robsker

Responses from robsker

The best CD Player for the money
I have a Creek Evolution 50 CD player and it is smooth, images well and does everything well. I had a $4500 AVM CD player and the Creek at $1600 is better... much better. The AVM was ruthlessly revealing and made many CD's (of great music) un-list... 
What is Best SS AMP for $2000 and under?
I have owned tubed amps at 4.5K and liked them a great deal... but I now have an Audio by Van Alstine Synergy 300 amp and it is wonderful. Full bodied, tube like (even though SS) and just right in every way. Honestly, check AVA out --- they make s... 
Ryan Speakers
Heard a pair at the Rocky Mountain Audio fest --- I think about a 7-8K pair of speakers. The system was rich sounding, full-bodied, had great tone, was very, very smooth and yet was engaging. That system --- probably 30K total (with electronics) w... 
Disappointing audition after great review
Audio review magazines are nothing more than ads. The reviews themselves are extended advertisements. Get them for the pictures and the general entertainment value... but viewing a "review' as something you can use to discern what to buy is not ve... 
Anyone Attend RMAF?
Some more thoughts... most systems seem to be engineered to sound like refined stereos and not to approximate live music. This is seemingly true for even the 300-400K rooms. That is, almost every room had a stereo image placed dead in between the ... 
Need New CD Player or new DAC
for $1500 there is the Creek CD50 player. i have one and like it much better than the $4,000 German AVM player that I had earlier. It is smooth, it covers up the digititus, and is rich sounding so that redbook CDs of modest recording quality are q... 
Planars/ Electrostats benefits over box speakers?
Having owned Maggies and as well big boxes, well...Generally the planar speakers give full sized images (and boxes miniaturized versions --- even most big boxes) and, as pointed out earlier, you look up at the stage rather than down. In these rega... 
Speakers sonically similar to Sonus Faber?
The EPS2's are wonderful --- I have a pair as my main speakers. I actually chose them in the same context you are in. I loved the Cremonas from SF but did not want to pay that much. The Montanas I bought were used (demos from a dealer less than a ... 
Is revealing always good?
JaFreeman --- THANK YOU!I replaced my 6CG7 tubes that came with my AVA preamp (a Transcendence 8+) --- which were new Russian tubes --- with NOS Sov Tec tubes and all the etch and grain went away and the difference is rather amazing! Many CD's I c... 
Why do some audiophiles beat up McIntosh?
as some have mentioned, McIntosh gear is not sonically the performer they once were. I currently have a 35 year old MAC SS amp and it is really quite excellent sounding. It has what Audiozen described as a "older" rounder, smoother less analytical... 
Help Me Choose a Preamp
given your budget, I would look at used Audio by Van Alstine or Rogue, or even Vincent (or many other) tube preamps before I went with an Adcom. Because sound stage is more valued by you then extension at the frequency extremes, a tube pre seems m... 
Speaker recommendation
OK. You might not take this serious but here is what I have done. I run two channel with four speakers --- I have a my preamp run my main speakers through an amp and then feed signal to an integrated amp that feeds my back speakers. By having 4 sp... 
Higher resolution Jazz
My friend... there is a German Label called Nagel Heyer. This label has 100 or so offerings of absolutely stunningly great music that is really, really well recorded. There are some audiophile labels like Mapleshade and Chesky that has recorded la... 
Is revealing always good?
Audioengr:I doubtless have a ground-loop hum issue. I have tried to resolve this with cheater plugs w/o success. Perhaps i am not using the cheater plugs rightly in the isolation of the hum issue. But I have ground loop issues (or, at least what I... 
Is revealing always good?
Jafreeman:i am very much open to the notion of a tube change out. I am using the stock tubes. No... I am in boondocks Idaho very near Yellowstone --- wonderful area, beautiful... but remote from ... well everything.My preamp is an AVA transcendenc...