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Letters To Us
April 2006
Steven,
Congratulations to Steven on his new nuclear power plant power supply! I hope you will share your power with underdeveloped nations such as Iran to prevent global nuclear proliferation, as well as Santa Fe New Mexico where we musical shamans always need more Power!
Dr. Blue
PS: i have my power animals hooked up to my main system, and they are producing gigawatts of pure power from the underworld!
Dr. Blue,
Since writing that article it appears we have experienced a setback. Yesterday we experienced an extreme high frequency bust/leak in the Flux Capacitor. It took down half the communication network in my State. They said it was akin to an EMP attack, so I am right now in my shielded bunker eating canned soup. Am also keeping my tin foil hat on as an extra precaution.
Enjoy the Music,
Steven R. Rochlin
April 2006
Dr. Gaw,
I enjoyed the NESPA piece, and have talked to Scott. Just curious, have you tried the Nanotec Protect AG CD fluid? And have the NESPA discs retained their improvements?
Thank you for your time,
Randy DeVelbiss
Randy,
Thank you for your kind words. Please see my April and May articles about my findings with the Nanotech fluid. It is a superb product and combined with the Nespa, does wonders for all digital discs I've tried it on, including SACD and DVD-A and the audio of DVD-Video. It's effect also seems to be additive to the Clearbit, Realdisc and Clearbit solutions. I have not noticed any degradation in the sound over the three months since I treated the first discs, but who knows what will happen over time.
Bill
April 2006
Great publication!
John Lysaker
April 2006
Hello Colin,
I just got done reading your review on the ACI Titan Subwoofer. Was hoping you could give me a few suggestions for my configuration. I have 20.1 Maggies with Classé M400 monos. I am 100 percent 2 channel music. A good movie once in a while is ok but movie bass is of no concern for me. My room is fairly large at about 20 x 24. Of course I'm looking for the most musical sub possible for under $5,000. Have you had much experience with TBI? If you can manage a line or two for me with some advice or even just a few top names for fast accurate music bass I'd really appreciate it.
Thank you,
Jesse Phoenix
Jesse,
The specs on the tall, power-hungry Maggies make them seem like they would have plenty of deep bass; although we all know a whale can swim through a plus or minus 3dB difference. With a Test CD and a SPL meter, I would measure your bass roll-off in your room. This will tell you where a sub needs to fit into your Maggies’ frequency response, in order to create the mostly flat response ideal for critical music listening.
I have not heard the passive TBI Magellan subs, but the review makes them seem powerful. Subwoofers are dedicated, usually actively solid-state powered, limited-range loudspeakers. In my own humble opinion, subwoofer manufacturers - as well as other loudspeakers and other equipment manufacturers - should always provide consumers with frequency response and/or THD graphs for their products. I would ask for one for the TBI and compare it to the ACI Titan. Where its peak response and how loud it can get on the graph will give you a visual idea of how it will dove-tail with your Maggies. Otherwise, what I can say? Max the cards. Order both. Listen long and hard. Let the ears rule. Decide for yourself. Send the loser back. "Ain't that America?" Of course with a room large enough to host the winning NCAA team, you might decide to keep both.
Yours in Listening,
Colin
April 2006
Hi,
Great articles... could you please let me know where i could find the panels with the colored cubicles/diffusers?
Thank You,
Oded Zyssman
Oded,
Oh, no! Not another inquiry on the cube diffusers!? My first article, Oded, was written on a lark when my editor put out a call for more articles. Unfortunately, I did not take notes about the origin of many of the pieces in Part I. I've tried in vain to identify the vendor, but to no avail. That piece was not shown again at the October furniture show, which was the source of the Part II article.
I will be going down to North Carolina again in late April, and I will keep an eye out for it once again, but like the fashion industry, styles come and go. If you have access to a good table saw and some acrylic hobby paints it shouldn't be too hard to make one. You could probably paint the cubes while sitting in the sweet spot of your system, listening to your favorite music!
Rick Becker
April 2006
Hi Rick,
I really liked the colorful "diffuser" blocks, who makes these? If you have a single list of all the manufacturers in our article I would like that as well.
Thanks,
Russell
Russell,
Thanks for the inquiry. Many others have asked the same question. I created this review as an afterthought when our editor sent out a plea for more articles last year. Consequently, I didn't have notes about many of the items pictured. This is one of those "mystery pieces". I recently submitted a follow-up report from material photographed at the fall Home Furnishing Show. Hopefully, it will be up in the next issue. Room treatment and decor is essential not only for quality sound, but for a quality home presentation that you significant other can appreciate. The love will go around. My wife loves to show off our listening room and impress our friends by playing LPs of their favorite singers and musicians. As a side benefit, it exposes more people to our wonderful hobby. It sure beats playing Splatball on Saturday night.
Best of luck,
Rick Becker
April 2006
Scott,
Loved your review of the Slim Devices Squeezebox 3. I know nothing about audio and was wondering where I could buy an inexpensive (read cheap) DAC to use with the Squeezebox3 since you got such improved results. Found a California Audio Labs Gamma written about online but could not find where to buy one.
Thanks,
Guy Nutter
PS I have a cheap home Panasonic DVD Home Theater system, is it even worth my while to buy DAC to use with a Squeezebox3?
Hi Guy,
You might be right about the external DAC upgrade considering your amplification. Personally, I'd suggest a decent power supply. That will definitely smooth out the noise you get with the stock PS and solidify the bass response. Then I'd invest in a decent but not overly expensive digital cable (not a Toslink but the coax/RCA). Then experiment listening between the analog outputs of your stock squeezebox and plugging the digital into your Panasonic using its internal DAC. You might find that you like the digital side of the Panny better than the analog outs of the SB.
On the other hand if you are looking to buy an external DAC, you may want to try Audiogon.com They are a good alternative to eBay. Also, you may want to consider the stock DAC AH. According to my cohort Phil Gold, the stock unit sounds decent and won't cost you an arm and a leg.
Hope that helps. Regards,
Scott Faller
April 2006
Hi Scott,
Two terrific reviews. Because of connection problems and because I like internet radio, I use the Squeezenetwork exclusively. I connect the SB to a Platinum Link DAC (MSB) with a coax digital cable. The sound is really good. Do you think any of the mods would improve the sound to any appreciable extent?
Thanks for your help and time,
Lawrence Ross
Hi Lawrence,
I think the mods would absolutely help the sound quality of internet radio. You could expect the same results I experienced when playing ripped music. Since you've got a nice DAC, you may want to think about the upgraded power supply and maybe even the digital mods. They really do make a difference. Hope you get your connection issues resolved because you are really missing the best part of the SB in playing ripped music.
Enjoy!
Scott Faller
April 2006
Dear Steve,
I enjoyed the uVac review immensely and i wonder if this great little amp is going to work with my Ocellia Kedros speakers. They are 97db efficient, but with 16 ohm impedance.
Thank you in advance for your response.
Roumen Sotirov
Roumen,
Thanks for your e-mail and because the uVac worked so well as a headphone amplifier, and headphones have higher impedance that normal loudspeakers, i am confident your high efficiency speakers should be fine with the uVac. When you get the unit please e-mail me and let me know how it goes. As always...
Enjoy the Music,
Steven R. Rochlin
PS: uVac is making him a 16 ohm version.
April 2006
Phil Gold,
Your canal earphone review was great. I have the 5pro's and really love them. I also have the Sennheiser HD 590 and really like them also. Just wanted to say thanks for the great review. It's always nice to see a good review of your favorite gear.
Thanks,
Keith Adler
April 2006
You have a great site...
Mark Mccaslin
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