On Thu, 11 May 2006 13:21:32 +0100, "Keith G"
wrote:


"Eiron" wrote in message
...
Keith G wrote:

OK, this is good.

I have set up the Marantz *tweaked* CDP (£500 new**, apparently) on my
recently-acquired Argos POS stack (where the CD player cost nobbut 70
quid,

With a stark, clear, intimate female vocal/acoustic backing (Regina Lund
'Unique') CD on my *crystal clear* and very revealing Pinkies (Firewood
Horns with Fostex FE103E fullrange drivers) I ABSOLUTELY CAN NOT SPLIT
THEM!!

To me they sound about as *identical* as you could get!! Treble, bass,
background detail (of which there is plenty), 'recording noise' &c. - the
whole works!

Nothing controversial there. It would cost manufacturers more if they were
to make cheap players sound worse than expensive ones.


I beg to differ.

Note the word *tweaked* above - *if* the CDPs do sound the same (haven't had
the chance to get the choona to listen yet) then it implies that the
redoubtable Ken Ishiwata has got to *work* on a Marantz to get it sound as
good as an Argos cheapo CDP!! (Not to mention all those bloody copper
rivets!) Unless, of course, the standard of CDPs was significantly lower
when the Marantz was made!! (??)

Nah - the real fun would be to get hold of a bog-standard CD-63 and
see if you can tell the difference between that and your KI Signature
version. I know where I'd place *my* bet........

Like you say, once you're past about 1990 and about 100 squids,
there's no audible difference until you get to the 'high end' stuff
which is actually tweaked to *degrade* the sound quality!
Interestingly, those guys always claim that their knackered and
hideously expensive players sound 'more like analogue'..... :-)

....but as luck would have it, the piano tuner's due here sometime
between 1 and 2 o' clock.

Could you ask him if he still tunes to 440Hz for A or has moved on to the
European standard of 442Hz?


He tunes to 440 Hz.

As I am now forced into 'silent running' for the next hour or so I will
relate the whole story (trying to type silently) as told to me....

Goes like this:

For years the UK, Continent and US tuned A to 440 Hz. Ten years ago the
Berlin Philharmonic changed to 442 Hz and, liking it, changed again to 444
Hz (Beethoven's preference?) and, the tuner tells me, that most continental
orchestras now tune to 444. (Also James Galway had to get himself a new
flute when he joined the BPO!!)

We in the UK are 440 except the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra who is tuned
to 442 Hz...!! (The tuner 'does' them as well, apparently!)

Additionally, he advises that Steinway (London) has all 440/442/444 versions
in its 'Hire Fleet' and they will not allow them to be pulled up and down as
it unsettles them and spoils the tone. The tuner has left the piano in the
Derngate (Northampton) at 442 as he got fed up with having to keep changing
it, apparently!

That do yer?

Back later with the verdict on the CDPs. Meanwhile, here's a shot of the
'tuner's tuner':

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/show/tuner.JPG

Cost him £2,500 a while back apparently!!







--

Stewart Pinkerton | Music is Art - Audio is Engineering