Daddyjt

I’ve given up on speakers - I just use big resistors now. I can hear the current flowing through them...

I promised this a while back, and actually completed it in October with my audio buddy Travis. The initial question - What sounds better, SACD or DVD Audio? I happen to have three (3) different albums in both formats, AND I have all three on CD (FLAC) as well. I will start by saying that this sounds like a fun challenge, but I assure you, it was anything but. I found it difficult, annoying, and frustrating AND it had the added bonus of pretty much burning me out on these albums. In fact, I was so annoyed with the whole challenge that I neglected to even write it up here. Then a couple days ago, @MLB111 kindly inquires about the results. Shit. I suppose I should publish them, if for no other reason that to dissuade anyone else from venturing down this path. To make matters worse, I cannot locate my original notes - but I can remember a lot of it, so I enlisted my son’s help (he’s just getting in to the hobby, and starting to learn the ins and outs of high quality audio). I’m going to break it up into 3 parts - one for each album, mainly because it’s tedious and exhausting, as you’ll soon see. The system - Oppo 105 to BillD C1 to Silver 9t pair, to NHT 2.9 speakers. Kimber and MIT ICs, and MIT Terminator 4 speaker cables. The album - The Nightfly, by Donald Fagen - SACD, DVDA, FLAC. Whenever I do something like this, with media OR gear, I tend to listen to the overall presentation of course, but for the real substantive measures, I tend to focus in on the smallest, most subtle details I can find in the recording, and compare those details - wether it be between speakers, amps, or in this case, SACD and DVDA. * I cannot stress this point enough before I continue - the differences between these discs (SACD & DVDA) are so subtle and so slight that even identifying them was exceedingly painstaking. Further, these differences would most likely NEVER manifest in normal listening and comparison * For Nightfly, I found the most differences in two tracks: Track #1, I.G.Y., and track #5, New Frontier. #1, I.G.Y. = at the 52 second mark, right as the intro ends, and the trumpet fades and the vocals start, there is a very slight cymbal that is completely different that the prior cymbal cadence. It’s one strike, slightly left of center and a couple feet behind the speaker plane. The same cymbal strike happens again at 1:25, 2:10, and a few more times later in the track (sorry, I didn’t feel like listing them all). This cymbal is more prominent in the DVDA. It is a bit more “buried” in the SACD version, and not as defined. At the 2:08 mark, there is a snappy bass “flurry”. The SACD presents this with a tiny bit more “pop”, and a better “edge” the the string plucks. As I listened to this track for perhaps the 20th time in this sitting (ugh), I turned to my son half way through and said “is that a tambourine ?” I have listened to this track many times in the past, and I don’t EVER remember a tambourine. Back to the start of the track, and sure enough, no tambourine. It actually comes in at the 1:28 mark. It’s subtle, and EASILY mistaken for a cymbal. The DVDA does a better (slightly) job of defining the individual cymbal-ettes (?) around the circumference of the tambourine than does the SACD. #5, New Frontier = At 1:30 (and again at 2:40) there is a distinctly different guitar sound solid.y in the left channel. It’s tone is so different that it is almost distracting. The SACD did a better job of blending this into the overall presentation - However I’m not positive that’s a good thing, so take it for what it’s worth. In the intro, there is a cowbell in the percussion. On the DVDA, it sounds more like a cowbell - on the SACD, it lacks some of the “metallic” overtones, rendering it almost more like a wood block, than a cowbell. There is also a harmonica solidly in the right channel in the intro. On the DVDA, this harmonica is considerably more forward and distinguishable. On the SACD, it is markedly buried in the mix of other sounds in the right side of the soundstage - THIS is the most significant difference in the two discs. Overall, the edge here goes to the DVDA - the subtleties noted above, and a very slight edge in overall clarity and separation of the many instruments is the reason I feel the SACD comes up ever so slightly short. Again, I cannot stress the small measures here - it literally took hours to determine the differences. As for CD and/or FLAC, the differences there are significant - width of sound stage, detail in the specifics listed above, and overall dynamics give a clear edge the either of the high res formats over CD or FLAC.

I actually DID do this back in October, but it was such a painful, fruitless endeavor that I never wrote it up.... Shit, now I kinda have to, don’t I?

The bass line in Unchained is a thing of rockin’ beauty...

Glad you revived them! FYI, if you are using the interconnect cable (and thus the “SDA” effect), it is strongly recommended by Polk that you not toe-in the speakers....

It’s not often that I stumble across Jazz that I really like - it’s just not my thing. However, I do like a handful of artists, including Patricia Barber, Dave Grusin, Tom Grant, etc. I just came across another addition to my list - Italian Chiara Civello. She has a flat out beautiful voice, and she sings in both English and her native Italian. More of a “modern” or “smooth” jazz, and very enjoyable, AND quite well recorded.

The crossover anomalies you mention have to do the the “SDA Effect” - half of the drivers get a sort of “cancelling” signal in each cabinet. This is also tied in to the umbilical that connects the two speakers together.

Welcome aboard - lots of tech minded folks here, you will fit right in!

First and Foremost, the artist him/herself needs to give a shit about recording quality. I find it beyond irksome that so few musicians demand high quality recording and mastering. I mean seriously - do they even listen to their CD after their studio work? I can count the number of “very good” (not even “excellent”) quality recordings from Van Halen, Beatles, Led Zepplin, or The Rolling Stones on NO HANDS. I KNOW it is possible, because some artists consistently turn out superb recordings - Steely Dan, Alison Krauss, Patricia Barber, Dire Straits...

If you’re anything like me, you are always searching for new (what I call) reference material. You know the tracks - they are the ones you go back to over and over, when you’re auditioning new gear, or when you just want a reminder of just how awesome your current system sounds. The search for these tracks is never ending for me, and I’m lucky to find one or two in a given year. Last night I found two in the same night, and a planned 30 minute listening session ended up being about 3 hours... The first came courtesy of @jazzman53 from his post in the “new music” thread. When he posted “Wicked Game” by Lydia Ainsworth, I just knew she was right up my alley, so I ordered three of her CDs. Upon listening to them, “Wicked Game” is not entirely indicative of the majority of her material - much of her material is even better! She has a ethereal vocal presentation combined with an electronic sound. Think great female vocals with a toned-down Deadmou5 sound. And her recording quality is sublime. My favorite (and new addition to reference tracks) was “Floating Dream” off her Phantom Forest album. This track has -and I don’t use this term lightly- perfect bass, superb imaging and wonderful depth, and the detail is right up there with my other reference tracks from Alison Krauss and Dire Straits. This gal gives me hope for the future of pop-style music. The second great find of the night has kind of a funny backstory. I went through a phase in my life when I had way more money than time. During that time, I bought a lot of SACDs that I barely listened to. However, I had one that I never even unwrapped - The Other Side by Godsmack. During my listening session, my wife came downstairs and listened for a bit (which very rarely happens). I asked her if there was anything she wanted to hear, and she asked about a particular Godsmack song that happened not to be in my FLAC library. That’s when I remembered the SACD I had. I got it off the shelf, unwrapped it and put it in the Oppo - as soon as I hit play, my jaw hit the floor. The detail, the clarity, the imaging... just.... WOW.... just about every track on this disc is pure GOLD. One of my quickest and easiest go-to tests for recording quality is cymbals. If I can’t tell the difference between a hi-hat, crash and ride cymbal, it’s not reference. The Godsmack disc features a perfectly miced and mixed drum kit - every different type of cymbal (and tamboreen) has its own sound signature AND place within the soundstage - pure magic! And yes, there’s more than just cymbals, but you get the idea. This disc is now in my top 5 (actually top 2 or 3 with Love over Gold and Rumors) reference discs. the Lydia Ainsworth track - YouTube won’t do it justice, but you’ll get the idea:

THANK YOU @jazzman53 - she is one of my new favorites!

So I’ve watched Tenet twice now, and I’m still confused. I knew going in that I was going to have to be on my toes for a Nolan film (see also Interstellar and Inception). However, this one is on a whole new level. Complicating understanding is perhaps the worst sound mix I’ve heard in a long time - mushy diffuse dialogue (often times hampered by gas masks on the main charachters), and WAY over mixed bass (I had to turn my sub down from 35 to 20, and it was still heavy). I think there are some holes in the plot, but I can’t say for sure. All that said, it IS quite a fun film - great effects, and very satisfying when some of the plot elements come together as the film progresses. I recommend you see it, if for no other reason than maybe you can explain some of the finer points to me...

He is insatiably greedy - he led the Eagles to break the $100 ticket barrier when most bands were still around $60. He was a jackass for running Don Felder out of the band (over money). To be fair, Fry had a hand in this too. He is “Mr. Lawsuit”, even going so far as to attempt to sue for royalties on the sale of used CDs. Im sure there’s more, but these are just the ones I know of off the top of my head....

As always, great post @Butcher . Don Henley is quite high on my list as well....

I came up with the idea for this discussion after watching a fun/interesting/sad documentary on The Bee Gees the other night. I think we can all agree that there have been some first-class douche bags in music history, for a variety of reasons, so throw out your (least) favorite individuals here! I christen the thread with none other than Steve Dahl, the mastermind of the “the disco demolition night” on July 12th, 1979. I had heard briefly about this event, but until I watched the documentary, I had never heard of Dahl. After doing a bit of research, I came to the pretty quick conclusion that this guy is a smug, angry little man, that for whatever reason had a real hard-on for The Bee Gees. While not a serious fan of disco myself, I have always kinda liked The Bee Gees story, and I have also found their demise quite sad. I did not know what prolific song writers they became, after the demise of disco. Anyway, back to Dahl - Look, I truly despise modern rap music - with a passion. HOWEVER, I would never dream of a stunt like Dahl orchestrated. If people want to listen to that garbage, so be it. But no, Dahl had to wreck an entire genre, because of his personal animus. Sad. Anyway, he’s my nomination for the music douchebagery hall of fame... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disco_Demolition_Night

Barry Gibb of The Bee Gees has released a collection of country duets with a plethora of huge names. The album is quite good, and if you get the “target exclusive” version, you’ll get two bonus tracks:-) https://www.target.com/p/barry-gibb-greenfields-the-gibb-brothers-songbook-vol-1-target-exclusive-cd/-/A-81880913

While I’m admittedly not as old as many of you here, every once in a while I come across something that really makes me feel OLD... Case in point, NPR’s list of the top 100 songs of 2020. Now I’ve always thought of NPR as a bit dull, or even stodgy - after all, they ARE public ally funded, and therefor should at least attempt to steer clear of offending any large swaths of the populace. How wrong I am... Topping the list of the best of 2020 is the artistic masterpiece “WAP” - I shit you not. This is the song NPR says is THE BEST of 2020. For a moment, I thought maybe it’s place on the list was simply a reflection of album sales or streams, or however such things are measured, but then I read the accompanying review... Double face-palm... https://www.npr.org/2020/12/03/934634998/the-100-best-songs-of-2020-page-5?utm_source=page4&utm_campaign=next&utm_term=bottom&utm_medium=internal

Welcome aboard...! What lucky speakers are getting all that power?!

Kind of along that same line: I threw this system together along one of the side walls in my old HT back in MT to test a 500t mkii I did for someone (probably @Sk1Bum ). Carver 490t (I don’t know what tubes, it came from @Gene C ) into a BillD C1, into a 500t mkii, running the Klipsch RF7 pair. With good (actually GREAT) source material, this system was spectacular - on poor recordings, it was mediocre at best. I could never recapture that particular magic. It’s the only time the Klipsch pair sounded musical, and they knocked it out of the park. I’m sure it had something to do with the room acoustics, but the same setup falls flat anywhere else I try to set it up...

Hmmm... Let me count.... Wait, I lost track - let me start again.... Well shit, - Yea.... One of the best lessons I learned in my work career that translates very well to this hobby is the “Fail Fast” principal. If you try something and it doesn’t work, fail fast and move on - admit that it wasn’t to be, vs spending precious time twisting against the wind.

I too had a pair of the ALIII (they are my son’s now). No matter what I did, I just could not fall in love with them. To my ears, they lacked the “exciting” sound that (I think) comes from a mix of dynamic range, a solid low end, and crystal clear highs. I don’t know what specifically they lacked, but they were just never exciting... My point is, maybe it’s not a placement issue, or a you issue - it just might be the speakers... My son loves them, but he listens to a lot of jazz, which isn’t really that demanding on speakers.

Another of my favorite off-beat Mel Gibson films is Get The Gringo. This movie is part drama, part action flick, with a healthy dose of dark comedy, and just a splash of love story. Im not usually a fan of narration (it’s usually a crutch to fill-in plot gaps in a troublesome script), but Mel’s narration in this film is sardonic smart-assery that is at time laugh out loud funny. The story is a fun ride, and a twist at the end is the icing on the cake. And the sound track is wonderful!

I look forward to seeing this hopefully on DVD in the future...

Don’t over think it. I sit 1.5 x the distance between the speakers away from the front plane of the speaker cabinets. If the speakers have a rear-firing port, tweeter or passive radiator, bring them at least 2’ out from the front wall. I find toe-in enhances imaging, but usually at the cost of sound stage width/depth. There ARE exceptions - Bose, Ribbons, Electro-stats, etc. the biggest thing - play around with different setups... there are no rules!

Not that I’m aware of - any recommendations?