40 replies to this topic

[petetherock]

There has been a plethora of new fangled AV and digital amplifiers recently and there are more bursting forth to join their ranks.

However every now and then some of us will write effusively about how they just discovered their CD collection, either due to a newly inherited tube amp, maybe an old Marantz tuner from the 60s or a brand new purchase off ebay. Regardless, the result is typical. The buyer, biased opinion notwithstanding, spouts praises endlessly.

So have we forgotten the joys of stereo music? In this age of home theatre, subwoofers and DACs, DSPs and auto-eq, have they replaced the simple joys of a CD player or even a turntable hooked up to an analogue amp, tube or solid state and just kicking off the shoes to enjoy an old hit. Most of us in this forum belong to a transitional bunch who are old enough to know what is ABC classics through a mono radio hooked up on a wall of a coffeeshop, a simple pocket radio which made noise through the night in blackouts and the progress? To digital tuners, amps and Ipods. Is this progress or an inexorable consumer driven thirst for the next best technology? Has the romance of stereo been cast aside in the pursuit of mere specs and features.

Judging from the lively posts in this forum and the mates who write about the re-discovery of their forgotten pleasures, stereo will have a long life yet.

Some things in life are best kept simple, music is one such pleasure. The feeling of monogamy from a single source, with little digital manipulation and a wamr caress of an analogue source, the lights emitted from a set of tubes, is a little beauty which brings us back to an era where we sat on the laps of our dads, enjoying music from a Telefunken, or a Nakamichi tape deck and a Thorens turntable.

Amen for stereo.

[Dlite]

I think you would be a prime candidate to come and join us over at the Stereonet forum

Amazing Stereo how sweet you sound.

[norpus]

Dlite, on Jul 24 2007, 06:59 AM, said:

I think you would be a prime candidate to come and join us over at the Stereonet forum

Amazing Stereo how sweet you sound.

Oii dlite, stop trying to coerce our members to another site  
The whole idea of this new subforum is to foster 2 channel talk I thought

[Mining Man]

Dlite, on Jul 24 2007, 08:59 AM, said:

I think you would be a prime candidate to come and join us over at the Stereonet forum
~

Because of his love for music? Or his equipment list?

[Curious]

petetherock, on Jul 24 2007, 01:07 AM, said:

There has been a plethora of new fangled AV and digital amplifiers recently and there are more bursting forth to join their ranks.

However every now and then some of us will write effusively about how they just discovered their CD collection, either due to a newly inherited tube amp, maybe an old Marantz tuner from the 60s or a brand new purchase off ebay. Regardless, the result is typical. The buyer, biased opinion notwithstanding, spouts praises endlessly.

So have we forgotten the joys of stereo music? In this age of home theatre, subwoofers and DACs, DSPs and auto-eq, have they replaced the simple joys of a CD player or even a turntable hooked up to an analogue amp, tube or solid state and just kicking off the shoes to enjoy an old hit. Most of us in this forum belong to a transitional bunch who are old enough to know what is ABC classics through a mono radio hooked up on a wall of a coffeeshop, a simple pocket radio which made noise through the night in blackouts and the progress? To digital tuners, amps and Ipods. Is this progress or an inexorable consumer driven thirst for the next best technology? Has the romance of stereo been cast aside in the pursuit of mere specs and features.

Judging from the lively posts in this forum and the mates who write about the re-discovery of their forgotten pleasures, stereo will have a long life yet.

Some things in life are best kept simple, music is one such pleasure. The feeling of monogamy from a single source, with little digital manipulation and a wamr caress of an analogue source, the lights emitted from a set of tubes, is a little beauty which brings us back to an era where we sat on the laps of our dads, enjoying music from a Telefunken, or a Nakamichi tape deck and a Thorens turntable.

Amen for stereo.

Good post Pete,

Nope, haven't forgotten stereo...my youbeautfancyschmancydoanythingyoucouldpossiblyimagine Denon controller spends the majority of it's waking hours in Direct mode so Mrs Curious and I can enjoy a plethora of stereo music  

Cheers,

Curious

[petetherock]

Let me introduce you to a few terms:

LAGS - latest and greatest syndrome    

Pruritis Latin - itchy

Ani - anus / backside

put together --- pruritis ani

a terminal condition suffered by many folks here when it comes to flashing lights and buttons

[petetherock]

Did I mention my Samsung LA40M8 LCD panel and Samsung HITB TX 120

Didn't include the former due to #$% clouding issues and the latter cos there isn't enough space in my signature

As for the HITB - which is the top of the food chain for Samsung - it costs 2k, I am using it in stereo actually and left out the rear speakers  

Mining Man, on Jul 24 2007, 07:51 AM, said:

Because of his love for music? Or his equipment list?

[Mining Man]

petetherock, on Jul 24 2007, 11:37 AM, said:

Did I mention my Samsung LA40M8 LCD panel and Samsung HITB TX 120

Didn't include the former due to #$% clouding issues and the latter cos there isn't enough space in my signature

As for the HITB - which is the top of the food chain for Samsung - it costs 2k, I am using it in stereo actually and left out the rear speakers

Apologies Pete - it was dig at Stereonet, not you.

[petetherock]

Cheers mate

Don't tell anyone but standing close to my tube amp and hugging it is a very tempting thought these few weeks for non-audiophile reasons - ha ha

Freaky weather

Mining Man, on Jul 24 2007, 09:43 AM, said:

Apologies Pete - it was dig at Stereonet, not you.

[Mining Man]

petetherock, on Jul 24 2007, 11:46 AM, said:

Cheers mate

Don't tell anyone but standing close to my tube amp and hugging it is a very tempting thought these few weeks for non-audiophile reasons - ha ha

Freaky weather

My lips are sealed!!

It's not exactly warm here in NZ either. I'm trying to convince Mrs MM that nothing less than a stacked CRT projector set up will provide us with enough warmth at home.

[petetherock]

Thanks


I do the same
Knowing that there were more sophisticated amps with HDMI and autoeq when I got my Reference Series SR 12 AV amp
I spent my $$ on the best sound quality I could get my hands on, with good internal DACs so when I plug in my CD / HD DVD player, I get very decent stereo music, esp when I engage the direct button.


Pity the don't make replacements for the SR 12 now.

In terms of technology, the SR 12 is a toaster, but it can still sing a tune or two

Curious, on Jul 24 2007, 09:27 AM, said:

Good post Pete,

Nope, haven't forgotten stereo...my youbeautfancyschmancydoanythingyoucouldpossiblyimagine Denon controller spends the majority of it's waking hours in Direct mode so Mrs Curious and I can enjoy a plethora of stereo music  

Cheers,

Curious

[b&wbynature]

Just a quick question slightly off topic....shall I engage the direct function when in playing in 2 channel mode only or? FYI I have a Denon AVR-2807.  Pure direct will only come into play when playing CD's??? Not the radio?   Thanks all.

[norpus]

b&wbynature, on Jul 24 2007, 04:28 PM, said:

Just a quick question slightly off topic....shall I engage the direct function when in playing in 2 channel mode only or? FYI I have a Denon AVR-2807.  Pure direct will only come into play when playing CD's??? Not the radio?   Thanks all.

Pure direct switches off the video circuits (display), otherwise same same
I use pure direct if I use the avr for 2ch - but not often these days

[:)]

its true most people have forgoten stereo.

surround sound is the the thing. why would you want only 2ch when you can have 5 !

walk into most chain stores and you wont find a cd player. dvd players htib, and tVs seem to attarct most peoples attention.

pity too even walking into a specialist store like audio trends in melbourne you'll see ht systems everywhere you'd really have to push them to get to listen to any 2ch stereo gear.

and the bizare part ..2ch its cheaper  ...its simpler and can produce better quality sound than an equivalnet ht setup.

Talkign to colin whatmough he said I think it was 10% of his sales these days was stereo 2ch. Most people buy ht setups these days some might 2ch stereo as part of than and an absolute tiny percentage would buy a dedicated 2ch setup.

I know when I had a 2ch music room most guests who walked past it woudl think it a bit odd to have a room setup jsut for that. I know my wife didnt think much of it either !

dont know anyone at work or on the wifes side of the family into 2ch or stereo. the 2ch crazies ! on my side of the family ! hehe

thankgoodness for the more 2ch dedicated stores, nto sure if your average punter walks in those but if they do, od hope they get to experience some 2ch at its best. Because nothign beats it in my opinion and if people jsut get to experience it they might know what theyre missing.

[????]

Guess I'm new to a lot of audio really... but I know what impresses me when I hear it, regardless of what anyone thinks - so I'm happy for that much...

Have been into music all of my life - not that there has been that much of it... but I love that I seem to be enjoying an age of sound that few else will ever appreciate in quite the same way. Not really something that can be put into words for those outside myself to understand, so I guess this post is altogether quite pointless to a large extent...

Surround sound is amazing. I don't care who you are. IT IS. Few albums/performances encoded in surround are impressive, but the few that are... WOW...

I have been delivered into a 'more is better' world. Doesn't matter what it is more of... it's better. Might cost more, might be bigger, could even be smaller and look like it was meant to be... ohhhh... ahhhhhh...  moooorrrrre!!!!

To be honest, I have only started to understand why these old pricks have been banging on about 2 ch for so long - and I'm glad I have had the opportunity to hear it for myself... not Hear it for myself mind you... but HEAR IT FOR MYSELF

Forget peoples 'opinions' - forget your own opinions...



and thankyou...

[CConnor]

The problem with surround sound is that most discs are not mixed properly. Apparently there are some SACD's that are mixed properly, where you are placed in the audience but I have not yet had the pleasure of hearing a properly setup SACD surround system.

[petetherock]

There are 2 good ones
Pink Floyd's Dark Side of Moon
Steely Dan has a good one too

But in general, good cds are fabuous without additional tweaking, love the Chesky series

CamCon, on Jul 24 2007, 11:54 PM, said:

The problem with surround sound is that most discs are not mixed properly. Apparently there are some SACD's that are mixed properly, where you are placed in the audience but I have not yet had the pleasure of hearing a properly setup SACD surround system.

[norpus]

petetherock, on Jul 25 2007, 12:57 AM, said:

There are 2 good ones
Pink Floyd's Dark Side of Moon
Steely Dan has a good one too

Agreed, also the Chicago one I have is also excellent

[ae93gti]

my 2c on this.

Perhaps I had forgotten 2 channel stereo, but I'm making amends now.  

Bought the HT gear about 10 years ago, did nothing for about 7 years, always loved music, but lost interest in listening to my cd collection.

Old AVR started dying, replaced it, noticed a huge improvement in cd playback (always in 2-ch, never "fudged" surround)
Got more interested, bought a dedicated cd player, improved again
Got really interested, bought new speakers (ouch!), HUGE improvement
Got even more interested and next upgrade will be the pre section (maybe integrated with HT bypass, or pre/power don't know although funds will dictate).
Am raising funds by selling off surround speakers (centre already sold) so not a proper HT anymore.

I will rebuild the HT at a later date as we do watch at least one dvd a week, but right now, cd playback is of much higher priority and several days can pass without the TV getting turned on, the only problem is I now have a thirst for new music which seems to suck the funds.  

My only regret is I didn't "get it" years ago as I use to know someone who owned a high end shop (expanded to 3) and had (probably still has) a system to die for.

"I have seen the light", so to speak and loving every minute of it!  

Anyway, good thread and 2-ch isn't dead by a long shot.

[b&wbynature]

I just picked up the Chesky Records 10 Best Special Edition on Friday night from Rockian Trading in Greensborough.  They have a great range of material on hand.  A very nice compilation indeed.  Having been in retail for the past ten years I have found there has well and truly been a trend into home theatre as it is definately more affordable with more aesthetically pleasing compact systems being made available.  Putting together a component system of yesteryear could have been seen as an expensive project but nowadays we are literally infiltrated with a wide range of home theatre systems, ready to go on the market....

     I am still undecided as to which direction to take.  Considering the fact I only put together my system just on 12 months ago I am one these audiophiles that can't seem to settle on one application or the other.....grrrrrr.  I think my initial intentions to really give HT a go, but I have found over the past 12 months that movies really havent been a part of our lifestyle and music has been.  

             I guess its a nice dilemma all round.  Unless someone out there can make a decision for me!!!

[JohnA]

just combine the 2, hats what most of us have done

get a great 2 channel setup
good 2 channel pre or integrated with HT bypass
good 2 channel amp or 7 channel amp like elektra theatron which willperform well in 2 channela also
good dedicated cdp

then add the HT stuff to it

[ae93gti]

b&wbynature, on Jul 25 2007, 09:50 AM, said:

I just picked up the Chesky Records 10 Best Special Edition on Friday night from Rockian Trading in Greensborough.  They have a great range of material on hand.  A very nice compilation indeed.  Having been in retail for the past ten years I have found there has well and truly been a trend into home theatre as it is definately more affordable with more aesthetically pleasing compact systems being made available.  Putting together a component system of yesteryear could have been seen as an expensive project but nowadays we are literally infiltrated with a wide range of home theatre systems, ready to go on the market....

     I am still undecided as to which direction to take.  Considering the fact I only put together my system just on 12 months ago I am one these audiophiles that can't seem to settle on one application or the other.....grrrrrr.  I think my initial intentions to really give HT a go, but I have found over the past 12 months that movies really havent been a part of our lifestyle and music has been.  

             I guess its a nice dilemma all round.  Unless someone out there can make a decision for me!!!

Do both, many have, I am on my way.

The two biggest things I see are to get yourself a dedicated CD player and a decent pre stage

Pre stage could be integrated with HT bypass or a pre with HT bypass and power amp 2, 5, 6 or 7 for music playback. I think it's generally known that most if not all AVR's aren't really up to cd playback.

Depending on funds, you could go for the expensive universal player which would do a good job of cd playback, but probably only as good as middle of the road cdp. The thing about a universal is it opens up the other surround audio formats, DVD-A, SACD etc.

And then you've got the best of both worlds with a great sounding 2-ch system which is complemented by a great surround sound system as well.

EDIT: Too slow, what John said, mine just had a lot more guff, but same info  

[RodN]

2ch isn't dead it's just that it's not 'in' at the moment.  The wheel will turn and it will be popular again one day. Mind you I kind of like the 'little find' of rediscovering 2ch, people do not know what they are missing from a well put together 2ch setup!

[ae93gti]

RodN, on Jul 25 2007, 10:31 AM, said:

2ch isn't dead it's just that it's not 'in' at the moment.  The wheel will turn and it will be popular again one day. Mind you I kind of like the 'little find' of rediscovering 2ch, people do not know what they are missing from a well put together 2ch setup!

Hey Rod, how you doing?  

Do you think it's perhaps the more discerning folk who aren't "wow'd" by the noise and action of a surround system?

Or do you think it's (generally) older folk who can appreciate both?  :ph34r:

As I mentioned earlier, I was exposed to some very high end stuff 15-20 years ago, but sadly didn't get it then.

Richard

[JohnA]

i doubt it has anything to do with age, more to do with price

even as a kid i dreamed of one day owning a great 2 channel setup

HT can be had cheap in comparison, as long as it shakes the room most people are happy.