tomE

I find shipping from the US to Canada is not too bad but the brokerage fees can be onerous. Maybe the same the other way I don't know. When I want to order stuff from the US I wait until I have a large order as I have had things for around $20 shipped and the brokerage fee is $35 or more! tomE

The Bryston BDP-1 and BDP-2 do this very well at a cost of around $2k. I'm sure there are others. I have the BDP-1 and it sounds great. The BDP-2 is an improvement according to a friend who auditioned one. Tom

I recently auditioned a slew of integrateds. For the money the NAD C326BEE might be just what you are looking for. If you want more power there are more BEE amps in the series. The NAIM SuperNait I listened to made everything sound good and the one I bought is the Rogue Sphinx. 100W/ch, phono stage, headphone amp and not expensive at around $1300. I like it a lot. I also listened to the NAD 390 and M2. I liked the M2 (250W/ch) but it is a bit much for desktop systems. The C390 left me cold although I really wanted to like it as it seemed to have most everything I wanted. Simaudio integrateds are excellent as well. Tom

Hello again. After a good workout the amp impressed me in some ways. But I don't love it. It doesn't seem to be able to move me the way my old system did with some material. Maybe I'm a tube-aholic, I don't know. The sibilance is still there which makes listening to some artists kinda painful as I guess I'm fairly sensative to this. I did play with the speaker impedance adjustments and found a subtle difference in the highs and felt that a setting around 5 ohms worked best with my speakers. and maybe with different speakers I might get off on this amp better. But the WAF was the reason for these speakers and I'd rather not go through that process again! I had a heck of a time getting ones with a cabinet finish that matched our floors to her satisfaction! Anyway, I think I'm going to include some hybrid amps in future auditions and see if that gets me where I want to go. Anyone heard the Unison amps? Maybe a Magnum Dynalab would work and they're made right here in the great white north! I hope you all enjoy your C390s. Ciao. Tom

Hello I have a C390DD here now for audition to replace my Anthem Pre1/Simaudio W3 combo which I recently sold. I've been using my C326BEE and am surprised how good this little guy sounds as long as I don't push it hard. I tried the M2 and had fun with its 250+ w/ch. I was not sure if I could live with this amp but it grew on me. Thought I'd try the C390DD as it's much more agreeable to my wallet! Initial impression were that there was a very noticeable emphasis on esses. A kind of "whitish" background as well. This unit was a demo from my dealer who had it set up in one of his listening rooms for a few months. It had been sitting unplugged for a week or two before I brought it home. Much easier to lug up the stairs to my listening room than the M2. This unit does not have an analog input or HDMI module. This is the third day I have had it and have been feeding it music for the entire time from my BDP-1 via AES EBU. The emphasis I found seems to be diminishing a bit. I haven't had a chance to crank it up today (watching football etc) and it has to go back Tuesday. So tomorrow I'll give it a thorough workout and see if it is a candidate to replace my earlier gear which I really liked. I'm just downsizing some things as a move to smaller digs is a possibility as my wife and me are getting on in age and a place without stairs gets more attractive. I'm hoping that it's breaking in and my earlier reservations disappear. If not I'm considering a C275BEE or even an M3. I'll post my findings tomorrow night. Any opinions on the analog board? I was happy how the M2 dealt with the output from my phono stage. Ciao. Tom

Thanks for the heads up Les. I don't have any Blu ray discs as yet and may reconsider getting any. If this is an industry restriction I guess it would apply to all Blu ray players. Is ripping them difficult? Anyway, I do have the Barber material on vinyl so that specific example isn't a big deal to me:-) Tom

AudGuy I recently purchased an Oppo BDP-95 at a bricks & mortar dealer not too far away from me in Whitby ON. I have also seen them from on-line Canadian vendors as well. I guess it's still true to some extent that Canada having close ties to Britain does get a lot of their audio products but the scene now has a much broader selection of available gear than ever before. Tom

I joined to get information on how to build a server. A few years back there was very little commercial product out there and my local dealers knew next to nothing about the subject. But I was attracted by the thought of all my CDs on a hard drive with easy access. So I joined CA and built my (cheap!) version of the original C.A.P.S. server and after a lot of fiddling with the set up I got music! Later I bought a BDP-1 and don't use a computer anymore. Yes I know the Bryston is really a computer. So now I hang out and comment once in a while, keep an eye open for developments that might interest me and read the reviews. And follow the usual debates and arguments like many others here. Some of the zingers are awesome!

I use an LP12 of recent vintage and it sounds pretty good but have used Regas as well and respect their abilities. The Pro-Ject tables are decent and their entry level tables are a good deal for the dough. I highly recommend a turntable wall stand mounted to a load bearing wall unless you have concrete floors. Selecting a phono pre amp and cartridge will be a challenge as I have found it difficult to audition these anywhere. Have fun and enjoy your vinyl! Tom

I've used Simaudio W3 and W5 amps to good effect on a variety of speakers. Impedance isn't an issue with these amplifiers and they should be available on the used market for well under $3k. I had my W3 on a pair of 2Ces once and I thought that the amp drove them with finesse. The W5 would have somewhat more oomph. Tom

I like Van Morrison and Elvis and Roy Orbison in pop/rock genres. K.D.Lang has a nice voice and I've always liked Linda Ronstadt. I never listened to opera much but heard a male member of the Canadian Opera Company at an outdoor venue once and I don't recall the singers name but I do remember being impressed. I went home and listened to Queen doing their opera thing and that Freddy guy wasn't even in the same universe as the opera guy. I like opera MUSIC a lot and the singing is superb but I'm still not that big of a fan of it. Tom

Monitor Audio has always produced good looking cabinetry. My wife wouldn't allow any of my first choices in speakers in the house (Vandersteens, Martin Logans, Maggies etc) but really liked the Silver RX8s in walnut. I have grown to like them and MA makes stand mounts as well as floor standers. Maybe something small in the Gold or Platinum series would work for you.

I believe that people like to use SSDs in servers built to be silent. The SSD produces almost no heat and makes no noise of its' own making it a good choice for a fanless server. It probably performs the same as a disc as far as how the music sounds is concerned. I have listened to music on two of my drives and couldn't tell any difference. They are an OCZ Vertex III 120g and a 1t WD Caviar black. YMMV Tom

The reference to Led Zep got me thinking that if the OP listens to a lot of hard rock or heavy metal at loud volume his amp may very well be somewhat underpowered. And unless his speaker wires are short 16 gauge may be inadequate as well. In my younger days I listened to a lot of Zep, Deep Purple, Humble Pie etc., and only realized my sonic ambitions when I bought a Phase Linear amp. All that juice really opened things up in a very satisfying manner for me back then. I think I used 12 ga wire at the time. Tom

If you can find a used Korg MR1000 it might fit your budget. They go for around $1k new. I've used mine to digitize a few of my LPs and it works well. I will do more but the process as described by others is a pain. Tom