Toshiba SD900E

[stewartwen]

Ian, maybe we should try listening to music more often!
Rather than argueing about the worth of capacitor x over capacitor y.
I built my system for ME. Not for anyone else and dont enter protracted discussions as to the merits of my efforts!
There is one thing that I do though, I listen to music and speech an enormous amount.
I dont personally care wether any one elses taste in, loudspeakers, amps, pre amps etc is the same as mine.
Nerither do I give advice to others, especially when I dont have the practical knowledge to back this up.
REMEMBER, if you listen to your system regulary, and it puts a big cheesy grin on your face, then you have acheived something that most forum members rarelydo.
S

[pre65]

Hi-nice as the Toshiba SD900E may be i think i would like to have the facility to play SACD discs (the 900E won't) although i see the top bid for it (auction now ended) was 99p !!:p

The relisted item is now "Buy it now" only for £100 which is £50 less than last time.

I never rang Ian in the end because of the SACD problem and i think a Pioneer 575 will do what i want at a lot less wonga.


Philip

[Ianm2]

hi Philip, yes I acquired a pioneer dvr600, and am glad to say it sounds very good to me, and does sacd, etc., only thing it doesn't do is hdcd.

Now's the time to be totally honest which I was going to be on the phone, I don't find the toshiba 'quite' as good sounding to me as a dedicated cd on cd, I find it a bit thin and polite in the top, however, its fine, but I just prefer the cd, I am sure you could live happily with it.

other peeps may prefer it, its a tough call. fast and tight in the bass, its probably bcos my cd is very full on and rich sounding and its a bit lean in comparison.

why not get the new pioneer dv610? its just over £100 ish, and save on problems if you bought it new?

Just to recap, the sequence was

575 http://www.avland.co.uk/pioneer/dv575/dv575.htm
585 http://www.avland.co.uk/pioneer/dv585/dv585.htm
696 http://www.avland.co.uk/pioneer/dv696/dv696.htm
600 http://www.avland.co.uk/pioneer/dv600/dv600.htm
and 610 http://www.avland.co.uk/pioneer/dv610/dv610.htm

you could have still called to say hello.

hows the shek dac? which model? are you selling?

I ended early and cut the price pronto for a quick sale now for other toys, ebay seems slow, plenty of watchers but dvd's are so cheap now, even one such as this only a select few want pics are very good tho

there's a small part of my system toys, I will get it configured properly presently and take better pics.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...MESE:IT&ih=014

top is a balanced preamp/phonostage/headphone amp
2 active crossovers
qed preamp
and lexicon speech processor

I also have a balanced dac now installed in it, but its all still in a bit of flux

I'm still an equipment and music enthusiast that enjoys trying things out, and sells to fund other acquisitions, rather than a trader no matter what you may think, i may or may not make cash, as long as I don't lose or lose much, I don't mind. however, its not my full time living. I'm settling down now on some of the stuff in the pic.

95% of the time I don't do it to make a fast buck.

sorry we've disagreed in the past, so don't you dare say I'm trading, as that's the gods honest truth, and if you do, I'll be really ****ed as I prize my honesty, and will really think you are some kind of total jerk, best wishes ( I still can't believe anyone can think selling a few lo value items llike a £20 tuner is trading for a living )

[pre65]

Can't find many sellers for the DV-610,although there seem lots of DV-600 being sold still @ £125- £150 new.

Perhaps they are unloading the old models first ?

Who is selling DV-610 at "just over a £100 ish" ??




Philip

[Ianm2]

well probly £125 or so..

[Black Stuart]

Hi Ianm2,
I had a long phone conflab with you, on which we agreed on many issues but I most definately don't agree with you re. the Pickering hybrid. Indeed I said in another post that I thought you 'had'nt given it enough time' and that I did'nt find the bass to be as you described.

I think that Greg's assessment was spot on - for my part this is not a criticism just an observation. I have as you know been doing a lot of trials with I/Cs etc. and because I have used the same sources for over 2 years now, it does make it easy to observe differences with different designs/materials and so on.

Stewertwen - a great post - said it all.

[Ianm2]

hmm, I recall saying it was fast, tight and bcos of that effect, typcially that sort of 'signature' gives the impression of having little bass.

I liked it a lot tho'

I recall andrew Ivimey said also little bass.

As of my ears, they are amongst the best there are, but like oral sex, its a matter of taste

sorry greg, I have reread your post, I see what you are saying, I understand it better now.

yes it is poss. that there is little foundation as such, however, I do know the sound well, I can form an impression within seconds and minutes if I like the sound sig. of sometihng, the 575 wasn't as good partic. on string tones I recall, I had either a cheap sony dvd which was absol. superb, or a pioneer cd player, and I know the sound of those 2 VERY well, so I do reference a/b comparisons, to form my opinion, the other parts, say amps and speakers/cables are irrelevant as I am judging a source with another, and I think that's valid.

when I do get my system fully sorted, and its taking shape nicely, I think all will agree its pretty good sounding, and that's how you should judge it, however, even if I didn't take to the 575 personally, I still have the openness of mind to say I may like the sound your system makes. ditto with kls3's, they may sound great at your place with synergy, etc...

I am my own authority on subjective issues, we all are, I simply report my findings.

what I listen for, as many poss. do is complex.

I don't find some of these 'parameters' change much over time...ie. long term running in if I don't like it at first will has rarely changed my mind.

string tones..poss does change...but still sig. remains similar..., thin? or rich and resonant
piano bell like..rolled off, mellow?
human spoken voice

those are the 3 most critical instrument tests as they contain the most complex harmonix

drums/bass...fast and pratty, depth, overhang...this one isn't critical to me, there are more important things like...

soundstage, v imp. I like a big wide deep that you can hear into and...

separation of instruments, detail, lots of it, correct balance of frequencies, too, I like vocals a little forward, I dislike intensely anything polite and distant

sound that projects forward, don't like recessed.

and along with that, uncompressed dynamics.

just a quick one, , but those are what I form impressions on initially, plus poss. a few more, ah...reverb/space/ambience around the notes, decay.

in short, I tend to like a very detailed and clear, rich instrumental tone, sound with great staging, not too bright at the top, but then again not rolled off, or recessed and distant sounding.

perhaps a way to describe music would be
1. space,
2. time,
3/ volume...amplitude, dynamics/lack of compression,
4/ frequency.... balance....
5/ freq. vs. amplitude...ie flat?
6/ and tone(harmonix)

( all the physics components of sound actually!!!), I doubt you'll find a more encompassing list than that, which you can expand, but all can probly fit in those categories

anyway, let not argue, lets agree on this, judge someone by how their system sounds in their place.

we agree on something greg, your amp is prob. best I have heard.

I have an excellent idea of the next fest, sine wave generator and see how hi every one can hear. you will be very surprised

[JerryT]

Originally Posted by Ianm2

I have an excellent idea of the next fest, sine wave generator and see how hi every one can hear. you will be very surprised

Hi

Just thought I'd recount some of the naughty things I did with loudspeakers, amps and signal generators when I was entertaining young people in school. It became obvious early on that using loudspeakers with flat frequency responses to beyond 20khz or single units that rolled off the response at either end made little difference in practice.

As we went from lo to high I could have the whole class telling me they could hear the signal if I used an old valve signal generator as it passed 25kHz, but a colleague demonstrated that no one could hear 25khz from a new transistor unit. An early example of valve watts being louder, or valves more musical? Both produced same amplitude and frequency (within a few %) output checked on a scope.

So what was the key difference?:

-The valve unit had a much higher noise level. Listeners could still hear something (the noise) so they assumed they could still hear the signal.

Another version of the test involved a mute button. Most listeners at 18kHz could still hear the signal after 1Mohm was inserted in the speaker feed, as long as they could see the on light.

Repeat the experiment with a scope across the output of the sig gen and it could be 25k before anyone admitted not hearing anything. Most seemed to work on the principle that if you could see it working you could hear it.

I'm sure sophisticated users used to following and analyzing sound wouldn't be fooled or fool themselves.

Mr Ivimey could, I'm sure, quote more scientific examples and explanations for the innocent fun I used to have at the expense of young people. You had to get your own back somehow!


Jerry