What was the best money you ever spent on audio?

Len_Dreyer · « **Reply #80 on:** 13 Nov 2008, 05:20 am »

Quote from: sbrown on 13 Nov 2008, 05:13 am

For me, the best money I've spent on audio has been distributed over the last 30 years building my music collection. Equipment comes and goes, but I still have the first record I ever bought when I was in high school. And the second, third and about 5000 to 6000 others that I've accumulated over those years. Pulling one out that I haven't listened to in a while is just like getting reacquainted with an old long lost friend. The joy in this hobby for me is the discovery of previously unknown music and through the process of collecting, getting to know a widely varied cast of characters that are now close friends.

Scott

Dude, perfect. I come across music that blows me away much more often than equipment that does (limited exposure and limited resources).

Zeus the thunderer · « **Reply #81 on:** 13 Nov 2008, 10:52 am »

1.Silverline Sinfonia speakers
2.Audio Note DAC 2 Signature
3.320B XLS tubes-Emission Labs
4.Skid Row and Virgin Steele CDs

kyrill · « **Reply #82 on:** 18 Nov 2008, 12:04 am »

well what was my money best spend?
My Martin Logan's 6 feet tall electrostatics? No i have sold them again
My Melos triode amps? No
It must be
1) DEQX modded preamp. What a difference they make when they take over the X=over of any Speaker regardless of price.
My self made speakers ( now upgraded with better drivers in an OB fashion) sounded better than the Martin Logan
2) Joe Rasmussens triode mods for tube power amps and his LEM mod in my case the JAdis DA-5 and Jadis Orchestra amps
3) Balanced transformers with Felix line conditioners
4) Boulder and Pat's modded SB3
5) Hugh's AKSA's
6) cd's from cdbaby.com

TheChairGuy · « **Reply #83 on:** 18 Nov 2008, 08:04 pm »

Tough choices for me....and I've looked at this post for a while thinking hard for an answer.

I suspect, for me, it has to be a piece of vinyl equipment....as, without re-discovering that a few years ago, I would have been forever on the CD/digital merry-go-round without getting too far.

So, I'd have to say it was the JVC QL-A2 direct drive deck I bought on whim on ebay for $50.00.....after tossing untold $$thousands at digital trying to get it to sound natural to my ears.

After I did all the experiments I could think of on that deck, I bought the upmarket stablemate JVC QL-F6 and I've been loving the tunes ever since. That one cost me $100.00...with a stellar sounding ADC XLM Mk. III Improved cartridge (one of the three best I've owned...among about 15 in my life)

I probably wouldn't have clocked in 6000+ posts either here at AC if it weren't for the purchase of these

John

bummrush · « **Reply #84 on:** 18 Nov 2008, 10:20 pm »

Pre amp because it let through how good the rest of my system is.

kyrill · « **Reply #85 on:** 18 Nov 2008, 10:53 pm »

ADC XLM Mk. III

how much was the cartridge John?

Arghh you make me doubt my digital sources

Shall i clean up my well tempered turntable again? I was thinking to eventually digitalise my small number of records ( only 1000) as i heard that self made A-->D conversion sounds so much better than the retail CD of that record.

Derockster · « **Reply #86 on:** 19 Nov 2008, 12:25 am »

Well said John,magnificent cartridge.

TheChairGuy · « **Reply #87 on:** 19 Nov 2008, 01:16 am »

Quote from: kyrill on 18 Nov 2008, 10:53 pm

ADC XLM Mk. III

how much was the cartridge John?

Arghh you make me doubt my digital sources

Shall i clean up my well tempered turntable again? I was thinking to eventually digitalise my small number of records ( only 1000) as i heard that self made A-->D conversion sounds so much better than the retail CD of that record.

The cartridge came with the deck....all told it was $100.00.

In fact, the cartridge is so good that (today) I bought the (then) top-of-the-line Astrion stylus for it from a seller in Oregon to fit to the XLM MK. III Improved body. Sapphire cantilever and nude line stylus just have to be big upgrades for it I think. $117.95 it was....$17.95 more than the deck and cartridge cost

For me (and I speak only for me), belt-driven vinyl was as un-satisfying as digital was. I'm sure there are exceptions to the rule, but without concise (generally outboard) speed control with belt drivers they sound unnatural, in different ways (wow and flutter, pitch, speed stability) than CD does. Without speed regulation, to my ears, vinyl is barely better sounding than cassette tape

So, I cannot really endorse dusting off your old Well Tempered...unless it's one of the upmarket models with speed controllers.

Most every direct drive unit of the past 30 years have been quartz servo locked and get things as precise as analog will allow on the playback side. It wasn't until I discovered direct drive did the magic of (sanely priced) vinyl make it back to me

We all hear different things in our music, so don't let me be the solitary guide for this. But, I think if you buy one of hundreds of good Japanese tables made in the past 30 years and sold on ebay for a pittance.....you're gonna' find vinyl magic within and understand what I mean.

John

sts9fan · « **Reply #88 on:** 19 Nov 2008, 01:54 am »

music 1st -99th
100th soldering iron

Miney · « **Reply #89 on:** 19 Nov 2008, 03:59 am »

Right now it's the joy each addition to the vinyl collection brings... thanks in great part to the $20.01 investment in PlastiClay recommended by John a.k.a. "TheChairGuy."

Cheers, John!

TheChairGuy · « **Reply #90 on:** 19 Nov 2008, 06:22 am »

Allright folks....you gotta' understand what Paul/Miney means by $20.01 in Plast-i-Clay...yes, that's the innards of his deck after ramming about 6 lbs inside.

The boy is sick, sick, sick I tell ya'

I almost added in my above post that $20 in Plast-i-Clay in those direct drive decks was the trick that combined with the excellent pitch stability provided by the direct drive - brought all the 'magic' that music can bring back into focus

Thanks for taking the plunge and risking the death of your old DD friend, Paul, and believing me.

John

denjo · « **Reply #91 on:** 19 Nov 2008, 07:04 am »

Wow, John!

That looks like electronics drowning in a sea of plastacine! I am sure it would deaden whatever microphonics, vibration, jitter, resonance lurking around!

Best Regards
Dennis

griller · « **Reply #92 on:** 20 Nov 2008, 06:36 pm »

My first pick is the money I've spent on music.

A close second: My ACI Sapphire XLs . . . . the only speaker I've ever owned for over 2 years and plan on keeping a LOT longer. They just do so much right, and they sound wonderful even with modest equipment.

Orson Garnsey · « **Reply #93 on:** 20 Nov 2008, 07:14 pm »

Used PS Audio P300 AC regenerator. Clean AC is a revelation.

jqp · « **Reply #94 on:** 20 Nov 2008, 07:57 pm »

Quote from: TheChairGuy on 19 Nov 2008, 06:22 am

Allright folks....you gotta' understand what Paul/Miney means by $20.01 in Plast-i-Clay...yes, that's the innards of his deck after ramming about 6 lbs inside.

The boy is sick, sick, sick I tell ya'

I almost added in my above post that $20 in Plast-i-Clay in those direct drive decks was the trick that combined with the excellent pitch stability provided by the direct drive - brought all the 'magic' that music can bring back into focus

Thanks for taking the plunge and risking the death of your old DD friend, Paul, and believing me.

John

You haven't tried cryoed belts though, have you

doug s. · « **Reply #95 on:** 20 Nov 2008, 08:00 pm »

as far as spending money on music is concerned, my best inwestment was the $550 i spent on my first quality fm tuna - a store demo onix bwd-1 w/soap 2 power supply. most of my listening is done w/fm - a weritable plethora of quality free music!

tho, the money i have spent trying different tunas since then has not been so cost effective, at least not until i sell off a couple dozen or so.

doug s.

Whitese · « **Reply #96 on:** 20 Nov 2008, 08:07 pm »

I think my best dollars went to my now gone gear: Berning EA-230 amps, TF-10 preamp, Parasound CDP-2000 Ultra and a Technics SP-25 with Sumiko MMT Premier arm....

Best bang for the buck...but as usual, I needed to move on to feed my pathology.

James Romeyn · « **Reply #97 on:** 23 Nov 2008, 08:41 pm »

SST (Spread Spectrum Technologies; AKA Ampzilla) "Trinaural Processor"; MSRP $2k USD. Would never choose to return to stereo.

Trinaural is pure analog; it is not a simple center summed mono processor but rather employs a proprietary "algebraic" formula to derive the output. It accepts any normal stereo analog line input & outputs pure analog signal 3.0 or 3/1: L/C/R & subwoofer w/ fixed 80 Hz LPXO. Main front speakers can run fullrange or w/ fixed 80 Hz HPXO. Output level for center & subwoofer. IIRC the Trinaural Processor maker says it cancels channel crosstalk.

One user said Q-sound is incompatible w/ the Trinaural but the Q-Sound Roger Waters disc worked splendidly for me so I can only assume he had a hardware or setup problem I don't. Word intelligibility seems improved. Inputs SE/RCA only; outputs XLR balanced & SE/RCA (RCA has both normal & inverted polarity jacks). Maker says listeners will at first find the center channel overly dominant till they get used to the effect; myself & another owner disagree w/ this assemsment & even at first listen found the center channel integration was good. On my sample the L/R channels are reveresed on the toggle switch selecting white noise to match center channel balance (those w/ dyslexia, like someone I know, may find the channel reversal less tolerable than non-dyslexics, especially when the user stands behind the speakers to check channel balance).

Interestingly, great results even when the three front speakers are mismatched, very anti-intuitive & 180-degrees oppossed to recommendations from the makers of every other known music processing format. If general quality is different between the front speakers, maker recommends the highest quality speaker at the center & inferior speakers at the L/R.

In my case the Trinaural processor provides a more favorable listening experience w/ three speakers valued at about $3500 total vs. two stereo speakers valued at $4500 total. I had great results w/ mismatched amps, employing one channel of a better class-A amp in the center w/ a lesser stereo class-AB amp at the L/R.

I have great results & hear no disparity employing ASA Pro Monitor center w/ classic Spica TC-60 L/R. (Apparent universal agreement by those familiar w/ all Jon Bau's loudspeaker designs that the TC-60 is his best & most refined effort; a modern classic that regularly sells for 20-75% more than original MSRP. Some great speakers like the TC-60 were originally ubiquitous & affordable to Americans, diminishing their perceived value. In Europe the TC-60 sell for about $1500/pr used. The TC-60 sound similar to but less refined vs. my favorite standmount, the $7k/pr ASA Pro Monitors; the TC-60 soundstage seems larger in horizontal & vertical planes.) It took a couple days to properly integrate the sound; the front baffle of the TC-60 slopes back about 20-degrees while the ASA Pro Monitor has a vertical baffle.

Another Trinaural owner I met has three excellent monopole Ariel 10T fullrange speakers & a pair of excellent dipole Acoustat electrostatic panels. He loved the results w/ three front Ariel 10T's but loved it much better w/ Ariel 10T center & Acoustat panels L/R.

Even superb stereo has a flat, lifeless quality compared to Trinaural. If you heard the Trinaural w/ speakers you generally dislike you may owe it to yourself to bring a Trinaural home & try it w/ your preferred speakers. This applies even if you must mismatch the three front speakers, as long as you like all the speakers employed & are willing to spend some time tweaking speaker siting. In my case the different baffle angles lengthened the process. I ended up tiltiing the TC-60's slightly forward, minimizing the slope.

Myself & the Ariel/Acoustat owner agree that the L/R toe-in should be greater than recommended by the Trinaural designer James Bongiorno.

There have been articles continuously from the days of mono to today listing the many serious flaws of the 2-ch stereo format. IIRC Stereophile published a well-written article within the past year.

In a recent comparison the Trinaural effect was preferred over DPL II Music & Neo6 Music (all three formats setup for only 3.1). The Trinaural won "Best of CES" award circa 2003 & was & may still be a Class A Stereophile Recommended Component.

orthobiz · « **Reply #98 on:** 23 Nov 2008, 09:51 pm »

A pair of DQ-10 Dahlquists, 1975 for 425. They've been redone, but I still have them.
600 for a Linn Sondek LP-12 in 1978. It's been redone, but I still have it.

Everything else is new but I may never get rid of those two components.

Paul

James Romeyn · « **Reply #99 on:** 24 Nov 2008, 02:08 am »

Quote from: orthobiz on 23 Nov 2008, 09:51 pm

A pair of DQ-10 Dahlquists, 1975 for 425. They've been redone, but I still have them.
600 for a Linn Sondek LP-12 in 1978. It's been redone, but I still have it.

Everything else is new but I may never get rid of those two components.

Paul

The first (maybe only) time I heard DQ-10s they were driven by some form of Dynaco tube amp(s). The sound was mesmerizing, memorable & very musical. Carl Marchiotto is obviously gifted & has designed some great speakers.

Interesting point about the LP-12. Way back in the early-mid '80s a high-end audio reviewer from Fanfare Magazine named Levinson (Carl IIRC) incessantly wrote about the horrific W&F performance of the SOTA tt's. The SOTA were highly regarded by everyone else including me (I owned several). Then I heard the LP-12 & was instantly a convert, Levinson's criticism becoming mine. Owned a few LP-12s over the years & loved them. (Have not heard & have no opinion of SOTA post early '90s.)

In the early '90s I met another LP-12 lover. Interestingly, he tried every modern OEM LP-12 & tonearm upgrade, which at that time included a major & very coslty OPS (about $1k for the OPS alone). After careful consideration he believed there were some audible performance improvements w/ the later upgrades, but the overall most musically satisfying LP-12 was one of the earliest w/ only the first or second internal PS upgrade (forgot the name of the mod/upgrade).

For about two years had use of a Sony PSX-800 servo control linear tracker, the best sounding TT I know of. Too bad the servos go out & no known repair potential.