[RapidRonnie]

Dear Mr. Aczel,


I have came across your site and downloaded the .pdf issues of
"TAC". I find
it interesting to look through them because I bought several of them
at the
newsstand over the years, along with the other audio magazines. (The
only
magazine I subscribe to in the audio field is Ed Dell's "The Audio
Amateur", now
known after trifurcation and reintegration as "AudioXPress". ) At the
time I was
not completely happy with some of the articles therein but over time
have come
to realize they were more right than I gave them credit for.

Personal note redacted

Like most people who are relatively young, I have a less than great
interest in
classical music, although I do listen to some of it on occasion.
Recently I
purchased a set of ten RCA Living Stereo SACD discs, Set #3, including
the Hi-Fi
Fiedler demonstration album and Van Cliburn, Anna Moffo, and various
symphonic
works. I am convinced by this set of two things: that SACD at its best
is very
good, and that in some cases, even though vinyl might not be the best
possible
medium today, it might be the best medium on which a given performance
is
available to the public. Therefore the desire by an audiophile to own
a good
record playing setup may be quite rational. In addition to the fact
that no CD,
SACD or DVD-A release may be available which is as good as extant LPs,
there are
a great number of LPs available cheaply of music which may be good,
even great,
which have not been released on digital media or for which the low
price of the
vinyl may make "taking a chance" very advantageous.

I have many dozens of LPs which I have obtained for free or for very
little
money which give me a great deal of listening pleasure. They range
from Allen
Organ demonstration records to spoken word and bird training discs and
even such
trashy pleasures as LPs given away as utility company premiums. One
from the
Chicago gas utility dating from 1965 or so has a performance of the
company's
managers singing selections from "Guys and Dolls". In many or most
cases this
material will never see a digital release in any format.

There are two issues that must be considered in any discussion of
digital
media, especially music or film, of which availability is one. The
other is
archivality. Kodachrome and Technicolor dye sub release prints and
vinyl phono
records have an almost infinite shelf life. Indeed, I have heard phono
records
salvaged by divers from the wreck of the Andrea Doria, under 200 feet
of
seawater for the better part of five decades, and which still play
fine aside
from scratches inflicted by aggressive diver handling.

For that reason I do not agree with comments made that deride any
interest in
phono reproduction in your magazine. Digital recordings may be
better, but if
they were not made then and sufficiently excellent masters don't
exist or are
not forthcoming, we may be stuck with the analog.

In addition, your attacks on gullibo-tweak0ism are often well
intentioned but
obscure the fact that the tweak may originally have had some sensible
basis in
origin, or that inexpensive alternatives that provide benefit in some
situations
and which at worst do no harm are readily available. For example,
expensive
pointy bases for stands may be ridiculous, but sharp points may offer
the best
mounting on some floor surfaces, and an inexpensive source exists: the
brass
points used on surveyor's tripods.

Many tract houses today have very poor floor-to-joist contact, and
there are
simple DIY fixes that do no harm and cost only a few dollars, such as
reinforcing and shoring up the joists with underfloor stringers and
putting
reinforcements on the joists, using plywood and glue.

And while power conditioners are a scam, balanced power is not: it's
used in
most professional sound facilities today, and while most facilities
use 120 VAC
balanced, 240 VAC balanced works just as well if you have equipment
with a dual
primary winding, and every house built since the 1960s has it already
installed.
Why aren't manufacturers promoting its use? There, I suggest, is a
real question
for you. I have had 240 outlets professionally installed in my house
and have
rewired my Hafler and McIntosh solid state amplifiers for 240 power
with DPST
power switches and code compliant cabling. The cost was minimal and
the results
noticeable: the noise floor is reduced.

http://theaudiocritic.com/blog/index...Id=38&blogId=1

[George M. Middius]

The Idiot blabbers on.

It's a trend that has been very destructive.

Destructive to whom?

Remember back in the late '80s when thousands of stammering, drolling
voices were suddenly silenced? That was the Idiots' Colony being
destroyed. Luckily for you, you escaped because the cataclysm occurred
during your military service.

[Eeyore]

RapidRonnie wrote:

And while power conditioners are a scam, balanced power is not: it's
used in most professional sound facilities today

Actually, balanced power is NOT " used in most professional sound facilities
today ". It tends to be used mainly in an elite few.

Graham

[Eeyore]

Bret Ludwig wrote:

On Aug 7, 1:35 am, Eeyore
wrote:
RapidRonnie wrote:
And while power conditioners are a scam, balanced power is not: it's
used in most professional sound facilities today

Actually, balanced power is NOT " used in most professional sound facilities
today ". It tends to be used mainly in an elite few.

Well, Pro Tools and home "studios" having done to the recording
business what the Pill allegedly did for chastity in the '60s
(actually, people were ****ing without reproducing for centuries
before) the only ones left can be called "elite", almost by
definition. But no serious facility is without it today.

Define 'serious facility'.

Graham

[Arny Krueger]

"RapidRonnie" wrote in message
oups.com...

There are two issues that must be considered in any discussion of
digital media, especially music or film, of which availability is one.
The other is archivality. Kodachrome and Technicolor dye sub release
prints and
vinyl phono records have an almost infinite shelf life.

Having problems forming coherent thoughts, Ronnie my boy? Here's a
much-needed news flash for you: Neither movie film not vinyl phono records
are digital media. They're analog. Therefore, they are irrelevent to any
discussion of digital media, which is how you started your paragraph out?

Indeed, I have heard phono records
salvaged by divers from the wreck of the Andrea Doria, under 200 feet
of seawater for the better part of five decades, and which still play
fine aside from scratches inflicted by aggressive diver handling.

FWIW I have it on good authority that CDs play well when stored under 200
feet of water, and will even tolerate reasonable amounts of scratching with
zero audible effects.

For that reason I do not agree with comments made that deride any
interest in phono reproduction in your magazine.

How can two reasons "that must be considered in any discussion of digital
media, especially music or film..." relate to your interest in phono
reproduction? Hint: they can't.

Digital recordings may be better, but if
they were not made then and sufficiently excellent masters don't
exist or are not forthcoming, we may be stuck with the analog.

So Ronnie, are you trying to say that the concept of digital recordings made
from analog recordings has not yet crept into your consciousness? FYI, there
are excellent markets, both mainstream and niche, that are based on high
quality digital transcriptions of analog recordings. Thus, the strengths of
digital as a production and distribution medium can be leveraged to promote
legacy performances that were origionally made on analog media.

In addition, your attacks on gullibo-tweak0ism are often well
intentioned but
obscure the fact that the tweak may originally have had some sensible
basis in origin,

If something that had a sensible basis gets perverted into a rip-off, its
still a rip-off despite the sensible origin.

or that inexpensive alternatives that provide benefit in some
situations and which at worst do no harm are readily available.

If a tweak consumes time and or money unecessarily, it does harm.

For example,
expensive
pointy bases for stands may be ridiculous, but sharp points may offer the
best
mounting on some floor surfaces, and an inexpensive source exists: the
brass points used on surveyor's tripods.

Are there any real-world applications where sharp points offer the best
mounting on some floor surfaces? My main speakers came with sharp points
and blunt feet with rubber pads on them. Which is the best choice for use on
my legacy oak parquet floors?

Many tract houses today have very poor floor-to-joist contact, and
there are simple DIY fixes that do no harm and cost only a few dollars,
such as
reinforcing and shoring up the joists with underfloor stringers and
putting reinforcements on the joists, using plywood and glue.

The basic false idea here is that good contact between the speaker cabinet
and the floor are beneficial to bass response. The fact is that loudspeakers
deliver almost the complete majority of sound through the air, not the
floor. Therefore coupling to the floor has negligable effects.

And while power conditioners are a scam, balanced power is not: it's
used in most professional sound facilities today,

Actually, balanced power isn't used in most professional sound facilities
today. It's either a scam or a work-around for badly designed equipment.

and while most facilities use 120 VAC
balanced, 240 VAC balanced works just as well if you have equipment
with a dual primary winding, and every house built since the 1960s has it
already
installed.

Been there, done that and it has no measurable effect with well-designed
audio gear.

Why aren't manufacturers promoting its use?

Because it is far better to design gear with good grounding practices and
well-designed power supplies.

There, I suggest, is a
real question
for you. I have had 240 outlets professionally installed in my house
and have
rewired my Hafler and McIntosh solid state amplifiers for 240 power
with DPST
power switches and code compliant cabling. The cost was minimal and
the results noticeable: the noise floor is reduced.

And your reliable evidence confirming this claim can be found where?

Let me guess - your perceptions of reduced noise floor are based on sighted
evaluaqtions. Besides, even if there was a subtle improvement (as opposed to
a non-existent improvement), it would be measurable. Got any measurements to
support your claim?


http://theaudiocritic.com/blog/index...Id=38&blogId=1

"I really believe that all this soul-searching, wondering, questioning,
agonizing about amplifiers is basically unproductive and would be much more
rewarding if applied to loudspeakers instead. For various reasons that I
have discussed in the past, people are more willing to change amplifiers
than loudspeakers. That's most unfortunate because a new and better
loudspeaker will change your audio life but a new amplifier will not."

There Aczel goes again, making sense!

[Arny Krueger]

"ScottW" wrote in message
news

"Bret Ludwig" wrote in message
oups.com...


Since my noise floor is already inaudible at my normal listening
level,
I feel safe to say I would not likely benefit from such a mod.
I also would note in support of your power conditioner comment,
that Krell does not recommend the use of
power conditions for the KSA 150/250 amps.


Krell was one of the first douchebag outfits to decide that power
voltage and frequency could be used as a crude form of export control.
It's a trend that has been very destructive.

Destructive to whom?

Foreign consumers. Krell is reputed to have built power amps that simply
won't work on 50 Hz, making it inconvenient for consumers in regions with 50
Hz power to save big bucks by importing the relatively cheap 60 Hz models
from the US.

[Arny Krueger]

"Eeyore" wrote in message
...


RapidRonnie wrote:

And while power conditioners are a scam, balanced power is not: it's
used in most professional sound facilities today

Actually, balanced power is NOT " used in most professional sound
facilities
today ". It tends to be used mainly in an elite few.


Agreed. Balanced power is at best a work-around for badly designed
equipment and/or audio systems. Balanced power boxes may sell well to the
Guitar Center crowd, but they don't sell well to well-informed audio
professionals.

[Arny Krueger]

"Eeyore" wrote in message
...


Bret Ludwig wrote:

On Aug 7, 1:35 am, Eeyore
wrote:
RapidRonnie wrote:
And while power conditioners are a scam, balanced power is not: it's
used in most professional sound facilities today

Actually, balanced power is NOT " used in most professional sound
facilities
today ". It tends to be used mainly in an elite few.

Well, Pro Tools and home "studios" having done to the recording
business what the Pill allegedly did for chastity in the '60s
(actually, people were ****ing without reproducing for centuries
before) the only ones left can be called "elite", almost by
definition. But no serious facility is without it today.

Define 'serious facility'.

Note that it is unclear whether Bret is talking about balanced power or Pro
Tools. Doesn't matter, he's wrong either way.

[Clyde Slick]

On 7 Aug, 16:40, "Arny Krueger" wrote:


FWIW I have it on good authority that CDs play well when stored under 200
feet of water
Been there, done that and it has no measurable effect

time to fix the foundation crack, and dry out your basement.

[George M. Middius]

The Krooborg tries to understand human language using its Krooglish-only
headphones.

There are two issues that must be considered in any discussion of
digital media, especially music or film, of which availability is one.
The other is archivality. Kodachrome and Technicolor dye sub release
prints and vinyl phono records have an almost infinite shelf life.

Having problems forming coherent thoughts, Ronnie my boy? Here's a
much-needed news flash for you: Neither movie film not vinyl phono records
are digital media.

Arnii, even your pal Shushie has been cautioning that you're not an
idiot (as opposed to a demented old fart, which everybody knows you
are). This kind of post, however, raises the issue of how far insanity
can go in simulating idiocy.

Maybe you need to wander out into the woods on one of your pilgrimages
-- er, I mean "vacations". You know what I mean -- the breaks that
refresh you and allow you to return to your "Usenet career" nicley
relaxed.

[Shhhh! I'm Listening to Reason!]

On Aug 7, 8:40 am, "Arny Krueger" wrote:
"RapidRonnie" wrote in message

http://theaudiocritic.com/blog/index...&articleId=38&...

"I really believe that all this soul-searching, wondering, questioning,
agonizing about amplifiers is basically unproductive and would be much more
rewarding if applied to loudspeakers instead. For various reasons that I
have discussed in the past, people are more willing to change amplifiers
than loudspeakers. That's most unfortunate because a new and better
loudspeaker will change your audio life but a new amplifier will not."

There Aczel goes again, making sense!

Of course he meakes sense, Arns: you both "believe" the same things.

[Shhhh! I'm Listening to Reason!]

On Aug 7, 9:28 am, George M. Middius cmndr _ george @ comcast . net
wrote:

You know what I mean -- the breaks that refresh you and allow you to return to your "Usenet career" nicley (sic) relaxed.


Isn't it funny that 2pid picks on typos, even those made by people who
don't use a spell-checker?

I saw ecently that 2pid "ohmed out" his stereo. I wonder if 2pid knows
what he really did?

[George M. Middius]

Shhhh! said:

You know what I mean -- the breaks that refresh you and allow you to return
to your "Usenet career" nicley (sic) relaxed.

Isn't it funny that 2pid picks on typos, even those made by people who
don't use a spell-checker?

He may start blaming the fleas for that, note.

I saw ecently[sic] that 2pid "ohmed out" his stereo. I wonder if 2pid knows
what he really did?

Whatever he did, chances are Krooger believes it qualified as a "test".

[dizzy]

RapidRonnie wrote:

I have came across your site and downloaded the .pdf issues of
"TAC". I find
it interesting to look through them because I bought several of them
at the
newsstand over the years, along with the other audio magazines. (The
only

You'll have to learn how to post, before I bother with your mess.