The red Focals look fantastic in any room.
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Is a Benchmark sub-section forthcoming? Iâve been looking out for it, but so far not seen it.
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Canât anyone create it?
Youâve been listening only to colored tube equipment if you think all tube equipment is euphonic, or youâre simply being lazy in your commentary. If a designer is going for that sound (Cary Audio, most 300B SET amps), sure, thatâs what you will get but the Line Magnetics, Thomas Mayers, and numerous others, are not. Transparency doesnât exclude tubes.
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I appreciate that not all valve amplifiers sound âtubeyâ - much of it is in the design implementation, output transformers etc.
My previous hybrid amp didnât sound all âwarm, lush and tubeyâ, especially with NOS Russian 6N23P in the input stage. It was very neutral sounding.
Tubes do generally sound different from solid state though. Harmonic distortion is much higher than the best solid state gear and the spread of harmonics is different.
My original response was to someone with a very strong preference for tubes who described Benchmark gear âas characterless and boringâ. Itâs not IME. Itâs measurably and audibly transparent and with the right speakers sounds superb. Someone who says that of gear is clearly listening to tube equipment which has a substantially coloured/characterful presentation.
It depends greatly on the speakers as to how different amps sound as well. A speaker which has a naturally forward presentation might sound pretty dire on transparent amplification, but may fare better with a more ârelaxedâ sounding amplifier setup.
I wasnât dissing tubes - I still have 2 tube headphone amps, I also have 2 solid state ones.
Whilst there are differences, the differences are quite subtle.
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Some like vanilla ice cream, some like vanilla bean. Itâs all a matter of taste.
Youâre mixing scopes. Vanilla ice cream is a spectrum of deliciousness. Vanilla bean is but one variant. You are correct, perhaps accidentally. Sorry for you French vanilla fans, vanilla bean is the only correct answer.
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Very fine set-up. The Stainless wall plates compliment an already elegant system!
Thank you John
I read that if you heat up and then cool the gunked up lamp it will clear up with time (and luck)
Innuos Zenith Mk3 server/streamer,
Innuos Phoenix USB reclocker,
Chord Hugo MScaler upsampler,
Chord DAVE DAC/headphone amp,
Focal Utopia headphones,
Lampizator Callisto USB cables,
Shunyata Hydra Delta D6 Power Conditioner with Delta NR and Venom V14 power cables
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Fantasic chair, what is it?
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No idea. But it looks like it could work on the bridge of a Star Trek starship.
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All the effort for a pure power supply and then a lot of powerful electric motors in the armchair? Can you have both? 
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I guess weâll have to ask Scotty about that. 
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Itâs a very large beast
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Japanese Iâm going to guess, goes along with the fancy loo seats.
Probably drives like a dream.
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Itâs an AmaMedic Hilux 4D Massage Chair, and itâs every bit as comfy as it looks â but it keeps putting me to sleep, so Iâm only able to listen to a couple tracks per session. Worth the trade off.
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