Islander
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Posts posted by Islander
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Just teasing, Max! Congrats on having a great amp. Are you using the Yamaha passive preamp with it? By the time I can budget for one, it'll probably be updated to the D2 or D3. I'm sure it sounds WAAAY better than my receiver, but I'm pretty happy with the receiver for now.
As you may know, the MX-D1 was reviewed in the April 2005 issue of Stereophile. The reviewer was impressed, but of course he found it slightly lacking when compared with his $23,000/pr reference monoblock amps. Man, there's really no end to hi-fi!
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Max, you messed me up! The Yamaha MX-D1 was my dream amp, but then I got the La Scalas and a mighty amp seemed to be no longer necessary. Now you mention that you're using one. Are you driving Heritage speakers with it? I'm sure it sounds better than my Yamaha receiver. You revived my dormant fantasy, and now I'll have to start saving up again. Grrr!
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As NOSValves pointed out, many Klipsch owners listen at higher than typical volume levels. I don't know about anybody else, but I've found that I often have the volume higher than I did with my previous speakers because the La Scalas (with Paradigm sub) sound so darned good! They grab my attention more, and I want to listen "harder", or maybe "closer" is a better word. I'm still talking under 95dB, BTW.
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Some speakers don't sound good at very low volume, while others do. Is it a constant that more volume always equals more distortion?
Don't speakers, along with electronics, have a "sweet spot", or most linear range, where distortion is lowest? If it's at very low volume, don't psychoacoustic effects start to emerge (Fletcher-Munson, etc.) and possibly overshadow measured distortion numbers?
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Adjustable VTA comes into play with more than just record thickness. Different height cartridges and different thickness of platter mat call for resetting tonearm height. I've got a thick Platter Matter (vintage or what?) on my Technics SL-1400MK2, but the tonearm height was simple to adjust with a single knurled screw and the index lines make the adjustment repeatable.
As for DD or belt drive sounding better, there are very good turntables with each system. It appears that some folks really like Technics decks and some really don't. Could they be one of those items that works great in some systems and terribly in others? I'm really pleased with the sound of the Technics 'table in my system, but I'm sure that the people who don't like them aren't deaf and have found them lacking in their systems.
The original poster was also asking about a new Technics versus a used Rega, for around the same price. I'd lean toward the new unit, but you can also get an SL-1200MK5 for not much more, and it has the LED stylus illuminator light (which should last nearly forever) instead of the bulb which can burn out and be a nuisance to replace.
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jt1stcav, which mark and year SL-1200 (MK2, MK5?) is that, and did the record clamp improve the sound? I've got an SL-1400MK2 (probably '78), and was wondering whether a record clamp might be worth trying.
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Here's a few you might want to check out:
Rickie Lee Jones, especially the self-titled album
Holly Cole
Patricia Barber
Kate Bush, especially her earlier stuff (Aerial is not that interesting)
Ofra Haza (different but good)
Lee Aaron (jazz or rock (she was the Metal Queen))
Shirley Manson (with Garbage)
Gwen Stefani (with No Doubt or without)
Dolly Parton is also really good
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Light waves are transverse waves, while sound waves are longitudinal waves, or compression waves. Using light as an analogy to sound is tempting but can be very misleading, since their behaviour is similar in a few ways, but very different most of the time, depending on wavelength.
Obviously, I'm not directing this to Roy, who works with these concepts every day.
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I'm not sure about the satellite issue either, but your Yamaha should have a learning remote that will let you control the TV. With my system, the music is on most of the day, and when it's time to watch TV, I just hit the TV power button on the Yamaha's remote and switch the input to DTV. I almost never listen to the TV speakers anymore.
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Jubilees aren't ugly, they're functional, like a Jeep or a truck is functional. They're not meant to be furniture. If you park a Viper beside a Ferrari, it's easy to say which is prettier, but is that the point of a high-performance car?
Jubilees are uncompromised (relatively) machines for reproducing music. They're basic, high-performance units, at a bargain price. If putting veneer on the bass bin and a box over the 402 horn with a grille cloth to hide the "bat-cave" makes them prettier to some eyes, fine, they'll still sound nearly as good, and still be priced lower than many high-end speakers that can't match their sound. There are ways to dress up Jubilees, but they'll always be really big speakers. Wilson Audio makes some really big speakers, too, and so does Montana, with really big pricetags, but people seem to find the room and the money for them.
We all have our opinions, but I wouldn't call anyone's pride and joy "plug ugly".
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Making sure the squawker horn is tightly screwed to the motorboard makes sense, but it's easy to strip the holes in the plywood. One of my La Scalas came with two stripped holes with chalk arrows pointing to the holes, I suppose to caution the final assembler not to overdo it. It was easy to repair the holes by gluing in a piece from a disposable chopstick cut to the size of the hole, then drilling a pilot hole a little smaller than the screw's minor diameter.
My furniture refinisher buddy suggests that when tightening a screw into wood, snug plus a quarter-turn is as tight as you should go.
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The letter "P" represents 1976. You can see the date codes at: http://www.progressive-engineering.com/klipsch/klipsch_date_codes.htm
The label looks like the mid-70s style. The labels on my 1974 La Scalas look like that. Pity only the tester used a pen with black ink, as the red fades badly. All the red ink on my labels is almost invisible now.
Don't know why the serial numbers on the labels wouldn't match the numbers stamped into the rear panels. There should be a different number on each speaker, of course. Ideally, the numbers would be consecutive (like 8P943 and 8P944, for example), but they're often a few numbers apart, since La Scalas were likely to be in stock in shops at that time and the dealer would just grab a pair of boxes, while Klipschorns were often special order and would usually arrive with consecutive numbers.
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Bill Lear (the LearJet guy) got the idea for the 8-track while he was taking a shower. He soon realized that having the tape rub over itself would cause it to wear out pretty soon, but he figured it would be good enough for automotive use and would make him some money.
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And this is how it looks with Dynamat Xtreme applied:
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Dynamat does the same job and may be less messy to use. Just peel and stick (after making some heavy paper templates and cutting to size, of course). There's original Dynamat and the new Dynamat Xtreme, which is thinner but claimed to be more effective. The shiny silver foil also makes it easier to dust (yes, I dust off the horns and crossovers whenever I dust the house, plus the rest of the cabinets and, well, all parts of the system).
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Well-written, Max, but it's neat in an odd way that we can have two types of snobbery: "I'm cooler/smarter/better than you because I spent more money than you!" as well as "I'm cooler/smarter/better than you because I spent less money than you!" Equal-opportunity snobbery!
Personally, I think "hi-fi enthusiast" has less of an ivory tower connotation, but it doesn't really matter. It's a multi-faceted hobby, like many others. When I rode a motorcycle, I wanted mine to be the fastest for the least money and to ride it every day. I didn't understand why some folks would build expensive fast machines and polish them rather than ride them, or bolt every chrome gewgaw they could find onto their machines.
The custom crowd would decry "catalog customs" that were built by ordering everything in the Drag Specialties or Arlen Ness catalog and (horrors!) paying someone to build their bike, feeling that hand-built with machining and welding skills was the only "real" way to do it.
Eventually, I realized that all hobbies are supposed to be fun, and there are many ways to have fun, even if I mentally roll my eyes at what some folks find cool. They're having fun, so they're succeeding in their endeavor.
Snobbery just makes the snob look bad.
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Check out Tripp Lite. Good stuff, not expensive.
Pat on the Island
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No offense taken. I haven't been exposed to (or spoiled by) any really high-end tables, so what do I know? My Technics sounds better than most CDs, makes me happy and impresses my friends. Works for me. As a former mechanic and millwright, a turntable that some DJs have nicknamed "the wheel of steel" for its reliability appeals to me, as well as the sound.
Does anyone suggest or recommend an upgraded arm for the Technics? Something I may look into down the road.
Glad you enjoy your Basis 'table. They have a good rep.
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The movie Fight Club was so against the IKEA lifestyle that the hero actually flipped out and started a revolution.
Pat on the Island (we have no IKEA on the Island, and few people miss it)
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Here are some basic tips that you might not be aware of if you're not familiar with vinyl playback. First, a cheap turntable will sound worse than a cheap CD player, but a really good turntable can sound better than any CD machine, so don't go too cheap on your turntable. If it's a half-decent T/T, it could be worth upgrading to a modern cartridge. A good shop will install it for you, as it's definitely more complicated than changing a lightbulb.
Your Yamaha RX-V2600 should have a phono input (I think all models from the RX-V750 or RX-V659 on up have one). You'll also need to ground the turntable to the receiver, by connecting the ground lead from the turntable to the GND terminal on the back of the receiver.
The phono input is needed because record cartridges put out their signal at a much lower voltage than CD players, so the phono input normally has a small phono amp built-in, to bring up the volume. Even so, you'll need to turn up the volume knob fairly high to get your music loud enough. With my RX-V750, I listen to CDs at between -22 and -32dB on the volume, but with LPs it's more like -8 to -16dB to get the same sound level. That doesn't make the amp work any harder, since it's amplifying a lower-level input to get the same output. The tech on the customer service line at Yamaha confirmed this to me when I called to ask why the volume seemed low.
There are two types of cartridge, Moving Magnet (MM) and Moving Coil (MC). The phono input on your Yamaha will have adequate boost for MM cartridges, but not enough for MC cartridges, which have a lower output. This should be mentioned in your owner's manual. MC cartridges require a step-up transformer or a phono amp, plus they are more expensive, so you may not be looking at an MC cartridge anyway.
As for why records are "better" than CDs, analog recording preserves more of the detail of the music, but it takes good-quality equipment to retrieve it. Better quality equipment also causes much less wear on records. Records are much less convenient than CDs, typically only having 20-25 minutes of music per side and no skip or random play feature, plus it's a bit a of a ceremony to clean the record before each play and perhaps demagnetize it after, but that's cool in a retro way, and good records can sound more "live" than CDs. As well, you can pick up good used LPs for not much money.
Finally, avoid any temptation to call a turntable a "vinyl player" unless you want to sound like a knob...
Pat on the Island
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I have a 7.1 system (with 2 La Scalas) in the livingroom and a 5.1 system in the bedroom, and here's my take on it: it depends where your listening position is. If you're sitting with the back of your chair very near the wall, 5.1 is just fine. If you're sitting more than 5 feet or so ahead of the back wall, 7.1 is the way to go. The rear surround channels may be matrixed, not discrete, but they definitely help the sound in a large room.
Also, some may disagree, but I don't think the surround speakers need to match the fronts. Having 7 Heritage speakers in the room seems logical and looks great if you have the space, but in most material there just isn't that much surround content. Applause, thunder, shell casings and broken glass bouncing on the floor, a knock on a door, that seems like most of what I hear. "Good enough" speakers seem to suffice most of the time.
The main disadvantage of not having Heritage (or at least Klipsch) surround speakers is matching the levels. In my case, even with the furthest surround speaker at +10dB, I still had to set the Scalas at -4dB. But that's no big deal, and the system sounds fine. I should pick up House of Flying Daggers again, though, and have a listen to The Echo Game scene with the Scalas in the system.
Pat on the Island
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My '74 La Scalas came with pie-slice logos, one very worn-looking and the the other missing (but the glue marks showed where it had been). The worn one was on the left side of the cabinet, but the mark of the missing one was on the right side of the cabinet.
I ordered a set of 2006 Jubilee Logos, as they're called (part number 070249, $16.50Cdn) and installed them as soon as they arrived last Friday. Now the speakers look like a dedicated "left" and "right" with pie-shaped cool shiny badges.
Pat on the Island
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Wintersong, the new Sarah Mclachlan CD, is pretty good.
Pat on the Island
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DrWho wrote: Lol, any decent quality TT option out there that costs under $500? How bout under $200?
Although the high-end turntables probably sound amazing, you can find a deck that will make you happy for much less money. Last year, I picked up a Technics SL-1400MK2 ('78 vintage?) for only $140Cdn. It came with a low-end Audio-Technica CN5625AL cartridge, the yellow one, and the sound was nothing special. Then I had a Shure M97Xe cartridge installed and the sound was transformed! I hadn't realized that vinyl could sound that good. Better dynamics and clarity and reduced surface noise were very noticeable.Now my friends could hear why I started to prefer LPs to CDs. There's a much more "live" feel to the sound, revealing fine details, that makes CDs sound "canned".
The owners of high-end belt-drive units may roll their eyes at this, but I really like the quartz-locked direct-drive concept. It's unfussy and very reliable, with dead-accurate speed control. 45rpm LPs? Just push a button to change the speed. In a way, the Technics DD turntables are a little like Klipsch speakers, in that they sound great and are built to last nearly forever, even in daily use by DJs.
Pat on the Island
DETERMINING SPEAKER SIZE
in Technical/Restorations
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Two weeks ago, I relocated my system so the Scalas are on the long wall and much further apart than they had been, thanks to a tip from Peter (thanks, psg) and the sound was quite improved. However, the surround speakers were no longer where they needed to be, so I moved two of them for now, and ran Yamaha's YPAO auto setup routine. It declared that the La Scalas were small and out of phase with the other speakers.
Actually, the only things the YPAO got correct were the size and distances of the surround speakers. All the other distances were off a little, and the sub was about 4 feet closer than indicated. Interestingly, though, I learned that the Scala distance to the listening position should be measured from the back of the squawker horn, at the driver, not at the front of the horn. Obvious when you think of it, but not like cone speaker enclosures.
According to the owner's manual, the program is not always correct about phase with certain speakers. As for "size", the La Scalas are certainly big, but their gradual bass roll-off might make them test like small speakers. However, having the low bass coming from the two Scala bass bins (even with it tapering off below 100Hz or so) plus from the sub makes for a noticeably fuller sound, so I set mains at "large" on the receiver.
Accordingly, I agree that main speakers capable of any decent bass response should call for the amp settings to be set at "large" for the mains. Just my opinion.