I Found the Perfect Amplifier Speaker Switch. Plus a Look Under the Hood.

January 22, 2018

#299

Gentle reader,

This is the first time I've written in almost a month. Mostly due to the holidays and all that entails.

Plus, I've not been buying any new equipment.I am perfectly happy with the listening room system and this one too.
I sold the vintage Fisher receiver and Advent speakers, both of which I fixed up and wrote about here. Plus the Legend LE414 speaker switch that I also modified and featured in this space. More on that further on down below.

It's a JAMO JSS4-HP. They sell versions for professional installations that have the small green terminals on the back. This one has banana/binding terminals and they were installed in a cool way.

Not much to look as it is all business. It's seventeen inches wide, the same as most components.

Made from heavy gauge steel and quality components. It has input terminals for TWO amplifiers. And is nice and heavy.

The close-up photos to follow will illustrate what is cool about the way they engineered the terminals.

Here's the bottom of it. The only opening it has is here. I bought it used, or as I like to say, "previously enjoyed". I coined that phrase. I got a wonderful deal. Another right time, right place situation.

See (below) how they staggered the terminals? These are not traditional three-way binding/banana terminals. They accept banana plugs in the end holes or bare wires. If using bare wire, one presses on the spring loaded, (they have enough physical resistance to assure you they will hold tight to the wires) and inserts the bare wire ends. By staggering the terminals, there is room to pass wires between the upper terminals to the lower ones. See? Pretty cool. The drawback is that one cannot use forked spade lugs. Why are they called spades when they should be called forks? I know what a spade terminal looks like. A spade. No forks in sight.

Above are the input terminals for the TWO amplifiers. Seeing things on my 22" monitor reveals every flaw and speck of dust. Some of the color rings are missing and it is dusty. Dust happens.

Speaker outputs #1 and #2 are here.

And speaker outputs #3 and #4.

Name and button directions as well as A/B amplifier switch and headphone jack. Have you ever seen a speaker switch with a headphone jack? Not I.

Model number and description shown here.   

Completely passive, as you can see. I downloaded the PDF file of the owner's manual. It explains how resistors are built in to maintain at least a four Ohm load at all times if two or more pairs of speakers are engaged.

A better look at the board that holds the switches and resistors.

Amplifier input wiring goes to a plug rather than individual terminals as I have seen in other switches.

Speakers #1 and #2 wiring shown here. Note that they are two separate plugs.

As are speakers #3 and #4 plugs shown here. All very neatly done. At first, I thought, "Hmm, they could have used larger gauge wires." Then I realized the circuit board uses relatively small traces, so larger wires would not make sense.

I wrote about the modifications I did to the Legend LE-414 speaker switch seen below here: 
Improving Ultra-Rare Legend LE414 Speaker Control Selector Switch Assembly 

Here it sits atop the JAMO for comparison. HUGE difference in size.

The one advantage the Legend has is three-way binding/banana terminals.

Next, I will show you how I mounted the JAMO and keep it from possibly tipping backwards from the weight of the speaker cables I use.

I first read about Blu-Tak reusable adhesive some years ago in Stereophile or The Absolute Sound.
Other companies jumped on that bandwagon by making their own versions in various colors. But Quake Hold, which makes ALL kinds of things to secure your stuff from earthquakes, makes the most secure of these adhesives.
I have picked up speakers on stands held by Museum Putty and the stands which weigh more than the speakers do not fall off.
To remove speakers, I have had to seriously pry them. Great stuff. And it leaves no residue!

Using my handy Craftsman folding utility knife, I cut four small squares as such:

I then bent them in two so that they are thicker than the feet of the switch and applied them, as seen below.

Since the switch is not as deep as my OPPO universal player, it was fastened to the disc player's top, centered front to rear.

Since I no longer have "surround sound" in the listening room, (oh, by the way, this is the stereo that sits next to my computer in the home "office") I am no longer using the extremely rare 1990's Dynaco QD-2. 
So, I had the Monster Cable Z-Series speaker cables that I shortened to make jumpers to hook up the QD-2 available.

These are all of the Monster Cable Z-Series speaker cables that I have on hand for future use. The ones with green banana plugs came with the 15 foot pair I needed for the listening system. I believe it is for center channel speakers. The other two are about 8 feet long and were once 10 footers.

Here are said jumpers. I always replace speaker cable's factory terminals with Nakamichi ones. They are the best.

Because the ones above hold SO tight, I decided to try their traditionally shaped bananas seen below.

They are a little easier to insert and remove.

Until recently, said vintage Fisher receiver that I mentioned at the top of the article, was at the bottom of this stack. It drove the more efficient speakers and the Yamaha the less efficient ones. The cassette deck was connected to it and the OPPO to the Yamaha. CDs were still an expensive novelty when the Fisher receiver was made.

My decision to pass it on, (along with other things I have on eBay) left me with four speakers in here and only two pairs of terminals on the Yamaha. 

JAMO to the rescue! I now have a superb speaker selector switch that matches the black-stack. And even though it looks narrower than the rest, that is an optical delusion. It is 17 inches wide.

History has shown me that masking tape adhesive eventually softens, makes the tape translucent and leaves a residue that is hard to get off.
So, I began using fiberglass high-heat electrical tape for marking cables. I use a RED marker for the Right channel and BLACK for the left. I also colored the smooth portion of the Nakamichi plug's "insulators" (which by the way ARE conductive!) so that it is easier for me to tell positive from negative at a glance. 

As you can see, they are clearly legible and the tape is designed to be permanent. I used a lot of it working on 700 volt DC floor heaters in many a subway car over the decades.

The photo above justifies my use of Sharpies on the plugs. For some reason, I put shrink tubing on one end of these jumper cables, but not the other. The positive wire does have a red stripe on it but it is hidden in this photo, even so, I always verify by performing a continuity test with a Volt-Ohm-Meter.

Aforementioned shrink tubing seen above.

These photos give a better view of the holes that accept bare wires on the JAMO should one choose that route.

One last thought on speaker cables: All I use are twisted pair speaker cables. Even though they are resistant to 60 Hertz interference, standard speaker wires might have RFI issues. The twists resists. 

You may have seen the little yellow Post-It note I stuck to the speaker switch. That is temporary. My wife has a nice label maker and will be happy to make some proper labels for me. (Which  she has done, see near the bottom of the article.)

OK, you may be wondering what the markings are, right? Go ahead and admit it. OK, I'll tell you:

C-V     Cerwin-Vega LS-12
301      BOSE 301 Series V
LX4    Optimus Pro LX4
M7W  Modified Minimus 7W

Now that you have gotten a good laugh out of the way, each pair of speakers have meanings to me.

I'd never seen nor heard any Cerwin-Vega! speakers prior to finding the LS-12s at Salvation Army. I know they have a reputation as "dorm room speakers" these sound excellent and are slightly more efficient than my Klipsch KG4s. Plus, how many other speaker makers use diecast aluminum woofer frames and make very efficient speakers? Hmm?

My wife bought the BOSE 301 Series V speakers for me years ago hoping I would stop using the large speakers in the living room. I did not. But once I set them us similar to the way 901s are supposed to be and critically listened to them, they aren't bad sounding. Not audiophile quality, but very good. And they are efficient. I mounted them near the ceiling on adjustable flat-screen TV brackets as can be seen below:

The C-V LS-12s sit directly beneath them and the LX4s and M7Ws are atop them as seen below:

Heidi and Gretchen stand guard as usual.

The stormtrooper and TIE fighter pilot are now consigned to the box of donations waiting to return to the same thrift store I found them in.

Both of the small speakers are secured with Museum Putty. The mess of cables above is now neatly tucked away. OCD has it's uses. 

I wrote a series of articles on modifications I made to the Minimus 7W speakers. And since the woven Kevlar woofers I used are from the cult-following LX4 speakers, I watched for and was able to secure a pair via eBay.

By the way, the articles about the M7W speakers and mounting of the BOSE 301s are some of my most popular. So others have chosen those speakers.

The photo above shows the labels that my wife made for me. Much better than the post-it-note.
I also bought a NOS AUVIO 3.5mm-to-stereo-RCA cable via eBay to replace the cheap one I had been using. That's the white one plugged into the HD radio atop the switch.

As I wrote above, I used Quake-Hold reusable adhesive to secure the switch to the top of my OPPO universal player.
Not one to totally trust the weight of the two units, I decided to suspend the eight heavy speaker cables, above and below.

"No wire hangers!" A line from a book and movie about Joan Crawford, I believe. Anyway, wire hangers can and have been used many ways by many people. This use is ideal, unlike say using it to hold up car exhaust.

I slid the other end through an unused hole in the bracket that secures the right BOSE 301 to the HDTV bracket. This also takes the strain off of that speaker's banana plug terminals I installed some years ago. I have spring terminals!

That's it for today's story. I hope you enjoyed it. I do not know when I may write again. As I stated, I am not buying equipment anymore. 

I'm completely pleased with the listening room system (after 44 years!) and really enjoy this kit too. Plus, having four pairs of speakers to choose from and all of the components right next to me is handy and enjoyable.

Thank you once again for taking the time to read my words and view my photos.

Scott

January 22, 2019 
Updated February 6, 2019 

Alternate Discs Digital Sound Even Better? SACD DVD-Audio HDCD K2HD CD

December 27, 2018

#298

Gentle reader,

In the early 1980's SONY and PHILIPS got together to create a form of music that was immune to the inevitable wear and fading of LP records and the less-than-high-fidelity of cassette tapes and the impracticality of reel-to-reel tapes.

Digital recording was being used then, but converted to analog for pressing onto LPs. As a result, the tape hiss was gone from the records. Some praised the new digital LPs, others did not think they sounded any better.

The only portable music then was cassette tapes. Some felt those plastic encased slow running (1 and 7/8 inches per second across the heads) 1/8" wide tapes (in stereo, four tracks less than 1/32nd of an inch wide per channel) could not replace the true fidelity that LP records set as the standard. 

No, it was time to make digital music discs of some type. Believe it or not, digital video (with audio) discs had existed since the 1970's. Twelve inches in diameter like LP records, shiny silver on both sides. When made available for consumers, it was called Laser Videodisc or Laserdisc for short. But the technology was still new and had only begun to make it into homes. DVD discs were a long way off.

Thus the partnership was formed by two unlikely peoples, Japanese and the Dutch of the Netherlands. I will not go further into the history of the Compact Disc. Others far more knowledgeable than I have exhausted that subject.

"PERFECT SOUND FOREVER" was the advertising catch phrase for CDs. Like all new things when they came out they were expensive. And only SONY and PHILIPS in the beginning were making players. 

Alas, perfect they were not. In some cases, record companies wanting to catch the CD wave were pulling master tapes and recording them directly onto new CDs forgetting that the tapes were RIAA encoded! Thus, they sounded awful.

As time went by, there were moans from audiophiles and others decrying the limitations of CDs. Many claimed that they did not sound like the LP versions of the same album. They had no warmth or life. Some swore they sounded choppy.

Like the audio/video VHS verses Betamax video tapes, and much later HD-DVD verses Blu-Ray discs wars, a pair of new much higher fidelity music formats came out competing for buyers: SACD and DVD-Audio.

SONY and PHILIPS again collaborated on Super Audio Compact Discs. Digital Versatile Discs (not "video" like many think) although physically the same size of CDs hold a tremendous amount of more information over CDs due to much smaller pits and lands being used. SONY and PHILIPS chose to create audio-only discs also using smaller pits like DVDs. Both formats hold 4.7 gigabytes of music.

I have chosen to have this image to be full sized. Whether you see it that way depends upon the device you are viewing this on. It is one side of my 200 CD capacity disc tower. 

At the top are all of my test CDs. Many are ones I made from downloadable files from the French speaker maker, FOCAL. With Chesky's GOLD STEREO AND SURROUND SOUND SETUP DISC at the bottom of the group.

Below that are 22 out of 23 of my SACD collection. The one not seen is the six-disc boxed set of SACDs of the London Symphony Orchestra's LIVE performances of all nine of Beethoven's symphonies.

At the very bottom are my 19 HDCD discs. They are a form of CD that has been encoded to improve the sound over standard CDs. For an in depth look at all of the forms of storage that have come about for the five inch shiny discs, feel free to look here:
All About The CD, HDCD, and SACD Audio Disc Formats 

I have owned a great number of "Universal Players" many from Denon and OPPO as well as other brands. Plus, I have owned a number of SONY SACD players. Just now, when looking through my "SOLD" files I see players that I should have kept. Hindsight is so 20/20.

To simplify matters, I will show-and-tell you about the three advanced formats that I have in alphabetical order. So, DVD-Audio is first.

In the listening room system is an OPPO DV981HD player, I am getting mixed signals from various sources as to whether it plays and decodes HDCDs.

All of the formats and bells-and-whistles are printed on the top edge of the player. See? No HDCD is shown. 

Today, I added this tablet sized TV to the system to setup the OPPO to chose the DVD-Audio/Stereo playback instead of the DVD Stereo portion of DVD-Audio discs. First time I played one, DVD appeared on the OPPO player's tiny screen.

I had to plug the OPPO's AC cable into an unswitched outlet on one of my Adcom ACE-515 power conditioners. So that it will not lose the settings. I decided to keep the wee TV there just in case. 

The first DVD-Audio disc I bought, some years ago was the iconic soundtrack from Henry Mancini for the brilliant film The Pink Panther. I made a CD copy of it and later sold the DVD-Audio disc. Trying to find it now is...frustrating. Why are things we once had and sold now selling for SO much more?

To begin my new collection, I bought the one on the lower right. To be frank, it sounded like crap. I am not sure if it was me or a lousy recording. Or perhaps it was playing the stereo DVD portion. I am re-listening to it right now and so far, is sounds much better.

Beethoven's 9th symphony is my favorite and I have a LOT of versions of it.

I also like Brahms' 1st symphony. Especially the forth movement. 

This Beethoven is the latest purchase and I've listened to it again today and it sound's fantastic! 

Note, by the disc's size, how much larger these DVD-Audio cases are! Why? The Mancini was in a standard CD case. 

Next are HDCDs, there are several different names attached to the "HD" portion of the name. The above linked article will tell you them all. They are 20-bit recordings instead of the standard CD's 16-bits.

Here are all nineteen of them. Many different types of music. More than 5000 HDCD titles are out there, see:
Goodwin's High End - HDCD Recordings  
They play in all CD players. The extra four bits that are encoded into them will not affect standard playing. The players simply ignore that encoding.

In the world there are many coincidences. I am half-Czech on my mother's side. We have two TINY dogs, the smallest breed in the world in fact, they are Prague Ratters. We were told they were Miniature Pinscher puppies. And the three HDCDs above were all made by the City of Prague Symphony Orchestra. 
One of the most-recorded orchestras of all. They are very good and put out excellently performed and mastered music. 
One thing they specialize in is compilations. 007's music on the left, American TV score themes in the middle and a two-disc distillation of the incredible score from the three Peter Jackson films: The Lord of the Rings.

Speaking of film scores (scores are the music composed for the film, which add to the drama. Soundtracks are ALL of the sounds of the movie, sometimes music companies get that mixed up) these four are all HDCDs. 

I like Latin music and dancing. I cannot do either. I also love Big Band music of which a large portion is called Swing. The one on the right, is original recordings, so high fidelity, how?

In the 1980-90's, "Smooth" Jazz became quite popular, with many radio stations specializing in it. I came to love it and have hundreds of CDs and LPs from many artists. I also like what I call "traditional" Jazz, but do not "get" it like some people do.

It all started when I bought the one in the middle. Reference Recordings is a label and the professor Johnson listed on the covers is behind their success. But, just because in has their RR on it, does not make it a HDCD.

I tried a hunch. I turned on the little TV and the OPPO player. I then put a HDCD in and closed the tray. In a few seconds, HDCD appeared on the TV screen. So, YAY!, it plays and decodes HDCD discs.

Just like Darth Vader said in Star Wars, "There is another....". In this case, one of the more expensive CDs that I've bought. It came all the way from Japan.

"K2 HD Mastering CD" is on the top left, "24 Bit, 100kHz Mastering" in on the top right of the gold strip on the cover.

Manufactured in Japan. One can buy them locally via Music Direct. But they are not keen on discount pricing.

Again, I have chosen full size for this image, so that you can hopefully read all of the explanations as to how they improved the sound over standard CDs. 

These are the last two pages of the attached "liner notes" that came with the CD. It's case is actually a hardback book. Of course, it is too big to fit on a CD rack. These are serial numbered limited editions. This is S/N 0680.

And finally, the alternate disc format that I have the most of, SACDs. The first two albums, when I bought them, I didn't realize I was getting SACDs. 

This is all of them. Mostly classical music with exceptions for some that feature music from films, plus silly sound effects.

The aforementioned box set of LSO Beethoven symphonies, plus four other performances.

Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique is another favorite of mine as is a lot of Aaron Copland's music.
RCA Records has recorded a large number of their classic and fine sounding "LIVING STEREO" recordings on SACD. 

Gershwin, Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky and more. Danny Elfman is well known for his film scores. I'm still not sure if I like this music he created.

TELARC has always been known to get the sound right with their recordings. Especially with Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra. Four recordings from them above plus Sibelius on another label.

The two albums that I bought, not knowing they were SACDs, are; the Tchaikovsky 1812 on TELARC, (I have the extremely challenging LP, which at the time, was the most I'd ever paid for a record), and The War of the Worlds. I also have that on LP. 
You may recall a song called, Forever Autumn sung by Justin Hayward of The Moody Blues? It is from this album, which is narrated by Richard Burton.

The cool thing about SACDs is than MANY are Hybrid discs. They have two music layers. A standard CD layer with it's large pits and lands and beneath that, but readable through the CD layer, is the SACD layer. Often in stereo AND six-channel surround sound. 
SACDs only have analog output. That is to prevent them being copied digitally. So, to enjoy all six-channels, one would need a receiver with six-channel RCA analog inputs. 

See the "MULTI CH IN", above? Like that. They may differ in appearance or naming on your equipment.

So, the 1812 and War discs played fine in my CD players due to their CD layer. Once I looked at the cases and liner notes did I see: SACD and began to look into the format. 

We have often spent some of our Saturdays at the various thrift stores around here. Before I retired, I stopped at many of them on the way home from work. I spied the above box set of LSO SACDs, on the bottom shelf mixed in with the DVDs. It was STILL SEALED! $1.99 later and they were mine! 

Lastly, this is the DENON DVD-1920 that I bought to play all discs in the two systems that sits inches from me and this computer. It does not list HDCDs. The newer and more expensive models do play and list them on their faceplates. Including this beautiful silver one that I USED to have:

My DENON automatically displays which disc you have loaded: CD, SACD, DVD or DVD-Audio on it's display screen. In the case of my black one, it automatically loads the DVD-Audio source. 

Since the OPPO does not display the disc format (other than  DVD) I have to use the little TV to make sure it has chosen the correct format. When I have done so, the red DVD is not illuminated.

Final thoughts. Firstly, I think most CDs sound wonderful. I have a Nakamichi CD player and it is one of the better ones as far as quality of sound. I have more than 2000 LPs so am certainly a believer in their fine sound.

Secondly, can I, at 62, tell any difference of these extended range discs over the standard ones? Yes. I cannot point my finger at exactly what sounds better. I do know the bass is more realistic and what highs I can still hear sound more....present. Plus, the soundstage seems more robust. A music connoisseur I am not. But I know what sounds good and what doesn't. To me.

Now, if this article has peaked your interest, go ahead and buy a universal player, there are many used ones on eBay and other sites and in stores have new ones.

Make sure the one you choose has the ability to play the type of discs you want to try out. Most DVD players will only play DVD-Video discs and regular CDs. 

Once again, thank you SO much for taking the time to read my words and view my photos. It is your kind words and encouragement that keeps me cranking out these articles.

Scott
December 27, 2018
#298 

You Too Can Listen to HD Radio on a Budget.

December 19, 2018

#297

Gentle reader,

I recently wrote about FM radio, specifically about internal and external antennas. You can read about it here:

FM Radio, A Thing of The Past? Choosing and Installing External FM Antennas.  

In that article, I brought up HD Radio, their web site can be viewed here:

Homepage - HD Radio - HD Radio

After writing the article, I decided to dip my toes in the HD Radio waters again.

Insignia is a store brand sold by Best Buy. In most, if not all, cases it is rebadged products made by manufacturers that sell virtually the same item under their own name.

The radio below, I bought used, via eBay. A little worn, but it works perfectly, and it came in the original box with everything included.

This is a portable HD Radio, I wanted something that I could use as a source, when I saw it has a headphone outlet, I knew it might be just what I was looking for.

I have not listened to it's speakers yet. I simply used a 3.5mm-1/8" headphone plug to stereo RCA cable and plugged it into the AUX terminals of my Yamaha RX-496 stereo receiver.

You may be thinking, "What the heck am I looking at here?" Since I have a nice external antenna, I decided to attach this radio to it. 

Rather than take it apart, enlarge the hole and install a coax cable terminal, I used this old clamp. It's not really an alligator but more of a hippo clamp. I stripped the end of a RF coaxial cable. I covered the exposed insulated portion which had remnants of shielding with electrical tape. Then I slipped the inner wire under the screw and tightened it. I crimped the end of the clamp around the taped portion. Then I slid the previously installed heat shrink tubing forward to cover the crimp and heat shrunk it.   

I had one empty space left in this four-way HDTV-ready cable splitter. The gray nutted ones go to each stereo receiver (Yamaha and vintage Fisher) the yellow collared one goes to the 42" HDTV that I simulation race on. One of the ones on the right is the input from the amplifier (below), the other goes to the HD Radio.  

This was a thrift store find and what a difference it makes! Without it, the aforementioned TV does not find a signal. With it, a nice clear picture.

Here is the stand-alone tuner I once had. Sold under it's maker's brand name of Sangean with a different appearance.

It is well made and I may be looking for another one or perhaps another brand tuner someday.

Where I have placed the radio, really the only place I can put it, which is on top of the stack, makes it difficult to see the switches which are all on the top surface. For now, I lean it forward to see what I'm pressing.

But, in the mean time, I'll enjoy it. The radio has a nice crisp sound and once in HD mode, the sound is crystal clear. I love once again having the ability to listen to a multitude of stations with it.

Thank you SO much for taking the time to read my words and view my photos. It is your kind words and encouragement that keeps me creating these articles.

Scott

December 19, 2018

#297