Ask an Audio geek

[Alex K]

If you're really enthralled with this, connect the left and right speakers normally, and put your difference speaker behind your listening position. You now have a 'Hafler' surround system.

I had my stereo wired this way in '86.

I've been using this scheme since forever as a poor man's surround sound for watching movies. It's good enough that I never had the urge to buy a proper surround decoder and amps. Everyone should try it. I hook up two rear satellites (simple JBL controls) as difference speakers with reversed polarity such that each is in phase with the main on its side if the other channel is silent. The one thing dearly missed is a center for dialogue, but I've never experimented with putting the sum there. With one amp matching levels can only be achieved via placement, but again, it was close enough that I never kept a second amp in the system for long. Of course in theory it deminishes channel separation for the mains, but with damping factors 400 and more I don't care much.

[Kosh]

If you're really enthralled with this, connect the left and right speakers normally, and put your difference speaker behind your listening position.  You now have a 'Hafler' surround system.  

I had my stereo wired this way in '86.

I've been using this scheme since forever as a poor man's surround sound for watching movies. It's good enough that I never had the urge to buy a proper surround decoder and amps. Everyone should try it. I hook up two rear satellites (simple JBL controls) as difference speakers with reversed polarity such that each is in phase with the main on its side if the other channel is silent. The one thing dearly missed is a center for dialogue, but I've never experimented with putting the sum there. With one amp matching levels can only be achieved via placement, but again, it was close enough that I never kept a second amp in the system for long. Of course in theory it deminishes channel separation for the mains, but with damping factors 400 and more I don't care much.

That is pretty cool.  At this point its a moot point for me since I already have the electronics.         
              
The receiver I use is an Anthem MRX-300.  It's a pretty basic no-frills unit as most receiver go.  It doesn't have any streaming, networking, or integrated blue tooth capabilities.  What is does do is have outstanding sound quality.  It also has one of the best room correction implementations available which I've found to make a huge difference.  My listening room isn't perfect since it doubles as a living room.  Good room correction can help.    

The receiver has an audio mode call Anthem music.  It can take a two channel audio signal and create a proprietary multi-channel signal out of it that I like MUCH better than some of the Dolby and DTS offerings that do the same thing.  It's a bit blasphemous from a "audiophile" perspective to do this; especially with a vinyl source.  The first time I heard big band and swing played in this manner.. I was hooked.

[Alex K]

I would expect whatever crackle and noise there is on the vinyl ends up prominently in the rear speakers, no?

[Kosh]

A few post back AFTT47 mentioned that Vinyl was "snake oil".  I disagree with that since vinyl does sound different from digital, and turntables do sound different from one another.  It's up to the listener to determine if the sound difference is worth the fiddly nature of vinyl.

I do agree that there is snake oil being peddled, and is one of the reason I no longer consider myself an audiophile.
    
My short list of snake oil products : Aftermarket power cables (always), speaker cables (to a point), and interconnects (to a point).  Any digital cable including high priced HDMI cabled.  I would even throw in Phono preamps, headphone amplifiers, and DAC's to a point.  Of course all the silly items like speaker cable elevators/risers are included as well.  
 
DACS and Phono preamps require some discussion.  There are differences, but I feel most of the sound quality differences are totally overstated.

[Alex K]

A few post back AFTT47 mentioned that Vinyl was "snake oil".  I disagree with that since vinyl does sound different from digital, and turntables do sound different from one another.  It's up to the listener to determine if the sound difference is worth the fiddly nature of vinyl.

I do agree that there is snake oil being peddled, and is one of the reason I no longer consider myself an audiophile.
    
My short list of snake oil products : Aftermarket power cables (always), speaker cables (to a point), and interconnects (to a point).  Any digital cable including high priced HDMI cabled.  I would even throw in Phono preamps, headphone amplifiers, and DAC's to a point.  Of course all the silly items like speaker cable elevators/risers are included as well.  
 
DACS and Phono preamps require some discussion.  There are differences, but I feel most of the sound quality differences are totally overstated.

So what's your opinion on current Class D models (see my post above)?

I've spent some time at High End trade fairs (in particular HIGH END in Germany), and there's every imaginable addition being peddled - there are no limits for what people will claim can improve sound. It's really hard to separate fact form fiction. I once sat in on a presentation of tiny golden half spheres you had to put on the walls behind listeners to improve the room - I swore it made a difference of some sort, one person in the audience dared disagree and was immediately told by the presenter that he probably didn't have enough experience

How about power conditioners? I once convinced myself that they make a difference many years ago in what can easily be a psychological effect since I never did a blind test.
And CD drives (not DACs)? I've always thought that spending the equivalent of a small car on a pure drive was silly -- yes, jitter, clocking, blah blah, none of that seems to be justified if you have a proper DAC.

[Kosh]

I would expect whatever crackle and noise there is on the vinyl ends up prominently in the rear speakers, no?

I don't even notice the clicks and pops on my vinyl (even the used stuff).  The biggest thing is to keep your vinyl clean and free of surface contaminants.  The store I buy most of my used records has a very good professional quality vinyl cleaner that they use on all their inventory.  If I buy records from a third party like craigslist, I then use a low-tech system call a spin clean that I purchased for $80.  It's mostly a one time deal.  90% of my collection I've cleaned one time.  Every record gets a couple rotations with a carbon fiber record brush before the needle hits as maintenance. 
   
Some records in heavy rotation will get additional cleanings if I'm in the process of cleaning some new stuff I've picked up.  
  
It also helps that I'm pretty fussy about the condition of the records that I buy.  Lets just say that I don't buy a lot of stuff from places like Goodwill.

[AFTT47]

My short list of snake oil products : ...Phono preamps...

Without a phono preamp, the frequency response curve coming out of the speakers is going to be all wrong. Are you talking about a preamp in addition to a phono input on a receiver (which includes RIAA equalization)?

[Alex K]

My short list of snake oil products : ...Phono preamps...

Without a phono preamp, the frequency response curve coming out of the speakers is going to be all wrong. Are you talking about a preamp in addition to a phono input on a receiver (which includes RIAA equalization)?

Of course you need one out of principle. He's probably talking about the various phono preamps with high four figure price tags.

[vorlon13]

I've seen an exorbitantly over priced replacement AC outlet advertised as being the ultimate AC plug in to plug your equipment into.  If it was THAT important, why wouldn't it also be necessary to replace the wire from your outlet to the electrical panel, from there to the transformer on the pole in front of your house, replace the transformer with an audiophile one, replace the overhead to the substation, replace the transformers there, replace the high tension power lines back to the generating station, replace the windings on the generators, and then make sure they are using Evian spring water to make the steam to spin the turbine ??


You can hear the difference !!!!

[ignoramus]

If I won the lottery, I'd still buy Krell.
Stupid, I know, but what the hell.