Chime in on Amplifier questions

[Audio Flynn]

That word means different things to different people. If you're into hair trigger transients and wide bandwidth -- tubes don't sound "musical".

Why not make the statment complete by adding "LPs" to it? LMAO

[lakedmb]

Really fine 2CH and really exciting movie listening are incompatible as far as using the same gear. Something has to give. 

Pardon me if this sounds like I'm missing something obvious, but if a system reproduces music accurately, wouldn't it also reproduce movie soundtracks just as accurately?  There are some folks who crank up the sub when watching movies, but I'm not one of them.  I assume that if the system is dialed in properly, it will make the movie sound the way the director intended.  Am I mistaken?

Agreed. I have listened to an amazing all tube/horn system that both music and movies were out of this world! The key is to have everything calibrated correctly and the room to be treated acoustically.

[Tracking Angle]

The key is to have ... the room ...treated acoustically.

I don't believe that MF or Arcam is going to sound much different from your B&K. Tubes will sound different. However, if you want your system to sound better overall, SS or tubes, working on your room acoustics will give you the biggest return for your efforts.

-Phil

[Islander]

Really fine 2CH and really exciting movie listening are incompatible as far as using the same gear. Something has to give.

Pardon me if this sounds like I'm missing something obvious, but if a system reproduces music accurately, wouldn't it also reproduce movie soundtracks just as accurately? There are some folks who crank up the sub when watching movies, but I'm not one of them. I assume that if the system is dialed in properly, it will make the movie sound the way the director intended. Am I mistaken?

Which multichannel amps or surround processors have you found that sound "really fine" on 2 channel music?

I'm using stereo power amps for the main speakers and no processing (other than the EQing provided by the Dx38) for 2-channel music listening, since music is my first priority. When watching a movie, I cut in the AV receiver's power amp to drive the center and surround speakers and run the receiver in 'Straight' mode, with no processing, since DTS or Dolby Digital come in with 5.1 channels sounding right that way and the movies sound sufficiently exciting for my needs.

Perhaps my electronics are not up to some of the high-end stuff you're familiar with, but adding the surround channels for movies doesn't compromise the 2-channel music listening, at least with my setup. Multi-channel is becoming more important anyway, with all the concert DVDs, some of which have excellent sound that has a depth you can't get with 2 channels, due in part to the higher res of the DVDs relative to CDs.

When the budget permits, I may get a multi-channel pre-pro and a 3-channel amp for the surround channels, but as I mentioned, 2-channel music sounds great and 5.1 movies are pretty good too, until the day when I upgrade by getting three more JubScalas, but I'm in no rush to do that.

BTW, Mark, have you thought of using a Dx38 as a crossover with a pair of your amps to power Jubilees or JubScalas? That could sound really fine.

[Deang]

Why not make the statment complete by adding "LPs" to it? LMAO

Are we now going to now pretend that all LP's sound better than all CD's? I've heard a lot of really bad sounding records in my time.

[jacksonbart]

Hey they also make a very musical watch as well

http://www.musicalfidelity.com/merchandise/watches/25thwatch.html

[mike stehr]

"Multi-channel is becoming more important anyway, with all the concert DVDs, some of which have excellent sound that has a depth you can't get with 2 channels, due in part to the higher res of the DVDs relative to CDs."

Meh........

[Islander]

I've heard some DVDs that are a big step up from CDs, in clarity and naturalness of sound.

[Islander]

BTW, Mark, have you thought of using a Dx38 as a crossover with a pair of your amps to power Jubilees or JubScalas? That could sound really fine.

Hi,

I'm not that much a fan of bi-amping anymore because of the negative sonic issues introduced by SS crossovers. My current preferences are obtaining the highest signal purity. I had lot's of bi-amped horn systems in the past. It has it's own kind of appeal of course, but I am done with that aspect.

I was initially a bit dubious about running the analogue signal from a turntable through an ADC and then a DAC, with lots of EQing between the two, but the improvement in sound won me over. Maybe the 24-bit processing and 128X oversampling minimizes any digital degradation of the signal, I can't say.

Also, I've never had the pleasure of hearing a high-end tube setup, so I literally don't know what I'm missing. I do know my setup really pleases me, as yours does you, and that's what really matters.