Equipment Recommendations - The Home For New System and Upgrade Advice

Joe Mac said:
Then I’d check tracking force with your scales and alignment with the protractor that came with the turntable. If it still sounds off I’d get back onto the shop. If the distortion is still there, they should have a warrantee on the work they’ve done.
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I took it back in yesterday. They think it’s the needle. They ordered about her one and are having it shipped to my place. I don’t know how it got damaged. I was really on the edge of offing a new u-turn. I’m glad I was patient and took it back.
 
Ghost said:
It was Common Wave Hi-Fi near the Arts District. They have a great little record shop in the front as well, very high quality pressings. The owner is not for everyone though and his general attitude has kept me from going to him for system upgrades. He can be very condescending and I think he saw how young I am and in general assumed I don't do my own research before buying gear. He would kinda shit upon my whole set up no matter what it was.

Fluance RT85? "I'd return it immediately, its a subpar piece of equipment for the money.".

Wharfedale Lintons? "Why would you ever buy those when you can buy these speakers here in my shop?!"

The story goes on lol. He's a nice guy but I can tell he lets his aural intelligence get in the way and it can get annoying.

Once he found out I bought my UltraDeck from Upscale instead of him he just stopped responding to any instagram inquiries about gear. Wanted to buy a phono from him and he would read my messages but not respond, so naturally I got my Sutherland from Upscale lol. Asked him about a potential trade in from Lintons into KLH's and same thing, read my message but never responded. Asked him about the Hana SL when I was eyeing an upgrade, read it and never responded, so again, gave my money to Upscale.
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Yea if you have any problems, I’ll give you the contact for this place. Despite some things that were out of their control, I liked them. I was small potatoes compared to what they normally do, but they treated me with respect regardless.
 
Dtknuckles said:
Yea if you have any problems, I’ll give you the contact for this place. Despite some things that were out of their control, I liked them. I was small potatoes compared to what they normally do, but they treated me with respect regardless.
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I brought in a copy of the Koln concert because it’s such a clean sounding record. Me and the guy cracked some music nerd jokes and had a little discussion about distortion and how it’s hard to tell because it can be intentional. I thanked him for making me feel like I wasn’t having auditory hallucinations.
 
Lee Newman said:
officially reached out to the shop to inquire about auditioning and with the deets on what I am currently running. Will report back.
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Keep in mind that some places will allow you to bring in your own stuff to help with comparisons. It can be a PITA, but with so many variables in play (acoustics of their demo space, if auditioning speakers, what are they powering them wtih? if an amp, what speakers are they playing them through, etc.), it can be a really helpful thing to do. Unless of course they carry what you already have....
 
Russ I said:
Keep in mind that some places will allow you to bring in your own stuff to help with comparisons. It can be a PITA, but with so many variables in play (acoustics of their demo space, if auditioning speakers, what are they powering them wtih? if an amp, what speakers are they playing them through, etc.), it can be a really helpful thing to do. Unless of course they carry what you already have....
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They don’t have the Elacs. Everything else they have.
 
Considering that all I really want is amplification and a volume knob along with a few inputs, my choices from them are pretty limited. Since I’m not trying to get a dac or a tube amp, color isn’t really an issue, right? I mean the elacs are gonna be the same signature they already have and show the same issues they already do. It looks like I also get 30 days to take it back if I have buyers’ remorse.
 
Lee Newman said:
Considering that all I really want is amplification and a volume knob along with a few inputs, my choices from them are pretty limited. Since I’m not trying to get a dac or a tube amp, color isn’t really an issue, right? I mean the elacs are gonna be the same signature they already have and show the same issues they already do. It looks like I also get 30 days to take it back if I have buyers’ remorse.
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I suppose a lot of it is different amps and speakers have different sound profile so if you listened to it in the store with a set of speakers that were the opposite to the elacs you could get a false idea of how it sounds, or it’s sound profile is, with them. For example something might sound jarringly bright or too relaxed warm with the wrong speaker but just so with the right one.

That said the return window is definitely your friend.

You could ask about bringing the ELACs in or if they’d be willing to do an in home demo?
 
Joe Mac said:
I suppose a lot of it is different amps and speakers have different sound profile so if you listened to it in the store with a set of speakers that were the opposite to the elacs you could get a false idea of how it sounds, or it’s sound profile is, with them. For example something might sound jarringly bright or too relaxed warm with the wrong speaker but just so with the right one.

That said the return window is definitely your friend.

You could ask about bringing the ELACs in or if they’d be willing to do an in home demo?
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I don’t wanna take them off the mounts.
 
I mean it’s not the biggest deal to take them off the mounts, I just have to climb up on a ladder and unscrew the mounts and i’m sure I’ll fuck up the toe, but I’ll probably have to retoe anyhow.
 
Lee Newman said:
I mean it’s not the biggest deal to take them off the mounts, I just have to climb up on a ladder and unscrew the mounts and im side I’ll fuck up the toe, but I’ll probably have to retire anyhow.
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Look equally if you speak to them they might have a speaker with a similar signature to the ELACs to use to demo. It’s all about conversations and I suppose you’re as well having them with the store as with us right now.
 
snowwhat said:
Anyone here have a Ragnarok 2? Been using a refurbished Marantz PM5005 for a while and it seems like this would be a nice upgrade. I like that you’re not paying for a phono stage and DAC with the “just an amp” model (because I have those already).

I’m using Polk Lsim 703 bookshelves and a Darlington Labs MM7.

Schiit Audio: Audio Products Designed and Built in Texas and California

www.schiit.com www.schiit.com
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I think Schiit makes great gear, I've owned a few and I'm sure the Ragnarok would sound great. To your point about not spending money on things you don't need, do you need the balanced inputs?

If not, and I'm gonna sound like a broken record here, I absolutely love the stripped down Musical Fidelity M2si I've had for the last 8 months, no DAC, Phono or headphone, just a great sounding integrated amp. Again, depending on what you're looking for, you may want to at least look into it ;)
Musical-Fidelity-M2si.jpg
 
AnthonyI said:
I think Schiit makes great gear, I've owned a few and I'm sure the Ragnarok would sound great. To your point about not spending money on things you don't need, do you need the balanced inputs?

If not, and I'm gonna sound like a broken record here, I absolutely love the stripped down Musical Fidelity M2si I've had for the last 8 months, no DAC, Phono or headphone, just a great sounding integrated amp. Again, depending on what you're looking for, you may want to at least look into it ;)
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Thank you! This is a great option. I don't need the balanced input/output and I like that the M2si is even more bare-bones. It also looks like the remote and input selector is a lot more smooth than the Ragnarok which is kind of slow, and if you want to change from input 3 to input 2 you have to go through inputs 4>5>1>2.

The only nit I read in M2si reviews was a small boost to the treble, but then they went on to say that it sounds good anyway. But after reading a ton of equipment reviews in the past few days :sick: I'd much rather take N&G advice.
 
snowwhat said:
Thank you! This is a great option. I don't need the balanced input/output and I like that the M2si is even more bare-bones. It also looks like the remote and input selector is a lot more smooth than the Ragnarok which is kind of slow, and if you want to change from input 3 to input 2 you have to go through inputs 4>5>1>2.

The only nit I read in M2si reviews was a small boost to the treble, but then they went on to say that it sounds good anyway. But after reading a ton of equipment reviews in the past few days :sick: I'd much rather take N&G advice.
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For what its worth, I do not like overly analytical sound or brightness and I'm happy as a clam with the M2 ;)
 
Okay, let’s try this in the right thread:

What is the release date on the NAD C3050? It’s purdy and you guys like nad and it should push most any speaker I get in the future.
 
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