New PS Audio Sprout100 Amplifier

chazmo

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It's funny how there are decades between the various components in this system (and the vinyl!) yet how well it works together. I gave up on vinyl in college around 1981 or so, but I'm glad folks have continued to enjoy it. Honestly, back then, I would NEVER have predicted that people would still be using vinyl, let alone that someone could build an amp like this Sprout with 100w/ch and be half the size of my toaster.
 

chazmo

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OK, at least I can sleep tonight without medication...was ready to load stuff in the car and head for West Boylston!

Seriously though, have some "real" speakers should your delivery time stretch out and your eys are bleeding :rolleyes-new:

:) :) Can't have you not sleeping because I have s**t speakers, Bill. :) The KLH ones sound nice! Great system for my kitchen.
 

GAD

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It's funny how there are decades between the various components in this system (and the vinyl!) yet how well it works together. I gave up on vinyl in college around 1981 or so, but I'm glad folks have continued to enjoy it. Honestly, back then, I would NEVER have predicted that people would still be using vinyl, let alone that someone could build an amp like this Sprout with 100w/ch and be half the size of my toaster.

Vinyl has had a fairly significant resurgance amongst young people! You can buy records in just about any Guitar Center or Best Buy and there’s a vinyl shop in our local mall! It’s not near what it once was to be sure, but it’s there, and I find it fascinating. My daughter got an Amy Winehouse LP from one of her friends for her birthday this year.
 

adorshki

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Vinyl has had a fairly significant resurgance amongst young people! You can buy records in just about any Guitar Center or Best Buy and there’s a vinyl shop in our local mall! It’s not near what it once was to be sure, but it’s there, and I find it fascinating. My daughter got an Amy Winehouse LP from one of her friends for her birthday this year.

To be fair here's where psychoacoustics manipulated by a master producer come in.
Most CDs' to me always sounded as if the sound was in some kind of flat plane like glass, whereas I had many vinyls that yielded true spatial 3-d presence, I was able to hear specific instruments in specific locations in the room in a field with depth.
For along time I chalked it up the idea that early CD's were rushed to production using the original mixes that were OK for vinyl but probably sub-optimal for CD's.
I only heard a CD that sounded as good as and even better in some respects than vinyl in the last ten years or so, it was Otis Taylor's Truth is Not Fiction, which was mastered for CD not vinyl:
https://www.discogs.com/Otis-Taylor-Truth-Is-Not-Fiction/release/4993372
If you're curious, the specific cut that made me sit up and really take notice was "Be My Witness":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spHbjcFhti0

Since then there've been some others.
Just sayin', production has a lot to do with sound "presence" regardless of the medium, and I only found out recently that psychoacoustics was a known and manipulated phenomenon to achieve that as far back as the '60's.
 
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GAD

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To be fair here's where psychoacoustics manipulated by a master producer come in.
Most CDs' to me always sounded as if the sound was in some kind of flat plane like glass, whereas I had many vinyls that yielded true spatial 3-d presence, I was able to hear specific instruments in specific locations in the room in a field with depth.
For along time I chalked it up the idea that early CD's were rushed to production using the original mixes that were OK for vinyl but probably sub-optimal for CD's.
I only heard a CD that sounded as good as and even better in some respects than vinyl in the last ten years or so, it was Otis Taylor's Truth is Not Fiction, which was mastered for CD not vinyl:
https://www.discogs.com/Otis-Taylor-Truth-Is-Not-Fiction/release/4993372
If you're curious, the specific cut that made me sit up and really take notice was "Be My Witness":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spHbjcFhti0

Since then there've been some others.
Just sayin', production has a lot to do with sound "presence" regardless of the medium, and I only found out recently that psychoacoustics was a known and manipulated phenomenon to achieve that as far back as the '60's.

I guarantee you that 90+% of the young people buying LPs at the mall could not care less about any of that.

To be clear, I don't think you're wrong in principle, but I think an entire generation raised on 128bit MP3s through earbuds would revel at the sound from a transistor radio. :calm:
 

Default

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Next projects to rebuild ( pictures not mine ):

Acoustic Research AR3a pair.

512ancient.promo_.jpg


Dynaco Stereo 400

587472159.jpg
 

gjmalcyon

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OK, problem fixed, Bill! :) :) Circa 2000 KLH speakers, 1980s Dual turntable, '70s Steely Dan "Pretzel Logic" on the TT, and the new PS Audio Sprout100 amp. I'm in heaven, and my son is too. :)

Sweet system you got there.

Schiit (scatalogical pronunciation, as in "nice Schitt") makes some nice similar stuff - I use both their DAC and headphone amp in one of my systems. When you combine portable stuff like that, powered monitors, and a good digital source you can get some amazing quality out of a system you can put up and tear down quickly at a cookout.

Most of my stuff does not have tone controls, and if it does, I just leave it all flat. I kind of want to hear what the artist, producer, studio engineer, and mastering engineer were going for.
 
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adorshki

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I guarantee you that 90+% of the young people buying LPs at the mall could not care less about any of that.

To be clear, I don't think you're wrong in principle, but I think an entire generation raised on 128bit MP3s through earbuds would revel at the sound from a transistor radio. :calm:

Right. They didn't know what they missed yet, but I was just sticking up for the true potential of CD's after they've been bashed by analog purists for so many years (hey I was there myself).
Last time my brother and nephew were visiting, I put on some keyboard masters for him, as he's been getting into keyboard lessons.
After a couple of minutes he abandoned his cell phone texting and sat down in the "sweet spot" and just sat with his head down, bathing in the sound.
Occasionally wandering over to each of the speakers and listening from various distances , couple of inches to a foot. (Wasn't blasting, only about 5 on my 26-wat amp.)
Now he knows how good it's supposed to be.
:smile:
My bookshelfs are AR28b 2-ways, btw, and the floors are Sansui 3-ways.
Another essential ingredient: BIG magnets behind the cones.
 

chazmo

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I just thought I'd report back that this Sprout100 amp is a super-nice product. We've been playing vinyl through it and I occasionally use the bluetooth to play stuff from my Mac. Just rockin' out right now to a pristine copy of Doobie Brothers' "Toulouse Street" that somehow my son got for free. I'm reliving my youth with technology from multiple decades! :)
 

GAD

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Nice. All the argument about specs and knobs should always be secondary to just enjoying the music.
 

chazmo

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:) The amp says "vinyl," Bill! Clearly showing that it's a recent product and not something from the heyday of "records" and "lp"s :) Sorry, Bill. It is what it is! :) :)
 

adorshki

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:) The amp says "vinyl," Bill! Clearly showing that it's a recent product and not something from the heyday of "records" and "lp"s :) Sorry, Bill. It is what it is! :) :)
Technically a "record" could be either photographic or written, and "album" was used for photo album too, but "LP" can only be one thing.
Except it leaves out '78's and 45's.
I say "vinyl" is 100% appropriate, it can only mean one thing.
But it's still possible for polycarbonate to sound just as good these days.
:glee:
 

chazmo

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:) Vinyl is indeed vague. We certainly never called records "vinyl" when I was growing up. I do think some records were even made out of other materials, but I'm not sure. I think "phonograph" would probably be a better name for the amp setting. As for what you call the record... it's true that LP is only only one kind of record. I had a LOT of 45s growing up, for sure. 78s were already passe by then; I don't see them coming back any time soon. The success of LPs goes beyond the ability to carry multiple songs... I think the album covers, jackets, and even the labels play a big part in all this. The size of an LP is just right to put the cover down on an table and admire it, etc.

Now, what's next? 8-track? Let's hope not!
 

adorshki

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:) I do think some records were even made out of other materials, but I'm not sure.
Bye and large I think they were all vinyl of one type or another, but the early 78's might have been different.*
High carbon content yielded harder vinyl which was more durable and gave better fidelity to the prssing mold's immpressions.
In the '70's with the advent of high cost oil I was told many records we being recalled if they didn't sell quickly enough so that the vinyl could be recycled, this results in a softer lower quality vinyl, though, and explains the comparatively poor quality (and noticable flexibility also due to simply being a bit thinner) of records starting around '74.
Note audiophile records these days often list a gram weight which is also indicative of the higher carbon content "old school" vinyl.
:friendly_wink:
* PS let's not forget the cereal box records of soft vinyl pasted on the box...:glee:
The success of LPs goes beyond the ability to carry multiple songs... I think the album covers, jackets, and even the labels play a big part in all this. The size of an LP is just right to put the cover down on an table and admire it, etc.
"Word".
 
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GAD

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You guys crack me up. They’re vinyls now. Adapt and overcome.
 

fronobulax

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*snicker*

They were phonograph records when I was growing up. The term applied to 78's, 45's and 33's. In the cases where you had multiple diameters it applied to all of them. The player was called a phonograph or a record player. Tapes existed but reel to reel was not commonly used for music at home. 12" 33's were called albums. Once you had cassettes and 8 track in the mix, vinyl started being used in the sense that it meant "recorded music but not on tape". Similarly an album refereed to the content and not the media - "I have that album on cassette". CDs were just one more format for an album. record eventually faded out of use but that was somewhat genre specific. I still said classical records when I owned rock and roll albums. Records nearly disappeared because of CDs and when they came back they were called vinyl. I can see a time when someone can't figure out how to hook up a vintage amplifier because one of the input pairs is labelled phono.

Am I really trying to increase my post count for some nefarious purpose?
 
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