Audiophiles (stereo equipment connoisseur)

Lurkin' Murkin'

I know the Bose name means something - but maybe the "Wave" is the equivalent of buying the low end Weber grill. Just wanted to mention that a compact Phillips system I was recently given has remarkable sound, especially the bass, and maintains quality sound when cranked up. Probably 1/3 the cost of what you're looking at...

Paul Rohrs_4

What kind of equipment do you run?

First off, yes I did have to look up the correct spelling for connoisseur.

After reading the thread on "Sophisticated Expensive Controllers", it took me back to my Army days when I had no other sensible thing to do with my meager salary other than to buy stereo equipment. Anyone read "Stereo Review" before it became ad-laden "Sound & Vision"?

So, being in Germany in the late 80's, I had some awesome equipment available at pretty affordable prices. To this day, I still own the Onkyo 504 amp, Onkyo 304 pre-amp, and Nakamichi CD player. My first set of real speakers were Bose 501's only because I couldn't afford the 901's at the time. Later, I traded those speakers up to some revered and state of the art Polk-Audio SDA-2A's. (My room mate had some Klipsch La-Scala's.) I never got around to buying a turntable although several albums to this day are still collecting dust. First vinly was "Boston" - self titled.
CD's range from John Mellencamp to Joe Satriani to Beatles to CCR and on.

Although there is not much free time around our house at night, I am building a pair of "Hydronic Speakers". I will post pictures when they are done.

While I am an Audiophile, and do not subscribe to the (sometimes) snobbery of Enophiles (Wine), a good glass of wine and some tunes on the old equipment....that is a relaxing evening.

So, I know you read "The Wall", but what are you listening to and on what equipment?

Regards,

PR

PS- Steve Ebels, your cousin must be very good at his job to be on a first name basis with Matthew Polk. MP and Omar Bose are the pioneers of modern speaker equipment. (IMHO)

Lurkin' Murkin'

Since you have some Creedance Clearwater in there, you won't need any inhibitors in the hydronic speaker "system". But be sure to install an effective rap-flow preventor and a properly sized relief valve, for the heavy stuff!

Ken_40

Jazz is the idiom...

H/K the reciever brand - as well as the CD/DVD player brand, Thorens turntable, H/K tape deck, Altec Lansing Voice of the Theater speakers.

As a musician in another life, both classical and jazz, I'd put it up against anything I've heard to date...

D107

hydronic speakers?

Would it be possible to hook up a heating system relay to let's say an ipod to trigger the playing of various songs at various stages of a heating cycle? Call for heat: Start Me Up (Stones); steady state efficiency: Got My Mojo Workin'.
What songs for DHW priority and other stages?

Steve Ebels_3

Paul

You can add Bob Carver to that list, and yes, he is very, very good at what he does. He and I compare notes when we see each other. He runs into the same things we do when bidding jobs. Some other company will under cut his bid by 30-40% and he loses the job. A year or two later the church, school, theater or home A/V nut calls him and asks if he will come and "fix" their system. He gets a lot of business that way the same as I do.

People are the same all over no matter what they're buying. Often times the customer doesn't know enough about a product or especially how a system should be designed to make an intelligent judgement. From there, assuming that all other things are equal and they are buying only a product and not expertise, the low bid always wins in the short (very short) run.

I still get a bang out of those Nak cassette decks that would remove the cassette, turn it around and re-insert it rather than reversing the head.

Some day I'll post some pics of the sound gear he sets up for our 4th of July program here. For starters, try 8 JBL sub cabinets with 18" drivers hooked up to about 40,000 watts of power. It takes 4 20amp 110V circuits to run his amps at 3/4 throttle. NICE!! I get the same buzz from that kind of power as I do lighting off a 20MM btu burner.

PS: Those Polk SDA's were awesome sounding speakers. Jerry had a pair of SRS's set up in the back room of the store driving it with a Carver PM 1.5 amp. That Carver was rated @ 1,500 W per channel, very conservatively and the Polks would soak up all of it. Great sounding speakers but power hungry.

clammy

stero stuff

I like it loud weather it's Bb king or kk downing 2 adcom 555 power amps bridged adcom cdplayer ,stereo reciever speakers are electro voice sv12 and a pair of infinity towers with 15 woofers thw infinities are wired thruogh the ev's extension terminal .The infinity could not handle the volume so i took the next step and brought the ev the best investment yet true sound re enforcement speakers take the beating and still smile at ya the next day neighbores might not peace and luck clmamy

G.Kaske_2

Harman Kardon for sure, JBL speakers.

CC.Rob_2

Nakamichi trivia

Way back when (22 yr ago), when I was shopping for a high-end cassette deck (ended up getting a CR-7A...), I talked with someone in Nak engineering. He was really proud of the fact that the physical "eject-rotate-return" mechanism in those flipping decks was achieved with only seven (7) moving parts. Wow. The standard reversing decks from other manufacturers typically had a lot more moving parts, and naturally the sound quality was less anyway.

ttekushan_3

Nak decks, turntables

Nak tape decks still sound awesome today. A friend of mine has the rare Nak Dragon CT which was a turntable that measured any eccentric to the LP's rotation. This assured that the groove (there really is only one on an LP; its a spiral) rotated around its geometric center, not necessarily the disc's center.

Always liked Nak's front ends. The preamps and power amps were all Nelson Pass Stasis technology and unfortunately delivered sound that was dry as a bone.

-Terry

ttekushan_3

loud

When I was still running the audio shop, I was in a storefront with two floors of apartments above. With steam heat. One day some NY record exec of some kind comes in with a guy and they wanted everything LOUD. Classical? Carmina Burana LOUD. Rock? Joe Cocker LOUD. Industrial? Front 242 LOUD. The industrial was too much for somebody on the third floor. Cops showed up, said the floor was shaking up there. "Pretty impressive, huh?" I said. I guess he wasn't impressed.

Fun while it lasted. The drop ceiling was shedding little snowflakes.

The speakers were Bozak Concert Grands with 4 12's in acoustic suspension in each cabinet. The mids and tweets were the Bozak aluminum cones (Rudy Bozak invented the aluminum drivers back somewhere in the 60's).

The preamps were custom designs in prototype form for eventual commercialization.

The amps running that day were the monobloc version of the Western Reserve Audio 300 (aka the Innersound iTube). The monoblocs run nearly 200wpc rms, but the key is that they have peak output of >6db, meaning about 800wpc peak. Their distortion into real speakers dips to zero between 250hz and 7khz. And you could run them all day all the time like that.

These days I run all those electronics I designed into double pairs of KLH 9 electrostats. Modified of course. There's something about 42 square feet of sound radiating surface area aimed right at you that feels right.

Alas, the audio business is stupid. Electronics engineers who dismiss this stuff with "who's gonna hear the difference anyway" to truly neurotic audiophiles who you may as well marry if you sell them something. Plus the fleeting nature of some of the business you link up with to build a product. At least I have the T-shirt to show for it!

Steam heat anyone?

-Terry

ttekushan_3

VOT's are awesome--

Super efficient, life-like mids and highs.

Which thorens?

-Terry

ttekushan_3

Hot Tuna for DHW

I might suggest Hot Tuna's "burgers" album with the "Water Song"

Eric_25

Jensen Triaxles

That system can't sound better than my Jensen triaxles sitting on the rear seat of my 69 camaro ragtop with the top down listening to Zepplin and the Stones on my Monkey Wards 8-track player a couple of years ago, well maybe more than a couple of years ago.

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Ken_40

TD

165 tracking at 3/4 gram.

The VOT's are the homeowner version, not the exposed horn atop. I bought them new from an audio specialty shop who had the franchise. I did some heat for him and he sold me the VOT's at wholesale. They still ran $1,800 for the pair. Retail was double that, and that was 20 years ago.

I do enjoy them however(;-o)

Lurkin' Murkin'

Isn't nice when your boiler "Keeps on Truckin'" ?
Great choice, and yes - Jorma can still play "Water Song" to the "Tee"...

Mike T., Swampeast MO

Have "Stereo Review" and "Audio" mags from the early 80s through the mid 90s. Still can't bear to throw them away.

Use Heathkit "Pro Series" pre-amp, power amps, EQ, audio processor, and output indicator. Yamaha DSP 100 "digital soundfield processor." Klipsch Forte (main), Ohm 100 (effects), Realistic (rear) and those supplied with a Dell 42" LCD TV (center). An Onkyo integrated amp (using just the power amp) drives the rear channels.

Thorens TD280 turntable with Shure V-15 type 5 MR cartrige but must admit I haven't used it for years after ripping songs to MP3. Old Magnavox CD player (virtual clone of the best Phillips available at the time at a much lower price) but now I mainly use an RCA DVD recorder for playing audio CDs as well as DVDs.

Use the tuner out of a J.C. Penney receiver for radio. By the time I was ready to buy the Heathkit Pro Series tuner, they had gone out of the kit business. Still keep watching for one on ebay but am constantly outbid during the last seconds of auctions by people using automated bidding software.

Whenever I get the 16' x 10' walnut entertainment center built in my family room will add in some custom-made subwoofers using ElectroVoice 18" drivers. Am hoping to find two additional 125w Heathkit Pro Series amps (they can be bridged) to drive the subs. Main plan for the entertainment center is done and have most of the wood, but am still waiting for quite large flat panel TVs to drop further in price as well as local cable availability of true HDTV--hopefully without a "decoder box".

ScottMP

I was more a

Co-axle fan. Tri-axles where too muddled

By the way they sounded better in my "71" camaro with the 6" Pioneer Co-axles hidden under the dashboard wired in with the Tri-axles in the back deck. The Pioneer Super Tuner pumped out the tunes. My brother called my car " moving in stereo ".

"Oh move over Rover, and let Jimi take over ... "

Those where the days ... or was ot DAZE.

Scott

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pete_22

I keep the volume down so I can protect my hearing.

bob_46

WHAT

What's that ringing sound?

Unknown

Yes, high end audio is really is a crazy business to be involved in. I have been designing audio gear for the last 30 years and can really relate to your description of some of the stupidity.

On the other hand there were a few really good high end companies out there which offered quality American made equipment at realistic prices, one of which I had the privilege of working for. At least until it was bought out by Klipsch a few years ago and run into the ground. Unfortunately the priorities of a larger corporation don't always agree with the traditions and philosophy of a much smaller high end audio manufacturer.

JIm Faller

no joke

Ringing in the ears is no joke. I have a family member that suffers from Tinnitus and it is a serious condition. Remember to always protect your hearing.

http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Tinnitus_explained?OpenDocument

PJO_5

Similar start for me...

I was in the Air Force, but never got overseas. My father had done some audio collecting in the 60's when he was stationed in Okinawa and made runs to japan and Korea.

We had a stack of stuff including a reel to reel deck, and two custom built "drum top" end tables that had speakers built in. I cooked those babies when I was 15 playing J Geils "House Party" among other things ;-)

Shhhh...he still doesn't know who did it...with 13 kids I pulled it off all these years!

I still have much of my "ancient" collection from the late 70's/early 80"s. A Kenwood receiver which I bought used; it has quad sound in it (remember that from about 1975 or so?). Yes, the system is STILL powered with a 32 year old! I had four speakers that I stacked; Infinity Quantam 3's with KLH Model 6's on top...total height about 70", and what a wall of sound! My bose 501's were the first set I had, and I sold them to buy the Infinitis. Dual turntable w/ Shure V15(?) pickup and a Soundcraftsman EQ. Got a tape deck w/ DBX noise reduction - better than dolby at the time - didn't need much else until I got married.

In 1990 the wife had enough of the speakers dominating the house, so I shopped around and got a set of Polk Audio subwoofer/satellites. She still wants to hide them even though you barely notice the little buggers! I couldn't find any dbx stuff after a while, and gave up on tapes altogether when CD's got big in the late 80's...still have about 20 "Original Master Recording" LP's from ten years earlier. One great memory of those premium records is listening to Steely Dan's "Aja" album - title cut is awesome at high levels!

I miss my big speakers sometimes...I am trying to talk management into letting me take over the basement with them. Chance of success? Minimal... :-(

Great thread...

Take Care, PJO

MWS

Klipschorns, Quicksilver tube pre, Jolida CD, crown power

Mike T., Swampeast MO

That toroidal transformer looks amazing! The heavy-duty wiring reminds me of my Heathkit power amps but they use conventional (if huge) transformers. Best designed Heathkit I ever assembled was the pro-series pre-amp. All input switching occurs at the rear panel--the front panel selectors are all attached to the actual switches at the back via aluminum shafts. The independent moving coil cartrige pre-pre amp is in a completely isolated/shielded box as far away as possible from all other components. Signal path uses only mylar and tantalum (sp?) capacitors--no electrolytics.

Any idea where to find something similar to a Proton add-on IR remote for volume and switching for an input or two? They were made in the 80s.

Unknown

Here is a better photo of the power supply. This is actually the lesser version of the Aragon 8008 amp. The toroid has dual secondaries, so each power supply has a separate rectifier and filter caps for full isolation.

The premium version uses two toroids and 12 output transistors per channel, and also has balanced XLR inputs. Output rating is 200 W per channel into 8 Ohms, 400 per channel into 4, and over 600 per channel into 2 Ohm loads.

Unfortunately, Klipsch discontinued the entire Aragon line last year.

ttekushan_3

the original Aragon

8008 was an instant classic, IMO.

-Terry

Dave_4

And kitchen pots for an even more clangorous sound

I scratch my head at how we want humless hot water circulation, bangless steam, and squealless forced air... but... the loudest loudspeakers all aimed exactly at our tiny eardrums.



If only we could convince the world of the reverse - then, we'd be bored stiff? and? happy? We could always listen for the riotous chiming of the grandfather clocks going off on the hour; the rhythmic tic toc alone should keep us awake well into the night.

What else are ears for, only the elephants use them as giant radiators that flap in the wind.

Mark_46

Gear

A few years ago I shifted equipment strategy and replaced an integrated Yamaha 100w amp and Tannoy playback monitors for a Yamaha powered mixer (400w per channel depending on speaker impedance) and yamaha loudspeakers. This allows higher durability in high volume settings.

I have an aging Sony CD player that needs replacement and a Luxman deck. I also have a Denon turntable I rarely use.

ScottMP

I want something small

for my office, what do you guys think of the BOSE wave ??

I would get the cd changer.

I have a Sharp that was nicely givin to me from my crew but its goes into a "protect" mode when I crank up Starship Trooper or Southern Man.

Every once in awhile I just gotta CRANK IT UP and I want good quality.


Scott

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Steve Ebels_3

Every once in a while...........

That brought back memories of my 89 year old grand dad. I walked out of the store one day to hear a rockabilly type country song just crankin' out of someones car in the parking lot. It was gramps, sitting there with the car door open, left foot out on the ground, toe just tappin' away and the ever present Odin cigar stub hanging from his mouth. When I walked over and asked what was up he gave me a Cheshire cat grin and said, "some songs just need to be loud."

He was my grandfather and also Jerry's, the young man that I mentioned above. Still miss him. He was a man that could always find a way to play no matter what he was doing.

Jamie Hall

Dynaco

preamp (PAT-4, tweaked power supply), tuner (FM-3 and FM-5), Stereo 120 (which has a dead channel I'm working on; the other power amp is an AMP-3 which is remarkably good). B&O turntable for the 33's, Bogen variable speed for the (more ore less)78's. Ampex reel to reel. CD and Cassette are Denon. Speakers are a nice pair of Cambridge Sound Works Towers (I lust after a pair of Legacy Classics, but neither the 120 nor the Amp-3 will drive them, and there is that SAF factor, too...)

ScottMP

great story Steve

and a life lesson. Grandpa sounded like my type of guy.

Music needs to shake the soul, sometimes gently and softly like good Jazz. Sometimes it sends chills up your spine and sometimes it just grabs your spine and gives it a good Shake, Rattle and Roll.

So how about the Bose Wave ??

Scott

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Dave_4

Solution?

Head over to Costco. Walk down the isle that has printers, fax machines and compact stereos. The latter being the object d'jour.

I'd be proud to own three out of four on display; especially for the office!

bob_100

Like they say, no highs, no lows...got to be Bose! In all fairness, the Bose stuff doesn't sound that bad. As a company they do a heck of a marketing and packaging job. Just don't fool yourself and think your getting anything special for the extra $$. I've got some Bose stuff, including a wave radio, as a result of sales promos. That being said, you shouldn't have any trouble finding better sound for less money. Rotel or NAD might be worth a look.

Plumdog_2

compacts

got the little Philips because it will connect up the TV and the Satelite Dish so we can hear the music channels. I'm no audiophile, but the sound is quite nice; and less than 200 bucks I think.

Steve Ebels_3

Scott

Gramps was the kind of guy that could make a game out of cleaning the calf pen on the farm. Whatever project he was involved with became a puzzle as to how you could make it fun. He labored under the assumption that all the pieces of the "fun" puzzle were there on any job, you just had to find them and put them together. Usually this involved good natured teasing and/or a practical joke......... Like the time he wired a Model T magneto to the bucket the guys working in the feed mill used to take a leak. YEEEEEYYOOOWWWWW!!@!!(

Paul Pollets

Changing times for A/V

I used to sell commercial audio equipment in a previous young lifetime, including JBL pro line, SAE, Crown, etc.

Just revamped my system after many years and bought a Yamaha HTR5890 receiver, Denon CD changer, Yamaha VHS/CD player/burner. I was skeptical of using a receiver, after using a separate SAE amp and pre-amp for 20 years, but the sound is uncompromised. I'm using JBL L200's as the front channels, JBL L-100's for the rear,with a JBL 12" subwoofer and a JBL center. The system will take 2 more speakers, but I'm not sure I need them for "ambience". The Yamaha receiver has a special tuning sensor/microphone that allows shifting of the source to where the listner sits. Rather amazing. Hooked up to a 50" Panasonic plasma TV, the surround sound matches any theatre experience. I do notice some RFI when using the TV through the surround system. I'm trying to figure out how to fix this blemish, but even with gold plated connectors or fiber optic cabling, the TV seems to be the source.

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LarryC_3

TV induced RFI

What exactly do you mean by RFI? Are you picking up hum or a buzzing sound when the TV is on?

If so, is it present anytime the TV is on, or when the TV selected to a cable channel? Does it go away when the TV is selected to an Aux input? How close is the TV to any audio input wiring?

Does the TV and the sound system share the same outlet circuit? Do you use a cable box for the TV? Do you also use the cable box as an audio source?

Many things can cause interference. Sometimes they do not have to even be in the same room.

Larry C

Paul Pollets

RFI

There is a buzzing hum when the TV is switched to the surround sound, using the receiver. When the TV is on by itself using its own speakers...no hum. Yes, there's a cable box. There is extensive wiring between the components, but the speaker wiring is separated from the input or HV wiring. Yes, the TV and sound system use the same outlet with a surge protector. I don't generally use the cable box for an audio source. The wiring in my home has ancient 14/2 wire without a ground. I've grounded half the outlets in the home which is an ongoing project, but this is one outlet that remains ungrounded. I'm aware of the many possible sources of interference. This one is rather minor, but I'd love to make it right. Thanks for your comments...

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jackchips_2

I have

the Bose Wave 3-2-1 and it is excellent for listening to music or watching a movie.

I'll never be something I can't spell-conne what???

Jack