meuge

---------------- On 7/27/2005 7:37:22 PM travisc wrote: Bought a Teac Reference A-L700P today and was wondering if all the whoopla has died down on these. Is anyone still using this actively? or was it just a cheap passing interest? ---------------- Well, the horse is not dead, as far as I am concerned, but it will not win a race against a thoroughbred, so to speak. For its price, it's a wonderful little amp... portable and small. But it doesn't come close, even after some modification, to the sound quality offered by the better conventional solid-state amps. At least not in my experience. I tested it against my older 140W B&K, and its 200@ daddy, and the Teac came up very noticeably short against both. That being said, it does have some excellent qualities. Its noise level is below audible, and at very quiet volumes it retains all of its qualities, making it the best night-time amp I have ever heard. But at normal listening levels (80-85dB RMS for me) it chokes on complex passages, and fails to render the subtle nuances of string instruments. It does capture voices very well, though.

A good surge protector with a basic filter is all you need. For rackmount-type solutions, look into Tripplite and Furman at partsexpress. Anything that will really "condition" your power and still provide enough current for your amp, will likely run you into the thousands of dollars, and is really not necessary, unless you have disposable income and have run out of everything else to upgrade.

Our 7-tesla MRI has a $15'000'000 power conditioner. ~

---------------- On 7/27/2005 11:01:27 AM JAMESJ wrote: I am building my theater and wanted to use in wall speaker cables. Do you guys know which would be the best? I am not interested in expensive wire, these will not be seen. I am looking for a transparent wire that is safe in the wall. I have looked at cobalt($1.05/ft), Kimber($1.25/ft), and anticables($1.25/ft)I am not even sure if the anticables can be put in the wall. Thanks James ---------------- How about these: 12-gauge 100' @ $0.19/ft http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=100-740 500' @ same price http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=100-742 or 14-gauge 100' @ 0.22/ft http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=100-762 and 500' of the same http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=100-764 The second one looks cleaner, with its pure white jacket, and I would venture a guess that either of these will do the job no worse than the more expensive brands.

I was interested to hear what the digital amplifier craze was all about, so I got myself a Teac... which is supposed to be better than the SI in many ways. Now, before I go on, let's get one thing straight - for $100, what the Teac does is unreal, and likewise, what a $30 T-amp can do with those $30 is probably amazing. But when you really get down to the absolute quality, and not just price/performance ratio, I felt that the Teac was lacking. After about 1 month of direct comparisons to my B&K Reference EX4420, I am prepared to say that while I detect a certain change in the air, it is as of yet, far from being a hurricane. Certainly, the clarity of the sound, as well as the noise level were superb with the Teac... and superceded every amplifier I have heard to date. The amp also has a very sweet midrange, that seems to be emphasized a little. At low volumes, digital amplification cannot be beat, due to the miniscule distortion and nonexistent noise. But during complex passages, at medium volumes or higher, the amp would choke and the music would lose its realism. Also, the bass control of the little amp is certainly far from excellent. Even with my 15" Titanic crossed over at 80Hz, there was a huge difference in bass response, as well as bass control. This being said, I was happy with the amp for the price, and I was going to build my parents a system that used it, but I don't see it replacing my 70lb monster just yet.

Boom...Boom...Boom...Boom... Another one bites the dust.

Surface area of a single 15" is ~176 sq. in Surface area of 2 10s is ~157 sq. in. So it can't be the surface area of the drivers. However, we don't know the mass of the drivers, and the differences in the voice coil construction, which could be very different in the ole' Cornwalls vs. the RF-7s. But I have a sneaking suspicion that the lion's share of the responsibility for such a high sensitivity lies with the horn.

---------------- On 7/25/2005 8:12:21 AM Zealot125 wrote: Ahh, but meuge, did you correct for the false discovery rate? In our lab, we only count p values of less than or equal to .01 as significant. ---------------- I don't have a high enough sample size to get that high of a certainty. But with .05 I am secure enough in this experiment's accuracy that I don't want to dedicate any more time to this. It's not like it's a life-and-death question. For my real experiments, I like p<0.001 though.

---------------- On 7/22/2005 8:16:32 PM Gilbert wrote: Now I need to find another Tuner, and most importantly, I have to break down and get a decent CD player. Anyone have recommendations for a CD player worthy of matching up with some vintage tube gear. I like some of the stuff Smilin turned me on to, but that gear is too expensive for my blood. $4grand for a CD player is just too rich for my wallet and ears at this point in time. Anyway, if you have some opinions on CD players, please let me hear'em. Thanks. ---------------- How about a Benchmark DAC-1, and a PC as a transport?

I'll take a Pepsi challenge with a 320mp3 vs. wav any time, provided the source material is well recorded. I've done blind tests using Eric Clapton's "Unplugged" CD, and I could pick out the MP3 about 90% of the time, while overall (7 people tested so far), the percentage was around 75%. Being a scientist, I am quite familiar with statistical analysis and I've performed the two-tailed T-test on the results, and got a P-value less than 0.05, so the results are unequivocally valid.

Anything less than 256kbit is indeed a waste. Also, MP3 is indeed not a good codec for quality. Actually, it's not a good codec for anything at this point, it's simply outdated, but its widespread use prevents it from being obsolete. Good codecs for compression (if you must compress) are Ogg Vorbis and MPC.

I currently have 2 pending buyers. I'll let you know if it's still available by Monday.

"NEED"??? Who uses that word when it comes to audio? I don't NEED my RF-3IIs, driven by Aragon and B&K. I also don't NEED my 1000W, 15" Titanic sub. Do I appreciate having them? Certainly. Do I need them? Not at all. It's not about "need", but about "want". And you should satisfy yours... if your finances allow it, that is. Don't go into debt over it.

---------------- On 7/22/2005 10:09:18 AM doctorcilantro wrote: Meuge-man, Now all you need are those RF-7's!!!! I think you'll dig the Sunfire; that's a great price too. The only downside to mine was the phono board tubes had been glued in and it was a pain installing my RCA's. I picked up some Phillips NOS 6922's and they are sounding nice. I'd say your getting a really good deal since I got mine for 1000$ with phono & inverse cd board. enjoy! Dr. C ---------------- Yah - I really do need those. I figure the RF-3s will last me another 6 months, at which point I'll break down and get a pair of 7s. I'll probably try to get one of those 12-months-no-interest deals so that I'd have a year to pay them off, cause $1600 is a mighty chunk of change, especially since it'll be $1700 w. taxes.

---------------- On 7/22/2005 12:58:37 AM Erukian wrote: If you don't mind my asking, why are you selling it? Find something better? That's a damn good deal. -Joe ---------------- Well, this was my tentative step into the world of digital amplification. It was meant to be a way for me to have an inexpensive look/see. Originally I meant to use it to build a relatively inexpensive but good system for my parents... but since they do not seem to want one any longer, I cannot justify keeping it, since it really cant go toe-to-toe with my 200W, 50+lb B&K monster. I need to sell this amp as part of my selling-off spree to finance the purchase of a Sunfire Tube Preamp. So it's entirely possible that my coveted Aragon 28k will be up for grabs in a few weeks... if the Sunfire lives up to its hype, that is. P.S. I think I could probably get slightly more for it, because it's modded as well (albeit not significantly), but I know that it only took me 5 minutes and a few cents' worth to do these mods, so I'm giving the forum members a chance to grab it at a good price.

This is the infamous A-L700P digital amplifier, based on the Tripath chipset. The amp is in mint condition, only a couple of months old, with barely 10-20 hours of playing time on it. It is unsurpassed in terms of price/performance ratio. It has been lightly modded. The 2nd 2-channel board (center) was removed (never saw any current), and the volume control pots were bypassed, to give a cleaner output, directly from the amplifier board to the 5-way binding posts. I will ship the center channel board along with the amp, so you could add the center channel back, or make a whole new 2-ch amp at your leisure. I paid $109 plus shipping for this baby, but I'll part with it for $75 plus exact cost of shipping, which won't be much, given its light weight.

I'll take the preamp if it's still available.

I am interested in the Sunfire preamp. I heard there are different versions. Can you please tell me what is the year it was made, and does it come with a remote? Also, it has balanced outs, is that correct? I am pretty sure you replaced the Sunfire with a Blueberry or a Peach. Can you comment on the difference?

I think with my Aragon 28k/B&K EX4420 combo I have reached as high as I am willing to go on the solid-state ladder. But I have never tried tubes. The guy who sold me the EX4420 said he was using a tube preamp, and highly recommended the tube preamp/SS power-amp combo. I am curious to try a tube or hybrid preamp, but I've been looking at audiogon and the prices are through the roof in general. So I'd appreciate some help and some recommendations about the best way to try out tubes, without a huge monetary investment.

---------------- On 6/13/2005 8:16:09 PM Piranha wrote: ---------------- On 6/13/2005 3:15:34 PM NOSValves wrote: No more smoke and mirrors then your crossovers http://forums.klipsch.com/idealbb/images/smilies/2.gif"> Besides "Smoke and Mirrors" works. We did a study at the AKfest and if you smoke a little....... then sniff a little off a mirror the music indeed does sound much better LOL !!!!!!!! Craig ---------------- Sniff a mirror? You inhale glass? Huh? ---------------- He said "sniff OFF a mirror"... but in case you're not familiar with the concept, he was talking about inhaling powdered cocaine through the nostrils, whereby it will diffuse through the olfactory mucous membranes directly towards the frontal lobes of the brain. How's that for killing a joke : )

If I lived anywhere near there, I'd probably pick them up.

Don't bother with a receiver. Get a used Aragon preamp (18k or 28k). As far as amps are concerned, you can either go with Aragon or B&K. Aragon 4004 is the budget option, B&K Reference is the middle option, and Aragon 8008 or B&K 200.2 are the more expensive options.

---------------- On 7/11/2005 9:38:55 AM shane_0_mac wrote: I agree with muege, except I would go with the RW-12. The RW-12 matches well with the 35 series. I am also not much of DIY guy. If you are a DIY guy you could not go wrong with sub muege suggested. You will be golden whichever way you go. ---------------- The Titanic kit isn't really DIY... it's as much DIY as putting together a cabinet you got at Home Depot.

---------------- On 7/10/2005 12:20:51 AM SoundBroker wrote: Using the cheesy connectors you'll see a loss of definition and impact down low, but it is definitely better than having no subs at all! ---------------- No he won't. There is absolutely no inherent electrical differences between the specs of subwoofer cables versus twisted-pair shielded stereo cables. If the cable is cheaply made, with bad connectors and it isn't shielded, you might get noise, but you'll hardly get a loss of impact and maybe a very slight loss of definition. This is assuming that the cable is short, of course... long runs of bad cables WILL have a negative impact. But by "bad cables" I mean the kind of $0.99 cables that are 2mm thick and have the nasty plastic RCAs. As long as its decent stranded copper, well soldered to decent connectors, and shielded by a 90%+ shield, it will perform within 95%+ of what the most expensive esoteric cable in the world will do. Even a RadioShack Gold brand cable will do the job fine, although I usually prefer better made cables, such as Acoustic Research or Phoenix Gold, or DIY (I make my own). Anything beyond this is a waste of money IMO. I think the cash would be better spent on paying an electrician to get a separate circuit for your audio gear. It'll be a much more noticeable improvement methinks.

---------------- On 7/9/2005 11:44:52 PM Jay481985 wrote: are you in the cellphone internet range? the 3G are quite fast ---------------- Very true. Also, earthlink offers satellite internet.