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amirm

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Was watching a commercial for Lexus (Toyota) cars and was surprised that they were still promoting Mark Levinson audio in them. I suspect Toyota is not taking kindly to Samsung taking over Harman. Korea electronics industry has done major damage to Japanese industry to say nothing about their past conflicts (war). As much as Samsung wants to use Harman to channel its bits to auto industry, their acquisition in that regard may backfire on them.
 

Sal1950

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I would say he is an exception. I have many friends that are musicians, a couple successful professionals, and none have anything of note. Best of them is currently the eastern distributor for one of the biggest instrument manufacturers in the US. His family room system is a 20+ year old one box Sony stereo receiver, cd player and speakers rig. He's a classic tube gear fan and the man cave music room in the basement has a assemblage of Heathkit and Knightkit stuff he enjoys doing the technical maintenance on. Speakers are again nothing of note. ;)
LOL, just exchanged Thanksgiving wishes with him on the phone. He reminded me that the tube rig he has in the music room started as mono gear his father originally built the kits of. He later acquired matching rigs to go "stereo" so he could listen/mix/master the recordings he does of him and his band.
 

Sal1950

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Like you, Ray, I am still an ML guy with 7 ML hybrids of various sizes in my Mch setup. I think my system still stands up pretty well sonically to most everything else I have heard, including some way, way more expensive. DSP room EQ (Dirac), a good JL sub, and PC playback via a great Mch DAC all help make that possible.
Now I'm seriously impressed, that must be a incredible sounding Mch system!
Congrats.
 

RayDunzl

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It looks like there are super tweeters on top

Actually, no, though I had the same thought initially. He built something to raise them a few inches, and that is a purely ornamental feature to hide the top of a brace he added (triangulation) going to the bottom rear of what he made.

Something like:

upload_2016-11-24_15-21-31.png


Side view of clamp-top, ornament facing left, child's mud-bug toy on top:

upload_2016-11-24_15-27-0.png



upload_2016-11-24_15-28-45.png
 

Thomas savage

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Actually, no, though I had the same thought initially. He built something to raise them a few inches, and that is a purely ornamental feature to hide the top of a brace he added (triangulation) going to the bottom rear of what he made.

Something like:

View attachment 3908

Side view of clamp-top, ornament facing left, child's mud-bug toy on top:

View attachment 3909


View attachment 3910
Is that a krell kav amplifier on the bottom of his rack?
 

RayDunzl

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Is that a krell kav amplifier on the bottom of his rack?

He has a Paraound Halo A21

However, upon closer inspection, it is a KAV-250 that day (mine, on loan, to compare)

upload_2016-11-24_16-1-8.png


Also featured, PS audio power (for the little things), Benchmark DAC1, Sony HD Radio, Audible Illusions tube pre (now gone), and that might be his Nakamichi cassette deck, and an old Pioneer CD writer.

He had old tapes of himself to transfer.
 
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amirm

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Also featured, PS audio power (for the little things), Benchmark DAC1, Sony HD Radio, Audible Illusions tube pre (now gone), and that might be his Nakamichi cassette deck, and an old Pioneer CD writer.
Oh, I have the same PS Audio power regen! Why does he have the top open?
 

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amirm

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It sure does. I used to use it to keep my feet warm under my desk as I rest them on top of it!

I also heard from one of their reps that they were very unreliable and many of them burned out due to design deficiencies.
 

Fitzcaraldo215

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The HQD used 24" Hartleys... I heard a couple and was impressed but most of today's panels and speakers do a much better job, especially in the bass, as subwoofers have come a long way since then both in performance and integration with the mains.

http://www.stereophile.com/content/mark-levinson-hqd-loudspeaker-system#kad83XTbSOCfO2Fl.97
Right. Thanks, Don. My memory of ancient history is not as good sometimes as I think. But, the HQD was somewhat ridiculous and never lived up to the hoopla.
 

DonH56

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My memory of ancient times is imperfect but thankfully my memory of Google is spot-on. :)

I heard one system outside KC, MO, owned by a Shure VP (I think), and it sounded really good to me. The other one or two I heard, less so... Like any dipole they were a pain to set up properly and a lot of folk (or their dealers) did not understand. And integrating the sub seemed to be a matter of trial and error (mostly the latter) back then before REW and more sophisticated measurement gear was widely available. The Shure guy used an HP audio analyzer and the installer knew frequency response has magnitude and phase, and time domain matters...
 

DonH56

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It sure does. I used to use it to keep my feet warm under my desk as I rest them on top of it!

I also heard from one of their reps that they were very unreliable and many of them burned out due to design deficiencies.

I wonder if leaving the top off subverts some of the noise isolation? I would probably replace it with a fine mesh screen instead. Also prevents a cable (pen, the cell phone in my pocket, flashlight, whatever; my "been there, done that" list is rather extensive after all this time) from dropping into the thing when changing connections.
 

Sal1950

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It sure does. I used to use it to keep my feet warm under my desk as I rest them on top of it!

I also heard from one of their reps that they were very unreliable and many of them burned out due to design deficiencies.
Interesting,
Another example of expensive poorly designed high end gear that regularly lets the smoke out?
Ain't that a hOOt. :(
 

amirm

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I wonder if leaving the top off subverts some of the noise isolation? I would probably replace it with a fine mesh screen instead. Also prevents a cable (pen, the cell phone in my pocket, flashlight, whatever; my "been there, done that" list is rather extensive after all this time) from dropping into the thing when changing connections.
Interesting point. I plan to measure it and if it is easy to open the top, I will do it with and without. Just scoping the AC output, it is far cleaner than my mains feed.
 

amirm

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Are you a fan of regen then?
Regen is a different animal. It is a USB hub aiming to regenerate the USB signal. My testing shows no difference to sound or measurements (it made things slightly worse but well below audibility) so no, I am not a fan.

I should say that my comment about the PS Audio was just its AC output being cleaner. I plan to measure what it does to the output of the DAC which is the main thing we are concerned with.
 

Thomas savage

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Regen is a different animal. It is a USB hub aiming to regenerate the USB signal. My testing shows no difference to sound or measurements (it made things slightly worse but well below audibility) so no, I am not a fan.

I should say that my comment about the PS Audio was just its AC output being cleaner. I plan to measure what it does to the output of the DAC which is the main thing we are concerned with.
No, power regeneration..like that ps audio unit.

We all know your feelings about the USB regen thing:D.. I think there is a few Siberian coal miners that might still be in the dark but...
 

RayDunzl

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I plan to measure it and if it is easy to open the top, I will do it with and without. Just scoping the AC output, it is far cleaner than my mains feed.

Before you try to figure out which new tools you'll get to buy to take the top off, note that it is the bottom that is missing in the photo.

upload_2016-11-25_14-35-48.png


PS: PS Audio does call it a "regenerator". From the manual:

upload_2016-11-25_14-42-49.png
 

RayDunzl

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It is indeed a regenerator.

Not only that, but before hooking your scope to it be sure to remember that it outputs Balanced Power, i.e. opposed 60VAC on both the Hot and Neutral.

That model, anyway, the newer ones don't.
 
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