Yearly Archives: 2011
Okay, this is the one I was squakin’ about on FB two weeks ago. Now to clarify, I have not only been an audiophile for too many years to want to admit, but I’ve had the privilege of being in the industry since the late 80’s, so suffice it to say, I’ve hear allot of great speakers, and great wanna-bee’s. To further clarify, like any industry, your very best products are almost always the very most expensive, and in the home audio biz, the very best speakers can range well into the 10’s of thousands of dollars. You see, the problems are many, and solutions are few. Essentially, to recreate an audio image of a life like musical performance is quite complicated. Ironically, you can get “sound” from a single vibrating driver moving air, however, in most cases, it’s physically impossible for that to sound like the real thing. The human ear is actually very difficult to fool. I’ve found it amazing how even through a “phone” most people can tell if the sound in the back ground is “live” or reproduced. But that’s a whole other story. There’s lots of loud speakers out there for sale, but few that really get down to it in a believable fashion, and that also manage to recreate the “entire frequency response”. The Golden Ear Triton II is the real deal. Articulately creating a literal WALL OF SOUND, from 18HZ to 35KHZ. BTW, that frequency response will get any and every nuance of ambient information that went into the original session! And with it’s own amplification for the hard to drive sub-woofers, and an efficiency of 91db it doesn’t take massively expensive amplifiers to drive them. You can do it with a modest Home Theater receiver. True Audio Luxury Speakers, for get this – $2500.00 a pair!!! Unheard of price vs technology in the Audiophile World! Bring in your favorite music and hear it for the FIRST TIME like it was meant to be played! Check out this Ultimate Gear Review
I-phone/pod doc
Marantz’s IS301 I-Dock $250.00
This is anything BUT just another I-Pod dock. It has a “spin-dial” that allows it to adjust to an I-whatever. It’s “blue-tooth wireless, and can transfer video via the included special cable! So not only can I put my I-whatever tunes through my whole house sound system, or view my phone video in my home theater, but I can take it virtually anywhere, and control it with my I-pod’s menu system…totally cool!
Plus, unlike most typical I-Pod Docks, the Marantz actually sounds great! Of course, what else would we expect from a “music actually matters” company like Marantz.
The IS301 includes everything you need including: the handset, the base station/charger, the connector block, the AC adaptors, the small system remote, and associated cables.
The SpinClean Record Cleaning Machine
Just got these in, and I cannot believe how effective they are. I have the usual assortment of items that remove dust and static from a record on the turntable, but this thing is sooooo much more effective that it’s alomost UNBELIEVABLE! I mean, let’s take the average record in my collection which I’m thinking is clean, because 1. Can’t see anything on it now that I’ve brushed it, and 2. all the pop’s, clicks, and static must be from the tiny scratches and smudges I can’t really see, right? NOT!!! Even my “thought they were already clean” records were DRAMATICALLY improved after running them through the spin clean. Playing them sounded silky smooth, with complete silence apart from the music itself. Even records I thought were worn out and almost unplayable, sounded like new again! From this day forward, when someone asks me what the single most effective way to improve their stereo is (if records are a source) it’s a good record cleaning machine, and this one in particular, is the CHEAPEST one I know of; $79.95 Includes everything!
First, I would like to clear the air: I freely admit, that I am not only an Audio Fanatic, but I am a registered AUDIOPHILE! Okay, now that I’ve admitted it, I can go on…
Maybe I’ll start this by suggesting to myself I should write a book. But I must then ask myself, what would I be qualified to write? An industry colleague of mine, Robert Harley, who is in fact a published reviewer of high-end audio equipment wrote one; The Complete Guide to High-End Audio. Now this is the book I would have aspired to write, but then, it’s already written! But as I am not a “published” reviewer, how would anyone know if I was truly qualified to write such a book? But then my prayers were answered; God looked upon my poor mute existence and said BEHOLD I give you the BLOG!
So perhaps I have found a way to write the book I’ve always wanted to, and am best qualified to write; The Idiots Guide to High End Audio! Finally, a book for me, and just maybe others like me, fledging along trying to find the absolute sound achievable for our personal edification; The sound of the original music, that is as little degraded as possible, by the now virtually millions of degrades out there, whether it’s been digitized, uploaded, downloaded, converted, under-converted, transferred here/there, burnt, put onto an aluminum or vinyl disc, shot over the air, or compressed into an I-whatever, so that I can enjoy what sounds like “the real thing”. That today ironically, with all of our techno-wizardry, is more difficult than ever before! Is this progress?
I mean trust me, I love that I can carry my whole music collection on a magic wand the size of my credit card, but what I never realized is though I can hum along to the 4000 plus melodies stored there within. They don’t seem to sound quite as awe inspiring as I remember them when I put them through my stereo. It’s like the most passionate vocalist’s alive sound like they’re anemic, or have the flu or something. And the bands who were just belting it out, and jamming with all kinds of instrumentation when I saw them live, sound sort of like what I remember my old portable radio did back in the day, flat, un-dynamic, and pitiful y uninvolving and boring. It’s totally messed up! Why can’t I have it all, convenience, and the Power, the Glory, and the Majesty of the music I’m really into?
Well thank God for High-End Audio enthusiasts like you, because I’m not the only one with this desire. In fact, there must be a bunch of us, and enough to be heard, because there are some really cool manufacturers who have developed some really great solutions.
So it is here, that I will be sharing with you not just a bunch of techno-babble, but the true-grit of what these cool new technologies can really do for us. And most importantly, letting us be able to really get into our beloved music from WHATEVER our source is – through the stereo, with enough life left to melt our ear drums…only, in a good way of course!
So the deal is this; Every time I get my hands on a new piece of gear, I will be testing it out, and posting the results here for you to read. I’ll let you know which stuff is really good, and if we’ll be carrying it or not. We also have several audiophiles here, and who will be coming here to share their music with us in a listener’s club I’m starting. So I figure at least once a week we will be posting equipment, system, or album reviews for your listening pleasure.
And for this listener’s club (The Audio Club), I’ll shoot for at least once or twice a month to meet up, possibly on a Thursday evening, just to hang out, spin discs on one of the high-end systems, and just enjoy the music. Because it’s the MUSIC that the High-End Audio hobby is all about!
And, if you have an interest in joining the Audio Club, shoot me an email at theaudioclub@adkav.com CHEERS!
Every now and then we come across a product that gets us excited. The SubSeries 300 is just such a product.
The SubSeries 300 deftly handles demanding and explosive transients in music thanks to the ability of the N
AD amplifier to produce 850 watts of peak dynamic power, 425 watts of dynamic power, and 300 watts of continuous power (at <0.08% THD). The high power Class D discrete MOSFET amplifier output stage is 90% efficient, requiring less energy to produce more power. PSB engineers also redesigned the power supply in order to reduce standby power consumption to a remarkably low <0.5 watts.
The SubSeries 300′s small cabinet houses a highly optimised 12-inch woofer with polypropylene cone, butyl rubber surround, high power 50mm voice coil, and enormous 50oz magnet. A large 75mm diameter internally and externally radiussed down-firing port makes port noise nearly non-existent. PSB engineers employed FEA (finite element analysis) software and Klippel’s sophisticated Distortion Analyzer System to minimize distortion when designing the SubSeries 300′s woofer.