Stereo equipment

**Beirut** · 05-20-2011, 00:01

Originally Posted by Strike For The South

Old men talking about old tech.

/whippersanper intermission

/I wasn't even alive in the 80s

You missed out, pup. Those were good days. And the 70s were much better. I wouldn't trade it for the virtual life of electronic isolation most teenagers experience now. Not in a million years.

Back then when you bought an album it was an experience. It was almost a religious experience to open up a brand new album, look at the perfection of the grooves, place it on the turntable, set the needle down oh so carefully, and then play with the dials and knobs on the amp and fiddle with the EQ to get the best sound. Then sit back and look at the pictures and writing on the album, maybe there was a poster and stickers inside. A lot of times you did this with your friends, it was a social experience. You got together just to listen to music. My best friend's girlfriend had a good stereo in her basement and lots of blacklights and blacklight posters. We'd hang out and just listen to music on Saturday nights in that surreal atmosphere. It was really magical.

Ahhhhh... melancholy.

I miss my old friends.

**Hosakawa Tito** · 05-20-2011, 00:55

Hehehe, the only part I don't miss is having to pay for the crap songs on the album to get the ones you wanted. Some albums were all good, but most had some real stinkers mixed in. It was definitely a gratifying social experience to get that "just out" new album from your favorite band and listen to it with your friends. Good times & memories indeed.

**Beirut** · 05-20-2011, 11:50

Lemur, check it out - the Klipsch speaker I need to complete the set went down $90 last night, it's on sale for a week.

The planets begin to align.

**Lemur** · 05-20-2011, 14:17

Niiiice. You're gonna be rocking out before you know it, tree-killer.

**Beirut** · 05-20-2011, 18:52

Originally Posted by Lemur

Niiiice. You're gonna be rocking out before you know it, tree-killer.

I was just salivating over the immersion edition of DSotM at Amazon.

Here's one for ya: if you play a CD, or any music, on your PC and send it out to your amp, the myriad of volume levels the music goes through - the volume on the media player, on the PC, and the amp - must be degrading it somehow. It's got to be cleaner just going through a no-volume-control CD\DVD player, no?

**InsaneApache** · 05-20-2011, 19:09

I got a very nice Morantz system about a decade ago. Coupled with the Tannoy speakers the quality is superb.

I havn't listened to it for years, thanks to the internets.

**Beirut** · 05-20-2011, 21:49

Originally Posted by InsaneApache

I got a very nice Morantz system about a decade ago. Coupled with the Tannoy speakers the quality is superb.

I havn't listened to it for years, thanks to the internets.

Then it's time to revist an old friend.

**Lemur** · 05-20-2011, 19:13

Originally Posted by Beirut

Here's one for ya: if you play a CD, or any music, on your PC and send it out to your amp, the myriad of volume levels the music goes through - the volume on the media player, on the PC, and the amp - must be degrading it somehow. It's got to be cleaner just going through a no-volume-control CD\DVD player, no?

Ummm, depends. The real question would be how many stages there are after the digital-to-analog conversion. And how good that conversion was. Were the audio streams merged? Did a single DSP process both streams? How many wires did the signal go through post-DAC?

In some ways a computer is a much more stable platform than a CD/DVD player. It has oodles of memory and so forth, so it can buffer the data. But ... yeah, it all depends.

**Beirut** · 05-20-2011, 21:49

Originally Posted by Lemur

Ummm, depends. The real question would be how many stages there are after the digital-to-analog conversion. And how good that conversion was. Were the audio streams merged? Did a single DSP process both streams? How many wires did the signal go through post-DAC?

If you're going to talk to me like that you better buy me dinner first and offer me a cigarette... after.

Originally Posted by Lemur

In some ways a computer is a much more stable platform than a CD/DVD player. It has oodles of memory and so forth, so it can buffer the data. But ... yeah, it all depends.

I stole the DVD (uber-cheap Philips) from downstairs and am using it at this very moment. I like it beter than playing through the laptop. The sound is good and it's certainly simpler.