CarlSeibert

>>>"harvest and redirect the AC line noise into a storage tank" OK then. -Carl

Speaking of power regenerators... Has anybody actually tired one the the UPSs that work that way? It's an intriguing thought. Five or six hundred bucks for a UPS is in the range of (sort of) reason for cleaning up mains power, particularly if you live somewhere where the sags and spikes are downright dangerous to your gear. On the other hand, the several thousand dollars an audiophile re-gen power conditioner is silly unless you just have more money then you need. Personally, I'm pretty sure five grand for a Berkeley Alpha DAC will buy me a lot more sound quality than any amount of power line filtering. -Carl

Some people say that about speaker cable, too. Personally, I think the very act of having less cable is probably better. Unless of course the idea is to separate components that really shouldn't be right on top of each other. Then again, how many two-chassis components have umbilicals that are half a foot long... hmmm. -Carl

Thanks! You're the second person to bring up Signal Cable. A local friend has one of their power amp cords and a set of speaker wires and is thrilled with them. They're beautifully crafted, good performing and he paid really fair prices. On their site I saw this one: MagicPower Digital Reference 12 AWG 3 conductor twisted design High purity stranded copper for maximum conductivity Copper braid + foil double shield Teflon insulation + Teflon outer jacket It looks REAL familiar. Deja vu all over again. It's pretty much exactly like mine, except they've got that cool herringbone jacket and they used a Schurter IEC plug instead of a Marinco. For about $10 more than the parts cost me(!) If only it wasn't as still as rebar. Have you ever tried their digital cables, by chance? I'll probably build this cord. I've got to order some parts anyway. But I'll be needing a S/PDIF cable soon. It's longer than I have patience to build, unless it turns out to be a just-use-the-magic-coax-as-it-comes-off-the-reel affair. Reks - I didn't remember, but I used a Volex cord on a project a while back. It looks a bit nicer than the Belden to me, but I never compared the two. When I Googled Volex, I hit Allied Electronics' site. I used to have their catalog when I was a kid. I had no idea they were still around. -Carl

Hi, Has anybody got a great idea for a really good power cable that's under about $50 in parts cost, including connectors? The new Woo needs a power cord. At the moment, it's attached to the wall with a spare 14/3 Belden. My past thoughts on power cords have been pretty basic - for-real adequately sized conductors and shield the living bejeezus out of it. I've had good luck with some nice star-quad plenum wire with the safety ground on the outside, a la the recipe on TakeFive Audio. I pulled one of those cords out of my living room system and tried it on the Woo. It was lovely. But nowadays everybody's into braiding everything. I've made some very nice sounding interconnects that are unshielded. And, by the foot, that plenum cable is getting pretty pricey. Maybe it's time to question assumptions and maybe try something new. Ideas? -Carl

There is absolutely no scummy, despicable act that can't find somebody to commit it. Shoplifting a kitten? Can't say I've heard of that before but sadly, I'm not surprised. -Carl

Yeah. It goes deep and is tight and quick if the amp's up to the task. Some people say they're thin in the mid-bass. Personally I hear what might be a little suck-out in the upper bass. But it's the sort of thing that one person might call a suck-out and another might just say is not having too much warmth. They're still not the fastest race car on the track on top, compared to some other headphones. But now that my Woo 6SE is getting well broken in and I have the Sophia 274B in, I'm having a hard time finding anything to criticize up there. -Carl

My 701s improved significantly with a good double-entry recable. (Moon Audio Black Dragon) Somebody said it, but I'll say it again. They take an insane amount of burn-in. Mine sounded like ass straight out of the box. I left them playing in picnic cooler covered with blankets for two weeks and they sounded promising. After six months of use they started sounding good. For all I know, they may still be breaking in.... -Carl

x2. Dunno why, but their version of "Powderfinger" has always felt right to me. Some people are outright offended by the Junkies' version. Music is strange and mysterious stuff. -Carl

Just an update. Now I've had the Woo WA6SE long enough to form an opinion or two. Remember the restaurant scene in Pulp Fiction where Vincent asks about the shake? "It's a rectifier tube? It's not in the signal path? [buddy nods] and it's $150?" [buddy says yeah] "And you don't put bourbon in it or nothin?" A few minutes later, Vincent takes a sip... "Damn! I don't know if it's worth $150." "But that's a pretty fucking good rectifier tube!" There you have it. For me, the Sophia Princess 274B turned out to be more than pretty freakin good, it's more in freakin must-have territory. I'm not the first to say this, but if you have a Woo 6SE, you probably need the Princess, or some NOS exotica that's probably even more expensive. In my rig, the stock Sovtek tube tilted the tonal balance downward. Things were bassy and over warm. The Sophia fixed all that. The upper mids opened up. Bass was tight and right. Dynamics were better (OK, now THAT I can actually visualize coming from a rectifier tube, but tonal balance?) My Sennhieser 650s were OK with the stock tube. I figured the K-701s would fare better - complimentary flaws and all that. Not even a little. The AKGs just didn't cut it with the stock tube. I had heard my 701s on Gene's 6SE and they were fine, so I wasn't all that surprised when I put the 274B in and they just came alive. But I'm scratching my head anyway. Now they sound really very good. Go figure. All standard disclaimers apply - my ears, my tastes, your mileage may sound different, etc. That said, with this tube installed (and I haven't even thought about rolling the 6DE7s yet) I'm enthralled with the 6SE. -Carl

Cake! The best thing about birthdays. Happy Birthday, Mike! -Carl

They're touring now, as a matter of fact. No dates in Florida, though. For a while, they were selling an MP3 of "The Sharon Session" on their site. But I can't find it now. Bummer. (For those who aren't full fledged Junkie junkies, the Sharon Session was the original recording of Caution Horses, done in the single mike style of Trinity Session, in a place called the Sharon Temple. The band rejected the session and RCA wasn't exactly keen on it either. It wasn't heard for the longest time. It's not the lost masterpiece, but its versions of a couple of the songs are pretty interesting.) -Carl

Agreed. There are bands that sound interesting and even interesting and similar, Hem comes to mind, but without Michael Timmins' songs.......... -Carl

If you are thinking Cary, you should check with Oswaldo or Drew Baird. It seems like every time I turn around lately, Drew is emailing about Cary selling something half-price-ish. -Carl

A pair of prodigious platters of plastic. Sorry. Couldn't help myself. An alliterative illiterate. It's two 180 gram 33.33 rpm disks - beautiful, dead flat, silent, excellent sounding pressings, in proper audiophile plastic-lined inner sleeves (Somehow, when an album costs the best part of fifty bucks, I think a Nitty Gritty sleeve is in order. Thank you very much.) The sound is head and shoulders above the 44.1 digital version - guitar timber, vocal, just about everything. This is the first Junkies album since way back, Caution Horses or Black Eyed Man maybe, where the vinyl has sounded that much better than the CD for me. There's a bit of tape pre-echo (print-though) here and there. I don't know if they ran tape at the session or if at some point in the process the master was transferred from high-res digital to tape or what. Or if it's some diabolical digital effect, invented because Shelby Lynne wrote that she thinks print-through is charming. But the net result rocks. It got a tout on Fremer's 'Heavy Rotation' list in Stereophile. That might make it a bit hard to find. It wasn't in stock at Elusive Disk or Music Direct. It is available at CowboyJunkies.com. At the moment, the exchange rate makes it a better deal there if you're paying in USD anyway. If the Junkies haven't been your favorite band for twenty years, this may not matter. On the other hand, if they have, you probably seriously want this LP. -Carl

I'm sorry to hear that. My condolences. If you want a diversion for a couple hours, shoot me a PM or a call and we'll play with those speakers. -Carl

Oh dear. Just limp into the Herald's circulation area before you collapse. -Carl

And for no other reason than we love them and that they seem to us to be the cutest cats in the world... ... we have Jazz, who is a ragdoll, but she doesn't know that means she's supposed to behave a certain way. She just thinks she's a kitten. ...and Enigma, helping Bonnie read a magazine. -Carl

I have a set of MicroFonkens. If Mike's got a sub, I can bring them. They're not much bigger than a set of headphones. We'll need something to serve as stands, too. I've been working for months on an overly ambitious pair that never seems to get done. Or we can give them a listen in my den. Neighborhood-wise I think I'm less of a drive for you than Mike's, actually. -Carl

Gawd, this thread's going through a sudden growth spurt. Since Gene's bring his Woo, I'll just bring my cans and their cables. I have just acquired - and will probably still own in two weeks time - a vintage Aragon DAC. I can bring it if anybody's interested in hearing what 15 years has done for digital conversion. Could be amusing. -Carl

Excellent! -Carl

Lynx. Hmmmm. Has anybody out there listened to the Lynx vs some other (read cheaper) soundcard or USB converter option? With the Berkeley or some other top-drawer DAC? A number of people who don't seem to be hearing challenged have said it's better/great/whatever, but I'm a little more comfortable if I -or people I actually know - have said "yes, it's worth the money", or "no, it's not", based on actually hearing the damned thing. If something seems logical or makes sense on general principle or costs very little (like dressing your interconnects neatly, say) that's one thing. I'm all for taking a flyer. But this is one heck of an expensive sound card we're talkin' about here. 14 /16ths of which we won't utilize. And the idea doesn't square with the popular notion of what matters in digital audio (not that that's any real guide) A good comparative listen would seem in order. -Carl

The Fremer DVD is actually pretty good and it does have a segment on setting up VPIs. Just don't watch the part where he accidentally whacks a tone arm and sends it skidding across the surface of a record (or maybe it was the top of the platter) -Carl

Oh come on now. Pain is perceived. If you feel that you feel more or less of it, you feel more or less of it. That's my feeling anyway. The same can be said of music. -Carl

That, or the design of the two products is actually a little different apart from just the bus that they go on. Who knows. Personally, I think I should be entitled to a bit-perfect, jitter-free, totally wonderful stream from my $12 piece of crap soundcard. But I think all kinds of crazy stuff. -Carl