May 6, 2000
Subject: Component matching
Hi Wes,
As a long time reader of Stereophile, I have enjoyed
your articles greatly. They are very informative and have matured my understanding of
hi-fi sound to wallet-damaging proportions! I'm presently putting together an
"affordable" and respectable sound system, but after reading through reviews and
the like, I have come to realize that component matching is essential to getting a good
sounding system.
My problem is the fine art of component matching, with the
limited ability to A/B/C switch components, because not all dealers have all the desired
pieces in one place. I have read that one forward component can be balanced with a more
laid back component to achieve a more neutral presentation. However, I have also read that
this is an oversimplification of the concept, because two wrongs do not make a right! What
is your opinion of system matching? Can I accurately rely on the musical signature of one
component as a countermeasure against the sonic exaggerations of another component? Or are
combinations in general unpredictable creatures that make your guess as good as mine, and
that only an audition can reveal the unique sonic nature of those combined components?
Thank you for your response Wes,
James Adams
Dear James:
Component matching is still more art than science
in my opinion. You can spot mismatches pretty easily from comparing specs -- especially
output/input inpedances -- but finding those magical pieces that truly lock in to
one another is still pretty hit or miss.
SoundStage!'s Standout Systems column
tackles this very question -- and in the next couple of weeks I'll be contributing a
few of the system matches I've been blessed enough to experience. In the meantime, you
might check the Archives on that.
Your logic makes sense on your system, BTW. Two
colored components can't produce neutral sound, but when we speak of component
characteristics, we are generally speaking broadly and generally rather than of deep
character analysis.
And while you can't always find what you want at an
audio dealers, a good dealer knows his lines and usually has some set up tricks and
product-matching knowledge that is worth employing.
ATB...Wes
May 5, 2000
Subject: Car audio/home audio
Hello,
I would like to upgrade my car audio system as I take
frequent road trips. However, none of the products offered by car audio manufacturers
(Alpine, Blaupunkt, Pioneer, etc.) really appeal to me.
I was just wondering if you have heard of people using home
audio systems as car audio systems. I have a true sine wave DC to AC inverter and a high
quality alternator on my motor, so am capable of supplying a reasonable amount of power to
home audio components without danger of a dead battery. I thought instead of traditional
car audio I could buy a Linn Classik, place it on some sort of stabilizer, and put it in
the center of my dash, and velcro Gallo Micros on each end of the dash (not sure where to
put the sub yet). I have heard the Classik and Micros separately and they both appealed to
me. (It may not be the case, but I believe they would sound very nicely together.)
The Classik is in my plans because it is an extraordinary
combination of simplicity and small size (both key features for car audio) and the Micros
for their size. Do you think my setup would work? Is their something even simpler that
would still produce high quality music?
Thank you,
Allen
Dear Allen:
I get what you want here, it's pretty much what any
audiophile would ask himself or herself -- Why can't you get the best of both worlds by
using home gear in the car?
Basically, it's the environment. Between the
vibrations caused by motion, the temperature extremes, the actual presence of fluids (tell
you've never left the windows down in the rain) -- and did I mention the vibration
problem? -- and you've got an extremely hostile environment to home electronics. Mobile
stuff is designed to take it.
Let's leave aside the power issue -- I'm not sure
that even a "true sine wave AC to DC inverter" is going to be stable enough for
the Linn -- you're still asking the Classik to cope with a ton of stuff it wasn't designed
to.
I once used a pair of Pentagram bookshelf
loudspeakers in a van I used for commuting to Jersey. After several weeks in the van, the
weight of the speaker magnets swaying back and forth had pulled the drivers out of the
faceplate. Perhaps the Gallos would fare better -- certainly a lot less mass involved --
but maybe not.
Of course, history is made by folks who ignore the
advice of the cautious. But I'd think you'd have to do so much reverse engineering and
redesign of the products that you might actually change the very qualities that drew you
toward them -- and still not adequately insulate them from the automotive environment.
I suspect that if you speak to a competent
installer (a much rarer bird than you'd think), you can find a system sound you like
that's up to the rigors of the automotive environment.
ATB...Wes
May 2, 2000
Subject: Audio questions
Greetings! I'm hoping you can help me with a couple of
questions. My stereo consists of a Rega Planar 3 with Bias cartridge, the Rega Planet CD
player, and a Bryston B-60 amp. Kimber Hero interconnects and Kimber 8TC speaker cable
glue it all together. I've been borrowing a friend's Celestion SL6Si monitors, and
they sound fantastic in this system. Unfortunately, he needs them back and I need new
speakers. I've been reading great reviews of the Clements 107di speakers, as well as the
Paradigm Atoms. My price range is $400 and under. What say you? Also, I'm wondering what
you think of stylus cleaners. Are they worthwhile, and if so, how often do you recommend
cleaning the stylus? I'm fairly new at tweaking turntables, though analog is what I grew
up with and what still excites me
Thank you!
Wade VanOrman
Dear Wade:
Sorry, but as I said in the intro to "Ask
Wes," I can't really do system recommendations -- besides speakers are the most
personal choice of them all and you'll just have to compare and contrast to your
satisfaction.
As a Linnie, I use green abrasive paper from 3M on
my stylus after every few plays -- Linn makes no claims that this is ideal for anyone
else's cartridges, but I can't see where it wouldn't work just about anywhere. And I use
an electronic stylus cleaner for about 30 seconds before every LP listening session -- not
to clean the stylus, but to shake dust and debris out of the motor housing. Michael Fremer
swears by LAST and it may well work -- I just find that the more tweaky rituals I indulge
in, the fewer records I listen to, so I try to keep stylus treatments, VTA
adjustments, and record orientation rituals to a minimum.
ATB...Wes
April 6, 2000
Subject: Amplifiers
Dear Mr. Phillips,
I have been a fan of your articles in Stereophile
and others for a couple of years and hold your opinion very highly in terms of high-end
audio. As a consumer and hobbyist, I find it is impossible to demo various high-end
equipment and be able to compare it A/B. Therefore I rely heavily on reviews of audio
professionals before I make major financial audio decisions.
My question deals with amplifiers, in which I am very
interested in so far as design and specifics. First off, I really enjoyed your review of
the Mark Levinson No.33H in Stereophile, which was definitely high praise for the
amplifier. I just want to know if you still feel the No.33H is the best on the market and
if its high price is justified as far as sound quality. Many amplifiers, even multichannel
amplifiers, are offering similar designs as the No.33H in one chassis. Obviously, they
have much smaller transformers and power capacity. How do smaller transformers and power
capacity affect sound quality? Does it only affect the ability of an amplifier to perform
down into the low-impedance loads? With efficient speakers would this even be a factor
with many amplifiers? How important is the number of output devices per channel? Is the
number of output devices a reflection of sound quality? And are they more important than
power-supply size? If a multichannel amplifier offers a similar design to the No.33H (two
mono amps bridged at output) and a similar amount of output devices, would it provide the
same performance, only not having the ability to drive the 1-ohm loads? I guess,
basically, my question is could the performance of the No.33H be matched by a multichannel
amplifier with less than half the cost? If not, what are the major advantages of the
No.33H that justify the cost and high parts count? I would be hesitant to pay such a price
if the performance could be matched for less, as impressive as the build appears to be.
Thank you very much for your time and response in advance.
It is greatly appreciated. Good luck with the new website.
Sincerely,
Steve Holen
Dear Steve:
That’s one hell of a complex question
you’re asking -- essentially you’re asking where the magic resides. Hell if I
know!
If it were simply a question of output devices or
power supplies, I suspect that we’d have a lot more competition for "best amp in
the world." Is the No.33H the best? No. For one thing, I’ve now heard the
No.33s, and as much as I’d like to say they don’t sound any different from the
33H, they do. They’re better. And I haven’t heard the latest Master Reference
amplifiers from Krell, which I would guess must be contenders, nor have I personally
auditioned the big Boulders or Classés, to name but a few.
Basically, at the very top of the game, everything
probably matters -- especially how it all works together. For those of us who live in the
"real" world, there’s probably no real way to justify the extravagance of
any amplifier aspiring to be the world’s best. If you’ve got the money and the
desire to own one of those rare birds, I guess the satisfaction you derive from knowing
you have it is sufficient. I get to play with them sometimes, which is nice, but I’ll
never be able to afford one. However, I should point out that there are a lot of
amplifiers not in contention for "best in the world" which would make me a happy
camper, so I’ll probably get over it.
The other thing to remember out here in the
"real" world is that there’s no one single path to audio nirvana. I’ve
heard super expensive systems that I personally wouldn’t take as a gift and I’ve
heard inexpensive, non-pedigreed systems I could spend the rest of my life with.
Personally, I turn to audio and music as a respite
from the stress in my life. Confusing my worth with that of my system would diminish that,
so I try not to obsess about it.
ATB...Wes
March 23, 2000
Subject: Bel Canto DAC1
Hey Wes,
I'm a 16-year reader of Stereophile and TAS,
and am currently laying the groundwork for a solid part-time sales and consulting venture
in audio and home theater. I'm on a crusade to bring knockout sound quality in two-channel
systems for $5500 to $7500 that will easily equal the higher-profile brands at $30,000,
and focus aggressively on getting music lovers who know nothing about high-end audio to
sit down and hear how it's really meant to sound.
Congratulations on your new position with onhifi.com. May I
humbly encourage you to please review the new Bel Canto DAC1 with upsampling, and perhaps
the new MSB Gold Link with the same? MSB now offers an upsampling chip upgrade for their
DACs. Most of us out here aren't at all interested in the "future" of either
SACD or DVD-A, as there are millions of CDs we haven't even heard yet (not to mention the
ones in our collections!) encoded in 16/44.1, which can sound incredible, in many
instances, if upsampled properly. And although studios may go back to remaster some (but
not most!) of our favorite music in one of the two proposed formats someday, how much of
that can be expected to sell? And they probably be at least $20 a disc! They'll sell to a
few audiophiles, obviously, not to the general public...even if player prices for a new
format come down. Look what happened to Mobile Fidelity (R.I.P., they were here in my home
town, Sebastopol). I admire the idealism, in a way, but, sorry, it won't fly. Upsampling
is our genuine dream-come-true for digital reproduction.
I know you're very busy. Please just save this for later if
need be and I will look forward to hearing from you at some point. Thanks!
Sincerely,
Mark Rucker
Dear Mark:
It sounds as though you’re on the path to a
career that will fulfill you and make lots of other people happy as well. Best of luck to
you.
I happen to agree with you that the subject of
upsampling seems a lot more exciting -- and pertinent -- right now than either of the new,
improved formats. Instead of a handful of new hi-rez software, it would give me thousands
of hi-rez CDs to explore -- my entire current collection!
And yes, I’ll try to get my hands on the Bel
Canto and MSB -- from what I’ve heard with upsampled digital so far, there
doesn’t seem to be a downside, so I’m looking forward to finding out for myself
if this is true.
ATB...Wes
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