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Hello all, The Yamaha WXA-50 streaming amp is on sale at an online retailer. Got a good deal on it. You can find more details in my post in Dollars and Sense.

Those of you interested in this streaming integrated amp by Yamaha, Amazon currently has it on sale for $383 (23% discount). On checkout, I got an additional 20% off for a total discount of about 39%. No affiliation to either Yamaha or Amazon, usual disclaimers, ...

Hi all, I am considering a pair of Thiel CS2s for a 2 channel system in my family room. From what I have read, Thiels can be hard to drive, although the CS2 seem to have rather benign characteristics: 87dB sensitivity Minimum impedance dipping to 6Ω Phase angle: ±10° which means the...

As many of you know, the computer audio player JPLAY has received numerous positive reviews in the audio press. I think there are a few AK’ers who use JPLAY. I am looking for personal experiences from those AK’ers as to whether or not JPLAY made a difference to their computer audio playback...

Belated feedback for mfhale (Monty). I recently bought a 6V6 amplifier and a bunch of tubes from him. Superb packing! Monty is great to deal with. Thanks!

Hello all, My audio-only computer is taking shape quite nicely, and I wanted to share my build process here. Inspiration for my build came from a couple of sources: Computer Audiophile Pocket Server C.A.P.S. V3 Topanga. Krikor’s C.A.P.S. V3 – Boekeloo. I believe Krikor posts on AK also...

I purchased the Explorer DAC from my local Meridian dealer a few days ago. Having listened to it now for a while, I would like to offer you my impressions about it. In this first installment, I will try and describe the DAC’s performance as a headphone amplifier. While I did connect the DAC’s...

Well, in a small way. Here is a link to a video from WSJ on whether or not high-resolution audio files are worth the splurge. I thought it was a balanced (although short) presentation. The equipment used was reasonably priced, good quality stuff, in my opinion. The "gadget guru" concluded...

Hi all, The parts will start to come in over the next several weeks for my scratch-built Dynaco MK3 clones (monoblocks). Having had really good results with Shannon Parks' ST-35 and GetSetGo, I decided to use the Poseidon driver board for my build. The driver tubes are 12AX7 as the preamp...

Hi all, I am getting the parts together for a pair of Dynaco MK3 clones using the Diytube Poseidon driver board. The amps will be built on two 10" x 12" aluminum plates with a thickness of 2.5mm. Is 6061 aluminum with a T6 temper a reasonable choice for the top plate? Seems to be the most...

If you live in the Ann Arbor public school district, the Ann Arbor District Library (AADL) is now offering free mp3 and FLAC downloads from a label called Magnatune. I checked out one of the FLACs, and sure enough, it is 16 bit / 44.1kHz, complete with cover art. No liner notes though. The...

A poignant story, but a nice read. Tsunami washes away 10,000 albums. I know very little about Japanese musicians, but I do own Misty and Midnight Sugar by the Tsuyoshi Yamamoto Trio. Nice records. Used to drive by Corsicana a lot on my way from College Station to Dallas and back, but...

I am considering the DAC-09 and wanted to see if any one here uses it connected to a USB port on a Linux system. The Linux I am planning to use is Voyage-MPD, an extremely light-weight distribution, running on a single-board computer (ALIX). The Linux kernel in this distribution supports USB...

I have had the GSG board for more than a year now, and finally got the parts together to build it. I will be using James 6112 OPTs (tctubes.com) and the PA774 (dynakitparts.com) as the PT. Tubes are monoplate Sovtek 6B4Gs from ebay, new issue Tung Sol 6SL7GT and generic 6AX5. The top plate...

Hi all, Back in November 2008, I first heard of devices called Networked Media Tanks (NMT). These devices are mainly for playback of video files in different formats, but what caught my eye was their ability to play a large number of audio formats including FLAC encoded files. You can get...

The Logitech (Slimdevices) transporter as you all probably know is a tricked out squeezebox, with some really nice DACs for analog output, and also digital (BNC, co-ax and optical) inputs. Retails for $2000, but Staples appears to have it on-line for $299. It is most probably a mistake, but a...

For all you James Taylor fans: he is going to be at the Borders in downtown Ann Arbor on October 02, 2008 at 7:00 PM. James Taylor @ Borders

Hi all, Over on the Vinyl Asylum (on AA), I saw a post about this steam cleaner. The price has now dropped a good bit, plus there is a mail in rebate which gets the final cost to some ridiculously low amount. If you wanted to get one to try, now is the time. Ashok Disclaimer: I do...

This might be of interest to all you solder-slingers out there: New York City Soldering Championship. Video lasts for about 5 minutes. I could not tell what is it they were building.

MC2100 in Ann Arbor CL. Probably sold by now. No affiliation with advertisement or seller. Regards, Ashok

Hi everyone, As I am sure a number of you know, the Ann Arbor Summer Festival is set to begin on Friday June 13. Part of the festival is the free, outdoor music and movie series called Top of the Park. Check out the artists/bands who will be playing this year at the Top of the Park. I saw...

Hi everyone, Saw this over at the stevehoffman forums: The Sony SACD changer - the CE595 is on sale at the Sony store. Refurbed units are $59.97 including ground shipping. SCD CE595 I own its bigger brother, the SCD 2000ES. I used to own the CE595 for a few days, but returned it...

Hi everyone, There have been a number of threads on AK and other places on balanced power conditioners, and the benefits they can bring in reducing the noise floor in an A/V setup. So, I started building one and wanted to share some of the details. It is not complete yet, but I will wire it all...

Hi everyone, I bought a decent Pioneer 115D the other day on CL. It came with an AT3482P cartridge (a P-mount, with adapter). Runs smoothly and silently, although the cartridge rides somewhat low. I had to lower the tracking force and anti-skate adjustment both to 1 gm (from 1.5) so that it...

Hi everyone, Thanks to the kind generosity of fellow AK'er Ed (Squidward), I am now in possession of two dual turntables - a 1219 and a 1257. Both need some work to make them functional, and the 1219 more so than the 1257. This being my first attempt at working on a turntable, I am...