May 7May 7 29 minutes ago, Carl Spackler said: Not sure what I'll do when I add a turntable. I typically don't want the 'table on the same surface as speakers. Might try it just see if there's an issue, and buy stands if there is a problem with the turntable being affected by vibrations from the speakers. i've had good results using an isolation platform for the turntable if it has to be placed on the same surface as the speakers.
May 7May 7 2 hours ago, Carl Spackler said: How about a turrrrrrrible pic snapped when I took a quick break after hooking the speakers up? Took a while for the receiver to arrive. Cheap-ass Sony DVD/CD player is what I'm currently using to play CDs. All in all, there's plenty of juice for this small room. After this pic was taken, I found an old Paradigm sub in a box in the garage, so I'm gonna hook that up next once I find the damn cable. It should help with the lows that the KEFs just can't reach. Not sure what I'll do when I add a turntable. I typically don't want the 'table on the same surface as speakers. Might try it just see if there's an issue, and buy stands if there is a problem with the turntable being affected by vibrations from the speakers. beauties. very nice. I would get stands myself just to widen the soundstage a bit anyway (though i may be totally misreading the size of the room). though if you upgraded your isolation pad game just a little bit, putting the turntable on top would not be an issue at all. particularly if you connect a sub that isn't on the table and let it handle everything below 80hz. 1 hour ago, tbone_ said: Am I reading right that those ATC monitors are $10k/pair? depends. are you my wife or insurance carrier? i think you have to tell me if you are. on that note, i love them so much. i would reflexively kill every single person in austin except my wife and kids to protect them and ensure their happiness (the monitors).
May 7May 7 3 hours ago, tbone_ said: Am I reading right that those ATC monitors are $10k/pair? You don't want to know what the big ones cost.
May 8May 8 on the topic of hi-fi, much like everything else in this world, it is all headed towards being one fucking company. samsung, who owns harman, purchased sound united for $350 million. sound united is marantz, bowers & wilkins, denon, polk, definitive. now those will be under the samsung's roof with jbl, akg, arcam, revel, mark levinson. bose bought mcintosh just a few months back as well. oh well. https://www.stereophile.com/content/sound-united-finds-new-home-harman
May 8May 8 26 minutes ago, sidis said: on the topic of hi-fi, much like everything else in this world, it is all headed towards being one fucking company. samsung, who owns harman, purchased sound united for $350 million. sound united is marantz, bowers & wilkins, denon, polk, definitive. now those will be under the samsung's roof with jbl, akg, arcam, revel, mark levinson. bose bought mcintosh just a few months back as well. oh well. https://www.stereophile.com/content/sound-united-finds-new-home-harman Well that fucking sucks. I guess whenever my Marantz finally needs replacement I’ll have to look elsewhere. Maybe I’ll do separates then instead of AVR.
May 8May 8 While we're talking about speakers, I wish I'd gotten a picture of these bad-boys after I got the woofer refoamed and everything re-capped.
June 1Jun 1 Pulled the trigger on some Klipsch Forte today. I think the wifey was a little taken aback by the size initially (giggity) but man they sound so good.
June 1Jun 1 35 minutes ago, nycHorn said: Pulled the trigger on some Klipsch Forte today. I think the wifey was a little taken aback by the size initially (giggity) but man they sound so good. Which ones? New?
June 1Jun 1 Which ones? New?Forte IV. Bought them off a guy a few hours away. He’s had these and another pair of speakers and he preferred the others. 6 months old.
June 1Jun 1 On 5/8/2025 at 9:53 AM, hobbes2702 said: Well that fucking sucks. I guess whenever my Marantz finally needs replacement I’ll have to look elsewhere. Maybe I’ll do separates then instead of AVR. I dunno, they've been under that Sound United for a while and still put out a pretty decent product by most accounts. And it actually seems Denon's 2-channel stuff has improved.
June 1Jun 1 3 minutes ago, nycHorn said: Forte IV. Bought them off a guy a few hours away. He’s had these and another pair of speakers and he preferred the others. 6 months old. Cool. I've never been Klipsch guy, but I'd like to hear some of the modern Klipsch horn speakers some day. Horns do have their place.
June 1Jun 1 These things intrigue me a lot. https://www.wiimhome.com/ Even their integrated amps have streaming features and their streamer gets great reviews. I think the Class D amp sections make them decidedly mid-fi, but damn the price is right.
June 1Jun 1 Cool. I've never been Klipsch guy, but I'd like to hear some of the modern Klipsch horn speakers some day. Horns do have their place.Yeah a friend had some Heresy and I was as into the general vibe. For good measure I went to a hifi shop here in the city and listened to the Fortes. He was driving them with a Lab12 tube amp and it was really nice. He let me listen to some Borreson x1, driven by an insane system, and it was mind blowing - Bookshelf sized speakers and it was literally a wall of sound, but super articulated, analytical. Fun for a little while but also exhaustive listening.
June 2Jun 2 2 hours ago, jimmyjazz said: Cool. I've never been Klipsch guy, but I'd like to hear some of the modern Klipsch horn speakers some day. Horns do have their place.
June 11Jun 11 Was thinking about ordering a tube amp, but it’s Chinese made, sold in Canada. I assume I’ll get throttled with tariffs?
June 11Jun 11 I wonder how many tube guitar amps, bass amps, stereo amps & preamps have caused fires as a fraction of total sales? Like, 0.0001%? I know of none among my circle, which isn't tiny, and in terms of audio equipment, most of it gets left powered up 24/7.
June 12Jun 12 1 minute ago, thunderlounge said: and isn’t a chinese knockoff Id wager that huge chunks of most all audio gear is made in China. Maybe not some of the ultra-boutique stuff.
June 17Jun 17 On 6/11/2025 at 8:10 PM, TwiceHorn said: Id wager that huge chunks of most all audio gear is made in China. Maybe not some of the ultra-boutique stuff. The tubes surely are made in China.
June 20Jun 20 FIL gave this to me for free. Needs to be cleaned up a bit, but is in near mint condition. Need to find some speakers to go with it now.
June 20Jun 20 FIL gave this to me for free. Needs to be cleaned up a bit, but is in near mint condition. Need to find some speakers to go with it now.Pretty
June 20Jun 20 This is a random thought, more about media formats than equipment, but it sure would be nice if they came up with some sort of "sync" signal at the beginning of the media (whether on connection to a stream, beginning of a program, whatever video bits start the disc, whatever.) Sure, but a sync signal for what? Audio levels. A signal to let the audio device(s) know what base level the audio is. Based on that, a receiver/tv/whatever would be able to reference that to its current volume and adjust behind the scenes to keep things consistent. End result? One show/app/blu-ray/stream/etc is the same overall base volume as the next. So no more having to turn the volume up and down between shows/ads/etc because one has a higher/lower base than another. So a volume setting of say 20 on your tv. Well, the next show comes along and to have the dialog at the same level you have to adjust the volume. Granted it's not every show, but for example right now I have the ESPN app up with Scotties featured group. The volume is at 32 on the dial. That app is loud. Normally the volume is set around 45. Other times you go to watch a different app or start a movie, and you have to turn it up to 50, 55, very rare occasions 60, just to have the volume at the same level instead of basting your ears out, or making you wonder if you need hearing aids. So the tv/audio device would get a signal saying this show/moving/stream is based at whatever dB level. The tv can take that info and adjust it's output so it's still at the same volume you have selected. Not talking about things like night mode, and damping signals. Talking about the actual volume levels being different between sources/shows/streams/etc. I mean if we can split signals into however many audio channels and this and that, why can't they add a level signal? Seems like it wouldn't be difficult to create, and not terrible to implement on the hardware side. Sorry. Just a random thought after I opened the ESPN app and got smacked in the face. lol
July 16Jul 16 Got a Primaluna Evo 300 today. Sounds amazing with the Fortes. Great clarity and less boom in the bottom end than with my Marantz.
July 16Jul 16 1 hour ago, nycHorn said: Got a Primaluna Evo 300 today. Sounds amazing with the Fortes. Great clarity and less boom in the bottom end than with my Marantz. So cool. I know it's a hybrid, but some day I want to go full tubes (pre + power) and drive a bigass set of electrostatics (not branded "Martin Logan", I've had those and wasn't a fan).
July 16Jul 16 So cool. I know it's a hybrid, but some day I want to go full tubes (pre + power) and drive a bigass set of electrostatics (not branded "Martin Logan", I've had those and wasn't a fan).It’s actually all tubes. They have the hybrid line but this is all tubes. I just spaced the Fortes about 15’ apart and toed them inwards and it sounds incredible. You can definitely feel the heat coming off the tubes. I looked at the 400 and it has 8 EL84 tubes as opposed to my 4. Apparently you don’t need heat in the winter if you’re listening on the regular.Next up is a proper audio rack but most of them are so damn ugly or crazy expensive.
July 16Jul 16 14 minutes ago, nycHorn said: It’s actually all tubes. They have the hybrid line but this is all tubes. I just spaced the Fortes about 15’ apart and toed them inwards and it sounds incredible. You can definitely feel the heat coming off the tubes. I looked at the 400 and it has 8 EL84 tubes as opposed to my 4. Apparently you don’t need heat in the winter if you’re listening on the regular. Next up is a proper audio rack but most of them are so damn ugly or crazy expensive. Modern TV Stands, Entertainment Centers, and Media Consoles | BDI Furniture at least they aren't ugly.. Edited July 16Jul 16 by ChickenSandwich
July 16Jul 16 1 hour ago, nycHorn said: It’s actually all tubes. T Oh wow, I thought that was the hybrid integrated. Power amp only? Edited July 16Jul 16 by jimmyjazz
July 16Jul 16 2 hours ago, nycHorn said: Next up is a proper audio rack but most of them are so damn ugly or crazy expensive. How many rack units tall do you need? Or are we talking more entertainment style deal?
July 17Jul 17 4 hours ago, ChickenSandwich said: Modern TV Stands, Entertainment Centers, and Media Consoles | BDI Furniture at least they aren't ugly.. I love my BDI avion. Looks great, has functional elements. I used an acoustic panel on the front drawer for a lot of years. Worked great
July 17Jul 17 Looked hard at this rack previously. Sexy af https://www.bdiusa.com/products/corridor-8172-modern-av-stereo-cabinet Edited July 17Jul 17 by ChickenSandwich
July 17Jul 17 6 hours ago, jimmyjazz said: So cool. I know it's a hybrid, but some day I want to go full tubes (pre + power) and drive a bigass set of electrostatics (not branded "Martin Logan", I've had those and wasn't a fan). What’s the selling point on electrostats? I’ve heard the MLs thousands of times but, despite their charity, they never sounded as good as the Sonus Faber or B&Ws sitting next to them. And who else makes them other than ML? Edited July 17Jul 17 by hobbes2702
July 17Jul 17 28 minutes ago, hobbes2702 said: What’s the selling point on electrostats? I’ve heard the MLs thousands of times but, despite their charity, they never sounded as good as the Sonus Faber or B&Ws sitting next to them. And who else makes them other than ML? I think the notion is by their large area of moving element, which is also of very low mass, an equivalent volume of air can be moved without the mechanical distortions of conventional speaker cones.
July 17Jul 17 1 minute ago, TwiceHorn said: I think the notion is by their large area of moving element, which is also of very low mass, an equivalent volume of air can be moved without the mechanical distortions of conventional speaker cones. I understand the basic premise, I guess more specifically my question is what would make one electrostat better than others? Is it material like a cone would be? Power?
July 17Jul 17 I've owned some electrostats -- Martin Logans and Eminent Technologies -- the latter were considerably better than the former. They threw an effortless soundstage, but still needed a dynamic woofer. Honestly, I think the Magnepans I owned (which were their budget model) were even better, and not electrostats, but still a panel speaker. That's probably where I'd head next if I wanted some giant full range panels (+ a sub if needed).
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