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krj
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Stereo Bits Q&A
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Aug 14 04:00 UTC 1991 |
This item is for questions and answers about stereo equipment.
I hope it doesn't degenerate into a CD vs. LP flame war...
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| 49 responses total. |
krj
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response 1 of 49:
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Aug 14 04:02 UTC 1991 |
What do folks like for headphones these days? All the headphones I liked
ten years ago have fallen apart or been stolen or lost, and those models
seem to be out of production, or unavailable in the Lansing and Ann Arbor
areas. Currently we are using a Sony MDR-3 without earpads; ouch!
Anybody know where some mid-priced Sennheisers can be bought?
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steve
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response 2 of 49:
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Aug 14 16:44 UTC 1991 |
I'd like to know if the "crystal" headphones have come down in
price. I'm not sure exactly how they work, but they take a minute
or two to warm up and become useful. It seemed to me (this was 8
years ago) that they were some of the best sounding headphones I'd
ever tried. They were somewhere about $400? Anyway, I haven't
heard anything about them for the last several years.
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mew
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response 3 of 49:
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Aug 14 19:40 UTC 1991 |
I am sort of shopping for headphones too. I listened to
some Sennheisers at the stereo store next to Mickey Ratts (er... I mean
Pinball Petes). They did sound good. But then I am not an audiophile.
I found it interesting comparing open and closed headphones.
What I really need is advice about buying a good vocal mic.
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ragnar
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response 4 of 49:
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Aug 15 02:12 UTC 1991 |
A good vocal mic? Heh, sound rational advice is the last thing you'll get
when asking people about transducers of any type.... but,
I've heard good things all around about the new Shures, the Beta 57 I believe
is the proper vocal model. This is from publications such as Mix,
Electronic Musician, and EQ.
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chelsea
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response 5 of 49:
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Aug 15 02:24 UTC 1991 |
Ken, I also have MDR 3 headphones, and when the foam earpads finally
disintegrated I wrote Sony, asking where I could get replacements.
I was quite surprised when about 10 days later a package arrived
from Sony, with a free set of pads, and information on ordering
additional parts. Not bad PR, actually. If you'd like I could
dig up that brochure or maybe you'd just like to ask them for help
and see what comes back.
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steve
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response 6 of 49:
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Aug 15 03:04 UTC 1991 |
Sony has a store in Livonia, where you can order things, too.
Try 344-4336, and ask for Jean. Jean is the wonderful person who
figured out how to order a $2 PC board for my Discman, instead of
spending $190 to buy an entire new electronics set! Hope she is
still there, because she was great.
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ty
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response 7 of 49:
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Aug 15 04:24 UTC 1991 |
I think the best (and probably easiest) place to find Sennheiser's is
through the various stores and catalogs for musicians.
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krj
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response 8 of 49:
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Aug 18 00:39 UTC 1991 |
Mary (#5), thanks for the info on replacement pads for the MDR-3's.
Unfortunately, there are also some loose bits in there that buzz a bit;
it really is time for new headphones.
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graham
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response 9 of 49:
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Sep 2 10:41 UTC 1991 |
Hello mew! Is that 'good vocal mike' for recording, or live performance?
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mew
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response 10 of 49:
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Sep 5 21:17 UTC 1991 |
Howdy! For performance mostly. I ended up getting an Audiotechnica
Pro soemthing. 3H pro??? maybe? I got it for $60 new with warranty
at a pawn shop. (Won't ask why they had new mikes....) :-)
It seems to work great and the sound is probably quite good enough
to get me by for a while.
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graham
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response 11 of 49:
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Sep 28 02:28 UTC 1991 |
Glad to hear it.
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krj
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response 12 of 49:
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Oct 16 05:02 UTC 1991 |
I'm looking to compress some classical CDs a bit for listening in the car.
Anyone have any suggestions? I know dbx used to sell boxes to do this,
but I don't know if they are still available, or where I would look for
new ones.
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ragnar
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response 13 of 49:
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Oct 17 03:36 UTC 1991 |
Some of the new Sony digital equipment with built in DSP include compression
algs. I know at least one of their portable CD players will do it, and I think
the pricier of their DAT walkmen, and maybe the better home recievers. As for
separate boxes, all I know about are musician/pro audio boxes. Lemmee check
some catalogs...
Ok, from Musician's Friend I see a Rockman (from Sholz R&D, as in Tom Scholz
that part time band leader for Boston and one hell of an EE) mono compressor
for $99.88 (two for stereo). However, this may not be full-bandwidth as it
was meant for guitar. Also they have a more full featured unit from Audio
Logic, $259.88 for stereo with separate noise gates.
From Rock 'n' Rythm I find a dbx 163x for only $115, ah but wait, it looks
like a stereo unit in the picture but is two units cleverly placed together.
So it's mono. They also have the same Audio Logic model (MT66) for $239.
If these prices seems extravagant, they go up to over $2000 but I didn't
bother to mention those models. ;-)
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krj
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response 14 of 49:
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Oct 19 06:49 UTC 1991 |
Thanks, Ragnar, this is the sort of info I was looking for. $230 fo
two dbx boxes, *ouch*, will have to think about this some more.
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ragnar
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response 15 of 49:
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Oct 20 12:21 UTC 1991 |
Again, these are pretty well featured models that would do much more than
you need, so I'd ask around at some hi-fi shops to see if there aren't
some more basic dedicated units out there for just this kind of home use.
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krj
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response 16 of 49:
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Oct 21 04:24 UTC 1991 |
What I'm hearing from folks in rec.audio is that there are some NAD
CD players and tape decks which have compression circuits built in
(usually activated with a button labelled "CAR"). However, I'm not
hearing of anything priced at about $100 in the stand-alone consumer
box market. I *really* don't want to have to buy a whole tape deck
or CD player to do this.
Well, we'll sniff around some more.
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steve
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response 17 of 49:
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Oct 22 02:05 UTC 1991 |
Is "compression" the obnoxious system whereby everything sounds louder,
the sort of things that FM stations frequently do you make you stop at
*their* station when idly tuning around?
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goose
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response 18 of 49:
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Oct 22 16:21 UTC 1991 |
Roughly, yes. Compression is actually used to reduce the dynamic range
of a given signal. The peaks are limited to never exceed a set level and
the valleys (quiet portions) are boosted to seem louder. Overdone
compression sucks, I think this is apparent on Rush's "Roll the Bones"
album.
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ragnar
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response 19 of 49:
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Oct 23 03:27 UTC 1991 |
It is a very common effect used in music production. Vocals become
especially breathy when miked just right and heavily compressed.
Things can sound "louder", because the average level can be raised
after compressing a signal without exceeding the limit of whatever
medium is being used. This is used most effectively (annoyingly) during
TV commercials.
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krj
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response 20 of 49:
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Oct 23 06:49 UTC 1991 |
In my application, once I have the peaks set as loud as my car stereo can
stand, the quiet passages in most classical pieces disappear into the
road noise. This isn't a problem with folk or rock, where the dynamic
range isn't very wide. (It's a sign of how much quieter the Taurus is,
compared to the old Sentra, that I can even *consider* playing
classical music, or much folk. Flat-out screaming rock was about all that
penetrated the road noise in the old car. Eh? Speak up, I can't hear you.
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zigzag
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response 21 of 49:
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Oct 24 06:20 UTC 1991 |
A good deal, for those looking for some relatively inexpensive speakers
outside of those designed to scream out music, are the Jamo SW300 series.
Roughly $500, depending on the retailer, and they vastly outperform
speakers in the general price range. Similar to those Bose subwoofer
speakers.
It is my sincerest hope that someday someone will develop a device that
will recognize the higher average volume levels in commercials and cut them
out entirely... especially when trying to hear quiet passages in movies
made for the big screen is it annoying to suddenly hear the jump in
volume for a 900 service commercial.
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mew
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response 22 of 49:
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Oct 24 15:53 UTC 1991 |
great idea! If you invent it- I'll buy it! :-)
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ragnar
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response 23 of 49:
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Oct 28 03:26 UTC 1991 |
Such things do exist, and any decently featured noise gate can be set to
do this, *assuming* that the overall level jumps sufficiently. Also, you
don't want the device jumping in during the big orchestral climax, do you?
The best solution I've seen is just a remote witha mute button.
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mistik
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response 24 of 49:
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Mar 11 00:34 UTC 1992 |
Try The Gramaphone in Birmingham-MI for top of the line equipment, they
had Sennheisers, but it wasn't quite what is available in Germany.
I had bought a Sennheiser HD540 reference for about 250 German Marks in
Germany I believe well over ten (probably fifteen) years ago, still works
perfect and beats anything I have put on so far.
Unlike the headphones, Gramaphone carries the best speakers I have seen, you
don't get to see them in Germany at all. I liked the KEF speakers out of
their offers, there are several models of it too. At Gramaphone, you never
have enough money to get the pieces you like. :)
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