What audio system do you have, or plan on getting?

Started by Bonehelm, May 24, 2007, 08:52:55 AM

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Valentino

I like ASR. I've learned what makes a phono amp good there. Hint: It's not the price or the number of settings for MC cartridges.
Erin is even better. Excellent review of the KEF LS60 for instance.
We audiophiles don't really like music, but we sure love the sound it makes;
Audio-Technica | Bokrand | Thorens | Cambridge Audio | Logitech | Yamaha | Topping | MiniDSP | Hypex | ICEpower | Mundorf | SEAS | Beyma

AnotherSpin

Quote from: Valentino on February 28, 2024, 10:14:01 PMI like ASR. I've learned what makes a phono amp good there. Hint: It's not the price or the number of settings for MC cartridges.
Erin is even better. Excellent review of the KEF LS60 for instance.

Your ears.

Valentino

I'm an electronics engineer. There are certain parameters I want to be to specification before I put any equipment into  the playback chain. Pure subjectivity is not my thing.
We audiophiles don't really like music, but we sure love the sound it makes;
Audio-Technica | Bokrand | Thorens | Cambridge Audio | Logitech | Yamaha | Topping | MiniDSP | Hypex | ICEpower | Mundorf | SEAS | Beyma

DavidW

And that would be a good point to stop... remember there is a debate thread.  So if people are unhappy with Valentino expressing their personal outlook, please quote it to take it to the other thread (and not here).

Daverz

Quote from: Valentino on February 28, 2024, 10:14:01 PMI like ASR. I've learned what makes a phono amp good there. Hint: It's not the price or the number of settings for MC cartridges.

One thing I never thought of before is how the phono pre-amp's headroom effects how prominent ticks and pops will sound, so that measurement is really useful.

QuoteErin is even better. Excellent review of the KEF LS60 for instance.

Erin really does a good job of relating what he hears and what he measures.  For example, how dispersion relates to soundstage width.


Spotted Horses

Quote from: Daverz on February 29, 2024, 10:23:37 AMOne thing I never thought of before is how the phono pre-amp's headroom effects how prominent ticks and pops will sound, so that measurement is really useful.

Correct. With a poor pre-amp pops will sound like pathetic firecrackers. A good pre-amp will make it sound like a concussion grenade has been detonated in the hall.
There are simply two kinds of music, good music and the other kind. - Duke Ellington

Daverz

Quote from: Spotted Horses on February 29, 2024, 11:29:17 AMCorrect. With a poor pre-amp pops will sound like pathetic firecrackers. A good pre-amp will make it sound like a concussion grenade has been detonated in the hall.

Reminds me of the Telarc 1812 Overture LP where you could see the huge groove modulatons for the cannon shots and know that your cartridge was never going to make it through that thing.

Spotted Horses

Quote from: Daverz on February 29, 2024, 12:55:20 PMReminds me of the Telarc 1812 Overture LP where you could see the huge groove modulatons for the cannon shots and know that your cartridge was never going to make it through that thing.

My brother had that LP. Never played through. Followed in the footsteps of the Mercury/Dorati recording using a bronze cannon (and commentary by Deems Taylor, as I recall).
There are simply two kinds of music, good music and the other kind. - Duke Ellington

Atriod

#2868
Quote from: Bachtoven on February 27, 2024, 07:22:44 AMI prefer "musical/realistic." To me, that ASR site is one massive April Fool's joke...

The website was very different when it formed to about 2017. The primary focus was on acoustics, room treatment, DSP, and speaker measurement/placement. There were many industry experts that have since left, I only recognize two of them these days and one doesn't post much. Then the electronics measurements were added and it turned into trashing anything that didn't have a noise floor of -xxx db (though I still find them helpful, if I were to get a new set of passive speakers Benchmark amps would now be at the top of my list along with Spectral, Spectral based purely off what I have heard from them in twenty years).

Speaking for myself I find a balance of both measurements and listening to be invaluable, I spent around $12k in room treatments a few years ago and it would have been like playing pin the tail on the donkey blindfolded if I wasn't regularly going to REW to verify what I was hearing. The treatments made just as big an impact as changing speakers. My dad is not an audiophile and only listens to Indian pop music and he was able to hear what getting rid of a prominent room mode sounded like.

Quote from: Daverz on February 29, 2024, 10:23:37 AMErin really does a good job of relating what he hears and what he measures.  For example, how dispersion relates to soundstage width.

Erin is significantly better at relaying information. Really looking forward to his Blade 2 Meta review though KEF pretty much publish nearly everything relevant to it already though their PDF images are small). I am curious about his subjective thoughts as he is able to distinguish 1 db changes ala someone that was able to get fairly high in the Harman training tool.

Atriod

If I were to buy a disc spinner right now it would be the Spectral SDR-4000SL, though I have only heard it in unfamiliar systems Spectral systems more often than not sounded very good to me. I believe the founder what he (and Keith Johnson) have to say about CD.

I can't bring myself to buy it since it's 15 years old and the rumor mill has been going around (though this has been for some time) that they will have a new CD player.


Valentino

We audiophiles don't really like music, but we sure love the sound it makes;
Audio-Technica | Bokrand | Thorens | Cambridge Audio | Logitech | Yamaha | Topping | MiniDSP | Hypex | ICEpower | Mundorf | SEAS | Beyma