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Have points ever yielded BAD results in your system?

post #1 of 11
3/17/05 at 3:47am
Thread Starter 
After months of wondering whether my CD player (a Musical Fidelity A308cr) was for me--rolling cables, power cords and even purchasing a high dollar power regenerator, I decided to sell it and pursue a Meridian G08. Well... I had to liquidate a bunch of expendable items to afford it including my Mapleshade Ultimate triplepoints (which I shipped out yesterday).

Today I finally got a buyer for my a308cr (at a significant loss) and decided to sit down to a final listening with her, and I'll be damned if this player isn't giving me all the things I wanted in the first place! I'm listening to nora jones right now and the presentation shifted to neutral or on the warmer side of neutral (I always felt the MuFi was a touch cold despite reviewers feeling opposite way) rich/full bodied and just all around plesant. Also the bass is more plentiful with new texture and musicality.

I put the cones under the source the same day I recieved the unit and just assumed they were a benefit. I now realize they made a pretty decent source seem fatiguing, cold and not very engaging. Very interesting as I felt they substantially improved my pervious meridian (508)

I am still looking forward to my G08 and don't regret its purchase, but I guess I learned a valuable lesson about not overlooking variables and also about less sometimes being more.

Any of you guys have similar results in your audio endevors?
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post #2 of 11
3/17/05 at 8:44am
If you want to keep shoveling money at the problem you could take it to the extreme and book N. Jones for a private performance...but then you might find her choices of mic, piano and bench to be less than ideal.

Face it you're well good & lo$t in audiophilia.

I've got some good isolation thingys...I think they're in a drawer next to my forks & spoons the last I saw them.
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post #3 of 11
3/17/05 at 10:43am
When you spend that much money on a CD player, you would hope to hell that you would not have to isolate it or even tweak it at all. They put CD players in cars all the times and they sound great (except for the outside road noise). There is a lot of R&D and a major dampening system built into even the cheapest CD players. If CD manufacturers, especially Music Fidelity thought that their CD players needed tweaks, don't you think they would put them in? Granted room accoustics are always different and what may benefit some, would hurt others.

I once replaced some op-amps in a B&K preamp with some OPA726s and couldn't figure out why my system sounded so dull. I thought it was my Gainclone amp or my DAC. Switching out components, I finally realized it was the preamp.

Stick with what you got and enjoy the music.
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post #4 of 11
3/17/05 at 12:38pm
I like tweaks and I always try and see if they are beneficial in some way. I don't just buy and assume there would be any improvement. I'd say my ear is pretty trained and I've become disciplined enough not to fool myself. If something sound bad, I don't like it, or can't tell a difference, then that's it and it's time to move on. My journey certainly has been an educational one. It's a bit of a chore getting the system right but when it is, I don't bother touching it. Another lesson learned is if it's "good" don't touch it. There have been plenty of times where I wanted more and I messed up the sound.
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post #5 of 11
3/17/05 at 12:51pm
I have noticed points usually have a bad effect on CDPs I have heard. Great for most pre-amps tho. After all these years of hearing about all your tweaks, I am happy to hear you finally have reached this point. Seriously, on this site you were one of those folks that just kept tweaking, and never really tried things on their own. Congrats.
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post #6 of 11
3/17/05 at 1:41pm
Thread Starter 
eyeteeth,

It wasn't so much that I wanted to spend money/upgrade, but more like: I've spent way too much not to be satisfied, but if an extra grand is what it takes, then so be it.

Meat01,

I hear what you are saying, but must say--in the past these cones have always made a positive difference for me. Isolation devices made the Jolida modded JD-100a listenable for me and were an upgrade to my Meridian 508 as well.

lan,

I know what you mean about some tweaks not yielding improvements and not fooling yourself about it, but in this case it wasn't so much that I fooled myself as made a bad assumption. When this player first arrived at my house some months ago, I removed it from its box and sat it on my rack atop those points--seeing what they'd done for my sources in the past I never thought twice... guess next time I will.

Andrew,

I do get excited by tweaks--more so then new gear sometimes. Its always exciting to hear changes (for better or worse) on the cheap side of things. I definitely concur with you that points had a bad effect on this CDP, but in the past when I have A/Bed I have found them beneficial.

I am curious though Andrew--what in the past have I not really tried on its own?
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post #7 of 11
3/17/05 at 2:55pm
I take that back, I'm just saying you are a tweak-geek which is a-ok by me. By your statement it seems you have learned a bit about less could be more, rather then just tweaking everything and not looking back. After reading your posts for quite a while, it just seems you tweaked everything, or thought everything should be tweaked. Maybe I'm just a tweaker....

From your posts sounds like you never tried the CDP w/o them, and perhaps your other CDPs. Meridians definitely sound sterile (as do Linns) w/ points/isolation. I guess I can go back and look at all your posts, but I don't really have the time. I must say I enjoy reading about all your trials and all the $$ you have dropped the past years at a loss or gain.
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post #8 of 11
3/17/05 at 3:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gopher
When this player first arrived at my house some months ago, I removed it from its box and sat it on my rack atop those points--seeing what they'd done for my sources in the past I never thought twice... guess next time I will.
That's the funny thing about tweaks. Kind of like interconnects or power conditioning. The same setup maynot work the same with different equipment. I try as many combinations as possible to find one I like most.
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post #9 of 11
3/17/05 at 3:50pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gopher
eyeteeth,

It wasn't so much that I wanted to spend money/upgrade, but more like: I've spent way too much not to be satisfied, but if an extra grand is what it takes, then so be it.
Don't go to Vegas!

Actually I'm guilty of the very same thing you are. An unbalanced system has me going through the same awful routine of selling at a loss and upgrading and then doing it again, and again, and again, etc. It's good to arrive at an end to the insanity, to be able to say, "this is good enough". Incidentally, isolation happens to be at the bottom of my priority list;I wasn't being cheeky about my cutlery drawer-I've got some idle Nordost Pulsar Points in there.
And besides no matter how good the system is the majority of recordings are all still quite flawed anyway.
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post #10 of 11
3/17/05 at 3:52pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by meat01
They put CD players in cars all the times and they sound great (except for the outside road noise).
They do? Not to me.
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post #11 of 11
3/17/05 at 7:44pm
Thread Starter 
I'm listening to my rig right now what I finish up a major assignment for class and it is almost impossible to pay attention to my work. This Musical Fidelity is a beast and my buyer is stealing it at $1300. I take back every negative thing I've said about it. Even imaging is greatly improved--this is bizzare!

Oh well, G08 here we come.
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