The Home Entertainment Industry

Automatic Washer - The world's coolest Washing Machines, Dryers and Dishwashers

Help Support :

phillymatt53

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 10, 2025
Messages
212
Location
Philadelphia Pa
This thread is based on my long-time experiences as a professional servicer of Home Entertainment Equipment, and my own personal equipment choices.
If any of it sounds "biased", it's only because I don't mince words. I like sharing the truth about such things to others in hopes that it'll save them money and any aggravation.
And, it's similar to the speaking out from others about Home Appliances and the current state of things.
So here goes......

We all want quality, and we all want to spend our money on something worthy.
But the industry mostly treats the public like silly puppets, catering to their conditioned lives with glorified advertizing and snazzy appearance.
I've been "in the guts" of literally thousands of products from TV's to high-end stereo stuff, along with "vintage" antiques/heirlooms that required special attention.

But as the decades progressed, I've noticed the so-called improvements and technology changes.
Some, were a good idea, others, not pretty.
The stuff sold these days in my opinion is garbage, in comparison to what I call "The Golden Years" of audio.
Those were from the early-late 1960's up to the late 1980's, centering on 1974 to 1980 as the peak years of "HiFi".

Look at what you're forced to buy these days, if you want something....
It may looks snazzy, and might even sound nice to your ears.
Digital processing can impress you.
Convenient bluetooth, streaming, etc., makes it more attractive, because you've been handed that stuff as a result of the slow conditioning process of society.

Then how come the substantial numbers of people wanting that vintage stuff again?
You know, the "Analog" stuff that used to be king.
I'll tell you.....
Because humans speak and hear in analog, not digital.
Once you add Digital to the mix, you're messing with the original sound.
Like I stated, processing analog is impressive to the ears, I know that.
But my trained ears can still, even at my age, tell the difference.
And no, it's not my mind doing tricks on me.
Listening to music in analog on analog equipment is and can be such a seductive and surprising experience that some have re-imagined again.
I hear people all the time telling me that.
Sure, I listen to CD's, and online to MP3's.
It's nice, and one can get used to that, even lazy.
But plop a record on a decent turntable..... voila...... something comes back to you that all those years of digital listening made you forget.

By the way, whenever you hear the mention of Tube equipment having a "warm sound", it's all in your head, something dreamed up by somebody on the internet because tubes have heated filaments which warm up and get hot.
My expensive testing equipment and analizing procedures don't have human ears or human biases stemming from internet talk to sway them.
And confirm what I'm saying.

I'm wondering if anyone here can understand what I'm trying to share, or feels the same way.
Thanks for reading.
M
 
I’m virtually deaf in my left ear and have been wearing an hearing aid in that ear for about 15 years and I can still tell the difference between analog and digital sound. And I prefer the richer sound of analog, it seems the “swell” and is “warm sounding” while digital is kinda “flat” and cold.

In 1956 my Dad bought my Mom a brand new beautiful Cherry wood cabinet RCA Victor Hi-Fi console and that radio/phonograph had the most beautiful sound of any that I’ve ever heard. It wasn’t stereo, just Hi-Fi sound, although there was a button that had the provision for stereophonic sound, that is provided you also purchased the matching stereo speaker cabinet for the opposite side of the room, which we didn’t have or miss.

Eddie
 
Digital can have a thin/harsh sound to it at times but it's usually in the analog to digital conversion process through the ears of a sound engineer. The quality of DAC's makes difference, too. If it's done correctly, it sounds spectacular.

I use various phono cartridge's to custom tailor the sound I want. My Audio Technica 440ML cart brightens up vinyl that sounds dull, but it can sound thin and shrilly (like badly converted CD's) on brighter material. I also use it on CD-4 quadraphonic material. Otherwise, I use a Shure V15-VxMR. Different turntables affect the sound. My grease bearing Garrard 301 adds bass punch while the Thorens 124 sounds a bit sweeter in the high end. Both make my Technics SL-1200 MK3 sound.....lacking (it's all in the tonearm though). The biggest influence of the sound of vinyl is a good record cleaner. I've used a VPI 16.5 for 20 years, back when it was very affordable new ($375 then vs $1,200 now.)

I use an MP3 player doing yard work or out in the shop for convenience and it's better than eating up batteries via a Walkman cassette player or cd player skipping around with every bump or jolt. I still have my Sony Walkman cassette player from 1992. Don't know why, but still have it. Maybe it'll be worth money in 17 years when it's 50 years old, lol.
 
Yes it all depends on the format, bit resolution, quality of mixing and sound engineering, and personal ear attenuation. Streaming is the most popular today especially with the younger people. There are excellent streaming options but they are pricey. That said, vynil can also vary in fidelity. Most audiophiles refer to bright sounding to highs and treble. The tube warm sound more references phono preamps, and many are available. Vintage amps and receivers had mosfet transistors which do sound warmer and can make better bass if not only more in the subsonic range. Some high end new Yamaha models still have them.
New equipment does have some excellent advancement in efficiency and clarity. Less heat, binding post speaker terminals vs. the vintage spring clips, coaxial and subwoofer outputs, etc. triple bipolar transistors are tuned using the Baker clamp circuit to smooth out the switching wave. Metal oxide field emitting transistors can remain always on at lower wattage gain for the vintage class A amp sound. The difference between bipolar and mosfets is that the first is a voltage controlled transistor, and the second are current controlled, having a dual gate input and a field output. Floating amp designs for expensive models is another option. These are not grounded the same as others.
My system is versatile for fm, Bluetooth, CDs and vynil. I have two rooms connected to it with different room acoustics. Vintage heavy non ported 12 inch woofer 3 way floor speakers in the room with more upholstery. Bose Acoutimass am 5 II from 1991 with four cubes at ceiling level and an extra Bose subwoofer that is self amplified and can be on or off in the room with more wood and less furniture. I have a vintage equalizer and can power both rooms with no loss of volume or fidelity. Square feet for both adjoining rooms is about 850. Amp is the Yamaha S 801 for 100 watts and 2 channels. Surround sound equipment when combined in one amp adds noise to the circuitry with each feature that must be cleaned up with more circuitry.
I have a good Yamaha CD single disc player with USB stick ability, not an sacd type though. I have a 1978 Technics SL 220 belt drive turntable and a new SL 1500-C direct drive. I have four different cartridges and head shells for easy swapping. Three elliptical and one micro line stylus. Each have different mv outputs and slightly different channel balance and separation. Two sets of headphones 🎧 for private listening. One is analog only one is Bluetooth optional. I toggle between the equalizer and the second subwoofer or neither for the best result of the material.
 
I’m virtually deaf in my left ear and have been wearing an hearing aid in that ear for about 15 years and I can still tell the difference between analog and digital sound. And I prefer the richer sound of analog, it seems the “swell” and is “warm sounding” while digital is kinda “flat” and cold.

In 1956 my Dad bought my Mom a brand new beautiful Cherry wood cabinet RCA Victor Hi-Fi console and that radio/phonograph had the most beautiful sound of any that I’ve ever heard. It wasn’t stereo, just Hi-Fi sound, although there was a button that had the provision for stereophonic sound, that is provided you also purchased the matching stereo speaker cabinet for the opposite side of the room, which we didn’t have or miss.

Eddie
Yes indeed, RCA Victor was a premium brand name for a long time.
My parents had one, a monster stereo costing $600 in 1963.
Also in French Provincial cherry.
When pop got drunk, sometimes he'd crank that thing up and annoy the neighbors with Connie Francis records.
 
Oh Connie O' Oh Connie O'! I can disturb the neighbors if I want to as well. Viki Carr, Ingelbert, etc.
I forgot to mention that most new amps. do not have Pre-outs or Main inputs for a graphic equalizer. If you have a source with a built in preamp, you can use one with it plugged into an auxiliary source input. Some do have a main input to the amp for every source input, so if you have a preamp with phono, tuner, tape, and aux. inputs, it will work with each component. I use mine with the phono preamp that isn't very strong.
I have a good servicer who is also a Yamaha factory authorized warranty servicer.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top