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gakerty

Responses from gakerty

Western Electric 12AX7 coming this summer.
I will gladly pay a premium (within reason) for a modern American made kick a*s 12AX7.  Hope this pans out.  
Pro-ject vs Rega
One benefit to the Project X1 is that the arm has adjustable VTA, whereas with the Rega one would need to use shims for VTA adjustment if not using Rega's line of cartridges.  I personally would never buy an arm without adjustable VTA.  The Projec... 
FAVORITE POWER CABLE under $100 (1M)
While Cullen does make excellent cables at a fair price, you will have to wait a while to receive them.  Even a couple years back when I ordered cables from him it took at least several weeks, with not the best communication from Patrick.  I think... 
MC for Low Mass Tonearm
@daveyf  Indeed the one I used was the Benz LPS with a weight of about 16g!  Of course I had to use a supplied second counterweight for the Tracer to balance, putting it just at the upper end of the Tracer range, which maxes at 17g.  To my ears, ... 
MC for Low Mass Tonearm
@daveyf  Agreed.  I've run the Benz Wood SL, Gullwing, and LPS on my Clearaudio Tracer arm (9.5g effective mass) with success.  Tracks well, sounds rich, but detailed.  The resonant frequency was about 8hz  IIRC.  Also ran an Aidas Gold (recommend... 
HT Sound quality - tube versus solid state amplification
Similar to carlsbad, I use my tube amp (Rogue Stereo 100) to drive my main 2 channel and the fronts, in a 7.1 channel system. My Yamaha AV runs into my RP9 preamp, which is in HT bypass when turned off. At least on the pre side, I’m not burning tu... 
Stylus gauge recommendations ?
I have the Ortofon DS3 and a more expensive Clearaudio one.  Both are functionally the same and measure at ~ record level, but the DS3 has a larger platform, making measuring easy, and I found out more recently is big enough to accommodate weighin... 
STREAMER
Yesterday I replaced the cord for my Lumin T2 with one on those stupidly cheap (non knockoff!) 5N OCC pure silver PCs from Aliexpress.  Think it was ~$60 for a 1.5m length. Low and behold, this new silver PC sounds different.  It sounds more immed... 
Streaming Dac $5000-8000
@acdvd I’ve been enjoying my Lumin T3 for a few months now. I will say that the Lumin has a relaxed, yet very detailed presentation. I do not find it bright in my system at all. It did seem that it MAY have broken in a touch in the first week, wi... 
Quobuz subscription
I had both Amazon HD and Qobuz, and have canceled Amazon.  Amazon was sometimes misleading (Ultra HD/24bit >48hkz) with an album labeled as high res/Ultra HD, but really only 1-2 tracks per album were 24bit, the rest being redbook.  While the o... 
The Impossible Has Happened
Reviews have such a low variance in the reviewer’s options of the gear, with almost all being extremely favorable or glowing. Basically, if there’s is any mention of a negative aspect, it pretty much means that the equipment isn’t particularly goo... 
Review of Rogue Audio RP-9 preamp
@audibleguy  It cost me $3K for the upgrade incl. shipping.  Not cheap at all, but the increase in resolution, air and audiophile superlatives was worth it.  The 6H30 tube just seems more linear and superior sonically to the 12AU7 in the preamp st... 
Outstanding service from Needleclinic
Andy Kim has done great work on a couple Benz I sent him, with a very quick TAT. Since I live ~100 miles from him, once I sent him a Benz LPS on Tues and got it back on Friday, in perfect working order. Andy is my go to, and there really is no rea... 
patricia barber - diana krall - holly cole
Do people actually like Diana Krall cause of her music?  Thought she was for showcasing stereos.  My dream would be Diana Krall covering "Keith Don't Go" recorded direct to disc.  
NOS Tubes - Ecstasy or Agony
@daveyf Agreed on the organ pulled tubes. The RCAs black plates and other classic American 12AU7( AX7?) from organs I’ve used have been uber quiet and sounded excellent, but I no longer use them due to system changes (my RP9 preamp uses 6H30s). A...