maxg

"Neutrality is the most important quality of any high quality speaker" Disagree. The ability to convey the music in a manner pleasing to the listener's ear in conjunction with the rest of the supporting equipment and in sympathy with the listening environment is key - neutrality is for the anally retentive. Most venues for live music are far from neutral (more so than most recording studios). A speaker that gives recording studio tracks that live feel is what Klipsch is all about IMHO and all that.

I cannot say I am surprised at your findings. I listened to a very high end setup based on the B&W Nautilus and found myself in a virtual coma within minutes totally unable to concentrate on the music. To date I have not found any other make of speaker that gives you that live feel quite like a Klipsch. That is not to say that I have not heard some excellent sounding systems based on other speakers (particuarly the Final 0.3's and the Quad 989's) but these are both systems I would enjoy ocasionally rather than on a daily basis. This is especially true for the Quads - they come across as technically perfect speakers that are very revealing but somewhat limited in their musicality IMHO. ------------------ My System: http://aca.gr/pop_maxg.htm

Hijackers!! Saboteurs!!! I started this thread about vinyl and now it has been taken over by all you tube heads making posts I cant understand... On the other hand...are you guys saying that the power tubes make less impact on the quality of the music than the input tubes??? If so I had better start playing with those - changing from 6550's to KT88's made a huge difference to my sound!

Would tend to concur that the best matching speakers for the KHorns would be other Heritage speakers rather than the RF range. Think Belles, LaScalas or Heresy's. IMHO the perfect surround sound setup would have KHorns front with a Belle Centre speaker and either KHorn rears or LaScala rears if the budget is more limited. For the sub I would definitely not leap into a Klipsch unit. Whilst I dearly love Klipsch speakers I have been disappointed with their subs. I own the Rel Strata 3 sub which is a superb match for the Heresy mains I run, but, I fear would be a little overpowered by your KHorns. The larger REL - The stadium did not impress me when I heard it so like many others I would suggest looking at SVS sub(s). I should add that I have never heard the SVS units but judging by the gushing of the owners it would be a good place to start. One final point - your dad must really love you - that is one hell of a present!! ------------------ My System: http://aca.gr/pop_maxg.htm

OK - my turn.... Looking at your setup I would suspect vibration from the floor rather than the air. You might want to try pulling the speakers forwards just to test to see if the skipping continues. Also - is that an SVS sub in front of the left speaker - that could be the cause of the problems - is it on and playing? Can you turn it off and retest? One thought - you might try isolating the speakers rather than the player - placing them on large blocks (marble ideally) - might help if the floor is genuinely the culprit. Just another POV... ------------------ My System: http://aca.gr/pop_maxg.htm

Well for those of you that are into female vocals I wuold recommend Jacintha as an Jazz artist with a staggering voice that can be compared on the best of CD (XRCD Recording) and on SACD (Here's to Ben and Autumn Leaves) in both 2 channel and multi-channel formats (Lush life only). Between me and a friend of mine we have all of the above titles on both formats and it does make for some interesting comparisons. After much testing I prefered the SACD recordings as they were software and warmer whilst he prefered the CD recordings for exactly the same reasons. Horses for courses I suppose. If you want to get hold of any of the above I got mine at www.elusivedisc.com. Actually - I am on the way there myself to see if they have any of these on vinyl too - that would be interesting!!

Carefull C&S - you are heading down the road of a vinyl collector - as in one who buys rare records for their collectability rather than for their sonics. There is a guy over here in Greece who owns one of the local audio mags who is reputed to own 80,000 albums. It is obvious that he cannot have listened to all of these (it would take about 7 years to listen - at an average of 45 minutes per album - to them all - even if they were playing 24 hours per day, 7 days per week). In other words this is a guy who collects for the sake of collecting - still I wouldnt mind browsing his collection for a while and picking up a couple of hundred titles - trouble is he aint selling - he is still buying!!

Not all that long ago I jumped into SACD with both feet. I bought a combo Sony NS900 player and around 70 titles. My conclusion at the time was that it was a considerable improvement over CD, even XRCD. Since then I got into vinyl. As much as an improvement as I thought SACD was over CD it pales in comparison to vinyl on my system. The difference is so big that I suspect the above combo player is really, as Mobile says, a piece of junk and not doing anything for the medium. At about the same time as I bought a friend picked up a dedicated Sony SACD player - the 770 (not the higher priced 777 - the 770 was the bottom of the range and priced similarly to my combo unit). I have noticed that the difference between SACD and vinyl on his system is rather less marked but still very much there. I suspect that the better units make a big difference in the sound and may even be able to better my humble TT (the Project RPM 4). I just wouldnt want to invest so much money in a player to find out - especially as I am buying vinyl at about 1/5th to 1/3rd the price of the SACD disks - with an almost infinite selection of titles available. My suspicions are that both SACD and DVDa are in for a very rocky road ahead and that indeed both may fail in the end. Further, I am far from convinced that the currently avaiable CD's are anyway near the capabilities of the medium. ------------------ My System: http://aca.gr/pop_maxg.htm

It is interesting to see the issue of vinyl surface noise being brought up. This was, for me, one of the main reasons for not getting into vinyl in the first place. I bought my first CD player back in 1984 and steadily built up a reasonable collection of Cd's over the years since. Last year I bought an SACD player and some 70 disks later came to the conclusion that this was the way to go. It was only on a whim that I finally decided to have a play with vinyl to see what all the fuss was about. I bought a very moderate TT (Pro-ject RPM 4 with project's own phono box) connected it up to my system and played some of the very few vinyl records I owned. To my utter amazement not only were the dynamics far superior to both CD and SACD but the whole surface noice issue simply did not appear. Since that time (now about 4 months ago) I have amassed some 350 records, in the main new, and largely for around $6 a disk. I now never listen to CD except to demonstrate to friends how superior vinyl sounds. Of these 350 records I would say that less than 10 have unacceptable levels of surface noise and many have, to all intents and purposes, none. In fact the most common comment from uninitiated listeners is on that very thing. All expect to hear hiss, pops, cracks and the like and are amazed when they do not appear, disk after disk. Frankly I am at a loss to explain why this should be when others so obviously experience unacceptable levels of noise. I do not clean my records other than by brushing them off with a carbon fibre brush. I do clean my cartridge needle with a fluid I got from clear audio (about ever 5 records or so) but that is about as far as my maintenance extends. Even records I know to have been well played now play almost perfectly. Of my own existing records all were bought during the 70's in the UK and were played to death on a beaten up Radioshack record player on the carpet in my bedroom. Even these play without surface noise. Maybe it is the player, maybe the cartridge, maybe the optimisation of the cartridge installation (done by the guy I bought it from) I do not know. All I do know is that I have 340+ records that play perfectly. To date I have had about 20 individuals come over to my house and listen to my system varying from total non audiophiles to people who have spent over $100K on their systems. None, not one, has ever expressed a preference for CD, or expressed any form of disatisfaction with the surface noise. I should add that I offer them a choice of CD playback units to choose from. I have an old Denon DVD player (the 3000) a Sony NS900 DVD/SACD/CD player and a dedicated Marantz CD6000 CD player. Of these the best playback comes from the Marantz (to my ears) and yet even that pales in comparison with the TT. Interestingly, as an aside, the worst of the bunch for CD playback is the Sony. Now I am sure there are better CD players out there than the Marantz that might perform closer to the TT in sonics, but I doubt that they would be near the price. All of the units above cost within 20% of each other with the Denon being the most expensive and the Marantz the cheapest.

Clipped I too am of the opinion that an iron clad list would be difficult to put together and highly unlikely to hold true. Even in my own limited collection I have noticed that some Greek pressings are actually very good. Of all my records probably the best to date is a Blues direct to disk recording of Wild Child Butler. This has not only the lowest noise floor of all my records it also has a lower noise floor than all my CD's! The background is so low I keep thinking the record has finished playing between tracks. In addition the dynamics are just breathtaking. I should add however that this was my most expensive record purchase to date. I picked it up at an audiophile place for around $50 but it was worth every penny.

Plate smashing is a cretan tradition but not too common elsewhere. I prefer my ouzo with ice but without the added pottery. As for recipes for Souvlaki - I cant help you and neither can my wife (I didnt marry her for her cooking skills). I could provide you with the names of some really good Souvlaki shops for when you next come down to Athens if you like... ------------------ My System: http://aca.gr/pop_maxg.htm

My rather recently acquired vinyl collection (now around 350 albums) contains pressings from many and various countries of origin. Whilst I cannot claim to have made any kind of detailed study on the topic I have begun to notice that the quality of the recordings appears to vary with both the country of origin and the period. For example, I am yet to find a decent US recording from the 1970's, or, conversely, a bad German copy from the same period. Has anyone else noticed this kind of breakdown? Or, better yet, put together some kind of classification of what is good, when and from where? Bizzarely I have recently found myself listening to more and more mono recordings from the 1950's. Whilst I miss the soundstage breadth of stereo they seem to have greater dynamics and a greater sense of depth than stereo recordings. I have a copy of the Pastorale that is to die for in mono. ------------------ My System: http://aca.gr/pop_maxg.htm

Mike - I have 15 PF albums now and the best by far in terms of quality is a German pressing of the Wall which I picked up mint for $12. If you can find a German pressing I heartily recommend it. A friend of mine has a DSOTM Japanese pressing which cost a small fortune and is even better sonically than my copy of the Wall and way better than either my Greek or French pressings of DSOTM. Note though that when I say a small fortune I mean it cost him more than my 15 albums put together. Right now my favorite PF album is Animals (which no-one seems to have mentioned). Sadly it is not the best quality recording I own (Greek again). As for Roger Waters in the Flesh - I have that on SACD multi-channel and it is by far the best SACD I have found. I have no idea how it compares to the DVD-a version as I am still yet to hear or sea a DVDa unit over here. ------------------ My System: http://aca.gr/pop_maxg.htm

To the extent of my experience to date I am yet to find an SS amp that will stand comparison with a semi decent tube setup when driving Heritage speakers. My previous amplification, which was recommended by my local Klipsch dealer, was an Accuphase E211 SS integrated amp. Whilst the sound was good it was simply destroyed by what I have now and that is a simple push pull monoblock setup. FWIW I am driving these via a Decware ZTPRE. You mentioned the possibility of investigating a tube pre-amp so I would recommend testing this unit out if you get the chance. Its main claim to fame it seems (other than the very reasonable price) is its flexibility. High and low input selection, choice of output capacitors on board, and a choice of high or low bias settings. From what I have seen this allows the ZT to play with just about any setup going - out of the box. ------------------ My System: http://aca.gr/pop_maxg.htm

I suggested the very same thing a few months ago and it seemed to fall on deaf ears.. Maybe your post will have more luck. PS - I have been on holiday for the last 2 weeks - did I miss anything good? Actually when I say holiday I mean it - no computer - no car and no music - just me the wife and the baby on a very small Greek Island drinking Tsiporo (a bit like Ouzo but much more palatable) - mental note - must cut down on the baby's drinking!! ------------------ My System: http://aca.gr/pop_maxg.htm

There is a real WAF issue in everything I buy - after all we have been together for 18 years!! I find my wife remarkably tolerant of my habit (especially bearing in mind that my system now takes up most of the living room) but I do not buy any item of equipment before we discuss it. Recently I announced that I wanted to upgrade my TT from the modest $600 unit I have now to one about ten times more. Her reaction was simple - if my new business venture takes off - get it. This was exactly my thinking anyway (now not being a good time to invest in non-esentials as I do not have a salary coming in as yet). As for the remote issue - like HDBR my system is entirely manual - only the TV and video stuff has remotes and they are switched off most of the time. Muscially our tastes are fairly in line with one or two exceptions (ABBA for her, PF for me for example) but it only means I buy a dozen or so records I wouldnt were I on my own. ------------------ My System: http://aca.gr/pop_maxg.htm

Hey Justin - sorry to hear you lost your Range Rover. That was the car I wanted but the company wouldn't cough up the $$ for it so I ended up with the new Discovery. This is the first V8 I ever owned (I know they are common as Toyotas in the US but here in Europe they are fairly rare). So far I am really happy with it. They certainly packed in the luxury when Ford took it over and it has one plus over the Range Rover - 7 seats!! I have a friend from the US staying over at the moment and even he said "Goddamm Max this is a big car!" Of course he was talking in reference to the little ant like cars we tend to drive over on this site of the pond. ------------------ My System: http://aca.gr/pop_maxg.htm

Well a picture is worth a thousand words - so you just posted around 6000. Real nice looking setup - would love to hear it play - if it sounds as good as it looks it should be a beauty indeed!!! Let us know how the sound of the TT compares to your CD sources.... ------------------ My System: http://aca.gr/pop_maxg.htm

When I first ran my Tube monoblocks I did so with an SS Pre from the same manufacturer and it did sound good. Later on I sourced a tube pre-amp (the Decware ZTPRE as it happens) and the sound took such a mighty leap forwards that I could barely believe my ears. So I would conclude that the Denon may well be capable of driving tube amps and sounding better than the Denon on its own but it will not compare to a properly matched tube pre-amp in sound. Note: The key words in all the above is "properly matched". I also tried a bottelhead foreplay pre-amp but that was no better in my setup than the supplied SS pre. ------------------ My System: http://aca.gr/pop_maxg.htm

That is quite a big room - pity the wife wont let you have larger speakers in there. The main difference between Heresy's and forte's / chorus et al. is bass. The Heresy's bottom out at around 50Hz (depending on room, amplification etc.) whilst the others go considerably lower. If you do decide to go for the Heresy's I would recommend teaming them up with a sub-woofer. the best sonic match I found for mine was the Rel Strata 3. Let us know what you decide to do... ------------------ My System: http://aca.gr/pop_maxg.htm

Geez - what did I start? Congrats to Indy, Chickey, Trespaser, Sunnysal and Setymour - aint fatherhood great!!! Another activity you can do to music!

I know I am biased but this baby is cuter...and falls asleep to DSOTM!! ------------------ My System: http://aca.gr/pop_maxg.htm

Full sympathies Jazman - I am going through the same thing and the possible combinations are driving my nuts. I am now beginning to doubt my choice of TT too - so everything is hovering in mid air. Add to this the fact that my current really modest TT (The Project RPM4) is performing its socks off (run-in?) and I am really at a loss as to what to do. The default option right now seems to be to do nothing and stay with what I have got for the time being - spending my money on vinyl instead. This, at least is proving to be successful. I picked up another 25 albums on Saturday ranging from Beethoven's 3rd symphony to Elvis to the Pet shop boys. So far I have played about 6 of them and they are all fabulous - no pops, clicks and hiss - just pure music. The best thing is that I sold 20 DVD disks for considerably more than the 25 records cost. If I continue at the current rate I could have enough money to get another 200 albums and a replacement TT. In the meantime this TT / Arm / Cartridge / Phono stage dilemma is driving me to drink (mainly beer whilst listening to the new albums). Ah well - you win some - you win some.

If the Bostons are the ones I am thinking about they are the very small bookshelf speakers and I have heard them. I would disagree with most of the posters here in that when I heard them driven by a 200 wpc SS amp they were really good - for their size and in a small room. Obviously I would not compare them to the Heresy's which have a far greater room-filling ability but if I have a small room (say 10' square with 8' ceilings) I would certainly consider them. In that environment - with the aforementioned high power amp - they sing very prettily indeed with a remarkable soundstage. On your tubes however - I am surprised they play at all - and you might be actually damaging them with so little power. ------------------ My System: http://aca.gr/pop_maxg.htm

RF3II = great choice = best speaker bang for buck out there new. I have also played with them connected to my push/pull 50 wpc KT88's. They are a wonder to behold and they go way way way too loud!!!! My friends tested them at volumes that forced me into the garden. Once we got the volume down to reasonable levels I was amazed by their sound - really good. In fact I was beginning to think they might be better than my Heresy's until we switched back. Heresy's do voice better and mids much better but the RF3 has gobs of bass. To compete with that you need to add a sub to the heresys but when you do.....it is the next best thing to larger Heritage speakers. One thing I do believe about the RF3's however is that they are far more accomodating of poorer components up-channel than the Heresy's. Heresy's can sound bad in the wrong setup - something I have never heard RF3's do whatever is powering them. Just my $0.02 ------------------ My System: http://aca.gr/pop_maxg.htm