pbowne

Responses from pbowne

E.A.R 834p. VS Graham Slee Reflex
The E.A.R. may be overpriced now but it upgrades beautifully. Look for a used deluxe (chrome) version. You can upgrade it yourself (do a search for Thorsten Loesch 834P mods) or call Audio Revelations. You can also get great results from tube roll... 
Death of Jim Bongiorno
So sorry to hear of Mr. Bongiorno's passing. I still have my original Rectilinear III speakers bought in 1976. The story I heard was that the owners of Rectilinear were interested in producing a traditional speaker that had the qualities of electr... 
Best object in your listening room.
I have a lithograph of Toulouse Lautrec called "The Morning After"  
what can go under an LP12?
Linn recommends a light, rigid table if you're not using a wall mount. If you're near an Ikea store they have what is called a Lack table for under $20.00. Makes a big difference. Whenever I have put footers or heavy granite, etc under my LP12, I ... 
What song turns back the clock?
Jefferson Airplane "If You Feel" from Crown of CreationLed Zeppelin "Good Times Bad Times" from 1st albumCream "Strange Brew" from Disraeli GearsSpirit - Anything from Twelve Dreams of Dr. SardonicusIron Butterfly "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida"Quicksilver M... 
Best Source for Tubes
Check out Andy @ Vintage Tube Services, particularly if you're looking for 6922/6DJ8/7308 tubes. You may pay more, but you'll get tubes that you will be extremely happy with and will last. Call Andy and tell him what you're looking for. http://www... 
"Warm" sounding digital interconncect
Try Creative Cable's "Green Hornet", probably the most widely used digital IC, or the highest-quality version, the "Silver Buller". Available through Music Direct or Essential Audio. 
Most Emotional Opera Melodies
Check out the duet "Au Fonde du Temple Saint" from Bizet's opera, The Pearl Fishers. Overall, not a great opera but this piece is incredible. My favorite recording is on RCA (mono) with Jussi Bjorling & Robert Merrill. It's funny because I muc... 
Does "ripping" quality improve if you.........
Just a follow-up. The better I can improve/tweak the source CD, the better it sounds when I copy it on my PC. That's whether I'm burning it again into a CD-R, or compressing it to an MP3 file. I always make high-bit MP3 files, 256-bit or higher, s... 
Does "ripping" quality improve if you.........
I notice differences on the CD's when I A/B after different treatments. I was most surprised by the difference between CD's after I did a test in freezing discs. First I would place some blank CD-R's in my freezer for 48-72 hours (it was suggeste... 
Soaking in pause mode improves CD transport snd?
Others here may have a more precise explanation, but I have heard that timing errors accumulate when the CD is playing for a while. Using pause allows the program to re-initialize and start over without the accumulated errors. In fact, I don't bel... 
Source for low cost redbook CDs
Don't forget YourMusic.com. All single CD's are $5.99 and shipping is free! 
Who was this jazz singer?
LOL. That was unexpected. No! Definitely not Ms. Jackson. This was in the studio, and it was not a big star. 
battling the pops and clicks
Mobile Fidelity originally wrote in there sleeve information that they didn't "dehorn" the cutter and as a result you often may get pops. These would disappear as you played the LP a few times and your needle wears down those edges. (In truth, I h... 
good recordings of Bob Marley
Look for the originals in Island records. There are many available on eBay for low cost. My favorite is "Natty Dread". I've rarely found reissues of Island Records recording that are better than the originals.