Recent content by W9TR

Not crazy. High amplifier gain often results in preamp volume controls being at 9:00 for normal listening levels. That’s just stupid. Historic power amp input levels were 0.7 Vrms for full power. That’s lots of gain. Problem is, that gain also amplifies any noise coming out of the preamp...

I’ve owned a 430 and it had no trouble driving 4 ohm speakers to very good effect. It’s a good design with a big transformer and beefy output transistors. You’ll be fine.

I thought that was a very good article. I’ve been in product development and manufacturing for my entire career. I started in radio broadcast equipment design. If you listened to FM in the 80’s chances are you were listening through something I designed. I know what it takes to get a...

https://www.mcintoshlabs.com/-/media/Files/mcintoshlabs/DocumentMaster/us/ma5300om02.pdf Page 22. Chat gpt us amazing but for McKntosh it seems it can’t beat Tom.ai :)

Glad that worked. If it happens again you’ll know what to do.

They do. Luxman has developed a design language that they have kept with for decades. It’s a clean timeless look. Leak’s newer stuff, 2020 onward, has a nice aesthetic. And then, there is the love it or hate it McIntosh look. They have kept at it seemingly forever.

Measurements based forums provide a clear view of product performance based on fact not opinion. This is the draw. Even if it is wrong. The problem with ASR is they do not use industry standard test methodologies like AES 17-2020.

There sure is a lot of ugly HiFi stuff out there. And some stuff that is just weird. I’ve restored an SX-1250 because I always wanted one. It is handsome in its own way. It was a fun project but at the end of the day it wasn’t for me and I sold it. Would I buy something that looks like that...

I’ll look for the info. Thanks. I use ROON so not sure if that info transfers over. Being a vinyl nutjob it’s hard to figure out the providence of many discs. It takes a lot of research. For example, why do the Led Zeppelin re-masters all sound like shit, except the Classic Records ones...

First, I recommend having an electrician install an 80kA whole-house surge suppressor from a major manufacturer like SquareD, Siemens, or Eaton. They are inexpensive and effective. They mount inside your distribution panel. In my experience they have no impact on audio quality. That is your...

I’ve run a few comparison tests with Qobuz, Amazon Music, and my own local sources; CD, SACD, and vinyl. I always come up with confusion. The article nails the reason: “…… unfortunately, most streaming platforms do not provide detailed metadata about the exact mastering used for each track...

Yes - and when MOV’s fail, they fail open, leaving you unprotected, usually with no indication that they have failed.

Andrew - most McIntosh gear has a factory reset procedure. Here is the procedure for the 5300 from the manual: ————-snip————- Reset of Microprocessors In the unlikely event the controls of the MA5300 stop functioning, the microprocessors can be reset by performing the following: 1. Press the...

Yes, this will definitely make an audible improvement. I added a fiber break in my system and it improved clarity and sound staging. Having a streamer with SFP ports is even better as it avoids an external fiber to wired Ethernet box.

The gateway into great audio is now a headphone system. A music service feeding a Streamer/DAC/AMP/CANS. Extra credit for vinyl. There are some amazing boutique brands like ZMF headphones, hand made in Chicago. Schiit stacks are super popular and outperform gear costing 10x more, and it’s built...