Hi Fi VCR In Stereo System?

Does anybody still use a hi fi vcr in there strictly audio system? Back in the 80’s when hi fi vcr’s became readily available to consumers I recall all the talk was how they would replace the reel to reel tape deck in your audio system. I used to use one in my system long […]

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CARTRIDGE DAMPING: A few observations

  Paul McGowan: In a recent post about amplifier damping we covered what it meant and what happens when a power amplifier loses control of the loudspeaker – you get differences in amplitude that are anything but accurate. There is another type of damping that I reminded of: cartridge damping.  Phono cartridges have a problem […]

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The mystic world of hi-fi (circa 1994)

“Oh, you’re going to use one of those,” says Jimmy Hughes, reviewer and columnist for the hi-fi magazine Audiophile, as he eyes my little tape recorder. “Yes,” say I, prepared. “Are you worried it will affect the sound?” “Oh, it will,” says Jimmy, whose living room is a shrine to hi-fi and to music, its […]

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Quill

Mr. Ray Purchase wonders: Speaker Design – Is there much to it? (Part 1)

Speakers I have owned include: Tannoy, Kef, B&W, Acoustic Research, Mission, Goodmans, Wharfedale. None of them what you’d call ‘high end’, but some fairly respected models. And at other people’s houses I can recall listening to Monitor Audio and Quad electrostatics. The most expensive speaker I have heard (at a show) was, I think, Backes […]

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OPINION: Maybe you’re not playing fair?

Paul McGowan writes: A recent post surely got some of you riled up and perhaps I got a little carried away with my “emotional attachment” comment – no, not perhaps, definitely.  It is very system dependent – and as several of you have correctly pointed out, including my friend Michael Fremer, my turntable system and […]

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Hi Fi on a zero budget?

“I’m now re-entering one of my periodic hifi obsessions. It’s been a decade since I was last obsessing about black boxes, wires and associated paraphernalia. I came out of that with a modest but nice little system that put out good music (cd63KI-Nait 2-Tab 50s). 10 years, wife, kids and mortgage later, I fancy having […]

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OPINION: Is expensive better?

Paul McGowan writes: Our culture is pre-programmed to relate better with expensive. A $10,000 preamp surely sounds and performs better than one half its price. Yet, intellectually we know that isn’t necessarily true. A $40,000 Rolex watch tells no better time than a $20 Timex. Understanding that which isn’t necessarily true doesn’t easily equate to […]

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