Archive through August 21, 2004
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Gold Member Username: KeggerMICHIGAN Post Number: 1024 Registered: Dec-03 | well mr. layne as usual i can understand your stance on the subject and appreciate your views. but the mulitude of directions and amount of the beer coming at me i like and want more. maybe it's just that i've gotten use to it and can handle it "so to speak" but for me the more the merrier! |
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Gold Member Username: John_aPost Number: 1897 Registered: Dec-03 | Stimulated by the message of J. Vigne, posted on Monday, August 02, 2004 - 03:49 pm, I thought I should mention that my dear partner and I were listening recently to Wagner's Sigfried Idyll, pausing, now and then, in order to brush up on our compound adverbial clauses. We found ourselves wondering, tentatively, whether a bespoke, bottled, Weissbier Dunkel from the Franconia district would be a fitting accompaniment to this most sublime of German late romantic tone poems, and whether the system of tubing favoured by Kegger might not be more appropriate for a less assuming "Hof" where individuals less refined and discerning that ourselves, perhaps having no collection of modern works of art at all, are content merely to replay, in the background, let us say Strauss's Alpine Symphony. I raise this question after many decades of writing polished prose for quality magazine such as Gramophone and Fanfare, where readers are familar with my incisive comments on such important matters as my dress sense, and the relative merits of different makes of motor car for taking the short journey from our modest but tasteful Schloss to Bayreuth. [This work is fictitious. Any resemblence to posts of named individuals on this forum is entirely coincidental. Tell it like it is, Kegger....]. |
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Silver Member Username: WryterNaples, FL US Post Number: 128 Registered: Jul-04 | J. Vigne et al It would seem that I owe Mr. Vigne an apology. In reading an exchange between him and Kegger, I assumed that direct insults were involved. It appears now that the two were only "kidding around," and thus I feel rather foolish for my chiding remarks. Apology noted, please. As I do not know any of you, I occasionally have a hard time delineating fact from fantasy, and will try harder in the future. As you gentlemen know, the printed word gives scant evidence of the emotions behind the writing, thus demanding of the writer careful detail as to intent. Respectfully, Larry R. |
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Silver Member Username: Rick_bNew york Usa Post Number: 366 Registered: Dec-03 | Larry Fool not with Italians living in Texas. The only ones I know, are there, because of the witness protection program. I'm from New York. I know about these things. Watson, to the sea shore, and keep a keen eye out for a Shell station. |
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Silver Member Username: WryterNaples, FL US Post Number: 131 Registered: Jul-04 | No, Rick, I'm not going to "fool" with anybody on these forums - I try to get information, and add a bit, on occasion, but I do get tired of thrusting and parrying and thus may reduce my presence on these threads to a more comfortable level for me. Respectfully, Larry R. |
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Silver Member Username: Rick_bNew york Usa Post Number: 367 Registered: Dec-03 | Larry, My post was tongue in cheek. I'm sorry if it didn't read that way to you. It was an attempt at humor. Hopefully it will make Jan chuckle....... Cheers! |
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J. Vigne Unregistered guest | Gawd, Rick! The Sigfried Idyll? I mean I could believe the compound adverbial cluases but The Sigfried Idyll. Jeez Louise! You had me going there. You really had me believing it until you got to Strauss' Alpine Symphony playing in the background. HA! No one listens to the Alpine Symphony at background levels. It's one that requires full tilt volume levels, the focus of a Lance Armstrong and Tiger Woods and a glass of Qualitatswein mit Pradikat: Eiswein, a favorite of mine when contemplating Strauss. Let The Alpine Symphony BOOGIE!!!!! Yes, you really had me fooled. Larry - No need to feel foolish, most of us do that often enough during the day to take care of everyone else's quotient of foolish for quite a while. And no aplogy necessary as you are not the first to mistake my attempts at levity with a statement of fact. Being a disciple of Oscar Wilde you would think I would have an idea what trouble humor can create. But I fall victim to the concept that facts can often be persented in humor and opinions are too often taken to be facts. None of us wish to thrust and parry but more gently poke and feign. I'm sure I speak for all of us when I say I hope you don't find us too off putting. As none of us seem to know the real reason for MyRantz's departure, I'm sure none of us would like to see another contributor bite the dust. Particularly after so recently achieving Old Dog status. Please continue to participate at whatever level you choose. We would hope and encourage everyone who wishes to join in with our foolishness. It is a diversion from "what cable is best for my Sony reciever?". And, though there are ocassional disagreements between participants, I'm most certain you will know when real insults begin to fly. And, if it helps, I am seldom serious. Certainly not as serious as a "Massive Attack". |
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Moriarty Unregistered guest | Holmes and Watson, what piteous pigeons! How easily you topple to the slightest wind in the sails of your conviction. Do you think I would make it so convenient for you? A Shell station? The slightest key stroke and you are off chasing yet another mechanical rabbit. Round and round, eh, Holmes? A sea shore with Shells? What could that mean? Have a good trip and don't forget your pipe and SPF 45. |
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Silver Member Username: Rick_bNew york Usa Post Number: 368 Registered: Dec-03 | Jan, SSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.....we don't want any undue publicity. Just blend in.......... Larry, I think Mr. Vigne said it all very well, and if I may be so bold as to speak for my friend KEGGER..........YEP! |
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Gold Member Username: KeggerMICHIGAN Post Number: 1028 Registered: Dec-03 | .............Y E P............. |
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Holmes Unregistered guest | How could I be so blind Watson? Shells at a sea shore. Must be a chalet in the mountains. That's it Watson! The nun is hiding at a convent in Switzerland. Hurry my dear Watson, and fetch my long johns and tall boots. |
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Gold Member Username: John_aPost Number: 1901 Registered: Dec-03 | Larry, If it is any consolation, I have not the faintest idea what half of this is about, either. And I am most concerned at having been mistaken for Rick, for both his sake and my own. But you never can tell with Vigne. I liked his remark about witness protection. I have no idea what SPF 45, unless it is a brand of snuff. Watched "The Last Samurai" tonight. Recommended here by many. Thanks. Really fine movie. |
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Silver Member Username: WryterNaples, FL US Post Number: 137 Registered: Jul-04 | All: please see my posting on TWilight of the CD, and I apologize for my short-temper! LR |
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J. Vigne Unregistered guest | Larry - I'm going to be serious here for awhile. I'm posting this response on this thread since this will be a continuation of the previous lines here. I speak for myself and no one else on the forum. If any of us have offended you in any way I can honestly say no foul was intended. If you are having a bad time we all understand and have every bit of empathy there can be for your situation. We have all been in bad times and there is the constant possibility that they may return to anyone of us at a moment's notice. (I had a scary moment today where the word cancer was placed before me. Nothing to worry about, but fortunes can change in an instant. This is not the first time I have been reminded of my mortality.) This forum has a group of people that go out of their way to give information to the best of their ability with the unending line of "newbee" writers who want answers to - how to hook up equipment, what cable is best or will it blow up if I do this - when a little research on their part will get them an answer if they will only look. Several of us have gotten together on a few threads and have become friends as much as possible in the confines of this forum. We banter back and forth about various items that upset us or confound us or whatever the case may be. After a while the thought has been exhausted and yet we don't want to leave our friends behind. If you look you will see that this and a few other threads have been going for several months. The topics have ranged all over the place and yet we come back and check, everyday, to see if one of us has added a thought or comment. I don't feel any of us, at any time, has been less than gracious to anyone who cares to join in our group therapy sessions. Because that, in some ways, is what these amount to for us. We get to blow off steam from the day. We find out we came within a hair's breath of a life changing event or things just aren't going our way right now. It's good to be with friends. Even if we wouldn't recognize each other in a hall way. That is part of what makes this forun interesting. We can be who ever we want to be with no one to tell us differently. So occasionally we will get silly. And occassionally (if not more often) we will get "sophomoric". But it is usually balanced by a healthy amount of respect for what each of us has to offer to the other. If anything I am more than responsible for the silliness that pervades this forum. Sorry, as I said you are not the first to misunderstand my humor. We can, as a group, be the bunch of drunks in the corner that others wish would just calm down. It's hard to do when you are enjoying yourself and you need the good company of friends. If you would like to bring your drink over to our table we will be happy to clear a space for you. I believe all of us feel the more the merrier in this game. We would like to buy the whole bar a drink. Let's all blow off some steam. If you are offended by us or feel we are being less than funny, I can only say we never meant to offend. If you feel we are leaving you out of the joke, nothing could be further from the fact. We wish everyone would join us and have a good laugh at how sophomoric we can be. Holmes and Watson, Ranger and Tonto and all the nuns want you to tell us what we can do to make you smile. I don't believe any of us feel we have been offended by another member and there is no need for you to feel any different. All of us are more than ready to discuss world shaking events if need be, but generally we just hang out here because we like the company. We are the "Norms" of this forum's bar. We all know each other's names. We all know things about one another that never appear in the threads "Can I hook my car stereo up to my PC." And that makes for a comfortable conversation. One that doesn't always make the most sense but one that is always willing at the drop of a DVD-A. So I can only speak for myself here, and not assume anyone else feels the same, but, I would like you to stay with us and offer whatever you feel is needed from your end. There is more going on here than just tomfoolery. You have life experiences that none of us will ever have. But the same can be said about each of us. We each bring to the table ideas that are uniquely our own. Some just happen to be silly on occassion. If you pay attention you will find an underlying truth to even the silliest remark though. Join us if you wish. No one here will intentionally offend you. No one will direct rude comments your way. If you think we have done you wrong just say so and, I think, all of us would immediately apologize. Each of us will try to give you the best information we know how. If you feel we have offended you I can only say once again, I'm sorry. If you prefer to have less contact with this group we will miss your input. It is obviously your choice. Maybe we need to establish a signal that says this is going to be stupid and this is going to be serious. I don't know if that would help. There are cetainly opportunities to get your questions answered on this forum without putting up with our frivolities. But this is where we hang out. Please join us and let us know how we can make it more pleasurable for you if you care to be here. |
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Gold Member Username: KeggerMICHIGAN Post Number: 1032 Registered: Dec-03 | ...............Y E P.............. |
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Gold Member Username: John_aPost Number: 1904 Registered: Dec-03 | You're welcome, Larry Are thrust and parry Uncongenial With a root canal? Jan, "No one listens to the Alpine Symphony at background levels". I am afraid many people would not hesitate. Look at the posts complaining about the unpredictably different volumes of sound you get from different programme material. Thus is Strauss sanitized, his music brought to heel: backgound for a soothing voice-over, perhaps advertising a package holiday to a comfortable sking resort. Satisfaction guaranteed. Turn up the sub crossover to enhance the bass, etc. You once asked "What do people buy audio systems for?" or words to that effect; perhaps "What do you hope you hifi will do?" The start of this thread was a debate on your proposition that music almost always sounds better in stereo. I wonder, now, if "Surround sound" has too many associations with "ambient sound", that is, sound that seems to have no source, to be coming from "all around". Soothing music, dynamically compressed, unsurprising, unchallenging; in the backgound. "What do you hope surround sound will do?" is probably the key question. Different people want different things, that is all I can discern. See "speakers" diagrams, above, for you, me, Rick and Kegger. I humbly submit that "surround sound" can deliver the music more effectively, in some cases. But it is difficult to ignore stereo. That is something in stereo's favour. BTW I have provisionally settled on DS String Qt. number 2, A minor, 1944. But I have still not got past No. 6. Thanks again. As good a recommendation as "open the lid". That Rubio Qt recording is examplary. Hope they get around to Beethoven, and record in the same way, in the same place. Just for fun, with all that reflected sound (it is recorded in a church) I thought I would try the Rubio Qt. with Dolby Prologic and NAD EARS. Appalling. Stereo rules. But, who knows, maybe there are folk playing ambient Shostakovich. |
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Gold Member Username: John_aPost Number: 1905 Registered: Dec-03 | Just to say I was replying to Larry, August 03, 2004 - 06:37 pm and posts before. Apologies, Jan and Kegger. I suppose it is just as well we cannot all post at once! Jan, I state simply and plainly that I agree with every word in your post of Wednesday, August 04, 2004 - 02:19 am. Or, as Kegger, puts it, "YEP". I also wish My Rantz would read that. |
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Silver Member Username: WryterNaples, FL US Post Number: 139 Registered: Jul-04 | Jan, Kegger and John A. - Sigh - it's mid-night and I'm up with more codeine and not having a good "go of it." BUT I just read the postings you all have sent along this night - and I'd like to make a few, brief comments, please. Jan: you make your case very well - and for once, believe it or not, I actually understood every word! G R I N Not that I am a stranger to multi-syllable word structure, you understand, but that you do, on occasion, flummox me with some new ones! (that's what dictionaries are for, isn't it? Yep) As I look back at some of my earlier comments, I just want you to know that I, personally, have not been offended. Rather, I thought that some of the remarks flying back and forth between or among some of you WERE offensive and rude. Now, as has been pointed out to me, I know that your sense of humor was on display - and that it was not insult-slinging. I take great care (or attempt to) when putting words on paper: in creative writing it's known as "attending to your undertones and overtones." You notice that I often insert "grin" so that a tongue-in-cheek remark of mine won't be taken as some sort of slam. I once interviewed novelist Robert Parker, who's known for his terse, often biting writing style. He told me that he takes great pains to "lead" the reader in whatever direction he wants a passage or paragraph to go: is it supposed to be funny, or threatening? I have found, in working on my probably-never-finished novel, that those over and under-tones sneak up on me, and often muddy the waters of clarity. So - here, I sometimes get cross-references confused and motive misunderstood. It's not your fault, it is mine, for not - literally - "reading into" postings what is true to the moment. Oh, I'm not going to do a My Rantz disappearing act - though I might, for several reasons, take less of an active role in these threads for awhile. I am trying to finish several editing projects (money-makers I rather detest) and my current mouth-oriented problems leave me in less than good humor. Thank you for taking time to carefully explain some of the whats and whys of this forum. I hold you all in higher esteem for it - yes, even Kegger's wunnerfully-amended "yep!" Respectfully, Larry R. |
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Ranger Unregistered guest | Tonto, you stand watch, I'm going to get some rest. Tomorrow we ride! |
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Silver Member Username: SemNew York USA Post Number: 199 Registered: Mar-04 | Jan, Very well written. You've said a lot of what I'm feeling, and in words much clearer than I could ever hope to string together. Although I have the tendency to be "off the wall" at times, in a way that's my release from daily pressures. Anyone who has read me for a while surely knows I mean no one any harm. Lastly, compared to most here, my audio/musical knowledge prior to stumbling onto this marvel called acoustics dot com, could fit nicely on the head of a pin. However the wisdom and camaraderie I have encountered here, with regards to audio and life in general, can fill an ocean. Thanks to all for allowing me to swim in that ocean for a while. For that I am forever grateful. Cheers. |
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Silver Member Username: Rick_bNew york Usa Post Number: 372 Registered: Dec-03 | RE: Jan's 2:19am post I'll drink to that! 18 year old Chivas, wasn't it Mr. Vigne? Cheers to all! |
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Gold Member Username: KeggerMICHIGAN Post Number: 1038 Registered: Dec-03 | HEY JOHN: "Kegger, OK. 16.4 it is. How are you going to get in and out? As I said before, suppose you're sitting there, and someone puts on some c&w. " 1 word john. REMOTE! after all i am the master of my own commander! |
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Gold Member Username: John_aPost Number: 1909 Registered: Dec-03 | Kegger, Thanks. I forgot about the remote. Just make sure you can find it, with all those boxes around. And, if it refuses to carry out orders, give it fifty lashes. 'Strewth thay was great movie. "And do you know what Lord Nelson said to me.......?" |
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J. Vigne Unregistered guest | UUUUUUUUUUUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!! Eighteen year old Chivas ....................... GooooooooD! |
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Bronze Member Username: Arnold_layneMadridSpain Post Number: 42 Registered: Jun-04 | Thanks, Mr. V. You inspired me to wipe the dust off my 15Y Lagavulin... WooooooooooW Mr. K, I took your advise and hoosed up 2 pints, 4 small cans and a barrel. But now I have to make pressure adjustment everytime I change beverage. Like from Budweiser to Budowice (the original, HAW HAW HAW, Europe rules!). Would you recommend me to buy one of those swinging little men of wood with a red nose dipping in a tiny glass? They say it is must faster to synchronize the equipment, and much more precise than the human throat. |
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Silver Member Username: Rick_bNew york Usa Post Number: 375 Registered: Dec-03 | Jan, The UPS man just came to my door. The MA-6100 is here! Just arrived from Hawaii. I opened the box for a quick inspection, and this thing is in super condition given it's age. I don't even want to listen to it until the Spendors arrive. They were delayed because I originally ordered the 3/5se's then had a change of heart and ordered the regular 3/5's. I originally thought if the originals are that good, the se's have to be even better. Well I have been fooled before and decided to stick with the sure thing. Thanks again Jan for you insight. You got me rethinking the whole audio thing again. It seems I got caught up in the last eight years or so upgrading with the bigger is better thing. Bigger amps, speakers, more power....more MORE MORE! I put together a killer HT system, but got to the point where I was hardly listening to music anymore. Well I enjoy the cinema, but enjoy music more, so I've decided to sell my HT amps and pre-pro. Take the old Marantz SR880 5.1 out of the closet and use it for the HT system, and with the windfall from the Aragon, Acurus, and Proceed, put together another music only system in a third room or the study. I'm thinking a nice tube set up with another pair of Spendors. Who Knows? Time will tell. I will let you know how everything utimately sound as soon as the speakers arrive. Any others ideas you may have please let me know, Kemosabe. A bottle of Chivas from me to you! |
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Gold Member Username: KeggerMICHIGAN Post Number: 1060 Registered: Dec-03 | hey rick i may be interested in some of your gear email me with what you might be selling and if inclined some round about prices you are looking to get! see yu! |
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Gold Member Username: John_aPost Number: 1916 Registered: Dec-03 | Arnold, I am taking a liking to your posts, but please do not mention Budowice in the same breath as Budweiser. "The Czech Republic is the leading beer consumer per capita, with 160 liters (281.56 pints, 35 gallons) per person as of 1999". (Guinness book of records). Of course quality, not quantity, is the issue, but those guys are pulling their weight, you must admit. And most US beers (not all) are best drunk at about the temperature of liquid nitrogen. I wonder which tubing they use in Prague. BTW Here's to Gibralter; happy birthday. Rick, Wonderful. Congratulations. All updates welcome. This is the McIntosh tube amp, right? Integrated...? W per channel? Sorry about post on brass cones on "The Twilight of the CD...?". Just got out of bed on the wrong side. See toast to Gibralter*, 300 yrs old this week. Just stirring it, I guess. No offence, anyone. Re speakers, see your thread on Spendor, the LS3/5a is back, too. But the Spendor 3/5 s are surely darned good speakers. *It rocks. |
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Gold Member Username: John_aPost Number: 1917 Registered: Dec-03 | Kegger, He leaned across the table, he looked me straight in the eye... and he said, "Aubrey, may I trouble you for the salt?". |
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Gold Member Username: KeggerMICHIGAN Post Number: 1065 Registered: Dec-03 | I have seen that movie john. and i actually enjoyed the conversations more than the action or the whole movie in general. the conversations were very captivating. |
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Gold Member Username: KeggerMICHIGAN Post Number: 1066 Registered: Dec-03 | arnold all i have to say is practice. in time you will be a seasoned pro my young compadre. soon you will have no problems with any combo you try. |
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Silver Member Username: Rick_bNew york Usa Post Number: 378 Registered: Dec-03 | JohnA., The MA-6100 was their first all solid state integrated amp. From the serial # it is circa 1978. Cheers! |
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Gold Member Username: John_aPost Number: 1919 Registered: Dec-03 | Kegger, I thought so too. The battles were pretty good. I have never heard or seen cannon shot like that. The first was awesome. A distant, silent flash, then about three seconds to duck. Range about half a mile. Surely that is what it was really like. Personally I also thought the music was great. Thanks, Rick. I thought for a moment you, too, were going down the tubes. Cheers! |
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Gold Member Username: KeggerMICHIGAN Post Number: 1070 Registered: Dec-03 | yo rick it's probably better off for me anyways. as could probably attest to i really don't need anymore gear. with the stuff i've gotten into lately i will be busy for awhile. glad to see you've got your stuff taken care of. |
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Gold Member Username: KeggerMICHIGAN Post Number: 1074 Registered: Dec-03 | my last post should have read. as JAN VIGNE could probably attest to i really don't need anymore gear. with the stuff i've gotten into lately i will be busy for awhile. |
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Bronze Member Username: Arnold_layneMadridSpain Post Number: 46 Registered: Jun-04 | John and all, I raise my pint with you to praise Gibraltar. Natives here really gone a little crazy, just because of 30.000 people dwelling in the dungeons of a remote rock. And then millions of brits invade the archipelago each year ... from Ibiza to the Norfolk broads... (remember that one?). We the Swedes lost the whole Finland to great grandfathers of Red Army back in 1809. But no hard feelings, we beat'em in Hockey from time to time for revenge. Mr K., I think I'm now learning the trick. For strange local brews I use a discrete flow hose, that allows me to use the sofisticated pressure regulator in my distributor. But for a Lowenbrau (shall I send some of those John? Exchange rate 1.21 BUD per LOW) I switch to free fall hoses, just leaning back sipping on beverage. Here I rely on my very good liquid to foam converters. Makes pressure control redundant, really. Cheers AL |
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Gold Member Username: John_aPost Number: 1923 Registered: Dec-03 | Arnold, Thanks. I always intend to stay away from politics etc., and should not have lobbed in that bit about The Rock. 300 years ain't bad going, though. So here's to them. It's long way from Madrid, I appreciate that. As regards serving beer, I think gravity rules. A bit like turntables, really. Now, that cold, fizzy stuff they drink "Down Under".... [I suspect Jan August 04 did the trick; thanks, Jan!] |
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J. Vigne Unregistered guest | "In the early days of Hi-Fi the earth had not reached its limit of planetary resources. Economic considerations had not yet reached a limit where price and "performance" were intra-convertible or even relevant. The important fact was to achieve musical performance for one's Hi-Fi system. The contemporary aphorism is not whether it is musical but good value for the money. As we drift into our uncertain future we have lost touch with music." just something I came across. |
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Gold Member Username: John_aPost Number: 1925 Registered: Dec-03 | Swift response. What nonsense. People have always wanted value for money. If you were in the fortunate position of being an Austro-Hungarian prince, you could employ your own orchestra, but you still wanted it to be a good one. Hi-Fi is a good thing. It puts the experience of music within reach of many more people than would otherwise be possible. Drive some miles in order to attend one live concert and you use more planetary resources than your HiFi does throughout its entire life. Whoever wrote that is having some sort of mid-life crisis, I suspect, or else always was a miserable kill-joy. "Economic considerations had not yet reached a limit where price and "performance" were intra-convertible or even relevant". Of course they had. It has always been that way. Things cost money to make, and therefore to buy. Probably the guy remembers with nostalgia the golden days of listening to a system that someone else had paid for. So "grow up" might be a reasonable recommendation. "Inter", by the way, otherwise it makes no sense. |
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Gold Member Username: KeggerMICHIGAN Post Number: 1080 Registered: Dec-03 | arnold is their a good beer from spain and do they import? I generally prefer beers with a medium amount of flavor. not a guiness or killians but also not a bud light or a busch "well maybe a busch after iv'e had a few cold ones" |
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Bronze Member Username: Arnold_layneMadridSpain Post Number: 49 Registered: Jun-04 | "In the early days of Hi-Fi...". I agree, I recognize myself. Works both ways, marketing is much about value-for-the-money nowadays too. But at last, with no more money to spend, I eventually sat down and listened. Stayed in the sofa for quite a while. John. I actually had a very good and long laugh when I saw the post about the 300 years. I respect public opinions, but this Rock Hype over here is really too much. 2 years ago a Marockian patrol decided to put flag on an island out their cost that is so tiny that seagulls don't even bother to splat guano on it. Spain? Suddenly remembered that centuries ago it was possibly theirs, and sent brute force to take it back. So, God and Queen save Gibraltar! As is. Mr. K, I'm afraid only drinkable beers in Spain are bleech copies of dutch brews on license. One memorable beverage during my 8 years here: special export edition of Cruzcampo in high 0.33 bottle. You'd have liked it. Medium flavor, balanced malt, subtile thickness like Bud. Cannot find it anymore, not even in Hi-Bi stores. Have you tried Kilkenny (from the green island)? And the German weissbier? |
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Gold Member Username: KeggerMICHIGAN Post Number: 1084 Registered: Dec-03 | Arnold "Have you tried Kilkenny (from the green island)? And the German weissbier? " no i haven't do you know if either are imported to the us? |
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J. Vigne Unregistered guest | "Swift response. What nonsense. People have always wanted value for money." Of course they have, John. But how many people had good audio systems in their homes when you were growing up? Audio was a luxury for most of the last century. Today the emphasis is on having a portable recorder/playback system the size of a cigarette lighter that can hold two hours of music for $49 or less. Today you can buy a $19 CD player ($9.95 if you want portable with headphones). The emphasis for the majority of people is not on quality but on convenience. WalMart, the internet and the Bose Wave Radio have changed the public's perception of music from a luxury to a commodity. May I refer you to "how you buy and sell audio/video". |
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Gold Member Username: John_aPost Number: 1933 Registered: Dec-03 | I still don't see that people have changed so much, Jan. When I was growing up, Elvis and later the Beatles and so on took the world by storm and people got huge pleasure out of playing their 45 rpm singles on turntables mounted above an amp, all inside a speaker cabinet, often with a single driver, with a handle on the side, to take to parties. It gave them pleasure, and they learned things. It was a good thing. I did music at school up to 16 and heard Beethoven Qts. and much else, for the first time, on just such a record player. The other point is that music is not "commodity" vs "active participant". These distinctions are in people's minds. Many of the greatest rock (Clapton; Lennon) and classical people got started in the 50s in skiffle bands, trying to make the sort of music that inspired them so much, but which they only heard out of equipment you and I would not give house room to, now. I myself have dabbled in amateur music making, and the examples of how the more talented and dedicated do it, from which I learn, come to me through the loudspeakers, in the first instance. Life would be poorer without it. There was no hi-fi or really anything-fi in my parents' home. At school I got in a band where one member wrote down a complete score of a number by The Buddy Rich Big Band, entirely from the Lp so we could do it. The rest of us borrowed the LP, and agreed that what he had done was impossible. Then we saw - and heard - his father's hi-fi. Quad ESL 57s, I think. That was the only "serious" system I ever saw, anywhere, at that age. You have to start somewhere. Who knows how many of the great performers, composers, and arrangers of the 21st century are now learning and drawing inspiration from listening to iPods or whatever? Behind the medium, whatever it is, is the music. There can never be too much music. |
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Silver Member Username: Black_mathPost Number: 154 Registered: Dec-03 | Budweiser Budvar Ceske Buudejovice is sold in the US under the name Czechvar and it is an excellent beer. I trank a ton of Budvar when I was in Ireland (I love Guiness, but didn't think it tasted any better than it does in US) I don't care for Kilkenny and I had it fresh. |
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J. Vigne Unregistered guest | John - if you haven't already, see my post on "Twilight ..." of 08/06, 4:15 PM. There are reasons the young John Lennon was intrigued with Elvis and Mick Jagger listened to Muddy Waters and became enthralled by what he heard in 1959. |
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Gold Member Username: John_aPost Number: 1940 Registered: Dec-03 | Jan, Are you saying that, if we'd had transistors ten years earlier, then Lennon would be, say, a graphic designer (and still alive) and Jagger, say, a schoolteacher...? Now that's an extreme view. I like it. My Rantz (May 01 on Denon DVD-2200) quoted John Mayall as saying the Brit blues revival was all derived from the Chris Barber Jazz band. I could buy that. The music is the thing. And how it is performed, live. Not how it is reproduced. You only get interested in that when the music has grabbed you, somehow, anyhow, in the first place. |
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J. Vigne Unregistered guest | Jagger as a school teacher? No, John. That's too extreme. |
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J. Vigne Unregistered guest | Last weekend I was checking out two Dynaco tube amps that have been in storage for several years. I hooked them up to my KEF Cresta's (5" woofer) and put Elvis on the CD player. John, plenty of people don't want to hear this but by comparison to my solid state HT stuff, there was nothing that the transistors did that resembled real music as much as the old tubes. The tubes made me dance around, the transistors made me sit down. Sweet or not, that is how everyone should listen to Elvis. Clasical and jazz did the same. Maybe Lennon still would have been a Beatle if solid state had been around 10 years earlier but I do believe he would have been a gardener if Home Theater was around in 1959. |
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J. Vigne Unregistered guest | Last weekend I was checking out two Dynaco tube amps that have been in storage for several years. I hooked them up to my KEF Cresta's (5" woofer) and put Elvis on the CD player. John, plenty of people don't want to hear this but by comparison to my solid state HT stuff, there was nothing that the transistors did that resembled real music as much as the old tubes. The tubes made me dance around, curl my lip and say, "Thankyouverymuch"; the transistors made me sit down. Sweet or not, that is how everyone should listen to Elvis. Clasical and jazz did the same. Maybe Lennon still would have been a Beatle if solid state had been around 10 years earlier but I do believe he would have been a gardener if Home Theater was around in 1959. |
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Gold Member Username: KeggerMICHIGAN Post Number: 1096 Registered: Dec-03 | yo jan i'm very glad last weekend you were checking out those old dynaco's. can't wait to have some all modded up into monoblocks. should be fun i'll keep you posted on the progress. |
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Bronze Member Username: MyrantzPost Number: 14 Registered: Aug-04 | Jan, funny you should mention Elvis today. Tubes eh? Well, I haven't heard him or anyone with a tube amp in the works and I don't doubt what you say, but today my wife and I walked past a bin in a music store and there, staring at us, was a DVD-Audio 5.1 recording of Elvis's 30#1 hits. It also includes a few A and B comparisons and a few out-takes. I saw nearly every Elvis movie as a kid and I haven't had an Elvis recording since my early teens when I and many others put him aside for the newcomers. I had to purchase this Elvis DVD-A. We listened this afternoon and what a wonderful wothwhile experience. I have never heard Elvis sound so good - and he always sounded so good. The surround use was minimal and the sub was used well. Although not as dynamic as modern recordings in general, on this his voice and the music sounded like they had been let out of the "jailhouse". It simply rocks. One or two tracks had just a touch of distortion but overall. the clarity was excellent. Anyone with a place in their heart for Elvis, this is the hi-res disc for those with the goods. |
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Gold Member Username: KeggerMICHIGAN Post Number: 1097 Registered: Dec-03 | also i now have one of these. http://www.uptownaudio.com/rogue/88amp.htm rogue eighty-eight. General Features: - Matched quad output tubes - Ultra-wide bandwidth output transformers - Massive fully regulated high voltage supply - Aircraft aluminum chassis - User selectable 4 and 8 ohm output taps - Mechanically isolated transformers - User selectable triode or ultralinear output - 35 wpc triode and 70 wpc ultralinear - (4) KT88/6550, (4) 12AU7, (2) 12AX7 tube complement -3 year limited warranty (6 months on tubes) and one of these. http://www.soniccraft.com/upgrades/se40.htm golden tube audio audio se-40 that will get all the upgrades shortly. GOLDEN TUBE SE-40 SINGLE ENDED 40W TRIODE PWR AMP |
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Gold Member Username: KeggerMICHIGAN Post Number: 1098 Registered: Dec-03 | hey jan have you ever described music as scary! listening to these tube amps lately the voices presented on my system is sometimes kinda earry! i was listening to peter gabriel and an older band oingo boingo! "Oingo Boingo is/was Danny Elfman (leader, songwriter, lead singer, rhythm guitar, co-arranger); Steve Bartek (lead guitar, co-arranger); John Avila (bass, vocals); Johnny "Vatos" Hernandez (drums); Sam "Sluggo" Phipps (horns); Leon Schneiderman (horns); Dale Turner (horns); George McMullen (horns); Warren Fitzgerald (guitar); Marc Mann (keyboards); Doug Lacy (accordian, rhythm); Katurah Clarke (rhythm). Former (or session) members include: Carl Graves; Richard Gibbs; Kerry Hatch; Mike Bacich; Bruce Fowler; Rich Sumner; Willy Winant. On the average there are 5-8 members of Boingo, but there have been as many as 20, playing all sorts of traditional and not-so-traditional instruments." and the voices that were displayed were very different from any other amps i've listend to. it was stangely real. very very very very very cool sounding. |
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Gold Member Username: John_aPost Number: 1942 Registered: Dec-03 | Jan, "Jagger as a school teacher? No, John. That's too extreme." No, it's just right. Probably Art. Or Media Studies. You've got to get the Stones/Beatles tribal ancestry sorted out, Jan. Jagger was a well-off middle class kid from London suburbia with plenty of expensive toys and not enough attention. Lennon was from a different world. Liverpool, of all places. It is well known. I think Lennon made his own broomstick-and-tea-chest skiffle bass, and was probably OK on the washboard and thimbles. Lennon was no gardener. That was George Harrison. Thanks, Jan; thanks, Kegger. I am just going to read all this cool stuff about valves/tubes; I have nothing to say, unfortunately. I will maybe visit Walrus Systems next year. I can get a Rega arm there. Also, perhaps, take up the home-trial offer of the Affordable Valve people. It must take weeks really to tell if tubes are for you. I put a Shanling link on Kegger's "NEW THREAD" (it will be cool when it is archived) for their tube SACD player. It I ever go SACD, that will be the way I go, kicking and screaming. BTW an "audiophile" company which is proud to be Chinese, not just to make OEM stuff for western badges. Anyone remember the first Japanese transistor radios? They were cheap copies, very reliable, never sold in salons, and had "SONY" written on the front. Watch out, World, the giant is waking up. My Rantz, where can I get that Elvis DVD-A....?! |
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J. Vigne Unregistered guest | Can we all just take a minute to remember Rick James on his passing? A great musician. That was a joke. |
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Gold Member Username: KeggerMICHIGAN Post Number: 1099 Registered: Dec-03 | she's a very k!nky girl , the kind you won't take home to mothar! |
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Bronze Member Username: MyrantzPost Number: 17 Registered: Aug-04 | "My Rantz, where can I get that Elvis DVD-A....?! John, I got from a nationa chain store here called JB's. The Title is: Elvis 30#1 Hits 5.1 DVD-Audio Sample: http://www.elvisnumberones.com It ir remixed and mastered from origanial master tapes, and is an RCA/BMG Bertelsmann label Cheers |
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Gold Member Username: John_aPost Number: 1949 Registered: Dec-03 | My Rantz, Thanks. Looks great. I so much enjoy The Beatles "Number 1" CD. By coincidence, Mrs A and I each bought the other a copy, as a surprise, for Christmas, a few years ago. Elvis number ones looks like the same sort of must-have. If it is on DVD-A, all the better. BTW I think I saw that BMG just "merged" with Sony entertainment. |
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Gold Member Username: KeggerMICHIGAN Post Number: 1117 Registered: Dec-03 | hey jan the GOLDEN TUBE SE-40 SINGLE ENDED 40W TRIODE PWR AMP . takes (6) 5881/6L6GC also and i just found out partsexpress.som has great prices on them. hear is a link tell me what yu think! http://www.partsexpress.com/webpage.cfm?&DID=7&WebPage_ID=3&ObjectGroup_ID=459&S O=2 |
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Gold Member Username: KeggerMICHIGAN Post Number: 1118 Registered: Dec-03 | that should be partsexpess.com now iv'e listened to both the rogue kt88/6550 tubes. and the golden with 5881/6l6gc tubes. very early impressions (and i still have to do the upgrades to the golden) but the rogue seems a little less in control of the bass like the golden is. much more listening to do. wwhheeeeee!!!!! |
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Gold Member Username: KeggerMICHIGAN Post Number: 1161 Registered: Dec-03 | WHO'S THERE! |
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Bronze Member Username: Arnold_layneMadridSpain Post Number: 73 Registered: Jun-04 | Me here, rearranging them hoses. Fiddled with setup to check what's out on S/PDIF from Eagles - Hotel California. Now 2-ch track sounds different. Acoustic guitar theme in intro barely audible. Or is this God trying to guide dog into multichannel lane? BTW, saw a pic on one of those 6L6 tubes. Can't understand how beverage can pass through it. Awfully short to, won't reach. Will stick to rubber hose. |
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J. Vigne Unregistered guest | The New York Times on Shostakovich: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/13/arts/music/13SHOS.html |
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Gold Member Username: John_aPost Number: 1972 Registered: Dec-03 | Kegger, I've been away for a few days, undergoing internet de-tox. Jan, thanks for the link but I have to register, probably a good way to get even more truckloads of spam. What is the NYT "bottom line"? Sept HiFi News has a review of a Graaf integrated valve amp, 50 W pc. Looks good, but expensive (£4000). That issue also has a letter (well, e-mail) from John A., if anyone is interested, about why people should not be surprised if they are not able to "rip" SACD tracks. I learned it here. Also paid very brief visit to London West End record mega-stores, but did not buy anything this time. DVD-A/SACD are definitely niche markets. You can get 5 Naxos CDs for £20, about the price of one hi-res disc, and the temptation was to explore a lot of new music instead of getting one hi-res version of something I already have. This may be another factor in the slow take-up of the new formats. |
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J. Vigne Unregistered guest | I hope everyone plays some Elvis today on the anniversary of his tipping off the toilet. |
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J. Vigne Unregistered guest | John, there's really not much in the article. If you want to access it use ID# 28297300, and password smokey1. I think that will get you in. |
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Gold Member Username: John_aPost Number: 1976 Registered: Dec-03 | I found that very interesting, Jan. Thank you. The bottom line seems to be to take anything with the source "Testimony. The Memoirs of Dmitri Shostakovich as related to and edited by Solomon Volkov." (1979) with a pinch of salt. I think the Brilliant Classics Rubio Qt. Cd booklet draws on that. "'Shostakovich is having a Mahler moment,' Ms. Fay said recently, referring to the Mahler boom of the 1960's....." If short of anything to say, draw on alliteration. I could use a Handel half-hour. It's the Wagner weeks and Mozart months that worry me. I have got as far as Qt. No. 6. Have listened to each on a number of times. I am saving the rest. They are so good. BTW only someone scoring minus max points on the libertarian-totalitarian axis of the Political Compass would post a username and password. We have probably both offended Big B. It feels good. If everyone did that, the whole "registration-brings-spam-and-tracking-of-reading-habits" system would collapse. What a good idea. Thanks! Sept HiFi news has some interesting things. They make a brief review of a new Marantz flagship SACD/CD player, and comment that, for sound quality alone, its performance in both formats is blown away by the LP performance of the new Marantz turntable, costing a fraction of the price. Let us hope the industry realises LPs are not digital and cannot be ripped, just laboriously re-recorded with loss of quality, and then reverts to analogue. I do wish there were more new LPs. "Classical" seems to be a totally missing genre. That seems odd, to me, given that "classical" listeners tend to be concerned with sound quality. Ken Kessler in Sept HFN has some comments on the book by Hardy of The Absolute Sound. Kessler's main complaint is historical blindspots on makers who were at the forefront of development. No mention of SME, for example. You might be interested, and I am sure you could put both of them right on many points. |
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Gold Member Username: KeggerMICHIGAN Post Number: 1191 Registered: Dec-03 | arnold the 6l6 is a little small try 6550's! john need any help with your pc detox? jan i did listen to some elvis per your instructions. and i have not forgot about the other thing just haven't gotten there yet. will soon. ............................... also i've been pretty busy lately so i haven't had the time to post as i see many of us have. guess we all need a little break now and then. i've been rebuilding amps/preamps about 6. the golden tube se-40 is all modded up about 80% replacement of parts. still got a little tweaking to do but were gettin there. |
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Silver Member Username: Rick_bNew york Usa Post Number: 387 Registered: Dec-03 | Hi All, Sorry I haven't dropped in lately, for I have really been seriously listening to my new (old) stereo system for 4 days now. Everytime I think I should take a break and post a review, I start shaking my head, and think maybe I should listen just a little more first. The days are running together now and I'm still shaking my head, only with a big ear to ear grin on my face. First let me thank Jan for reminding me about MacIntosh gear. My MA-6100 sounds better than any 30 year old amp has a right to. Hell, any other 30 year old gear shouldn't be working. With the Mac powering the Spendor S3/5's, I have found a match made in audio heaven. How can this be? It must be an audio illusion, or trick of some sort. Come on Jan, are you playing a trick on me? You can't pair a 30 year old amp and a tissue box size pair of speakers and get sound this dead on accurate. I better go back and listen some more. Something is not right here. I'll have to report back on this later. |
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Gold Member Username: John_aPost Number: 1977 Registered: Dec-03 | Great stuff Rick, Kegger, Jan, Arnold, MR and all others. I have a lot of serious things to do in the next few weeks, too, but will drop by from time to time. Rick, I have forgotten where you stand on the question of vinyl. If you like the Spendor plus McIntosh combo, then it seems, to me, to me to be a foregone conclusion. Hope Larry's home is still there when he gets back from Sante Fe (serious issue).... |
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Silver Member Username: Rick_bNew york Usa Post Number: 388 Registered: Dec-03 | Thank you John. On the subject of vinyl, I can only sadly say, I gave it all away 20 years ago. Too many moves across long distances. It is one of my biggest regrets. |
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Silver Member Username: MyrantzPost Number: 508 Registered: Aug-04 | Rick Glad to hear your Old Mac and Spendors have put you in that special place. It's a great feeling to have everything come together so well. BTW, I think I gave most of my old LP's to my brother. Hmmm, I wonder if I tell him that I said I was only lending them to him at the time? Anyway enjoy that old raincoat! John Don't do too many serious things - life's too short. :-) Yes, hope all is well for Larry and family. That darn Charly! |
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Silver Member Username: Rick_bNew york Usa Post Number: 389 Registered: Dec-03 | Thank you Rantz! I promise to post a full review very soon. I'm just blown away with this combo. Yes, my thoughts and best wishes to Larry. Hope all is well! Cheers! Hey Kegger! How's your tubes???? (LOL) |
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J. Vigne Unregistered guest | Well, don't I feel bad. The most I can say about something new is I went to my favorite Italian deli (actually the only real Italian deli in all of Dallas, a TexMex city) and bought a big can of San Marzano tomatoes to make marinara sauce. It ain't Mac but it puts a smile on my face. Very happy to hear everyone is enjoying their new (old) acquisitions. And the forum can move along slowly for a while. I'm painting the house, which seems to grow bigger every time I go outside with a scraper and a tube of caulk, so I'll be busy for some time. The weather is unbelievable for Dallas in August, we got down to 63 a few nights ago. Normally we are having our Wagner weeks, 100+ temps to test your soul, this time of year. No one I talk to, even those who have lived here for over 70 years, can remember a summer like this in Texas. I am taking advantage of it while it lasts. And everyone can spend some time listening to music for a while. Sounds like Kegger and Rick have some serious listening to do. We'll all be waiting to hear more from both of you. |
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Gold Member Username: KeggerMICHIGAN Post Number: 1209 Registered: Dec-03 | well jan isn't that the saying everything is bigger in texas? To bad it has to be your house while your painting it! lol yes rick i feel like the old joke "hey right ball" "yes left ball" who are these dfhthghng's between us. me and the tubes are working just fine. my modded jbl's really perform well with the tubes also. there about 92db sens with a little extra top and bottem. so with different tube choices in the amps/preamps themselves. I can dial them in just right. sounds wonderful i find myself listening for hours, even making time to do so. yu know that's one aspect "a plus if you will" of tubes that noone has mentioned. if you got speakers that aren't quite flat or to your liking. you can change them by tweaking your amp/preamp. where if your running solidstate you will need to replace amp or speakers to do the same. and not just changing tubes biasing makes a difference too. so really in "theory" you can dial your system in better with tubes then you can with a solidstate setup. |
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Silver Member Username: MyrantzPost Number: 512 Registered: Aug-04 | Kegger, After about a dozen tubes anything can sound good to me :-) Kidding aside - glad to see the enjoyment you're getting from your new passion for these "valve" amps etc. I think you might be starting something. Okay, really though - how much are these "tube" companies paying you anyway? |
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Gold Member Username: KeggerMICHIGAN Post Number: 1211 Registered: Dec-03 | RANTZ! It might not sound like it but i'm actually trying to hold back some of joy/experience with these things for fear of thinking i'm hearing something i'm not. but i have to believe what my ears are telling me. both instruments and voices take on this more believable sound. you hear the raspiness in voices the grunge of guitars easier. maybe it's more pronounced with tubes. but whatever it is doing makes it sound more real/alive. it's really hard to describe. if you have speakers of 90db sens or higher a 30wpc tube amp can be pretty inexpensive to try out. and push the speakers excelent. anyone should try it. triode mode that is! right jan? If your seriously into music you owe to yourself to get a home test. |
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Silver Member Username: MyrantzPost Number: 513 Registered: Aug-04 | Kegger, I AM seriously "into the music" and I'm on your "wavelength" my friend, but after so much expense this past year on all things A/V a tube amp would definately not get past the WAF - I have been very fortunate up to this point. One day maybe! |
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Gold Member Username: John_aPost Number: 1981 Registered: Dec-03 | MR, I commented on your number of posts on "Thanks and goodbye". Careful. You, too may soon need de-tox! The "serious things" are looming up on me. Deadlines to do things, plus several trips in Sept. It is good to be reminded of priorities here. Many thanks. Rick, So sorry to hear about the LP collection. Larry did a similar thing, I recall. This is the point where the great CD con was more than a harmless marketing ploy. Good people believed all the hype, and replaced all their LPs. Me, I've moved too many times, but never throw anything away. I traded on some LPs, once, when short of cash, and now wish I hadn't. This is the umteenth reason for my deep suspicion of SACD, and probably looms large in Jan's estimation of the whole surround-sound business. I am quite sure "those guys" hoped everyone would be trashing their CD collections by now, five years on. When CD was five years old, that is precisely what so many people did with their LP collections. Jan, Good luck with the painting project. Try to take the odd Vivaldi Veekend. Kegger, I thank you for sharing your enthusiasm for tube amps! I do not know if you can get the UK mag "HiFi News" over there. The writers are mostly shrewd and cynical guys, but there seems to be no doubt about tubes, in their minds. Same for vinyl, and I agree with them on that. I stick with my original point to Jan, on this thread, that surround really does have something to offer, for listening to music. However, while the surround "format war" sorts itself out, I am going to stay with DVD-A (if I can find any discs), but, next, take a serious look at valve/tube stereo amps, maybe early next year, depending on finances. After that I may consider a new tonearm and pick-up cartridge. If I eventually get SACD, because it has taken over, then I would want it to fit in with that, not build a new system around it. And also be in a position to decide about that crazy Shanling tube SACD player. A lot of this game is change for the sake of change, to make people dissatisfied with what they already have, artificially stimulating demand, even if there is no real benefit. So it is good to be a member of old dogs, who make up their own minds, and seem to know what they are barking about. No lemmings or wildebeest here, as far as I can see. Thanks to all, here! |
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Gold Member Username: KeggerMICHIGAN Post Number: 1212 Registered: Dec-03 | good stuff john. yo john and rantz if you guy's would be interested. and cover the shipping, don't know how much it would be. i'd say a 40 pound package in weight big enough to hold an amp. when i get some of these other ones up and running. i would extend the same curtousy as jan offered me. and let you do a test drive. don't know if that is practical coming from the u.s. though. who knows for an extra $150 you might be able to buy an amp. just a crazy idea! |
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Silver Member Username: MyrantzPost Number: 516 Registered: Aug-04 | Kegger, Great things have resulted from crazy ideas! But crazy for thinking of us? No way my friend. All I can say is thanks so much for what is a tremendous thought. But, yes, the cost to send such a package to Aus would be astronimical, then there's the customs and import duty people to deal with. And then there'd be accounting for the cost of the exercise to the adorable Mrs Rantz - I wouldn't be game! Your the best! My Rantz |
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Gold Member Username: John_aPost Number: 1982 Registered: Dec-03 | Kegger, MR has it, in one. You're a great guy. Not only would shipping to Europe (or Aus) be very pricey, but I am on the move, and don't know exactly where I'll be after January. As I said, I have moved too many times. One of the first things I think of when looking at places to live is "can I play music as loud as I like?". Mrs A. considers other things, of course. Rightly. But "home cinema" now means that making loud noises is not just me and my music. I cannot predict WAF values, MR, I am not calibrated that way. Our listening/viewing room looks partly like an electronics workshop, unlike yours and Ghia's; cables running everywhere etc. I think that if you want the best sound for little money, then it has to be like that. I will try to take a couple of photos to add the "Discoveries", and you will see what I mean. Mrs A. is very kind and supportive, though, and I sort of get let off in view of all the wretched cats we have roaming the place. As regards the WAF value of tube/valve amps, well the Graaf 50 W integrated amp in HiF News is at least in a fairly gorgeous box, is made in Italy, and looks pretty smooth, less like some some small electricity substation in your living room (though I could live with that). The Graaf has a sort of window in the front panel, so you can see inside. The LED channel indicators are inside the window. That may be an attempt at compromise between an acceptable WAF value and being able to watch your tubes glow. |
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Silver Member Username: Rick_bNew york Usa Post Number: 390 Registered: Dec-03 | Jan, I know about those Texas summers. I lived in Houston from '74-'78. We could always blast down I-45 to Galveston for a little beach relief. Been cool here in the suburbs of New York this summer. 56 degrees a few nights ago. Good luck with the painting project Kemosabe. John, Work as hard as you must. It happens to the best of us. Any chance of moving to the states on your next move? Rantz, Ah yes, the old WAF. For all of us who have lovely brides know this well. Mine is a saint to not only put up with this hobby, but me in general. I am a lucky man. She actually loves the "new system". Her comment was: It sounds a lot like the Maggies, only warmer and more life like. Do I have a keeper or what? Kegger, It sounds like you are having as much fun as I am. Keep on doing my friend, and report back. I promise a detailed review soon, just have to listen a little bit more. Cheers! |
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Bronze Member Username: Arnold_layneMadridSpain Post Number: 85 Registered: Jun-04 | Aah, that WAF! Can some manufacturer please make a mid-size loudspeaker in glossy fuchsia? Good angle, Rick. Much better if it seems to be a hobby, not a lifestyle. Will try that. Newbie question: should I say yes to having flowerpot on top of subwoofer? Is the low frequency degradation somehow compensated by improved "atmosphere"? :-) AL |
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Gold Member Username: John_aPost Number: 1986 Registered: Dec-03 | Rick, Kind of you to ask. I think the US is great, but I doubt the A. family could adapt. Also the opportunity is most unlikely to arise; though it nearly did, years ago. Anyway, I am feeling very positive about "going home" to the city in which I was a student, back before the flood. The place has changed a bit in the meantime. Still, I have many old friends there. I travel a bit, but am usually all wound up when I am at my destination, having to do things. I once drove across the US, Delaware to San Francisco. Mrs A and I hope to do that again, one day, but take longer about it. Arnold, I don't think subs are temperamental, like main speakers. If the flower pot is nice and solid and does not rattle or anything...well, try it. Of course the molecules in the flower pot should be aligned with the rising sun at mid-summer, or with lay lines or something. All that will be in the owners manual, I expect. Also remember that you will need to choose an audiophile species of house plant like Philomusica subwooferia. Wives tend to go for foliage rather than sound quality. There is no end to this dilemma. |
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Silver Member Username: Rick_bNew york Usa Post Number: 391 Registered: Dec-03 | Arnold, In the end the truth will prevail..... It is a lifestyle. As far as putting anything on the tops of any components, that's where I dig in my heels. (LOL!) BTW-a company called C.A.T. (California Audio Technologies) makes a high-end mid size speaker, for a modest upcharge will paint the cabinet any color you desire. Anyone for BMW Dakkar Yellow? Prices start at about $10,000 a pair. Wilson Audio will also do the same with the Watt Puppy for a modest $22,000 a pair. Let's see how the Mrs. feels about her fuchsia speakers.(LOL!) John, The best of everything where ever you land. The next time you get to the "colonies", you have a ticket to the opera on me. Make that any music venue you want my friend. Heck, we'll fly down to Dallas, hook up with Jan, and see just how much trouble three "old dogs" can get in. Cheers! |
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Silver Member Username: MyrantzPost Number: 517 Registered: Aug-04 | Arnold, The pots on our subwoofer and audio rack contain artificial plants - no watering accidents possible! Also, no accusations of cruelty to lesser lifeforms. Rick, Yes, a keeper for sure! Seems like most of us are very fortunate. Jan, There's free room and board available here should you become addicted to house painting! John A, in view of all the wretched cats we have roaming the place Be careful then with using kitty litter to fill you speaker stands - I'd keep a camera handy. |
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Gold Member Username: KeggerMICHIGAN Post Number: 1217 Registered: Dec-03 | allright so no dispersing amps. but hears a pic of the se-40 amp after the upgrades. every cap has been replaced and 80% of the resistors among other things.  |
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Gold Member Username: John_aPost Number: 1988 Registered: Dec-03 | More photos of Kegger's gear, also from My Rantz and Ghia, on Discoveries. MR, Thanks. Quality sound is wasted on artifical plants, I always think. Cat litter in the speaker stands can only help keep these particular cats away. |
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Silver Member Username: WryterNaples, FL US Post Number: 178 Registered: Jul-04 | Big voices - Big Wind. Yo, friends, Merri and I are back in Naples after a mixed-emotions week out in wonderful, but DRY Santa Fe. When we left, Charley wasn't yet a storm, let alone hurricane, so we'd left a lot of stuff out on the back patio. OOPS! A frantic call to neighbors got the potential flying devastators inside - but we still didn't know where the storm would hit. We sat in operas too beautiful for words, and wondered if we'd have a home to come back to. The storm missed us by 30 miles - and we only lost some trees, bushes, and part of the screening on the patio. Now, looking at the devastation, we know how close we came. Many of our favorite restaurants, etc., are gone, and the beautiful islands look like a giant lawn mower had come across them. Sigh. Will post more about the music and Santa Fe on the Opera Nutz thread - but just wanted to say that we are exhausted, relieved, and anxious to touch bases again with folks we love and respect. We got back Tuesday midnight - our luggage was just delivered an hour ago! Such is the nature of travel, I guess. Will try to play "catchup" when I get a bit more organized. Hope none of you EVER goes through a hurricane - even long-distance! Respectfully, Larry R. |
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Gold Member Username: John_aPost Number: 1998 Registered: Dec-03 | Welcome home, Larry. |
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Bronze Member Username: AsimoPost Number: 23 Registered: Apr-04 | Welcome Larry Was the hurricane part of the opera's schedule as in Porgy and Bess ? |
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Silver Member Username: WryterNaples, FL US Post Number: 182 Registered: Jul-04 | Asimo et al - (grin) no, but we did have an incredible shooting star arch across the sky just as Natalie Dessay was singing one of the most beautiful arias I've ever heard. A truly magic moment! Anyway - y'all won't be hearing me complain about my stereo system for a long time - my wife and I decided to give the few hundred dollars we'd saved up for a new CD/SACD player to the charities involved in Hurricane Charley. they need it much worse than we do! So - for now, we've yanked down the Onkyo's treble 2-4 db and boosted the bass 4 db - and find that the sound is the sweetest we've ever heard! Guess some psychological stuff involved there, eh? Can't remember which of you posted a long time ago that those of us fortunate enough to afford high-quality stereo should think of helping people who can't even afford radios. Taking him up on that, with thanks - and please help me out here, which of you posted that? (getting old) Anyway - we are safe and "sound" (pun intended) and glad to be back Online. Respectfully, Larry R. |
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Gold Member Username: KeggerMICHIGAN Post Number: 1249 Registered: Dec-03 | good to hear yu back lar! |
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J. Vigne Unregistered guest | Larry - Glad to hear you enjoyed the Opera (and Santa Fe, I presume) and that your losses were minimal when you returned home. I am assuming you are referring to a post I made on the "speaker cable shock" thread. Everyone on this thread has probably read it also, but here it is again: "One of the best suggestion I have seen recently on cables and accessories is for every $ you spend on those items, send an equivalent amount to a charity of your choice for those who don't even have a radio. It is GUARANTEED to make your music sound better even when your system is not turned on. Try it you'll like it!" I never know when my altruism will catch a thread but it's nice to know someone has actually taken me up on an idea that is, I believe, a wonderful way to enjoy music. I'd be willing to bet Larry has gone around humming a tune from Santa Fe knowing his money will be well spent. Applauso, buon ragazzo!!! Kegger - Very nice work on the amps. I'd be interested to know more about what you hear as you switch between triode and pentode modes of operation on your amps. The Macs have to be totally rewired to accomplish this, so I've never ventured into triode land for more than a brief listen in a shop. |
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Gold Member Username: KeggerMICHIGAN Post Number: 1266 Registered: Dec-03 | well jan my first impressions when i listened to the rogue audio amp was it sounded pretty darn good. then i realized it was in linear mode so i switched to triode mode. the system took on a new sound simular to when i went from solidstate to tube. just everything sounding smoother and less grainy. now the golden amp is allways triode so i can't switch. and lately that's all i've been listening to. so for a better report i need to listen to the rogue again. (switch between modes) which i will shortly because i want to compare the rogue and the golden. also you should get a notice from me by thursday of next week! |
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Silver Member Username: WryterNaples, FL US Post Number: 186 Registered: Jul-04 | JV - yes, I thought it had been your posting, but not sure. Thanks. This morning, BTW, the stereo DOES sound much better! GRIN Trying to play catch-up with all these threads, so will be doing more reading than writing for awhile! Friends sent us a gift certificate, and with that we'll be buying some new-and-better speaker stands - first time the English stands have been sold here in "the Colonies." They're "Alphason AD50" stands that I saw in Gramophone magazine. They'll be a lot more solid than my current, rather flimsy wooden ones. And yes, guyz, I plan to put some kitty litter inside the tubes! (does that really matter?) Respectfully, Larry R. |
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Silver Member Username: GhiacabrioletNC Post Number: 255 Registered: Apr-04 | Just read through this thread for the first time in awhile! Whew! Probably understand about 1/10th of it but can tell enough that the old dogs are having fun. Now about this tube stuff.....you've got me thinking.... |
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Silver Member Username: Rick_bNew york Usa Post Number: 394 Registered: Dec-03 | Hi Larry, Welcome back. Glad to hear all is well! Ghia, It's nice to see you back on the forum. Yes, the "Old Dogs" had a bit of a howl fest for awhile. Just blowing off some steam I quess. All, I promise to do that McIntosh/Spendor review this weekend! Cheers......... |
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