AnalogWave

Rega RP1 NIB for $445, complete with arm and cartridge. Apparently it's upgradable, too.

Yeah, sage advice that. My downfall is live music and headphones. I've shat myself numerous times as I restart music after a coworker has interrupted me. I suspect a Volume Troll as there is NO WAY I was listening to music THAT LOUD.

Happy Birthday []

So yeah, there is a definite downward trend in motion. That steep dropout started on or about Jan 8th when they flipped the switch on the new site and user accounts were largely unavailable for almost a month.

It sounds like you've got your existing gear setup the best possible way for your needs. If you feel it's not loud enough (I don't know how efficient the 82s are off the top of my head), your best bet is a nice used external stereo amplifier to power just the 82s or you could purchase a five channel amp for a little more money and just use the Sony AVR as a preamp - assuming it has the functionality - I'm not familiar with it. Another benefit of external amps is that they easily transfer forward as you continue to upgrade.

In most cases it's distortion from the amplifier that damages speakers, so as long as you have enough clean power to satisfy your volume needs the speakers should be fine. Are you combining multiple channels within the Sony AVR or are you using an external amplifier for biamping?

So what are your ears telling you Admiral? Don't keep us on the Plank.

Why do I not own that on Blu-ray? Something is wrong with me lately...

This treads on the fringe of a thread I’ve been meaning to start, but… I understand that from a Recording Engineer’s perspective you’d want to use gear as neutral as possible… likely why Bryston is so popular with that crowd. Thus, if reproduced music is “lean”, frequencies are being attenuated. On the other side, this “bloom” or “warmth” I see mentioned often on this forum I must admit leaves me puzzled. How is adding something that wasn’t in the recording better than taking something away? Is this generally accepted as a leash for the brightness that horns naturally exhibit? I’m not being argumentative as I own a full Juicy Music tube setup, I’m just trying to grasp what I’m unable to discuss in person, music playing, with other enthusiasts.

I read minds as a side job - keeps me in toys.

First, now that I'm over the shock of the weight... that is a beautiful piece of gear. I'm not so sure about the red one, but to each their own. I'd prolly gone with black and silver knobs and had the surface of the letters either polished back to ss or painted in blue or red. Now that there is some perspective, WOW... that sucker is big. I'm not a circuit kinda' guy, so with the hood up it looks all the world to me like an amplifier with all those caps. Some look beer can sized! I'm sure it will sound awesome. Too bad you couldn't have held onto the Cary for comparison.

The earliest versions had a higher noise floor than later models, so I would start with the 7B-ST. I've recently acquired a 3B-ST and SP2. Capt. Kirk has never been so deep into space - total silence through my Forte II. If I didn't know any better (and maybe I don't) I'd say they are sucking noise from the room. I've no experience with K-horns, so the efficiency difference must be factored. I'd still be surprised if you heard anything. The ST models have a ground-lift switch, the later SST & SST2 models don't need one - something different about their circuitry. As for power overkill, you certainly don't need what they offer, but I personally thought you could never have too much power. Again, I step aside to others who own K-horns. If the K-horn is the last speaker you think you'll ever buy, maybe the money could be better spent. With some nice used Paradigm or B&W etc., I think you'll be all smiles.

73 lbs?!? That's more than a pCAT. Is it lead-shielded against EMP?

If they can see the Great Wall from space, I'm guessing they'd have no problem hearing you. Those are beautiful amps but your electric bill must be stroke-inducing.

The Studio 20's are NO joke - do the RB's really keep up?

Dood - spectacular job. You should try to get lots of difuse light on them vs. direct flash to bring out all the detail. Truly, those are the mutts nuts.

Lets all stare silently at the new guy..................."Get over heeeeere!" (headlock noogie)

There was a deep thread all about shipping audio gear not long ago. A forum member who worked for one of the major shippers stated that the only way you're likely to get payed on a damage claim is if the CARRIER packaged the item. It's likely to cost a good buck but this way it's done to their exact standards (and employees) and they can't point the finger at you (rightly or wrongly) and say you did a faulty job. Basically, even if you packaged the item to survive a war your odds are slim of getting reimbursed because of all the legal shhhhtuff in their fine print. Catch 22. Talking to the drivers for all the carriers that service my office, they tell me packages with high-dollar insurance coverage are treated about as well as you can expect. If the item is worth $500, insure it for $2k. Oh, and that Leatherman the TSA took off you or the iPod you left on the plane?... it's for sale here.

My other passion. There's no matching the romance of stopping time in B&W.

The stats backup the general consensus (you have to have cookies enabled to see the page). The precipitous drop visible on the three month graph I can understand, the rise almost a month later not so much. Account functionality maybe. The trend since, however, is downward. Be interesting to see how the month of March ends. The "addict" stigma cuts a little deep.

Whenever I play their studio recordings I'm always amazed at the quality for their age. Some of the finest art to ever grace an album cover, too.

With Adcom amps, there are basically two questions: 1) is it direct-coupled 2) does it have protection circuitry inline to the speakers. I did a quick search and didn't come up with anything but someone somewhere surely knows. I did read that the 5802 has some new (for its time) protection circuit but it was unclear to me if it was designed more to save the amp from itself or the speakers. Or both. If replacing the caps costs $xxx, it must be more expensive to replace the caps and the damage done after they fail - in an Adcom amp at least. Stripping components and bathing boards in cleaning solutions sounds labor intensive, and if not done right you'll pop it again. I called Adcom years ago when the 555SE came out but I'm not sure of the state of the company now and who there might be there to talk to about the older amps. There must be a shop somewhere with a lot of under-the-hood experience with Adcom amps.

Well, the first page of this thread is a pretty good synopsis. Basically, a lot of the functionality of the old site is missing on the new site. I'm no longer looking at Audiogon as often as I used to, so if they're making daily improvements (hopeful but doubtful), good for them. Hopefully it's not too late to save their reputation. Regarding eBay, personally I would never purchase anything as large and heavy as a set of speakers from that site. It's been a cesspool for years now and the level of diligence required to try and sniff out a scam is just too much. People selling Beanie Babies and used childrens clothing can have the site. I much prefer Craigslist, where I find plenty of items I'm interested in for sale in my city or neighboring ones all the time. Sure, the prices can still be unrealistic, but I simply tell them... "I know the market well for this item, and you've priced yourself out of it. Here is a fair price - let me know." In a week or a month they'll realize I'm right and get back to me. It's rare someone overpays for the types of specialized items I look at.

Apparently $1,400 on sale, $1,900 reg price. I'll slum it.

Yeah, but they're like $1k a quad, or maybe even a PAIR as I recall. Redonkulous.