Boomzilla's Journey (ongoing)

[klinemj]

Some really good gear in the list. I note you have Adcom in your amp list. In the early 90's, I had a few "Rotel vs. Adcom" shootouts, and I prefered the Rotel amps. The Rotel has tighter and stronger bass.

And, in the speaker list, I'd sneak in Vandersteen into the list somewhere. I recall listening to certain models vs. Ohm and Thiel and others, and my friends and I always liked the Vandersteens. These days, I don't think they are as good as they were.

Mark

[Boomzilla]

The reason I had Adcom there is because their first power amplifier product (the GFA-1 cube amplifier) just happened to match well with my Dahlquist DQ-10a speakers. At that time, I wasn't familiar with Rotel. And I agree that Vandersteen should be in the list!

[Deleted]

I just watched a YouTube about some guy's favorite vintage amplifiers. His choices were (in order of preference):

1. Dynamic Precision
2. Electrocompaniant
3. Krell
4. Pass Labs
5. Aragon
6. Carver
7. Acurus
8. Doxa (Norway) (lower power, more expensive)
9. Parasound HCA series
10. Denon POA series


He was able to hear and compare all these amps in direct comparisons?

Yeah sure!   Typical "audiophile" bullschiit!   In other words, nonsense!  

[klinemj]

Nov 3, 2020 17:21:15 GMT -5 Boomzilla said:

The reason I had Adcom there is because their first power amplifier product (the GFA-1 cube amplifier) just happened to match well with my Dahlquist DQ-10a speakers. At that time, I wasn't familiar with Rotel. And I agree that Vandersteen should be in the list!

When I bought the Rotel, I compared it to the equivalent Adcom and chose the Rotel. Then, without me knowing - an Audio Amigo bought the Adcom, and before he could tell me I was playing up how much better I thought the Rotel was. Then, he told me he'd bought the Adcom and was kind of irritated at me. "Oops" Years later, he kept insisting that I had listened to a different Adcom, but...no...it was the same one he had purchased. He was an odd bird...always trash talking my gear, but if I said the slightest negative thing about his - he got irritated.

Mark

[Boomzilla]

Nov 4, 2020 20:24:48 GMT -5 klinemj said:

...He was an odd bird...always trash talking my gear, but if I said the slightest negative thing about his - he got irritated. - Mark

I think I know that guy! LOL

[Boomzilla]

One of my audio amigos is a dealer for Black Ice audio. He has recently received a Black Ice tube amplifier that he'll be loaning me for review:

[adaboy]

Nov 8, 2020 18:40:30 GMT -5 Boomzilla said:

One of my audio amigos is a dealer for Black Ice audio. He has recently received a Black Ice tube amplifier that he'll be loaning me for review:

I am also a dealer and all of my 2ch rig is as such except for the XPA2 for power. I've been considering adding a tube amplifier to complete the set. But man everything sounds good right now.

[Boomzilla]

Hi adaboy -

Some speakers "like tubes," and some don't. I've found no good predictor of which are which. But I do find that tube-friendly speakers don't just sound slightly better with tube amps, but rather OMG better. And although the standard "audiophile doctrine" is that for best bass, one needs a powerful, solid-state amp with lots of wattage and extreme damping factor, sometimes it just isn't so. My fly-weight Heathkit tube amps (12 watts on a good day and with a strong tailwind) can make some speakers stand up and sing. Specifically, two speakers that I found really liked my Heathkits were the Klipsch La Scala and the Tekton Pendragon. The Emotiva T2s sound pretty snazzy with the Heathkits as well. Two speakers that I found weren't so hot about tubes were the Dahlquist DQ-10 and the Thiel 5i. Not saying that they sounded bad with tubes, per se, but they definitely sounded far more dynamic with muscular, solid-state amps.

What do these have and not have in common? The La Scalas, the Pendragons, and even the T2s are all relatively high-sensitivity speakers. The DQ-10s and the Thiels are relatively low-sensitivity. But sensitivity in and of itself is not the whole story. I recently reviewed some Alta Audio Alec speakers which, despite their 93dB / 1W / 1m sensitivity, just did NOT work with my Heathkits. I've still no idea why, but it was definitely so. In fact, the more powerful the amp, the better the Alecs sounded, even at very low volumes.

So add one more mystery to audio things that I don't understand. The 20wpc Black Audio amp should be in my hot little hands sometime this week, and I'm eager to see what it can do.

Cheers - Boom

[adaboy]

Nov 10, 2020 3:10:05 GMT -5 Boomzilla said:

Hi adaboy -

Some speakers "like tubes," and some don't. I've found no good predictor of which are which. But I do find that tube-friendly speakers don't just sound slightly better with tube amps, but rather OMG better. And although the standard "audiophile doctrine" is that for best bass, one needs a powerful, solid-state amp with lots of wattage and extreme damping factor, sometimes it just isn't so. My fly-weight Heathkit tube amps (12 watts on a good day and with a strong tailwind) can make some speakers stand up and sing. Specifically, two speakers that I found really liked my Heathkits were the Klipsch La Scala and the Tekton Pendragon. The Emotiva T2s sound pretty snazzy with the Heathkits as well. Two speakers that I found weren't so hot about tubes were the Dahlquist DQ-10 and the Thiel 5i. Not saying that they sounded bad with tubes, per se, but they definitely sounded far more dynamic with muscular, solid-state amps.

What do these have and not have in common? The La Scalas, the Pendragons, and even the T2s are all relatively high-sensitivity speakers. The DQ-10s and the Thiels are relatively low-sensitivity. But sensitivity in and of itself is not the whole story. I recently reviewed some Alta Audio Alec speakers which, despite their 93dB / 1W / 1m sensitivity, just did NOT work with my Heathkits. I've still no idea why, but it was definitely so. In fact, the more powerful the amp, the better the Alecs sounded, even at very low volumes.

So add one more mystery to audio things that I don't understand. The 20wpc Black Audio amp should be in my hot little hands sometime this week, and I'm eager to see what it can do.

Cheers - Boom

Thanks Boom, now I have to go order one! ☺️

[mgbpuff]

Looks like push pull EL84s - the EL84 is an extremely linear low power tube that will sound superb, but may sound more solid state than most power tubes like the ever present EL34.

[Boomzilla]

I don't think they're actually EL84s... I'll know soon.

[brubacca]

I really wish I had bought one of the Bob Carver Black Magic 20 amps when Emotiva had them on clearance.

I kept hoping emotiva would apply their value to it and make it more affordable.

Instead they sold very slow and the whole thing fell apart.

[Boomzilla]

The spike in Covid-19 cases is preventing me from interacting with my audio amigos as much as I'd like. Even with N-95 masks, I'm reluctant to get out in public much less visit the listening rooms of my friends. Until vaccines are not only available but also widely accepted and used, my audio listening experiences are more solitary.

That said, I'm more fortunate in that I have a steady stream of audio gear arriving to play with & review. If I had to pay for all this gear, it would come to a screeching halt. Mr. DYohn recently contacted me and VERY generously offered to send his personal pair of Emotiva headphones to me for evaluation. I may reciprocate by offering some of my "audio closet gold" to others on the Lounge for evaluation. If interested, PM me.

Glenn

[Boomzilla]

Well what do you know... I was rearranging the listening room recently, and having a pair of 2' x 4' x 6" sound diffusers (and no place to put them), I lined them up on both sides of the listening couch with the diffuser side pointed in. Looked like this:

And surprise - almost ALL of the room reflections disappeared, and it was like listening with giant (GIANT) headphones. This was a VERY different presentation from what I've ever heard before in this room. I don't know what to make of it yet, but WOW did details pop in this configuration.

Boom

Postscriptum - The listening couch isn't really hard against the back wall - there's about a two foot distance and there are absorbers behind the couch.

I also think I'd like to try this configuration eventually:

[Boomzilla]

Well - This is a first... FedEx has lost a review amplifier. They claim to have delivered it to the corner UPS store, but the store has not received ANY FedEx shipments this morning and can prove it via surveillance tapes. So maybe the driver completed the paperwork in advance of actual delivery? Maybe the package was delivered to the wrong address? Maybe the package was lost and the paperwork was completed to hide that fact? Maybe the package was stolen by the driver and the paperwork was completed to hide that fact?

In any case, I've notified the shipper and the insurer. It's out of my hands now.

Yet another example of shipper incompetence (at the best) or outright theft (at the worst). This is becoming not at all unusual and is not unique to FedEx. UPS, the Post Office, and DHL seem equally bad concerning failure to deliver. The poor insurers must be at wits' end. Sad.

Boomzilla

[markc]

Nov 22, 2020 12:19:48 GMT -5 Boomzilla said:

Well - This is a first... FedEx has lost a review amplifier. They claim to have delivered it to the corner UPS store, but the store has not received ANY FedEx shipments this morning and can prove it via surveillance tapes. So maybe the driver completed the paperwork in advance of actual delivery? Maybe the package was delivered to the wrong address? Maybe the package was lost and the paperwork was completed to hide that fact? Maybe the package was stolen by the driver and the paperwork was completed to hide that fact?

In any case, I've notified the shipper and the insurer. It's out of my hands now.

Yet another example of shipper incompetence (at the best) or outright theft (at the worst). This is becoming not at all unusual and is not unique to FedEx. UPS, the Post Office, and DHL seem equally bad concerning failure to deliver. The poor insurers must be at wits' end. Sad.

Boomzilla

My bet is the delivery driver thought the package contained a PS5 that he/she could sell on eBay for a fast buck

He/she ended up with a more valuable cargo but less easy to sell on.

[klinemj]

Boomzilla

You seem to have the worst luck with shipments! I know you ship/recieve a lot, but so does my wife. Knock on wood (because I will be trading an XMC-1 and expecting an 86" TV soon), but the only things we've had issues were:
1) shipments from dubious suppliers in China
2) a dress my wife tried to send from us to a town 2 hours away in Ohio...it took 3 weeks and multiple trips from our post office to Columbus, and back, and forth, and back, and forth...until it finally wne from Columbus to the final destination.

Mark

[Boomzilla]

An additional comment on FedEx deliveries to the UPS store:

Less than six months ago, I was being sent a (repaired) Oppo UDP-205 4K disc player via FedEx. I received a certificate of delivery from FedEx, yet the player was never delivered to the UPS store. The shipper filed a claim with FedEx, which was eventually paid, and I was refunded in cash for the missing player.

Now the Marantz amplifier has similarly gone missing (addressed to the same location). This indicates to me the possibility of a FedEx driver with a taste for high-end AV equipment who "cherry-picks" items to steal. Now two incidents do not a "trend" make, but should the missing Marantz actually be traced to the FedEx driver, it would be interesting to have his house or apartment searched for the presence of an Oppo UDP-205...

Both items are relatively compact; both items are high value; both items were addressed to the same commercial location; both disappeared in the final link of the delivery chain. But, as I said, this may just be random; two events do not necessarily indicate a common cause. But I'll be carefully watching for similar disappearances for the next few quarters...

Boomzilla

[klinemj]

Boomzilla

I wonder if there's any way, between FedEx and the UPS store, if they can confidentially check to see if the same driver handled both. Or, if the same person at the UPS store handled both.

If either of those is true - you may be on to something.

Mark

[Boomzilla]

Nov 23, 2020 8:31:21 GMT -5 klinemj said:

Boomzilla

I wonder if there's any way, between FedEx and the UPS store, if they can confidentially check to see if the same driver handled both. Or, if the same person at the UPS store handled both.

If either of those is true - you may be on to something.

Mark

It can't be the UPS employees - there is 100% video coverage on the store that verifies that FedEx never delivered.

I'm sure that FedEx will be doing their own investigation (after all, this is the second big $$$ loss that they'll be having to pay). And I'm sure that they'll be looking for "coincidences" like whether the same driver was involved in both losses. So in short, I think it's already handled.

Thanks for the suggestions, though.

Boom

Postscriptum: The "signature" for the supposed delivery was "GYOUNG." This is impossible since:

1. I was not at the UPS Store at the supposed time of delivery
2. None of the UPS Store counter personnel sign for delivery in my name - they use their own names.

Therefore, FedEx's own delivery record proves beyond any doubt that delivery was NEVER made to the UPS store, and that the delivery record was falsified.