MeloManiac

That's not good, is it? It's been discontinued. Support and security updates will stop soon too. https://support.google.com/chromecast/answer/6260600 They no longer support setup from your computer. iOS 14 no longer shows the cast icon...

Here are some of my meandering thoughts... Those Klipsch Tangent 400s are mighty speakers. They are sensitive too, so they will play very loud, even with low watt amps. I've never heard them myself, but I think they'll go really low too! https://f072605def1c9a5ef179-a0bc3fbf1884fc0965506ae2b946e1cd.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/product-specsheets/Tangent-100-series.pdf Here is the thing: you fail to hear the crispness and clarity you heard in that music shop back in the 1970s. Now, imho there are many possible explanations, and I'm writing this with the greatest possible respect: Your ears are not what they were back in the 1970s: your hearing now picks up less of those high frequencies you like so much. Depending on your genes, your job and the number of inner ear infections you suffered along the years, your hearing will be more, or less, negatively affected. Back in the 1970s, those amps in the the music shop were actually brand new, and the capacitors inside them too. Most likely, in that shop, hidden under or behind the counter, they will have added some 'secret sauce' to their system, like some high-end (pre)amp, or some super modified crossovers, making the sound stand out. I'm afraid there is little to be done about your hearing, but if you use vintage amps going back to the 70s or even older, you could invest in recapping them, or start by spraying the connections, volume pots and soldering with deoxit. On the other hand, Klipsch's general advice is to use an amp that matches the power needs of the speakers. In the case of the Tangent 400s, it means you'd need a powerhouse amp of 125 Watt continuous. Many users here are 'underpowering' their speakers, though, without issues. There are few 'integrated amps' of the 1970s that have that kind of advised power. I own a 1976 Harman Kardon 430 twin powered, which is 25 Watt per channel, with my 1972 Heresy speakers, which are 100 Watt continuous. I can't turn this amp's volume beyond 9 o'clock because then they are way too loud for my writer's den. They have great bass, too, no subwoofer required. Most of us here have experienced that the advertised watts of modern amps cannot be compared with the power of vintage amps. In fact, the wattages don't say much about the sound quality at all... Some of the best (tube) amps put out a meager 8 or 15 watts...

No raisers for my 1972 Hs. No subs either. With my h/k 430 twin powered amp, more than enough low frequencies for my ears. I'm a purist, I put them in corners, flat, not slanted. Like they were intended to.

Chromecast Audio is no longer available. Google ditched it last summer.

I'm convinced that if your wife would join the local choir rehearsels, at least the vocal qualities would improve substantially! 🤣🤣

They are 50W, so most amps in the user market will do. These R41M speakers are for small rooms, nearby listening. They will sound 'thin' in the low frequencies (they start at 67Hz, while more expensive speakers will go as low as 40Hz), so placement will be crucial (in corner, 1 ft away from the wall), and you may consider buying an amp with a 'subwoofer out' and later invest in a decent subwoofer. Once you add a subwoofer to your system, they will definitely fill the room.

Buy a pre-owned amplifier (or: you may find one on your attic) for less than $100. Make sure it has a phono stage (it normally will). Buy a Logitech blue-tooth dongle for $23 and hook it up to your AUX-IN . Connect your speakers and your TT. Done. ... NEVER sell your Technics 1200MK2!

Google has ditched Chromecast Audio.

Advance Acoustic WTX Microstreamer Check my review here.

The presence of XLR input connectors in a tube amp is another indication that you have something very special (and rare) at hand. Don't hesitate and buy. Now!

These are high end transformers, a pair of these alone could cost as much as $500. https://www.don-audio.com/Lundahl-LL1677-high-current-tube-amplifier-interstage-transformer

I live in Europe. For paid streaming, I started out with Qobuz but after a couple of months I migrated to Spotify because they offered a family plan, while Qobuz did not back then. With 3 teenagers in the house, it made a lot of sense. For many other reason, though, I prefer Qobuz: better sound quality, better interface, better choice, better portal, better magazine (with hardware reviews!) etc. Now, also in Europe, Qobuz has a family plan. Like Spotify, it allows six users, but it costs a lot more than Spotify (11 euro), compare 30 euro for Qobuz. Any thoughts on this?

Welcome to the forum! Definitely a a valve Amp. Do you live in Europe? I ask in order to keep shipping, import and taxes low. In Europe, the Synthesis Soprano falls within budget. Italian. Or look into the Advance Acoustic Paris amps, no valves here but great, integrated streamers. French. The iFi Retro Stereo 50 is amazingly complete too! Find one without the speakers.

You'll have to go to the Dark side, the realm of Sonos, Heos and Bose. 😉

A friend of mine is a great fan of theme parks. He travels the world to visit them. Some time ago, he'd bought a compact panasonic lumix camera for his trip to the US. While on an attraction, he dropped the camera. It had obvious damage from the fall and no longer operated at all. When he got back, still within the 30 days no questions asked period after purchase, he brought it back to the shop. He honestly explained what had happened and requested how much the repair would cost. "I can do better than that, my friend," was the answer and he got a brand new camera. I guess this is how one builds buyer's loyalty. This was Colruyt Group, Belgium, Collishop.

I tried bi-wiring myself and the difference was minimal or placebo. Bi-amping is usually done for large speaker systems with huge woofers that would draw lots of power from the amp. That's why subwoofers have their own amplification, BTW. Bi-amping bookshelf speakers will have little or no effect imo. It's like installing 4 wheel drive on a lawnmower... 😉 In my honest opinion, your next investment should be in the Klipsch Heritage line. Try to find something used. If you live in the US, keep an eye on the garage sale section of this forum. Great deals are out there!

Bits.... 0 and I you mean, and you trust them to be without degradation, to be unambiguous, reliable. Copy after copy after copy, they will be identical, centainly with that clever 'error correction', right? Now then, take a look at these digital scans/images of Monet's Impression, Soleil Levant and tell me which one is closest to the original? If you don't have access to the analog original, there is no way of telling! Now, with digitial music, you have the exact same problem. You have ADC and DAC, and during those two conversions, you have the exact same issues as in the paintings below. Unless you have access to the analog (or, yes: digital) original, there is no way of telling if the music you hear is close to the original...

Here's another point of looking at it: what about the 'will/wish/intention' of the original artist? Example: many 'serious' photographers prefer their images to be exhibited in print (on photographic paper), not on flatscreen TVs/tablets.The great photographer Robert Frank, author of The Americans, an icon in photography, was using an Instax Wide 210 camera. That was in 2014, btw. It is kind of funny, because for some reason he misses the shot. Anyway, I saw other footage of him using Instax and he was raving about it. (That video is offline now, don't know why.) Who would dare call that bullsh$t? Would you step up to him and tell him to go digital? Now turn to music. There are many great recordings of the past, approved by the artists. They approved the format of their time, be it tape, vinyl, or wax cillinder. Isn't it prepostorous to claim one knows what the original artist, dead by now, would prefer? People who express these claims, do so mostly second hand (I know a person who worked together with *artist X* and he says *artist X* would choose digital...), isn't that like saying, if Mozart were living now, he would be a DJ. Yeah right.

Analog images of public and historical value are digitized in order to allow public access and selling. However, the analog original will be stored in saltmines deep underground under stable conditions for generations to come... Would you scan your Picasso/Van Gogh and then destroy the original?

Some LPs do have collectible value, me thinks. Your solid state drive may well have emotional value for your son, but it will never have collectible value. Unless it has Porsche design... 😉 Here's another one: our monthly subscription to hi-res streaming service, that's money down the drain too, and the digital download files we buy on Qobuz... There's a legal vacuum on that, I think when the owner dies... So money down the drain too. And this is supposed to be a 'legal' copy!

OK, let's have some fun: Here is some CD rot: A bricked hard drive containing your now useless hi-rez digital rips: And this is what your offspring are going to inherit of your digital collection after you have passed away:

Emotional, or artistic, or... all that isn't necessarily bad, I agree with you on this one! There are amazing recordings straight to lacker, what a challenge is that for the musicians and the conductor, and the technical crew behind the scenes, and what a pleasure it is for the music lover to own such a unique vinyl record: https://www.nso.co.uk/latest-news/chasing-dragon-records-direct-vinyl-disc-air-studios-recording-session-espana Sally Mann, I'm sure you've heard of her, is a photographer using an analog, large format camera (and technique) that is over 100 years old. The dust and the scratches are part of her 'art'. Would her art be better if she used some hi-rez digital camera back? I don't think so. https://www.sallymann.com/sally-mann-a-thousand-crossings-press Of course, my two examples are quite exceptional and do not apply to the large majority of analog music and photography on the market. Still, today, three vinyl records have been delivered to my home: Ella Fitzgerald's The Lost Berlin Tapes, Diana Krall's Turn up the Quiet and Anouar Brahem's Barzakh. Due to corona, delivery took almost a week, and I've been longing for them all week. What a pleasure it is, adding these to my collection, going through the whole ritual, getting out of my seat to turn the record to the other side. Yes, I've been listening to these recordings for quite a while in streaming, but still decided to spend my money on the vinyl record (and not the cd). One reason was 'ritual' and emotional, another was curiosity: I was simply curious about how the Brahem vinyl record would sound compared to the digital file. It sure sounds different, so now I have 2 versions of the same composition. Isn't that great!?

Perhaps this is something I can brag about?! After I cleaned my recently acquired Harman Kardon 430 twin powered amplifier, especially after applying deoxit, I noticed improvement in the sound quality: it lost a bit of its 'warmth' and came closer to 'neutral' representation of the recording. I also noticed impressive bass improvement, something the H/K430 has a reputation for. So today I thought I would do some measurements. I used the app Spectroid on my Huawei smartphone. I know, no scientific tool, but I think it is pretty accurate. I used Massive Attack's Unfinished Sympathy, a song that starts with some really low bass notes (which re-appear again later in the song). Spectroid works in realtime, so I took a screenshot of the first couple of seconds. And loo and behold, the lowest frequency measured is something like 29Hz, which is much lower than the offical specs of the Heresies!

One of the things I picked up from this 'bull$h*t' thread is the general acceptance of the importance and value of 'the ritual'. Though many music lovers 'know' that a good quality digital file of a good recording will be superior compared to analog, esp vinyl records (with its cracks and hisses), yet they prefer these lower quality media because they allow the ritual: solid state amp vs tube amp: tube amps allow tuberolling (and for the more advanced, tube amp design) digital format vs vinyl records: vinyl records allow tinkering with needles and cartridges etc, and the fysical manipulation of handling the vinyl record, and let's not forget the artful record sleeve. neutral studio monito/earphones vs home speakers (and modfications/upgrades): each home setup will sound different copper wiring vs high-end audio cables, powerblocks etc: especially 'elektrically clean' systems, with high sensitive speakers, specialised audio cables become part of the ritual experience too. Some have great aesthetic value too! I believe it basically boils down to having two approaches of life in general: type 1 is the 'set and forget' person, type 2 is ritual person. I'm refusing to decide who's having most fun.

As your comment is ambiguous to what 'that' refers to, i.e. the lie OR debunking the lie, I would say your comment is utter bulls$&t too! 😉