Guest postjob62 Posted April 13, 2006 Report Share Posted April 13, 2006 I realize that the current iteration of AR bears no resemblance to that of the "glory days". But in searching ebay for that never-occurring vintage AR bargain, I keep seeing these cheesy looking AR TDS-202 "sound enhancers" for sale. Apparently they are supposed to work by boosting weaker parts of the source signal before they hit the preamp or amp.Has anyone actually tried this or any similar device with vintage AR's? I just wondered if they actually make any difference...I remain ever skeptical of such miracle claims and generally put them in the same category I reserve for high-dollar interconnects and the like, but thought I would see if anyone had opinions.Ed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rrcrain Posted April 13, 2006 Report Share Posted April 13, 2006 Never heard of them, but the described effect sounds familiar to the devices on the market that supposedly "restore" the 3-D sound to the music stream. It also sounds as if it may compress the dymanic range of the music by amplifying the low level signal.My first impule is to rate the device as snake oil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Bret Posted April 13, 2006 Report Share Posted April 13, 2006 >Has anyone actually tried this or any similar device with vintage AR's? I just wondered if they actually make any difference...<Oh, it's real cheesy. Yes, I own one. It's in a box in the garage at the moment, I think. . . well, I don't really care where it is to tell you the truth.The more "fake" and "over-produced" the recording the "cooler" (or neato-keener, or farther-out, or snazier) the effect. It will 3-D you right-up!No, really. Walls move back or disappear and stuff. Alan Parson's "Turn of a Friendly Card" was really impressive. Noises coming from the upper corners of the room. . . noises coming from behind the rear wall. . . Noises coming from everywhere. "Wow, man. . . is this what mushrooms were like. . .?" It also screws-up "imaging tricks" you might be familiar with, like the helicopter noise in "The Wall."So as long as you are listening to ELO and Alan Parsons and maybe even 10cc hoping for maximum weirdness, you'll be happy listening to it.But it also introduces a timber/tonal/. . . phasey?/. . . inside-out?/ preposterous? thing to the backside of sound (not to be confused with the underside of water or the backside of air). It's not immediately obvious, but you get this minor-key, etherial, not-there feeling after a *very* short time. One or two tunes and you're done. I don't know how to describe it because it's all very, very strange.Orchestral music recorded live was interesting, but worse in all the bad ways and you didn't even get the acid-trip image-scattering to go along with it.So what's it good for? Maybe if you've got this real iffy system that won't fill the room it's in at background music volume levels - this thing might be helpful. Hmmmm. I've got one of those and I haven't tried it there. . . hmmmm. Where did I say it was??? I probably won't try it because that would mean moving a receiver. It's effect is not worth that much trouble to me. (Ifya get my drift.)I got mine for a minimum eBay bid as "fun" and it was worth about what I paid for it - as a toy. However, if you know anyone who suffers from LSD flashbacks and likes them, you could probably induce some. Bonus! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest postjob62 Posted April 13, 2006 Report Share Posted April 13, 2006 LOL Bret, that's a hoot!That's pretty much what I expected, or even worse.Or better, I suppose, depending on one's point of view! Just imagine bringing back the 60's and 70's, legally yet...Ed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Bret Posted April 14, 2006 Report Share Posted April 14, 2006 >That's pretty much what I expected, or even worse.<I forgot one of the nastier effects that sent it to my garage. The bass seems to move up an octave. I don't know why.So I can see that if someone had some really nasty little semi-speakers on wobbly stands with a powered one-note, sub-raspberry noise-maker for the bass, this might make them think it sounded better.Bret Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest nathanso Posted April 21, 2006 Report Share Posted April 21, 2006 I just today started testing a Hughes AK-100 SRS processor and I must say that early results are most promising. The rest of the system, looking up the chain, is: AR90, McIntosh MC7300, AK-100, Acurus RL-11, Rega Planet.I was fearing the worst -- reverb, overdone effects, muted detail -- but got none of that and instead seemingly got 'dial-a-stage'. My speakers have disappeared. It's a wall of sound. Like the performers are playing behind a screen at the front wall of my room. Yet it's not distractingly wide like my Polk SDA 2B speakers tended to be.I've only run about six CDs through it, and while some obviously have more stereo effect than others, none have disappointed. And I've yet to dive for the SRS defeat button, nor have I needed to do much adjusting of its two knobs (Center and Space). One interesting thing: My amp is working much harder than before SRS, with its power meters rarely falling below 50% of peaks. This may be fatigue inducing (for me, not the amp), but I don't know just yet.Purists here are no doubt already sneering, but nonetheless I'm rather enjoying this new sound. My wife concurs that it's an obvious improvement. Could be the best $100 I've spent on my system in a while.Is this what the Dark Side is like? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Bret Posted April 30, 2006 Report Share Posted April 30, 2006 >Is this what the Dark Side is like?<So, Are you still enjoying bringing balance to the Force? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.