Larry Kart

Took the speakers in to Audio Consultants, and they/we heard the same thing I've been hearing at home. They found what we were hearing to be "strange" but will have their tech take a look and report back. So it's almost certainly/exclusively the speakers that are the problem. Also, almost without doubt, if there is a way to fix/repair the problem, that would be worthwhile. A new pair of B&W 805s now goes for $7,000!

Don't know. The only vinyl I buy these days is used stuff.

Yes, Music Direct sold me a new set of speaker cables, Audioquest Rocket 33s, on the chance that they would help. If not, a set of new cables after nine years would still be a good investment, I thought, no matter how all this is resolved.

I say "gurgling" because that was my initial approximation -- it's a watery, tremolo-like breakup (like a scummy sheen) on any and all upper-register sounds, especially if they're percussive. A work by Liszt or Bartok, for example. If the source is piano music, where these effects are particularly evident, percussive low-register notes and chords also "bang" ("clip"?) and break up, while on headphones all sounds normal. I should re-emphasize that when I took the amp back to Music Direct yesterday and they tested it while I listened, everything sounded normal. Brought the unit home, hooked it up again, and the problem was as before.

The mystery deepens. I would say that both tweeters could fail simultaneously if they were subjected to the same electronic/sonic distress, but I don't know what that could have been other than a steady diet of Terry Gibbs (I'm kidding, but that's the only "event" that fits.) OTOH, could there have been such an event -- a power surge, say -- when I wasn't listening?

Spoke to Audio Consultants in Evanston, Il., which sold me the used BW 805 (not B&W 800) speakers (my error) back in 2005. They listened to my story, said that it sounds like some dire sonic event blew the tweeters. (Well, I did listen to three CDs worth of Terry Gibbs the other day! ) In any case, they'll test out the speakers, and if the tweeters are cooked, they said they can be replaced.

Took the amp in to Music Direct, where I bought it back in 2009. When they hooked it up, things sounded perfectly OK. That kind of leaves the BW 800 speakers (or their tweeters) as the culprit, but, yet again, how likely is that two speakers would develop this problem at the same time. A blast of sound through the speakers that would have damaged the tweeters? Possible, but I would have heard that event, and I heard no such thing. Music Direct said go back home, hook up the amp again and pray. Or buy some other speakers on spec, take them home, and return them if the problem remains.

They're in when I listen on headphones.

Scot -- It is/was a very good amp, but it also was not at all their top -level amp.

Thanks for the ideas. Already did all the things you mentioned in paragraph 2. I run everything through a Tripp-Lite line conditioner. Speakers are connected by bananas. Again, though, if it's a speaker wire problem, why would it suddenly affect both speakers in the same way at the same time? If I close my eyes, I can just "see" that malfunctioning capacitor. What I'm going to do is take the amp back to the place in Chicago where I've bought all my equipment. They say they'll check it out. Then, if it has any trade-in value, or maybe even if it doesn't, I'll probably get a new Marantz amp, thinking that there must have been lots of improvements over the course of nine years. BTW, I sat down and figured out that over nine years my old amp cost me 60 cents/day. Yes, because the sound through headphones (which runs through the amp's separate headphone preamp), is just as it should be.

Thanks again, Scott. I'll take a look. P.S. Don't see any menu or reset options.

That's the sort of thing I'm thinking. The unit is about eight years old and has gotten heavy use. Thanks again, Scott. I'll take a look.

Yes, upon further review, I thought it was the speakers because there was no problem with headphones. But then, as Scott explained, headphone preamps are separate from the main amp outputs, and thus the fact that the headphones sound fine doesn't tell you that you don't have a main amp problem. Further, the sheer unlikelihood of both speakers developing this problem at the same time points toward the main amp. BTW, Scott, how would one reset the amp? I did unplug everything and let things sit for a while, but I think you have something else in mind, though I don't see any reset options. Nice though it is, this Marantz has very few this-way or that-way options to it, other than two filter settings and treble and bass tone controls, which I never use. I make those changes, when needed, with my hearing aid program, which is much more precise. My guess? Some piece of hardware inside the amp (a filter or something) went bad. The unit is about nine years old.

Thanks for the ideas. Further info -- it's not the amp, so it seems, but my two B&W speakers, because (and I should have checked this first) everything sounds perfectly OK through headphones but gargly and rather diffuse through the speakers. Reverse polarity, I thought, but the polarity it is now is the polarity it's always been. And why would two speakers go all funny at the same time? As for factory defaults, those are the only settings I've ever used.

My out of warranty Marantz PM-15S1 integrated amp has suddenly developed what I can only describe as a "gargly" sound -- an annoying, almost breaking-up sound, particularly evident on upper-register percussive notes on the piano (sounds like vibes being played under water). Any thoughts on what could be the cause of this and what I could/should do about it? I should add that it's not my CD player that's at fault because I hear the same problem when I play LPs. Could be a problem with my hearing aids, which have a previously quite good "music" program in them that boosts treble and bass, but I'm about to ask my wife to have a listen. If she hears the same treble-breakup thing I do, then it's not the hearing aids. BTW, when I'm not listening to recorded music, what I hear through my hearing aids sounds the way it always has.

Many thanks. Sorry for screwing up the leader credit for the first Mode album. Having to listened to all of this one now, it's really good; everyone seems to be having lots a great time, and Bunker for me was a revelation. Lou Levy and the whole rhhythm section are in terrific form. P.S. This is the one with Harris and Gibbs I was thinking of: https://www.discogs.com/The-Ex-Hermanites-Featuring-Bill-Harris-The-EX-Hermanites/release/8617733

If that review's info on "The Dipsy Doodle" solo order is correct, I'm close to figuring it out. First, Gibbs' near hyper-percussive style is readily identifiable. Second, Feldman is a bit to the left in the stereo mix, which leaves Bunker a bit to the right (he's the also the least percussive of the three), with Gibbs in the center. BTW, Bunker is really impressive here -- a highly linear thinker who likes to suspend his lines harmonically in a fairly unique manner. Only album I can think where Bunker is heard at length on vibes, is one on RCA under Lou Levy's name. Any others? P.S. When they're soloing on xylophone and marimba I have no clue as to who's who.

Just began to listen to this 1957 album, originally on Mode, on a recent Gibbs compilation. Backed by Lou Levy, Max Bennett, and Mel Lewis, the frontline is Gibbs, Victor Feldman, and Larry Bunker, all either on vibes, marimba, or xylophone. Fine music so far, but who solos when? I assume that the liner notes for the original album say, but I don't have access to it. I did find a review that said that on "The Dipsy Doodle" the solo order is Gibbs, Bunker, and Feldman, and on "Hollywood Blues" it's the same, but that leaves eight more tracks cloaked in mystery. P.S. Full name of album is "A Jazz Band Ball -- Second Set." It was preceded on Mode by Gibbs' "A Jazz Band Ball," with Bill Harris and others.

Didn't say he was important, just a more interesting, individual pianist than I thought he was back in the day. Perhaps as one gets older, one's brain softens a bit and/or one responds not only to the music per se but also to its having been part of the "furniture" of one's youth. For example, right now I'm revisiting my formerly indifferent opinion of Terry Gibbs. Yes, he definitely has real virtues, but it's also that the music sounds so 1956-7 to me -- when the world was young. Likewise with Taylor.

A typo?

Listening last night to some used LPs I’d bought a while ago, I put on “The Billy Taylor Trio at the London House,” (ABC-Paramount, rec. 1956) for the first time, never having been much of a Taylor fan but aware, for one thing, that Denny Zeitlin was a great admirer of Taylor of that vintage. Pleasantly surprised by the quality, thoughtfulness, and lucidity of the music making (Earl May and Percy Brice on board), I was also impressed, even through the LP’s no longer perfect surfaces, at the quality of the piano sound, some of the nicest I’ve ever heard and recorded “live” too. Engineer was one Bill Putnam, producer Creed Taylor. P.S. I see now that Bill Putnam was quite somebody, indeed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Putnam

Speaking of poor hearing, if that description still applies, high quality hearing aids these days can bring near miraculous results (they did for me; about seven years ago I thought my listening days might be over -- had a big high-frequency hearing loss, the result of aging alone). They now have individualized computer programs for each ear's hearing aid (programs determined by the examining audiologist and readily adjustable later on by the audiologist if you're not entirely satisfied with the results). In the case of my hearing aids (Siemens) there are separate programs for music and for speech, as well as controls (in an ap that's on my phone) that allow you to adjust bass and treble, volume, and how wide or narrow the spectrum of sounds are that one is taking in (this helps some if you're trying to talk to someone in a bar, though separating foreground from background noise is something that hearing aids, as least at this point, can't do). Really good hearing aids are pricey, but if you itemize medical deductions on your tax returns, the price of hearing aids is deductible. Also, as far as looks matter, most good hearing aids these days are visible only if someone is looking for them, and even then... Speaking of price, I know people who say that they've had good luck at Costco, but I didn't happen to go that route, in part because I wasn't then aware of that option. IIRC, Costco's good prices are in part because they don't sell the top-line manufacturers' current models but those from prior years, which nonetheless can be quite good. Not having dealt with Costco myself, except for all the stuff I normally buy there, I'd want to be sure (if I could be) that their audiologists at a particular store are really good and willing to spend as much time with you as needs be. I went to the Northwestern U. Audiology Clinic and was very satisfied until my excellent audiologist there left and was replaced by jerks. I migrated to an outfit called Hear U.S.A. and have been happy ever since.

I'm probably in the market for some of your classical culls, but I suspect that compiling a list might be too tedious for you. It's obvious no doubt, but selling rare-valuable stuff to a store for what it's worth requires that the store knows what's valuable and is honest with you about that. In my experience, neither of those factors (especially the first) necessarily applies, though one can get lucky. I've seen items I've sold and gotten a pittance for and then the next day they're priced for as much as $50. When I asked what was going on here, I was told that the store doesn't necessarily expect to get that price but decides to give it a try. I know -- I shouldn't sell things there, but options in my area are nil, E-Bay has no appeal to me, and sometimes the purchaser at the store is more generous. It all depends, in my experience, of who that person who buys things on that day is.