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Scythe SDA-1100
Ciao!
I have picked up one of these amps after reading your review. Some listening observations. Very active and alive with 91 dB (3 way speakers) (10 inch woofer) smooth bass, mellow mid's and highs- CD playback - good - Vinyl excellent!
98 db (3 way) 12 inch woofers - CD very nice - vinyl a bit bright.
Complaints. Very poor wall adapter.
Some idiot put a safety chip in the amp, that puts the SDA 1100 into a "mute" mode, if you attempt to turn it up to loud. This can be very annoying, especially with vinyl, which I use most often.
I have the original (Sonic Impact and the Super T). Sonically, the Scythe 1100 sounds better.
When do you plan a review of the SDA 1100? Some suggestions on the mute mode problem, other than turning the volume down?
Franco - E-mail: Frank.Dinatale (at) dover.af.mil

LC
Dear Franco,
the review of the new SDA-1100, paired with the Scythe speakers, will appear anytime soon, so stay tuned. As for the mute problem...the Yamaha chipset which is the heart of the amplifier has a protection to avoid overload and thermal damage. This is not a stupid feature but a necessary one: otherwise the Class-D chip might die :-)
If your amp enters in mute mode very often...it means you need more power! Anyway, there are other reasons why the mute circuit activates: presence of DC in the inputs, thermal overload, clock malfunction etc. In any case, the amp should distort the sound before entering in mute mode. If this doesn't happen, there's something wrong around the amp. Try different sources to see if the problem depends on the amp or on the sources you use.
Hope this helped,
Lucio Cadeddu

Vinyl player in this age of digital?
Dear Lucio,
I enjoy and learn a lot from TNT-Audio. At least my rack that I used to put my audio equipment is built using TNT Flexy Table design. Few years back I heard once in my friend home. Even a modest Project turntable with standard Ortofon cartridge (OK, it uses a used Sonic Frontier phone preamp) sounds better, more engadging than twice more expensive Electrocompanient CD player. Up until now, I only have modest sources: used Meracus Tanto player, Monica II DAC, and used Philips CD751. In a search for better source, I listen to my friends better players like Audio Note, Krell and CEC. Regardless that I actually can not afford them, I'm still not satisfied to hear what I hear. And then come to my mind... why not getting a vinyl player then... But, in reality, getting records in my country, Indonesia, is a hard job. No store, but only a handfull of audiophile store, sell records.
So, I'm questioning myself and would like to hear your opinion... With the troubles of getting the materials, complication of adjusting the player itself, etc. Does is still really worth to invest on vinyl player?
Lucio, could you mind share your opinion... Does is still worth to invest on vinyl player with those of the troubles?
(Why not write an article on TNT-Audio about this subject, Lucio? :) )
Secondly, locally here, I could find a person selling the following used turntables:

• AKAI AP-003
• CONTINENTAL EDISON
• SANSUI SR212
• SANSUI SR222
• LENCO L75-2
• OPTONICA
• GARRARD ZERO 100
• GARRARD 401 WITH SME 3012
• THORENS TD 125 WITH SME 3012

LC
Dear David,
if you already own a reasonable collection of vinyls then a record player could be a wise choice. Otherwise it might be uselessly expensive. Anyway, from the list above I'd pick up the last two tables, namely the Garrard 401 and the Thorens TD125, two high-class machines that sound very good even by today's standards. Expect them to be quite expensive, though. Three other t-tables might be good choices at a far more affordable price: the Garrard Zero 100, Lenco L-75 and even the Sansui SR222. Setting up analogue record players can be a bit complicated but one learns quickly.
In any case, since it seems you have zero experience of analog playback I'd suggest you to choose a new turntable instead of a used one. A Project Debut III or RPM-1 are inexpensive, easy to use and reliable. Don't forget they come with a good cart already fitted so these tables are really ready to play. And cost more or less like the tables of the list above (excluded the 401 and the 125 which might be much more expensive).
Hope this helped,
Lucio Cadeddu

Loudness war
I guess we have to have something to gripe about and dynamic range compression currently seems to be it. Unfortunately a few things seem to have been lost in the wash.
First, dynamic compression has been with us since the early 1950's at least, and it isn't necessarily bad. It helped keep styli in the groove of LPs and that's easily confirmed by the first ever product recall I can remember, Decca's mid-50's release of the Solti recording of Wagner's "Das Rheingold".
They tried to use a minimum of dynamic compression but the thunderclap at the gods' entry into Valhalla was so loud that many purchaser's stylus was thrown from the groove by the excursion. The release was recalled and remastered, then re-released with more dynamic compression for that passage. Further evidence is provided by the fact that dBX released a device in the mid to late '70s/early 80's which provided the facility to expand the dynamic range of music. The advertising made much of the ability to restore the dynamic range lost in mastering.
Second, your test results for recordings are useless without similar test results for the music when performed live, and level traces actually showing clipping. The fact is that not all music has a wide dynamic range, some music actually has a quite low dynamic range, and a poor looking result for a recording wouldn't be poor at all if the live music had been tested also and showed the same value.
A recording with a test result of 5 which mirrored the dynamic range of the music accurately would be a far more accurate and praiseworthy recording than a recording with a test result of 15 if the music on that recording returned a result of 20 during live performance. The recording with the result of 15 would be more compressed than that with the result of 5. The results of recordings on their own are meaningless.
Further, without showing plots of the levels on the disc it's impossible to tell whether or not there is clipping involved with any dynamic compression. 2 discs with the same score on your test could sound quite different because one has been mastered with peak levels "pushing the ceiling" and being clipped as a result and the other mastered so that its peaks fall below clipping level.
Basically a single test of dynamic range of the recording, as contained in your database, fails to tell us whether dynamic range compression did occur, because we don't know what the dynamic range of the original music was, and it fails to tell us whether the recorded signal has problematic clipping or not. We really can't tell anything about the recordings on your list from the single result you report.
Finally, dynamic compression isn't necessarily bad. Apart from keeping styli in grooves, it also enables me to listen to music with a very wide dynamic range without needing to raise the volume in soft passages or lower the volume in the loudest passages. There is a limit to the dynamic range we can accommodate in our rooms. Soft passages have to be above background noise levels which are often in the range of 40-50 dB in homes, and loud passages have to be below the level that causes eviction, prosecution for nuisance, and which don't start to cause problems because of room size.
In small rooms that can easily occur somewhere at levels between 90 and 100 dB. In practical fact a maximum dynamic range of 50-55 dB is probably all that can be accommodated in most homes and some live music actually does have a dynamic range that is wider than that. Dynamic range compression can be a practical necessity.
I'm not arguing that dynamic range compression can't be a bad thing because it certainly can, but the fact that a test for dynamic range reports a low dynamic range for a particular disc simply doesn't mean the disc is badly recorded and mastered. We need more information before we can say that. There's an old joke about what a bikini and statistics have in common—what they reveal is interesting, what they conceal is vital. Your test results are interesting but what we really need to know before we can decide what they show about a particular recording is still concealed.
David - E-mail: david.aiken (at) bigpond.com

LC
Dear David,
I do agree on most things you write. Still, that DR measurement gives an idea, on most musical genres, on how much compression has been applied. Not surprisingly, all good sounding records we have "measured" scored high with the DR software (see list). As for peaks, you might have missed a fact: the DR screenshot shows peaks and RMS values as well! See for example Jason Vitelli's DR plot I published on my review of his "No photographs" album.
Finally, you consider as acceptable domestic dynamic range a value of 50 dB or so. On today's records we are lucky if we can get 10 dB of dynamic range!!! That's what we are trying to fight and possibly defeat: compression levels so high that Music sounds completely lifeless.
Thanks for sharing your point of view with us.
Lucio Cadeddu

SME IV tonearm on Linn LP12
Good day TNT-Audio,
I have read carefully Geoff's past article about the SME IV tonearm. I was considering buying one, to be coupled to one Dynavector Karat Cartridge I just won on ebay (brand new, never used), and mount it on either on my Linn LP12 turntable (main system, and preferred solution) or on one Thorens 160 (secondary solution), both bought on Internet as well.
According to the article, the LP12 could have problems with the suspensions, can you confirm it? Which serious problems could I really face?
Thanks for your precious time and many thanks for your outstanding and incredible work with TNT Audio!
Enrico - E-mail: enrico (at) pemo.com

GH
Hi Enrico,
The problem is that the SME is heavy and will compress the spring under the suspension at that point. That makes getting a decent 'bounce' difficult. To be honest the Ekos has the same problem, and the SME will work well with the LP12, though to be honest, nice deck though it is, it's a little off the pace. The 160 will have even worse problems with the weight and of course is no LP12...
Cheers
Geoff Husband

CDP for Miniwatt - advice
Dear Mr Nick,
Some weeks ago I I bought a Miniwatt tube amp. I've connected it to my B&W Cm1 via ipod with an dock adaptor with a QED reference rca minijack cable... and I love the sound. Now I have (they arrived in Portugal but are still at the customs) as speakers a pair of Tekton 6.5 fullrange. (http://www.tektondesign.com/model65.htm) it's a single drive (Fostex FE167E drives), 94,2 dB, without crossover....
Speakers cables: Chord carnival silver screen; power cable: clearer audio copper line alpha; RCA cable: Atlas Equator MKII.
SO I need a source for this....a cd player
I have more or less 550 cds... and in my ipod/itunes about 3500 songs ripped as mp3...
I probably will use my new system to play my cd collection, but if I can use my ipod too...that would be an extra bonus...
So what I need is a budget cdp, or dac+cdp....(if the cd plays mp3 cds best)
Can You advice me with some solutions?
Many thanks in advance,
PS- I can buy an ex-demo Rega Apollo for 380£
Regards,
Paulo - E-mail: pjaires (at) gmail.com

NW
Hi Paul,
I'm afraid that I am probably the least useful person to advise on the purchase of a CDP as I have not been using one for two or three years now.
The only advice that I would give you is to get a cheap one, possibly second-hand, that has a digital output, and then invest in a decent DAC to go with it.
It's also difficult to recommend a DAC without knowing if you would be prepared to do a bit of DIY or not, but I very much like the NOS DACs such as the Scott Nixon DacKit and the DiyParadise Monica3. There are other 'finished' NOS DACs on Ebay at reasonable prices.
I hope that this at least gets you started on your search.
Regards,
Nick Whetstone

Still on RCM's
In my quest for the perfect RCM, here's something else I chanced upon on the net. This might interest you if you're ever going to be doing a follow-up on RCMs. www.maquinaphk.hpg.ig.com.br.
Have a super 2010
Shahrukh - E-mail: shahrukhd (at) gmail.com

AK
Hey Shahrukh,
Happy new year to you too.
Thanks for sharing. Here is my take on this product - overall I think the concept is pretty neat, and I really like the idea of saving cost by using your existing vaccum cleaner with a clever adaptor. But based on what I have experienced with RCMs in the past, I would not give this product serious consideration for only one reason - it lacks a stable support under the scrubbing section that can withstand the pressure of a heavy scrubbing. I am very skeptical that the provided brush will provide more than a moderate cleaning.
If they added a stable scrubbing support and a bi-directional motor, that would give this RCM an undisputed advantage over everything else I have seen - especially given the price point.
Arvind Kohli

Triangle Titus
Enjoy your insightful reviews. Yes I am listening to Triangle Titus speakers for 9 years now, still bringing massive enjoyment. Previously listened to a variety of Magneplanars for 25 years!
Kind regards,
Steve - E-mail: siverson51 (at) yahoo.com

AK
Steve,
Thanks for the kind words. I too still have the Titus review samples that I had purchased - the midrange is fantastic and what this speaker is all about, bass response is decent but not tremendous and the treble is fine at low levels but can be a bit harsh at high levels. I'am using it in the bedroom where low level listening after the kids are off to bed is quite enjoyable through these speakers, that is not something every speakers can pull off.
I was interested in reviewing Magnepans, and they said they already had a few good reviews and were not going to participate with new publications since they didn't want to risk a less than positive review. Tells you something about long established products, publications and relationships in this industry.
Arvind Kohli

Consonance Cyber 100 signature
Hello Mark,
I read your article on Cyber 100S carefully. I have one. Can you tell me if I can replace the standard tubes with 300B / n Full Music, without risk?
Thank you in advance if you can answer me
Best regards
Patrice - E-mail: poinsot.pp (at) wanadoo.fr

MW
Bonjour Patrice
I am glad you enjoyed my review of the Consonance Cyber 100signature. My detailed comparisons of the performance with the supplied Shuguang 300Bvs TJ Meshplate 300B in one of the later paragraphs let you know what differences to expect. The many choices of 300B enable you to tailor the sound to your precise preferences, so it is a choice of more than two brands.
I do recommend that you spend money on good support and vibration control before you begin tube rolling as this will give better value for your Euro. The TJ Meshplate 300B is particularly sensitive to vibration and produces obvious colouration and blurring of the sound if the amplifier is not mounted on a suitable vibration isolating support. When I relocated my SET300B fitted with its TJ meshplates last week it sounded out of tune after thye move even though all the valves were untouched, the cables the same and the system unchanged. Then I noticed that I had not put any vibration control or tuning devices under it. Replacing the two tier system I use under the SET300B brought everything back into focus.
Do make sure you have optimised location, vibration isolation and good mains supply before making any valve changes. Then try whatever 300B brands that you think you will like, the TJ will sound as I have described in my review.
The risk? That this will lead to a life of addictive tweaking!
Happy tweaking, tube rolling and listening,
Mark Wheeler

Scanspeak
Hello
Do you know if the Scan-speak 18WPP is the same as the scan-speak 18W/8543?
Denis - E-mail: dvieira (at) videotron.ca

MW
Hi Denis
Scan-Speak nomenclature is usually in the latter form and the former 2 digit number followed by 3 letters tends to be catalogue heading shorthand. 18WPP just means a nominal 7" (yes a scandinavian company using imperial measurements in 1988) diameter chassis with a polypropylene coned bass-mid unit, nothing more specific.

What you ned to do is find out the T/S parameters for both drivers and establish whether the one you can obtain is matches the application you have in mind. Now as it happens, your old scribe built a pair of speakers featuring the Scan-Speak 18W/8543 driver and the Elac metal dome 25mm tweeter for wall proximity loading. I used sealed boxes of Q=0.5 instead of the reflex for which these units were designed as the wall would fill in the lower octaves and the low-Q alignment would make fast flat-earth bass of the highest PRaT quality.

Scan-Speak claimed an optimistic 89dB sensitivity, but its nearer 87-88 with a massive on-axis peak from 1500-3kHz which made crossover design tough; I was eventually froced to abandon my 1st order (6dB/8ve) plans and use a third order (18dB/8ve) design. The 5.5Ω voice coil will make extar current demands on your amplifier. The acceleration and air-volu8me acceleration figures are Γ=447 and Γa=6.4 (indeed this was one of the drivers used in the original Γ tests in my article).

The Symmetric Drive Copper cap, hexagonally wound all aluminium voice coil, magnet the same size as the 21W/8553 (8" polyprop) and very linear suspension made this a great drive unit for fine detail resolution resolving material buried deeply in the mix. It was good for soundstage and ambience, but it was not dynamic, despite thye Scan-Speak brochure claiming this as one of its qualities. This could be easily predicted from the cone mass for its radiating area and magnet gap saturation. The boxes I built from 25mm birch plywood with back-sloping time aligned baffles worked really well and matched my customer's Linn Sondek LP12 based system really well with excellent pace and rhythm.

Look at the T/S parameters for both the drivers you are considering and decide whether they are a close enough match. You may have ton play with port length or cabinet volume to achieve the best result.

Happy experimenting
Mark Wheeler

Turntable choice
I read many times your articles on TNT-Audio. I will buy a turntable, my budget is 300 euro, I see on the web these items: Pro-Ject Debut III Esprit Green or SYSTEMDEK 11X WITH NEW 251 ARM but the Systemdek is used. I wish an advice on which one to take, or on an alternative another brand. Thank you for a possible answer (sorry for my English).
Best regards,
Antonello - E-mail: antonelloalessi (at) yahoo.it

DH
Hi Antonello,
Thanks for your question. Both these decks are quite good and will be fine, but you can get more with your money if you look around for nice used decks. Also, I personally don't rate the sound quality of the RB250 type arms. Others love them.
For belt drive, I recommend Thorens TD150, or TD160, or TD145. See this ebay item number for example: 150399310138 For idler drive, I recommend you look for a Lenco GL75. These are common in Europe. You can use the tonearms that come with them, or fit new ones. There is a good forum to help with Lencos, called Lenco Heaven.
If you just want to buy a deck and enjoy listening to music, either will do. If you like DIY, then these decks can be made to sound very good. You don't say where you are living, but there are hifi dealers in England and Europe who can ship decks to you.
Cheers,
David Holgate

Better bass
Caro Lucio,
Congratulations. Your site is one of my references since you started 10 years ago. I tweaked Philips CD 723: really good for few euros. Last recommendation was the T-amp I bought 3 years ago that I listened since then as a power amp with the preamp section of a 304 from NAD. My speakers are self construction: Tapered quarter wave tube (a design from the Internet) with Beyma 5MP 60N (92 dB) and Audax TW025 Ti.
Well refined sound for my classical music, but not impressive bass. I don't know how to improve bass, I'm thinking in a design with cheap Beyma 8AG/N, named das Viech http://www.lautsprechershop.de/hifi/index.htm?/hifi/viech.htm but possibly I will have a very bad WFA (too big, especially in depth). Some cheap advise?
Saluti e cari auguri per l'anno intrante.
Jeus - E-mail: jcmros (at) gmail.com

LC
Dear Jeus,
thanks for your kind words, first of all.
A 12 cm midwoofer paired with the "stock" T-Amp can't produce impressive bass. If you are satisfied with your speakers and have no room for larger speakers, but still want a better bass performance, perhaps you should consider adding an active subwoofer (or two). These can be really cheap, especially if bought second-hand. Otherwise you can try with a better amplifier, for example a Virtue Audio One: more power output and much more bass than the stock T-Amp.
Hope this helped,
Lucio Cadeddu

Vacuum tube audio
Hi TNT-Audio,
I recently read your 2000 vacuum tube amp article. It was instructive as I want to learn about attaining good sound. In my case, I've just tip toed into vacuum tubes, which even old gear has become more expensive since 2000. Actually, my path started with a Dynaco SCA-80 which sounded really good combined with my Sonab OA-12s. The aging SCA-80 popped out, but I was so impressed with Dynaco that I began learning about their other amplifiers.
I ebay purchased a Dynaco PAS-3 which would have been nice to match up with a pair of Dynaco Mk IIIs. Problem is expense, especially given my experience with ebay purchases. I find that no matter the seller rating, half the stuff is junk and the rest too often needs repair.
The early solid state Dynaco amps are relatively inexpensive, so next I bought an ST-120. But that amp turned out to be unstable with certain music passages, in need of the TIP modifications. So next was a Dynaco ST-150, which it turns out to be a much better amp than its ill deserved repute. The ST-150 needed no repairs at all.
The PAS-3 was good, except that the owner kept the original Telefunken tubes. They're very pricey, so I decided on a set of NP Mullard 12Ax7. The Mullards, which while clear and undistorted, were very harsh in this setup. You can see what's happening, right? By being a cheapskate, I'm spending myself into a DEEP hole!
Lucky for me, my next choices worked out well. The modern design JJ ECC83, solved part of the harshness issue. The other lucky stroke was having kept my old AR-5s around. Because my other speakers sounded way bright with this amp combo, I reasoned that my ARs might be the answer. Voila! The sound came out very rich, lush bass without compromise of the mid and upper ranges. I'd purchased these AR-5s used in 1978- and in all those years, I'd never heard them so open as driven with the Dynaco amp combo.
I am now convinced that vintage AR speakers sound best with tubes. I'd like to have the Telefunkens and a pair of Mk IIIs, but it's not likely I'll stumble upon them. Besides being pricey, there's repairs, power tubes, heat and electric consumption issues. So for the time being, I'm very pleased with the PAS-3/ST-150/AR-5 combination.
Can it actually get better? I'm happy with my modest arrangement.
I'll say this though, that PAS-3 kicks!
ThanX,
Allen - E-mail: allen_low (at) rocketmail.com

LC
Dear Allen,
purchasing vacuum tube vintage gear can be expensive because of hard_to_find spare parts and, possibly, new (expensive) tubes. Now, if you are satisfied with your setup, please stop and enjoy the music! Eventually sell everything that you don't really need and purchase new software or attend more live concerts :-)
Happy listening,
Lucio Cadeddu

Ikea Hol table
Hi Mark!
I think there is no Hol table available from Ikea, do you have any suggestions to replace this model, so I can make this audio-tweek?
Thank you
Simon - E-mail: braldag (at) hotmail.com

MW
Hi Simon
Happy New Year!
I was not aware that Ikea have deleted their whole Hol range (pun groan!) but it does not seem available in North America, either side of the border. Here in Europe Ikea is a franchise operation and it seems almost impossible to contact them directly, only via your local store.
The good news is that any similar cabinet with perforated sides, stuffed with long fibre wool or one of the polyester equivalents that have tested well as loudspeaker stuffing, will do a similar job. There are many styles of Indian and north African furniture, featuring fretwork on at least four of the six faces, which fits this bill perfectly. Do not buy flimsy or rattly furniture for this purpose; something with good solid construction of timber from sustainable sources would be ideal.
Have fun shopping for furniture with audio purpose!
Happy listening in the new year
Mark Wheeler

Marantz CD 63
Hi Mark,
I don't know if you can help or not with a problem I have with the CD separate. I was searching the web on the CD63 and possible forums and came across the tnt-audio website. Thirteen years ago my wife bought me a hi-fi separates system, part of which is a Marantz CD63 CD player.
It's been packed up in its original box for the last six years and having just bought a house back in the UK I've moved the system back there. In setting it up again I initially had a display "Disc" on the CD player and opened the CD drawer to check if a CD was in but on powering the unit off then back on the unit is dead - no bang or such noise with the lack of power.
The plug fuse is okay - swapped it with the amp plug fuse which worked the amp before and after. Any ideas? Is there an internal fuse? Is it worth trying to get it fixed and if so where? The wife's not keen on the separates thing and would ideally prefer a small compact system instead so I can't really go out and buy a separates replacement.
Regards,
Leigh - E-mail: leigh.jefford (at) addaxpetroleum.com

MW
Hi Leigh
I can see your conundrum Leigh. There is some pressure to replace the old gear with something compact and bijou and all Country Living or House Beautiful and I can understand your wife's feelings when I hear visitors comment that our listenning room is "a real boys' room". I was never a fan of the Marantz CD63 CD player myself (rejecting a CD63SE for a Rotel 965BX discrete) so my first thought would be to ebay the old one for 'spares or repair' and buy something much newer. On the other hand, I hate waste and know that people like Avondale Audio and Chevron Audio (see my reviews on tnt-audio.com of both their styles of upgrade to decide which would suit you better) might be able to repair your old unit and upgarde it at the same time.
As for the suggestion to buy a compact system... words fail me... I need a sit down and a glass of water...
Isn't there some kind of trade you could make to include some new soft furnishings (see my recent article) so that you both get what you want in the sitting room?
Happy negotiating
Mark Wheeler

Crap review
Hello,
You are quite wrong and very misleading of others like myself to state in your M97xE review that the VN5MR stylus will fit this cartridge. It doesn't. The shank is too small. It's loose.
Thanks to your silly review, I have now purchased and received a VN5MR stylus from Jico, and trust me I am not a happy bunny!
I have since found out what stylus does fit the 97, but I have no intention telling you which it is, but there is one however. I suggest that, like me, you do some proper homework and base your reviews on FACT.
Richard - E-mail: diapason8 (at) blueyonder.co.uk

WO
Apologies are due. Mr. Astridge is correct in the sense that a persistent typo slipped into my 2007 review. The stylus assembly meant, and tested, was of course the VN5xMR and not the older VN5MR.
Again, I apologise and feel your frustration.
Happy listening,
Werner Ogiers