joshnich

Its not a VPI, But I got a great deal on a new Nitti Gritty by calling the company and asking if they had any demos available. They sold me a unit that looked as if it had never been used for about 40 dollars off what I have seen them for anywhere else. Josh

I just sent four cryogenically treated tubes off to Craig for an audition. He appears to be running the same Chinese KT-88s tubes in non -cryoed form in his Dynacos. I have compared these to a set of JJ electronics KT 88s as well as a set of Sovtek KT-66s' in my Cary Rocket 88. It will be intesting to have him compare them to the "stock" versions. I think that the cryoed tubes are much more musical and provide the best overall sound (detail, warmth, punch and all that). But as is evident from just about every post on the forum, people tend to like the sound of what they have invested in! Maybe it's some sort of psychosomatic affliction that appears to be pretty common around here (see SET vs PP discussions for examples of this affliction). So I m getting a second opinion from some one I trust to give me his no BS point of view. Ill look forward to his opinion! Josh

Bryon, Thanks for the tips on the Static gun. It sounds like I ve been doing it the right way all along!! Smilin, Regarding the discussion on the record cleaner. .... Its definitely easier with a quality record vacuum but in the old days before I knew about record cleaners, I washed my records in the kitchen sink using distilled water and letting them dry in a plastic dish rack with great success! So you dont "have " to spend on the cleaner, but its way easier! Josh

I have never been exactly sure of the proper use of the Static Gun. I have had one for years but am inconsistent in the way I use it. Is there a "best practice" that I should be aware of? I just hold the record, point the gun and squeeze the trigger. Thanks Josh

Great choices although Im not sure which one is most appropraite for the Japanese New Year! Ive been listening to most of that plus the Beach Boys Christmas Album (vinyl) which I picked up at used at Amoeba Records in Beserkly the other day. Nice album you gotta love" Little Saint Nick" Josh

Its great having a thread about Music! I know there is always a danger of a SET vs PP flame breaking out in any topic, but so far this has been a pretty informative and interesting read. Lots of good info and new things as well as old things that I forgotten about to seek out and listen to! There's good and bad Blues and Jazz just like there is good and bad wine (another example of something that doesnt grab you from the first try - at least at the age of 12 it didnt) . I love both- actually all three. There are times when Stevie Ray is the perfect compliment to what Im feeling or want to feel and there are times when only Fatha Hines will do and there are times when Hank Williams fits the bill. The best are the best and have a place regardless of the genre. Josh

---------------- On 12/11/2003 6:07:09 PM DrPyro wrote: I appreciate the info guys. I'm in a hunt for a SACD player and all that seems to be talked about is Mod this & Mod that on the Audio Asylum forums. And quite a few of the mods are (IMHO) insanely expensive. Do you feel that you could have spent the same amount of $ and gotten similar results from a stock player or are they "that good". Thanks -Dave ---------------- Its always hard to put a dollar "worth" on this sort of thing but I have to say that the improvement on the scd222es was dramatic in my mind and well worth the 350.00 that I paid. I bought the deck new for 345.00 so I have a deck that cost 700 bucks that performs better, IMHO (both redbook and SACD) than decks costing several multiples of that. Even without considering the lower cost versus other players I have heard I couldnt be happier. BTW I also have a very inexpensive Phillips SACD changer in a second system that sounds very good for what it is. When people hear that they cannot believe the difference between SACDs and redbook. But the modded Sony takes it to another level indeed. Josh

---------------- On 12/11/2003 6:07:29 AM playntheblues wrote: I feel this is just a preference thing. My ears and those are the key words my ears feel like the cornwalls have a rag over the tweeter and midrange. Are you sure that the diaphram in the tweeter is not blown? It's pretty common and easily repaired. Joshnich

---------------- On 12/11/2003 4:20:51 PM mopar dave wrote: josh, after burn-in, see if you can find someone with a c333es or a c555es unmodded to do an AB comparison and let us know the results. dave ---------------- Dave, Will do. BTW sacdmods does provide the same mods for the 775 Josh

Fini Following up on the Herb Caen reference as well as Chris mentioning Seattle reminded me of one Herbs great all time lines. He described living in Seattle as like being married to a beautiful woman who is always sick. Joshnich

FYI , I just got my scd222es back from SACDmods.com and I have to say I am very impressed. They recommend a burn in of 150 hours before optimum performance is realized, but right out of the box the improvement is quite noticeable. Well worth the 350 bucks I paid for the mods. The mods performed were LC Audio Lclock X02 11.2896 Mhz Black Gate 47uF 6.3 NX HiQ Capacitors Harris Hyperfast Soft recovery Diodes 4A 600V 1000uf Black Gate Power Supply Filtering Capacitors Analog Devices AD826 SMT opamp I have no idea what that all means but I include it for those who do. I can say that the changer sounds even more vinyl like than it did when I sent it off and I thought it was pretty darn close before. Very cool indeed. Its quicker with more punch but very smooth. Very musical. I found it interesting that they recommend not to use power filters or surge suppressors containing metal oxide varistors as they adversely affect the sound due to the Harris High Speed, Soft Recovery (FRED) diodes that are installed in the power supply. They recommend plugging the unit directly into the wall. Anyway for anyone contemplating upgrading your Sony SACD player I would say go for it. ! BTW their speed of service, communication etc were excellent. josh

Good looking cabinet. Can I ask how you secure the unit in the cabinet? Josh

I think that as usual Alan hit the nail on the head. I do not have Tannoys but I have heard them and like them very very much - but the klipsch are much more forward and live sounding particularly with accoustic music - piano, horns, guitar, violin etc. I have a pair of vintage alnico Warfedale W - 70s which I consider poor mans tannoys, and a couple of pairs of cornwalls and would make the same comparison. I live in the SF Bay area and would be happy to have you take a listen. In addition to the system below i have a NOS Valves 299 and a Fisher 400 if you would like to compare with a vitage tube soud. josh

In the recent past there has been discussion on this forum regarding the future of SACD and DVD-Audio. I read interesting piece in the UK publication Hi Fi News that had some interesting facts. The title of the article was DVD - Audio still looking for hybrid salvation. The perspective was that unless or until a Hybrid DVD- Audio disk (one that will be compatible with older CD players) is perfected the format would go nowhere. They point out that sales of DVD audio disks are woefully low compared to SACD. Some examples .. The Dark Side of the Moon on SACD is averaging 5546 sales/week in the US. The Police at 3000, and the Stones Let it Bleed at over 1500. By comparison the best selling DVD Audio titles are selling fewer than 200 per week. The DVD Forum sees a dual sided hybrid disk as do or die for DVD audio. The problem that remains to be solved is getting the dual sided disk within thickness specs for traditional CD players. With over a billion CD players in the world, and the potential for lawsuits should the disks jam or damage the players, they need to make sure they get it right. josh

I received the same email. In fact its about the 30th time i have received an email like that. When I originally signed up for ebay, I used my email address as my user name - big mistake. But when i first started using ebay, all this fraud stuff was not even considered. I have since changed my username and my email ( I check the old one from time to time just because I like deleting 7000 messages about enlarging certain parts of my body) , but the learning is dont publish you email anywhere! joshnich

Hello Randy, I am sure that there are all sorts of resources out there but I found that http://www.turntablebasics.com/ has very reasonable prices on what you need. An alignment gauge and a stylus force scale. I set up my tt using their equipment and had it checked by someone who had very expensive set up equipment ( by a facot of about 20X what I paid) and I t was spot on! Josh

An absolute brilliant idea! Now folks could amps look almost as good as they sound when Craig gets done with em! Josh

---------------- On 11/9/2003 9:16:06 PM Allan Songer wrote: The KT-66 is a 6L6 and is NOT interchangable with thge EL34 or the KT-88. NONE of these tubes are interchangable without siginificant modifications . . . ---------------- I mispoke in my first post ( actually it was a wine induced keystroke yip) I meant EL 34 not EL 84. At least in my amp ( rocket 88R) the KT 88s can be replaced by either the EL 84 the 6550 the KT 66 the KT77 or the KT90. All have the same pin design and all are compatible with out rewiring. I have heard that the same is true with other amps as well. I am by no means an expert, but I have used KT 66s and KT 88s and EL 34s in the same amp. Josh

Yes you can. You could also use KT 88s. EL 84s have been used a great deal in audio equipment. Yes they are also used in guitar and PA amps but there are many great tube amps that use them. I have listened to all of the above and to my ears the KT 88s are the most pleasing to me with my Cornwalls. Josh

I bought a pair from a guy on ebay who ended up being a forum member. He sells them for cheaper than you can get them from Klipsch. His email address, if my records are correct is bcrites@cswnet.com which is also his ebay user name. Josh

So really, where do you think that you get tubes cryoed? The guy i bought mine from guards his source like a drug dealer! I would like to try some tubes of my own and give this a close A/B josh

Please believe me but I am sorry to say that the claims you have read regarding cryo tubes are in fact, to my humble ears, absolutley 100% true! It pains me to the ends of the earth to admit this! I would much rather write a sarcastic put down of audio weirdos who listen to music too hard than admit that I have frozen tubes in my system. I heard cryo tubes at a local high end salon and was shocked at the difference in sound versus NOS and new tubes. I bought some cheap chinese KT 88s as well as a couple of 12AU7s that had been cryoed, installed them in my power amp and all that you read is true - as painful as that is to admit. I replaced some very very expensive tubes and believe me they were no match for the cheapo cryos! Josh

I have a Sony SCD 222ES that is currently on its way to SACDmods for upgrades. Ill let you know my impressions when I get it back in a couple of weeks. In addition , I purchased a lower cost Philips SACD/DVD/CD changer (795SA) for use in my bedroom system. While the 222 is away I have the Philips hooked up to my main system. The sound of the Philips is very good but it is no where near the player that the Sony is. The Sony, for both SACD and redbook is terrific. I have a number of titles for which I have vinyl, redbook and SACD. ( BTW I hope to avoid that in the future!) The vinyl and the SACD are so close that I have to say given the option I would go SACD as the format of choice. I would not be saying that if my experience was limitied to the Philips. The other issue with the Philips is that you need to have it hooked up to a TV to view the menu options! quite the hassle if your using it as a two channel SACD deck! Josh

Fini, I am shocked to hear that you could even consider the "hobo" option. In my neck of the woods the PC police would have your neck (or worse)!! josh

Your speakers may be the decorator models that were designed to be used without grills. See Chris Kings avatar for a photo of some nice looking grill-less decorator cornwalls. It so happens that Chris and I have purchased another pair of these stain grade front decorator 77 cornwalls that we are in the process of restoring. The guy we bought them from, put grills on them by stapleing velcro to the front panel. I am now in the process of filling the staple holes in advance of refinishing. We do however a pair of grills that will line up with the outside edge of your speakers - provided that yours are indeed decorator models. They are black and are in good condition. I'll take a photo of them and post it here if you are interested. Let me know. Josh