Exclusive to our Substack subscribers, we host a weekly Q&A every Monday. Our team of veteran writers, reviewers, and editors hand select a few to answer every Friday. Perhaps you’re having trouble with a specific amplifier, or desire a deeper understanding of transmission line speakers, from the general to the specific, post your questions here and come back on Friday to see them answered!
Is it worthwhile retro-fitting new speaker drivers into a vintage speaker design (original Large Advents)
to incorporate into a 2nd system ? I really like the beautiful cabinets on these and they would be for back ground listening as I have B&W and Magnepans for my reference system. Also would the crossovers need to be updated as well ? Thanks in advance for your kind reply .
Back with yet *another* turntable question! (Please stop rolling your eyes. ;-))
I'm trying to understand how so much incredible engineering goes into playback of LPs -- trying to ensure that there's no cogging in direct drive motors, etc -- doesn't seem to extend to the lathe itself. They don't have million pound platter setups (which isn't to say they're light), nor do they have special motors that avoid cogging through methods beyond the relatively well-known.
As such, aren't the efforts that go into some extreme (and extremely expensive) solutions limited quite severely by the underlying rotational performance of the lathe itself? In other words, if everything matters, you have to start with what puts the grooves down in the first place, and if that motor, platter, etc is less "advanced", then, yes, you're reproducing the source as it is, but if something like cogging is so audible, why wouldn't it be audible in every case, given "perfect playback"?
If not, why wouldn't those existing motor and platter solutions (and, yes, vacuum hold down, given they all use that) be sufficient? A Neumann VMS-70 platter was something like 77lbs, which I assume was selected to mostly compensate for speed variations and any cogging.
I am currently using Wilson Sasha V's in my system and am quite pleased with them. I have never even tried listening to them with the grilles removed. Is there any reason why I should consider removing them? My dealer thinks this is unnecessary but I'd like your thoughts. Is this more a matter of aesthetics or should I expect any perceptible improvement with them removed? Thanks for a reply.
Is it worthwhile retro-fitting new speaker drivers into a vintage speaker design (original Large Advents)
to incorporate into a 2nd system ? I really like the beautiful cabinets on these and they would be for back ground listening as I have B&W and Magnepans for my reference system. Also would the crossovers need to be updated as well ? Thanks in advance for your kind reply .
Back with yet *another* turntable question! (Please stop rolling your eyes. ;-))
I'm trying to understand how so much incredible engineering goes into playback of LPs -- trying to ensure that there's no cogging in direct drive motors, etc -- doesn't seem to extend to the lathe itself. They don't have million pound platter setups (which isn't to say they're light), nor do they have special motors that avoid cogging through methods beyond the relatively well-known.
As such, aren't the efforts that go into some extreme (and extremely expensive) solutions limited quite severely by the underlying rotational performance of the lathe itself? In other words, if everything matters, you have to start with what puts the grooves down in the first place, and if that motor, platter, etc is less "advanced", then, yes, you're reproducing the source as it is, but if something like cogging is so audible, why wouldn't it be audible in every case, given "perfect playback"?
If not, why wouldn't those existing motor and platter solutions (and, yes, vacuum hold down, given they all use that) be sufficient? A Neumann VMS-70 platter was something like 77lbs, which I assume was selected to mostly compensate for speed variations and any cogging.
Hope that makes sense as a question!
A question regarding speaker grilles.
I am currently using Wilson Sasha V's in my system and am quite pleased with them. I have never even tried listening to them with the grilles removed. Is there any reason why I should consider removing them? My dealer thinks this is unnecessary but I'd like your thoughts. Is this more a matter of aesthetics or should I expect any perceptible improvement with them removed? Thanks for a reply.