Is there an Audio/Video thread?

In reply to Vracer111 :

Wow, that's pretty impressive except that you need a lot of headphones to share for movie night. At least it keeps silent those people like me that have to comment all throughout  the movie.

In reply to Vracer111 :

Bluetac - a sure sign of a grassroots audio geek.  I have a friend that uses it to tweak the mass and damp his constant stream of new tonearms, and also a layer to secure cartridges to the arm.  Seems to work, his stuff sounds great.

Headphones are great for personal listening, not so great for groups.  Would love to hear your setup.  My headphones are mostly adequate Sony studio monitors but not in the same class.  One of the things I like about my current setup is great imaging - can good headphones do that?

I have a NAD Amp and the darn thing died.  Does anyone know a place to get it repaired?  The thing is like black magic and voodo when it comes to anyone understanding these things.  I have a complete NAD Component system tucked away that would be great to get out and set up again.

The thing I like about old-school Audio is that you experience the music, you actually feel it.  It is much closer to the real thing than a set of headphones and an iPhone.  

In reply to VolvoHeretic :

The system still has the ability to support 10 headphones if I plug in the TASCAM MH-8 headphone unit which still have in the rack chassis. Not the best sounding unit, but good enough for movies with 8 headphone outputs (individually adjustable amps for each). Main reason got the MH-8 was for modding... would always get at least 2 of the same headphone - keep one stock and mod/tune the other. Then listen to them off the same source to compare against each other in real time. Can also run 2 headphones off the RME ADI-2 setup with the separate tube and built in ss amp. 

At one time I did have more than enough headphones for family & friend movie nights... 

In reply to jwagner (Forum Supporter) :

Mainly used the blutac for sealing pads/cups to help add some weight to the bass.

For imaging, there are some headphones that do it very well. The SR-L700 and SR-L300 Limited Edition STAX (modded to L700 clone) are very 3D in their spacial presentation because of the combination of their imaging and their high level of instrument separation... much beyond something like a Sennheiser HD700 or HD58X (which are very good.) It's like cheating to use them for gaming, can close eyes and be able to determine very precise direction and fairly good distance estimate of sounds and distinguish all sounds as every one is discretely distinct and not masked by other sounds. The imaging of a STAX L700/L300 LE is absolutely linear in tracking and seemingly infinite in resolution.

As mentioned before, musicality is where I feel the newer STAX Lambda series are lacking - slightly thin and cold sounding. What STAX L700/L300 LE absolutely excel in is their technical ability and neutral tuning which allow them to be used like an electron scanning microscope to examine all the elements of a track/song.

In reply to dean1484 :

Don't know a place, but you might be able to find an electronic PDF version of the service manual(s) for the specific NAD amp (I did for the 2200PE's I formerly had), source the specced caps/resistors/voltage rails/etc..., and find someone competent in repairing audio/video equipment to check it out and perform needed component changes.

All of the electronic repair places around me are now closed and the repairmen are either retired or dead.  Nowadays, you just throw it away and replace. (Edit: I mean new stuff, the old good stuff you have to mail off to some place you find on the internet.)

Here's my setup right now. Marantz 2270, Denon turntable from about 2003 - at the time it was their most expensive turntable, we paid $50 for a demo model of a lower quality turntable that kept breaking. After the 2nd time they replaced it, they just sent us this brand new and said you have no warranty any more. 
 

Speakers are my dad's college speakers, EPI bookshelf. 
 

Yes, I know that I shouldn't put the turntable on top of the receiver, but the fact is that it never gets worked hard enough for it to matter. Yes I know I should spread the speakers out and also not have them on the same platform as the turntable, but I have no other space. 
 

I also have a few systems in storage, waiting for me to figure out where to put them. Not sure I'll ever find that spot in this house. That stuff includes Rotel, Amber, Audionics of Oregon, Canton, and Onkyo. Most all of that is vintage. The Cantons actually are a better speaker than the EPIs, but the EPIs just fit in with the room so well.