Audio Flynn

I agree my favorite store has a prominent place for B&W and Martin Logan. Last time I was there the Belles were not hooked up in a back hallway and no Lascallas at all.

Dr. Gizmo from Listener Magazine had an interesting article in the last issue. One of the key points is speaker manufacturers do not want to put the expense into 16 ohm drivers becuase the higher quality magnets drive the cost up too much. He seemed to infer that alot of time and money is spent to keep distorion low in the signal path by the audiophile. When the music gets to the speaker we are subject to the greatest amount of distortion from low cost internal wiring, crossover components, drivers and lacsidasical cabinet construction. He has a strange writing style, but he has some very direct opinions.

I was looking at the Monarchy DIP also. What does "jitter reduction" sound like ?How do you find a used one of those? I was also thinking of trying the Audio Quest Coral or Nordst interconnects

nice thread but do not get too crazy My 17 year old daughter really enjoyed the "Fiddler on the Roof" in 2 channel input Dolby Surround listened to on the TCM channel last weekend. It is not wholely inferior sound. PLUS...the Dish Netwok stereo sound 20+ genre options are not unapreciated. It is not SACD but you can find new good music to audition better then the local FM station of choice.

I may be on the edge of tweak crazy. I am not sure about some of the overzealous reviews I have read. I am somewhat holding out to see how the DVD Audio technology develops and making sure to get a receiver that meshes well with it(perhaps, not totally sold yet). Are there any cables you have used with a DAC(in or out) that make a difference? I changed from a Kimber Toslink to a Bettercables coaxial. I beleive I acquired much better detail. Are prudent funds invested in cables better than a $ 300 or more tweak to go to upsampling?

I am considering using the upsampling board upgrade from MSB Technology for my Link II DAC. I have no way to hear this from MSB or another DAC company. Does any one have any experience or comments with this new technology? I have only read the reviews in Stereophile.

4 foot tall seems a bit high; but you have to go with your self expression. I recently added Sanus SF24 steel foundations to support my RB 5s. They have 2 pillars per stand. I used one 25 lb. bag of 7.5 lead shot per stand. They seem to tighten up the bass and add details to the highs. A real good tweak for less than $ 200.

Please do not use a 12 year old player a a benchmark. To really reach full potential of a well decoded CD you need a Rega, Rotel, Arcam or Music Fidelity player. Then you are looking at $ 900 minimum investment. I am going to upgrade my MSB Link II to upsample in the near future. Perpetual Technologies, MSB(www.msbtech.com), or www.tweakaudio.com have really exceptional high fidelity solutions to take your coaxial output from a conservatively priced CD player or changer and make it sound like a $ 1500 player for $ 350- 600 investment. I cannot remember reading a bad review on any of these 3 products.

SEB Get a second job or something and get a pair of fun speakers. I cannot beleive you have not upgraded yet. SB3, RB5 or RF3 you have to do it. NOW They make credit cards in Canada as I remember...

I have owned my RB5s since August 2000 and have been very pleased. This weekend I replaced my $70 MDF 28 inch tall stands with Sanus Steel SF 24(inch tall) stands. I ordered them direct from Sanus so I could get them with a larger "top plate". I then purchased two 25 lb. bags of no. 7.5 lead bird shot from Bass Pro Shop. The stands have 2 fillage tubes per stand. It is a bit tedious to fill the stands but worth the trouble. I used the spikes on the bottom plate in the carpet(concrete slab underneath in the family room) and the included molded neoprene isolators for the top plate. Stereophile's writers like "Blu Tack" for dampening; I will switch that for the molded isolators at another time. Well.... The bass was tighter and more detailed; more detail all around. Personal theory is the excessive cabinet resonance with the old stands was inhibiting the optimum performace of the RB5s. It was a little less than a $200 tweak but totally changed the sound in a very positive way. Better than biwiring 2 months ago.

The family was chipping in on components for differnt holidays for my mother in law. I was supervising to a certain degree. During a period of time I was out of town on business, my brother in law went out and bought the speakers. Cerwin Vega I just cannot stand to listen to them; even my favorite music sounds sluggish. I keep waiting for a lightning strike to put them out of their misery.

The family was chipping in on components for differnt holidays for my mother in law. I was supervising to a certain degree. During a period of time I was out of town on business, my brother in law went out and bought the speakers. Cerwin Vega I just cannot stand to listen to them; even my favorite music sounds sluggish. I keep waiting for a lightning strike to put them out of their misery.

I have been agonizing over the purchase of a new HT receiver. The Outlaw 1050 seems pretty interesting. I have RB5s. Please comment if you have personal experience with their equipment. I have read most of the web reviews.

I have Audio Quest Type 6+ for the highs(previously used for full range) and some Radio Shack 12 gauge for the lows. Hard to describe the improvement. In Rock the drums and bass guitar sound more real. Female vocals seem more open or less cluttered(overpowered) by the rest of the music. Listening to Holst "The Planets" now and the Cello sounds like you can hear the windings on the strings. It is cheap to try

Are the REL subs as good looking as the pictures? I do not have a dealer nearby to see them. I like the wood exterior of my RB5 and Heresys. Black speakers are boring to me.

M&K is a little pricey but the sealed box concept appears to have faster tighter bass than a potentially "thumpy" sub. I use the Klipsch 8 inch sub set real low just to fill out the bottom end of my RB5 s. You can add a sub for $ 300 on the low end of JBL or Klipsch; or you can add an M&K 12 incher or perhaps a Paradigm Servo 15 for way over $ 1000 delivering powerful performance under 25 hz. My considerations are: 1. Wait for the new Klipsch models 2. HSU Research VTF 2 3. M&K

Like the 3.1s but prefer the grills of the Reference series. Klipsch should offer a retrofit to the metal grill. Consider an easy sub kit from partsexpress.com 1.0 inch thick MDF construction. HSU research has a good one for $ 599.

Just saw a JVC DVD Audio player on Audio Advisor for $ 599. Too CoolText The SACD is way too expensive to take a chance on. Plus Neil Young likes DVD A His sound on Recordings and live has been good for 25 years.

Please consider putting 15 % of your budget in connections. It is alot of bang for the buck. Audioquest is a safe bet. $150 for speaker cables and no less than $ 50.00 per interconnect is something to consider. If Mom is into vinyl rather than CD consider the Music Hall MM5( I think) and a good record cleaner. You can get the 2 items for about $800 from audioadvisor.com with a 30 day return policy. Audio Advisor has a great reputation and service. Hard to buy speakers over the net though. Ladies usually do not like huge black speakers. I recommend the RB5s. Add a small sub just to round out the bass extension below 50 hz. Is the system to do stereo only or Home theater? That will have a bearing on other recommendations.