joshnich

Uturn turntables are good and affordable. I bought for my office system and have been happy with it. https://uturnaudio.com/collections/turntables?msclkid=054407539ce31cbab8375b7056934786&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=USA(EN)>Search>Branded&utm_term=turntable uturn&utm_content=U-Turn>Turntable

Had this very fine Brunello with Christmas dinner last night!

On the beach

For. Television and Spotify I would think one of the higher end Klipsch sound bars would fit the bill quite nicely.

Mostly tubes. Both vintage and modern. My main system is McIntosh with current issue Mc75 mono blocks and the C22 current issue preamp. I do change it up from time to time and use my benchmark AHB2 amps running as mono blocks driven by my benchmark dac3 as a preamp and dac. H e to say until the benchmarks I never warmed to SS. These are amongst the very few ss amps that I could live with. The benchmarks are in rotation now and they are awesome. I’m sure I will say the same with the Mac gear when I roll that back into play!

Let me check with my Beatles expert

I purchased one of these this past year and have to say it sounds amazing. If you are OK with components from China i would most certainly check out this guys ebay store. If he able to clone other manufacturers devices like he has this Pass design , I dont think you will find a better value. Now I do not know how long this stuff holds up but I do know it delivers. https://www.ebay.com/itm/PASS-AM-10W-10W-Class-A-Audio-Power-Amplifier-Hifi-AMP-Balanced-input/222153666558?_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20160727114228%26meid%3D1e1eacf72ef440a683e880a959d7b35c%26pid%3D100290%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D4%26mehot%3Dpp%26sd%3D222153666558%26itm%3D222153666558&_trksid=p2060778.c100290.m3507

@deang What do you think about these. I am not familiar?

I just recently bought the nobsound you referenced for my office. I am quite impressed. It’s a good representation of tube amplification. I have it in an area of the office we call the library ( don’t ask why because there are not many books in it). It driving a pair of blumenfield sound single driver speakers with a uturn turntable and a rega CD player as the source. I think it may be the first tube amp anyone in the office has ever heard and they cannot turn it off! I highly recommend the nobsound!

https://www.amazon.com/Winning-Ugly-Mental-Warfare-Tennis-Lessons/dp/067188400X

I’m not sure you can find the match on you tube. But the tactic you describe - hitting a short ball that forces the opponent to move forward and hit a forehand from mid court- was used to perfection when Manolo Orantes beat conners in the finals of the 1975 us open finals. It is the tactic that fed used to beat Rodick as well. In fact Stolle told me that he won the French by using a short sliced backhand that forced the opponent to move forward and hit a floater back. In other words good thinking!

Would be interesting to add an age component. Unless you are of an age when LP artwork was actually designed and part of experience I’m not sure you re gong to get “informed” opinions! When end you think of Velvet Underground’s Lp designed by Warhol and the stones Sticky fingers or the Beatles white Lp and compare them to the back of a cd. .....seriously?!

Oh btw. I’ll look for some videos of 50+ nationals or regionals.

I just turned 65 ( those photos are from 20 years ago) and am recently recovering from a ruptured Achilles and a ruptured tendon in my elbow. So I haven’t played USTA league in a few years. I knew my days were numbered when I was playing number 1 singles on my 4.0 team and ended up playing a guy who was around 20 years old. I asked him if he was in college and he replied “ I was in college but I’ve taken a year off to focus on tennis!” Yikes! So with my arm issue and my Achilles I don’t play many matches. The Achilles has recovered but my elbow is still an issue for serving. I do get out a least once a week to hit. More of a workout than anything. I’ll hit for a couple of hours with my pro or with my son - who hits the crap out of the ball. A couple of tips for you it is obvious , but the most important strokes in tennis are the serve and the service return. The good news is that you can work on your serve all by yourself. Placement and consistency are more important than power. Work on both first and second serves. Don’t go all out on your first serve , instead go for placement and and target your opponents backhand virtually 100% of the time. People will say to hit to the forehand on occasion to keep your opponent guessing but I disagree. Data will Support that approach. Your first serve is only as good as your second serve. So make sure you have a second serve that you can count on getting into the court virtually 100% of the time. A side bar story ...years ago on the very young pro tennis tour. Pancho Gonzalez was dominating the tour and was winnng virtually every tournament. In an effort to equalize the playing field a promoter staged a pro tournament that allowed for only one serve. Pancho won the event without having his serve broken. He could go so big on his first serve because his second serve was so good. In regards to your return. ... you just need to put it in play. Don’t go big on the return play the defensive percentages and just get it in. Watch the multiple Wimbledon finals between Rodrick and Fed. Roddick was a dominate server. Fed would just block the serve back into the open court frustrating Andy and not allowing him to get free points with one whack. I could talk tennis all day. It is a magnificent game and one you can cont use to play for a long time - injuries not withstanding!

I couldn’t resist Completely restored and upgraded 500c

Me and 12 time grand slam doubles champion Mark Woodford

Me with Charlie Pasarell and Vilas

Basketball and tennis are a great combo. Remember John Lucas the nba player? He played pro tennis as well. He was on the Golden Gaters - one of the original world team tennis teams. Again the movement and ability to pivot etc from basketball translate well to tennis. Marty Riesen , mentioned in my previous post, was an all American college basketball player as well. I believe his father was the basketball coach at Northwestern. It does require a subscription, but there is lots and lots of really good information on tennisplayer.net. Lots of videos of current and past greats from multiple angles. Also lots of great instruction information from top coaches. J

Glad you’re having fun with the game. It is a great game. It sounds like you are discovering the benefits of movement. Yes Rafa has power - but there are many players who hit with more power. His best trait is his defensive ability - based on his movement and anticipation. It’s no secret that the player who gets the ball over the net and in the court on the last point is the winner. I have played doubles in a couple of pro ams with retired pros. And the anticipation was the most eye opening aspect of their game. I played a pro am 30 years ago with Fred Stolle - a top Australian pro who in addition to many major doubles titles also won the singles title at the French. We played against the great Roy Emerson, Rod Laver and Ken Rosewall. As well as the really good Tom Okker ( US open finalist) Marty Riesen ( US pro champion). I still remember being side by side at the net with Fred and getting passed by Okker. My instincts told me the point was over. But low and behold, Fred Stolle who was standing aside me when Okker hit the shot was now at the back fence putting up a defensive lob - I couldn’t believe it! If you look at the the greats, they all were or are great defensive players and great movers. Borg, Laver, Mac, Emerson etc. There are the exceptions. Perhaps the greatest player who gets little recognition because he turned pro early and therefore did not compete at the majors until he was in his 40s was Pancho Gonzales. In conversations with Laver, Emerson , Stolle and more - Pancho was the best they played against. And he was all power. For pro men the average point is 5.5 hits. For women I believe it is 4.5. Rafas success is based on his ability to have his opponent hit one more ball. A successful model no matter what level you are playing. If you move as well as you say, a defensive game is the ticket to success. Way more points are won on errors than winners - even at the top of the game. If you are competing against 4.5 players after such a short time of playing you are obviously a superior athlete. In my leagues there have been many ex college players at the 4.5 level. One of my regular hitting partners was a ranked junior in CA and when he got back into the game after raising kids etc, played 4.0 in USTA for two years before advancing to 4.5. To be fair he has played in the nationals at the 4.5 level. At that level - at least in NorCal - can consistanly hit forcing shots of both sides. Flat and powerful forehand and the ability to hit slice and top on his backhand. Powerful serve and biting volleys. He played D1 college baseball as a shortstop and catcher so he is also a superior athlete. He is also the only 60 year I know that takes advantage of the tread warranty on his tennis shoes, So yes he still moves! Enjoy this great game!

Hello Jim, When I get back home from my current business trip Ill check my ridge inventory. Very open to try some Washington state wines. If you like ridge zins, you should try Dashe Cellars. Mike Dashe was the assistant wine maker at Monte Bello and now has his own winery in Oakland. He makes wonderful Zins in addition to a few other varietals . It’s a real art to make lower alcohol zins. He does. He works with growers whose vineyards have the appropriate micro climate that allows grapes to fully ripen with a more reasonable sugar content - the result being really awesome zins. Being a nascent grape grower, I have found it to be a very very hard thing to achieve. My current vintage, that is in the barrel, was picked at 24 brix . The resulting wine will more than likely be close to 15% alcohol. Not that higher alcohol means a less enjoyable or less drinkable wine - only that producing a California Zin at 13.5% is really hard. You cannot judge if the grape is ready to pick based solely on the sugar content ( that’s what i thought when I started doing this). You really have to check the color of the seeds. If the seed have any green, the grape is not ready - regardless of the brix. If you pick with less than ripe grapes the wine will have a bitterness that is unavoidable. Using Burgundian wines as an example - the cooler climate and lower height of the vines contribute the ability to make fabulous Pinots at 12.5% alcohol - because the grapes ripen with lower sugar content. . It’s no secret that great Pinots come from Oregon. Oregon is at the same latitude as Burgundy. Anyway that’s a long winded endorsement of Mike Dashe and his wines. He also makes a Cabernet that is 13.5% - again that is rare. There a number of winemakers in Ca who have the skill and access to appropriate vineyards who make wine that is fabulous but with lower alcohol - providing very well structured , complex and drinkable wines. Another wine maker who excels at this is Steve Matthiasson. He has his own label and in addition is the contract winemaker for some of the very best of this new ( for California) style of wine.

For me this has been an educational thread. I am not a big home theater guy but I do like a good picture. I have had a plasma Panasonic for years and I love it. When the bedroom vizeo turned everything black to green I went to the store to replace it with a panny plasma and learned that Panasonic was no longer selling TVs in the us! Rats rats rats! I had not spent a lot of time researching because after the short lived vizeo experience I had figured I would go with what I knew worked and lasted and now I had to choose from the likes of LG, Samsung and many others that I had no idea made TVs. Having no patience for figuring out I went with what we always used years ago in the edit bay, Sony. Back in the day the trinitron ruled in pro video. I know that is not the case today but I went back a trusted brand and so far the set in the bedroom has worked fine. Have to say I’m not fond of having to update firmware on a tv. What is this world coming to!

Joe pm me your address and I’ll send one of these to you. It works well if you really follow the directions ,

think I might open the monte bello

I do like to see Goff do well. Local kid & Golden bear. Haven’t seen him with the rams since I don’t much follow the nfl anymore but I did like watching him at cal.