Best Hardware for Classical Music

That's exactly it. There are 2 inputs each for coaxial and optical digital, in addition to USB. The unit connects to the home network either by wifi or wire. If you don't listen to LPs it is a perfect little digital amp. If you have a turntable you'll have to convert the signal into digital (but this would probably kill the whole idea of analog sound...). Forgot to say that I have a NAS in my network with quite a few CDs converted into apple lossless.

I listen to BBC3 quite frequently. I'm not sure what is the resolution I get but I was much favorably surprised with the sound quality the first time I heard it.

 

I believe James Goodfriend is still in NYC. He and his wife have run a prints and drawings shop for years.
Here is a photo and article from 2014.
http://news.psu.edu/story/330847/20...gs-and-prints-goodfriends-visit-palmer-museum

I still see a review now and then from Richard Freed online. He was with Stereo Review I believe.

 

Thanks! It has probably been close to 40 years since reading one of James Goodfriend's music columns or LP liner notes. Great to see what he's been doing all this time.

 

I've often had the same kind of thoughts myself: how can classical music lovers cut themselves off from the first 50 years or so of recordings and performances by not having a 78 RPM-capable turntable and a cylinder player?

 

I seriously considered one of the little NAD digital amps (I think it was this one's little brother, perhaps) when I was shopping for a new amplifier last year. And that raises a squarely "on topic" matter: ever since I made the acquaintance of the so-called "Class-T" variant of Class D amplification, I've considered it absolutely ideal for certain types of classical music: vocal solo and small vocal ensemble, chamber music, instrumental solo or small ensemble, anything with a limited number of performers. These new, inexpensive amps seem to have amazing definition, which enables the listener to hear clearly each participant in such ventures an individual, not just as a component buried somewhere in a blend of sound. Their Achilles heel is that they generally offer very limited power output--for the original T-Amps, maybe six watts into eight ohms (note: they usually claim much more, but if you look carefully you'll find that's at something like 10% distortion!). The NAD amp was more powerful, maybe 30 wpc, but still on the light side for less than highly sensitive speakers. Eventually, I settled on a Rogue Sphynx (purchased used at a good price), which offers much the same kind of virtues but, at 100 wpc, with enough power to extend them to large orchestral forces and to drive "real world" speakers. Its preamp section does include a couple of tubes, which I considered more a nuisance than an attraction, but in practice they haven't been unduly hot or prone to needing replacement.

 

Quite right

 

Need to start spinning some of my pre-recorded classical open-reels on these machines ...

 

So, currently enjoying my Ortofon Quintet Red lomc Christmas present cartridge. Have been letting it break in running through an Aragon 47k SS phono preamp. Very nice.

It's mounted on my Denon DP-47f turntable. My totl turntable needs new clips soldered onto the head shell wires.

Just switched over to running the cartridge through a Denon 300AUlc SUT into the phono stage of a Conrad Johnson PV12 tube preamp. This a beautiful thing.

 

I main sound system is powered by a Conrad Johnson MF2500A SS amp ...

 

Rushton, I would say the key item in my system is the pair of Janszen zA2.1 speakers. They have the cleanest sound and smoothest frequency response of any speakers that I've tried, and for me, that makes all the difference in classical music. The other components are also good quality, but speakers with smooth treble response, free of peakiness or distortion, are critical.

I'd also say that key items are some kind of acoustics, at minimum to absorb first reflections from the sidewalls. That's especially true if you are using speakers that are not controlled dispersion (the Janszens are).

A photo is in this post:

http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threa...ooms-here-part-14.376369/page-8#post-11368082

but the subs are now along the sidewalls, about 1/3 of the way back in the room.

 

Nice gear! I have a collection of r-t-r machines and tapes, too, and it's a real pleasure working with them and watching them go.

What's the small Rotel box? Outboard Dolby encoder/ decoder?

 

Rotel NR-560 is an outboard Dolby B/C encoder/decoder. I use the box to decode those Dolby B encoded pre-recorded classical reels ...

 

As this was going on at the CMC, thought we might continue here. coopmv might look into getting an OPPO, as they are known to play anything you can throw at them. With at least four different digital audio carriers—CD, SACD, DVD-A and Blu Ray audio—having a Swiss Army Knife for digital discs makes the most sense.

 

Ha, a Revox/Studer A 700 - that's the one I had ages ago. Great machine.

 

What about HDCD-encoded discs and older discs with pre-emphasis? Does it handle those too?

 

Good question. Two problems I rarely encounter/consider. OPPO players will decode HDCD, will usually but not always deal with pre-emphasis.

 

I have several HDCD-encoded discs and discs with pre-emphasis, that's why I chose a Naim CD-player, which decodes HDCD and has de-emphasis capability; it doesn't have DVD-A, Blu Ray (don't have those formats, so it's not a problem) or SACD capability, but it does play SACD hybrids.

 

All CD players play SACD hybrids.

 

You'd think so, but until a few years ago I had a Proceed CD-player from the 1990s that didn't. It was serviced several times, but simply refused to play them. Two high-end audio dealers told me at the time they had more CD-players that didn't play them.

 

I've had problems with a couple of SACD hybrids that I couldn't rip with at least one computer. In both cases, they ripped fine with another computer.

 

There were some flakey drives over the years but they weren't and aren't typical. The purpose of hybrid SACDs is to provide backward compatibility with standard CD players.

 

I don't have any DVD-A, as I have deliberately stayed away from it right from the beginning when I first started to build out my SACD collection ...

 

SACD player? Hmmm. They can be far beyond my budget or right in the middle ($399-$2000). Sure, some of you will say there is a YUGE difference between the low and high end of the range. I have a lot of classical music on records and may consider SACD if I can find a rig that brings out the "best" in a SACD and leave me enough cash to buy SACD discs.
Is there really much difference between the low and high end players? How big is the classical music catalog on SACD?

 

Better yet, do you think I'll eventually be able to buy a combo Bluray 4k + SACD player?

 

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