Daedrian

An ealier post brought this one to mind. Team America: World Police. One of the few movies I was unable to sit through the whole thing. I love South Park, but this movie was stupid and incredibly annoying. After hearing them sing "America - F*** Yeah!" for the millionth time I was too annoyed to continue watching.

You asked for ideas for music to relax to - well I am about half your age so anything I might mention here might be a bit young for you but here goes. Commonly available stuff: Delerium: Karma - I have seen this album recommended serveral times on this forum, and for good reason. This is an excellent cd to unwind to. My favorite track is #6 - Lamentation. The albums Semantic Spaces and Poem are decent. Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance - I've seen these two recommended before as well - Both well know artists, both with a huge discography and relaxing to listen two. Less common stuff: I've been a fan for years, but lately one of my favorite artists to pop in the cd player after a hard days work sweating it out in the warehouse is Ataraxia. It's an Itallian group, some of the songs have some very beautiful acoustic guitar work. Francesca Nicoli's vocals can be a bit eccentric at times, but it is worth it to hear Vittorio's guitar playing. http://www.ataraxia.net/ Some Ataraxia samples: http://atarassia.free.fr/veules.mp3 http://atarassia.free.fr/theislan.mp3 http://atarassia.free.fr/whispers.mp3 http://nicolar.free.fr/clytaeme.mp3 http://nicolar.free.fr/mnemosin.mp3 http://nicolar.free.fr/aperlae.mp3 If you go to the discography section of their site you can listen to a lot of mp3 samples from their albums. Vittorio's solo cd is also good but also has Francesca on vocals. Stoa is another good group to relax to. http://www.stoa.de Samples: http://www.stoa.de/mp3/Stoa-part.mp3 http://www.stoa.de/mp3/Partus-part.mp3 http://www.stoa.de/mp3/Maare-part.mp3 more samples available on their website Dwelling - both cd's available are good, samples on weblink: http://www.equilibriummusic.com/dtltitle.php3?AlbumID=932 Anima In Fiamme - Sub Occasum Solis - samples on weblink: http://www.equilibriummusic.com/dtltitle.php3?AlbumID=013 Black Tape For A Blue Girl - This Lush Garden Within, I find this cd relaxing as well. If anyone is interested in any of the less common recommendations and lives in the U.S. they can be ordered from http://www.projekt.com/ or http://www2.mailordercentral.com/isotank/ I have ordered from both sites in the past with good results.

I try to avoid playing a cd to death. Some cd's currently in my rotation are: Vittorio Vandelli - A Day of Warm Rain in Heaven Sopor Aeternus - La Chambre D'Echo Haggard - Eppur Si Muove Mira - Apart Nile - In Their Darkened Shrines Jazzanova - In Between

Well I just watched The Butterfly Effect. IMO it's not worth buying but definitely worth a rent. Kutcher's acting wasn't great, but was adequate for the film. Does anybody know the name of the Artist/Song that is playing when Kutcher and his girl are in college and he takes her to a private dinner right before he finds out his car was smashed up? I would have liked to be able to hear the whole song.

Speaking of trip-hop, my recommendation of the week for the 'under 30' crowd is the cd "Londinium" by the band "Archive." It's a very overlooked but excellent cd. In my opinion this cd surpasses anything put out by the likes of Portishead or Massive Attack, etc.

It's nice to know such kindness and generosity still exists in this world. Gary you are one lucky dude. Bass656, I don't know you but that was a very kind and selfless thing to do, and I respect you for it.

---------------- On 7/20/2004 6:03:32 PM NOSValves wrote: I think if someone is going to give away a amp it should go to someone that has never experienced the joy of tubes. Last amp I gave away went to young Justin who is off to college now. Craig ---------------- I agree, I applaud Neo's generous offer. However, it seems somewhat of a waste though to give it to someone who already has experienced tubes, has an expensive tube setup, and the means to buy an eico of their own if they really wanted one. I think it would be much more appreciated by someone who doesn't have a tube amp and maybe would have a hard time affording one. But in the end it's Neo's amp and his to do with as he wishes.

I think this is a really interesting thread.. For my recommendation I choose the cd "Elodia" by the band "Lacrimosa." It is an amazing blend of metal and symphonic orchestra. All songs except one are in german language. All song were written by Tilo Wolff, but the recording of the album involved 187 musicians including several choirs and the London Symphony Orchestra. There's a review on amazon by Mr D that is pretty in depth if you want more info.. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00001ZTFY/qid=1089851544/sr=1-4/ref=sr_1_4/104-4137841-9435927?v=glance&s=music "Stille" is another great cd by Lacrimosa.

At the moment I'm listening to "Lost Control" by Anathema, off the album Alternative 4.

Decision Made! http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3075730540&category=3280

Thanks for the advice guys, I'll continue to keep my eyes open for a good deal on a vintage amp on ebay. I may just end up getting a used Cayin or ASL though, should be a fairly inexpensive way to try a first tube amp. Do you guys reccommend any specific cables or places to get them to hook my cd player to the amp, and my amp to the speakers? Nothing super expensive though, all these costs are adding up.. To paulparrot- Is Edmunds wait of 2 months due to shipping times? Or because you have to wait for it to be built first?

I recently purchased a pair of Chorus II speakers on audiogon, I should be picking them up next weekend. However I don't have an amp/preamp yet. I definately would like to try tube amplification. However there are so many options I don't know what to get. After doing a lot of reading in this forum I was thinking of getting a Scott 222c/d or 299c/d. But with so much talk about the scotts lately, the prices on ebay seem to be kind of high lately. Are there any other vintage amps I should be looking out for that will give me a similar quality sound, such as Eico-81, etc? Also I have considered getting newer equipment such as Jolida, Cayin, Norh, etc. Either new or used would be ok. Aesthetically they sure are a lot easier on the eye than those old vintage amps. Are there any brands/models for around $800 or under that would sound near as good or better as a Scott? Please list specific brand/model #'s. Recently online I saw a Bez 2A3 single end power amp Model:T3A by Edmund Lam, has anyone heard this and is it any good? I've read that his pre-amps were nice.. Some information that might help your advice - I live in an apartment so low wattage would be ok. I can't listen super loud anyways because of neighbors. I don't listen to the radio so I don't need a tuner. I don't and never will own any records. I don't own and will probably never own any SACD's, the music I listen to is too rare to have an SACD for it. I listen to a wide variety of music, from metal to neo-classical, trip-hop to industrial... I've been lurking in this forum for a couple weeks now and it seems you have a great community here. A lot of nice, friendly, helpful people. I'd appreciate any advice you guys could give

I've never owned a decent pair of speakers and am looking to buy a pair. I've heard a lot of good things about Klipsch speakers but don't know really what to get... I don't have room for a whole 5.1 type home theater setup in my apartment so I'm just looking for a nice pair of speakers mostly for listening to music but also for the audio when watching a dvd. I don't really want to spend more than $500-700 dollars on the speakers. I live in an apartment and my living room where the speakers will be is about 12ft by 12ft. I listen to a lot of different types of music - Metal, Neoclassical, rock,, I don't have a receiver yet, I'll worry about that after the speakers. The reference series seems nice but I think out of my price range for new ones. I've been looking at used speakers on ebay - clearly cornwall, la scala, chorus, etc are out of my price range but I could probably get a pair of Heresy's or Forte's. Which one is better? I also see some other speakers on there like KG-4.2, KG-other #'s, Epic CF3, Quartets. What are your opinions of these and what do they go for? Any other speakers I've not listed you would reccomend? I've noticed a lot of the older speakers are three way with two different horns and a woofer while some of the newer ones like Reference and Synergy are only two way. Why is this? Doesn't the 3 way sound better? Well thanks for reading this, I appreciate any advice you people could give me