abecollins

Responses from abecollins

Rogue Audio Cronus Question
As others have said it's called crosstalk and the phono input is most susceptible because of it's high gain (relative to the other inputs which are line-level). Use short, shielded phono interconnects and route them away from other cables. And jus... 
Aesthetix Calypso vs ARC LS25 MK2
I am very late to this thread, I know. However, I thought I would chime in with my Aesthetix Calypso vs ARC LS25mkII experience. I owned both. The Calypso is a warmer and more robust sounding line stage while the ARC sounds neutral to too lean and... 
Classe DR-6 or Adcom GFP-750
No contest. Take the Classe. The Adcom is over hyped and overrated in my opinion. I had one and the passive section killed the dynamics in my system (which some other passives didn't do including the McCormack TLC-1, Placette Passive, and even the... 
Magnum or Fanfare Tuner. Which Sounds the Best?
Here it is many years later and I learned my lesson. The Fanfare tuner was not for me. It was veiled with rolled off frequency extremes. I later purchased a used Magnum FT101A which was far superior sounding all around. It was a lot more transpare... 
Manley Wave VS. Cary SLP-05
I haven't heard the Manley but...All I can say is that the Cary SLP-05 was THE best sounding preamp I have ever owned. Unlike many lesser tube preamps the Cary has no compromises. The Cary excelled at what tubes do best with a nice harmonic richne... 
Review: Jeff Rowland Design Concentra mkIIp Amplifier
The Jeff Rowland Concentra II is wonderful sounding and very well built. Ovature must have a hearing problem. The Concentra II is one of the finest sounding integrated amps I have owned. I also had the Mark Levinson 383 and many separates. I much ... 
Review: Cary Audio Design SLP-05 Tube preamp
Nice review. The Cary SLP-05 is by far THE BEST preamp I have ever owned and the only tube preamp I truly love. The dynamics and frequency extension of the Cary SLP-05 gives up nothing vs. the best solid-state preamps while offering plenty of "tub... 
Stupid Question: How to take out tubes??
Fingerprints on tubes.. Bogus nonsense !!! .................Vacuum tubes are not halogen bulbs. You can get your grimy oily fingerprints on them all you want with no ill effects.Just wiggle the tube slighly while pulling upward on it to remove the... 
Upsampling the way to go? ?
Soix posted a link to the papers written by Perpetual Technologies on upsampling vs interpolation. The papers describe their "P-1A Digital Correction Engine" which was plagued with problems from the start that were never resolved after repeated pr... 
Best amp to replace my Classe CA-100
Kgb540, Plinius is one brand that I am considering along with Pass Labs and Sim Audio. I like my current setup but I'm thinking about trying a high quality solid-state amp with great dynamics and bass punch without sounding too solid-state if you ... 
6550C vs KT88
ARC does not recommend KT88's but I'm not sure why. I've seen people try them with no problems. I had a VT100mkII and its an outstanding amp. I felt it was a little "dry" sounding for a tube amp so I suspect the KT88's might warm it up slightly ov... 
Did you see the BAT VK51SE ?
Does anyone have more specifics on the upgrade? What exactly is upgraded in the power supply? I'm completely satisfied with my BAT VK30se and I'm not sure I like the new two-tone front panel color scheme. 
From tubes to solid state
I'm using both SS & tubes. I went back and forth with ss and tube preamps until I found a tube unit that I can live with (BAT VK30se). For the power amp, I found myself switching between a Classe CA300 and my CJ Premier 11a. The Classe had mor... 
Does the Conrad Johson premier 16LS compete?
I never liked CJ tube preamps but I've never tried a "Premier" model. The old CJ PF-R is an incredible sounding solid-state model.In the $3000 to $4000 range, I would seriously consider the BAT VK30SE or the VK50SE. Unlike CJ gear, BAT includes ba... 
Best Remote $1,250 used preamp?
The CJ PV-14L is nice looking and has a good user interface but I found the lower bass to be weak compared to other tube preamps I have owned and the highs were slightly rolled off. The PV-14L uses two 6C4WA tubes and I think you can find NOS tube...