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As I always suggest in cable threads, most speaker/audio stores will have lending libraries of cables. I suggest that you go there, borrow a good selection of cables, from the most you'd be willing to pay to their cheapest cable. Have a seat in your sweet spot, toss on a blindfold, and bribe a...

Numb, I feel your pain with Class D. I've tried a few class D amps, including PS Audio GCC250, Rowland MC501s, and a Rowland Model 102, and each time, felt like it was a rather dead presentation. As I put it, they're astounding at accurately amplifying signal, but I think I need more warmth...

My car stereo (a Panasonic) has a series of very bright, cosmetic blue LEDs in the faceplate, which cannot be dimmed or shut off. It's immensely annoying during nighttime driving, when it kills your night vision at a single glance. It's nail polish time, I think.

So, with $10 in cardboard and $3 in duct tape, I've made an improvement on the design. The WAF is still likely pitiful (but will improve once it's fabric-covered), but the advantage is definitely there. I can also use that area again, without the kitchen stools holding up the packing box...

Whatever you have, to a degree, but as RichPA says, Optical can't transmit electrical nastiness. It's good for isolation. Otherwise, I've never been able to tell a difference sonically.

One thing to keep in mind, though, is that if you're remotely concerned about power consumption, Class A loses the race before it's even begun. In order to be class A, it has to use a fair amount of power at idle, so you'll end up with much higher consumption with a 100 watt class A vs. 100...

In response to heavy drapes/oriental rug, those would both likely do the trick, but I'd need to make sure they're tightly-woven fabrics, or else it would turn into absorption, and when I've hung carpet before for that, the effect has been disconcerting. Diffusion is the name of the game for...

Most speaker/audio stores will have lending libraries of cables. I suggest that you go there, borrow a good selection of cables, from the most you'd be willing to pay to their cheapest cable. Have a seat in your sweet spot, toss on a blindfold, and bribe a wife/girlfriend/friend to swap the...

So, I've got a nasty flutter echo between the wall behind my speakers and the wall behind my listening position. Having done some research into the acoustics of the situation, I determined that my best bet was going to be some sort of diffusor opposite my speakers. Not having a huge...

I just went to an "audiophile event" tonight featuring one of the Stereophile Magazine people, the head honchos of Ayre Acoustics, some Audioquest people, and a bunch of other salesfolk, and have never felt more disgusted with the state of the hobby and the retail establishment around it...

I believe you mean 16/44.4 kHz, there. 14.4 would make for some very sad tweeters. :sigh:

Very nice speakers, although it looks like he's driving them fairly hard. Bass is the death of small speakers. Also, I second Tom's sentiment: HiFi is all about the love of music you love. I don't happen to care much for Kanye (usually terribly mastered), but don't begrudge a guy for enjoying...

My advice: Borrow a couple of sets from a local dealer, ranging from cheap to expensive, then have a friend swap them in and out while you listen, calling them A, B, C... without telling you which ones they are. Pick the ones you like best, and know your stereo is customized for your specific...

I recently did some experimentation with this idea: http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=227077 However, blind testing showed that it didn't really make a difference for me. Ahh, psychoacoustic effects.

Another vote for the Cambridge Audio DACMagic. Very good for the money. You might also look into the PSAudio DigitalLink III DAC, as it's on sale at the moment and many people swear by it.

My father gave me his old McIntosh MAC4100 Integrated, running like a charm. He had upgraded to a 5.1 system years back, and had just left it in a quiet corner in the basement. I plugged it in, and sure enough, worked like a charm. It's a wonderful little unit, and was my primary amp until...

Ooh, that's a good score. Well done, and good on you for taking a look beyond a cursory glance. If you're willing to take the chance and do the research, then you deserve it. :)

I appreciate the input, but after doing some blind testing with a friend, I was unable to tell any difference between CD and Sonos playing Lossless at a level above chance, so there's not a particularly strong effect, if there is one at all. Oh, psychoacoustic effects. Blinded testing results...

So I've put my Yamaha five disc changer back into my system this evening, and hooked it into my Cambridge DACMagic, alongside my Sonos. After listening to a couple of CDs, I'm tempted to say that CDs sound better than the same songs played through Sonos as lossless files, a bit less harsh in...

Another way to look at it is that really, the drivers (or driver) only needs to make a single, complex movement track, not multiple anything. Let's look at two pictures. The first is a two second chunk of a Haydn symphony), input into a spectrogram generator and waveform display. Click the...

Not to threadjack, wouldn't that sound isolation be a bad thing when you're on a bike, for hearing approaching cars/sirens? I'm not much of an audiophile when on the go (it's usually just NPR anyways), but my father swears by the Sony Fontopia line of earbuds, especially with the...

Sorry to resurrect a dead thread, but I'm considering building one of these and have a question first. I know that with most tube amps, you can't turn them on without speakers connected or you'll damage the amp. Is this the case with the Bottlehead SEX amp? If so, can one just plug in a...

Every time I've heard it, I've always felt that Krell only sounds good loud. If you're a loud listener, great, but if you prefer quieter, acoustic music, you may want to look elsewhere.

One thing to keep in mind with AC regenerators is that they will draw (considerable) current any time they're plugged in and on, even if nothing is actually pulling any current. I think I'd heard 120 watts constant for the PS Audio PPP. This makes for beautiful AC, but it's not particularly...

I got a remote for an older HK receiver I had off of that largish auction site. It wasn't actually a traumatic experience, and it showed up quickly.