[mikeg]

Wayne and Guru - I really appreciate the valuable information and advice that you have given me in response to my questions. As for sound alteration by a power conditioner, I was really surprised to find a difference. When I briefly tried Gene's unit, while litening to my HD650 powered by one of his amps, we did a quick comparison with the power conditioner turned on and off. There was a clear improvement when it was turned on. But, I did not notice any difference when we did this test with another amp. connected to the power conditioner. I think that the difference occurred with one of Gene's SS amps, while there was no difference with one of his tube amps. Anyway, since I always aim to achieve Nirvana with my system, I'll get one on these units from Best Buy, and then return it if there is no difference. Guru, thanks for the idea.

 

[Sewer Guy]

I have been monitoring the posts though not responding. The group buy I did on the attenuator switches has kept me busy, this weekend.

June 26th. seemed to be the date most of us could agree on. It is set.
I confirmed the use of the room at the club house today. There will be at least 5 folding tables set up around the perimeter of the room. The craft room is large enough to accomodate a crowd of 20. The power up here is cleaner than in a large metropolitan area. We are served by the Sumter-Lake
electric cooperative. Power conditioners may help but are not a necessity.

I will take care of the food & drinks; the only exception, if you want beer you will have to bring your own. Will have info. on local accomodations soon.

 

[mikeg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by agile_one screwdriver: looks like Guru has you covered for vendor equipment. It will be very cool to see the new little SR-71 and the Woo, and a Blockhead would be incredible - Guru, if the Blockhead is added to the mix, either Tyl will need to send along a balanced set of 600/650's, or maybe Wayne has cans with balanced cables in his arsenal. Guru: I should have some extra IC's and PC's in my lot of stuff. This is shaping up to be one incredible meet ...

Gene - What are "balanced cables" for the HD600/650s?

 

[Wmcmanus]

Mike, "balanced" refers to a special type of connector that is sometimes used by audiophiles which is known as an XLR. The norm for headphones is to use a 1/4" headphone plug (non-balanced). You could learn all about it (and see pictures too) by doing a search here or at Audiogon. There are some folks who believe that balanced cables provide certain sonic benefits, particularly for interconnects when long runs are required. I don't understand all of the technical stuff about it, but I'm sure there are others following this thread that do. I use some Tice Audio balanced interconnects between my source and amp, but can't pick up any sonic differences relative to using the same exact type and length (1m) interconnects with standard RCA connectors.

 

[Wmcmanus]

Oh, some of the high end HeadRoom amps (the BlockHead for one) have a totally balanced design and thus you cna only use headphones that have the special XLR temination. There is no 1/4" headphone jack on these amps!!!

 

[mikeg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wmcmanus Mike, "balanced" refers to a special type of connector that is sometimes used by audiophiles which is known as an XLR. The norm for headphones is to use a 1/4" headphone plug (non-balanced). You could learn all about it (and see pictures too) by doing a search here or at Audiogon. There are some folks who believe that balanced cables provide certain sonic benefits, particularly for interconnects when long runs are required. I don't understand all of the technical stuff about it, but I'm sure there are others following this thread that do. I use some Tice Audio balanced interconnects between my source and amp, but can't pick up any sonic differences relative to using the same exact type and length (1m) interconnects with standard RCA connectors.

Thanks for the info, Wayne. I'll follow up with a Head-Fi search.

 

[gsferrari]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wmcmanus Oh, some of the high end HeadRoom amps (the BlockHead for one) have a totally balanced design and thus you cna only use headphones that have the special XLR temination. There is no 1/4" headphone jack on these amps!!!

You can also have balanced cables with 1/4" termination IIRC.

see here :-

from this website : http://www.moon-audio.com/

 

[Wmcmanus]

Guru, I think you have it wrong. Balanced simply means that you are using XLR connectors, so it you're using a 1/4" headphone jack, that would not be balanced. Here are some links from Audiogon:

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr...eyw&zzbalanced

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr...eyw&zzbalanced

The Grace 901 has balanced inputs, as does the HeadRoom BlockHead (and maybe some of their other amps).

 

[gsferrari]

Balanced inputs yes - what about balanced outputs? Why has moon audio listed that image as a balanced 1/4" output?

 

[DMaxwell]

Hello fellow Floridians!

(I hate to interrupt the discussion of balanced inputs, but if you'll forgive me...)

I'm new to head-fi, and being only 45 minutes away, I'd love to come by the meet. I can't really offer much, unless you care to hear an unupgraded setup!

:: looks below ashamedly ::

I could certainly furnish some food or something, if you'll have me?

Daniel

 

[agile_one]

Quote:

Originally Posted by raaj Hey guys.. I am taking up a job in Boca Raton later this month, and I would like to attend the scheduled meet. It would be like a 6 hrs drive from my place, but what the heck, I will just drive up over the weekend I would be able to attend the meet if it is in the last week of May.. by which time, I would be well settled in my job, and with a car of my own.. So, count me in for most of the future Florida meets.. -raaj

raaj: Bill (sewer guy) has set the date for June 26th, so you should be all settled and able to attend by then.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DMaxwell Hello fellow Floridians! (I hate to interrupt the discussion of balanced inputs, but if you'll forgive me...) I'm new to head-fi, and being only 45 minutes away, I'd love to come by the meet. I can't really offer much, unless you care to hear an unupgraded setup! :: looks below ashamedly :: I could certainly furnish some food or something, if you'll have me? Daniel

DMaxwell: you are certainly welcome to join in the fun - come on over. Bill's club room can accomodate 20, but we have plenty of room at present.

Bill: at some point I guess you'll have to poll for interest, and establish a list of confirmed attendees, and, if necessary, a waiting list if you get over 20.

I would be happy to do it, but then only I could edit it. If you do it in a post here, we can all see it, and you can edit and keep current. Just a thought.

 

[gsferrari]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DMaxwell Hello fellow Floridians! (I hate to interrupt the discussion of balanced inputs, but if you'll forgive me...) I'm new to head-fi, and being only 45 minutes away, I'd love to come by the meet. I can't really offer much, unless you care to hear an unupgraded setup! :: looks below ashamedly :: I could certainly furnish some food or something, if you'll have me? Daniel

You sound exactly like me in December 2003 when I went for my first meet. This will be the third meet I am going to and let me tell you something - NO NEED TO BE ASHAMED ABOUT ANYTHING.

New faces are always welcome as most of us know each other very well. Besides - your virgin ears will be ready for us to torture with some of the best equipment available in the world today!!

Just come...and I guess you can speak to Bill (sewerguy) about your offer on the food and stuff but I wouldnt worry about it too much...

You have to hide your wallet behind a few metal doors with heavy locks before you hit the meet though...I swear...by the time you are done with the meet and the gear - you will be reduced to hopeless pulp searching for the remains of your dessicated wallet...

LOL

 

[agile_one]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wmcmanus Mike, "balanced" refers to a special type of connector that is sometimes used by audiophiles which is known as an XLR. The norm for headphones is to use a 1/4" headphone plug (non-balanced). You could learn all about it (and see pictures too) by doing a search here or at Audiogon. There are some folks who believe that balanced cables provide certain sonic benefits, particularly for interconnects when long runs are required. I don't understand all of the technical stuff about it, but I'm sure there are others following this thread that do. I use some Tice Audio balanced interconnects between my source and amp, but can't pick up any sonic differences relative to using the same exact type and length (1m) interconnects with standard RCA connectors.

What Wayne said, Mike.

Most very high end audio gear will have provision for balanced connectors for signal connections. Normally terminated with XLR plugs, but a 1/4" plug can be wired as a balanced connector also - it just requires 3 conductors per channel - two signal, 1 ground.

Here are some more useful links:

Balanced Audio Technology
Balanced Advantages

Some of my stuff has balanced IC's, some don't. For 6 feet or less of IC cable, there is usually not a discernable difference in the sound quality between single ended (RCA) and balanced (XLR) connections.

<edit> spelling and sentence structure </edit>

 

[agile_one]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gsferrari Balanced inputs yes - what about balanced outputs? Why has moon audio listed that image as a balanced 1/4" output?

Guru/Wayne: Those dual 1/4" jacks on the 650 with the Moon Audio cables ARE balanced. The requirement is to have 3 conductors - termination is not the determining factor.

There is another aspect to balanced audio, but I am not geek enough to discuss it with authority. We've been referring to signal cables (IC's) and connectors as balanced (three conductors - signal +, signal -, ground) vs single ended (unbalanced - two conductor - siignal and ground). The other flavor of the balanced discussion has to do with strict separation of the stereo channels. That is, everything is separate and duplicated - power supplies, pre amp. power amp - everything. That is why the Blockhead is basically two MAX's joined at the hip. Purists believe that this is the way to keep stereo information free from cross talk and other evils.

 

[gsferrari]

The date was critical in obtaining a Blockhead. There is a SoCal meet around the 7th of June and it is fortunate we are a bit further away from that date.

I think we could very well have a blockhead in attendance at the meet. Ivy was very positive and I am still awaiting a confirmation. I have also requested a Total Bithead for some PC Source fun

Will post regular updates on the blockhead and other amps as I get more info.

Here is a list of equipment I will be bringing :-
=================================

1] Headroom Max with Stepped Attenuators (Courtesy Gene)
2] Rudistor RP5 (Should be in the "mine" category soon but as of now - courtesy Gene

)
3] Woo Audio Audiophile tube amplifier (Thank you Mr. Woo)
4] Singlepower PPX3 (Thank you Mikhail)
5] Headroom Blockhead (Courtesy Ivy@headroom)
6] Headroom Total Bithead (courtesy Ivy@headroom)
7] Sennheiser HD-650
8] Grado SR-60
9] AKG K-1000
10] Edwood's Signature K-1000 XLR -> 1/4" cable
11] Sony DVP-NS500V
12] Toshiba SD-3960 (only if I still have it at that point of time)
13] Rio Karma 20GB
14] Modified CMOY
15] Monster Power Conditioner - not sure which model
16] Monster Power Conditioning Strip
17] Sager NP-8790 Notebook Computer
18] Plenty of music and binaural recordings


Smashing!!

This meet could rival the Clearwater meet as far as gear diversity is concerned