[TIC]

Humm,

If we are looking for really cheap, but decent speakers, someone should try a pair of the Ed Frias modified BICs. He has the boxy Venturi 62 or the rounded Addato 52. Both have gotten rave reviews once Ed performed the $40/pr. crossover mods. With mods they could be as little as about $120 if you got a good deal on a new pair.

Enjoy,

TIC

[TIC]

Doug,

I totally understand your convictions and I applaud you. I don't like what Monster is doing, but I don't think a lot of the vendors are aware of the issue. Please feel free to tell them about it!!! And tell them TIC said "me too"!!!!!

Enjoy,

TIC
(Tom In Cincinnati)

[doug s.]

Doug,

I totally understand your convictions and I applaud you. I don't like what Monster is doing, but I don't think a lot of the vendors are aware of the issue. Please feel free to tell them about it!!! And tell them TIC said "me too"!!!!!

Enjoy,

TIC
(Tom In Cincinnati)

hi tom,

yust for your info:
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=16161&highlight=monster
 

regards,

doug s.

[viggen]

FYI I had the previous version of the sharp thingy.  The one with the seperate psu with the umbilical cord thingy.  Anyways, I had it with the Carolina Audio JTM which is the Konus Essence knock off.  In comparison with the Gaincard, the Sharp was not close.  

Now, owning different speakers, JMR Twins, and using this new sharp thingy, the sharp is marginally better than the GC.  However, only when using an outside source instead of using the integrated cd player.  I am assuming the built in cd spinner is crap.  I can't complain about the tuner though.  I am happy I atleast have one.

So, either the new sharp is better than the old GC and old sharp, or there is better synergy between the sharp and JMR than with the JTM.

[Bemopti123]

I have heard the 3A DeCapos with some tubes and SS power.  In the same veign and nature, I compared the EPOS ES11 with the DeCapos, identically the same sort of driver set up, the midbass driver of the DeCapo has a stationary sort of phase plug, and the same goes with the EPOS midbass driver, in which just the cone moves.  Both are crossoverless, okay, except for a cap between the midbass and the tweeters.  With this sort of set up, the sound is exceptionally dynamic, with an amazingly fast bass that bellies the 20-5 watt rating of the Sharp amplifier.  I have not compared it with a OpChip amp set up, but for whatever it is worth, the Sharp sound very decent and pristine in sound.  When I added the First Sound Paramount HR MKII, it was sort of a overkill, but now, we had the signal of some tubes going through a digital amp section, which gave the entire thing a nice organic tone, perhaps not accurate, but still very nice.  

With the Fostex horn set up, the amp provides incredible volume, but somehow, I think that horns and fullrange drivers prefer a different sort of amplification to sound full or best.  

I concur with your experience, that perhaps there is more synergy between this amp and your JMR Twins.

[eric the red]

You may want to look at the KEF Coda 70. I bought a pair from Carlman and they are very nice well built small speakers: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=14991&item=5748632629&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

[KT]

BTW, I ordered one of these yesterday and the price has gone up to $79.90.

That's a $5 increase. Still a good deal, but I'm annoyed that I had to pay $5 extra dollars.

Thanks,
KT

[dave_c]

Well, I just hooked up a set of NHT Superzero's and they're just what I was looking for.  Not too big to fit at my desk, and sound really great.  Also, used a Zu Cable Pivot to hook up my sound card to the 111 and that was a big difference too.  All in all, I'm happy with the 111.  I'm certainly enjoying my time at my computer much more!

[GerryD]

I recently got one of these units, and I'm very impressed with the quality for the price.  I am, however, having a problem with the auxiliary input.  When I hook a DVD player up to the aux. input, I get a noticeable hum.  Unplug the IC's and the hum goes away.  Anybody else experience this?  Any thoughts on a solution other than returning the unit?

[CSMR]

Hum from speakers? Sounds like a grounding issue. I am sure someone here will know what to do.

[dave_c]

Try another source to the aux input.  Mine does not hum at all.  It's actually pretty quiet.

[TIC]

Hum is generally caused by a ground loop. Here are a couple of things to try.

Plug both the receiver and the DVD player into the same duplex outlet.

Try to "lift" the ground of the DVD player by using a 3-prong to 2-prong adapter if the DVD player has a 3-prong AC plug. If it is a 2 prong plug, try the adapter on the receiver. If they are both 2-prong AC plugs, you can't do this.

It could also be a problem with the IC cable. Try a different pair of cables or try one of the pair at a time to see if you have a bad cable.

Of course, you could also try a different source component to see if it produces the same issue.

I hope this helps a bit.

Enjoy,

TIC
Tom In Cincinnati

[suits_me]

I have one MA Recordings CD which won't play its last six cuts on the Sharp. The whole thing will play on my cheep, old Rotel CD. Just this one CD so far, but someone already remarked on being nervous about that top, auto loading drawer mechanism on the Sharp. Me too.

[Bemopti123]

The Sharp does not hum in any noticable way, there must be a grounding issue somewhere.  

It is also very strange that there are tracks that cannot be played through the up loading CD transport.  So far, I have not found a CD that cannot be played through its entirety on the Sharp, but there must be one track or CD somewhere.  I have found CDs that cannot be played correctly on my 47 Labs Shigaraki Transport, but playing really well on something else.  The same might be the case with the Panasonic DVD player that I used once as transport.  No player, guess can be truly be called "Universal."

The only noise I found with the Sharp is a slight electronic sounding buzz it makes through the speakers as it powers up.  I can live with that, what I could not live with is buzz through speakers.  This Sharp is free of that.

[Vinnie R.]

The Sharp does not hum in any noticable way, there must be a grounding issue somewhere.  

It is also very strange that there are tracks that cannot be played through the up loading CD transport.  So far, I have not found a CD that cannot be played through its entirety on the Sharp, but there must be one track or CD somewhere.  I have found CDs that cannot be played correctly on my 47 Labs Shigaraki Transport, but playing really well on something else.  The same might be the case with the Panasonic DVD pl ...

So far I am finding that the Sharp reads my cds very well.  I have a few others that in no-so-good shape (my wife's   ), so I need to check how it does with those.  

The hum problem must a ground loop.  Mine is dead silent in regards to hum using a dvd player, or even my TV as the input to the AUX jacks.  

Regards,

Vinnie

[GerryD]

Thanks for all your suggestions guys.  I've tried the unit in two different rooms with two different DVD players.  I one room it was plugged into an Audioprism Power Foundation One, and no other equipment I'm using in that room has hum.  I've also tried 3 different IC"S, and they all hum.  The saga continues!

[GerryD]

A special thanks to TIC.  I remembered that I had an old cheater plug somewhere around the house and tried it.  Problem solved!  I'd never experienced a hum problem in audio before, so I guess I was overdue!

[TIC]

Gerry,

That's great news! Everyone gets lucky once in a while......

Enjoy,

TIC

[Passive Chappy]

I've had that hum problem also when I hooked up my TV so I'll try that cheater plug idea myself.

Anyone know of anyone modding this beast?  I think it might have real potential.

[KKM]

While the cheater plug does solve the problem, it is not the safest way, see link for the potential dangers, then decide if its worth the risk:

http://www.epanorama.net/documents/groundloop/index.html

Play safely everyone.