Let's talk about audio technology

[StormKnight (1)]

Considering this is the multimedia part of DGN, I am surprised that there isn't a thread that talks about this. Come on, music is a lot of the scene's life.

So I invite all audiophiles, people who rig for concerts, people who design band systems, DJ's who love their kits or sets, and everyone else to share insight on audio technology. Be it from cartridges for turntables to the latest in speakers, from Sharp and generics to Klipsch and Bang and Olufsen, and so on, I wanted to hear what opinions are about it. Along with the people who sell it and maintain the equipment.

What inspired me to start this? (and as a starting point):

I recently sent my 21-year old receiver (Kenwood KR-107R,) into a shop for maintenance, switch and contact cleaning, which was causing a hum from through the audio jacks that receive from VCR/DVD sound. The cleaning was in preparation for storage as a backup receiver (not parting with it, personal reasons,) in light of the recent purchase of a THX rated receiver of the same power (Kenwood KV-6070, ca. 2002.) From discussion with the guy doing the maintenance, if you are going with transistor amplifier units, going with ones made in the late 70's to early 90's are the way to go in line of durability and over-engineering. Starting in the 90's, the quality started to go down a bit.

Now given that the best amplifiers by most opinion are tubes (impractical for moving kits and ones that are subject to extreme hot/cold,) what are other opinions on transistor amplifiers? are the older ones better?

Edited January 8, 2010 by StormKnight

[Der Nister]

Tube amplifiers ---- I love them!!!

No technology will ever reproduce the sounds/tones you can get from them puppies.