maclogan
Responses from maclogan
| Stylus Force Guages - why extreme accuracy? An "audiophile" friend was amazed at my inability to hear the results of minor VTA adjustments. He attended my house to demonstrate, fiddled with the adjustment ring, and then proclaimed himself satisfied that he had found the optimum VTA. We list... | |
| CD Mats Untweaked. I once did the edges of some of my CDs with green pen but could discern no difference so that was the end of my CD tweaking. I'm not convinced by any of the nonsense presented as "scientific explanations" for any more recent CD treatmen... | |
| CD Mats The SID mat works well in my Arcam CD93 up to a point. Well-recorded material sounds more transparent and the few "digital highs" I hear from this cdp are ameliorated. On ordinary or badly-recorded material the mat seems to have little or no effect. | |
| Another Dealer sets the Bar LOW I never buy anything from a dealer without a home demo. No demo, no sale, under any circumstances.If the dealer requires money, either a deposit or full price, I require him to write on the receipt that this is for a home demo, to be refunded if t... | |
| Low output MC to match my phono stage The Plinius agent gave you misleading information, which is contrary to what the factory told me. The gain is indeed too low for low-output mc cartridges. I ended up buying a Plinius Jarrah phonostage which has (i) higher gain (ii) user-adjustable... | |
| "The B&W Sound" Someone here or on another audio forum recently reported taming the treble output of B&W CDM1s by upgrading capacitor(s) in the crossover network. I didn't take a note of this because I got rid of mine after 6 years of struggle trying to integ... | |
| B&W 703 - How to tame the highs? I had B&W speakers in the CDM series which preceded the 703. The metal-domed tweeter was similar to that in the 703. The harsh and prominent highs did diminish with time over 3 years but never disappeared. The best single remedy that worked wa... | |
| Plinius - experiences/opinions I've never had any problems with my 8150 over some 5 years, and I still enjoy the warmish (but not lush and slow/soggy) sound.If it ever does appear for sale it means I've won the lottery and am in the process of buying new Plinius Class A separat... | |
| Un-WARP your records The warm oven technique works best for me. Make sure the oven has been warmed up to around 50 degrees (C) and held there for 30 minutes before placing the record/plate glass sandwich in the oven. Leave for about 1-2 hours. Then switch the oven off... | |
| Musical Fidelity X-10 Tube Buffer Stage It works very well with older cdps prone to high frequency distortions - the wiry and gritty sound of the 80's and 90's. It is defimitely not a gimmick.It has little or no effect (in my system)with modern, high quality cdps (which don't need corre... | |
| Arcam CD92 , CD93 or CD192 ? I've heard the CD92 (Ring DAC) and CD93 (upsampling to 24/192). Both were excellent with a distinct absence of the graininess that gives digital a bad name, but the latter had more presence and better dynamics, and I preferred it. I believe the CD... | |
| Fix up my old AR or get a new table? If it has the original "AR" arm (actually a Japanese OEM arm), replace it with a Rega RB250 or 300 arm, or modifications thereof. Then buy a new drive belt (around $12) and you're on the way to a tt that can compete with most modern mid-priced tt'... | |
| ortofon T-5 The extra gain is 26 dB which is sufficient to convert a mm phono input into mc suitable for the lowest output mc cartridges. I've used mine with medium-priced mc cartridges - AudioTechnica AF5 and Ortofon MC10 - with no adverse effects. I've been... | |
| $2K-$4K Integrated w/ HT Bypass? Plinius 9200 if you want a warmer, more solid sound than the Krell. | |
| integrateds in the modern age: consensus? I bought my Plinius 8150 integrated in New Zealand, the country of manufacture. So I didn't have to pay transportation costs for an import or any agent or distributor markups. At the price there are no separates that come anywhere near its perform... |