RichardP
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Posts posted by RichardP
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I just spent many hours last week wrestling with spyware/adware problems. I finally seem to have them under control. First I got Spybot Search and Destroy, then Ad-Aware, then SpyBlaster, then finally CWShredder. All are free (Google search will find the specific sites or else www.download.com has several to download), and each works slightly differently and finds different spyware. All can be updated. My main problem must have been the coolwebsearch bug, which CWShredder is designed specifically to find and destroy; my IE homepage was repeatedly hijacked, and numerous popups kept appearing even after running the first three freeware programs. AFter running CWS. the problems finally stopped. I also got the Yahoo toolbar, and it has effectively blocked further popups.
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I have read a couple of threads about favorite DVDs to use to demo your HT systems for friends, etc., but what about 2-channel music? Which CDs, or individual CD tracks, do you keep coming back to because they sound so good, because of separation, spaciousness, 3-dimensionality, etc.? I know that many will nominate Dark Side of the Moon, certainly a favorite of mine. Another one I find stunning is on Dire Straits's Brothers in Arms, specifically the "Money for Nothing" track ("I want my MTV.."). Someone on another thread mentioned something about Paul Simon's Graceland, which I own but had not listened to in years; they were right, the entire CD is wonderfully engineered. Let's hear about your faves. Maybe I own some gems but don't realize it.
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I am in Stillwater (75 mi directly west of Tulsa). Send me a message throught the Klipsch personal message system if you are interested.
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I will leave these for sale on this forum until this coming weekend, at which time I will list them on Ebay, with a buy-it-now price of $450, with same regional pick-up.
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oops, almost forgot about the risers. they look lighter than the speakers in this photo, but they are actually very close to the speaker finish tone.
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Concidentally, my folks and friends live in Charlotte, NC, but I won't be driving there until June. If they haven't sold by then...
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***MARCH 9*** Speakers sold on Ebay $450.
See my post with photos in the 2-channel forum.
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with front grills off. photo should have appeared in 1st post (?).
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the "ding" on the front edge on one.
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with front grills on.
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***UPDATE March 9*** Speakers sold on Ebay for $450.
I am selling a very nice pair of Klipsch Heresy speakers in walnut oil finish, with matching slant risers. I call these a 1.1-owner set; the same person owned these from 1981 until January 2004, at which time I bought them with plans to use one as a center speaker in my home theater system (w/Forte & Forte II). They sound wonderful, but unexpectedly I found better-matching Quartets only a month later (thanks again Dave, they are great!), so now I am selling these. They are in very good shape, and have only one ding (dent) worth mentioning on the front edge of one speaker, about ¾ x ¼ (see photo); there are no other significant scratches or marks. The consecutive serial numbers contain a W, indicating manufacture in 1981. These have the K-77-M tweeter, K-55-V midrange, K-22-E woofer, and Type E crossover. IMPORTANT: This is for in-person pickup only. I do not have original boxes or other materials for shipping at this time. I am willing to drive half-way (up to 150 miles) to meet the buyer. I am in north central Oklahoma, and if you are willing to drive a similar distance from your location, then this purchase is feasible for buyers located anywhere in Oklahoma, most of Arkansas, southwest Missouri, most of Kansas, the Texas panhandle, and the Dallas-Ft. Worth area. I can meet the buyer within my 150-mile radius on any Saturday or Sunday. Additionally, late in the week of March 15-21, I will travel to Columbia, Missouri, thus a buyer from the Kansas City and St. Louis areas could meet me in Columbia. I am asking the same price I paid, $450 (1/2 now, 1/2 at pickup), which is consistent with recent selling prices of Heresys on Ebay (and remember, no shipping costs other than your tank of gas). Check out my Ebay feedback (ID: mrbrb). If you are interested, and want to discuss delivery options, please contact me through Klipsch forum messaging.
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I would like some technical help in replacing the binding posts on my Forte IIs. I bought them used, and on one speaker, the binding posts were broken off at the medial hole, leaving only about 1/8 inch of threaded post. Also, the plastic nuts had been replaced with some generic ones which have a large diameter hole too big for banana plugs. I took out the speaker terminal cup to examine the posts, and see that the crossover is located directly behind the posts leaving only about 1/4 inch of space for the base of the binding posts. I looked at the binding posts on parts.express and another site, and many look like they would protrude inside much more than 1/4 inch. I contacted Klipsch parts, who said they do not have original replacements, but offered another type, at $1.88 plus $5 shipping. At that price, it doesnt seem like they would be of particularly special quality, so would it really be more or less equivalent if I just bought generic posts at Radio Shack for $3.99? Does anyone recommend any other binding post (with less than 1/4" inside protrusion)? Thanks for the info.
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Sorry no one responded before now. I commented in a past post how my RW-12 was DOA, a great hassle because it was shipped from a store 300 miles away. Fortunately, the store paid for all return and replacement shipping and I had a new one within a week. They said that the dead one had a loose speaker lead, and I presume they meant a wire connecting the speaker with the built in amp. There are a few other posts like this, with dead subs from the RW or RSW lines. Clearly, there is somw quality control problem
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My vote is for Miles Davis "Kind of Blue." Recorded in the late 1950s, it is a surprisingly clean sound and free of hiss and noise. I have read thata many jazz aficionados consider it to be the definitive jazz recording of all time.
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The new remix of Dark Side of the Moon for DVD was not done by Alan Parsons, interestingly, but by the engineer who has mixed most of PFs tracks since the 1970s (his name escapes me right now). He obviously built upon Parson's initial mix, making changes mainly in use of the surround channels. About a year ago an pair of articles appeared in Sound & Vision (formerly Stereo Review); the first one was an interview with the engineer who mixed the DVD, then the second article was an interview with Alan Parsons, who listened to the new mix and commented on it. It was certainly one of the most interesting articles to appear in that magazine in a long time. To echo the initial post, it is hard to believe how sophisticated the engineering was on the 1973 release. Remember that the band experimented with multichannel sound at their concerts, including large rear speaker banks in the concert venues.
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Well, to wrap up this thread... I called Dish to see if they would give me a good deal on a receiver upgrade to one with true Dolby Digital output. Only their digital video recorder models have true DD out. They currently offer one for $99. I told them that was a bit much, considering I only wanted the DD out, and am not really interested in the VDR capability. They then said that because I was a good customer (I pay $80/mo for the full movie package), they would sell me one for $60. I said I would think about it, and they said they would put a note in my account record about the offer for when/if I chose to take it. Called back one day later, and guess what? No record of the $60 offer, now only the $99 offer. I talked to two different persons, and both claimed that no one could have authorized a $60 VDR receiver offer. Those lying SOBs! I guess it's back to DirecTV. It sucks when there are only two games in town, and both leave a lot to be desired, both technically and especially in the customer service dept.
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Used DVD's
in Lounge
I have bought dozens of used DVDs and CDs from HALF.COM, the majority for less than $10. Formerly a used book online dealer, it is now owned by Ebay, and uses their feedback system for rating sellers and buyers. Until a year or so ago, they had an immediate refund policy if you received a defective item. Now, it is an arbitrated policy, where you are supposed to work it out with the seller, and if that doesn't work, half.com makes the decision. There are clearly two categories of sellers: individuals who are selling items they happened to have, and usually have feedback ratings of 200 or less; and then those who are "full time" volume ebay and half.com businesspersons, with feedback ratings of more than 1000. The latter are more likely to sell a defective disk, because the disk probably was not their own, and they don't know the condition of everything they sell. Almost all use media mail for shipping, which is usually $2.49 per item, and arrives anywhere from 3 days to 2 weeks later.
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Actually, Mr. Redtop, the KG 1.2, 1.5, 2.2, and 2.5 all share the same tweeter, which is the K-86 (and all are two way speakers, thus no midrange). The 1.2 and 2.2 have one K-1007 and two K-1008 woofers, respectively, and the 1.5 and 2.5 have a K-1018 and 2 K-1019 woofers. I don't know how much different the different woofers sound (especially ones with adjacent model #s), but I was under the impression from other forum posts that a match in the higher frequency drivers (tweeter, or mid, if present) is more critical than woofer matching. Of course, in 2-way speakers, the woofer handles freqs in the lower midrange, so differences in woofer models might sound different. If one can find exact matches, that will be preferable than mixing completely different ones. I just got a pair of 1.2s from Ebay to use as rears for my friend's 2.2s f-c-r, and it took a long time to find an auction for speakers with matching tweeters AND matching finish. Good luck to Chickey's friend.
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I have been watching Ebay on a daily basis for the past 2-3 months, both for myself and to help a friend set up a modest system as you are doing. There seem to be about the same number of auctions for Fortes (I and II) as there are for KG 4s, both of which are fairly frequent (3-6 pairs of each up for auction at any given time). The KG 4s go for $280-$350, while the Fortes go for around $400-$600. They are far more frequent than auctions for the smaller models, e.g., KG 2.5, 2.2, 1.5, 1.2, which I have also looked for. I can't say whether Fortes or KG4s would match the 2.5s better, but both would sound pretty good; I used my Forte fronts with a KG2.2v center for years, and was able to get quite a good soundstage across the front. Most posters here would say that the KV-3 will sound even better with Fortes. Also, one could get by for a while without a powered sub, as the Fortes have pretty good bass extension, for both music and movies. If you decide to bid on auctions for either of those speaker models, you would be wise to consider only those close enough for in-person pick up, because if the seller does not have original boxes, then he/she may or may not be able to adequately package them for shipment. Both are heavy speakers (50 & 67 lbs), and there was a recent story on this forum from a buyer of Choruses receiving them in splintered condition caused by inadequate packing.
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You guys have saved me a lot of hassle, if what you are saying is true about the "sham" DD optical out on the low end DirecTV receivers. Interestingly, I had looked at descriptions of receivers on some online dealers, and one dealer listed DD in the features of a specific model, while another site did not mention DD at all for that same model. That's consistent with what you state: there's a jack but not the circuitry. As far as the macroblocking, it's definitely not a signal problem, I am getting 120 out of 125 on the signal strength meter. It may be the receiver, although there are only 3 or 4 Dish receiver models, all OEM (I think), while several independent manufacturers make DirecTV receivers. In any case, I guess I will probably just have to live with it. I began as a DirecTV customer in 1995 before they started giving out free equipment, and paid $800 (!) for the receiver and dish, so I an not willing to pay out-of-pocket for any more sat equipment, higher end or not. Thanks for the decisive info!
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As a long-time digital satellite TV subscriber, I was wondering about other peoples experiences with DirecTV and Dish Network. I had DirecTV for several years, then switched to Dish a year ago. I immediately noticed a surprising amount of color blocking (macroblocking), i.e, in a scene with a large field of similar color, where there should be subtle color gradation, you can see a jagged border (of blocks) where one shade shift transitions to the next. I first noticed this on the Starz movie channels, specifically during LOTR: Fellowship of the Ring, although it also happens on other channels to varying degrees. My satellite installer's understanding is that it is a digital compression artifact, and that some channels will be compressed more than other channels, apparently based on an engineering decision about which channels get assigned the most bandwidth. Has anyone had much experience with both Dish and DirecTV and seen these artifacts? Is one companys compression process reliably better than the other?
My second question regards digital audio connections. Interestingly, some basic-model DirecTV receivers (incl. some installed for free) have the optical Dolby Digital output jack, while only the higher-end Dish receivers w/Tivo have it. I do not want a Tivo/VDR unit (and certainly won't pay for Tivo service), so I wondered if any of you think it is worth switching back to DirecTV just to get true DD sound decoding on the few movies which are broadcasted in DD?
Thanks for your observations.
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I too have Heresys for sale. Check your private message box for the description and delivery offer.
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This is some really great advice. Thanks! The near-consensus about 5 KG2.2s plus a small sub provides a definite direction. When I said $75 for the 2.2s, I realize I was thinking "per speaker." Coincidentally, one of the repliers above just got a 2.2V center off Ebay for $75. I also saw a recent pair of 2.2s which got about $190/pr, so I guess around $75-100 per speaker seems to be typical.
Further suggestions about inexpensive subs are welcomed.
Advice needed on buying a pair of Forte's
in 2-Channel Home Audio
Posted
I would ask for photos of front (w/ and w/o grills on), sides, top, and back. Look for dented speaker center on woofers and rear passive radiators, which would not be a problem, but is common for the unprotected rear cone. Look at rear connecting posts; sometimes they get broken off. Ask how they were used, i.e., quiet home at moderate volume, vs. party central blasting the windows out, etc. Try to see if any mold or mildew is evident, which could occur if stored in damp basement. Hopefully they weren't stored in a hot attic, either, which could dry out wood and maybe paper cones. Ask if they ever oiled the cabinets; they should have every couple of years, but not critical. Watch out for inflated shipping charges. You can use this website (front page, "classic classics") to get Forte dimensions and weight; add 2 or 3 inches to all dimensions and about 5 lbs apiece for boxes, then go to UPS website and calculate estimated shipping (as 2 separate packages). Pay for insurance; other people on this forum have described shipping nightmares in which speakers were literally split apart in shipping damage. $500 is OK for Forte's in good shape, assuming 8.5/10 or better condition. On Ebay, they go for anywhere between $400 and $600. See if the seller will readily declare that they are 100% fully functional and will refund $ if they are not (because of blown speaker diaphragms, fried crossover, etc.). If they are in good working order, you will love them.