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"I want to buy one High Rez download to compare (I can't stream due to Internet or lack of it where I live)." That's unfortunate. Because that's really the only "best" way to do it. I've always been suspect of so-called Hi-Res downloads (ie: HDTracks). I'm quite sure they just upsample digital files originally in CD rez and charge us more for it. Not quite the same thing as playing an essentially a perfect digital copy in the same resolution as it was recorded. That being said, the recording engineer is king. What matters most is what he/she did with the recording in the first place. After that it's the listening room. Here's an interesting comparison of different sample rates/bit depth from a source I consider honest, informative and reliable.

This one is pretty good too TURN IT UP LOUD

👍 LOL Claude. You haven't been over for a while. At the moment there are more basses in the room than most Guitar Center have. (I started playing again) Sax, Piano & Bass. I see I left out Drums. For that my favs would be................. Kodo AND Sheffield Lab Drum Record TURN IT UP LOUD

I was wondering when someone would bring this up 😉 I agree. I did the same about 6 or 7 years ago. However, this is not the same as digital streaming Hi-Res from an online source such as Tidal. Just for the record, when using a laptop PC as the source - after having ripped the CD to the PC using J River (or some other "bit perfect" application) I send the digital signal from the PC to a direct digital amplifier via HDMI, not USB. In my view HDMI is now superior. The other thing to consider when doing this is you are not getting a "bit perfect" copy of the "original recording" as most people seem to assume. What you are really getting is a bit perfect copy of the not so perfect CD. You've copied all of the errors (defects) on the disc. Furthermore, just playing the disc - to copy it - creates additional errors of its own. The laser(s) do not read everything perfectly either. It's the nature of the beast. That's why we have error correction, otherwise it wouldn't work at all.

Absolutely, there will be some recordings on CD that are not/will not ever be available streaming. Same goes for LP, or 78 or whatever. That will always be the case. And that's the only reason I still maintain a couple of turntables and tape decks. As far as CD goes, if you want to cover all the bases just get an Oppo that plays all digital media type disc as several have pointed out and forget about it. There is not a CD player on the planet that can equal Hi-Res streaming. Not even a $100K dCS Vivaldi. It's obsolete. The Disc have errors. The player doesn't read everything perfectly creating more errors. Timing error between devices. More errors = more error correction = at least some sound quality deterioration. More cables (yuck). Etc, etc, etc. Less is More

Because this is what you need to do to really make Klipschorns "sing".........................

And Bob Carver said........................... (Klipsch Dope From Hope, Vol. 14, No. 1, 740401) 🤡

Agreed And, quite honestly, in this day and age, I don't see why "they" (the 'radio' stations, iPod/ear bud types, etc) can't have it their way, and we (quality, true to the original audio want the best reproduction types) have it our way too. Today it should be easy and cheap enough to release this music in an unadulterated form along with the "loudness wars" crap they send out for airplay.

I guess my first question is (since your price point is so low) why do you want and/or require a calibrated microphone?

Sonny Rollins - Way Out West Glenn Gould - Bach, The Goldberg Variations (1981) Ray Brown, Christian McBride, John Clayton Jr - Superbass 2 (Telarc)

Dump the CD player. Get Hi_Res streaming. You can play it as loud as you want. There will be no skipping because there are no mechanical or acoustical interference. Plus you get rid of......... 1. Another component in the signal chain along with its associated distortion, noise and phase error contributions. 2. Another pair of interconnecting cables and any effects they may have on signal transfer. 3. Four additional breaks in the signal connection. 4. Little to almost no error correction required ....because.... 5. You don't have a laser (or several laser) reading an already error prone disc 6. No digital jitter to speak of - the data is playing directly from the amplifier/DAC/player which are now all one. Plus you'll have access to thousands of recordings, many of them "Master" authenticated, that you would otherwise have to spend 1000's of times more money on for hardcopy.

That Luxman model is from the "Alpine" car audio era. Not really the same Luxman as prior to, or what exists today. It's from when Luxman was just a brand name that went to mid-fi. And for that price I'd pass.

I don't think you can do that - yet. The Bluesound app with Tidal operates differently than it does with, say, the PC app. I find it easier to do my Playlist creation/editing on my PC. Don't forget......the Bluesound app you're using on your "control device" such as a smart phone - is just that - a control device - for the Bluesound Node (or in my case the NAD Bluesound OS MDC card). The smart phone is not receiving/transmitting the data stream to the Bluesound Node/card (as it would in a Bluetooth situation - ie: Sirius XM)

Do It. I had one hooked up with a McIntosh MA5300. But now I'm using the Bluesound OS card in my NAD M32. The Mac had hardly any connectivity - for my needs. I love streaming Hi-Res from Tidal. Definitely a step up from playing CD/SACD via a player or ripped to a PC --- or analog tape/LP (don't get me started). MQA "can be" wonderful. However, you're still at the mercy of the recording engineer/producer. If what they "like" - you "don't like"....that's still what you will get. MQA, if implemented properly on a recent modern recording can make a huge difference in sound quality. If on the other hand, it's used on a 1970's Rock recording the result can be hit or miss. If the original recording is of dubious quality MQA won't help. It's just verifying that whoever was responsible for its authenticity "approved" it.

Well explains everything. I'm using four Epik Empire with two 15" each. I can dim the lights with Telarc's 1812 Overture as well as a few self-made recordings, like the 133dB SPL of fuel dragsters at Route 66 Speedway.

thebes................................................................... you are so out of touch. And so wrong. In fact you've made so many wrong statements (above) that you're basically, no, unabashedly, putting your, um, ugh, dare I say "ignorance", on full display. (don't do that) 😎 I don't have time to respond to all the absurdity right now, but I shall return. In the meantime, whilst you have described "digital" as "a brash young fool speeding along in a convertible heading straight towards dead man's curve", I guess it's time to remind you of your age, and how time has passed (you by?). "DIGITAL" is no longer "young". It's been around commercially since the mid/late 70's ---- nearly half a century, thebes ------ almost as old as you? Looks to me like you're the one headed for Dead Man's Curve (along with the rest of us audio veterans). (especially the digital deniers) (who I suspect never actually heard an all digital recording and playback system even though you think you have)

I've done that 🙋‍♂️ 😜

My guess is yes. According to the product promo sheet: "As part of the Klipsch Stream wireless multi-room audio system, anything you plug into the PowerGate can be selected and streamed for playback in other rooms of your house where Klipsch Stream products are located."

Yes. Quite right John. And Acurus and Aragon were (are?) excellent products but they are not McIntosh or Mark Levinson (brand names).

Your room is slightly smaller than mine, similar proportions. I would caution you against changing the flooring from carpet to laminate or vinyl planks. I've done a lot of acoustical experimentation with my room over the years (decades actually) and IMHO the room will be way too reverberant with Khorns. I have a thread in the Architectural section that details the history of the room including experimentation with floor coverings. FWIW the SET 2A3 amps I used always came up short on the bass. And if I played anything that required loud sustained output (like Rock, say Aerosmith) the SET amps would eventually just give up, become saturated until given a break for a few seconds. I used 50w Luxman push/pull triodes (MB3045) for most of the 35+ years in that room. Also some Crown (PSA2/275w/ch), McIntosh MC7205 (200w/ch). I recently had a McIntosh MA5300 integrated in there which sounded very nice but lacked a lot of connectivity I need. At the moment I've settled on NAD M32 (and previously had a NAD C390DD). I replaced the Khorns with Danley SH50 (100dB/w/m) about 6 years ago. The MA5300 meters showed about 20w/ch peak when the system was pretty cranked (110dB listening position).

One of my John Williams favorites is Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind with Zubin Mehta conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic (London 1978). MFSL had a high quality release of this version too.

The Fantasy Film World of Bernard Hermann (Decca 1974) was a recommended "audiophile" album from one of the high-end stereo rags for a long time.

Actually, that is a video of my room taken by Forum member Quiet Hollow when I first got SH50 about 6 years ago. The center channel SH50 is not sitting a subwoofer. That’s a Hartke 2x10 bass speaker. I used it to get the center SH50 center line axis approximately the same as the Belle Klipsch it replaced. I set up all 3 SH50 as close as I could to how the Khorns & Belle were set up as a point of reference. It turned out to not be so good. Everything has changed since then. The whole orientation of the room, acoustical treatment, no more center speaker, and the SH50 are now 8’-9” from the front wall and 2.5’ from the side wall, angled 30d. I use an Epik Empire subwoofer for SH50 stands. Just a quick coat of paint should make these SH50 look a whole lot better. And not be anti-Klipsch or anything (I still own Khorns and have more Klipsch than anything else) but IMO the SH50 are in another league. When you get these things out into the room and away from the front wall the soundstage depth and breadth is amazing

I believe you might find what you're looking for in The Absolute Sound's The Complete Guide to High End Audio by Robert Hartley, on page 157. https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Guide-High-End-Audio/dp/0978649362 Many speaker manufacturers, including Acoustic Research & Wharfedale performed these kind of live vs recorded demonstrations. The Bell Lab experiments in "telephony" did this back in the 1930's transmitting the sound of the orchestra to another concert hall equipped with sound reproduction equipment. However, you'll find that when attending one of these live vs recorded demonstrations that the audience usually identifies the recorded sound as the live sound. As PWK said of an acquaintance of his who attended such a demonstration more than a half century ago, "the orchestra came in third".

Well that's good to know. I used the "same" thing for a long time, a D60, and later a D150a