jrt

My Grandparents lived in Bryan. Does that get me anything? ;^)

since Apple just announced the "ipodHIFI" which will revolutionize the way we listen to music. http://www.apple.com/ipodhifi/ ;^) mebbe not..... Anywho, interesting idea- I already take a line out from my ipod and use it for background music. Can't replace vinyl, but it's not too bad.

Oh, hey- here's another idea. You could get an external electronic crossover and use that with bi- or tri-amping- don't even install crossovers in your speakers. Something like a Behringer DCX2496 (or equivalent) is pretty inexpensive and might be a lot of fun for you to play with. It's easy to program in a variety of crossover points, padding, limiters, time delays, etc.

I'm a 'learn by doing' person, so I say go for it! Worst case is you waste some wood on an encosure and some solder. In addition to the excellent websites posted, I would suggest www.audioasylum.com and particularly www.audioroundtable.com The "pi speakers" guy has some software on his website that will allow you to model enclosures, and Wayne has been real helpful to lots of builders. good luck!

I never noticed any difference when I tried it. Now, bi-amping is a completely different story- I heartily recommend that, but it's a much more complicated proposition. Still, try bi-wiring for yourself, just so you know for yourself.

A proton walks into a police station- 'officer, I believe I've lost my electron!' The officer reply's- 'are you sure' 'Why yes, I'm positive!' What do two dipoles say in passing? "Debeye!" (sorry about that one) For your kids- Two ships, one purple and one red, collide in the middle of the ocean. Unfortunately, the crews were marooned.

I have to agree with the above- the biggest "tube" impact as I changed from ss to tube was the preamp. If you like to solder, I cannot recommend the Bottlehead equipment highly enough. Really outstanding sound/cost value. I have never heard the Juicy music equipment, so I won't compare. The amps I built (300B SE amps) made a difference of course, and are beautiful sounding, but the preamp was more influential. I've been curious to try a tubed CD as well, so please follow up on your decision. Right now, I'm running a modified foreplay (Bottlehead preamp), 300B's for the mid/high and a "gainclone" for the woofers on a pair of Khorns. Outstanding.

I asked a similar question a while back, and didn't get much response. I'll be interested in what you think about the sound if you do it- and also give me another 4 months or so and I'll tell you what I think (grin). I'm finishing up a Dynaco ST70 clone that I think will be the 'third amp' in my system- currently I'm running a 300B for the squawker/tweeter and an SS device for the bass horns. I really like the improved bass from the SS addition- that's a no-brainer. Bottom line for me is- if you have the cables, the time and the amps, it's worth the experiment. If you don't like it, you can always put it back. The biggest drawback is that it is now damn complicated to turn on the system (8 switches). My lovely wife is not too happy with that aspect, but she humors me.

put some shorting plugs in the amp- if the hiss goes away, it's the preamp (or earlier). A slight hiss is pretty normal, though.

No- there's no need to loosen up the bearing assembly in order to twist the tonearm. In fact, I wouldn't recommend doing that. The tonearm is a press fit in. Also- one easy way to check the alignment of the cartridge is to use a two-point alignment tool that is on a mirrored surface. I wish I could remember where I got mine from (maybe needledoctor?), but I don't. I found a similar product here: http://store.acousticsounds.com/browse_detail.cfm?Title_ID=15779 so you can see what I mean. I have an MMF-5, it sounds like you are getting there in terms of alignment. It's a slow process with any turntable- lots of back and forth. FWIW, the MMF-5 uses the Pro-Ject tone arm. There is a short thread with pictures illustrating setting up the VTA on an MMF-5 posted on audioasylum, vinyl asylum. Feb. 29, 2004, the title is "MMF-5 VTA solving guide (long)" Or download a manual for a Pro-ject 1 or a Pro-ject Debut 3. Same tonearm. You can download them from needledoctor.com Hope this helps, Jason edit- sounds like (from the previous post or two) there is a set screw- I'll have to look, but I don't recall one on mine. Best to look for it before twisting your arm (so to speak). edit edit- Say- why did you change out the cartridge? Surely the Goldring isn't worn out yet. Also, how do you like dynavector as far as the sound goes (wait'll you get it set up to answer...)?

Yes, I absolutely plan to use a good crossover with delay and phase compensation. Right now I'm biamping and using a behringer DCX2496. Without getting into an argument about how bad or good it is, it works for now and this is all still experimental. I was thinking- some small wattage 2A3 or similar (maybe an 6L6??) on the tweeters, 300B on the mids and I'm finishing up a clone of a dynaco st-70 which I would put on bass duty. The Scott seems like a lot of power for the tweeters- you attenuate it quite a bit? I can wait and read the full report if you odn't want to talk about it now. I know absolutely nothing about TEAC amps or Crown amps that people here seem to like. thanks for the info, Jason

Beuler? Beuler?

So, I'm entertaining the idea of triamping my Klipschorns (they are biamped now). Just as a thought experiment, what kind of amp would you suggest for the tweeters? I should be more general- what combination of amps would you suggest- bass, squawker, tweeter? Currently- I'm running an SE 300B for the tweeter/squawker and SS on bass but I tend toward tubes. I'm pretty open to suggestions and loudness is not an issue. Jason

edit: dang- I tried to quote, but it won't format correctly- it looks fine in 'preview' but not posted. Weird. Have fun with it. I say give it a try. I've got a Behringer DCX2496 and I've found it works just fine. It's inexpensive...and maybe compared to 6K equipment it sounds cheap. I don't know, so I won't indulge in that argument. I do know that I enjoy having it. I'm using it to biamp my klipschorns for now. Later, I'll use it to triamp, but I have to finish another (!) amplifier. Here it is...and yes, I do listen to the ipod pretty regularly. jason

Italian Motorcycles. mmmm, bella.

I bought one about a month back because they are cheap and I wanted to biamp my Khorns. It's a lot better sounding now with biamping. Before, I had a set of 300B SET tube amps running the Khorns. Now I have the 300B's running the tweeter/squawker and a solid state powering the bass (the dynaclone is still being soldered together). A 30 watt SS amp on the bass REALLY puts some meat into it. So far, I've been very happy with the addition of this crossover- even if it is 'junk'. I'm sure Griffinator has quite a bit more experience than I and he brings up some interesting points. But so far I don't use it in a 'pro' environment, so I don't care if the knobs are plastic. I can't compare it to any other crossover except a friend of mine's weird homebuilt thing (that's really, really good). Perhaps one of these days I'll get a more expensive crossover, but I'll have to audition it first. I really would like to listen to others. Importantly, one consideration about adding a crossover is the learning experience. It's fun to learn about new wiring (biamping, balanced outputs). It's fun to play with all the equalization curves and delays and whatnot- just to see how it sounds when you get something very right or very wrong. That's one reason I play with audio gear- it's fun. No need to take myself too seriously :^) Jason

So they come with fringe? /sorry

Gotcha. From what I've gleaned, ESR is a function of frequency, so a DC source won't work for the test measurement. Is that close to correct? BTW- thanks for your patience. I've got decades of education, but none of it has been electronics!

vinylicious record round up

I have a couple of really old capacitors at home as well as a multimeter that measures capacitance (and resistance of course). I'll check some of them and see how they measure. I'd like to figger a way of testing a capacitor without spending a gob of money on a new tool....much as I like tools. Thanks for the info- Jason

I think it's a great idea as well, and I would suggest that people post what they are looking for as well as what they have to offer. I haven't looked at them closely, but I've got several very old (acetate maybe?) Columbia Masterwork albums that I picked up at the Public Library. They are in good shape, but I have no idea what they sound like or whether they use the RIAA curve. They are probably 78's. You remember the old albums that came in a group of 6 or so in the big-*** binder? Does anyone collect these? It seems a shame to leave them in my basement. I have some 'normal' albums I could easily trade off as well. I find I'm not much a fan of John Coltrane so I could easily lose some of his stuff. No, I don't have anything really rare or extraordinary. Have to look to see what else I have. There are three albums I'm currently looking for: Van Morrison- Astral Weeks & St. Dominic's Preview (I have a copy of the latter, but I want a cleaner copy) Magic Sam- West Side Soul (can't find that one ANYwhere!) Problem is that most people with albums nowadays are people that collect albums. I find it difficult to get rid of stuff- even stuff I don't listen to much. I bet a lot of us are like that- we want, but we don't want to give up. Cheers, Jason

How does one go about measuring ESR? I've seen LCR meters-and I know I have seen at least one post (somewhere) on how to tell if a cap was out of spec, but for the life of me, I can't remember how to do the measurement. Thanks, Jason

Congratulations and many best wishes to you all. Jason

Oh, boy. My first post on a controversial topic. BTW, how does everyone here feel about synthetic oil? OK, just kidding. Dunno about biwiring. Biamping, on the other hand, is freakin' great. I just got my Khorns set up last night and they are wonderful. Homebrew preamp through a behringer dcx2496 then on to a pair of homebrew 300B monoblocks for high and a homebrew SS for low frequencies. When I finish my ST-70 clone, I'll sub that in for the SS or try tri-amping, but for now- Wow. Frequency response was corrected using a calibrated microphone and a frequency analyzer. That of course, is the drawback. If you use two pairs of amps, you have to correct hi/low frequency due to different driver outputs. But it's worth it. Cheers, Jason