[FYFL]

Well, yes. I feel it's a bit a a waste of Qobuz one year conscription to muddle along and not use it to its full extent. Also: it has a real analog input, not like the new model RA520 with the GaN amp. So I could use it as a preamp. Not helping much but w/e. Connections between components are such a hassle. I keep tethering components for purposes that I can't do without.

It's not an either or situation, more like a if, then. I can go listen to the LRS but I need a friend to drive me. And I can't organisme it that fast without being pushy. And I suspect I need a bigger amp to go with it than the 70W @4 ohms I have now.


Indeed, shady characters are a no no. But the problem is recognising them and not be 'prejudiced'. That's another one of those wrong new ' politically correct' interpretations of a word that means something else entirely, and is necessary. My interest here is not treating someone fairly but protecting myself and my interests. Proper prejudice is judging beforehand if someone is trustworthy. Judge of character. If you just trust anyone because it's pc, you're a naive fool. It's a tool you need to sharpen by experience.
And I had alarms going off. If it looks to good to be true... If this is such a hot item, why is he selling it? (it's not broken is it?) Why the strange price? Why no shop info? Why is it next to a massage parlor on the corner of a notorious red light district? (not a good indicator) even though it's a shopping street next to two other electronics shops. But most of all, don't take a risk if it takes all the money you have. All those factors indicated a risk, not just an opportunity.

Aaand... another day of waiting in vain for my package.

I think LRS+ are around 86dB sensitivity as per their own website. Impedance of 4 ohms. And these are probably very generous numbers of reference. In real world, the actual numbers are probably a lot more troublesome.
So probably, a 70wpc won’t cut it. And whatever amp you might decide to use with LRS+, better be stable with speakers dropping down to 2 Ohms or less.
Ofcause sheer volume of your room needs to be taken into account as well as your typical volume listening levels.
I don’t think that there’s a lot of risk in purchasing LRS+ since there’s enormous interest in it among audiophiles. And in an event that they don’t work for you for whatever reason, recuperating your investment shouldn’t be all that hard.
Placement and bass extension:
Like with any electrostatic or similar bipoles, they need to be placed rather far out into the room. I’ve heard some ppl recommending 3 feet/1m away from the back wall but that might be a very conservative suggestion. 4-5 feet is probably more realistic scenario to get the best out of this particular design. Distance to side walls is much less important since sound dispersion pattern is pretty narrow.
As to low end extension. 50Hz is nothing to sneeze at but, you will miss on lowest octaves responsible for foot tapping excitement. And from what I have heard, they’re not the most dynamic speakers. And sub could definitely help with that.

 

[FYFL]

Listening to Gabor Szabo ‘Dreams’. Released by Vinyl Me Please. Cut by Ryan Smith from original master tapes.
Wonderful release that looks, feels and sounds fantastic.
Pressing/packaging- 4.7 out of 5
Sound quality- 4.8
A short clip from that listening session:

 

[]eep]

I once had LS3/5a's with 82.5dB/w on the Audio Innovations 500 tube amp, that wasn't supposed to work either. The El 34 pp was a match made in heaven. But indeed. That wasn't my intended route. But that'll come later.

I just played another fine BN Classic. Cool struttin' is just that

Also the other limited edition Within Temptation is a great record. Made with love.

 

[CJG888]

Indeed, back in the 90s, Rogers offered a tube amp developed by Peter Qvortrup, the E20a, specifically to drive the LS3/5A. IIRC, this amp was closely related to the Audio Innovations 500…

 

[FYFL]

86dB AAD 2001 by Andrew Jones monitors I had years ago were impossible to drive. 60wpc - 80wpc wasn’t enough. In fact non of my amps could drive them with authority and ease. Had to let them go out of frustration. And I was already on tube amp train and I wasn’t going back to SS.
I guess sensitivity is just one metric to consider. Some speakers just love abundance of power. And from what I have heard, LRS+ are one of those speakers. But, you won’t know till you try it. In your room with your amp.

BTW VMP is knocking their latest releases out of the park. Whatever they send my way just sounds fantastic. They really stepped up their game.
And then there’s packaging quality. Which IMHO is one of the best in the business.
Blue Note is holding on to their high standards but their side show releases (non Tone Poet or Classic) are taking a slight ding. It could be the volume and tight release timeline that’s taking a toll.
Bc some of those ‘B’ titles seems a bit rushed. And it shows.

 

[FYFL]

I’ll try to do a demo of MoFi One Step MJ Triller later today. Maybe even some comparison. There are many who really hyped it up, like InGroove but my opinion boils down to this….

There’s such a thing as too much of a “good thing”. And perhaps the downfall isn’t necessary in that infamous “digital step” but the execution.

 

[]eep]

I can't stand 'The in groove', it makes me cringe. Blatently biased or just plain stupid. Idk. Or it's my 'cognitive dissonance' radar that is triggered. Like that libs of ticque toque video of a trans 'girl' (as in plain XY chromosome grown person) getting her first period... (hint, I put in extra periods in this message just for *insert pronoun*)
I am not going to watch it, because I can't unsee it.

And thanks for that image of the firm 'man boobs' (looks like the guy who was to lazy to go to the gym and pop pills, and went for plastic surgery instead)

I'm bored... Waiting for my vinyl to arrive... Again...

 

[FYFL]

I can't stand 'The in groove', it makes me cringe. Blatently biased or just plain stupid. Idk. Or it's my 'cognitive dissonance' radar that is triggered. Like that libs of ticque toque video of a trans 'girl' (as in plain XY chromosome grown person) getting her first period... (hint, I put in extra periods in this message just for *insert pronoun*)
I am not going to watch it, because I can't unsee it.

And thanks for that image of the firm 'man boobs' (looks like the guy who was to lazy to go to the gym and pop pills, and went for plastic surgery instead)

I'm bored... Waiting for my vinyl to arrive... Again...

Hey, hey, hey!
Just like MoFi, this guy is all natural and real.

I think you’ve missed V8 juice in frozen popsicles story…. But let’s pretend that we are living in perfectly sain World for now. Lol

 

[FYFL]

Uploaded MoFi Thriller demo from listening position perspective. Not sure if you can notice midrange being sucked out. Sort of a smiley face EQ IMO. Ofcause presentation in real life is far better but you get the idea….
Did entire presentation/unboxing but …. Too many f..ks, sh@ts and Jesus Christ could put off a few who dare to watch this crap.

Can you sense the character of this pressing from the video or not really?

 

[]eep]

I produced the will to get out of bed early and went to the last day of the real life music shop. No bargains... Inventar is going to another shop of the same franchise. End of an era or just until someone picks up the challenge? I don't live in a small town. Never say never.

I had the Michael Jackson Thriller 40th Anv version in my hands, the one with the ugly cover with the big 40 and the tiger cub. €40... Coverart is very important. It can make or break a record.

I did buy some other things. Traffic (/W E Clapton), Thin Lizzy, this is originally called Roisin dubh ie Black rose (P Lynnot, G Moore), the previous Björk and Odesza (electronic). You pays your money and you takes your records home.

Can you believe, me as a Björk fan, didn't buy this album originally, because the cover put me off? I didn't understand the symbolism then.

And now I'm back waiting for my Amazon package again. I think I have stayed home unsuccessfully for 6 days in the last two weeks now. Very annoying.

15 minutes later... Finally. The outer box is soaked. The postal pigeon had 6 packages for the top floor alone. These guys are so swamped.

So, remember the Dominique Fils-Aimé was 'acceptable' with severe damage? 'possibly repackaged'. Can you see the creases? Top left and bottom right. I can live with that for €16 io €28.

What is bad however is this oversight in QC. Clearly not virgin vinyl. Looks like a paper snipped got pressed in and caused a bubble. Very hard to photograph, so excuse the ugly picture, the record looks scratched but is actually fine, besides the bubble.

Edit, another 15m later.
Strange as it might seem, I didn't hear much. I do head a lot of crackle, pops and explosions but they come with the tradition of everybody lighting fireworks on new years eve.

 

[]eep]

Uploaded MoFi Thriller demo from listening position perspective. Not sure if you can notice midrange being sucked out. Sort of a smiley face EQ IMO. Ofcause presentation in real life is far better but you get the idea….
Did entire presentation/unboxing but …. Too many f..ks, sh@ts and Jesus Christ could put off a few who dare to watch this crap.

Can you sense the character of this pressing from the video or not really?

It's just the other way around in the video. I blame that on the mic. The visuals were nice

On the positive, it sounded really clean. But my og sounds pretty clean for a used record too.

 

[FYFL]

It's just the other way around in the video. I blame that on the mic. The visuals were nice

On the positive, it sounded really clean. But my og sounds pretty clean for a used record too.

Yup. I checked the mic app and there seems to be 2dB bass boost in that particular setting.
Ofcause video and room recording doesn’t reflect accurately what it actually sounds like. I’ll do side by side comparison soon.
Cool finds and plenty to listen to.
Happy New Year everyone.

 

[]eep]

Just a quick update on my recent acquisitions. As far as I have listened.
Dominique Fils-Aimé was a great listen. Very transparent recording, music is very enjoyable mix of jazzy ethnic, soul, youthful joy and seriousness.
Billy Eilish, same only I would call it childish rather than youthful. Being contrary is not the same as style.
Placebo, this is their best album in my opinion. And it sounds very good. It's a bit grunge but with much less compression and so you can actually hear the music.

The surprise for me is Odesza. A beautifully made double album in fresh mint green. The sound is big, bold and beautiful. And the music just makes me happy. It reminds me of Moby at his best, only more upbeat. I kind of bought this blind. I listened the beginning on Qobuz and read the Allmusic review. But I brought it with me because I love the artwork and colored vinyl. I liked the beginning but the how the album unfolds is a surprise to me. And yes, beauty is not skin deep here. And yeah I dig the deep electronic bass, it just fills the room ask shakes the ottoman (that's not a turk ).

Also, just sharing a festive picture. I took this from the 'wrong side', ie simply holding my phone against my living room window (you can see my lamp reflection upper right). It was like that all evening, fireworks flashing right in front of my window 130' up. That red ball in the middle is in the neighboring town 11 km away.

Why do I say wrong side? If I had taken one after twelve from the front door you would have been overwhelmed by the sheer quantity and quality of the fireworks. It's a tradition here that is only legal for civilians to light fireworks at new year. But over the past few years it was 'verboten' by fecree because of... just because they can. I could see only a bit of illegal fireworks through the curfew. But traditions are hard to unroot. And this year there was no viable reason for 'emergency measures'. It was like trying to hold a balloon under water. This year it flipped.

So the encouraging thing is that, in all my years I witnessed this from my penthouse view I've never seen this much exuberant fireworks. It's like the people are fed up with all the misery and fearporn.

Muse - Will of the people
Paul Weller - Will of the people
Two albums with the same title that came out this year. I wonder why.
The people don't want to live in misery, they want to live their lives and enjoy it!

Happy new year, God bless you, and many moments of musical bliss to you and you loved ones.

 

[FYFL]

That’s a great view. Especially with bombastic fireworks explosions blasting in front of your face.

We had our own fireworks blasting from privacy of secluded cabin in the woods.

Great thing about it is, the silliness ends once you cross the city line.

I’ve tried to spin some records but alcohol and dropping stylus needle just don’t go well together.

 

[]eep]

That's where the Rose comes in. I just got the package. Already happy with it, playing Qobuz and trying to get it to play a complete album via app remote. I hate playlist playing. But those are teething problems (ie my learning curve). I have it playing with it's internal dac, an ESS9038 Q2m, but it sounds pretty good. And a lot better than using my TV chromecast. Still some cables to connect.

I also played some lp's while waiting for the mailman and yesterday.
Traffic - the low spark is good. I like Stevie Winwood but this was a bit dated imo.
Thin Lizzy is classic hard rock from a few years later, not a great recording but it sounded as perfect as can be expected. That hit the nostalgia spot. Great album.
Björk - Utopia is a typical Björk sound, lovely made, very good recording but you have to be in the mood for it. It can be a bit chaotic with 4 different musical threads making a whole. It's also clearly Nordic.
And I finally started the Kruder & Dorfmeister sessions. I only played lp 1/5 but what a joy. Great nineties lounge music.

Edit
I hate 'high end' usb cables. I spent the evening rerouting cables inside my rack. That usb cable is so stiff I had real trouble twisting it 180°. Finally got it in in the Rose... Cable is just inches too short. Meh. Hdmi cable to my TV is 2m and just long enough. Of course the in and out are on opposite sides. But...

Now it works. And I can see the artwork of Qobuz on my TV and switch to recommended videos via RoseTube, everything without adds. And much better quality. Only that Thriller video still doesn't sound that good.