How to "listen"?

[Thaddeus Smith]

A hallmark of that network type - the ever so slight hot tweeter. Al wants me to add the transformer based units to what I build, but it adds significant cost to what I firmly believe is something that only needs 1dB of additional attenuation.

Due to their age, your stock networks are probably exhibiting more loss than they should be. Many actually notice a slight reduction in sensitivity with the Universals.

Since I'm rebuilding your B2s with polypropylenes, they will undoubtedly sound brighter than they do now. I don't think the battery biasing will help with that, though I do expect for you to hear a smoother, more open sound than you're experiencing right now.

The Klipsch crossovers are fairly reactive in nature, and you may find yourself having to move away from Tripath if you want the flatter response.

Understood. The chip amps are a cheap and easy way to get up off the ground. Once I get the B2's back I'll spend some time breaking them in and then decide what aspects need to be tweaked. Either way, it's a great starting point and will be nice to have some fresh components. Gift horse, mouth, something or other.

[mike stehr]

The Klipsch crossovers are fairly reactive in nature, and you may find yourself having to move away from Tripath if you want the flatter response.

Maybe not flatter, but more engaging.

[garyrc]

I'll admit that one recording I made with DBX and a Crown reel to reel @15 i.p.s. with 1/2 track Scotch 206 was pretty damn quiet, hiss-wise, but, with the volume turned up to provide really high SPL in the loudest passages, you could still hear a slight hiss in the softest passages, compared to playing the leader. And, as someone else said, some good speakers to tend to "detach" the hiss from the music.

Assuming you were using the DBX tape compander (fixed 2:1) even a starting -50db SN would yield -100db SN from the tape. As I always say, no way I can question what another hears...but I'd suspect the hiss was from elsewhere in the chain.

It was 2:1 ... I don't remember the model number ... could it have been 157 or 257? It almost knocked the hiss out of my system. Previous to the Crown 1/2 track (1/4 " tape), I had a Teac quad 1/4 track (also 1/4" tape) and it somehow caused a bit of pumping of the DBX. An engineer at DBX told me he suspected that, while the Teac, at least in advertisements, had rather flat frequency response, it was rumored to have narrow 3 dB "head bumps" that threw DBX off. Finally, I compared Revox to Crown -- to me, a toss up. A sophisticated Revox dealer told me, "we used to carry Crown, and I think you would be better off with Crown." I found that so amazing that I took his advice, went elsewhere, and bought Crown. All of the above were biased and EQd for Scotch 206/207 by the dealers.

[Mallette]

For personal purposes, I did most of my recording back then with a DBX compander at 1.5. While I used Ampex 457 at work, it was rather pricey for personal use for me at that time and I used 407. Even that yielded silence unless you cranked the volume with no signal present. Wasn't that crazy about hearing hiss so I didn't do that much.

When I was in my 20s I found that my hearing extended well into the supersonic...at least 22k as I could easily (and rather painfully) hear the "ultrasonic" burglar alarms of the day. These were simply disconnected when not armed rather than turned off and were very loud...if you could hear them.

Funny thing is it explained why I thought the "silent" dog whistle I'd bought as a teen was BS as I could clearly hear it. Dam dog paid no attention at all.

Dave

[Marvel]

I used 456 on my TEAC... great tape, and very quiet.

[garyrc]

at least 22k as I could easily (and rather painfully) hear the "ultrasonic" burglar alarms of the day. These were simply disconnected when not armed rather than turned off and were very loud...if you could hear them.

They had one of those in Fredrick's of Hollywood ... A friend in his 20s who could not hear the signal and I were in Santa Rosa filming, when we discovered that Fredrick's had opened a store in that (then) town. As we walked past it, he said, "Check out the burglar alarm." I said, "It's on!" Later we were filming in the nearby old cemetary and the Sheriff arrived to interview us. It's lucky he believed us.

Also, CRT on the old TV picture tubes . And, I found I could hear a test warble centered at 16K from behind a speaker (in a live room).

Those days are over.

Edited January 26, 2014 by Garyrc

[minermark]

Interesting thought you have there, I never really thought about what 'other' people think of my system.

Built it for me, and always improving.

When one of my bud's comes into the Cave, I simply ask them what their favorite tune is, once cranked they are indeed spoiled.

[Mallette]

Those days are over.

Yeppum. I can hear a 12k warble on a good day.

Dave

[Dennie]

Interesting thought you have there, I never really thought about what 'other' people think of my system.

Built it for me, and always improving.

When one of my bud's comes into the Cave, I simply ask them what their favorite tune is, once cranked they are indeed spoiled.

Hey Neighbor, welcome aboard, glad you are here!

Dennie

[Thaddeus Smith]

Ask and ye shall receive..

https://www.goldenears.philips.com/en/introduction.html

[PBT]

Thaddeus,

I followed this topic early on as it was something that i was also interested in.

Thanks for raising the subject and thanks again for the link to Golden Ears.

That is a great tool for some of us uneducated to discover a bit more about refining our listening skills.

It also helps to explain in practice a lot of the terms that are discussed in many of the topics that i read and followed but perhaps didn't fully understand.

regards

Paul T

[Thaddeus Smith]

Absolutely Paul! (Just saw this update, sorry)

I swapped in my latest (and final, for now) chip amp. I also added a linear power supply in place of the switching ps I've been using. I wish I could adequately describe what I'm hearing. It's absolutely glorious, the best this setup has ever sounded since I started back in December.

[dtel]

Ask and ye shall receive..

https://www.goldenears.philips.com/en/introduction.html

Cool site, did better than expected, some are really easy, some harder especially when it get down to just a couple of db.

[Max2]

What I don't get is that many musicians...many famous musicians don't have high end equipment or seem to appreciate the accuracy of their work when recording, creating, mixing and then listening to the playback of their recordings. That's really strange to me. A lot of the sound and mixing studios, whether personal or commercial.....the same deal.

[Islander]

I've heard that about some top musicians as well. One explanation was that no system can reproduce the sound the way the musician hears it in his head, so he just needs something that reminds him of the music at a "close enough for casual listening" sort of level.

Some others, like Neil Young, are more particular about their sound systems. He has a system in his old Cadillac that's apparently very impressive. He sometimes uses it to demonstrate his Pono project.

Another is Henry Rollins. He wrote a guest essay in Stereophile last fall in which he raved about his Wilson Alexandria XLF speakers and VTL amps.

A sample:

Henry Rollins: The Pursuit of Audio Excellence

` Posted on: 09-26-2013 Posted in: Blog, High end audio

A new Stereophile essay by Henry Rollins on the pleasures of a great audio system: “I think that when one climbs to the more rarified air of the audiophile environment, the reasons for that ascent become more varied, intense, sincere, and sometimes ridiculous. Only those who remain ignorant of hi-fi’s power would contest the fact that a certain pair of speakers, the right cables, or stylus can bring a listener closer to the Playback Promised Land. All you can do is pity their box-wine-grade appreciation skills and move on.”

Link to the whole essay (it's only a page long): http://www.stereophile.com/content/pursuit-audio-excellence-2