Asr

Probably good advice, I might as well order both box sets. I take it that either box set will have exceptional resale value?

So apparently if I want to get as many CDs to sound as optimal as possible, I should order the Mono box set, and then the Yellow Submarine and Abbey Road stereo remasters individually? (for example) As it looks like all the studio album remasters are also being released individually, but apparently they're all the stereo versions only. I think I should've ordered this Mono box set earlier....

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but what makes the Mono box set so desirable? I'm not sure I get it - 10 albums released as mono-channel mixes, right? Why would anyone want to listen to a mono-channel mix on a two-channel system in favor of a stereo mix? Seems kinda odd to me....

Btw, I read in the BHSE thread at Head-Fi of some confusion with the options that were available for it. These are all the options Justin offered: - Headphone jack configuration: 1 Stax Pro/1 HE90, 2 Stax Pro, 1 Stax Pro/1 Normal - Color of: front panel, tube base rings, volume knob, & cone feet (black, silver, or blue/gray) - DACT 24-stepped pot or Alps RK50 (+$1K) It'd be interesting to see pics of every customer's BHSE, given this level of customization that Justin allowed.

Big thanks to spritzer for the info on checking & adjusting bias of the tubes. I finally had a chance today to check the bias and all is well now. (I picked up a multimeter a while ago, but then I also had to find a really small flat-head screwdriver to adjust the trim pots.) As it turns out, the R+ to R- had the most extreme offset at +0.8V. And now that I have the tubes biased, I'll make sure to always re-position them correctly in the future. My setup is still at work, where I've been listening almost every day. Still sounds really damn good, but I'm starting to gravitate back towards my dynamic headphones. My Qualia/HP2/AD2000 trio fills more of my sonic preferences than the OII and SR-X MKIII. (I also find the dynamic headphones to have a certain kind of assertiveness that the OII and SR-X lack, for whatever reason.) There is one thing that the OII/BHSE does exceptionally well though, which is delivering the music and every detail in a completely unforced way and allows you to hear every "texture" and tonal shading that might exist on the recording. String, brass, & woodwind instruments really benefit from this in particular, they sound completely authentic - and the OII is amazing for classical music (or film soundtracks as the case might be) for this reason. The orchestra is full without sounding blurry or congested, and any time the percussion comes in (drums or cymbals), the timing is always spot-on. The OII really is as amazing as I've read it to be, but amped by even the BHSE, it's not my ideal headphone, and if I kept my electrostatic setup (I'm 50/50 on it at the moment) it'd be a secondary headphone at best. I'm contemplating a 4070 but at the same time I'm also considering reverting to a dynamic setup since I already have headphones that I really like there (and I can't imagine ever parting with the AD2K)....

I noticed the RMAF Exhibitor list has integrated the Head-Fi vendors instead of making a separate list. Looks like everyone (except Ultrasone) will be packed into the "Rocky Mountain Event Center," wherever that is: - Audeze - Head-Direct - HeadAmp - HeadRoom - JH Audio - Lavry - Moon Audio - RSA - Sennheiser - Ultrasone - Marriott 427 - Woo Audio I also noticed these vendors who I'm pretty sure weren't at the past two years' shows (and I'm sure there are plenty more): - April Music - Emotiva - Marantz - Quad - Weiss - ZYX

Music Direct Labor Day 10% Off sale: So what is it with these 45RPM box sets? And I hope Acoustic Sounds does a sale too, they have something I'd like to buy. Hopefully they don't limit hardware like Music Direct because that's even moar lame!

Elusive Disc Labor Day 10% Off Sale:

Pics from an intra-state trip to Mesa Verde and the Four Corners last weekend (8/21-23). I wish I could say that at least one of these was straight from the camera, but alas, all were tweaked with Photoshop. Sequence numbers from left-right, up-down: 1 - San Juan mtns between Sawpit & Telluride, CO (1/250 @ f/10, 85mm) 2 - On the way into Telluride - town not much further away from grove of distant trees (1/125 @ f/8, 50mm) 3 - Inside Mesa Verde National Park (1/125 @ f/10, 50mm) 4 - "Dead" tree grove inside MVNP, 1 of 3 (1/160 @ f/8, 17mm) 5 - "Dead" tree grove inside MVNP, 2 of 3 (1/500 @ f/4, 48mm) 6 - "Dead" tree grove inside MVNP, 3 of 3 (1/500 @ f/4, 48mm) 7 - Cliff Palace cliff dwelling on Chapin Mesa inside MVNP (1/320 @ f/4, 50mm) 8 - Butte near the Four Corners, 1 of 2 (1/30 @ f/11, 150mm) 9 - Butte near the Four Corners, 2 of 2 (1/30 @ f/13, 50mm) 10 - Unknown mesa near the Four Corners (1/60 @ f/9, 150mm) 11 - San Juan summit pass between Silverton-Ouray, 1 of 4 (1/30 @ f/20, 31mm) 12 - San Juan summit pass between Silverton-Ouray, 2 of 4 (1/30 @ f/18, 17mm) 13* - San Juan summit pass between Silverton-Ouray, 3 of 4 (1/160 @ f/8, 98mm) 14 - San Juan summit pass between Silverton-Ouray, 4 of 4 (1/160 @ f/14, 50mm) 15* - Blue Mesa Reservoir (past Black Canyon, before Gunnison) (1/160 @ f/8, 34mm) * converted to grayscale due to incorrect exposure (overexposure on 13, underexposure on 15)

James Newton-Howard - The Village [OST] (this music was the best part of the movie)

Hrmm, interesting food for thought, thanks. I've heard the SR-404 Limited actually though and didn't really like it, something about it didn't sit with me. I'll look into either the 4070 or a Lambda Sig then. SR-X Pro is out for me, I'd prefer to not hunt down a rare item.

Is there a stat headphone that sounds at least a little like the Qualia 010? (In other words, very treble-tilted.) I've been doing a sort of comparison of my OII/BHSE setup against my dynamic headphones (AD2000, Qualia, HP2....and actually the JH13 too) and have found a gaping sonic hole in the OII as far as my preferences go. To its credit, the OII can cover a huge range of my CD collection on its own but I find myself missing the treble of the Qualia when I listen to certain CDs. I did hear both the SR-Omega and 4070 some weeks ago at the NorCal meet but my memory of those headphones has faded and I wasn't using the BHSE with those (rather the WES).

Audio-Technica > Denon When is AT going to come out with a W7000 to quash the D7000?

Am I the only one who thought "D2000" was going to be a euphemism for something else?

I just now noticed this after reading your post. And given the few times that I've already removed & inserted the tubes, I have to assume I have them placed out of position by now. So does it matter much if the tubes aren't in their original positions now? I have access to a multimeter but no idea how to check the bias of the tubes even after reading the previous page. If someone could provide steps of how a newbie can do it, I'd be most grateful.

If you plan on "guarding" your rig while you're at the show, I predict you won't have as good a time than if you went around and explored the floor and the rest of RMAF across the two hotels. I have no idea what you'd be worried about. I'm sure the Head-Fiers in attendance will look out for each others' gear as usual at every meet that's ever happened. Is that short for Rocky Mountain HeadFest? Look forward to seeing you there Greg! I'll bring my own bottled contributions as well. Will any other notorious HC-ers from California, Florida, or NYC be making the trip too btw? The more the merrier....

Katie Melua - Piece By Piece

Head-Fi Audio Fest? Hey if this is going to be an annual event alongside CanJam, might as well give it a distinct name that separates the two and identifies it more with RMAF.

Will do my best with the help of the PM system over at HF. If anyone here on HC is thinking about traveling out for RMAF btw and wants to send gear, I will gladly be the recipient, caretaker, and return shipper. I don't have a whole lot of space left though (combining space availability at home and at work) so a few other people might have to also step up. Also given the distance between DIA (the airport) and the RMAF hotels, I will also volunteer to drive any travelers in either direction depending on the flight time (the hotels are too far from DIA to provide free shuttle service). There is a much smaller airport closer to the Denver Tech Center (Centennial Airport) but I don't know anything about it.

I received the following info recently from a newsletter sent by Audio Unlimited Denver, one of Colorado's biggest dealers for multiple brands (more than 30). As usual, looks like they won't be pulling any punches. First is this blurb for the headphone part of RMAF, and this is a direct quote from the newsletter: And the dealer's display systems: > Maroon Peak Focal Maestro Utopia ($50K) (speakers) ** Focal Grande Utopia EM (speakers) Clearaudio Innovation turntable w/ Performance tonearm MBL 1621A transport ($24K) MBL 1611F USB DAC ($24.75K) ** Running Springs Audio Maxim power conditioner ** > Blanca Peak Hansen Emperor (speakers) Transrotor Tourbillon turntable w/ Graham Phantom tonearm Accuphase C-27 phono stage ($12K) ** Accuphase DP-800 transport & DC-801 DAC Hansen Knight (speakers) Accuphase DP-700 CDP ($26K) > Room 2007 MBL 111F Radial ($35K) (speakers) ** MBL 116F Radial ($25K) (speakers) ** MBL 1511F ($10.65K) & 1521A ($10.95K) DAC/transport > Room 2009 Focal Scala Utopia Transrotor ZET 3.2 turntable w/ Phono II Phono Pre Air Tight PC-1, ATC-2, & ATM-211 (cartridge, pre-amp, monoblock) Accuphase DP-600 CDP ($19K) > Room 2013 Hansen Prince V2 (speakers) Clearaudio Innovation turntable Aesthetix CD Player ($5K) ** Aesthetix Rhea Signature Phono Pre, Calypso Signature Pre-amp, Atlas Mono Amps > Room 2017 Electrocompaniet Nordic Tone (speakers) ** Electrocompaniet EMC-1UP CDP Electrocompaniet ECR-1 (tuner), EC 4.8 (pre-amp), & AW400 (monoblock) > Conifer 3 Focal 30th Anniversary 826W (speakers) ** Focal Electra 1038Be (speakers) ** Pathos electronics ** indicates North America- or World-premier new-release components More info on Audio Unlimited display components Aesthetix CD Player: - balanced differential tube voltage gain and output stage - multiple input DAC including asynchronous transform mode over USB at 24/96 (upgradeable to 24/192) - $5K MSRP Focal Maestro Utopia: - 3.5-way full-range floorstanding design w/ dual 11" woofers - "W" composite drivers - $50K MSRP Focal 30th Anniversary Limited Edition 826W: - two colors available: Satin Imperial Red or Black Gloss - "W" composite drivers - Alu-Magnesium tweeters - $3,495 MSRP

1st impression: I'm absolutely mesmerized by the OII/BHSE. Damn good. No make that really damn good. I've been listening at very low volume (4th notch up from zero) but even then, it still sounds amazing. So fluid and I can hear everything. I can't wait to crank this up later.... It's also usually really quiet at work, so I can hear the music just fine even at low volume. There's an amazing coherence at low volume too, which is even more impressive.

No need to be impatient, I'm sure there'll be a mini-meet soon enough.

What? Where? I am, but where I am, the amp is pretty safe for the most part. It's a small company, there are 2 sets of entry doors that are electronically locked, I'm in a relatively isolated area, and my co-workers are all cool guys (no thieves here, I've checked 'em out). And given the software-oriented nature of our work, the amp is also unlikely to be seen much on any given day.

So curiosity got the better of me and I've set up my BHSE at work since I don't have space for it at home right now. I plan to listen on and off throughout the day.

I received word of the amp's dimensions from Jack today, as I recently inquired about them: 16.5"x12"x4" (height includes feet). +3.5" for the plastic panel. Wait, "plastic"? I thought it was acrylic, but that's what Jack said....