LKSC Posted August 31, 2006 Share #21 Posted August 31, 2006 Advertisement (gone after registration) How does the sound of this compare to a good stereo system? Bill Bill A critical factor that no one here has mentioned is the listening space, which almost always needs some form of treatment. There are all sorts of products out there, but I would highly recommend ASC tube traps, which can be employed in different arrays and configurations to smoothen out the response of the room. A more integrated, furniture-friendly approach would be to install RPG absoprtion/ diffusion baffles into the room's architecture. Re: the perceived difference between American and British equipment. Years ago Bob Stuart of Meridian Audio opined that a lot of this perception was down to differences in listening environment: in America many home listening/ living rooms have more dy-wall construction than concrete and hence the rooms have different response to the same equipment. I would also highly recommend PS Audio power synthesizers ("Power Plants") and outlets. They are a revelation even to very high-end equipment (Krell, ML etc). What they do is extremely complicated (and scientific) but its well explained on their website and they are coming up with a DVD ("From coal to Cole") just to explain what they do. The co-owner/inventor, Paul McGowan is a swell guy and he personally responds to queries. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted August 31, 2006 Posted August 31, 2006 Hi LKSC, Take a look here Stereo equipment choices?. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
stuny Posted September 1, 2006 Share #22 Posted September 1, 2006 It's time to trump everything mentioned so far. None of this is mine -- It's all at a friend's house, shot June 25th, 2005, shot with my D2. He has since upgraded a lot. Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here… Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! Link to post Share on other sites Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! ' data-webShareUrl='https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/4347-stereo-equipment-choices/?do=findComment&comment=41118'>More sharing options...
wbesz Posted September 1, 2006 Share #23 Posted September 1, 2006 It's time to trump everything mentioned so far. None of this is mine -- It's all at a friend's house, shot June 25th, 2005, shot with my D2. He has since upgraded a lot. It's much better if it is your friend's, because there is no end to it, even if you sell your house. I gave up years ago. But at least with a Leica, you can get to the end! It was years ago that as a 13 or 14 year old high school student I began designing and building my own hi fi amplifiers. I still have an original book "RADIO DESIGNER'S HANDBOOK" by F.Langford-Smith, Fourth Edition, which I believe is valuable, and is the reference for current valve hi fi amp designers, first published back in 1934! (way before my time!) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stumac Posted September 1, 2006 Share #24 Posted September 1, 2006 Having worked in a university electronics lab for 14 or so years, I think we tried it all, some with success some not so. we built valve amplifiers, solid state amplifiers, direct coupled, multiple frequency limited output stages, rebuilt loud speakers, laid up miles of enameled wire to make a giant form of Litz wire for speaker leads, all to not much avail as now I can not hear my mobile phone ring, which sometimes is a blessing. William, My copy of Langford Smith siill has pride of place on my bookshelf, and is refered to often Regards, Stuart Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dugby Posted September 1, 2006 Share #25 Posted September 1, 2006 Hi Bill H, I am an audiophile and use Naim Audio equipment along with a Linn Sondek LP-12 turntable. Regards. Ps: I use Ety 4P's with my iPod but am considering the Shure E500. What do you think of them? I'm also a Naimee ......still got my 72-Hicap 250, and Armagedon'd Lp12 with Ittok. Have multiple Koetsu's,..... gee it's nice to see Leicaphiles can hear as well as they can see good images..... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertwang Posted September 1, 2006 Share #26 Posted September 1, 2006 Holy smokes! That's quite a setup guy. Geewhiz, and I thought that my iPod docking station took up enough room Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
earleygallery Posted September 1, 2006 Share #27 Posted September 1, 2006 Advertisement (gone after registration) I'm no expert on Hi Fi, but there are surely far too many drivers in that set-up? I can only imagine that it will ultimately confuse the sound, and the room won't offer anything like the required acoustics for a proper listening experience. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuny Posted September 1, 2006 Share #28 Posted September 1, 2006 James - Intuitively you'd be right, and the sound would be rather confusing. In fact the sound is astonishingly realistic. My friend has fine-tuned the room for three or four decades, and the actual selection of components and set-up of everything is so precise that I’m sure my he knows whether “anal-retentive” is hyphenated or not -- I only know because Word’s spell checker suggested the hyphen. Since I took these pictures among the changes were replacing the CD player, turntable, arm and cartridge. The video room with its Magneplaner speakers is the same now as it was 14 months ago. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertwang Posted September 1, 2006 Share #29 Posted September 1, 2006 Okay, isn't that becoming overkill anyways? How much more realistic do you want the sound? Seriously, there is something problematic when you are being dwarfed by speakers the size of Tel Aviv skyscrapers Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cboudier Posted September 1, 2006 Share #30 Posted September 1, 2006 An other critical factor that no one here has mentioned is the compression rate of the mp3 file you listen on your iPod ! It's exactly the same problem as JPEG compression with photo : it's destructive Music bought on the internet (iTunes Music Store for example) is less good than the same file on a CD you bought in a shop Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertwang Posted September 1, 2006 Share #31 Posted September 1, 2006 But itunes is cheaper than a cd... plus you don't have to worry about cds getting lost. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cboudier Posted September 1, 2006 Share #32 Posted September 1, 2006 But itunes is cheaper than a cd... plus you don't have to worry about cds getting lost. Of course, but you can have a disk crash as well... And if you don't have very good quality files or CD or records or tape or whatever, you don't need to spend $$ in audio equipment to listen them... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertwang Posted September 1, 2006 Share #33 Posted September 1, 2006 Wrong!!! You buy 2-3 Lacie HD's and back up accordingly and have multiple copies Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuny Posted September 1, 2006 Share #34 Posted September 1, 2006 Albert - I think the key here is that it's another obsession that makes little sense to those without the obsession. How many people do you know who would think you are crazy for what you spend on Leica gear? Christophe - A most valid point, and I too was wondering if anyone would address it. Similarly (though not to that degree) until the most recent super performing CD players, CDs were clearly inferior to vinyl recordings. With the right gear (such as listening to my friend's system shown above) the winner is no longer clear, and each medium has its strengths and weaknesses. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
billh Posted September 1, 2006 Author Share #35 Posted September 1, 2006 An other critical factor that no one here has mentioned is the compression rate of the mp3 file you listen on your iPod !It's exactly the same problem as JPEG compression with photo : it's destructive Music bought on the internet (iTunes Music Store for example) is less good than the same file on a CD you bought in a shop I peeked in for a moment and noticed this - When I bought the little Hornet headphone amp and the good headsets, plus the connector which lets me connect all this to the bottom of the iPod instead of to the top headphone outlet, the MP3 files I had in the iPod sounded so bad I dumped them. The full size AIFF files are great (at least to my comparatively uneducated ear). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
billh Posted September 1, 2006 Author Share #36 Posted September 1, 2006 Following up, The Denon stuff is nice, but the Bose is problematic. The difficulty with Bose is that although the designs are well-thought out and effective, the implementation is not. Bose uses really cheap speaker and materials. If they were to make the stuff properly -- and thereby price themselves out of the low-price market -- they would sound better. They are clearly not going to give up the volume they enjoy. I believe that you could replace your Bose components with almost any quality stuff and get a better result. Again, buy used. Bill Bill, the Bose is in the kitchen - the iPod sits in it - is there something better I can get for this purpose? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertwang Posted September 1, 2006 Share #37 Posted September 1, 2006 Albert - I think the key here is that it's another obsession that makes little sense to those without the obsession. How many people do you know who would think you are crazy for what you spend on Leica gear? Hey, hey... I didn't spend much on my Leica gear. It always comes up as a bargain ... Of course, my obsession would be justified. My clients haven't complained yet about my photographic work... So there you have it. I'm a bargain Leica shooter who has never bought any new Leica gear. Happy about it eh? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
topoxforddoc Posted September 1, 2006 Share #38 Posted September 1, 2006 Stereo is very much like photography - analogue source (LP & tape) v digital (CD, SACD, DAT, DVD-A). The more you spend on your source is equivalent to the larger the negative/digital image file. Really high end LP replay is a bit like photography with a 5x4 camera - endless tonal range, great depth etc. Really high end digital is like having a Phase One back for your Hassie. There are as many vews about hi-fi as there are about photography - each is equally valid and dependent on the individual's financial resources and priorities. Personally I'm still hooked on analogue - bit like looking at a hand printed B/W image. I have yet to hear a digital source that gets close to my vinyl front end; but hey, my vinyl front end would cost would cost as much as a R9/DMR and 15/2.8 Super Elmarit if I had bought it new. Fortunately for me, I didn't. Like well made cameras, good hi-fi is usually very well built and can last alomost forever. Most of my hi-fi gear is second hand, ex-demo etc. I only have two brand new pieces in my hi-fi - the phono cartridge and the pick-up arm. Regards Charlie Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wparsonsgisnet Posted September 1, 2006 Share #39 Posted September 1, 2006 Bill H I understand that using the audio out port on the ipod makes a big difference. You can drive this thing with equipment that does not SIT in the kitchen. Only the speakers are needed in the kitchen. Rather than the Bose, I would find a way to drive my kitchen speakers from my primary sound system. I still use records, a SOTA turntable, and a variety of components that are not integrated. I take a lot of heat for this from my wife, particularly the number of records .... I also use a lot of CD's (where you gonna go?). I would put good, small speakers in the kitchen and run 24 gauge wire to them from a high-quality amp. Part of the fun of this is the doing of it. Just like photography. Regards, Bill Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
earleygallery Posted September 1, 2006 Share #40 Posted September 1, 2006 Stuart, I'd love to hear your friends system. Hi Fi is a very scary bug to catch, you spend hours listening to the same track over and over with different set ups, cables, speaker positions..... Luckily I live in a flat and there's a limit to just how loud I can play my music. Just loud enough to drown out the knocking on the ceiling Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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