raquel

Responses from raquel

You're probably listening too loud
Speaking of noise and NYC:(1) One thing I hate about Yankees and Mets games is the incredibly loud P.A. systems (the bad food, cramped seats and poor pitching also hinder the experience). A lot of young people go to ball games and presumably the d... 
Preamp question
You're comparing two excellent tube preamps, namely, the CAT, which probably brings 85% of what is possible for the technology, to the BAT, which probably brings 95% of what's possible (very rough estimates, of course). That said, consider the fol... 
Proceed Amp Needs Fixing
Soundsmith in Peekskill, NY, or Analogique in Manhattan. Both are top repair shops. 
What can you tell me ?
Perhaps you spoke with Marvin in the first place - the Bryston and Halcro amps are not tube amps, but solid-state. What the hell's going on today? 
Calling Aerial 20T owners
The CAT amps do not run hot and you would not necessarily have to change interconnects - Neutrix makes very good XLR to RCA convertors that are only about $15/pair if you're smart enough to buy them from an electronics supply store (as opposed to ... 
Calling Aerial 20T owners
Given your Einstein gear, I would consider the Parasound JC-1 monoblocks, which are a truly differential balanced design. I think they are one of the tiny handful of high-powered solid-state designs that is truly great sounding. In addition, their... 
Kimber select speaker cable question
F1Fanatic: I swapped out my Kimber for Jena Labs Symphony several years ago. Each cable has its strengths.In response to your question about power cords, I try to stay away from after-market power cords because they tend to f-ck with high frequenc... 
Stevie Wonder-As
This Elton John commentary about Steve Wonder for Rolling Stone is interesting: http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5939219/the_immortals__the_greatest_artists_of_all_time_15_stevie_wonder 
Kimber select speaker cable question
I had all Kimber Select silver, including 3038 speaker cables, in my main system, and all Kimber Select copper in a second system, including 3033 speaker cables. While it is important to point out that cabling is very system-dependent, I found tha... 
Kimber select speaker cable question
Pops is correct.PS - Fantastic cables for the money. 
mbl 6011d or arc ref 3 or dartzeel preamp?
I use my Rowland Coherence II preamp, which is fully differential balanced, to feed a darTZeel, but I want to make an important point. The "Version 1" DarTzeel had XLR inputs, but merely for convenience for those who had balanced cabling - it was ... 
Are Dynaudio Contour 2 any good?
Most tube amps would not do well on the 3.3's because they present a somewhat difficult load in the bass and are 85-86 db. efficient at 4 Ohms - the tough load will mean loose bass, which I cannot tolerate, and the inability of a tube amp to doubl... 
Are Dynaudio Contour 2 any good?
The Contour 3.3 is actually quite a good speaker (very underrated), and a real bargain at used prices. The only downside is that they require a powerful amp to sound best (which usually means an amp that uses negative feedback). They have usable b... 
Revel Salon 2 vrs Kef 207/2
No idea how they compare, but the KEF is BIG (I was taken aback at its size), which I thought you might like to know. 
Starting an Analog front end - Rowland?
Guido: I had a well broken in Capri in my system for a week, driving either my darTZeel or my VAC Renaissance 70/70 Mk. III. In no performance parameter did it equal or best my Coherence II. As for why my post did not mention this, I was trying to...