asylum, Thanks for pointing out the correct company name. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-04-01, 12:21:59 (128.114.134.3)
Auralex it is. The Subdude actually doesn't look that bad, as it is all dark grey in color. For around $50 a piece, I think they they are quite reasonable. Joe .......
203: Speaker Asylum, Yet another post on suspended wood floors. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-03-31, 14:37:35 (128.114.134.3)
Over the many decades I've been at this I've lived in a number of places with different kinds of floors, the best in my experience being a concrete slab covered by carpet (for audio at least). The wor .......
204: Hi-Rez Highway, A 50 year old Mahler 2nd gives the Fischer a run for its money! the C-5Xe triumphs. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-03-31, 11:56:27 (128.114.134.3)
I was stunned to hear how good an old Klemperer Mahler 2nd on EMI Great Recordings of the Century sounds on my CX-7e compared to the Fischer SACD on the 8260. Only in the high end would I give a sligh .......
205: General Asylum, There's an additional bonus in LA. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-03-27, 15:24:34 (128.114.199.6)
The Disney concert hall. I thought it had among the finest acoustics of any concert hall I had been in in the one concert I heard there. After the first minute my first thought was if only I could get .......
206: Hi-Rez Highway, Be very careful! (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-03-26, 13:35:50 (128.114.134.3)
You must listen before you buy. Nothing is perfect, and different people have different ways of weighting the imperfections. Over the past 20 years I have owned about 10 CD and SACD players, though ov .......
207: Speaker Asylum, Time and phase coherence can make a difference. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-03-26, 13:07:37 (128.114.134.3)
In general I usually assume that it is the final design implementation that is by far the most important rather than any one specific principle that was used. So I am not particularly swayed when it i .......
208: Vinyl Asylum, "Nothing deemed hazardous" Hah! (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-03-25, 11:51:29 (128.114.134.3)
Who has deemed this? I used a standard oil for microscopes (oil immersion microscopy) that every med student used for years that was over 30% PCBs (300,000 ppm), and there was no warning at all and no .......
209: Vinyl Asylum, Check out ethanol. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-03-24, 11:24:12 (128.114.199.84)
I would not pooh pooh anyone checking out the dangers of materials they are using. We do it for everything we use in our labs and follow all recommended procedures for handling. But it is interesting .......
210: General Asylum, RE: Speakers and Integrated amp for $10k. What would you? (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-03-13, 12:16:00 (128.114.134.251)
New Vandersteen Quatros or used Vandersteen 5s and a Plinius integrated (I believe 9200 may be the one of the latest models). You could get this for around $10K and you would be getting very deep, nat .......
211: Speaker Asylum, RE: Please help me replace the weak links for 2CE sigs (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-03-13, 12:07:09 (128.114.134.251)
You could pick up a used Plinius 8200 for roughly $1000 that could make a big improvement. I'm running Vandersteen 5s with one, and they are more demanding and revealing than your model. The sound is .......
212: Vinyl Asylum, My dog does exactly the same thing. I should have named him "Nipper." (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-03-13, 11:58:11 (128.114.134.251)
It's gotten to the point that when I just pull out a CD, my dog Max leaves the house if he sees me getting ready to play it! This is really weird, as over the decades my dogs have never paid any atten .......
213: Vinyl Asylum, A very minor comment FWIW. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-03-10, 11:31:03 (128.114.134.251)
Ticks, pops, and some other components of surface noise can have their dominant sound at high frequencies. If two cartridges differ even a small amount, just a few db in high frequency output, they ca .......
214: Speaker Asylum, As they say in other circles, "I accept your amendment." (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-03-09, 11:58:55 (64.74.212.75)
Yes, that is exactly what I meant. For me that bottom octave is extremely important, even though a lot of music I listen to never makes use of it. Many years ago at a concert at the Kennedy Center in .......
215: Speaker Asylum, "Musical" depends on a few things. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-03-07, 13:29:12 (128.114.134.251)
The most important first consideration is the frequency range you are interested in. My first subwoofer had to mate with a speaker that was down 3 db at 38 Hz, so I was only interested in a sub for co .......
216: Vinyl Asylum, Evaluating footers and supports for TTs. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-03-07, 12:39:45 (128.114.134.251)
There are two main way ways that the footers and supporting substructure can influence the sound of TTS. One is how they deal with vibrations and other noise generated by the operation of the table in .......
217: Video Asylum, Good luck in the future, then. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-03-03, 13:30:39 (128.114.134.151)
You obviously have ben lucky or timely in your purchases so far, but I wouldn't bet that all future Blu-ray discs will play on your machine. In fact, I'd bet the opposite, and time will tell. Joe :: .......
218: Vinyl Asylum, RE: Ancient Shure M3D cartridge test (cabin fever) (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-03-03, 13:00:42 (128.114.134.151)
Being ancient myself, I can remember when that was a top Shure cartridge, in fact the top of the line if I remember correctly. I just couldn't afford it and settled for the M7/N21D. I did hear the M3D .......
219: Video Asylum, I wouldn't buy a Blu-ray player right now at any price. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-03-02, 18:21:15 (64.74.212.75)
As long as there is no Blu-ray standard, I wouldn't want one. Even if you buy the "winning format" player now, that player may not be able to play discs released in a year or two without being upgrade .......
220: Hi-Rez Highway, A better bet than the SCD-C2000ES. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-03-02, 17:56:27 (64.74.212.75)
I own the 2000ES, which I bought new a while back. Recently I bought a used Marantz 8260 for $400 that I consider significantly better than the 2000ES for my system. My complaint with the Sony is that .......
221: General Asylum, Sorry you have such a bad feeling about SACD. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-03-02, 12:25:11 (64.74.212.75)
Whatever monopolies and limited production facilities may exist for it, SACD has become a very viable medium for classical music. Many smaller labels are producing fine SACDs for what is a very small .......
222: Vinyl Asylum, A small suggestion. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-02-29, 10:46:19 (128.114.134.151)
Having spent far too many hours tube rolling- it can become an obsession!- I found one aid that helped a lot, especially when I was trying various tubes in my previous EAR 831p phono stage. I made CD- .......
223: General Asylum, How about $30,000 for speakers cables? (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-02-28, 14:23:35 (128.114.134.151)
Not too long ago I heard a system with speaker cables that cost this amount. Since the amps cost $45,000 at least the cables cost less than amps. However, they did cost more than the speakers- Vanders .......
224: Vinyl Asylum, One problem with alcohol. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-02-26, 10:33:32 (128.114.134.151)
You will frequently be warned not to use alcohol because it is claimed it will "dissolved" stuff out of the vinyl and degrade it. That is a common myth with no supporting evidence. In fact, many tests .......
225: General Asylum, Great story! (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-02-25, 12:05:31 (128.114.134.151)
In addition to the powers of suggestion influencing wine tasting, I have also seen it in operation in evaluating audio equipment. The most blatant case was when someone made a "change to the equipment .......
226: General Asylum, Colleges and universities can be very different things. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-02-25, 11:52:42 (128.114.134.151)
I certainly don't think in any way the the term "university" signifies a higher status than college. I know of many colleges where you can get a better four-year education than in many universities.I .......
227: Video Asylum, You'll never give up, will you! (nt) (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-02-24, 16:17:02 (64.74.212.75)
.......
228: General Asylum, Wine tasting has more than its share of psychological problems. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-02-24, 16:12:10 (64.74.212.75)
Having taught courses on wine appreciation and wine evaluation at the university level for more than 30 years, and having conducted hundreds of wine tastings both sighted and blind, I have seen vast a .......
229: Speaker Asylum, An answer of sorts. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-02-24, 15:28:07 (64.74.212.75)
I completely agree in the following direction. If a speaker can reproduce classical music well, and by that I mean the full range of classical music from solo instruments to full symphonies and chorus .......
230: Speaker Asylum, Your question is too vague. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-02-23, 12:27:35 (64.74.212.75)
"Clarity" is not a very well-defined term. In fact, I do not know that there is a generally-accepted definition. Low distortion is certainly something to seek, since as the level of distortion increas .......
231: Vinyl Asylum, Sand box isolation- another common myth! (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-02-23, 11:53:56 (64.74.212.75)
I was rather intrigued by the idea of a sand box for isolation and ran it by a close friend and colleague, a physicist. He knows a great deal about vibration control and transmission, and he designs a .......
232: Vinyl Asylum, Watch out! (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-02-21, 13:33:57 (128.114.134.151)
There are two potential problems. The high gain of the MC stage may result in overload on the stage itself if it is fed with the high output of the cartridge, as another poster points out. Typical gai .......
233: General Asylum, How are your 105.2s supported? (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-02-20, 12:32:46 (128.114.134.151)
If you have them on a suspended wood floor and are still using those wheels, you can significantly improve the lower midrange/upper bass performance with a better floor interface. Replacing the wheels .......
234: Video Asylum, I went "the other route." (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-02-19, 12:14:15 (128.114.134.151)
If I knew then what I know now I wouldn't have, but I'm not overly upset about it. My Toshiba player cost less than $200 and came with 10 free discs. It is a superb up-sampling DVD player, and many DV .......
235: Video Asylum, RE: Some people have been dumping (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-02-17, 15:19:56 (64.74.212.75)
Thanks. There are really only a few titles that interest me for ownwership, but maybe I'll be lucky. Joe .......
236: Vinyl Asylum, RE: How effective are RCM’s? Comment on static pops. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-02-17, 14:58:37 (64.74.212.75)
You might be interested in my post above to Andrew P, who is pulling his hair out. You may actually be hearing small static pops rather than running into dust. jsm .......
237: Vinyl Asylum, RE: Removing dust before play... I'm pulling my hair out (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-02-17, 14:52:26 (64.74.212.75)
Two comments: The first is that really loose dust often doesn't affect play that much. You probably won't even hear it, though it can and most likely will accumulate on your stylus tip; it will need r .......
238: Video Asylum, Any signs of HD DVD movies being dumped yet? (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-02-16, 12:09:17 (64.74.212.75)
Owning a HD DVD player that works extremely well, I wouldn't mind buying some HD DVDs if the prices start dropping as they are closed out. I don't plan to buy a BD player for while, at least until the .......
239: Speaker Asylum, RE: Solen and Dayton Cross-over caps? (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-02-16, 11:55:12 (64.74.212.75)
I used all Solens when I re-did the crossover of Kef 105.2s. It's a 4th order design, with lots of caps, so it could have cost over $2000 to do it with "designer" caps. However, after consulting with .......
240: General Asylum, Tchaikovsky 1st Piano Concerto. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-02-14, 10:53:38 (128.114.134.151)
I recently saw a video of this being played by Gilels. There were parts of it that I would have thought wouldn't be humanly possible if I hadn't seen it. How can 10 fingers move so fast and independen .......
241: Vinyl Asylum, Have you heard a recording of Gershwin playing it? (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-02-13, 16:55:44 (128.114.134.235)
It's worth seeking out if you haven't. It sounds much more "jazzy" than most modern performances. Joe .......
242: Hi-Rez Highway, I probably won't do any more because... (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-02-11, 11:01:20 (128.114.134.151)
the report I received suggested that the mod I made makes the biggest difference in sound for SACD. Other mods do help with CD, but the SACD improvement is not all that great, if I understand things c .......
243: Hi-Rez Highway, My simple mods to the 8260. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-02-10, 10:19:43 (64.74.212.75)
Tuan: Following the instructions given on a website with extensive mod advice for the 8260, I did only the two simplest things. I bypassed the rather complex muting circuit at the output of the main t .......
244: Hi-Rez Highway, I'd love to hear too. All I have is.... (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-02-07, 13:06:20 (128.114.134.151)
your former 8260, which I have modified a bit and made sound quite a bit better. Now I hunger for more. Joe .......
245: Vinyl Asylum, High friction bearing for low mass table- sounds nuts to me. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-01-28, 18:04:19 (128.114.134.151)
If one increases the friction of the TT bearing and then uses a high torque bearing to overcome it and then argues this has reduced the effect of of stylus drag, this is completely wrong! All that mat .......
246: Hi-Rez Highway, Are the "best" SACD players that much better than the really good ones? (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-01-28, 13:58:16 (128.114.134.151)
There are threads here that discuss the very best players and what kind of circuitry is required for them. For some the Marantz SA-7S1 is an outstanding machine, but others say it is a fine machine fo .......
247: Vinyl Asylum, I use a Mac and Toast. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-01-28, 12:58:32 (128.114.134.151)
The Toast software has everything I need for doing the recording and burning. I use a Mac laptop. The key for me to get the best recordings was to get an outboard ADC. I use an Onkyo that is now disco .......
248: Vinyl Asylum, Yes, they pollute your mind and can wind up wasting your time with misleading information. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-01-28, 12:32:58 (128.114.134.151)
In my experience, the negatives outweigh the positives. I've just spent too much time listening to equipment with rave reviews that I found didn't like. .......
249: Video Asylum, I don't hate him at all, so you are wrong about "everyone." (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-01-27, 11:08:09 (64.74.212.75)
Yes, the unending parade of messages on one theme can be be a bit much, but I have found Ole will respond thoughtfully to questions posed, sometimes with surprising answers. For example, he would have .......
250: Video Asylum, SF Opera has been making HD recordings. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-01-21, 15:58:52 (64.74.212.75)
They have been putting a lot of attention and effort into it, but I haven't heard where or how it will be released. If you sit in an upper balcony, you can watch a close-up of the stage on a HD screen .......
251: Hi-Rez Highway, Alas, Mahler has not aged well for me. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-01-21, 15:41:00 (64.74.212.75)
In my youth (1960s) I didn't like Mahler at all. I always felt like I was listening to a movie soundtrack that didn't work without the movie. 20 years later I began to really like Mahler, but now I fi .......
252: Video Asylum, Yikes! There isn't a single disc on that whole list I would buy!! (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-01-18, 13:27:42 (128.114.134.151)
.......
253: Hi-Rez Highway, RE: Wellington's Victory Overture-Apparently Beethoven took this work quite seriously (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-01-18, 13:10:21 (128.114.134.151)
Please post what you think when you listen to it again. I don't know if I've ever made it completely from the begining to the end in one listening, becuase I found it so annoying, but I'm quite prepar .......
254: Speaker Asylum, RE: Have you considered used? (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-01-18, 12:46:44 (128.114.134.151)
An additional reason to buy new is make sure you have the latest version. Vandersteen does upgrade his speakers form time to time, and the older one you might purchase used may not sound quite as good .......
255: Hi-Rez Highway, First exposure to classical music: Beethoven's 5th (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-01-17, 13:31:48 (128.114.134.151)
When I was a freshman in college I took a women on a first date to her first exposure to classical music. The main event was Eugen Yochum conducting Beethoven's 5th. She was so moved by it that she co .......
256: Hi-Rez Highway, Wellington's Victory Overture. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-01-17, 13:26:33 (128.114.134.151)
A good example of taste in music. You say it goes without saying that you like it. I can't stand this piece of music. When I hear I think that Beethoven must have been ill when he wrote or was just go .......
257: Vinyl Asylum, RE: Rega RB300 stock wiring (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-01-16, 11:58:08 (128.114.134.151)
I did the Incognito rewire on my RB300, and I can't say I noticed any big difference. I'm not sure it even sounded any different. It sounded great before and after. Others report a big difference, whi .......
258: Vinyl Asylum, I have never had a better tracker than the 20XH. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-01-16, 11:53:39 (128.114.134.151)
I've ben buying cartridges for 45 years, and the tracking ability of the 20XH (old version) continues to amaze me; it is on a Rega P3/RB300. In the many 100's of records I have played with it, almost .......
259: Video Asylum, Yes, but will your present BD player be able to play it? (nt) (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-01-15, 12:45:01 (128.114.134.151)
.......
260: Video Asylum, Costco has their Toshiba HD A3 for $129. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-01-13, 15:45:00 (64.74.212.75)
I saw it yesterday. If movies start getting dumped as well, even if you are a diehard BD fan, it might be worth it there's enough material on HD DVD that you want to buy. I like this player better tha .......
261: Video Asylum, The opera is in HD , not SD! (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-01-13, 15:37:40 (64.74.212.75)
Moreover, it is about the highest quality HD that comes from Dishnetwork. As you probably know, there is some variation in HD quality from program to program, but for some reason the opera broadcasts .......
262: Hi-Rez Highway, Do you like Beethoven or do you consider his music second-rate as well? (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-01-13, 15:17:51 (64.74.212.75)
I suspect that you might like the music of Beethoven or at least some of his music. From what you have said, you like orchestral music and you especially like percussion to be a part of it; Beethoven' .......
263: Video Asylum, It ws the music in part that swayed me to buy a HD DVD player. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-01-12, 12:37:21 (64.74.212.75)
Mainly it was the very low price here in the US, but the first time I saw an opera in HD on my 58-inch plasma set, I was stunned. Just about every weekend Dishnetwork shows an opera in about the highe .......
264: Video Asylum, My wife's response to recent purchase of HD DVD player and Warner move. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-01-08, 11:14:20 (128.114.134.151)
"So what. You knew this could happen. For less than $200 we'll get our money's worth." Of course that was my philosophy going in, and I know I'll get my money's worth. I already prefer my Toshiba HD D .......
265: Hi-Rez Highway, My $0.02. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-01-08, 10:58:27 (128.114.134.151)
The answer is maybe. I have made direct comparisons of a njumber of high-quality original pressing LPs of the RCA LSC to the SACDs on an excellent system. In most cases I preferred the LPs. Note that .......
266: General Asylum, "They all sound bad." (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-01-08, 10:42:40 (128.114.134.151)
We disagree here. I hace heard top-level CD players on superb systems playing high quality CDs produce sound that was absolutely superb. To be sure the average CD doesn't sound this good, but it's the .......
267: Video Asylum, My son collects laser discs. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-01-07, 12:25:01 (128.114.134.151)
There are things on them that can be had for peanuts with excellent sound and picture quality. Some are not available on DVD. It's to DVDs what vinyl is to CDs for him. If you like opera, the HD DVD r .......
268: Video Asylum, Even better: surround sound for the crowd, no announcer option. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-01-07, 12:14:20 (128.114.134.151)
The commentary by some of the announcers is so dreadful that I often turn it of. This is especially true of Monday Night Football, which I often find offensive. Rather than sit there in silence, it wo .......
269: General Asylum, You can do a lot better. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-01-07, 12:01:13 (128.114.134.151)
I have a Marantz 8260. I have an Ayre CX-7e CD player. There's no comparison on CDs. I really don't even like listening to CDs on the Marantz after hearing them on the Ayre. I used to have an Arcam FM .......
270: Vinyl Asylum, That's one of the very best. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-01-07, 11:44:44 (128.114.134.151)
I sold my fine Philips recordings of these years ago for $1 when I got of vinyl and can't afford what they are asking for them now that I am rebuilding my vinyl collection. Fortunately the CD and SACD .......
271: Vinyl Asylum, "I don't really care for Bach." (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-01-07, 11:40:15 (128.114.134.151)
Of course everyone is entitled to their own musical tastes and preferences, but to require percussion to be a part of it does narrow your choices; some of Bach's music does include percussion. I coul .......
272: Video Asylum, No problem. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-01-06, 12:47:15 (64.74.212.75)
Actually I was hoping that BD would win, because I do prefer some of the fine points of that technology. It hasn't won yet, though, and there are two dark horses in the race: Microsoft and a cheap uni .......
273: Hi-Rez Highway, A quantitative answer depends on the specific players involved. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-01-06, 12:27:26 (64.74.212.75)
As a followup to my post below, the quality of either SACD or RBCD playback depends on the machine playing them. Unfortunately, CDs seem to require a very good machine to sound as good as they can, an .......
274: Video Asylum, Ole, he's selling it because he upgraded to a better HD DVD player. (nt) (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-01-05, 13:49:16 (64.74.212.75)
.......
275: Video Asylum, Easy! Here's how I'll do it. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-01-05, 13:40:40 (64.74.212.75)
I recently bought a Toshiba HD DVD player for under $200 and got 10 free HD DVDs with it. I may buy a few others, but generally I don't buy many DVDs- I rent from Netflix, being one of their original .......
276: Hi-Rez Highway, I use an excellent, separate, dedicated CD player for the comparison (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-01-05, 13:25:23 (64.74.212.75)
I have an Ayer CX-7e CD player that I use for CDs. I have compared it to many players costing up to $40K, and it holds its own quite well. The best-sounding CDs played on it rival the best LPs and bes .......
277: Speaker Asylum, Excellent review! A few comments. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-01-05, 12:50:58 (64.74.212.75)
I'm sort at the other extreme in this. I've been evaluating speakers for more than 45 years! One thing in particualr you did that I do as well was to use classical music and compare it to live classic .......
278: Vinyl Asylum, The Bay Area is pretty big... (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-01-05, 12:07:55 (64.74.212.75)
If you still need some assistance, send me an email. I live in the Bay Area, but the entire region stretches over nearly 100 miles in the largest sense. If you are not too far from the paths of my reg .......
279: Hi-Rez Highway, A comment on the ICs and the player. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-01-03, 14:28:49 (128.114.134.151)
First the ICs. I've been at this audio fanaticism for more than 45 years and have tried literally hundreds of cables of different makes and costs, from drugstore ICs that cost less than $3 to ICs that .......
280: Digital Drive, Definitely not bright! (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-01-02, 17:38:31 (128.114.134.151)
My listening room is on the bright side, and I am extremely sensitive to bright sound. I can't toleate it at all. Even my former Spendor SP 100 speakers sounded a bit bright in my room, and hardly any .......
281: Vinyl Asylum, EH 12AX7 (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-01-02, 17:21:11 (128.114.134.151)
I tried over 20 different tube combinations in my EAR 834p, and I think my least favorite were the Gold EH 12AX7s. Of course everybody's taste in sound is personal, and the sound of any component depn .......
282: Amp/Preamp Asylum, My experience with the SP16L and some tube rolling. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2008-01-02, 11:21:18 (64.74.212.75)
First, I've had a SP16 for more thana year, and it sounds nothing like what you describe. Mine sounds very much like the description given by Bambi B below. Using a Plinius SS amp and Vandersteen 5 sp .......
283: Speaker Asylum, A few more remarks. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-12-22, 18:54:55 (64.74.212.75)
First, a further comment on the Spendor option. I found for the SP 100 at least that I really needed the Sound Anchor stands, which were not cheap. They did not sound as good on two other stands I tri .......
284: Hi-Rez Highway, Airplanes and hearing. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-12-21, 13:07:39 (64.74.212.75)
Flying in an airplane can profoundly alter your hearing. The constant noise, a lot of it at lower frequencies, results in your ears becoming dulled to that noise, or more specifically, the frequency r .......
285: Amp/Preamp Asylum, Tube rolling on the SP16. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-12-21, 12:44:13 (64.74.212.75)
I can confirm that the option of trying different 12AX7s in the SP16 is a nice feature. I am now running the GT Mullard re-issue and much prefer it to the stock EH tubes. These GT tubes have had some .......
286: Speaker Asylum, Something to consider. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-12-21, 12:27:33 (64.74.212.75)
I've listened to many models in the Spendor line. I was not a fan of the 1/2, and I listened to it carefully several times. it never sounded coherent to me over the entire frequency range. I did like .......
287: Vinyl Asylum, Audio Research PH 5. (nt) (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-12-19, 16:49:09 (128.114.134.129)
.......
288: Vinyl Asylum, A comment on the 834p. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-12-18, 12:55:08 (128.114.22.181)
I owned one of these for a while and did improve it quite a bit over the stock version by some circuit mods and tube rolling. As I write two posts below mention the value of tube rolling. But that's w .......
289: Video Asylum, I wish I could make you an offer you couldn't refuse. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-12-16, 12:01:48 (64.74.212.75)
Since I like Denmark very much, I wish I were headed your way- I'd bring you one. But my text trip to Europe isn't until next June, and so far I'm scheduled to only go to Provence with a side trip to .......
290: Video Asylum, Well, I bought a Toshiba HD DVD player for $199 becuase... (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-12-15, 12:04:02 (64.74.212.75)
it's cheap enough for me, the BD standard doesn't exist yet (I don't want to have to worry about upgrading my firmware at unknown intervals in order to play the latest discs), and there's enough softw .......
291: Video Asylum, Wait a minute. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-12-15, 11:49:51 (64.74.212.75)
I just bought it at Amazon a few nights ago for $199 delivered, including 10 HD DVDs. To be sure, most of those discs have little attraction for me, but for free I'll take my 10. Maybe I can trade the .......
292: Hi-Rez Highway, RE: REVIEW: Marantz SA-11S2 CD Player/Recorder (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-12-15, 11:42:40 (64.74.212.75)
Thanks for the very informative review. You clearly went to some effort and spent some time to prepare a very knowledgeable review. I especially liked the list of recordings you used, as I learn most .......
293: Hi-Rez Highway, RE: SACD players less relaible than other equipment? (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-12-15, 11:33:50 (64.74.212.75)
I seem to recall reports of a fair amount of trouble with a Cary player as well, and one or two of the high end Sony players appeared here with problems more than I would expect. Some brands (e,g, Ayr .......
294: Vinyl Asylum, Classical. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-12-15, 10:49:13 (64.74.212.75)
Classical vinyl is getting fairly scarce in SF, though there may be places I am not aware of. Amoeba went from great to a very small collection in a surprisingly short time. I was told they simply sto .......
295: General Asylum, Below 40 Hz. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-12-13, 13:56:52 (128.114.22.181)
My main speakers used to be Kef 105.2s. They were rated down 3 db at 38 Hz. I listen mainly to classical music. Once during a piece of music I didn't care that much for at a concert, I concentrated on .......
296: Vinyl Asylum, Wow, that's very nice looking! And,.. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-12-13, 13:16:10 (128.114.22.181)
you are right, that pulley looks exactly as I remember all those years ago. I guess the cobwebs weren't too dense. I was so excited when I got that first table that I spent many hours just studying it .......
297: Vinyl Asylum, I buy 99% used. The payoff is tremendous! (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-12-13, 13:09:54 (128.114.22.181)
I listen almost entirely to classical music. About 20 years ago I sold my entire collection of vinyl, a collection assemble over 25 years, for almost nothing to move on to "perfect sound forever." A f .......
298: Video Asylum, Dump your cable company. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-12-12, 13:26:36 (128.114.22.181)
There are a lot of HD channels on Dishnetwork, and it is a rare event when I see any picture problem during an HD broadcast. There are some channels that show many older high-quality films in superb H .......
299: Video Asylum, RE: On "Upconverting"...just how "Near HD Quality" do these players get???? (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-12-12, 13:13:09 (128.114.22.181)
I have a 58-inch 720p plasma set with a very fine picture. Upconverted DVD with my Oppo 970HD player looks comparable to a lot of the HD material coming over satellite, but it is not as good as the to .......
300: Video Asylum, A small warning. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-12-12, 13:02:03 (128.114.22.181)
I found that the sets in showrooms, especially Circuit City, were often adjusted in very strange ways. I saw one Panasonic set that had looked spectacular in another store look awful in our local stor .......
301: Hi-Rez Highway, SACD players less relaible than other equipment? (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-12-12, 12:49:18 (128.114.22.181)
Frequently we see posts here about probelms with SACD players- ToC problems. transport problems, dual layer problems, etc. Are SACDs players for some reason less reliable than, say CD or DVD players, .......
302: Speaker Asylum, Speaker placement. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-12-12, 12:28:33 (128.114.22.181)
While I like for speakers that do just what yours are doing, I have found the depth of the sounstage or forwardness can be changed a lot by the position of speakers. How far are they in from of the wa .......
303: Vinyl Asylum, Of course, my pulley didn'y look anything like that. A different motor? (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-12-12, 12:19:12 (128.114.22.181)
The pulley was very squat, about as high as it was wide (~3/8 inch), with the oval crown on it. I don't remember the outer rim of the platter having any curve on it at all, but just being flat. The be .......
304: Vinyl Asylum, RE: Audio Intelligent Vinyl Solution - Quick review (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-12-12, 11:55:21 (128.114.22.181)
I agree, AIVS does a superb job. I have found nothing better. Though I found that DD solutions cleaned rather well, I also found that for some reaon the records sounded a tiny bit brighter after I use .......
305: Vinyl Asylum, RE: Did the K model come with the square hysteresis motor? (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-12-11, 15:56:59 (128.114.22.181)
It came with a hysteresis motor for sure, but I didn't know there was more than one possibility. If you tell me something about how they might have appeared to be different, perhaps I can tell you whi .......
306: Vinyl Asylum, Something simple to try. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-12-11, 13:16:02 (128.114.22.181)
I'm sure many here won't like this approach, but I've used it and found it can work very well. Get a nice board about the same size as the top of your rack or slightly smaller, say about 1-inch thick. .......
307: Video Asylum, Maybe I shouldn't respond, but... (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-12-11, 11:19:38 (128.114.22.181)
I will. Just a few days ago I was completely with you. I thought all of this business was a big yawner. I really can't care all that much about which format wins, if either, and the free "come-on" mov .......
308: Vinyl Asylum, Ah, my first TT and arm 47 years ago (mine in kit form- K33H)- instant nostalgia! (nt) (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-12-11, 10:23:51 (128.114.22.181)
.......
309: Video Asylum, Pretty sad, isn't it. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-12-09, 10:16:57 (64.74.212.75)
Yes, what a dismal bunch of discs they have to offer "free." I couldn't find any that I wanted to watch once, let alone own. That player sold for as low as $172 over the Thanksgiving holiday. It will .......
310: General Asylum, Sensible Sound. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-12-09, 10:01:27 (64.74.212.75)
This magazine is mentioned below and does exist. You might find it is what you are looking for. They have it on the stand at a local bookstore. They do blind comparisons, which is strictly forbidden t .......
311: Vinyl Asylum, No problem at all, but... (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-12-08, 14:38:19 (64.74.212.75)
I found my records sounded even better when I got a RCM. I used MF cloths for more than a year and found them extremely effective for quickly drying records without leaving behind any lint. However, w .......
312: Speaker Asylum, The best speakers in the world are musical instruments and voices. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-12-03, 10:41:58 (128.114.22.181)
Hi-fi loudspeakers ALL have flaws, every one of them. So picking the "best" is a matter of defining the meaning of the word "best" or deciding which flaws are unimportant to you. Your "best" may be my .......
313: Video Asylum, Ole, after reading this thread, maybe you and I aren't so far apart. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-12-02, 12:32:16 (64.74.212.75)
I make no claim to be able to accurately predict what is going to happen. I have no idea what really would happen if HD DVD ruled the US, but BD ruled the rest of the world. I have no idea what effect .......
314: Vinyl Asylum, A piece of music that made the need for AS force obvious for me. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-12-02, 12:11:45 (64.74.212.75)
I see this thread went all over the place. Having owned six or so TTs over the past 45 years, I found that for me setting the AS force have been very important and made an-easy to-hear difference. I c .......
315: Video Asylum, Well, Ole, I'm heading out today to buy a HD DVD player! (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-12-01, 11:52:16 (64.74.212.75)
Since I can buy one for significantly under $200 (roughly the cost of taking my family out to dinner in a good restaurant these days), and there are now many titles in that format I wouldn't mind rent .......
316: Speaker Asylum, One more comment. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-12-01, 11:06:34 (64.74.212.75)
I noticed that you are also going to listen to the Thiel and VS. They are certainly different and really give a you a choice in sound characteristics. Those two are not to my tastes at all, but then m .......
317: Speaker Asylum, RE: Just listened to Usher CP6381 and Vandersteen 3a sig (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-12-01, 11:00:19 (64.74.212.75)
The very latest Vandersteen II is a significant improvement over the older ones. Whether it is a good as the older 3A you listened to is an open question, but you could can get that new within your pr .......
318: Vinyl Asylum, I certainly can hear it. For me it is crucial. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-12-01, 10:49:02 (64.74.212.75)
To take a contrary view of some of the other posts in this thread, I think one of the greatest advances in tone arm design was the introduction of skating force compensation. I remember when it first .......
319: Hi-Rez Highway, The SF Opera has been recording in HD. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-11-30, 12:03:19 (128.114.22.181)
In fact, if you sit in a high balcony, there is a screen with HD playback of the live action so that you can see close-ups of what is happening. At first I thought it would be a distraction, but I cam .......
320: General Asylum, I'll have a go at it. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-11-30, 11:40:05 (128.114.22.181)
My system in the early '60s was a Dyna Stereo 70 and PAS 3, 2 AR 3s (before the 3A), and an AR TT with a Shure M55e cartridge. I built the Dyna stuff from kits. The total cost was around $-7-800. For .......
321: Hi-Rez Highway, Odd ball? (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-11-29, 12:13:57 (128.114.22.181)
I guess I must be too, even more so, as I find the First Piano Concerto insufferable. Joe .......
322: Speaker Asylum, A comment on my amp choice. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-11-29, 12:05:08 (128.114.22.181)
I did not go to a high power amp in order to drive the bass response lower or to increase it. I found that different amps seemed to have different abilities to control the woofer. I'm talking about th .......
323: Hi-Rez Highway, The world may not be, but I am getting closer. Opera on HD. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-11-28, 18:31:26 (128.114.22.181)
I think the whole two-format thing is stupid, and I am extremely happy with upscaled standard DVD on my HD 58-inch plasma set. But...the BD standard is not fixed. They keep changing it, and new discs .......
324: Speaker Asylum, I'm sorry, but my circuit is different. I really don't have any axe to grind here. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-11-28, 17:54:26 (128.114.22.181)
I still haven't had time to check the diagram, but I remember it did not have three 120 uf caps on the woofer circuit. Maybe it was two 200 uf, but doing the same thing. I do remember debating removin .......
325: Hi-Rez Highway, Analogue Production audiophile LP remaster (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-11-27, 17:33:40 (128.114.22.181)
Is this re-master better than the original issue on Vanguard? I assume it came from the same master tape, and it is possible that that master tape did degrade over time, so the original LP is better. .......
326: Speaker Asylum, RE: Some comments from a long-time owner. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-11-27, 17:10:55 (128.114.22.181)
I don't have the circuit diagram with me right now, so I'll have to check. It was a while ago, but I remember debating whether to do something about some input caps that were there for woofer protecti .......
327: Amp/Preamp Asylum, How to have your cake and eat it too. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-11-27, 14:31:03 (128.114.22.181)
After seeing the picture of your setup, I would stay with your present amps, which you are happy with, and start thinking about cabinets. A cabinet with a square cross-section sitting right where your .......
328: Speaker Asylum, Some comments from a long-time owner. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-11-27, 13:18:06 (128.114.22.181)
I own the 105.2s. Some comments on different things: 1. The castors: My speakers are directly on hardwood floors, and I found it was essential that I decouple them from the floors as much as possible, .......
329: Hi-Rez Highway, "It's a mid-fi unit." (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-11-25, 11:22:33 (64.74.212.75)
Theresa, after years of blasting CDs, you have finally admitted recently that they can be listenable if you have a reasonably decent player. Some of us have been saying for years that they can be more .......
330: Hi-Rez Highway, Do you think leaving things on all the time improves sound? (NT) (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-11-21, 16:09:58 (64.74.212.75)
.......
331: Hi-Rez Highway, Leaving digital/SS equipment on all the time. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-11-20, 12:50:07 (128.114.22.181)
I have the impression that at least some SS electronics sounds better if left on all the time. I know for sure that my Plinius amp requires at least three days of warm up to sound really good, and it .......
332: Vinyl Asylum, From your list: (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-11-19, 15:33:12 (128.114.22.181)
I have the Rega P3/RB300 with a Dynavector 20X cartridge. It really sounds very nice, has worked superbly for years, and has been no fuss. You can get both for about $1000 new, and you can get the hig .......
333: General Asylum, Both placement and stands could make a big difference for "sound" scientific reasons. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-11-17, 11:53:29 (64.74.212.75)
You are using tube equipment. Tubes are sensitive to vibrations, both mechanical vibrations that can get to them from many paths (like from the floor up through the stand and chassis) and directly by .......
334: Vinyl Asylum, A question about wood platters and a comment on mats. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-11-15, 12:41:21 (128.114.22.181)
One might think one goal of a platter could be to efficiently absorb, couple to any vibrations coming from the record and dissipate those vibrations immediately, turn them into heat. I don't know how .......
335: Hi-Rez Highway, RE: How much "hi fidelity" are you looking for? (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-11-14, 14:19:39 (128.114.22.181)
I refrained from making a nearly identical post because I'm not sure whether I should be classified as a "sound and hi fi freak" or a "clown." Joe .......
336: Vinyl Asylum, I'm sure what I do would horrify you and many others.(very long) (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-11-14, 14:16:06 (128.114.22.181)
I don't use ultra pure water to rinse my records after using RRL. I use rapidly-running tap water. A good strong stream of tap water very quickly rinses off the cleaning solution and all the gunk in i .......
337: Vinyl Asylum, My experience with Audio Intelligent Vinyl Cleaning Solution. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-11-14, 10:58:31 (128.114.22.181)
It works extremely well as you say. However, I didn't find it worked any better (within experimental error) than RRL Deep Clean. NOTE: I often read here where people compare RRL Wash to other solution .......
338: Hi-Rez Highway, There's an interesting message about intrinsic SACD quality in your post. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-11-13, 12:39:06 (128.114.22.181)
Your Sony DVD player playing an SACD can sound better than your Rega playing a CD. I don't know which Sony you have, buy I suspect it is not a high-end model like your Saturn. If that is the case, the .......
339: Hi-Rez Highway, How much "hi fidelity" are you looking for? (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-11-13, 12:23:25 (128.114.22.181)
What you mean by a hi fidelity player may put some constraints on what you should buy. You have recommendations for an Oppo player. The price is certainly right. I own an Oppo 970HD, but I find it not .......
340: Hi-Rez Highway, CD players do make a big difference. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-11-12, 15:10:17 (64.74.212.75)
That CD players can make a difference need not be stressed here. But they can make a bigger difference than some people may realize. I just bought a Marantz 8260 SACD/CD player to replace my Sony 2000 .......
341: Vinyl Asylum, Not a lot of information to go on. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-11-10, 16:07:43 (64.74.212.75)
One thing that could be crucial is where you have it plugged in. If you have it plugged into a high gain input designed for a low output cartridge, you could be overloading either your phono stage or .......
342: Vinyl Asylum, RE: How did you drop the gain on the PH5?* (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-11-08, 12:57:20 (128.114.22.181)
I bought a kit from ARC that contained two high-quality resistors for each channel. When installed, they acted as a voltage divider and dropped the gain to around 45 db. ARC was well aware of this pot .......
343: Speaker Asylum, My little Spendor S3/5 does a nice job on a cello. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-11-07, 18:21:40 (128.114.22.181)
True, the low notes lack oomf, but otherwise they do a fine job of of the sound of the bow on the string. I put one right on top of my SP 100 and compared the two in mono. Except for the lower frequen .......
344: Vinyl Asylum, How lucky I am remains to be seen! (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-11-07, 18:09:30 (128.114.22.181)
It could be a complete waste of time. When you hunt for classical music, the pickings are often slim to none. But a campus radio station could be better than average. I picked up a lot of excellent di .......
345: Vinyl Asylum, Wow! Who would have believed it? (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-11-07, 11:12:06 (64.74.212.75)
I went to that site and found a show this very Saturday about three miles from where I live. In fact, the show is being held where I work, and I didn't even know about it. Thanks for the tip, and I'll .......
346: Vinyl Asylum, What is your goal? (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-11-07, 11:00:10 (64.74.212.75)
Looking for a new friend? Probably not. More likely, since people interested in this stuff are not all that common, you thought it might be interesting to exchange a few views about things audio. Afte .......
347: Speaker Asylum, But with a very low damping factor,... (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-11-06, 14:36:14 (128.114.22.181)
dynamics may not be the problem. Frequency response may be if the speaker has a quite variable impedance with frequency. But you are right, I would expect the piano to get into more trouble if the amp .......
348: Speaker Asylum, My speakers are not very "impressionistic" sounding, but (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-11-06, 14:32:54 (128.114.22.181)
they reproduce the cello more realistically than almost any I have ever heard. They are Vanderseen 5s. Joe .......
349: Speaker Asylum, A comment on the cello vs.the paino. Amp and source equipment a concern. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-11-06, 10:56:38 (64.74.212.75)
I would be as concerned about the low damping factor as the power of your amp. It would help to see an output impedance curve for it. From what you posted about the cello, I would also be concerned a .......
350: Vinyl Asylum, You've got it basically right. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-11-06, 10:41:43 (64.74.212.75)
There is no question that vinyl playback has significantly higher distortion and noise than CD playback. This is not even debatable, but a simple fact. Vinyl playback adds significant harmonic distort .......
351: Vinyl Asylum, Not so fast. Dont't dismiss the 20XH! And a cautionary note. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-11-06, 10:17:21 (64.74.212.75)
In the last week or so there was a direct comparison of the L and H version of this cartridge by (I believe) HuckFinn, and he thought they were a toss up in many ways. In fact, as I recall, he preferr .......
352: Vinyl Asylum, Wand's Brahms, Klemperer also, and a comment on Haggin. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-11-06, 09:53:33 (64.74.212.75)
The first record (mono)I ever bought around 1960 was Klemperer conducting Brahms 3rd, and I still like it very much. For many years I consider it the standard by which all others were to be judged, bu .......
353: Speaker Asylum, Your post raises important questions. Some answer would really help. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-11-05, 12:57:58 (128.114.22.181)
You say you like the sound of the piano, but not the cello. Does the piano sound good over much of its range? Of course, you can't expect these speakers to do well on the lowest notes of the piano, bu .......
354: Speaker Asylum, I must be weird, because I don't do A-B listening tests in the normal sense. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-11-02, 17:13:11 (128.114.22.181)
I just listen carefully to one speaker on a variety of music and judge how well I like how it sounded, how compelling and engaging it was. This can go on for 15-30 minutes or more at a variety fo volu .......
355: Speaker Asylum, RE: Speaker Advice (Audio Physic/VA/Spendor) (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-11-02, 16:58:10 (128.114.22.181)
Even though you have no local dealer, can you hold off until you listen to these speakers at more distant dealers? They will sound quite different from one another. I have heard several Audio Physic m .......
356: Amp/Preamp Asylum, I'm a little unclear on exacyly what characteristics you want your high-pass filter to have. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-11-01, 11:26:10 (128.114.22.181)
For example, what slope should it have, and what frequency is desired for the - 3db point. Are you trying to match a filter on your sub in order to have smooth transition? For example, the approach us .......
357: Amp/Preamp Asylum, Warm, lush sound = colored sound (distorted sound). (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-31, 12:28:37 (128.114.22.181)
There's nothing intrinsically wrong with liking warm, lush sound, but it is achieved through some modification of the signal, often referred to as a coloration of the sound. Coloration is a form of di .......
358: Speaker Asylum, Let me give you just one counter example. A further comment. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-31, 12:09:59 (128.114.22.181)
The Sonus Faber Stradivarius (spelling is wrong, I know). I have heard this $40K+ speaker in two different places, both times driven with absolutely first rate equipment. The first time it was in a mo .......
359: General Asylum, There is a famous recording of Denis Brain... (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-30, 12:05:05 (128.114.22.181)
playing the garden hose. However, this great French horn player was lot better at it than this guy. Joe .......
360: Speaker Asylum, Two comments. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-30, 11:54:25 (128.114.22.181)
I have never heard a speaker that didn't have flaws or limitations of one kind or another, and I don't believe modern technoloy can get around this yet. It is intrinsic to the fundamental nature of be .......
361: Vinyl Asylum, Observation for fanatics (the truly certifiable) only. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-30, 11:29:28 (128.114.22.181)
Once, while aligning a cartridge that had a cantilever with a small deviation, I did the alignment to take out the deviation. However, I noticed that if I had the skating force applied, the deviation .......
362: Hi-Rez Highway, RE: Unfortunately,... (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-29, 16:18:26 (128.114.22.181)
I understand. Sorry if I sounded to preachy. This is always tough, especially when the equipment gets into the higher realms. Good luck! Joe .......
363: Hi-Rez Highway, Unfortunately,... (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-29, 10:58:24 (64.74.212.75)
you must listen for yourself. There's simply no way around it. No one else's comments can help much once you get into this realm. I know some experienced listeners who said that the Ayre put the Esote .......
364: Speaker Asylum, "Airy" sound. What makes it happen- some speculation. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-29, 10:42:54 (64.74.212.75)
I've wondered about this a lot. I've found that the degree of "aryness" is one of the very few things that I can hear that distinguishes one IC from another. I certainly don't hear differences in FR o .......
365: Vinyl Asylum, Nostalgia- that was my first TT back in 1960 or so. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-29, 10:13:58 (64.74.212.75)
It also came in a kit version, which is what I had. My main problem with it was its great sensitivity to acoustical feedback. Back in those days I didn't know anything about support, and my AR 3 (I co .......
366: Hi-Rez Highway, Before you get it serviced... (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-28, 12:54:12 (64.74.212.75)
Many people have reported that SACD players can be much more sensitive to the condition of the disc itself than CD players, some players more than others. I suspect you've already checked this, but ar .......
367: General Asylum, Don't worry about interconnects, wall sockets, speaker cables, etcs. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-28, 12:27:01 (64.74.212.75)
and a bunch of things I would put in that camp. They do make a difference in some conditions for some people, but in my experience they are not going to make a system that sucks so bad that anybody ca .......
368: Speaker Asylum, RE: Too big for a small room? (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-28, 11:44:55 (64.74.212.75)
Yes, it sounds like those speakers have trouble in your room. They need a bigger room in which to do their thing. I hadn't realized they had all those drivers. The nice thing about the Spendors is tha .......
369: Speaker Asylum, Importance of flat frequency response. Smoothness is very important. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-28, 11:36:30 (64.74.212.75)
You have many fine answers with plenty of ammo in this thread, so I won't repeat what has already been said. I would add two points. Rarely do speaker reviews pay much attention to speaker distortion .......
370: Speaker Asylum, Too big for a small room? (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-28, 10:56:27 (64.74.212.75)
Do you feel they are physically too big, or are you concerned that they might not sound good in a small room. If it's the former, then of course you want to look for smaller speakers. I have one S 3/5 .......
371: Video Asylum, Question. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-26, 13:44:55 (128.114.22.181)
When I hooked up my plasma set to my Dishnetwork receiver with an HDMI connection, the picture looked so spectacular I never bothered to even try component cables, even though I have a high quality se .......
372: Video Asylum, I intensely disliked "2001." (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-26, 13:32:03 (128.114.22.181)
Having been interested in science fiction since 1950, I found this movie pretentious and disjointed in its plot. I did like the special effects very much though, but that couldn't make up for the rest .......
373: Digital Drive, Thanks for your comment. I should have said one more thing: fraud. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-26, 12:59:20 (128.114.22.181)
I was giving the story of this shootout the benefit of the doubt. It could also be the case that the whole thing was a fraud. Since we know no names or any details, we really don't know whether this e .......
374: Hi-Rez Highway, Be sure to listen before buying! (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-26, 12:38:00 (128.114.22.181)
You have sereral recommendations for Esoteric, which I'm sure makes very good players. However, two people I know who are extremely experienced listeners spent many hours comparing Esoteric gear to th .......
375: Hi-Rez Highway, Not an SACD, but... (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-26, 12:24:16 (128.114.22.181)
I have an original vinyl pressing of this, and it is very fine as well. It's well worth looking for if you don't have it and use a TT. JSM .......
376: Vinyl Asylum, I only have one pressing of it and (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-25, 13:34:50 (128.114.22.181)
it isn't bad, it just isn't up there with my top mono vinyl records. Are you referring to a vinyl recording or to a recent CD for which great effort was spent to improve the sound? The acoustical spac .......
377: Digital Drive, This "shootout" is almost worthless. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-24, 16:03:00 (128.114.22.181)
No piece of audio equipment is perfect. Even when one gets into the high end, even the highest end, whatever that means, nothing is perfect. Therefore how one judges a peice of equipment depends one's .......
378: Vinyl Asylum, Neither. It was recorded in stereo and... (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-24, 13:26:57 (128.114.22.181)
I first bought it not long after it originally came out. Joe .......
379: Vinyl Asylum, I've heard about 20 versions, and the Walter is among my top choices. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-24, 13:12:54 (128.114.22.181)
The Funeral March is superb. Most other versions of the March sound rather perfunctory and shallow in comparison. Like many Columbias, even six -eyes of this don't have absolutely first-rate sound- a .......
380: Video Asylum, Not particularly relevant to me, and upscaled DVD can be be very nice. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-23, 12:01:46 (128.114.22.181)
I did later buy an S-VHS machine because I wanted the higher resolution to go along with my camcorder, but I never needed it to play any pre-recorded material. I also later got a hi-fi machine, though .......
381: Vinyl Asylum, Walter Beethoven 6th was re-issued on vinyl. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-23, 11:07:51 (128.114.22.181)
It is in the Franklin Mint Greatest Recordings series with better sound than any Columbia pressing. I also think it sounds better much better than the SACD. Since this entire collection of 100 records .......
382: Vinyl Asylum, Something is wrong. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-22, 12:11:23 (128.114.22.181)
I know nothing about that record label, so I'll have to leave it to others to comment if this is common for their pressings. If it is, stop right there and return them. If it isn't, I would make the f .......
383: Vinyl Asylum, Thanks for the tip! (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-22, 11:36:05 (128.114.22.181)
I do have that recording, but haven't listened to it yet. I believe it is mint condition, no pun intended, as most of the set appeared to be unplayed and the rest in NM condition when I got it. It was .......
384: Video Asylum, "Early adopters problems" is no excuse! (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-19, 16:37:53 (128.114.22.181)
We have seen posts that one shouldn't surprised to see people having problems playing newer BD discs, that kind of thing just goes along with being an early adopter, when the standards are still evolv .......
385: Hi-Rez Highway, My wife hears music better than I do but doesn't hear sound as well as I do. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-19, 12:08:16 (128.114.22.181)
Many of us spend a fair amount of time listening to the sound rather than to the music. There is a difference. I assume the original question was whether women have better hearing, are better able to .......
386: Speaker Asylum, What you say makes me even more impressed. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-19, 11:34:39 (128.114.22.181)
You say they were playing string quartets. Reproducing the sound of a string quartet realistically is a major challenge, and I have heard some highly regarded speakers costing tens of thousands do a p .......
387: Speaker Asylum, OK, another comment on cap break-in from a former non-believer. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-19, 11:23:51 (128.114.22.181)
Experts below assert that any real break-in of caps occurs in a very short time, minutes, not many hours. All the rest is imagination and would not survive a blind test.* When I made the cap upgrade t .......
388: Vinyl Asylum, From a purely geometrical point of view it does. But... (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-19, 10:26:10 (128.114.22.181)
As an arm gets longer, the tracking angle error across the record should decrease. Consider the case of a very long arm, many feet. Then the small swing of the arm compared to the length of the arm pr .......
389: Hi-Rez Highway, Theresa: You still have a second-rate CD player! (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-18, 13:31:35 (128.114.22.181)
You should not say what you are saying until you hear how good a CD can sound on a top CD player. SACDs can still be better, but a first-rate CD on a top CD player can be wonderful. Sadly, all the top .......
390: Vinyl Asylum, One quick comment, FWIW. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-18, 12:43:33 (128.114.22.181)
You have several suggestions for an Oppo. I have the 970. Maybe the newer models are better, but I find the 970 unacceptable for SACDs. To put it another way, my Rega P3 with a DV 20XH is far superior .......
391: Vinyl Asylum, Actually my point was something simpler. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-18, 09:23:15 (128.114.22.181)
Many recordings, especially CDs, are mastered and produced in such a way that a little touch-up of the frequency response can significantly improve things. I have all-to-many bright CDs that just aren .......
392: Vinyl Asylum, Tone controls! (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-17, 17:32:16 (128.114.22.181)
The purists objects strongly to tone controls, but changing the response curve of a phono stage is effectively the same as using tone controls. To be sure, a modified response curve of some kind is re .......
393: General Asylum, Sorry. My question wasn't clear. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-17, 11:59:33 (128.114.22.181)
Was the 20XH in your comaprison the old one or the new one with with the threaded holes? I had alreeady concluded from your very helpful review that there was no hurry for me to change. Someone else t .......
394: Amp/Preamp Asylum, Many thanks for your nice offer, but... (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-17, 11:55:09 (128.114.22.181)
it only happens when I am doing something that I do extremely rarely. For me it is a minor curiosity. Given all the units I have, it's impressive that this is the only unit interaction I have ever see .......
395: Speaker Asylum, A few comments. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-17, 11:44:25 (128.114.22.181)
There are several possibilities for what you are hearing. First, it may have nothing to do with the brand of the cap, but its actual value. It could be that your new caps differ slightly or even signi .......
396: General Asylum, Some of the best-sounding recordings ever are coming out right now! (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-16, 15:14:25 (128.114.22.181)
However, that statement mainly applies to classical music. Having started buying classical recordings around 1960, I've seen variable quality at all time periods, even in the "50s and '60s when all th .......
397: General Asylum, High volume vs overly loud- a recent experience. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-16, 14:46:02 (128.114.22.181)
I recently attended a performance by the SF Opera of Tannhauser and had seats that were very good from an acoustical point of view. I was struck by the extremely large dynamic range of the music. The .......
398: General Asylum, Very interesting. A question about the 20XH. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-16, 14:16:36 (128.114.22.181)
The 20XL in your picture is the new version, with the threaded holes. What version was the 20XH you compared it to? I have the 20XH (old version) and have been debating whether to get the LO version n .......
399: Amp/Preamp Asylum, I have an incomaptability between my Ayre CX-7e and my plasma set. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-16, 13:36:28 (128.114.22.181)
My set is a Panasonic. While using the TV remote control, My CX-7e can be changed from stand-by (just the single green light) to "on" with the full display lit, ready to play. Unfortunately I don't kn .......
400: Vinyl Asylum, This doesn't quite make sense to me. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-16, 12:28:03 (128.114.22.181)
At this distance a flash will very likely overwhelm the 60 watt bulb, depending on the bulb's distance; "overhead" isn't very specific. A flash shot is a very short exposure, so the bulb may make no d .......
401: Speaker Asylum, I think buying speakers (and most audio equipment) on-line is a bad idea. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-14, 16:21:11 (64.74.212.75)
Speakers, perhaps more than any other piece of audio equipment except for other transducers such as cartridges, have sound personalities all their own. They really can be very individualistic. Unless .......
402: Vinyl Asylum, RE: Bruno Walter's Beethoven (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-14, 15:49:29 (64.74.212.75)
Even at its best, the Columbia classical recordings of this time were seldom at the very top of sound quality, even six-eyes. Interestingly, re-issues of them that wound up in in the Franklin Mint's 1 .......
403: Vinyl Asylum, It's hard to believe it does, at least... (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-14, 11:48:27 (64.74.212.75)
for the common reason that people claim it is important. You will repeatedly read the claim that it is important to match the angle of the original cutting device. That is of course impossible unless .......
404: Speaker Asylum, RE: integrated for spendor 1/2 (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-11, 11:48:09 (128.114.22.181)
I used to own SP 100s and spent quite a bit of time looking into amplifiers for Spendors. I listened to several in my house with these speakers. In the end I went with Plinius. A number of people, inc .......
405: Vinyl Asylum, Comforting indeed. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-10, 15:20:37 (128.114.22.181)
When it first happened to me, it was with a record I knew should be extremely quiet, and I immediately suspected I had developed some extremely subtle electronics problem in the signal chain that woul .......
406: Vinyl Asylum, An unusual source of playback noise. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-10, 14:13:35 (128.114.22.181)
A few times recently I noticed a very low level of constant crackling noise while playing back an otherwise very quiet record. It happened just the other night while playing a narrow-band Decca of Sol .......
407: Vinyl Asylum, Some other considerations. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-10, 13:35:52 (128.114.22.181)
You say you plan to start with classical and jazz records, but you won't be buying a lot because they are expensive. I think this starting premise is seriously in error. I will speak to classical reco .......
408: Vinyl Asylum, A classical recording that is better on CD than vinyl. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-09, 16:38:03 (128.114.22.181)
Beethoven's violin concerto, Grumiaux violin, Colin Davis conducting. I have more than one excellent pressing of this on Phillips, and the sound is very good on the best. However, the Phillips CD, eve .......
409: Hi-Rez Highway, But...but...SACD is dead! (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-08, 12:42:55 (128.114.22.181)
At least that's what many claim. But not me, and you add further proof of the great things happening in this format. I started buying classical vinyl around 1960, and I can find just as many new relea .......
410: General Asylum, Vandersteen 5A. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-08, 12:19:27 (128.114.22.181)
I have heard many of the speakers mentioned in this thread. Most of them are extremely impressive. That's their problem. They are very impressive and sound like great speakers, not like great music. T .......
411: Video Asylum, I do have an excellent plasma HD set. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-04, 16:22:48 (128.114.22.181)
But upsampled DVD on my Oppo DVD player looks extremely good. In fact, it is as about as good with a good DVD as the average HD program that comes over Dishnetwork, though of course not as good as the .......
412: Video Asylum, You are absolutely right. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-04, 16:16:42 (128.114.22.181)
Just about any of those are killers for me buying one. I have nothing against being an early adopter, but this situation is not compelling me. I think I'd rather have an iPhione if I'm spending that k .......
413: Hi-Rez Highway, I fell for the hoopla. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-04, 14:59:19 (128.114.22.181)
I got the Oppo 970, though, thinking it would be a big step up from my Sony 2000ES. It wasn't, and I was quite disappointed. Just the opposite. However, I recently got a nice 58-inch plasma HD set and .......
414: Video Asylum, Another reason, among many, that I'll remain on the HD player sidelines for a while. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-03, 14:12:07 (128.114.22.181)
These guys must be idiots. With upsampled DVD as good as it is, I really can't see any reason to buy a HD player right now. A clear message has just been sent. Two competing formats and now changes to .......
415: Vinyl Asylum, Yes, but my Audioquest CF brush does not scratch my records like the Hunt does. (nt) (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-03, 13:53:12 (128.114.22.181)
.......
416: Vinyl Asylum, A small warning about the Hunt brush. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-02, 12:01:25 (128.114.22.181)
You have several recommendations for this brush in this thread, but you should know that it can scratch records. If you use it with any more force that its own weight or so, it can cause very fine sca .......
417: Vinyl Asylum, I have one, but it leaves a film behind. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-10-02, 11:53:54 (128.114.22.181)
I don't know what comes out of it, but when I use it on a record, I can easily see a film-like coating on the surface after. It's obvious in the dead wax. I've tried cleaning and washing it, but it st .......
418: Video Asylum, RE: Plasma tv motion artifacts severe! Not my experience. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-09-28, 13:50:00 (128.114.22.181)
I recently went from a top-of-the-line Sony XBR 36-inch CRT set that had one of the finest standard pictures I had ever seen to a Panasonic 58-inch 720p plasma set. I am equally happy with the picture .......
419: Amp/Preamp Asylum, I'm glad you posted this. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-09-24, 13:53:54 (128.114.22.181)
Many people are getting rich based on absolutely worthless claims such as those in the first post of this thread. People read the claim or conclusion, think it looks like it was the result of a carefu .......
420: Speaker Asylum, Yes, I think so. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-09-24, 13:30:12 (128.114.22.181)
The Vandersteen 5A is rated 20-20,000 KHz and beyond to within 2 db. It does have a sub built-in as part of the speaker. Does that count? Now against the wall or corner performance is another thing. T .......
421: Hi-Rez Highway, Another comment. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-09-22, 11:45:35 (64.74.212.75)
At some point I may make the decision that I would rather have first-class 2-ch sound rather than so-so MCH sound, and then the landscape changes a lot. But I'm not there yet. The 8260 is low in price .......
422: Vinyl Asylum, You could do the doubters a great service. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-09-22, 11:22:41 (64.74.212.75)
You say that when you are within about 0.003 inches of the right value, then you have to be careful as you dial in those last 0.001 of an inch. With a crude calculation (assuming an eight-inch tone ar .......
423: Hi-Rez Highway, Many thanks. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-09-21, 17:50:07 (64.74.212.75)
You answered my questions very well. I'll give it some thought. The Oppo is definitely less thin sounding, warmer, and that is why at first I thought it was a step up from the 2000ES. After a little b .......
424: Hi-Rez Highway, Some questions. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-09-21, 11:26:23 (128.114.22.181)
Thanks for your suggestion. I haven't heard a Marantz SACD player in a while, but the one I did hear was a top model, and it did sound very good. Since you did hear the Sony 2000ES, did you reach a si .......
425: Amp/Preamp Asylum, OK, some final comments. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-09-21, 11:03:30 (128.114.22.181)
I wasn't going to post again, as this thread is getting well into diminishing returns. But I'll point out that when I recommended the Plinius 8200, I did it for three major reasons. You set a dollar l .......
426: Hi-Rez Highway, Do you think the stock unit would be a move up? (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-09-20, 15:36:29 (128.114.22.181)
Would I hear a significant difference? I realize that is hard to answer, but to put it in perspective, I can easily hear the difference between the Oppo and the Sony. I consider that a signficant diff .......
427: Hi-Rez Highway, I was aware of that, but... (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-09-20, 15:32:45 (128.114.22.181)
modding the Oppo has received some praise here. I've thought of having a go at the 2000ES myself to see if I can drop the top end a db or two or see what some cap upgrades might do, but I think it nee .......
428: Vinyl Asylum, I still have my last rig from when I left vinyl. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-09-20, 15:18:48 (128.114.22.181)
Around 1985 I just sold my records and put it away. It consisted of a Dual 721 direct drive TT and a Shure V 15 IV cartridge. I later loaned it to my son, who retunred it when he made a major step up. .......
429: Vinyl Asylum, You describe some of the reasons I got out of vinyl 20 years ago. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-09-20, 10:45:57 (128.114.22.181)
There were more. Scratched records, intrinsically noisy records, poorly mastered records, dynamically compressed ones, warps, high tape hiss, hard to track, skips from bits of glue from the sleeves- t .......
430: Hi-Rez Highway, A move up from the Sony 2000ES? (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-09-19, 14:35:26 (128.114.22.181)
I have this Sony SACD player and am considering upgrading. What should I consider new or used in range up to about a $1000 or possibly a bit more? I really do want MCH capability if at all possible. F .......
431: Amp/Preamp Asylum, I can't make a recommendation based on what others have said or reputation alone. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-09-19, 14:20:01 (128.114.22.181)
Since I have no experience with Creek equipment, I can't really comment. My first post was about Plinius, which I do have experience with. As I said, it excelled in controlling a large woofer where ot .......
432: Amp/Preamp Asylum, Hey, please lighten up. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-09-19, 11:59:01 (128.114.22.181)
I made a post below that took me a fair amount of thought and time. I read your original post carefully and treated it seriously. My response was based entirely on my direct experience, and I made it .......
433: Speaker Asylum, Great illustration of several things. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-09-19, 11:48:14 (128.114.22.181)
Choosing speakers is a matter of taste. There is no "best" speaker, and you can't even say one speaker is better than another without very carefully defining what you mean by "better." If you had said .......
434: Vinyl Asylum, Some possibilities. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-09-19, 11:15:22 (128.114.22.181)
I have the same arm and that test record. With my DV 20XH I can track all three sections of the disc with no problem, I can pass all of the anti-skate tests, though the last one has some slight buzzin .......
435: Video Asylum, I couldn't agree more. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-09-18, 13:09:54 (128.114.22.181)
I recently purchased a 58-inch 720p Panasonic palsma set. I agonized over waitng a few months and buying a 1080p set that was coming out or some other sets that were already out, but this particular m .......
436: Hi-Rez Highway, Some thoughts. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-09-18, 12:43:10 (128.114.22.181)
First, you are already heavily invested in CDs. How good is your CD player? CD players vary considerably in their sound quality. If yours isn't top notch, you might get more overall satisfaction from .......
437: General Asylum, Maybe the problem is Elgar! (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-09-18, 11:57:45 (128.114.22.181)
Perhaps it is US policy that anyone wishing to promote the music of this composer and corrupt the musical minds of our youth should be banned from entering the country. Joe .......
438: Amp/Preamp Asylum, I won't tell you you what to buy, but make some comments and suggestions. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-09-18, 11:38:12 (128.114.22.181)
Most of the responses seem to concentrate on bass perfromance, but the first thing you mention is crisp detail, nuances. You say the FMJ CD 23 is a done deal. I owned one for a while and finally reali .......
439: Video Asylum, What's going on with Costco? (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-09-17, 12:51:24 (128.114.22.181)
Our local store has prominent displays of both HD and BD players. There is at least one and usually two BD players playing all the time on HD sets. But they carry maybe one or two HD titles along with .......
440: Hi-Rez Highway, RE: Too bad (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-09-17, 12:40:38 (128.114.22.181)
While the term "ahead of his time" may be overused, it certainly applies to Berlioz in spades. Often when I listen to his music I find it hard to believe it was written at the time that it was. The ot .......
441: Vinyl Asylum, It can be eliminated. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-09-17, 11:41:36 (128.114.22.181)
One of the reasons I left vinyl for "perfect sound forever" more than 20 years ago was inner groove distortion. I hated it. However, I was shown that there had been progress in 20 years in TTs and car .......
442: Vinyl Asylum, RE: Anyone prefer MM to MC? (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-09-17, 11:11:49 (128.114.22.181)
Only you can decide if a MC cartridge would be an upgrade for you. You have to listen for yourself. FWIW, though, I've been at this for more than 45 years, from the days when there were no MC cartridg .......
443: General Asylum, Nonsense. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-09-13, 09:54:52 (128.114.22.181)
"There is nothing you can get on CD that you can't get on vinyl." There a great number of new performances of classical music that have appeared in the past two decades that can be had on CD and SACD .......
444: Propeller Head Plaza, No, no, no! (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-09-12, 12:01:35 (128.114.22.181)
I am not claiming that I have dug up a flaw in the SACD format. Just the opposite! I am simply saying that SACD is better than RBCD as revealed by the fact I can make a very good, compelling RBCD copy .......
445: Video Asylum, I guess I was thinking as a scientist. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-09-11, 17:06:30 (128.114.22.181)
In science the term "significant difference" has a real meaning, If there is no significant difference between two things, then you can't distinguish between them reliably. I'm being much too picky in .......
446: Video Asylum, Things would really get ineteresting if ... (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-09-11, 16:58:46 (128.114.22.181)
they offered one of these that could also record the discs, included a burner. I have some very nice material in on the hard drive on my DVR that I would like to burn an HD copy of. Of course, I don't .......
447: Propeller Head Plaza, I couldn't agree more. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-09-11, 16:45:24 (128.114.22.181)
I have plenty of recordings in all three formats and enjoy them all. I rarely make CD-Rs, but my wife wanted a copy of an SACD for her car player. It was in the process of making that that I discovere .......
448: Propeller Head Plaza, I was asking a much simpler question. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-09-11, 16:36:57 (128.114.22.181)
I was dealing with the analog signal put out by three different devices and asking how well I could encode that signal with RBCD. For two devices RBCD worked quite well, for one (SACD original source) .......
449: Hi-Rez Highway, Would Christine Tham be willing to comment? (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-09-11, 12:15:12 (128.114.22.181)
She posts here regularly. As I recall, she built her own CD player that may have a few things in common with this unit. It reads out the disc at higher than normal speeds (I think) and double-buffers .......
450: Propeller Head Plaza, A test that I did. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-09-11, 12:00:10 (128.114.22.181)
FWIW, here is a rather simple test that I did. I have a rather good outboard ADC that puts out its digital signal to the USB input of my Mac laptop computer. I made three different kinds of recordings .......
451: Vinyl Asylum, A few comments. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-09-09, 11:02:13 (64.74.212.75)
Over the past few years I've gone through three phono stages: Plinius Jarrah, EAR 834p, and ARC PH 5. All were very good, but the PH 5 easily outperforms the other two plus the built in stage of a Pli .......
452: Video Asylum, A bit confused by your statement. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-09-08, 12:37:17 (64.74.212.75)
You say the Pioneer is not significantly better than Panasonic. That means it is insignificantly better, that to the extent it is better, it is so minor as to make no real difference. But you also say .......
453: General Asylum, One more point. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-09-08, 12:24:35 (64.74.212.75)
Maybe you need a better SACD player. In several years of playing SACDs, hybrids as well as single layer discs, I have never had a single case of malfunction of any kind. I have never had any recording .......
454: General Asylum, How sad. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-09-08, 12:14:14 (64.74.212.75)
It's unfortunate you can't enjoy SACDs, as I find them so engaging for classical music. Actually, Telarcs are not my first choice, but many of them and other labels on my system are extremely compelli .......
455: General Asylum, Classical SACDs- a good counter-example. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-09-07, 15:49:27 (64.74.212.75)
The steady stream of new classical releases in this supposedly-dead medium most often have first-rate sound, not only in sound quality, but in also in the balance of the miking. I find classical relea .......
456: Vinyl Asylum, I think linearity is the key here. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-09-06, 15:20:12 (128.114.22.181)
An alternative way of looking at this, I suspect fully equivalent, is to specify the dynamic range over which the system is accurately linear. That is, how weak a signal compared to a loud signal can .......
457: Vinyl Asylum, RE: Outlaw RR2150 Phono Gain w/ DL-160 - 40db or 55db? Advantages? (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-09-06, 14:53:48 (128.114.22.181)
One consideration. The voltage gain at 55 db is 562. This cartridge is rated at 1.6 mv, so at its rated output, this gain will produce a output voltage of 0.9 volts. However, loud portions of records .......
458: Hi-Rez Highway, RE: CD Mats and CDP Motor Wear and Tear (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-09-06, 12:17:46 (128.114.22.181)
FWIW, I tried these on my Ayre CX-7e. Never one to completely trust memory, I made CD-Rs of the output with the mat in place and without it. The CD-R represents a digital disc made by taking what star .......
459: Vinyl Asylum, Amazing accuracy from a cheapie. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-09-03, 16:21:27 (64.74.212.75)
I bought a Jennings on EBay for under $20, It has a 50 g range and 0.01 resolution. I checked it with laboratory standard weights of 1.00 and 2.00 g separately and together and it was right on, not of .......
460: Vinyl Asylum, More revolutions in both directions helps a lot, but... (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-09-01, 09:52:56 (64.74.212.75)
I'm just trying to save a bit of time and also get those pads to dry very fast. I find that usually just two revolution of the record makes it completely dry. As I said, this is all no big deal, but I .......
461: Video Asylum, You are completely wrong about SACD re classical music. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-08-31, 10:55:04 (64.74.212.75)
Actually I am extremely surprised by the steady stream of classical recording that is coming out on SACD. Who would have thought that classical music, which has an extremely limited following in the b .......
462: Vinyl Asylum, RE: Wet brush pad- an alternative approach- I wasn't clear enough. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-08-31, 10:27:43 (64.74.212.75)
I use DD and/or carbon fiber brushes with a separate TT to clean my records with record cleaning fluid. I then rinse off all the cleaning solution with its gunk ending with a distilled water rinse. I .......
463: Vinyl Asylum, Wet brush pad- an alternative approach. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-08-30, 13:49:49 (128.114.22.181)
I've thought about replacing my present brush pads with ones made of some material that doesn't get wet, or more accurately, dries extremely fast as the air flows by. I have pads on either side of a l .......
464: Speaker Asylum, If you ever decide to get subs, it could help your amp out. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-08-27, 11:11:05 (128.114.22.181)
If you wanted to go for the lowest octave and get some Vandersteen 2Wq subwoofers, not only would your overall performance increase (assuming you are interested in the lowest bass), but the powered 2W .......
465: Vinyl Asylum, It is extremely difficult to remove ALL acoustic feedback if... (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-08-27, 10:43:02 (128.114.22.181)
your TT is in the same room as your speakers. As others have pointed out, the main mode of feedback is speaker-generated vibrations that travel through the floor and up through the stand to the TT. Va .......
466: Video Asylum, I checked mine again last night. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-08-25, 11:26:09 (64.74.212.75)
It was recording a program. In this case I could hear it up to about two feet away, beyond which I couldn't. I'll check again when I have a moment and it isn't recording, if it ever isn't recording. I .......
467: Video Asylum, I can't even hear mine from a foot away. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-08-24, 10:10:59 (128.114.22.181)
The only way I know it's on is from the lights in front. Maybe you have a defective unit or it sits on a shelf that acts as a sound board. Joe .......
468: Speaker Asylum, I just found out. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-08-23, 11:52:08 (128.114.22.181)
I put a 58-inch plasma screen between my two speakers and immediately severely degraded my sound. I knew something bad would happen. The main effect was to severly compress the soundstage, the sense t .......
469: Vinyl Asylum, Who is Nora Jones??? (nt) (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-08-23, 11:37:15 (128.114.22.181)
.......
470: Speaker Asylum, This is rather curious. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-08-22, 11:06:14 (128.114.22.181)
How did you measure this bump in response? Are you sure about the calibration of your meter? Did you move the meter to different places in the room. I raise these questions because that frequency is a .......
471: General Asylum, You are wrong. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-08-20, 14:47:48 (128.114.22.181)
I once owned a Arcam FMJ 23 CD player, considered to be a good player, and was considering whether to upgrade to an Ayre CX-7. A high-end store had both. I easily could hear the difference when all th .......
472: Speaker Asylum, Have you heard an M30? If not, don't buy until you do. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-08-20, 14:01:32 (128.114.22.181)
No amount of verbal descriptions and comparisons to other speakers can substitute for listening to a speaker. I was certain I wanted to buy Harbeth M40s until I heard a pair. It only took me about 15 .......
473: Amp/Preamp Asylum, Who/where is Music Reference? (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-08-17, 11:41:55 (128.114.22.181)
Maybe I'm not looking in the right place, but I couldn't find them. Joe .......
474: Vinyl Asylum, But this is so easy to do right! (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-08-17, 11:36:57 (128.114.22.181)
I have a cheap Jennings scale with 0.01g rated resolution. It cost $15. I bent a piece of aluminum so that it could rest on the scale surface, make an offset down and then provide a place for the styl .......
475: Vinyl Asylum, I buy SACDs to support the future of classical music recording. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-08-17, 11:25:01 (128.114.22.181)
If I though buying classical vinyl would somehow bring it back, that would be another matter. But for a classical music fan, vinyl as a medium for new performnces is all but dead. There may be a tiny .......
476: Vinyl Asylum, Used vinyl. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-08-17, 11:06:44 (128.114.22.181)
I walked out of Rasputin's in Mt. View, CA, on Wednesday with five classical records at a total price of $12. They all appear flawless, and I expect from experience they will sound extremely good. A C .......
477: Vinyl Asylum, They don't call this place an Asylum without reason. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-08-17, 10:53:07 (128.114.22.181)
You could be headed for madness (or a lot of mis-spent time) if you go too far in this direction. To put things in perspective, for most cartridges a room-temperature change of 5-10 degrees or so will .......
478: Vinyl Asylum, A test of a record weight. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-08-17, 10:40:59 (128.114.22.181)
With repect to the "g" of the record, except for very thin records like those RCA Dynaflex ones, I haven't found any particular differences between heavier grades of vinyl. Others have commented on t .......
479: Vinyl Asylum, RE: Yep. The original Sony CDP-101 was an ear bleeder for sure. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-08-16, 17:24:02 (128.114.22.181)
I still have mine, and it still works! It's built like a tank. I went from it to a Magnavox (yes, Magnavox) CDB 650, which was actually a Phillips machine, and the high-end improved considerably. I th .......
480: Amp/Preamp Asylum, RE: Tone control better than equalizer (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-08-16, 12:20:58 (128.114.22.181)
From a practical point of view, my experience is that a tone control is much more useful than an EQ because of its simplicity. Given your goal, which is the same as mine- applying some correction to a .......
481: Vinyl Asylum, OK, I admit it. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-08-16, 12:07:59 (128.114.22.181)
I have no experience with records with vomit on them. For all the records that I have bought used, whatever their condition, RRL has worked very well for me. I also use Spray and Wash (the US product) .......
482: Vinyl Asylum, A related question about microfiber cloth. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-08-16, 12:00:11 (128.114.22.181)
I have used carbon fiber and Disk Doctor brushes with cleaning solutions and wondered about the "groove reach" of both, separately from whether it makes a differnce whether the brush reaches into the .......
483: Vinyl Asylum, Two areas to look into. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-08-15, 18:20:22 (64.74.212.75)
I can think of two simple things that could be causing your problem. I can think of many others as well, but this could be a good place to start. First, though, I should say that I am not familiar wit .......
484: Video Asylum, I'm leaning toward doing nothing right now. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-08-13, 11:31:59 (64.74.212.75)
When I saw how good standard DVDs can look played using an HDMI connection with a good upsampling player like the inexpensive Oppo 970HD (which I had originally bought for SACDs and quickly lost inter .......
485: Vinyl Asylum, Some of Baranek's concert halls had short-lived popularity as well. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-08-10, 11:11:01 (64.74.212.75)
It didn't take long for people to decide that things didn't sound right. However, that seems to happen more often than not with new halls, suggesting acoustics still has a way to go as a science. A fi .......
486: General Asylum, A drop in the bucket compared to transistors. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-08-08, 12:18:26 (128.114.22.181)
Last year more than 10 to the 18th transistors were made. That's roughly 10 million times the number of stars in our galaxy. Vacuum tubes were only a warm up. Joe .......
487: Speaker Asylum, Some concerns. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-08-08, 12:01:27 (128.114.22.181)
As I understand it, most, maybe all drivers from that manufacturer are made by him. They are not available elsewhere, and I don't know if he will sell just a driver. If you do need one, your only reco .......
488: Vinyl Asylum, Some further comments. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-08-08, 11:49:49 (128.114.22.181)
What ARC stresses in their literature is not what kind of input their stages can handle, but what kind of output. My PH 5 has a voltage gain of 750. With a 5 mv rated cartridge, suppose we assume that .......
489: Vinyl Asylum, I reduced the gain of my PH 5 with a factory-supplied kit. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-08-08, 11:11:04 (128.114.22.181)
The PH 5, with a similar gain, can easily handle carttridges with high output. As I recall, the PH 5 can handle more than about 50 volts output without problems. As you say, overloading the preamp is .......
490: Speaker Asylum, I'm afraid you must listen for yourself. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-08-07, 11:02:05 (128.114.22.181)
These speakers sound very different from one another, so different that you must choose first on the basis of how they sound to you. Some people would prefer one, some the other, and neither preferenc .......
491: Vinyl Asylum, I just went through this. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-08-07, 10:50:58 (128.114.22.181)
My cantilever isn't quite as far off as yours, but I adjusted my cartridge body so that it is tracking (dragging) straight down the groove by slightly twisting the body. I used a "protractor" and over .......
492: Hi-Rez Highway, Nice to have Planets conducted by Davis on LSO in SACD. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-08-06, 13:00:11 (128.114.22.181)
This was recorded in DSD only a few years ago and is a very fine performance. It was only released in RBCD with quite good sound, and it would make a superb SACD. Do they ever respond to requests? Joe .......
493: Vinyl Asylum, Some comments. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-08-01, 15:11:08 (128.114.22.181)
Your second two points have nothing to do with variable stylus drag. It is beyond me how simply adding a drag force to a table damps it unless, as I said in my first post, it goes both ways. The force .......
494: Vinyl Asylum, Wrong! (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-08-01, 15:02:58 (128.114.22.181)
Suppose a stylus exerts +/- 0.1g of drag force. The important thing is whether this change in drag force will change speed. It doesn't matter what it's added to, even 10 kg of drag force. The other d .......
495: Video Asylum, Update: I think I now know what "flag enabled" means. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-08-01, 13:45:41 (128.114.22.181)
I should have looked around on the web first. I'm not sure I understand it correctly, though. To put it simply, as I understand it, a flag-enabled disk won't allow the output of some higher definition .......
496: Video Asylum, What is "flag enabled?" (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-08-01, 13:33:15 (128.114.22.181)
I have an Oppo 970HD, and the quality of some DVDs played via HDMI that I have watched recently is superb. One example is "The Departed." The quality is comaprable to an average satellite HD broadcast .......
497: Vinyl Asylum, A bit of clarification please. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-08-01, 13:08:21 (128.114.22.181)
I have Vandersteen 5's on a suspended hardwood floor and have wondered if they would sound better with carpet under them. Do I understand you what said? You made pads of wood to go under the speakers .......
498: Vinyl Asylum, That's a strange way to go.. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-08-01, 12:38:08 (128.114.22.181)
Claiming that by adding a lot of constant drag force, adding a little more doesn't make any difference is strange reasoning. What counts is how much that extra drag force is compared to the driving fo .......
499: Vinyl Asylum, It depends on the rest of the room. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-08-01, 10:42:44 (128.114.22.181)
The best sound I ever had was in a room with heavy carpet over cement. But it was big, had paneled walls, and a large open, beamed ceiling. My present room has intrinsically the worst sound I have eve .......
500: Hi-Rez Highway, One more obvious reason to do it. (0.00)
Posted by jsm on 2007-07-31, 11:24:27 (128.114.22.181)
Probably this is too obvious, and everybody knows it. If your center channel isn't identical or at least roughly equal in quality to your main speakers, especially in the midrange and high-end, it cou .......
Found total of 500 records, Query: , Author: jsm in All Forums, Time: 2 sec.