MKSOUND_HT Posted July 9, 2020 Share Posted July 9, 2020 (edited) If only this piece of equipment had *Insert improvement here* thread Thought this would be a fun little thread idea. The reason is sometimes a piece of equipment you like is just slightly too short in specs (or wish it had one extra driver). Piece of equipment: Dayton Audio APA150 2x75w - 4 ohm amp (150w at 8 ohms bridged) Change: Change frequency response from 20hz to down to 5hz. Increase power to 200w at 8 ohms bridged) Reason For improvement: Makes an excellent compact bass shaker amp. Allowing for a lower frequency response would allow it be better used on Earthquake and Buttkicker bass shakers. Feel free to use the template below or feel free to write it out Piece of equipment: Change: Reason For improvement: Edited July 9, 2020 by MKSOUND_HT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surprisetech Posted July 9, 2020 Share Posted July 9, 2020 I imagine you probably intended this to be for recent/current equipment, but I can't resist using it for one of my bugbears. Piece of equipment: Any vintage integrated Change: Remote control for volume Reason For improvement: I don't mind getting up to select a source, etc, but volume is the one thing I'd really rather do from the listening position. I've actually modified one of my favorite old integrateds with a high quality Panasonic motorized pot and remote kit! And on a more recent product. Piece of equipment: Cambrige Audio CA751BD Bluray Change: iOS/Android Remote App. Reason For improvement: Given its streaming capabilities, price point and capabilities of competitor products at the time, it should have had this feature. The OSD GUI you get on the connected TV is very ordinary. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 9, 2020 Share Posted July 9, 2020 Piece of equipment: Magico M9 Change: The price so as not to resemble the last 9 digits of my mobile number. Reason For improvement: so I can afford it.......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RankStranger Posted July 9, 2020 Share Posted July 9, 2020 22 minutes ago, surprisetech said: I imagine you probably intended this to be for recent/current equipment, but I can't resist using it for one of my bugbears. Piece of equipment: Any vintage integrated Change: Remote control for volume Reason For improvement: I don't mind getting up to select a source, etc, but volume is the one thing I'd really rather do from the listening position. I've actually modified one of my favorite old integrateds with a high quality Panasonic motorized pot and remote kit! And on a more recent product. Piece of equipment: Cambrige Audio CA751BD Bluray Change: iOS/Android Remote App. Reason For improvement: Given its streaming capabilities, price point and capabilities of competitor products at the time, it should have had this feature. The OSD GUI you get on the connected TV is very ordinary. I’m with you on the vintage integrated remote volumes but, for the Cambridge? Given that every other control app at the time was such hot garbage I reckon you might have been better off without it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RankStranger Posted July 9, 2020 Share Posted July 9, 2020 Piece of equipment: My Panasonic ST60 Plasma Change: 4K/HDR Reason For improvement: So I never have to think about TVs again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audiofeline Posted July 9, 2020 Share Posted July 9, 2020 Piece of equipment: Any turntable Change: Remote control for cuing Reason For improvement: Position the arm at the start of the record or the track to play. Leisurely take a seat in your favourite listening position and take a moment to get comfortable. Take a sip from your beverage or whatever. When ready, press the remote to lower the tonearm. When the track/side has finished, press the remote to raise the arm, and stay in the chair to savour the experience of the music, before getting up to change the record. This will end the rush to sit before the stylus hits the record, and the rush to lift the record out of the runout groove (assuming a non-auto turntable). Could be made to retro-fit the cylinder of existing arm cues. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JukKluk2 Posted July 9, 2020 Share Posted July 9, 2020 1 hour ago, audiofeline said: Piece of equipment: Any turntable Change: Remote control for cuing Reason For improvement: Position the arm at the start of the record or the track to play. Leisurely take a seat in your favourite listening position and take a moment to get comfortable. Take a sip from your beverage or whatever. When ready, press the remote to lower the tonearm. When the track/side has finished, press the remote to raise the arm, and stay in the chair to savour the experience of the music, before getting up to change the record. This will end the rush to sit before the stylus hits the record, and the rush to lift the record out of the runout groove (assuming a non-auto turntable). Could be made to retro-fit the cylinder of existing arm cues. For the first part, at least, how about a length of very fine fishing line tied to the lower/lift arm? Still have to get up at the end of the side though. Would also have to repress any beverage induced inhibitions as the night goes on so that you don't end up yanking your turntable from off of its shelf in a fit of enthusiasm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surprisetech Posted July 10, 2020 Share Posted July 10, 2020 16 hours ago, RankStranger said: I’m with you on the vintage integrated remote volumes but, for the Cambridge? Given that every other control app at the time was such hot garbage I reckon you might have been better off without it. Fair comment. Is it generally true that the built-in GUI is representative of what you would get in an app then? Even so, a basic app that just let me select an album to play without having to turn on the TV would have been useful. I've arranged my files on the NAS so that selecting music by 'Folder' is pretty easy even with clunky apps! (see pic) I like the DSAudio App from Synology, but despite UPnP being mentioned in the CA751BD user manual, and checking the relevant 751BD settings it doesn't show up in the 'Select a Player' list in that app either. The iPhone, Sangean WFT-3D, the Telly and the Marantz NR-1508 all appear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RankStranger Posted July 10, 2020 Share Posted July 10, 2020 (edited) 19 minutes ago, surprisetech said: Fair comment. Is it generally true that the built-in GUI is representative of what you would get in an app then? Even so, a basic app that just let me select an album to play without having to turn on the TV would have been useful. I've arranged my files on the NAS so that selecting music by 'Folder' is pretty easy even with clunky apps! (see pic) I like the DSAudio App from Synology, but despite UPnP being mentioned in the CA751BD user manual, and checking the relevant 751BD settings it doesn't show up in the 'Select a Player' list in that app either. The iPhone, Sangean WFT-3D, the Telly and the Marantz NR-1508 all appear. Yeah, ok. That is a problem. My comment was more that the proprietary apps released by even the big manufacturers in those days were almost unusable. I would suggest a 3rd-party UPNP controller but a quick google suggests that CA only designed the 751 to pull files over the network, not to be pushed to. Network AV stuff was a bit of a frontierland in 2011 so it’s disappointing, but not really surprising that not all the features we expect today would be fully-baked back then. It’s a shame because I had the previous, DVD version of that player and I bet it sounds great playing back music, even now. PS I thought I was the only person in the world who knew the Juliette Letters Edited July 10, 2020 by RankStranger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cafe67 Posted July 10, 2020 Share Posted July 10, 2020 Any of the new super integrateds that don’t include a phono stage or at least the option for one. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surprisetech Posted July 10, 2020 Share Posted July 10, 2020 9 minutes ago, RankStranger said: Yeah, ok. That is a problem. My comment was more that the proprietary apps released by even the big manufacturers in those days were almost unusable. I would suggest a 3rd-party UPNP controller but a quick google suggests that CA only designed the 751 to pull files over the network, not to be pushed to. Network AV stuff was a bit of a frontierland in 2011 so it’s disappointing, but not really surprising that not all the features we expect today would be fully-baked back then. It’s a shame because I had the previous, DVD version of that player and I bet it sounds great playing back music, even now. PS I thought I was the only person in the world who knew the Juliette Letters Yes, it's one of those cases where that one little shortcoming is annoying mainly because everything else about the player is so nice! The GUI is usable and I still spin disks as well. I can claim one thing in common with Elvis Costello . Very eclectic tastes! Love the album he did in Nashville too. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allthumbs Posted July 10, 2020 Share Posted July 10, 2020 Piece of equipment: A superior scientific understanding of Psychoacoustics Change: My (very) inferior scientific understanding of Psychoacoustics Reason For improvement: Would have saved untold dollars, achieved audio satisfaction much much sooner so much so I could have probably devoted that time to curing cancer or reaching Zen mastery, perhaps even both. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
att23 Posted July 10, 2020 Share Posted July 10, 2020 6 hours ago, cafe67 said: Any of the new super integrateds that don’t include a phono stage or at least the option for one. Agreed. The whole point of reducing down to 1 box. LOL. Also quite annoying when there is insufficient number of balanced or unbalanced (RCA) inputs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batty Posted July 10, 2020 Share Posted July 10, 2020 Piece of equipment: 70s LP12 Change: 45 rpm Reason: To play 45 rpm LPs and singles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warweary Posted July 13, 2020 Share Posted July 13, 2020 xbox one x needs a silent fan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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