Playground for practical listening exercises

[Charlie1]

Lol.

It was bought by my great grandfather around 1915.

I think it’s time for a new felt mat though :)

[tokenbrit]

Interesting that even equipment this old needs time to warm up... or was this all just a wind up ;)

Nice to hear a recording without DRM... You must have a spare felt mat from one of your LP12s :)

[Charlie1]

Just operator inexperience.

Unless I need another Lack to play my shellac.

[tokenbrit]

Just operator inexperience.

Unless I need another Lack to play my shellac.

Were you winding for 33, not 78? Otherwise nothing Lacking... :)

[Spannko]

Great stuff, Charles! It med mi lof! Are you using steel needles? I’ve got a wind-up too. Not as posh as yours, or as old. It’s the common or garden HMV picnic hamper stylie, and if the spring wasn’t sprung we could have a right old proper wind-up bake-off!

[Tony Tune-age]

Same clips skipping between digital and analogue...
https://www.dropbox.com/s/8qj6ew9u2ibrb ... 2.mp4?dl=0

I think we were all aware of your preference for older Linn bearings & Naim electronics, but didn't realise it had gone this far :D Thanks for bringing us up to speed... Eventually ;)

Well done indeed Charlie1...(+1)

[ThomasOK]

Very amusing, Charlie1. Getting into horns I see.

Here's something a little different as I haven't contributed a clip in a while. You'll notice I pulled a Charlie1 on it, not to show the system (as it's all up front) but to show a little more of the room.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/a78z3x0s8eiy8 ... M.mov?dl=0

[Charlie1]

Sounds really good Tom. Great bass coming from those ESLs.

Who's the artist? Shades of Brian Eno in the way he delivers some of the lines.

[ThomasOK]

Sounds really good Tom. Great bass coming from those ESLs.

Who's the artist? Shades of Brian Eno in the way he delivers some of the lines.

That is the group Morphine. Title track to the Cure For Pain album. See the new records thread for a photo of the album cover.

[V.A.MKD]

Same clips skipping between digital and analogue...
https://www.dropbox.com/s/8qj6ew9u2ibrb ... 2.mp4?dl=0

I think we were all aware of your preference for older Linn bearings & Naim electronics, but didn't realise it had gone this far :D Thanks for bringing us up to speed... Eventually ;)

Well done indeed Charlie1...(+1)

:-))) Great Charlie1, +1 ...

[V.A.MKD]

Very amusing, Charlie1. Getting into horns I see.

Here's something a little different as I haven't contributed a clip in a while. You'll notice I pulled a Charlie1 on it, not to show the system (as it's all up front) but to show a little more of the room.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/a78z3x0s8eiy8 ... M.mov?dl=0

As always, perfectly sounding stereo system ...
Thank you ThomasOK.

[markiteight]

ThomasOK's post about power strips and subsequent replies have been moved here.

-Moderator

[ThomasOK]

A couple more clips. Not about power strips. There is a small volume difference so you might need to turn up Clip F a notch. Have fun!

Clip P:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0394gdlqqzai4 ... M.mov?dl=0

Clip F:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ec0wbkoof6rpr ... 9.mov?dl=0

PS I did a Charlie1 on Clip F, except to show some of the room rather than the system which is always in front.

[beck]

Clip P just works for me.

Something in clip F makes me slightly uneasy.

[PetterS]

Clip P for me.

[lejonklou]

P

[tokenbrit]

P clip

[beck]

Guessing P is Giella (Pi) as preamp and F is Sagatun stereo as preamp........

[V.A.MKD]

For me P, sound more musical ...

But, also clip F for better space / room.

[Tendaberry]

Another vote for P

[Defender]

yes beck there is something in clip K which sounds harsh/edgy to me which is not there in clip P and also clip P flows better - I hope its not Sagatun vs. Giella

[beck]

yes beck there is something in clip K which sounds harsh/edgy to me which is not there in clip P and also clip P flows better - I hope its not Sagatun vs. Giella

Yes, maybe a bad guess, but I know you are talking about clip F.........not clip K. :-)

[matthias]

P

Matt

[Charlie1]

Can I have a P please?

F seemed a bit downbeat by comparison.

[ThomasOK]

OK, time for the big reveal. Clip P is the Giella ∏ and Clip F is Sagatun...Monos! It is interesting, but not completely surprising, how the replies came out. There is no question that the Giella ∏ is a very beguiling piece of equipment (possibly helped by being about 2dB louder - it is hard to precisely adjust that little knob and I made that clip second). However, it doesn't quite tell the full story. I was initially quite impressed by the Giella ∏ in these clips and sent them directly to Fredrik who still preferred the SMs (unlike what he posted here). In listening to the clips a number of times I find that there is something about the SMs that I find appealing that isn't quite there in the Giella ∏. I think there is more of the fine texture that makes the sax sound a bit more real, even if a bit less dynamic. But I also realized that I didn't do this comparison as exactingly as I should have and the advantage would have fallen to the Giella ∏. So there will be another set of clips where I try to make sure the conditions are more equal.

I will also mention that my friend who had me swap his Giella ∏ in place of his Sagatun stereo, based on a short listen to a couple of rock and jazz pieces, has asked me to swap back to the Sagatun this weekend. He found that in listening to classical, his first love, the Giella ∏ seemed to slightly blend together the sound of string sections and woodwind sections that were more separate and real sounding on the Sagatun. So as much as he likes the Giella ∏, and he loves it with his pair of Grado SR125e with G cushions, he overall prefers the Sagatun on his main system.

So consider this a developing story. But the moral so far is that the Giella ∏ is a pretty amazing piece of equipment, especially for the money. More to follow.