I recently hooked the denon cd player with a volume control directly to my adcom 545 II power amp and noticed an improvement in the clarity of both highs and bass response. The sound stage dimished a touch with a slight loss of airyness. My question is can I increase the soundstage by going with a passive preamp and still keep the clarity and lack of harshness I am currently enjoying?

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A project commissioned by forum member Struts. A funny aside: I quoted him a fair price for my time and materials, which I would have stood by anyway, without knowing the originals went for $2k! Those Mook monks really knew how to put the "magic" into their wallets.

I'm a new owner of some great hi-fi pieces, and have finally started the vinyl collection I've always wanted. A majority of the records I've bought so far are audiophile-remastered reissues, brand new, sealed--which is fantastic. The handful of gems I've recovered from dusty bins and eBay sellers, however, range anywhere from VG+ to... shit. I'm set on the Nitty Gritty 2.5FI record cleaner, but I'm curious:

1) How often does one really need to clean records if they're brand new, or once a dirty record has been cleaned?

Hey,
I am right know playing on my dads 30 years old Philips 677 (direct control) turntable. And to be honest it sounds great. I am playing with a newer Ortofon VMS 30 mk.II cartridge.
But now I want to upgrade the turntable. But I have to be very budgetminded (I am only 15 years, but a totally audiophile ).
I had been looking on a Project RPM 1. It looks very nice, an it's cheaper than I thought it would be.
Do you have any comments to this turntable, or purhaps other proposals in the same pricerange?

Sure there is a "resurgence". I wouldn't look at it from a media standpoint. Look at it more like a resurgence in the art of listening. Isn't this what its realy all about anyways. I mean, the way we listen to music in different forms of media is almost irrelevent. Mono, stereo, surround, Vinyl, 8 tracks, reel to reels, cassettes, cd's, mp3, high-rez DL's, etc. It's all been good, some way or another. I think the whole "resurgence" in LP's has brought back the true meaning of music... actually listening to it, and all the way through.

Okay, I may be late to the party here (I have subsequently found that they have featured on The Late Show) but this is a really fun one I heard at last week's show in Gothenburg and ordered immediately on my return.