Head exploding speakers!!!?? Perhaps JBL or Tannoy?

What about 'visceral and seat-of-the-pants'? And can we please elect 'transient palpability' as the Catchphrase of the Month.

I also had a 252 as my first 'proper' amp. It was bought with the intention of adding the second amp and speakers at a later date. Having heard the active system demo'd I remember the sound being powerful and detailed. Although when I next had saved up enough I went for the warmer-sounding Arcam One...

Musical taste is certainly somethings that grows with experience and exposure to different types of music. What you like and don't like, and that changes. I have a cyclical listening pattern where I fall into a genre, like Jazz, and immerse myself in it for months at a time. Then I move on to, say, ...

The current trend for bass-heavy reproduction reflects a generation programmed by 'dance' to only enjoy music that can be more felt than heard. And their exposure to 'listening' is mainly via low-quality MP3.

There is a very good book by Oliver Sachs called 'Musicophilia' in which he tells stories from his career in neurology about the weird and wonderful ways people perceive and experience music. Some even 'see' it because the brain's visual cortex gets stimulated. I have had long periods when I have fe...

I very much agree. As for Golden ages, I missed jazz in the 50's. Trane, Miles, Monk, Blue Note. One mic, no mixing. Tape running at the wrong speed (Kind of Blue, Side 1) Hey, it's still a classic - and who noticed at the time? A recent reissue has also corrected this (Not Now Records) People didn...

Are studio amps designed primarily for XLR inputs? And a balanced input ought to sound better than an unbalanced anyway. That Crown certainly has plenty of muscle and apparently some finesse as well.

And now for a minor upgrade. I received a pair of SSC interconnects today (thanks, Doc!) and firstly tried them in the place of the Accuphase cable in the living room. With London Grammar, Hannah's husky voice was all around to an almost frightening extent. Focus was tight, every strand of detail au...

I very much agree.

As for Golden ages, I missed jazz in the 50's. Trane, Miles, Monk, Blue Note. One mic, no mixing.