furiouslyadrift

Responses from furiouslyadrift

Anyone dislike Ohm Walsh speakers?
I have a pair of old Ohm model 2’s (equivalent to the current 2000’s). They are really easy to live with and generally make everything sound “nice” (smooths over bad recordings and the omni effect gives depth to the sound). They don’t have that et... 
Bass sensation like a loud car system in home?
The Eminent Technology rotary subwoofer can easily do this. it’s a bit pricey but if you want bass down to 1Hz, it’s the best.http://www.rotarywoofer.com/ 
First tube preamp recommendations (under $5k)
All of the ones I’d recommend are already in here (EAR, Lamm, Atmosphere, Cary, CAT)…I’ll throw in another vintage brand: Joule-Electra. Rich Brkich at Signature Sound (1-315-622-4137 and on Audiogon) can take care of you. 
Class D amps that are superior to all or most?
I’ve been really impressed with Nuprime’s amps… although they do not claim them as class D, but as a hybrid. Hypex and Purifi based amps range from ok to breathtaking.My preference is class A or AB for tweeters and maybe mids with D for lows and s... 
Best DAC / Budget
It’s entirely possible the digital music is not  mastered very well. Try an SACD or DSD file and compare. Better yet, something you have from the 70-80’s that’s well done on both vinyl and digital (Love over Gold or Aja?). A lot of early CD were t... 
New Turntable Direction
The PolyTable Super12 with Sorane 12” arm is $3600. You can, of course, get it without the arm and step up to a Kuzma, SME, whatever. It’s a great deck.  
Speaker shootout update; aggressive treble eliminating some (fairly?)
With ceilings that low, you are getting massive reflections. I would be very aggressive in knocking that effect down. Go with tweeters that have very little vertical dispersion (RAAL or AMT) and put 3 inches of rockwool overhead and in front of th... 
Why was the entry level line at Audio Research eliminated?
Don’t forget Schiit has tube preamps... 
Monster Regret!!
I’ve been recommending ZeroSurge for years for high quality surge/rfi protection. Single outlet all the way up to whole house. They’ll even build you a custom device if you want... 
Replace Ayre Codex with Topping D90 DAC
I’m in the “any distortion is just noise” camp. For DAC chips, I tend to favor AKM for their VelvetSound profile (no ESS distortion hump) and the AK4499 truly is an excellent implantation. It’s AKMs first current drive chip and it’s a huge step up... 
Laid back DAC under $800?
Whoops... my bad. You are correct. Chords are on the “soft” side of DACs though. 
Laid back DAC under $800?
The D70 is an very good implementation of an AKM chip... way more laid back compared to ESS chips. If you want a more “soft“ DAC, I suggest you go Multibit ladder. Schiit is on the low end and great way to dip your toe in without a huge investment... 
Replace Ayre Codex with Topping D90 DAC
I love Ayre but the D90 is an insanely good DAC. The AK4499 chip is the best Chip on the market and the D90 is, so far, the best implementation. It will, however, hide absolutely nothing from you. If the recording has flaws, you’ll hear ever one o... 
Switch from AB to D
I’ve been very happy with my tiny little NuPrime amps. They have different “flavors” of amps. There’s a matrix on their site to help find the sound your after. Mine are STA-9s running as monoblocks. Very warm like tubes but very fast with tons of ... 
Poor power in the house
@cleeds To do completely separate circuits requires separate service drops, too.As long as the grounding points are physically far enough apart (I think it's more 30ft), I think you're good. Been a looong time since I read NEC and no idea if this ...