On Fri, 9 May 2008 21:48:13 -0700, Robert Sink wrote
(in article <g039ed01ssv@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>):
> Steven Sullivan <ssully@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> writes:
>
>> Robert Sink <sinkr@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>>> bob <nabob33@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> writes:
>>
>>>> Some good info on this page:
>>>> http://www.harmanaudio.com/all_about_audio/
>>>>
>>>> Including a good explanation of power specifications, and an overview
>>>> article on speaker design.
>>>>
>>>> bob
>>
>>> Also check out "Audio Perfectionist Journal;" the 1st 2 journals are
>>> free and IMO, having bought all of them to date, contain the best
>>> information.
>>
>>> http://www.audioperfectionist.com/pages/freejournals.html
>>
>> does Hardesty *ever* employ blind comparisons?
> [...]
>
> I don't really recall--it's been years since I read the journals and
> to be honest, and I've posted here about this before, while he speaks
> of saving one money, the stuff he recommends is ridiculous like
> $10-20k biwired Audioquest Everest cables, among other things in that
> same price range.
Anybody who openly recommends expensive cables (as opposed to merely
acknowledging that such cables exist for the buying should one feel
compelled
to do so) is suspect in my book.
> What helped me was just the basics of speaker placement, acoustics of
> a room, being wary of trying to equalize out a room/system, and as well
> time/phase-accurate speakers like Vandersteens, Thiels, and
> Meadowlarks (now defunct, I understand).
>
> Beyond that, I think he and Shane Buettner get a little "out there" on
> what they recommend ($30k vinyl setups, etc.) and I've taken that with
> a grain of salt, but like I say, the first two journals especially
> helped me (someone with no knowledge of how measurements are taken
> [and bastardized]) understand some key basics (or they seemed key to
> me, anyhow).
Vinyl setups is one place in audio where I believe that expensive rigs
actually do "dig" more out of a record groove than do cheaper setups (up
to
some as yet undetermined point - at least for me). That's because, like
speakers, Record players are electromechanical in nature (I.E.
transducers)
and every part of them contribute to the sound of the whole. That means
that
attention to mechanical detail (like turntable bearings, platter
resonance,
speed stability, arm bearings, arm geometry, and of course, cartridge
quality
and matching to the arm, etc.) is all im****tant. Precision costs money and
the best I've heard a record sound was on an acquaintance's Walker
Proscenium
turntable carrying some exotic cartridge which cost more than a diamond of
similar weight and size! I've never heard such sound from a phonograph
record
before (one of my own personal records to boot), it was eye opening. Now
whether or not that same (or at least similar) result could be had for a
less
stratospheric price, I don't know. I do know that my J.A, Michell "Orbe"
Spyder/SME IV/Sumiko Blackbird combo doesn't even come close and it isn't
cheap kit by any stretch of the imagination!
|
