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Mike N

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Posts posted by Mike N

  1. 7 minutes ago, Ceptorman said:

    Very nice equipment in a very nice room. I think all the RF-7 speakers are underrated.

     

    Thanks - I love them.  I did have to do some work on them to tame the treble and it took time to get them in the right location in that big, boomy room, but I’ve been very happy! Not looking to replace these anytime soon.  I love the light maple finish.  The veneers are really gorgeous. And they look badass with the grill covers off too. 

    • Like 1
  2. 29 minutes ago, Heritage_Head said:

    Great looking room!

    Have you ever thought about a few room treatments (acoustic panels)? like pics. They can (are imo) a great part of room eq. Definitely not snake oil. Also can look pretty cool imo. 

     

    Red-Barn-Studio-Jason-Miller.jpg

    alphasorb-acoustic-panels-01.jpg

    suede_showcase_test_8.png

    I mentioned room treatments and my wife just rolled her eyes and said “sure - when you get your own place you can treat it however you like.”  So I guess that’s a no?  I consider myself lucky she lets me keep these beasts in her favorite room!   

    • Like 2
    • Haha 1
  3. 3 hours ago, Heritage_Head said:

    Congrats! Pics dude... 

     

    It’s really hard to get a good photo in here during the day because it’s so backlit from the big windows behind (which I know are not ideal for sound OR for water resistance apparently). 

    63E29FDF-7A54-4CF8-A320-A9EFA9A98AB8.jpeg

    • Like 1
    • Thanks 1
  4. 3 hours ago, Shiva said:

    Nice story. I can almost picture the amp getting hit by the hose and your discovery of that.  I assume, a touch perturbed. 😬 I also like the fact that, there is no, "should I get this or that" question in it.  You saw something else, you have already got it and are reporting your findings. 👍    

     

    Yeah I was unhappy to say the least. A straight shot through the screen into the amp with the sprayer on jet mode.  I turned it upside down after unplugging it and water literally dripped out of the vents.  

     

    Actually I’m lucky because the hose missed the other side of the table with the CD DAC and Pre + the power conditioner for those.  That bundle would have been way more expensive to replace. 

    • Like 2
  5. So my Parasound A23 amp got hit by the hose through an open window while on and  completely fried (thanks kids). It may be repairable but is no longer under warranty. 

     

    So I started looking for a used replacement that might also cover some of the slight shortcomings of the A23 in my 2 channel system driving resistor modded RF7 I’s. The A23 was just a little bit dry and bright for my tastes on some songs - and unfortunately some songs that I love.  Fleetwood Mac “Never Going Back Again” never sounded right with this amp. 

     

    I found a Classe Fifteen on audiogon for a reasonable price and I had heard that these amps were warmer and more tube-like for solid state. I had never heard a Classe  before. I took the risk and pulled the trigger and I’m very pleased so far! A nice warm sound with sweet highs and good control of the bass. This amp gets those 10 inch woofers working but not booming. Highs are a little rolled off but that’s not really a bad thing even with modded RF7s.  It’s possible that the biggest sonic benefit here is the increase in wattage up to 175w/ channel compared to the Parasound’s 125. But I still think the overall tone of this amp is a better match for the RF7s.  NO harshness so far from the horns - even on recordings with a lot of upper midrange. Radiohead - Paranoid Android is a good example of a song that was formerly unlistenable in my system using the A23. 

     

    This is just an initial impression after about 20 hours of focused listening across a lot of different genres, but Im already confident this amp is a really good match for the RF7s. Currently have Dire Straits - Telegraph Road playing and it sounds wonderful across the whole soundstage -  even on the more cluttered parts at the end. This amp seems to have endless power reserves. I bet it would also sound nice with my Heresy IIs - I might have to bring those downstairs and try them. 

     

    If you have RF series and are in the market for a new solid state amp I recommend giving the Classe solid states a listen! 

     

    Equipment:

    Classe Fifteen (using balanced inputs)

    Parasound P5 

    Cocktail audio N15D

    Arcam DV78 CD 

    RF7 Series 1 with resistor mod and dynamatted horns

    REL T2 sub 

    • Like 2
  6. On 4/8/2019 at 9:55 AM, Kalifornian said:

    Great to hear! I need to spend some more time swapping between the Node 2i internal dac and the Parasound P5 dac and see if I notice a big difference. I do use Tidal a lot so the MQA is a plus for me.

     

    The Parasound P5 DAC sounded pretty good to me.  Not much difference to the cocktail audio - just a smidgen more bright and more bass but not boom. Like the EQ sliders were turned up just a little bit on both ends.  My wife prefers the P5 DAC because it’s more relaxed and produces a wide soundstage. Put on Dire Straits Private Investigations and watch the music spread to the walls!  The difference between the P5 DAC and the Node2i was very noticeable in this aspect. The Node 2i was like being front row in a small venue. The P5 is like being nearer the back in a much larger hall.  It really was a big difference on some tracks - less noticeable on others but still there.  You can easily switch between the two DACs if you connect the Node2i by both analog and digital coax. I did find the analog out was about 1/2 decibel louder on average. Bear in mind the tonal differences are in my listening room with its own unique acoustics. 

     

    The cocktail DAC is somewhere in the middle of those two and I suppose that’s why I like it.  I don’t have to use the tone controls to tame the treble with it either, which is probably the main reason I’m keeping it. The P5 sounds better with tone controls off. 

     

    Glens - the resistor mod adds an additional 10 ohm resistor to the high frequency part of the board.  It’s easy to do.  It toned down the occasional harshness of the highs a lot.  A night and day improvement for the RF7 series 1s for that reason. To me they aren’t too bright all of the time as stock - just WAY too bright some of the time or on some tracks. There are several threads on this board about the resistor mod. 

  7. On 4/3/2019 at 2:29 PM, MenloBob said:

     

    Just for the record you can get LAN power adapters for the CCA which supplies both wired LAN and power over the CCAs micro USB. The CCA is an amazing piece of kit and I'm not sure I'll ever forgive Google for canceling it.

    Yeah for the price there’s nothing that comes close. 

     

    I decided I didn’t like the Bluesound Node 2i DAC.  I gave it at least 40 hours of focused listening trying to get to like it. It’s heavy on the upper midrange which made the RF7s even more forward than usual.  The soundstage shrunk a lot. Bass was a bit boomy. Male vocals shifted higher and became more nasal sounding. On the positive side, it was very rhythmic and musical.  It was fun to listen to, but occasionally fatiguing and squawky on some tracks with my system and room. I was also getting dropouts even with a wired connection. 

     

    And so without using the onboard DAC, I couldn’t justify keeping it for the cost. The Chromecast offers the same streaming functionality at less than 1/10 the cost. True, the Chromecast doesn’t unfold MQA...which if you are a Tidal subscriber is a nice feature for high res music (I do think MQA sounds better on some tracks). 

     

    Which brings me to my present solution - the Cocktail audio N15D.  This little black box with ESS Sabre DAC sounds amazing on my system. Highs are clear but not fatiguing. The midrange is back where it should be. Bass is well controlled even with the RF7s.  The speakers are still bright but there is no harshness or glare. 

     

    The Cocktail app is nowhere near as good as the Bluesound App (its not even close - the Cocktail UI is just not well developed).  But once you learn to use it, and accept its limitations, it’s workable.  And like I said, it sounds fantastic.  

     

    So for me, this system sounds great and I’m very happy with this system as a digital audio solution.

     

    Cocktail Audio N15D as streamer and DAC;

    Parasound P5 with Sonarquest/Audio Envy power cables;

    Parasound A23 with Sonarquest/Audio Envy power cables;

    Monster interconnects and speaker cables 

    RF7 S1 with resistor mod and dynamat’d horns.  

     

     

  8. I've only had my Parasound Halo P5 and A23 for 3 days (of heavy listening) so take this with a grain of salt as I am still in the new gear honeymoon stage and therefore may find things I'm not happy with and/or develop deep seated resentment for certain flaws as the marriage matures 🙄.  I think the combo with my modded RF7 series 1s is pretty awesome.  I hear the Halo integrated preamp is a P5 with a better DAC.   And you get some more wattage compared to the 23.  My only complaint is in the midrange.  Just a tad bit muted to me on some passages. 

  9. On 3/12/2019 at 4:36 PM, Kalifornian said:

     

    I highly recommend it.  That would he a great combo.

    Update: So I did it. Sort of.

     

    I bought a Parasound P5 and an A23 on Craigslist at a good price. Came with upgraded power cables.  The improvement in transparency with the Parasound separates is awesome.  The Arcam always sounded good to me, but side by side with the Parasound it sounds somewhat muddy. I hesitate to say that because the Arcam isn’t bad. It’s just not as clean sounding. Clean is the best term. 

     

    The Parasound does increase the overall brightness of the RF7s. It’s not harsh like my stock heresys were  - these tweeters just go really high and I have sensitive ears somehow despite years of concerts.  I may look at doing  the resistor mod now (I have the resistors).  It could also be with the cleaner sound I am listening a little louder than I used to.  Strangely - increasing the toe in so the tweeters are pointed right at me seems to help.  Maybe it has to do with wall reflections. 

     

    The bass remains great. The original 7s always had bass in spades. The Parasound controls it well. Maybe a slight dip in the upper midrange compared to the Arcam. Not a smile EQ.  Like one or two  slider on the EQ is down a notch. Jury is still out on that. 

     

    For low volume listening the Parasound smokes the Arcam.  No contest. 

     

    I also ordered a Bluesound node 2i.  I will report on that after I have time to test it.  

     

    • Like 1
  10. 6 hours ago, Kalifornian said:

    I recently purchased the Node 2i.  Currently using the RCA outs to Parasound P6 and Rotel power amp. Is a definate upgrade over my Marantz SR7012 internal DAC and the Bluesound OS is super easy to use.  I highly recommend it.

     

    That P6 is a great piece of kit.  Part of me wants to just get a P5 or 6 and pair it with a B&K 442 or Bryston 4bst (both of which are for sale near me at reasonable prices) and see what happens!!!

    • Like 1
  11. VLC definitely does something to the flac file when it is cast from the mobile phone app to CCA. It sounds BAD.  


    See my link below from the reddit site where this is also discussed. - note you have to actually dig into the thread to see where mobile app vs. desktop is discussed.  It could be utter BS, but I can say from personal listening experience that flac files cast to the CCA using the iOS VLC app sound equally bad (tinny and muffled) whether they are cast from flac files stored on the phone itself, or using the app to direct the NAS to the CCA.   But, if I use VLC on my desktop computer and cast flac files to CCA it sounds great.  This is true for flac files on the computer hard drive, or on the NAS. 

     

  12. Hmmm it seems I still have much to learn. Just going off recommendations on other forums for choice of 8player.  It’s one of the more commonly recommended apps available on the apple AppStore for CCA and Flac that also seems to work pretty well with DNLA music “pulling” from a NAS as opposed to “pushing” from a native file on a computer or phone. I can attest that VLC sounds really bad with Flac>Chromecast even when the Flac files are native to the phone itself.  That’s what started my search for an alternative app. 

     

    My NAS is a WD mycloud.  Not the best but it’s what I have.  I’m not sure of the firmware but it’s the older model that can’t run Plex or other packages. Thinking about getting a Synology diskstation to replace it anyway as the mycloud is now 5 years old. 

  13. Thanks for the advice Glens.  One of the advantages of the Bluesound is that I could plug it straight into the LAN which should be more stable than my wifi. I agree that wifi signal strength is an issue in my setup. It sounds like the amplification I have is probably fine.  An upgrade to 150WPC probably won't create a huge increase in sound quality on the RF7's, which I would need to justify the cost of the C388.  I originally bought the Arcam to drive my Heresy II's - 75WPC was more than enough for those,  and by the way this was a VERY good pairing (for those interested in amps that sound good with vintage Heresys).  Now the Heresys are in the bedroom system connected to a cheapo Yamaha AVR and they miss the Arcam.  So that's also part of the reason I was considering a new integrated amplifier for the RF7's.  But like I said, I'm reasonably satisfied with the sound I have now with those speakers.  
     

    8 hours ago, glens said:

     Finally, you may find a better control app for the CCA than what you're using now.

     

    8Player is one of the only smartphone control apps that works with chromecast AND sends FLAC directly from my NAS.  VLC for instance transcodes FLAC to MP3 if you use the mobile app.  You can turn off the transcoding on the desktop based version, but not in the mobile app.  FLAC sounds awful over the VLC mobile app cast to chromecast.  I can't run Plex on my NAS because its too old to run the package.  I could upgrade the NAS though...

    I'm now thinking about auditioning something like a Cambridge 851n - to see if its upscaling would make a big difference in sound quality for things like Spotify and MP3s.  I'm starting to think my itch to upgrade is more about "streamlining streaming" since it seems my amplification is enough to get good sound.   

  14. Hello fellow Klipsch enthusiasts.   I'm looking to possibly increase wattage AND definitely improve the digital music listening experience with my beautiful, un-modded light maple RF7 series 1s.  I use the RF7's purely for 2 channel music.  I do not use a sub. 

    My current setup is using an ARCAM AVR 250 with passive bi-amping from the 6+7 channel. The amp is 75WPC (supposedly in stereo mode it rises to 100/ channel for the mains, but I don't know if it goes back down to 75 when passive bi-amping is selected).  I know I'm not getting 75+75 WPC  bi-amping because the HF will not take that much current (I'd be interested if anyone knows how to calculate how many effective WPC I'm getting with bi-amping?).  The sound is definitely improved with bi-amping.  I also run it using the 4 ohm selector which gives a lusher sound and better definition in the low end.  It's a bit less refined than when using the 8 ohm selector, but much more engaging and just fun to listen to.

    I mostly listen to digital sources.  I do not own a record player.  My current streaming setup is a google chromecast audio using optical out.  I use 8player on my iphone to cast bit perfect 16/44 and 24/96 flac files from an NAS server.  The optical output from the CCA is fed to the Arcam's DAC unit (Wolfson 192/24).  Whatever decision I make here, I want to move away from the Chromecast and 8player streaming solution.  The chromecast is an awesome piece of tech for its price, but sometimes I have connection issues, it pauses or "skips" occasionally on high-res files streamed over wifi,  seeking forward or back in a track is hit or miss, and the signal is apparently VERY jittery. I don't know if this jitter is audible or not because I have nothing to compare it to. The Wolfson DAC's in the Arcam are now 13 years old.  Setting aside the debate about whether jitter is audible, I suspect a unit with modern DAC and clocking tech could sound noticeably better - please correct me if this is not true.  I've played with a Bluesound node 2 and the BluOS IOS app at a friend's house and I really liked it.  It also seems very stable for streaming even high res files over wifi, so I know I want to to move to bluesound tech for streaming my music. 

    My Arcam sounds very good with the RF7's at my normal 50-70db listening levels and has provided many many hours of enjoyable, mostly fatigue-free listening.  Still you always wonder "what if"...and this brings me to consideration of the NAD C388 which seems to be a one-stop shop for everything I think I want: 1) More power: Double power at 150WPC (and I hear this is conservative); 2) Modern DAC;  3) Optional Blu OS plug in module so I can ditch the Chromecast and 8player. 

    So my primary questions are:

    1) Has anyone heard the NAD C388 with RF7's?  I hear that the new class D NAD digital amps sound very musical and warm for class D.  What's it like connected to the RF7s (ideally series 1 but any series would give some indication). 
    2) Since I don't know how much wattage I am actually getting with the bi-amped Arcam, I can only assume that there will be "some more" watts with the NAD, but I wonder if this would be noticeable?  Anyone know roughly how many watts I am currently getting in bi-amp mode?  I know watts aren't everything but when you have a speaker like the RF7s that love more power, they are important.  The Arcam seems to have plenty of headroom.  I've not seen the amperage specs though.   

    3) Are my Wolfson DAC's in the Arcam outdated for use with jittery, streamed digital files?  A cheaper option than buying the NAD C388 would be to just buy a Bluesound node 2i to improve the streaming experience and keep the Arcam for amplification. I hear the bluesound onboard DAC is pretty good too.  Better than the one in the Arcam?  DAC tech seems to be changing and improving so rapidly, so I could definitely believe that a DAC in the $500 node 2i could smoke my 13 year old internal DAC.  

    I know this was a LONG post, but better to give all the background stuff I can think of so that those who take the time to read it can provide good answers.  Whatever I choose, I will buy from a company that offers an audition period, but i think the advice of more knowledgeable people is still valuable in helping me decide whether to pull the trigger and audition something new.  Thank you for your advice!

    Mike
     

  15. Not Heresy III's, but my upgraded Heresy IIs sound very good with a REL T2 (the current equivalent model is the T7) for 2 channel music.  I was running two 8 inch sealed M&K VX7 subs with them off the high level outputs, which sounded pretty good, but I lost some of the tightness in the bass. Not huge, but it was occasionally annoying enough to make me look for other options.  Swapped in the single REL using the high level Speakon cable and it integrates very well for 2 channel music. It's almost impossible to detect it is there until you turn it off - which is a nice improvement compared to the M&Ks and other, larger, home theater subs I have also tried with the Heresys. The REL just blends much better than anything else I have tried.  Like its a part of the system not an add on for lack of a better term. Now I'm wondering what TWO of these would sound like 😆

    • Like 1
  16. Hi folks.  I hope this is the right subsection to post this in.  Today I noticed that one of the woofers on my beloved Heresy IIs had separated in one spot from the "pebbly" surround that sits on top of the metal ring around the woofer.  (Sorry I don't know the technical terms for these things).  It's maybe 1.5 inches long.  The rest is still glued tight. 

     

    I pulled the woofer and the paper on the woofer itself is still firmly attached behind the pebbly surround to the metal.  So is this something I should get fixed or is it purely cosmetic?  I can't detect any issues with the sound from the woofer.  I've attached a photo.

     

    Thanks in advance! 

    8D7E00BD-D22E-48F7-BF03-C65B9E463398.jpeg

  17. New guy here.  I have Heresy IIs up on 12 inch stands because my wife likes how they look on stands and she let me put these in the dining room so I can't complain :).  The room is approximately 15 x 20 with vaulted ceiling. 

     

    I'm running 1 M&K VX-7 8 inch sealed sub connected directly to the main left/ right speaker outputs on my amp using two extra sets of open banana plugs. Since the woofer is powered this does not increase the load on the amp and it sounds a lot better than using the sub out. Adjust (and readjust) volume and crossover until it fits your room dynamics.  I like a slight frequency overlap into 60-65hz territory but very low sub volume so that you only really notice it when you DONT hear it, like if it gets turned off during a song.

     

    I think it's a good affordable match if you can find one on Craigslist etc. I actually have two of these subs and running them in stereo with the Heresys sounded wonderful, but I can only hide one sub in the dining room, so I had to settle for slightly less.  

     

    Good luck!  My Heresys (with crites ti tweets and crossovers) are very pleasant to listen to with or without sub(s).

     

    Mike

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