Since 1997

Brian Rovinsky, Owner

(Formerly, St. Cecilia Sound Gallery)

1290 S. Missouri St., Suite C • Clearwater, FL 33756-9183

(727) 446-2505

Email: info@sweethomeaudio.com

  Sweet Home Audio Newsletter 

       February 2010

      1290 S. Missouri Ave., Suite C, Clearwater, FL 33756; web: www.sweethomeaudio.com

This is one of the most critical questions for Sweet Home Audio as we survey the home entertainment industry.  It's also pretty important to you if you're considering improving your life with a new TV, home theater system, personal music system or other electronic gadget.  The consumer electronics industry is always interesting and sometimes down right exciting.  These days, we've grown accustomed to seeing new technology introduced almost before the new smell has worn off the last newest thing.  We thought it might be fun to give our opinion about the future of a variety of audio and video categories and products.  I welcome your opinions on any and all of this (email me at brian@sweethomeaudio.com). 

So, here you go:

Audio:

Power amplifiers:  A good amp is a good amp.  If it matches well with your loudspeakers, it will continue to be a good amp and a good investment regardless of how components change around them.  The best amps are heavy (large heat sinks and hefty power supplies). 

Look for more inexpensive Class D (switching) amplifiers showing up in audio home theater receivers and integrated amps.  Class D amps are very efficient—they run very cool and produce high power while being relatively small and light.  Many powered subwoofers, especially the less expensive models, use Class D amps.  Problem is that they are rather sterile sounding which has made them a poor choice for high quality audio systems.  Performance of these amps is improving, though.  Price for them is low, power is high & efficiency is excellent.  These qualities make the Class D amp attractive for many applications.  Development has led to some very good sounding products.  I think we can see this trend continuing, especially in the lower end of the product lines.

SACD (Super Audio CD):  Introduced in 1999 by Sony and Philips, the SACD music format is a high resolution digital medium that takes the standard music CD to a seriously improved level.  The mainstream ("CD quality is good enough") music market didn't buy into this, but the SACD medium continues to be strong within the high-end community where "good enough" isn't.  New music titles continue to be released but you'll pay a premium for them. 

Look for SACD to persist as a niche market. 

Vinyl LPs:   The music medium that refuses to die.  The well recorded vinyl LP that is properly cleaned and played on a good system is simply the best we have for reproducing realistic and engaging music in our homes.  This is why this medium is stronger now than it was 10 years ago and why it will continue to be strong for many years to come. 

Look for turntables to continue as a serious music medium until the iPod generation reaches middle age, at least. 

Video:

3D TV:   3-dimension TV is the latest thing going.  Most of the big TV manufactures are getting on board with this.  The technology for these 3D TVs is called Alternate-Frame Sequencing.  The following information is from Wikipedia:

This is just a taste of what's going on in this industry.  I'll share some more thoughts with you about this in future Newsletters.

-- Brian Rovinsky, Owner

The Affordable, flexible and very sweet

Music Hall DAC 25.2

Today an increasing number of music lovers are buying storing and listening to music through their computer, media server, or personal music player (iPod). Many are also digitally distributing their music using a Sonos, Squeezebox, or one of a host of digital music distribution systems available on the market. This is a great way to explore and appreciate music but generally it’s done at the expense of sound quality. Until now music lovers have been forced to rely on the inferior digital to analog converters (DACs) and sounds cards contained in those devices. As a result, their musical enjoyment has dramatically suffered. We designed the dac 25.2 to directly address this problem and to significantly improve the sound quality of the music played on these systems.  

By uniting a state of the art digital to analog converter with a tube output we produce the clarity and precision of a 24bit DAC with the warm rich open sound people love of tubes. The dac 25.2 has 4 digital inputs which can accept any coax (s/pdif), optical, XLR (AES/EBU), or USB digital input from an iPod transport, computer, media server, Sonos, Squeezebox, CD/DVD in stereo transport, or music hall’s own cd 25.2 compact disc player, and it will output two channel stereo analog. 

The dac 25.2 features the latest Texas instruments (formerly burr-brown) PCM 1796 24bit/192kHz, advanced segment, stereo audio digital to analog converter. This processor features 123dB dynamic range an 8 x oversampling digital filter and just 0.0005% thd. The dac 25.2 upsamples to either 96kHz or 192kHz which is user selectable on the front panel. To achieve the best sound we use an advanced asynchronous reclocking and anti jitter control system upstream of the PCM 1796 DAC. For this system we are using the Philips 74HC574 in conjunction with the ti SRC4192 asynchronous sample rate converter whose master clock is a high precision active crystal oscillator. The dac 25.2 also features a large r-core high current oversize power transformer. A headphone output is provided for convenient personal listening.

• Electro-Harmonix 6922 tube single-ended (RCA output
• solid-state differential balanced output
• ti PCM 1796 24bit/192kHz DAC
• ti SRC 4192 asynchronous sample rate converter
• high precision active crystal oscillator master clock
• user selectable 96kHz or 192kHz upsampling
• asynchronous reclocking and anti jitter control system
• 8 x oversampling digital filter
• 4 digital inputs: coax (s/pdif), optical, XLR (AES/EBU), or USB
• 2 gold plated outputs; single ended (RCA), balanced (XLR)
• headphone output with adjustable analog volume control
• large high current oversize r-core power transformer
• thick brushed aluminum fascia and solid chassis
• 110v/220v voltage selectable transformer
• detachable power cord

w8.5 x d13.5 x h3.75 in.
10 lbs. pkg.

We think you'll find this tubed DAC a significant improvement in your digital music system.  We now have it here at the shop for you to audition.  Give us a call or come in and hear it.  Then take one home (we have them in stock too)!  Just $595.

(727) 446-2505

The Heath Brothers

Ed Sapiega's debut article in our last newsletter was very well received. We just had to ask Ed back!  We're hoping he'll appear for an encore performance month after month.

Music history is filled with famous families:  the Bach’s, the Cash’s, and the Isley’s.  In Jazz it was the Dorsey’s, Montgomery’s and the Jones’, as well as others.  The Heaths are a Philadelphia-based family that stands out because of their broad contributions over a long period of time.  Percy (born in 1923) was the eldest; Percy played double bass.  Jimmy, his younger brother (born in 1926), was a composer and arranger; saxophone was his instrument.  The third brother and baby of the family was Albert (born in 1935).  Al’s nickname “Tootie” might make one think he blew the horn; but not so, Al “Tootie” Heath was a drummer.

The musical legacy of the Heath brothers began with Percy and Jimmy leaving Philadelphia circa 1947; they headed to New York City to play with Howard McGhee; later they joined talents with Dizzy Gillespie.  In time Percy joined a quartet led by Milt Jackson; that quartet became known as the Modern Jazz Quartet (MJQ).  Younger brother Jimmy continued to play saxophone with Dizzy Gillespie (for over 40 years!); he also played with numerous others during that time.  Thanks to a strong Charlie Parker influence, Jimmy’s nickname was “Little Bird”.  Tootie, like his two older brothers, left hometown Philadelphia for the Jazz Mecca--NYC.  He relocated again, in the 1960’s, to Scandinavia where Tootie worked with expatriates Dexter Gordon and Kenny Drew.

When the MJQ called it quits in 1975 (which freed up Percy) and Jimmy retired from teaching at Queens College, the three brothers formed their own group “The Heath Brothers” (with Stanley Cowell on piano); they recorded ten albums together.  It is a rarity for any band to be together for twenty years; but for three brothers to have such longevity, it is indeed a rare event.

During their respective careers, all three Heath brothers shared the stage with John Coltrane, John Lewis, and Milt Jackson.  It’s of interest that Percy introduced Ornette Coleman’s music to John Lewis, furthering Ornette’s career; and Jimmy had a son named Mtume whom Miles Davis immortalized in a song.  All three Heath brothers had incredible careers and each secured a place among the Giants of Jazz.

I was fortunate to see The Heath Brothers at the Village Vanguard (a few years before Percy passed on).  Percy and Jimmy teased the “baby” of the family to the laughs of the audience.  Jimmy and Tootie ganged up on Percy teasing him for being an old man.  Humor aside, The Heath Brothers put on an enjoyable, memorable set.  After Percy’s passing, Jimmy and Tootie issued an album in 2009.  If you’re lucky, you can catch Little Bird and Tootie in the occasional live performance.  Giants still. -- Ed Sapiega

Sweet Home Audio, home of beautiful sound

Call or email TODAY

(727) 446-2505

sales@sweethomeaudio.com

The Price is Right

Sell your old gear on consignment and turn it into cash—money for you to spend. 

If you are in the market for home audio or home video gear and you're on a budget, buy from our Consignment Department.  We've got quality used A/V products on consignment at very attractive prices.

Consignment makes sense.  Buying or selling—either way you save.

Every month we add new items to the consignment list (see it at the end of this newsletter).  We even have music on consignment—CD's and now LP's.

Here, at the home of beautiful sound, we make it easy.

(Scroll down)

How Consignment Works

At consignment businesses, consignment fees typically run as high as 50% and 60%.  But we've kept ours at 40% for years. 

CONSIGNMENT OPTION 1

Full-service consignment, which means we display, advertise, present and demonstrate your gear, just as we do our own new gear.  We handle any customer inquiries (send them pictures, specs and other relevant information) and find a buyer; we process the payment and deliver the gear to the buyer; we handle after-purchase questions and issues and mail you a check for the net proceeds from the sale.  For full-service consignment, Consignment Option 1, the fee is 40%. 

CONSIGNMENT OPTION 2

Consignment Level 2 is the same as Level 1, but you keep the gear until it’s sold.  We advertise and promote your gear, handle customer inquiries (send them pictures, specs and other relevant information), find a buyer and handle the sale.  But once it’s sold, you deliver the item to the buyer yourself.  We send you a check for your net proceeds from the sale.  For Consignment Option 2, the fee is 25%.

Increase Your Proceeds by 10%:  This is simple.  If you leave your proceeds from the sale on account with us to apply to your own product purchases here at Sweet Home Audio, we reduce our consignment fee by 10%.

IMPORTANT NOTE:  When we sell a used item, we do our very best to represent the product exactly as it is.  This is very important!  One of our most critical operating principles is that "we deliver what we promise."  This is not just a slogan for us but the way we actually operate.  When we have the used item here in our store, we can verify the operational status and physical condition of the products.  When we don't, we try to get pictures and other information about the items so that we gain confidence that the product is as stated.  In these cases, we also delay payment until the buying customer has received the item and verified that it truly is as promised. 

Existing agreements:  Needless to say (but here it is anyway!), all current consignments that we now have will continue under whatever agreement was made at the time of the consignment.  The above Consignment Levels apply to all new consignments.  Of course, our policy to deliver what we promise applies to everything we do. 

To the very many of you who place your used AV gear with us to sell and to the very many of you who look to us for quality used AV products, we give you a very hearty THANK YOU!

Now it is easier than ever to turn your old gear into cash!  Call (727) 446-2505 today!

Call (727) 446-2505

STORE HOURS

Six and sometimes seven days a week, we are here.

Our official schedule:

Monday thru Friday—10:30 AM to 5:30 PM

Saturday—10:30 AM to 3:30 PM

Sunday by Appointment

Thank you for reading our newsletter and visiting our web site.

Call us at (727) 446-2505 if you have any questions.

If you can, come in and check out our shop.  You'll be glad you did.

~ Brian & Peggy Rovinsky

[ Feedback Page]

Copyright © 2008 Sweet Home Audio

Last modified: August 12, 2008