AnalogWave

Anyone have experience with them?

I have an addendum page as the cover of my manual - it states... "If you have the Blueberry or Xtreme "Cream" Option for Low Output Moving Coil Cartridges (LOMC), the LOMC input is Phono 1."

Hey! Only $72! Not cheap by a long shot but better than $110. I'll give 'em a call Monday and see if I have other options. Any weird sitings over the Lake lately?

Not the best place to stuff this maybe, but... I've got a coupla' Hardigg Storm cases and luv 'em. Thing is, you can spend $150 on a good size case WITH pick & pluck foam inside, but when you want to order replacement foam (dual use of one case), the OEM stuff is $110 (!) Now, I know WHY they do that, but come on... especially when you can order the same case whithout the foam for just $26 less. My question - does anyone have a source for replacement foam at a reasonable cost? I've seen guys on Craigslist who have their own little scams going - they'll buy mutliple cases, keep one or two, pull the foam from the remainder and sell the empty cases - probably to someone who has no idea how expensive the damn foam is. Or maybe they just want a lunch box, I dunno'.

Link-a-roni If so, what's your experience been? Thx.

Oh believe me, no disrespect for Brent or his fans... just that I'm sure he's not around on a holiday weekend and I was just lookin' for some quick feedback (HA!... 'feedback'...) Gotta' say I'm a little surprised about the tube tester comments. I was feelin' particularly manly one day many years back and purchased a Fluke multi meter. Fancy thing, does all kindza' stuff. Me?... I use it as a battery tester. Now, if I buy new batteries, I know what to expect. It's those layabout batteries you're never quite sure about. Bust out the Fluke, bada-bing-bada-boom, I know if I can use 'em or toss 'em. And hey, if I ever get an Electrical Engineering degree some day it's one less tool to buy. I was thinking along the same lines regarding the tube tester. I'm new to tubes but imagine their demise is a slow one if not abused, so the listener is mostly unaware until one goes dark or super nova. If measurements are known when a tube is new, every six months or year a quick check would result in new measurements that could establish a benchmark for replacement if right away a sonic comparison is made with a new set of tubes. There is also the ability to match tubes that benefit sonically from the process. KT88, your comments about the New Sensor company worry me some as I've pretty much resolved myself to buying new production tubes vs. NOS simply due to cost. I understand that most if not all original tube manufacturers are gone and their equipment with them but is it really THAT hard to produce a new tube in this day and age that is the sonic match of NOS? I've heard tell that modern man could not replicate the Great Pyramids of Egypt without using technology that didn't exist then (first one to mention aliens and Imma' smack you). What are we?... Devolving? So it would seem then that an EL34 from Brand X would be the same no matter where you purchase it as long as it's in 'new' condition. Matching is a whole nuther ball of twine. When I call Brent next week one other question I'll ask is about the suffixes on some tubes (12ax7, 12ax7wa, 12ax7eh, etc.) and what if any bearing they have or if they are all interchangeable.

Reminds me of James Taylor's 'One Man Band' show where he quipped how the electric guitar is much improved over its steam powered predecessor (chuckle). As per usual, Thebester is correct. I was trying to be vague with just enough details for a specific reason, but looking back I was a little too vague. I'm looking to roll tubes in the monoblock amps that make up my 2ch system. My basic question is, does it matter if a tube, say an EL34, comes from a place like Audiotubes.com (Brent Jesse) or a musician supply site? The grading system I referenced above has no meaning to me so I was wondering if someone here spoke Musician and could translate. Or, are all NEW production tubes from a given manufacturer all the same quality no matter who the retailer is? Guitar amps don't have special requirements over audio amps - you tube roll in both to discover the best sound, right? All this just reminds me that I need to acquire some type of basic tube tester and understand the process of testing/matching tubes and the numbers behind it all.

That's what I'm finding, but remember I'm not talking NOS here. My gear requires other tubes as well, I just have to look back at my notes (I'm away from home at the moment) to verify what other tubes I need and specifically which ones have the most affect on the sound.

I'm looking to buy some power tubes and found a site that caters to musicians but has really good prices. The particular tube I'm looking at is tested/ranked as 'Soft, Medium or Hard' and described as follows: Soft, medium, and hard style descriptions refer to break up modes of the tube for an overdriven guitar signal. Soft-rated tubes break up slow and have the highest amount of headroom, while hard-rated tubes break up easier and have the least headroom, yielding a heavier, harder distortion. Medium-rated tubes fall in between. It seems like 'Soft' would be preferable for the reproduction of music, no? I don't have a tube tester and don't know how this rating system compares to what those of you that do are looking for in a tube's measurements. Are new non NOS tubes all the same given the brand/model or are there grades for different applications? Thx.

..forgot to mention... Rick - call the provider of your card(s) to see if they offer 'one-time-use' numbers. Essentially, it's a randomly generated number good for one transaction against your account and then it's digitally shredded.

First, understand I’ve no love for Ticketmaster either – been under the thumb of those bass turds for three decades now and why they haven’t gone the way of Standard Oil or Ma Bell can only be attributed to graft.?? Invariably I’m bent whenever I’m reduced to using TM’s site. It never works until I remember to enable cookies for it (I won’t White-List it on principle). Once the site actually lets you into the respective order page there is a time limit per page thereafter - perform or be punted. Then there is the shock & awe of the fees. What’s that?... you want an actual 'ticket'? It's like another Tax Bracket. Printing fees. Handling fees. Delivery fees. Add ‘em all up and you could almost move a pair of Khorns x-country. Beaten down at that point, I always opt to print my own, a hugeazz barcode on 8.5x11 copy paper. Outstanding. After I’ve folded it five times to fit in my pocket and transported it to and from the venue, I’ll proudly frame that reminder of the greatest show I’ve ever seen.?? I was never a ‘Head’ but was shotgun on a dozen or so Dead shows before the Phat Man punched out into a pile of China White. To my knowledge they were the only band to have their own mail-order ticket service – GDTS. TM still got their allotment to sell but all the true, crusty Headz would mail-order theirs. Files were kept and there was (is?...) an element of favoritism to those with a long history through the service. Family, so to speak. Regardless, they were some of the coolest looking tickets you’ll ever lay eyes on, prolly to keep the attention of Headz so they wouldn’t lose them whilst trippin’ their nerts off. ??And now in recent years the latest money-grab, legalized Scalp Houses. I don’t know how they acquire what they sell, whether through handshakes-on-high or snipping, but as much as I like the Rolling Uglies or U2 or Coldplay… I won’t pay court-side Lakers prices to see ‘um. It's basically come down to me forsaking the biggest acts and waiting for smaller, less known, less traveled bands to come around. So in the end, it's the fan that loses, literally the guy the whole song and dance is about. By the way, this mini rant is a general grievance and pointed at no one in particular.

They can ALL drop dead.

Hey... Did you?... No you didn't! Did you?... .. . ...awp, yup... dare it iz. Well I gotcher back on the udder two. They're like the Three Musketeers of Music.

Randomly, some of my faves that have gone unmentioned so far... Trey Anastasio Brian Setzer Joe Walsh Andy Summers As for classical guitar, I don't think anyone mentioned Al Di Meola, Paco De Lucia and John McLaughlin.

Yoinks. Pasted into Word... Pages = 15 Words = 9,933 Characters (no spaces) = 53,439 Characters (with spaces) = 63,204 Paragraphs = 166 Lines = 843 It'll take a mighty wheel to grind that axe.

I've never owned any of Bob's stuff but I'd like to try some in the future. Kind of a Black Sheep in the Industry, either loved or looked down upon, but somehow seemingly outside the 'Audiophile' circle. The only concern I see is replacement parts if something goes ''poof''. Some of those chips may be next to impossible to find new or prohibitively expensive, leaving you to replace the entire component. The more reputable the seller and the lower the product 'miles' the better as heat is the enemy.

I certainly won't argue subjective beauty - to each their own - but even if that thing comes with an RF remote (allowing for deep burial) I wouldn't purchase it. When I saw the Pumps/Purse offering it became immediately apparent they're chasing shock-value to separate themselves from the herd, something I personally don't respect. I like to walk my own path through Life more so than most but I'll stop short of rockin' a used pink Mary K Cosmetics Cadillac - I ain't that different or confident. As a side note, one of their products was reviewed in a current magazine in such a way that they took exception to it and let loose with a mini-meltdown in the Manufacture's Comments section. The person didn't sign their name. I most definitely don't respect that.

Thanks Josh, I appreciate the input (Ha!.. input... I slay me) After reading many reviews of the DAC1 I'd pretty much talked myself into one even though the cost of admission is a little steep for me. During the 'cash buidling' phase I had a moment of weakness and purchased something else for less than half the price (returnable) and so far it's fallen short of my expectations. To complicate matters, I happened across and purchased the latest issue of The Absolute Sound which is labeled 'Digital Edition' and discusses many things DAC. A cursory view revealed no modern comparo of a Benchmark product to my dismay but did give me a rather bipolar impression of USB... "The Future"... "but it sucks"... A product from Focusrite named Saffire was lauded heavily for its Firewire prowess (which all my Macs support) but was considered the next Dodo by the very helpful gentleman I spoke to at Benchmark today. Not a surprise really so much as a painful reminder since I really like Firewire's speed. I'm beginning to truly understand the heavily trafficed Used Market in this hobby - it's virtually impossible to make an educated first and final decision on a purchase. You pan the sand endlessly, keeping a few nuggets along the way while passing the rest downstream. That's a lotta' damn work with suddenly very real sums of money. I may have to enter self-imposed exile.

Well, to my eyes, it has neither design or function, thus FAIL / FAIL. For all my aural pursuits I'm also a very visual person and I can only describe that contraption as painful. I mean, it appears to have two visible wing nuts fer Christ's sake. My lawn mower makes due with just ONE holding the air filter in place.

Gadzooks man... not even a Mother. Looks like Fisher Price's take on a Nuke Plant.

Sure thing. I snagglepussed the following from Oppo's site... Release Notes: The major changes included in this version are: 1. Further improvement to DVD-Audio disc compatibility and navigation. 2. Adjustment to the BD loader for smoother operation and less vibration than the previous versions. 3. Complete fix for the CD track looping problem. 4. Support for the optional RS232 wired remote control port. 5. Other general disc compatibility and performance improvements. All features and improvements of the previous firmware are also included in this version. Bitstream output for HDCD is still a work in progress, and should be fully supported with the next firmware update. I misread the notes - they're talking about once the player captures a disc and begins spinning it up to pull data. I just now fired mine up and drawer opening after pushing the button (response time) is rapid, but this is where I THINK I now perceive a difference from the previous firmware. The drawer opens quickly at first only to slow in speed as it reaches full extension. Closing, it's the same rapid speed inward. In an effort at full disclosure, I have been building models lately, so that could just be the glue talkin'.

..if so, are you happy with it? What products preceded it and how do they differ? The Dude is obliged.

Phunny you mention tray response... I've had my BDP-83 for some time now as I was part of the Beta Bunch and the latest 'approved' firmware update (I should check the site again) actually slowed the drawer down some. It's amazing what they can tweak in software these days. Anyway, not sure why they did it, but I'm pretty sure they even mentioned it in the version notes - I can look. Personally, I love mine, though I'm not a hard-core user with decades of previous player experience. The only gripe I have about it, when I'm playing audio CDs and want to FF or REV through a track, it's choppy and not very linear. I believe they're working on this for future updates. For what it's worth, I just took delivery of a Firestone Audio Spitfire DAC along with their Supplier power supply (to replace the standard weakling-wall-wart) and so far, the Oppo spanks it. I haven't listened to many discs in comparison to their Apple Lossless file counterparts yet, but... oddly enough, I ESPECIALLY noticed a difference on Zeppelin's Houses of the Holy (1973!) Not sure if Oppo offers a refund policy if you buy from them (Amazon does, IF they are the ACTUAL seller) but if you don't like the BDP-83 for whatever reason I'm sure you'll have no issue selling it for a minor loss.

I didn't follow the link just yet but that looks like what I'm after, eventually - a touchscreen controlling a Mini. If you're a Ninja Code Monkey the possibities are almost endless (Sat Nav, WiFi, machine guns, smoke screen...) Sadly, I'm not, and I've had a rough enough time just finding qualified people to install a fairly pedestrian system in my car []

Yeah, that's just it, you can only ask so many questions before you hafta' torque up your drawers and commit to a project. Once underway, setbacks are inevitable. My system seems simpler than yours, so maybe I'll get lucky. Cloned the Mini's internal drive to a speedy external last night and am now booting from that. Scrubbing the OS a bit and installing misc software (that Plex is DEEP). I ordered a Spitfire and Supplier from Firestone so until that arrives I'll just rip CDs to the drives. Think I'll use Apple's lossless ALAC for compression. Anxiously awaiting that little Elgato box as well.