What New Stuff Have You Bought? If You Care To Share Thead! :)

[Jaybeez]

Adding two channel gear to my garage recording studio. Pulled the trigger on :
Yamaha AS501 and Marantz CD5004

 

[3db]

I bought this on a whim... on a DVD for $9.99.

 

[slipperybidness]

Ordered a set of the JBL Syncrhos E40BT in red. At $60, that was tough to pass up! Reviews are very good, only negative is that JBL chose to use a proprietary 2.5mm charging jack I figure that at $60 I'll deal with it.

I also took a long look at the Bluedio H+ and T2+, those are nice b/c they have SD readers and FM tuners built in too. But, I've had my eye on the Synchros since they were released, didn't want to pay ~$130 for the E50BT, found a good price on the E40BT instead.

http://www.amazon.com/JBL-E40BT-Black-High-Performance-Bluetooth/dp/B00LLKDZ32/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1447075783&sr=8-1&keywords=synchros+e40bt

 

[afterlife2]

Ordered a set of the JBL Syncrhos E40BT in red. At $60, that was tough to pass up! Reviews are very good, only negative is that JBL chose to use a proprietary 2.5mm charging jack I figure that at $60 I'll deal with it.

I also took a long look at the Bluedio H+ and T2+, those are nice b/c they have SD readers and FM tuners built in too. But, I've had my eye on the Synchros since they were released, didn't want to pay ~$130 for the E50BT, found a good price on the E40BT instead.

http://www.amazon.com/JBL-E40BT-Black-High-Performance-Bluetooth/dp/B00LLKDZ32/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1447075783&sr=8-1&keywords=synchros+e40bt

Nice man. I got the S500 and love em'. Let us know how you like them.

 

[Lulimet]

After two years with Android, it was time to go back to iOS and probably stay here for a long time.
Got myself a new iPhone 6S.

 

[j_garcia]

I bought this on a whim... on a DVD for $9.99.

LOL. Should have looked for the BD. The 4K scan reissue was $6 a while back when bundled with another movie at BB.

Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Ghostbusters-4K-Mastered-Included-Digibook-Blu-ray/dp/B00KUS5YGC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1447092849&sr=8-2&keywords=ghostbusters

 

[3db]

LOL. Should have looked for the BD. The 4K scan reissue was $6 a while back when bundled with another movie at BB.

Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Ghostbusters-4K-Mastered-Included-Digibook-Blu-ray/dp/B00KUS5YGC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1447092849&sr=8-2&keywords=ghostbusters

We don;t get the same deals in Canada as you do in the US.

 

[hankki]

I just ordered tickets to Black Sabbath "The End tour" concert in Helsinki next summer on July 7th. Hopefully they are all still alive then... It's "only" a 300 mile trip, one way but I think I'll go by train.

Replying myself again
Ordered Iron Maiden tickets yesterday for their "Book of souls" tour in Hameenlinna, Finland on June 29th. So two mega bands in 8 days
There is still Deep Purple and Uriah Heep, same concert, that I'm thinking about getting tickets to.

 

[TLS Guy]

As you know I don't make a lot of purchases. However I have made a couple. My old 10 year old plus router was starting to object to all the mobile devices, when the grandchildren and often friends were all on their mobile devices.

So I bought and installed this Linksys WRT 1900AC

I'm very happy with it and it has fantastic range and gives a good signal three floors down!

The other purchase has involved the completion of the AV studio amp rack with all 909s. Originally there was only one 909 in the rig, the rest were 405-2. Fairly quickly a Quad 909 was put on the center, plus completing three 909s for the mains.

The surrounds were powered by a Quad 909 a few years later.

About a year or so ago the HF amp for the rear backs was replaced with a 909.

Recently I had a bargain deal on eBay for another 909 and now the bass speakers of the rear backs have a 909 driving them.

The rear backs were the last speakers to be powered by the Quad 405-2s

Below is the amp case with a bank of 7 909 power amps. Total power potentially available 3,500 watts.

I also power the main speakers downstairs with a Quad 909 and a Quad 405-2 on the subs.

I have another Quad 909 at Eagan powering the mains, and a Quad 405-2 powering the sub section of the mains. Half a Quad 405-2 powers the center.

I hate to have to admit that I now own 9 Quad 909 power amps!

That bank of 7 power the AV rig with smooth effortless power and are pretty much coasting. They never run out of gas with even the largest forces.

 

[rojo]

* Note: The previous post really ought to have a sound track -- maybe a choir of angels, or Also Sprach Zarathustra.

 

[3db]

This

and this

 

[slipperybidness]

Below is the amp case with a bank of 7 909 power amps. Total power potentially available 3,500 watts.

Modern times, the wireless router has become a VERY IMPORTANT link in the AV / Entertainment chain! If you try to cheap out on your router, you are in for a world of pain.

In the past, I went through a D-Link and then a LinkSys, before finally getting an Asus that has been rock solid for several years now. I also put a 3rd party firmware on my Asus called Tomato. Tomato allows you to tweak settings that the OEM firmware does not, gives you more control over the router.

Those amps don't get too hot all stacked in a single location like that? Obviously you have the cooling under control. How did you handle that? Just HVAC vents in the room?

 

[fmw]

I have been using a 12" subwoofer with my office computer system audio. It has been located in the leg well of the desk and was a bit large for comfort. So I got one of these to replace it and moved the larger sub to my exercise room.

It is the Bic V1020 which is an inexpensive down firing 10" subwoofer. It has some advantages over other inexpensive 10" subs in that it has speaker level connection with real binding posts. In fact it was the only one I could find that met that requirement. It also has the normal LFE connector, on/auto/off switch, phase switch and volume and crossover controls. You may view this little sub as inadequate for home theater and I would agree with you. But for an office computer that plays only music with the sub located right next to my right leg, it is more than enough.

 

[Irvrobinson]

I hate to have to admit that I now own 9 Quad 909 power amps!

You hate to admit it? I don't believe you. I think you love having nine Quad 909 amps. It's okay, we understand.

 

[TLS Guy]

Modern times, the wireless router has become a VERY IMPORTANT link in the AV / Entertainment chain! If you try to cheap out on your router, you are in for a world of pain.

In the past, I went through a D-Link and then a LinkSys, before finally getting an Asus that has been rock solid for several years now. I also put a 3rd party firmware on my Asus called Tomato. Tomato allows you to tweak settings that the OEM firmware does not, gives you more control over the router.

Those amps don't get too hot all stacked in a single location like that? Obviously you have the cooling under control. How did you handle that? Just HVAC vents in the room?

It is under control.

If you look at this picture you will see a round grill above the amp case.

This vent extracts air above the amp case. There is an ultra quiet Fantec fan in the attic right under the turbine attic ventilator for that part of the house. The fan exhausts right under the turbine. The fan comes on as soon as the three Quad 909s that power the left and right mains come on.

In this next picture you can see the speed control for that fan.

There are two vents in that chase for the HVAC. In the summer they are kept wide open, in the winter they are closed.

The rack stays very cool actually when used hard. Of the many advantages of Peter Walker's current dumping topology, is that the output transistors can be kept heavily biased to class B, and so run more efficiently and therefor cooler than for traditional class A/B amps. The class A amp feeds the error signal to correct the dumpers. The overall performance is determined by the low power class A amp which sends the error signal. So you get a class A amp with none of the disadvantages, in fact a lot of advantages over traditional class A/B topology. This issue is one of a number of factors that contributes to a long expected life for these amps.

The total number of advantages this has over traditional A/B amps is enormous. You get low part count, high efficiency, zero crossover distortion, no internal adjustments required and aging components going out of spec is to a large extent catered for by the self compensating nature of the topology.

Now this is so long out of patent, I have always failed to understand why this is not more common than standard A/B. There really are no significant downsides. They sound superb!

 

[TLS Guy]

You hate to admit it? I don't believe you. I think you love having nine Quad 909 amps. It's okay, we understand.

I plead guilty as charged. I love these amps. For domestic amps they are as good as it gets.

 

[slipperybidness]

I plead guilty as charged. I love these amps. For domestic amps they are as good as it gets.

Are there any white papers available for this current dumping amp design? Any chance you have some schematics?

I've heard you sing the praises more than once, I'd like to learn more about this topology. It's tough to understand exactly what "current dumping" means without some reference materials to study.

 

[TLS Guy]

Are there any white papers available for this current dumping amp design? Any chance you have some schematics?

I've heard you sing the praises more than once, I'd like to learn more about this topology. It's tough to understand exactly what "current dumping" means without some reference materials to study.

I have up loaded the paper Dec 1975 by Peter Walker in Wireless World.

Here is the Quad 405-2 circuit in its last iteration.

Now at first glance your reaction is going to be the same as mine was, and most others looking at these circuits the first time, will be "But it's not stable!" But my friend it is.

However stability is a big issue in this approach. Peter and I were in continuous correspondence in the early years, as I was the importer for Western Canada.

In order to make the original 405 stable, slow power transistors had to be sourced. This had the result of adversely affecting the slew rate. Further iterations, and there were at 14, to my recollection improved the situation.

Now to keep it stable bandwidth does need to be limited pretty much to the audio range.

In all iterations of the 405 and 405-2, the slew rate was a limiting factor. So at the higher frequencies full power was not available. However, as Peter pointed out music never calls for full output in the upper frequencies! So they sounded fine at least with the 405-2. The sound of the 405s was slightly veiled.

However as devices improved, and with tinkering by Peter and especially his successors, this problem was solved. From the 606 and up there is no high frequency power bandwidth limitation.

 

[slipperybidness]

I have up loaded the paper Dec 1975 by Peter Walker in Wireless World.

Here is the Quad 405-2 circuit in its last iteration.

Now at first glance your reaction is going to be the same as mine was, and most others looking at these circuits the first time, will be "But it's not stable!" But my friend it is.

However stability is a big issue in this approach. Peter and I were in continuous correspondence in the early years, as I was the importer for Western Canada.

In order to make the original 405 stable, slow power transistors had to be sourced. This had the result of adversely affecting the slew rate. Further iterations, and there were at 14, to my recollection improved the situation.

Now to keep it stable bandwidth does need to be limited pretty much to the audio range.

In all iterations of the 405 and 405-2, the slew rate was a limiting factor. So at the higher frequencies full power was not available. However, as Peter pointed out music never calls for full output in the upper frequencies! So they sounded fine at least with the 405-2. The sound of the 405s was slightly veiled.

However as devices improved, and with tinkering by Peter and especially his successors, this problem was solved. From the 606 and up there is no high frequency power bandwidth limitation.

Thanks, exactly the type of documentation that I was hoping to see!

 

[TLS Guy]

Thanks, exactly the type of documentation that I was hoping to see!

You are welcome. Let us know what you make of it all.

Often the road less traveled is the best route. Certainly my rig is a web of less and never before traveled roads.

The quest for accuracy is something we owe to the composers and performers. Changing intonation, balance dynamics and perspective seriously demean the artists vision, to say nothing of unwanted errors and omissions.

On armistice day, as I usually do, I listened to Benjamin Britten's War Requiem. This extraordinary work was written for the consecration of the new Coventry Cathedral in May of 1962. In November of 1940 the German Luftwaffe made a concentrated attack on the city of Coventry and the old cathedral and much of the city was destroyed. Britten said of this work "My subject is war and the Pity of war. The poetry is in the pity. All a poet can do today is warn."

This work takes it text form the Latin Miss de Profunctis and the poems of one of the greatest first world war poets Wilfred Owen. He was awarded the Military Cross and was killed in 1918 age 25. His poetry pulls no punches and Britten's music enhances the extreme horrors of war contained in these poems.

The work is antiphonal. There is a full orchestra in front with full choir and soprano soloist. It is also scored for organ bells and children's choir.

In the rear is a well fleshed out chamber orchestra with percussion. Preserving the antiphonal effect is essential for the proper understanding and impact of this work.

The Missa de Profunctis conjures up the ancient in most exquisite scoring with some intense moments also.

The mass is interspersed with setting of Owen's poems from the back, where the chamber orchestra is the male soloists and the chamber choir. The style of music from the rear is declamatory and as you would expect often violent. The tymps imitating gun fire with sudden ferocious outbursts.

This is a most moving and disturbing work.

Helmuth Rilling gave a wonderful performance of this in the Liederhalle Stuttgart. It is on Hanssler Classics SACD



The fact that the performers are German, makes this all the more moving to me, and move you it does.

That recording is a great one and the original acoustic wonderfully preserved.

The point of all this is that bank of amps and capable speakers is in the service of great art.

For this work to really have the impact it should, the antiphonal effect needs to be preserved or you have the muddle of earlier recordings. The rears really do need to be powerful and capable of the pretty large forces in the rear, and capable of reproducing the tymps with sudden terrifying ferocity. At the same time preserving the space of the location. The system needs to make the room defy its boundaries.