[Trippynet]

"Remastered" is actually a synonym for "butchered"  :(   At first I thought it was my ears failing but no, it's real. Compared a record to the so-called CD a few times and the CD is entirely different.

Jerks.

Could not agree more. The music industry hasn't cared one bit about sound quality since the early to mid 90s. Modern music is made with zero regard for how good it sounds, just so long as it is "loud". Hence for modern remasters, old (and often fantastic sounding) albums simply have everything turned up to 11 so that a pile of muffled, distorted mush comes out the end.

A great example is the Nirvana - Nevermind remaster. The original was made in the final couple of years of good mastering and the sound quality on it is very good (whether you like how it is mixed is up for debate). The "remaster" in comparison sounds shit. Drop-dead, god-awful shit.

Personally, I do like vinyls. It isn't possible to smash the sound quite as bad as with CDs, plus there are some occasional gems out there as well. For example, the Red Hot Chilli Peppers - Stadium Arcadium was mastered like crap on CD, but they arranged for Steve Hoffman to give it a completely different and dynamic master for the vinyl release and it sounds great as a result. Unfortunately, it is in a minority.

[micrex22]

Could not agree more. The music industry hasn't cared one bit about sound quality since the early to mid 90s. Modern music is made with zero regard for how good it sounds, just so long as it is "loud". Hence for modern remasters, old (and often fantastic sounding) albums simply have everything turned up to 11 so that a pile of muffled, distorted mush comes out the end.

A great example is the Nirvana - Nevermind remaster. The original was made in the final couple of years of good mastering and the sound quality on it is very good (whether you like how it is mixed is up for debate). The "remaster" in comparison sounds shit. Drop-dead, god-awful shit.

Personally, I do like vinyls. It isn't possible to smash the sound quite as bad as with CDs, plus there are some occasional gems out there as well. For example, the Red Hot Chilli Peppers - Stadium Arcadium was mastered like crap on CD, but they arranged for Steve Hoffman to give it a completely different and dynamic master for the vinyl release and it sounds great as a result. Unfortunately, it is in a minority.

Well a lot of modern music uses up more of the headroom with the usage of equalizers to snip out unneeded frequencies and heavy compression. It actually would be possible to make a vinyl record sound like anything today--you'd just need to compress the hell out of it and press it. Because little to no headroom would be left, it would be interesting to see how well record playback equipment would be able to handle the clipping.

Its all about the 'loudness wars' these days.

[jan-jaap]

it would be interesting to see how well record playback equipment would be able to handle the clipping.

I think the problem with vinyl records is that at some point the needle jumps out of the groove.

[commodorejohn]

Yeah, the physical limitations of the medium put definite limits on how far you can push the compression.

[Irinikus]

it would be interesting to see how well record playback equipment would be able to handle the clipping.

I think the problem with vinyl records is that at some point the needle jumps out of the groove.

This won't happen with a clearaudio STATEMENT, however a machine such as this will set you back the price of a small house!

[Irinikus]

I bought two of these today to do some testing on the B&O Penta's:



They're not as sensitive as the original mid range units found in the Penta's, I will need a set of 8 to do proper testing, but I bought these just to develop the procedure required to fit them.

Today I filed them down by hand (I will finish them off tomorrow with a very fine-grit sandpaper), as I'm going to get inset aluminium rings made up to increase their diameter to the required 8cm to properly fit into the Penta's baffles. (The little "ears" facilitating the mounting holes, exceed 8CM, so they would not fit into the baffles with them present.)

[Irinikus]

Last night, when powering my hi-fi down, I noticed that the batteries in the Jeff Rowland Coherence II Preamp are no longer holding charge (Well it's been a bout 10 years since I've replaced them and they're sealed lead acid type)!

So this morning I dismantled my hi-fi to get to the power supply, to check the batteries for leaks, and the power supply sits at the bottom of the stack. (A pretty lengthy process, and each one of these components weighs a ton - you have to be very careful when moving heavy, delicate components!)

I forgot to take a picture when my unit was open, so here's a generic picture showing how the batteries sit inside the unit:



Here's another generic shot showing the internal layout of the preamp itself: (One of the most beautiful pieces of engineering I've ever laid eyes on!)



Here are some pics I took when re-connecting everything: (This gave me an opportunity to give everything a good dusting!!!)







I also gave the monoblock's filters a good clean:





System now re-connected:





And successfully powered up:



The batteries were fine physically, but will need to be replaced!

[Irinikus]

[jan-jaap]

Last night, when powering my hi-fi down, I noticed that the batteries in the Jeff Rowland Coherence II Preamp are no longer holding charge (Well it's been a bout 10 years since I've replaced them and they're sealed lead acid type)!

[...]

The batteries were fine physically, but will need to be replaced!

I had exactly the same in my old alarm system. They need to be replaced every five years or so. They don't like to be fully discharged either.

[Irinikus]

Last night, when powering my hi-fi down, I noticed that the batteries in the Jeff Rowland Coherence II Preamp are no longer holding charge (Well it's been a bout 10 years since I've replaced them and they're sealed lead acid type)!

[...]

The batteries were fine physically, but will need to be replaced!

I had exactly the same in my old alarm system. They need to be replaced every five years or so. They don't like to be fully discharged either.

It won’t help to replace them at this time, seeing that the system sees so little use. In the future I’ll do some research to see if they can’t be replaced by a more modern solution.