Yeah, pretty safe to say that it goes like this. Analog cables: depending on Length and shielding it can make a HUGE difference Digital Cables like HDMI/DVI: Doesn't matter. Personally myself, I grew up with my dad's old Realistic equipment. In it's later years the quality degraded a lot unfortunately(low end response just died off pretty much) and some other sony gear and a bunch of stuff that I don't remember the brands of. Now that I think about it, it could probably be one of the things that lead to my passion for audio related things. Recording, music, and so forth.
If you have a digital cable that doesn't work correctly, I consider that broken. If it's a brand-new, budget priced cable, then it's truly crap and I'd say "defective".
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-vs-hdmi £1.50 HDMI cable vs. £100 Monster cable, tested by capturing the same frame with a 1080p digital capture device and then making a checksum of the resulting image. You can guess the conclusion - all tested cables came back with the same checksum. As above, if a HDMI cable shows any interference at all, it's just broken.
like I said earlier, most people I know who get higher end HDMI cables don't do it to try to get better quality picture - they do it to decrease chances of a dud, or it dying out. Both of which happen with cheap companies with lower quality control standards. Personally I've never paid more then 3 dollars for an HDMI for 3, 6, or 9 feet.
Apologies if it sounded like my previous post was aimed in a critical manner at anyone in this thread. Just putting up the facts, that's all.
My 17 year old Technics CA1060 owned this about 4 years not in bad condition seeing as its only 1 year younger than I am. Only signs of wear are the lights on the front i have replaced about 3 times before i switched it out for a single white cathode and the previous owner (my brother) lost the covers for the speakers, still gets used every day and still sounds as good as the set of Bose my brother replaced it with
No doubt. Can't fault their efficacy at marketing, though. On the topic, I was in a pub last night and was amused by the Bose speakers mounted in the ceiling corners that I'd swear blind were using the same casing as some ancient PC speakers I used to have. They're pretty trigger happy with their lawsuits if you give them a poor review, from what I've heard.
the problem with the bose's i found is that there a bit overly trebly (dont know how to spell that lol) and have far to much bass. I still don't think iv heard anything better than my Technics yet. on other note my other brother has a CA-1080 with is the same as the CA-1060 just with Dolby and it has a completely different sound don't know if its to-do with the usage or just because it has Dolby :S
Alchy: Bose will sue me ? if I said that their sound sucked ? well I can only say this then. That is a reason why I personally will not buy Bose, unless I got them super cheap, and they were used. And why is that ? well I am not fond of trigger happy law suit people. Just a good advice to you all, never buy Bang & Olufsen, unless you get them super cheap. Cause you can get better shit from Phillips who makes the innards of B&O and well you can get Phillips a lot cheaper. Also if you live in a ghetto area B&O will not accept your money here , even if your money are legit. But that I have mentioned before.
They sue - and never won any. lol. Most audio magazines don't even bother. bose has too much bass? Really? I've never heard a Bose product reproduce bass! No highs, no lows. Their "surround sound" systems give you a "bass module" since they legally can't call a mid size driver in a huge box a subwoofer. No crossover on those tiny little rinky dinks either. Super cheap paper drivers, with foam that rots away. In other news today I picked up a Pioneer equalizer. I'm cleaning it up right now, next week I'll pick up some new interconnects and add it :3
I've thought Bose have always sounded "good", but never enough for me to go out of my way to purchase any of them. Nor to take them seriously. They sell them at Best Buy. Can't be THAT boutique.
best buy also sells Martin Logan, Rotel, Sunfire, and Marantz. ...depends on whcih best buy you're in. The one I work at (and the department), we sell $7,000 NuVision luxury HDTV's and Martin Logan CLX electrostatic speakers (25,000 for the pair). Bose is a low end product with a high end price. There's HUGE margins on them, but I introduce customers to ACTUAL Hi-Fi.
Yeah, the ones over here don't do much more than Bose or Bose-priced items. It's good to hear that some take it seriously. I know BB employees and products aren't always the highest in regard.
the ones with a Magnolia Home Theater department have the nice gear. some of it's on Bestbuy's website and they're always flagged with a red MAGNOLIA banner to let you know it's not part of the regular stuff. Half my job is converting Bose shoppers. "Alright, let me ask you this...who told you Bose was good? ...*wait about 15 seconds*. Bose did." etc. If you can afford a Bose product, you can get a good starter system. Hell, with the exception of recievers, if you're looking at most of the speakers in "core" home theater, you can afford some of the Hi-Fi stuff in the "magnolia" section. I like it because I get to dress like this at work instead of a Blue polo shirt and khakis. I <3 my job. a lot of it is introducing customers to these higher end brands, as most have never heard of Denon, or Marantz since they don't do advertisements like Bose does. Once they get it home and experience it, it really is a night and day difference between a a Bose Lifestyle/acoustimass system and a similar set of satellite speakers from Definitive Technology or Mirage going through a nice amplifier. Customers are a lot happier when you show them not only is it a better value, but it's a higher end product. With audio, it's not always that you pay for that brand badge...but with the case of Bose, that's EXACTLY it.
Oh dear. That's a DJ deck, not a Hi-Fi turntable. It's actually a piece of shit out of the box. It's good for beat matching, pitch control and instant starts, none of which are needed in the Hi-Fi realm. Avoid it for listening to records... that is unless you listen to the crap that usually gets mixed on them. You won't tell the difference, anyway. ;-) Why by a Rega arm for a piece of shit? Just buy a Rega turntable! Even the RP1 would be a better buy, at half the price of most 1210s! Or the P3-24, which is still cheaper and got great reviews. There are more problems with the Technics than just the arm. Obviously you want a decent cartridge. The standard mat is a DJ mat and needs replacing. The feet are for DJ use and should be changed. The PSU is not good, and will introduce hum through the cartridge. It's a good idea to change the arm plate, and probably the bearings. Changing the loop filter is recommended, too, to reduce flutter. Oh yeah, and you may want to change the weight. If you want to go ahead with all that, it'll cost you anything from £1,200 to nearly £4,500 for the modifications to your existing deck. Oh, and 78 rpm isn't a feature of the Technics. That's a £250 modification. You could get a Clearaudio Concept for £1,000 or, like I said before, quite a few very good turntables for up to £2,000. If you would consider splashing out 5 grand on upgrading a Technics, you need your head examining! lol Why spend a fortune modifying a Vauxhall Nova with third party high performance parts, when you could buy a Ferrari?
retro, you're obviously versed in audio. Can I see your set up? I love how audio components look, most of them are timeless. The only exception is like...early to mid 90s stuff, like sneakypeanuts technics gear. Lots of brands went with generic "cheap plastic crap" look, even if it sounded great. one thing i like to do when looking for good vintage gear is looking at the cheap tricks some brands would do. For example, it's generally known that keeping separate components is best. So it's funny to find these all in one systems that are a GIANT monolith. They'll have the "reciever" on top, then the tuner, then the Cd player. each will have an inch deep indent, and half circles that look llike component feet. At first glance it looks like 3 components stacked, but really it's a GIANT HOLLOW BOX with a CD player all in one unit on bottom and the controls wired up to the top. I've seen a lot of them, and it makes me laugh EVERY time.
