Steven Norber is exceptionally talented. I always enjoyed his rooms. I considered them some of the best and a bargain for the price. And he always appreciated my selections.
Old steel and sew-ups. I feel out of place here. When I retired my full Campy Record titanium Merlin I went 2-wheel 'bent. The Bacchetta was always too tall for me. When I rode a lot and was more nimble it was OK. Lately it became a moment of truth every time I started or stopped. I was at risk...
Ron,
Nice show wrap up but how could you miss the Sound Lab room with Dr. Vinyl when mentioning rooms that featured vinyl?
Have a great time at T.H.E. Show. Have you chosen amplification yet?
I am a big fan of GAIAs on hard floors. I tried them with the spiked carpet cups on thick carpet and padding. The spikes did not contact the concrete underneath. I did not like the results. It seemed like the speakers floated on the carpet and the sound was less defined. If the spikes on the...
Hey guys, how about a little more detail. Flooring, spikes or no spikes all make a difference. GAIAs can be used with or without spiked carpet cups. Huge difference compared to hard floors. Auvas can be used with spikes or not. Suspended wood floors react differently compared to concrete floors...
I am going to pick on this site because it is the latest to invoke my ire but the site is not alone in the disturbingly poor design. https://www.lucasaudiolab.com/
I use a 22" monitor and could not navigate to any useful information on that site. The top half of the screen was taken up by...
I do not see a way to sort the exhibitors list by floor number. I used to make a list of what rooms I wanted to see on each floor. I did not exclude other rooms but the list kept me focused so I did not miss a room important to me. Also be aware that any battle plan falls apart with the first...
I agree. But I can't access the rear of some of my equipment very well and all of my equipment is black making some things hard to see. One manufacturer I use has the right and left inputs and outputs opposite of the conventional positions. I also have to be careful with the special mono hookup...
My next show demo CD will have the first track a channel test. Imagine the exhibitor's surprise when instead of Pink Floyd or Patricia Barber the get "THIS IS THE LEFT CHANNEL, THIS IS THE LEFT CHANNEL, THIS IS THE LEFT CHANNEL". :cool:
I am curious. How do you find rooms with the channels reversed but the exhibitors don't know it?
I am still amazed. I am very careful when I make changes but a lot of my gear is hard to access so the first thing I do after making a major change (like seasonal amp swaps) is run a channel test...
Am I the only person shocked (and somewhat skeptical) of this finding?
"40% of the rooms he visited (including "professionally designed" ones) had their L/R channels reversed"
Every test CD I have has a channel (and frequently phase) test track. The Aurender APP, Conductor, has a channel test...
Please post your experience with Ray Tubes RESERVE tubes. I swapped RESERVE 6SN7s for the stock tubes in my Linear Tube Audio Aero DAC. I liked the improvements in all parameters. Not night and day but definitely better. Worth the money? I think the Aero DAC with Ray Tubes RESERVE 6SN7s performs...
Ron,
Interesting report. Thank you. How would you compare the Poporis sound to other electrostats? I have Sound Labs. They sound like Quads on streroids and replaced my failed ESL 2805s. But the other brands I am familiar with (Martin-Logan, Sanders, & KingSound) do not sound like Quads or Sound...
The California Audio Show is the incredible shrinking show. It gets smaller every year. I am not sure it survived after last year. There are over 30 audio equipment manufacturers in CA. Some are major players. It is a shame there is not a better show in the state.
Is there still a significant high-end audio show associated with CES? The last time I attended was many years ago and the show at the Venetian was just a shadow of previous years. Many of the formerly audio rooms were taken over by tech companies. That is one reason T.H.E. Show Vegas was ended...
Ron,
Thank you for your report and especially the excellent comments on Sound Labs. Without having been at the show, I will offer my thoughts that the lack of visceral impact you noted was probably due to insufficient power. Sound Lab impedance rises quite high at lower frequencies. I find my SL...
Improvement:
1. Proper speaker selection and placement. I have seen too many systems that were never going to work well.
2. Acoustic treatment
3. Chassis electrical grounding in addition to that provided by power cords.
4. Vibration control (although not necessarily an improvement for all equipment)
Doc 76 when you say you prefer Conductor 4 over 3 is that just for streaming? Did you compare the 4 and 3 for listening to music stored on the N30SA? If so, which did you prefer?
I asked ARC before I bought and tried the KT150s. Dave Gordon said it would not be a problem. This was before ARC introduced the REF 75 SE. KT150s were the new kid on the block. Early days. I am fairly certain I let ARC know how much better the 150s were. They were probably already exploring the...
I upgraded an ARC REF 75 from KT120s to KT150s and the difference was stunning. Better in all parameters especially the bass and midrange. There is a very good reason why ARC upgraded and tuned their newer models to KT150 tubes. I think you will be very pleased after the tubes are broken in.
I did not test different types of music. The 8-16 ohm tap sounds great on everything. I think that tap would be preferred because the impedance of SLs goes high when the music goes low.
Note the partitions. This is why Sound Labs do not exhibit drum head resonance. Notice the lateral bisecting. The top and bottom are mirror images. Low frequencies are at the bottom and top.
Godofwealth has some great amplifiers but I want to make it clear that much power is not absolutely...