jhills

Responses from jhills

Owning the speakers you dreamed of 20 years ago
The speakers of my dreams thirty years ago was the Apogee Duetta Sigs. They were the closest thing to sounding like real acoustic instruments and true vocals that I heard. They did then and I have little doubt that a properly restored pair (with a... 
You own a store, you sell 2 brands, which?
Even though, for speakers, my personal preference is electrostatics and ribbons, from a recognition and marketing stand point, reliability and a broad range of price and performance choices, would be Vandersteen. For electronics, for all the same ... 
PrimaLuna Evo 200 underwhelming
 I see you have, or are considering sending back the PrimaLuna. If you haven’t already, I recommend you don’t - at least not until you give the KT120 or KT150 tubes a shot. Will cost you about $200.00, but from experience I can tell you, that with... 
THE IRS HAS TAKEN MY TRANSACTIONS VIA PAYPAL AND IDENTIFIED THEM AS TAXABLE INCOME
@eag618 Glad to see that you are on a path to getting problem resolved.While I don't agree with all of PayPal's policies, on this issue with taxes, they are only doing what is required by lay for them to do.Either of two ways to handle, depending ... 
Magnepan, Best midrange?
Sorry to offend Doug. Just pointing out that, regarding the OPs original post on the Maggie LRS, I am in agreement with him that there are not many, if any, that will do as well in the mids and overall performance at that price range.While I do li... 
The best tube poweramp. . What do you think about ?
@lukaske You have a real winner there. The VAC phi 300 would be one of my top picks. Even the VAC phi 200 is very good.....Jim 
Magnepan, Best midrange?
I think a lot of the point was lost throughout most of this thread. The OP was originally referring to the quality of midrange in the little, less than $1K, Maggie LRS and we end up talking about $8K - $25K speakers. In my opinion, for less than a... 
Vibration - What are the Main Sources?
@zlone Vibration - What are the Main Sources?On a professional level, a large part of my training and job was to identify and eliminate destructive vibrations in industrial machinery. Aside from the out of balance of any of the machinery's rotatin... 
Lay Off the Newbies!
+1 realworldaudioMakes me think of many years back, just starting in home audio. I found an audio dealer (sad there are so few now) about 90 miles away. Even though they carried some very expensive stuff, they were more interested in working with ... 
Best Preamp and Amp combination, interesting finding!!!
I have much enjoyed the reliable performance and clean open sound of my (now 30+years old) Audible Illusions Modulus II, tubed pre amp. Over the years It has been paired with PSE, Bryston, Adcom, Krell and Ayre, SS power amps and with a VAC Phi 20... 
Recommendations for speakers that sound great at lower volume levels.
Important to note that, to the human ear, high frequencies up to about 16K Hz, balance out at about 60db while bass below 50 Hz is up near and over 100db. so a good sub with an adjustable volume control is helpful to add fullness and weight to any... 
Recommendations for speakers that sound great at lower volume levels.
Most of my listening now is in the late evenings or early mornings, at low to moderate volumes. The good thing about that is less competition from outside noise (less outside traffic noise, no TV going in the other room, cleaner air ways, less lin... 
Old Amps that can still Kick Butt
One of my all time favorites was the old mid 80s PSE Studio II (80/150W) paired with my Audible Illusions - Modulus II Pre. driving Vandi 2Cis and then in the early 90s upgraded to the  Studio IV. (100/195W) driving my Quad ESL 63s. Incredible sou... 
How much reality do you really need?
As far as live performances, most often, I have no desire to re-create a live performance in my home. My old ears no longer tolerate 85-110db of loud and most of the pop and rock concerts I went to over the years, while engaging and enjoyable, the... 
Tubes for Magnepan’s.
I am driving my 1.7 Maggies with a Rogue Cronus Mag II and have no problem at all. I no longer feel the need for loud and head pounding, so I seldom turn the volume nob beyond 25%. At moderate levels, maybe 65-80 db. the combination of the 100W Ro...