Schurkey

Forgot to quote this part in my reply: "3D is for little kids, as it is nothing but a stunt. It is being pushed on the market instead of being asked for by the market"

Interesting. Just finished watching Inception; then this thread catches my eye. Saw it the first time in the theater; I liked it but I can't say I understood it. Things were much clearer this time. I can't say that the soundtrack jumped out at me. Maybe the $10-on-sale-at-Target DVD is a poor transfer? Maybe I just wasn't paying attention? My Spousal Unit and I were driving through New Mexico a couple years back. Wound up in some small town, and had to detour through some side-streets before joining up with the highway again. Seemed like there'd been an earthquake on Main Street. Buidings ruined, cars upside-down... ...Nope, just a set for the movie "Book of Ely." Couldn't wait to see that movie. When it was over, I actually apologized to the couple we went with. Woof. What a disappointment.

Yeah, that's what they said about stereo, when it was a new format. Producers didn't try to make it "natural", they played games with hard left-right positioning. And yes, that sucked. When the "new" wore off, and the music wasn't tampered with to produce the artificial hard left-right images, people accepted that stereo was superior to mono. 3D is just "stereo" for our eyes; and when they get done playing games with the format, it'll wind up more natural and less artificial. Every movie will be recorded that way. It's not the concept, it's the scripting. Yeah, I'm pretty sick of the actors pushing things towards the camera--spears, swords, etc--that aren't really justified by the plot.

Update: The Marantz VC-6001 just came back from repair (under warranty, thank God) Drawer wouldn't open, made popping/ratcheting noises, and immediately afterward the player wouldn't read discs. They repaired the laser circuitry; and apparently greased the drawer 'cause the drawer now works better than when it was new. $500 for a stinkin DVD player, and it lasts just over two years before sh!tting the bed. At least Marantz' warranty is for three years, and the service and turn-around at the repair facility (United Radio, NY) was first-class. Cost me shipping one-way; about $20. Oh, yeah. One more thing. This Marantz player looks JUST LIKE the crappy Yamaha it replaced. Like it came out of the same friggin' Chinese factory. Different front panel, but the "guts" inside are remarkably similar. Apparently, Yamaha and Marantz (and who knows how many other brand-names) are sourcing their product from the same nameless, faceless Chinese factory. Why does it have to be so impossible to get reliable and functional consumer electronics???

Perfect Sound Forever I've been buying Adcom GCD-600s as often as I can. (The GCD 700 is Communist Chinese, though.)

Based on quick research on eBay and Audiogon, that is a good price. There's a DH-200 for $175 on the 'gon at the moment. http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?ampstran&1233205471&/Hafler-DH-200-100-wpc-power-amIf YOU don't buy one, I'll let my buddy know about both of 'em. How about an Acurus??? $250 + FREE shipping, on the 'gon. http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?ampstran&1234492318&/Acurus-A150-Stereo-Amp---Bette

A friend of mine has had a DH-500 since the early '80's. He loved it so much that when he went "Home Theater"; he bought a bunch more from eBay. My buddy finally "branched out" and in addition to the 500s has also acquired an XL-600 and XL-280 in addition to more 500s, 200s and (I think) a couple of DH-220s. The '600 and the '280 have newer, more modern (expensive) housings, but are STRONGLY related to the older 500 and 200. Some of his stuff was built/sold as "pro" gear; he had to adapt to get around the 1/4" phono plugs on the rear on at least one of his pieces--might have been the DH-220???. Other friends of his are now also running the older Hafler amps; one had a pair of DH-500s, another has a 500 and a 200. The only problems he's run into are driver boards; and they're available new (upgraded) or used (stock) from Musical Concepts. One of his amps was DOA from a jerk eBayer; the seller claimed "shipping damage" when the problem was the leads had MELTED OFF THE POWER TRANSISTORS from being overdriven with a defective protection circuit. This gave rise to the notion that "FET" stands for "Flame Emitting Transistor". Again, Musical Concepts to the rescue. http://www.musicalconcepts.com/ He's as crazy about the older Hafler stuff as I am about Aragon.

Aragon D2A Mk II Aragon D2A2 (includes HDCD if that's important) Neither will support current high-sample rate/high bit formats but would be fine for CD/DVD at 32--44.1--48 sample rates. $300--$500 depending on condition from eBay or Audiogon

Might be "old" tech, but it's GOOD tech! 125 watts in pure "Class A" transistor operation. Runs kinda warm, though; and I have to admit that the Aragons make the little wheel in the electric meter move a bit faster...

From Klipsch-owned Aragon, although this amp was built before the Klipsch buy-out. This is the same circuitry as the Palladium 1K, but in the older-style chassis.

A couple of years ago, I upgraded to a multichannel DVD-A and SACD player. Decided to buy my first multichannel disc, the selection was pretty limited but I went home with Krall's Girl in the Other Room. Funny thing about musical taste. I must not have any. I couldn't force myself to finish the disc--and that's rare. Tried again later, same result. Life is too short to listen to that disc. Booooorrrrrinnnnnnggggg. Any of you big fans wanna buy the disc from me?

What can I say? It takes a SPECIAL kind of BONE HEAD to build a 5-disc carousel player--that won't play all 5 discs in series. That Toshitba player would HOLD 5 discs, but if you wanted to listen to all five, you had to MANUALLY advance the carousel at the end of each disc. There were other problems as well, but that was the one that caused it to leave the house. Put another way: the HK doesn't work well for whatever reason--got too cheap on the plastic gears and motors maybe. It "should" open the tray, but sometimes it won't. The Yamaha doesn't work well--it "should" read discs reliably; and it doesn't. But the Toshitba wasn't even INTENDED to work properly--the engineer clearly decided that there's a difference between HOLDING discs and PLAYING discs; and he just wasn't interested in playing them all. Every single one of them came off the assembly line and went into plastic bags that went into happy little cardboard boxes--and NOT ONE of them functioned like a carousel should. Why would a company that did that get a second chance? Toshitba used to make good transistors. Maybe they were good at building other individual parts--I don't know. I haven't seen any of their consumer products that looked to be worth a crap ever since I got boned on that DVD player. I'm gonna clean the laser on the Yamaha; and give it to a guy I know. If it works for him--fine. If it doesn't--at least it's out of my house. "Office Space" is sitting on the pile of un-opened discs; I'll have to watch it when the new player shows up. The H-K is in a second system that rarely gets used. I actually like that player--if you can get the drawer open.

Would you accept a communist made player if it met the rest of you criteria? I'm ashamed to say that I would. I'm so desperate for a player that genuinely works I'd even buy Chinese. It's not like there's much choice, the Communists are winning the trade wars; and American industry is totally in the toilet. It's a hateful situation, but it's also "the real world" right now. I'm looking at a Marantz VC-6001. At ~$500 it's well within my budget; and --supposedly-- works well although I don't see many consumer reviews of it. The 3-year warranty is a strong selling point. It too is Chinese.

Do any of you have a carousel DVD player that actually works right, and which would be worthy of recommendation? I am back in the market for a DVD player. I've owned several, they have pretty much all been J-U-C-K-I-N-G F-U-N-K, and I'd like to not make that mistake yet again. The Harman-Kardon DVD-50 carousel had a drawer that wouldn't open reliably. Very unsatisfying to have to push the "drawer open" button multiple times before it would actually open. It went back for warranty repair to fix a totally jammed drawer; but even afterwards it would occasionally fail to open the drawer. I had a very hateful Toshiba carousel that couldn't play all five discs consecutively. That unit was a COMPLETE WASTE OF MONEY, I'll NEVER NEVER own another Toshiba product. The Yamaha DVD-C750 carousel won't read a disc without skipping, locking up, or just failing to read it at all. I am so sick of having pristine discs that still can't be read from beginning to end without having at least one--and usually multiple--sticks and lockups. Does ANYBODY make a carousel DVD player that just plain WORKS RIGHT? The idea player would: 1. Actually work properly. Drawer opens, discs play without skipping or locking up. Carousel rotates to the next disc when done. 2. Not be made by Communists. I'll accept an Asian import; but I REALLY HATE supporting Communism. 3. Have a multi-disc carousel--5 or 6 disc capacity. I don't want a 400-disc unit. A single-disc player is acceptable if that's what it takes to get one that actually works. 4. Have analog multi-channel outputs, analog 2-channel outputs, and a digital (Dolby + DTS) output. I own ONE SACD and zero DVD-A discs--but--I'd still prefer the ability to play both formats. I need component video, and progressive scan. Upsampling would be a bonus but not required. In short, I expect what should be common multi-format compatibility but I don't actually care about Blu-Ray or HD. Getting Blu-Ray or HD is not even a bonus. Oh, sure, I'd prefer high-quality construction; I'd prefer that they used GOOD digital and analog parts and circuitry design; I'd prefer that it had a lifetime warranty, had remote codes compatible with a Phillips Pronto Neo universal remote, etc, but I just don't have much expectation for stuff in my price range (< $600) I could stretch that some if I absolutely had to; particularly if I had some confidence that the extra money was actually buying a player that would PERFORM PROPERLY. Thanks, folks!

Two words: Nearfield Listening