Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners cd player

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Bren, that's a disturbing avatar. bleck.

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And a stuffed bear looking at gay porn isn't?

Bren R.

"That's Mr. Bear to you."

-Mr. Bear

Sorry to get back on subject. ecost has got some refurb 5 disk CD players at substantial savings that ALSO act as progressive scan DVD players. They are the DVM 1815, 2815 and 4800. I got a 4800 last year (MSRP $1199) and it is a burly device with some serious DACS and great PQ for DVDs.

In reply to:

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Sorry to get back on subject.

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How dare you!

Wow, I blanked out for a minute there! What was I thinking? Has anyone seen any good whale related web sites lately?

As a matter of fact...


LOL

Not to drag up a dead thread but since I got into tubes and thus now having the ability to see things from a different perspective, I'd have to say, yes, there was a lot of condescension and assumptions in this thread. Comments like, well, if you're into hifi and accurate sound reproduction, then tubes aren't for you. Hifi? There is no clear definition of what Hifi is. My goodness. How about having a little respect for the vast majority of people that like tubes and say: "Why don't you try them out and compare to solid state?" instead of such quick dismissals. If you people can't read between the lines of Alan's comments, well, then...whatever. All I know is tubes aren't in the best interest of a speaker manufacturer trying to sell 5.1. Coincidence? We'll never know.

Secondly, there are the comments about how its a pain in the arse. Actually, owning a tube amp is quite easy these days due to auto biasing, no more need to have matching tubes, and other advancements.

Thirdly, many people think many cds sound like pure crap and tube colorization actually gets to the proper sound. Ask Metallica if they had actually intended for 'And Justice for All' to sound the way it does on cd. Most musicians will tell you cds suck and so does the sound of their music on cds. I think they have better ears than us.

Fourth, no, tubes do not degrade. They peak and they degrade. Part of the fun is then trying a new tube. Its a hobby, a way to pass time, fun. If "fun" or "hobby" was even in the mind of some of people who said things here, they would have never even saw fit to mention something like this. Maybe for some the extent of the hobby is buying gear and then leaving it sit for 7 years, but not for others.

Not to mention, ridiculous comments like: "I'm not even sure its legal". Its called OEM. The OEM has a formal relationship with the original manufacturer and customizes the original manufacturer's equipment, then resells it. Its a common practice many many different industries, particularly in the computer industry. I once worked for a company that made lunchmeat then sold it to a name brand. People eat this lunchmeat and have no idea who made it.

I wonder how many people have heard a good turntable setup? If so, I would be *very* interested to hear how they believe cds sound better. Let me know. End of rant.

>>But before someone who is held out as our resident expert puts down a product or species of product (tube output CDP) I just think a bit of experience prior to pronouncement might be in order.

Hold on for a minute there. You know Alan's background...

Given his years in the industry, what do you think the chances are that he has not had solid listening experience with good tube amps ?

I'm not saying you have to AGREE with him, of course (although IMO you are reading more into his words than he probably intended when writing them), just saying that "lack of experience" is not high on the list of reasons for saying what he did.

As the other posters are saying, I don't think Alan was saying "tube amps are no good" or even "tube amps are not better", just "remember that tube amps probably are less faithful to the original signal, even if the overall result can be more pleasing to our ears and brains in some cases".

I know 20 years ago the conventional wisdom was that SS equipment introduced far less distortion than tubes, but that the distortion was somehow more "evil" than the distortion introduced by tube amps. I guess distortion was the cholesterol of the 80s

I'm certainly not offended by any of the comments. I just think for balance and free speech, I'm going to offer a different view. 2X6 gets slammed here all the time, in this case, I happen to think he is right. To see his comments so readily dismissed is way off base. Let me show you:

"Adding to what Bren mentioned, won't it be fun to use a device that generates a rich wash of harmonic distortion, AC hum & noise, and begins deteriorating the moment it's turned on?"

------->I think its pretty easy to infer the condescension through sarcasm. Check out the sarcasm in the above comment. When one replies to another's comments with sarcasm, this shows no respect for the preceeding comments.

"...but it's horse-and-buggy technology best left and admired for what it did surprisingly well in the first half of the 20th century because there were no alternatives."

-----> There is no - "why don't you try them both out and then decide." He is clearly saying to leave it alone and admire the stuff in an audio museum or something. Bull. A better answer would be to say why don't you try them out for yourself.

"If someone wants the nostalgia of watching those tube filaments glow orange on a cold winter night, fine, but building a tube CD player now is, at the least, eccentric if not nutty. "

------> Excuse me? Nutty? Right, no condescension there. Sure. Further, reducing serious music listeners to dolts who are attracted to warm glowing lights like a child on a cold winter night? Please.

Do we have to go through this again? No. Let's just drop this.