tjbearman

Responses from tjbearman

Have You Ever Owned QUADS?
I’ve owned my pair of ESL-57 since the 70’s and have always kept them in good shape, with one (transformer?) repair a while back. They still sound great. I haven’t owned any other speakers since then, although I often listen to others at shops and... 
What's in your CDP tonight? the minority report
I've been enjoying James Ehnes playing Prokifoev on Chandos #10787  and so loving the violin sonata #2. 
Converting cd's to high resolution audio
I ripped my 500+ CD collection using my old Mac mini and iTunes to Apple lossless format.  Yes, I have a backup disk, too.  I use the Mac as the media player connected to the TV to browse music using iTunes, or just using Hyperfine Remote app (on ... 
24-bit 96-kHz remastering of classical
I agree. I've never heard a reprocessing that sounds better than the original. One of the reasons those old 50's and 60's recordings (not all) sounded so great was because of the minimal processing (I love those direct to disc recordings), simple ... 
New to tubes
I think of changing tubes like changing oil. I do it regularly (once a year or so) whether they need it or not and certainly before they get 3,000 miles on 'em and get all black and sticky :)Besides, it's fun to get a little bit different sound ev... 
Best speakers for Opera.
I'd vote for the Quads, too. You'll often see olderESL57's (my favorite) and ESL63's here and on ebay forwell under $3000 - more like $1200 - $1500. You can getfully restored 57's as well, still under $3K.TJ 
Voltage Converters for High-End Audio?
Look into having the player rewired. Very often, there aretwo terminals on the internal transformer - one for115, the other for 230. Any repair shop can do this.TJ 
DAC's for the money?
My first external DAC (Musical Fidelity XDAC/HDCD) was a huge improvement over my built-in DAC and came at a super good price of about $150! If you're unsure about DACs give one of the MF XDACs (XDAC, XCAD/HDCD, XDAC-24K) a try. You'll find them f... 
PC Audio starting point
Many audio cards have toslink output. My motherboard hastoslink audio out and I'm using that into an outboard DAC.I haven't had any troubles or any (noticeable) jitter.Can't really recommend any particular audio card.I also use an external USB DAC... 
Preamp to use with Quad 909 Amp
How about a Musical Fidelity A3CR or A3.2CR.Both do a great job and havephono (MC & MM) and remote.Prices here are $1000 or less.TJ 
How do i encode a HDCD on PC?
This has puzzled me for years now. It must be possible,but I have not seen software to do this. Since PacificMicrosystems patented HDCD, one would legally have to licensethe right to encode, as well as decode it. Still, somehacker MUST have figure... 
Spindle oil
I use sewing machine oil. It is available at,well, a sewing machine store. There is natural andman-made stuff. I use the man-made stuff.TJ 
battery power for origin live DC motor?
I have not really noticed a change over the course of one listening session. Fortunately, I don't have perfect pitch ;) The changes were from day to day - and I can measure these at the wall with my multimeter! Once the motor, etc. warms up (an ho... 
Personal turntable/cartridge evolution
Great thread! I started with a Thorens TD125(?) back in the 70's, using a Shure arm and cartridge. I bought a Linn LP12 with Basik arm in the late 70's and have been using that ever since. I forget which cartridge I used originally, but I got a De... 
help me pick a phono preamp.
If you want to experiment/learn about the effect of load settings, try the Phonomena (is that how you spell it?)It has all sorts of easy-to-use settings for different loads and gains. It sounds mighty good, too. Once you decide what load is best (...