DOOD.CA: Guy Stuff

Someone repeated a story to me.. sounded like this:

“Like you, I’m often helping friends set up music systems. Many of my friends insist that a “listening position” is out of the question for them. Even if they could arrange their room to include a listening chair, they would never use it. They just like to wander around the house while music is playing. Anyway, they’re not going to use up real estate in their living rooms by moving speakers out from the walls.

I hooked a friend up with a nice pair of Wharfedale Diamond 9.1s. ($350/pair) I thought they sounded great for the price in the store. Nice stereo image and everything. But then he put one of the floor behind a chair and another on a bookshelf at the other end of the room, so they sound lousy.

I have a hard time figuring out what to recommend for speakers. All the decent ones are designed to produce a stereo image. But that’s useless for these people. Maybe what they really need is two (or maybe more) speakers that will disperse sound as widely as possible. Wall-mounted (or maybe bookshelf mounted) would be best. There are some surround sound “home theater” speakers designed that way, but most of them seem to have very limited low frequency response, since they assume the front, center, and sub speakers will handle everything below 100 hz or so. And I have no idea how any of those sound anyway.”

Now.. how do you determine whether a speaker is really good then? Imaging means nothing anymore at this point. hmm..

A question often asked in audiophile circles is “Should I use XLR or RCA interconnects?”. This is a simple question if you have both available to you on all your equipment: Try both, and use the one that sounds better to you. However, when only one or two of your components has the ability to use balanced XLR interconnects, do you buy the other ones to complete the chain? There’s not always a clear cut answer.

The idea behind the XLR balanced cable is the signal is divided among 2 wires, one positive and one negative. Any interference they pick up will be added to both signals, so when they subtract the signals from each other they are always left with the same. So say this is a balanced signal: +1v and -1v. When subtracted it is +1v – (-1v) = 2v. Introduce .5v of interference to both.. they become +1.5v and -.5v. When subtracted they still equal 2v. That is a drastic simplification, but it encompasses the theory.

You can see how balanced configuration is more complicated and requires an additional channel of amplification per channel for the negative signal. More parts = more room for error, which is what some people say. Some say Balanced is only good for long runs, and short runs do not benefit from them. What is your experience?

I personally like the sound i’ve gotten from balanced components. They’ve always outperformed their RCA counterparts in my system.

Well, not revisted by me, but revisted since its such an old player that I’m just now discovering. I’ve never really had the opportunity to listen to Krell source components, but I’ve heard plenty of Krell preamp and amps. Very nice peice of kit, Krell makes. Over the last week I’ve had the chance to listen to a Krell KAV-300CD, and wow! It blew my socks off! Old technology, maybe, but this thing sounds incredible!

I listened mainly to female vocals and kept my ear on the depth of the soundstage and the separation of instruments… as these appeared to be the strong points of the Krell. It had this unique ability to completely capture my attention unlike any other source I’ve heard in my system. Admittedly, I haven’t tried as many as I probably should have… but I have had my share of good ones such as the Benchmade DAC-1.

This CD player recently had the laser replaced as well, so its good as new. The Presence of Hayley Westenra’s voice is absolutely phenomenal, and each instrument was audible, unlike so many players before that seemed to jumble them up. I always thought it was the recording, but now I realize it is the source. So when I return this player, I’m going to have to find myself something that is comparable! who knew borrowing equipment could be that pricey!!!

Which one, that is the question. Well, The Monarchy M24 is essentially a Lite Dac 52 with modified or upgraded parts, and the Lite DAC62 is an improved circuit layout of the DAC 52.. so which is better? That’s up to you, I suppose. I would put forth that if the Monarchy M24 was not branded as a Monarchy product, it would be much less desirable. Lets face it.. in this Hi-Fi audio world, names and brands are important.

How do they sound? Well, at triple the price of the Lite DAC62, I think the Monarchy M24 just doesn’t sound as good. In fact, at the same price the Monarchy doesn’t sound as good in my opinion. I’ve read than the Monarchy M24 “resolves detail” a bit better than the Lite, I think that’s gibberish. Granted, I have modified my Pacific Valve Lite DAC62 a bit with improvements to the outputs cables, wire, diodes and power supplies. But really, at the price of the Monarchy M24, you get a few prettier and more expensive Toroidal Transformers, and a volume control. Not worth the money, especially if you are just using it as a DAC.

My musical tastes consist of mostly Classical and Female Vocals and Jazz, so keep that in mind. Rock might sound better on a Monarchy, but I listened to a bit of SRV and Wilco on that Monarchy and the Lite just sounded better, that’s what I have in my system now, and it’s staying!

Wow. This is simply the BEST CD Player I have ever heard, tube, solid state everything in between included. I heard this player hooked up to my personal system and it simply blew my mind. I also heard it connected to an all-Sim system, but wasn’t able to evaluated it properly.

This CD Player has impressive detail… and a subtle warmth to it that some people don’t always associate with Moon Products. I popped in Murray Perahia plays Bach, one of my favourite reference CDs, and was amazed… Murray’s piano just filled the room with music, and the new Acoustic panels I installed don’t hurt either. A definate large soundstage but very nice individual representation of every instrument… I truly felt like I was in the room with Muray.

Second CD was Vienna Teng’s Warm Strangers. Vienna’s voice sounded amazing.. I don’t think i’ve ever heard it as good. Please do yourself a favour and listen to some Vienna if you get the chance.. and listen to this Moon Andromeda. Both are fantastic!