blw

Responses from blw

Preamps/amps that look great and''feel' great ???
Jeff Rowland stuff always looks great. 
Upgrade To Conrad Johnson Premier 15?
Herman's right, but as long as you have a cartridge with sufficient output to drive the P15, it is a very fine phono stage. 
Dedicated lines/surge protectors?
Well, I am now seriously in the market for some surge protection. I lived in the SF Bay Area for most of the past 20 years, where there simply isn't any significant lightning. Now that I live in rural Virginia, I've lost at least two components to... 
Decent SACD?
As the owner of a Pioneer Elite DV47A, I'd recommend it only for DVD and redbook - it doesn't do SACD or DVDA that well. (It's not bad, but it's no better than redbook.)You might consider the Shanling T200 which does 2-ch SACD and redbook, and it'... 
Magnepan 1.6 vs. ML Aerius i owners opinions..
I don't have quite the experience you seek, but I've compared the 3.6s and to the Odyssey, and frankly I prefer the 3.6s. Oh- and I'm an Odyssey owner.However, the 3.6s are even harder to place than the Odysseys. As far as I'm concerned, both of t... 
insuring vinyl
I just checked my homeowner's policy with State Farm (I'm in Virginia if it matters). It does cover both my electronics and the collections. I regularly file a CD of photos with my insurance agent, and perhaps I will take a few of the important it... 
can rcas and xlr's mix in the same system
On my Classe SSP75, the RCAs and XLRs are all always enabled. I run the power amp out of the XLRs and the sub via the RCA main outputs. 
Where do I start?
The Basis 1400 is a good table - if you have a good stand, it's probably a fair bit better than the arm that comes with it. If you don't have a good stand and/or a really solid floor (ie concrete or brick), you might want to look for something wit... 
Did you know that Audiogon...
They're just getting going - I had some listings on Audiogon last month and I got an offer to *also* list them on Videogon. (They were AV-related, a pre/pro and a 6-ch amp.) I got a couple of bites from that site, but overall about half as many vi... 
Is it worth it?
I can't remember ever hearing anything bad about Outlaw units, and I've spoken with a number of people who have them. I've heard one rig - Outlaw 950 processor, their 7-ch amp, with the Rocket speakers (another Internet only seller, don't know whi... 
Tube Pre Amp + Tube Phono Section
I have experience with the CJ Premier 15 phono stage. It's a very nice piece, around $2K used here on the 'Gon. It's very, very smooth, but doesn't mate well with the really low output cartridges due to its fixed 53dB gain. The system was pretty b... 
3.6 Maggie owners input needed on amps...........
I auditioned the 3.6's with my Classe CA-200 and that combination worked just fine - ie, 200 wpc (well, I guess it's really 400 wpc @ 4 ohms) is quite sufficient. There are plenty of amps that can do the job. The CA200s usually go for around $1200... 
New Vinyl Playback Technology
I would think that you could also adjust the tracking system to better handle warped records, etc. And who knows - I sure don't - if it's possible to get a more accurate read of the grooves with a smaller reading mechanism. I'd have to expect that... 
Which Pre/Pro regardless of $$$
This discussion made me wonder, so I went and checked. The Classe SSP75 and SSP60 are basically two channel preamps built into the same box as an AV pre/pro. All of the 2-channel inputs (including the balanced 2-ch input), as well as the 5.1 bypas... 
New Vinyl Playback Technology
I was wondering the same thing. In theory it might be a cool technology - especially if it doesn't digitize. But there are certain to be a lot of surprises in developing something like this, and I've never met anyone who's heard one of these thing...