I would like to mention an upgrade that I have recently made and recommend it to others. I recently returned to use a Denon 103D that I had bought in the nineteen eighties and has been out of use for at least twenty years. I liked the sound, but it was a little rough at […]
Month: August 2017
Found 249 results
“As the youngest will be crawling soon, I thought I would pack away my heavy but beloved QLN standmounters before he damaged them (and himself). I was thinking of getting a cheapo omni that I could site away on the floor from main crawling zone and hopefully still have a half decent sound. I accept […]
There are fantastic pre-owned bargains out there. We all know this. That said, many budget-end enthusiasts just don’t know to what extent the system components work well together – if at all! In short – is there system synergy? Who knows? I do! Hi. I’m Neil McCauley – Editor in chief. Truthfully … I get […]
The classic Allmans Woodstock 2 appearance in its entirety In August 1969 at the time of the original Woodstock Festival in upstate New York, the Allman Brothers were barely out of nappies. They had however travelled to New York from their hometown of Macon, Georgia. ABB were in town to record their eponymous debut album, […]
Hello Colin, please be patient with me because although I am an experienced listener I’m not very conversant with the technology that is available today. By this I mean I really just plug in and just listen. However recently I started to think about some of the units I use, In particular a Musical Fidelity […]
Dear Colin, XLR attenuator values. There is to much gain in my system; DAC outputs 4vrms and amps output full power at 1.6v. What are the correct value attenuators please? Cheers Chris Hi Chris, 1)what impedance are we driving into? 2)what output can the DAC be loaded into? I am going to assume 600 Ohms. […]
I lived in Manchester in the mid 1990s and looked in the ad paper Loot and saw a Linn Sondek with Lingo and ekos for £50 , I immediately phoned at 9.30am thinking I’d be first in but a caller had already seen it and was on his way to buy, I was gutted for […]
James Stafford writes: From their 1982 debut EP, Chronic Town, through 2011’s career-capping Collapse Into Now, R.E.M. released numerous songs that wove their ways into our personal soundtracks: “Losing My Religion,” “Man on the Moon,” “Superman,” “It’s the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine),” and on and on. But […]
Is it supposed to be the same as the tracking force or less ? MORE
I have decided to purchase a pair of preowned Magnepan MG12s to replace my old cone infested speakers. However, as you probably know, the MG12’s specs include a sensitivity of 86dB into an impedance of 4 Ohms; whereas my old cone jobbies were nothing if not efficient with a rating of 92dB into 8 Ohms; […]
The thread starts: I know Luxman has a reputation as being some of the finest audio gear made now. Has it always been so? Was their stuff made in the 70’s and 80’s really good too? How did it compare to Mcintosh or other high end companies back in those times? Dip in (and then […]
They tell us ….. Following last year’s monumental Cutting Edge release, which covered Dylan’s 1965 and 1966 studio recordings, we are thrilled to announce Bob Dylan: The 1966 Live Recordings, a new box set that will contain every known live recording from the legendary 1966 tour with (what became known as) The Band. Bob Dylan: […]
Dear Colin. My meter isn’t going to zero any more on ohm ratings, and it apparently can’t be calibrated. It’s a fairly low-end Radio Shack autoranging model. I saw that the “what do you need for repairing equipment” on a US thread suggested a Fluke 114 or 115. Is that still the best, or do […]
Hi Colin. Just had a crackle in a left channel (nothing you’ve built by the way), fade to nothing, then that stench of death. Took the lid off my Crimson mono (a simple oblong) and all looks healthy in fact like new, the only thing that’s gone is the fuse. Could it be a mains […]
“Does anyone here have any impressions on the Hifi tuning fuses and how they possitively or negatively affected components in their system? According to some audio enthusiasts, installing premium grade fuses in preampss, amps, phono etc make a significant improvement in the overall sound. Any comments are most welcome since I’m considering this relatively inexpensive […]
The thread starts: Streaming services have reversed the fortunes of the music industry in Sweden and now generate more income than downloads or CDs. But can the model be replicated worldwide? Streaming services make their money from adverts or monthly subscriptions from premium users. For Spotify, the fees are about $15 (£10) in Sweden and […]
“As good pairs seem to go for £1000, my question is how would they stack up against other speakers in the same price bracket old or new? Also I seem to remember reading somewhere that due to their ruthless accuracy they exposed weakness in early Naim amplification, and were not a good partner…fair” Read more
Doug Schneider writes ….. According to Statista.com, 122.32 million smartphones were sold in 2007, the year the first iPhone was released. In 2016, almost 1.5 billion smartphones were sold, and there’s no reason to believe this growth will stop anytime soon. According to a January 12, 2017 article by the Pew Research Center, 77% of […]
Dear Colin, I need some theories and hopefully answers please. This is a situation, neither I, not anyone who I asked, have encountered before. It is very simple and puzzling at the same time. Here it is: There is a faint buzz coming from the amplifiers, NOT the speakers, barely audible from a few feet […]
Dear Colin, The Art of Electronics (Horowitz & Hill) 3rd ed… … as DIYers probably already know is now out, only 25 years after the 2nd ed. My copy arrived today. I’m not trained in electronics and make no claim to more than a passing knowledge, but have enjoyed these authors’ style of presentation since […]
What do the Soledad Brothers sound like in 2015, navigating a crazy hazy post-apocalyptic netherworld of the United States? Updated and improved in all the right ways without compromising anything. Don’t you kinda hate it and kinda love it when a band takes a break, and then comes back better than ever? That’s exactly what […]
Three Warner Brothers albums by acclaimed singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot, dating from 1980, 1982 and 1983 All three made the US Top 200 with a single from ‘Shadows’, ‘Baby Step Back’, making the Top 50 ‘Shadows’ and ‘Salute’ see Lightfoot moving slightly away from his folk roots style to a more 80s-sounding A.O.R. Despite a couple of […]
Introduction by KK: With the arrival of eBay and feverish activity in the second-hand market, a lot of audiophiles find old reviews useful. Simply Stax asked if I minded them running my old reviews – flattered, I said, ‘No problem!’ The only provisos I would add is that you read these in the context that […]
The thread starts: Hello, I feel that upgraditis virus seeking me out again… I currently use a sony cdp557esd as a transport coupled with a parasound dac 1600. The sound is basically great, neutral and detailed, background is black, image is quiet and precise. The only thing lacking really is more punch (compared to a […]