Shakeydeal Posted April 18, 2018 Share Posted April 18, 2018 Fewer controls and switches means less "crap" in the signal path. Always a good thing IMHO..... Shakey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOSValves Posted April 21, 2018 Share Posted April 21, 2018 Stop messing around and get something that will really sound good! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SWL Posted April 21, 2018 Share Posted April 21, 2018 Room treatment, EQ in the digital domain, big ole horn loaded subs and some Klipsch speakers with fresh updates works for me. Oh yeah...and tubes.....or at least solid state with tube-like qualities.[emoji106] Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wstrickland1 Posted April 21, 2018 Share Posted April 21, 2018 51 minutes ago, NOSValves said: Stop messing around and get something that will really sound good! just gorgeous Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerkinMuffley Posted April 21, 2018 Share Posted April 21, 2018 On 4/8/2018 at 12:31 PM, LarryC said: With K-horn efficiency, I've had to work at minimizing noise audibility. For example, selecting a preamp with lower gain in the line-stage section, to minimize amplifying noise traveling from circuitry prior to the pre-amp volume control. (I once had a preamp with an excessive 26 db gain in the line stage, which could only exaggerate pre-VC noise from the phono stage. My current preamp has only 4 db line stage gain!) Or, for another example, choosing a power amplifier with a low gain figure, that does not have a very high (numerically low) "sensitivity" figure for full power out. This means being careful NOT to select an amplifier that produces several hundred watts out for only 0.5 v. in -- a sure noise producer on K-horns IMO. My amp eliminated one stage of gain and probably requires 2.5 v. in for 100 watts out, a very low gain that minimizes pre-amp noise Good comments. Most of the classic separates were designed in the era of PHONO, TAPE heads and FM sources, which had very low outputs in the mV range. So, preamps needed 40+dB gains in the phono and tape and as much as 22dB for FM and integrated tape in the line stages. In the classic era, 2V in for full power was standard and reasonable. Tben came sources like CD. DVD, TV and all the other very high output devices which have no need whatever of a preamp. If not using phono or tape, preamps offer little benefit. If you do (still) use phono, the old (classic) separate preamps (Fisher, Mc, Marantz, Scott, Dyna, ARC and dozens of small brands) had vastly superior "phono sections" than any modern integrated amp. Modern amps work best for the new world of digitial sources. And, listeners who dumped vinyl for digitial almost universally freak out over "noise" making it almost mandatory to have modern SS gear. For playing records in 2018, it would be hard at any cost of modern gear to top the luscious sound of a Marantz 7 and 8b combination. But that would do bupkis for CDs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ODS123 Posted April 22, 2018 Author Share Posted April 22, 2018 8 hours ago, NOSValves said: Stop messing around and get something that will really sound good! Wow, that is beautiful! ..That said, I'm not in favor of turning the clock back entirely. While I do love that pre-amps and integrateds of yesteryear featured many adjustments to make listening to music more enjoyable, they also tended to have lots of hiss, hum, and scratchy controls. ..That part, I could do without. Wouldn't it be nice if a company would make gear that looks as nice as the above, but has modern day refinement?? Mac gear comes close, but still not quite as attractive. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willland Posted April 22, 2018 Share Posted April 22, 2018 9 hours ago, ODS123 said: Wouldn't it be nice if a company would make gear that looks as nice as the above, but has modern day refinement?? Mac gear comes close, but still not quite as attractive. They do. Bill 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ODS123 Posted April 22, 2018 Author Share Posted April 22, 2018 Ah yes, I stand corrected! That Yamaha int. amp looks awesome. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ODS123 Posted April 22, 2018 Author Share Posted April 22, 2018 On 4/18/2018 at 2:52 PM, Shakeydeal said: Fewer controls and switches means less "crap" in the signal path. Always a good thing IMHO..... Shakey Why? What damage do well designed and implemented tone, balance, and mode (stereo/mono) controls do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerkinMuffley Posted April 22, 2018 Share Posted April 22, 2018 Example of how Tone Controls can cause troube. Refer to the diagram attached. The two pots RV1 and RV2 control the amount of bass and treble cut or boost applied to the signal. Surrounding both pots are several caps. If you want FLAT response, the two pots would have to be electrically centered AND the surrounding caps would have to be very precise in value. Any variation in the caps, or centering of the pots will yield a non-flat response. In budget prodicts, these pots are probably 10% tolerance and the caps could be 20%, 10%, 5%, or even 2%, but how do you know? By centering the pots, I don't mean the DETENT they probably employ, but whether or not that detent EXACTLY divides the pot? The solution to these inexpensive style tone controls is to have a bypass switch that circumvents the signal around ALL those pots and caps. Without a bypass, there is very little chance of getting a flat response. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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