MeloManiac

St Germain, Tourist

I'm interested in attending live, digital concerts of classical music and jazz. I'm willing to pay a reasonable fee for this, if the quality of streaming (in Europe) is good. On 'Right This Minute', people regularly come together (virtually on this forum), to enjoy concerts together, here are two links that regulary are posted: CBR (Classical Radio Boston): https://www.classicalwcrb.org/programs/upcoming-concert-broadcasts The Berliner Philharmoniker Digital Concert Hall: https://www.digitalconcerthall.com/en/home?a=bph_webseite&c=true This is a portal site of the BBC Music Magazine: Classical Music.com (portal): https://www.classical-music.com/features/articles/concertlivestreams/ For chamber music, ENCORE CHAMBER MUSIC INSTITUTE’S DIGITAL CONCERT HALL: https://www.encorechambermusic.org/digital-concert-hall If you have positive experiences with other websites/providers, please post them here. Edit: For synchronizing the Youtube video with the music through bluetooth, I'm using this extension: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/youtube-audiovideo-sync/mknmhikmjljhpccebpnplhicmcfjkgbk/support

moved to Home Theater forum

Are you using the correct hdmi cable?

Lou Reed, Transformer

This is Michael Fremer (analogplanet.com) who visits the Rega factory. Starting at 19:35, there is some very interesting footage of the team winding coils on MC needles, with interesting microscopic movies. A real eye opener that explains why good needles cost a lot of money...

Any of the Elekit diy tube amps are low watt and sound really good. https://diyaudiostore.com/collections/elekit

One reason could be environmental concerns: saving energy and resources!

Interesting read: https://www.wired.com/story/record-player-vinyl-rave/ His speakers are The Fives, BTW.

Started the year with Eric Clapton!

I paid 170 US dollars plus 130 US dollars for shipping and import taxes. Crazy, not? But no regrets!

My sino tubes did not light up equally bright so I replaced them with the EL84Ms for aesthetic reasons but was pleasantly surprised with the sound quality upgrade😊. I plan on buying nos Mullards if I can find them. I live in Belgium and I paid substantial postage and import duties to get the TubeCube7 here from the US. Some called me crazy, but I have no regrets at all!

I upgraded my TubeCube7 with Sovtek EL84M tubes, which have slightly longer plates. Love them. Here in Belgium, we have just started 2021, so Happy New-year to all of you!

It is pretty loud, and sounds excellent at low volume too.

Mine: TubeCube7, 3.5 watt per channel, with 1972 Heresy. Can't play loud, but sounds pretty awesome, haven't heard any other tube Amp with Heritage speakers so my little Amp does qualify as the best I ever heard!

I drive my 1972 Heresy's with a 3.5Wpch amp and they play loud! The Luxman SQ150N is a lot above your budget and rare in the used market. I 've read good reviews of the Synthesis Soprano. http://synthesis.co.it/product.php?id=90

Forte I's could be closer to 6 ohm in the real world, and then the MM7025 is 170 watt, which is quite powerful. Solid state is not necessarily 'inferior', there are great, reliable ss amps out there. But I'm not sure it is the wattage that makes all the difference here. A friend of mine is a guitar player and he plays live gigs with a 15 watt tube amplifier. He often gets compliments from fellow guitar players about his amazing sound. He explained that most people will - mistakingly - opt for the most powerful amp they can afford. Instead, you should take into account the size of the gig, the other musicians, the room treatment , your accessories etc. A 15 watt amp allowed him to play guitar at the sweet spot volume, while a 50 watt amp would simply play too loud at its sweetspot. Isn't there a saying, that the first watts are the most important ones? So many other factors are in play when it comes to sound quality, and especially the sound stage. The 'synergy', the way your setup now works together, may have hit the 'sweet spot': as Artistotle once said, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The MC275 has a reputation of being one of the best, powerful tube amps out there. But that doesn't exclude that something may have been wrong with yours: just a slight discrepancy in one of the tubes (or any other part of the audio path) may have resulted in slightly substandard staging, without triggering error messages.

https://www.amazon.fr/AmazonBasics-haut-parleur-Calibre-Section-Longueur/dp/B006LW0W5Y/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=Cable+haut-parleur&qid=1609002607&sr=8-4# Bienvenue au forum !

Very nice gift indeed! May I ask what is tucked under the Primula Amp? Merry Christmas, BTW!

There's an American company that has a phono preamp with battery storage. Pretty expensive though... https://www.analogplanet.com/content/channel-ds-seta-l-comes-out-transimpedance This is link to asr audio: https://www.stereophile.com/phonopreamps/1003asr/index.html

Welcome to the forum! My personal preference is to keep a vintage speaker in its original state. I have recapped my 1972 Heresies and oiled the veneer, and then treated them with beewax and that was it. I keep the old capacitors nearby the speakers, you never know. If it ain't broken, don't fix it... Your question makes me think of the story of grandpa's hatchet: sometime after the war, someone broke the hatchet's handle, and it was replaced. Then, 30 years later, there was a crack in the head and it was replaced as well. Yet, in the family, it's still called grandpa's hatchet...

I think, but I'm not sure, that I cannot mount the 2M Blue on my OM cartridge/arm (Pro-ject Essential III with OM10). I've read elsewhere that the 2M Blue and the OM20 (or was it OM30?) are comparable as for sound quality.

Now you really got me reluctant to do this upgrade... Here is a screenshot from a website I will not post the link: And then, you get this rather bizarre explanation: "Original needles: a "original" needle is a needle produced by the (OEM) manufacturer. This can be another manufacturer then the make of the needle. Examples are: some Dual needles are made by ortofon, some Sony needles are made by Audio Technica. original needles may come in a "standard" box, and not in the manufacturers box, this can happen because we buy these needles in bulk (without packing on a tray) and pack them in our standard box. We will never sell a copy needle as an original one!" Yet, nowhere is explained what a 'replacement needle' is... Is it a 'copy needle'? To me, it sounds like an excuse to sell replicas and forgery... This is a screenshot from amazon.de: also here, they use the picture that is also used for the Stylus 10... while again, they at least seem to be the official ortofon shop for Europe on amazon.de

This thread is really helpful and MicroMara, your information is very useful. In the past couple of days, I've been researching in order to upgrade my vinyl spinning to a next level. I first thought the best and obvious thing to do was to replace my €44 phono preamp with a better one, eg the iFi Zen Phono. But then, I read on many places that it would be smarter to upgrade the pickup needle. After all, after the record/album, this is the first 'device' in the audio chain, and any fault here (hiss, rumble etc), only will be magnified in preamp and amp etc rather than corrected. So in my case, I am now considering upgrading my Ortofon OM10 to the OM20. The OM10 is €49, the OM20 is €179 (or €155 on Amazon). Is it worth the investment? I was hesitating a lot: the pictures show no difference at all, except for the number printed on it. Is a tiny piece of junk really worth €179 I thought? Now the plot thickens: compare these pictures, which I found on a large website selling pickup needles: OM10 OM20 Can you tell the difference? Only when I came across a picture posted at Amazon.de in a user review, I understood what the difference really was: You can see that the diamond of the Stylus 20 is much smaller, and to quote the original user review: "Both needles have an elliptical cut, but the 10 has diamond chips mounted on the needle in metal ring, while the 20 has a bare diamond mounted on the needle directly." This must explain the upgrade in sound quality. My point is that it took half a day to find out that some websites would just use a mixed bag of pictures, or low rez pictures that would hardly demonstrate the differences between these needles... Now take a look at these pictures of the 10 and the 20, which are from the official Ortofon website: https://www.ortofon.com/media/14679/10-bottom.jpg "https://www.ortofon.com/media/14681/20-bottom.jpg The top picture is the 10, the latter is the 20... You must agree that they used the SAME picture... Likely a mess up of the webmaster of the official Ortofon website (!), or carelessness... If you're selling tiny things like a pickup needle for big bucks, I say you'd better get the pictures right...

I'm considering upgrading my external phono stage to the iFi Zen Phono stage, which is still budget, but gets pretty good reviews. It comes with a standard ifi power supply, but there is also an optional higher quality iFi power X. First, the iFi Zen Phono ($149) stage itself: "Unusually, the ZEN Phono has its own high-tech clean power supply. It creates a 1.2MHz power supply (20,000x mains frequency of 60Hz). In this circuit, a 10uF filtering capacitor = 200,000uF at lower, audible frequencies. With serious levels of noise filtration, it performs at the level of well-designed LC filtering circuits as found in classic tube amplifiers. Further, located on its own ‘island’ PCB, it is isolated so there is no noise pollution of the analogue stage." https://ifi-audio.com/products/zen-phono/ Then there is the optional iFi Power X ($99): "The original iFi iPower provides an effective, clean power solution for noise in your system. But why not push your power upgrade to the max with the all-new iFi iPower X? Our new ultra-low noise AC/DC power supply has be optimised to take advantage of new knowledge, components and tech in the world of super high-frequency power supply design." (https://ifi-audio.com/products/ipowerx/) I've read some user reviews saying that esp on good recordings, the Power X adds noticibly more 'blackness' when spinning vinyl, but also when using with a DAC. Some say that using this power unit on their router, improves the sound quality of streamed music. This last thing makes me a bit suspicious. Is it perhaps 'placebo' and snake oil? Being technically challenged, I wonder what you think of this Power X...