jheis

arf&bark: As Emily Letilla used to say on SNL, "nevermind." James

Well, if he thinks Jazz is getting old -- maybe it's just him. There are quite a few "young lions" out there. Christian McBride, Charlie Hunter, Joshua Redman, Julian Lage to name a few. My pick for best Jazz Album of 2006 is Taylor Eigsti's "Lucky to be me." Eigsti is about 20 or 21 now and has been playing piano since he was 3! He opened for David Benoit at age 8, played with Dave Brubeck at age 12, and has been on the faculty of the Stanford Jazz Workshop since he was 15. I picked up "Lucky to be me" yesterday & I've played it four times already. (the title is from a Leonard Bernstien composition - not an ego thing). Check it out. Highly recommended! James

Stump the chumps - did it fix the problem? James

SOLD arf&bark: Highlights are: 4-Gang Variable Capacitor and Dual-Gate MOS FET in FM Front End and PLL MPX Circuitry FM Specs from the manual Sensitivity (IHF): 1.7uV (9.8 dBf) Image rejection: 82 dB (at 98MHz) I.F. Rejection: 90 dB (at 98MHz) Selectivity: 70 dB Capture ratio: 1.2dB AM Suppression: 55dB Output voltage: 700mV (75kHz deviation) S/N: 75 dB (75kHz deviation, mono) Distortion: Mono: 0.2% Stereo: 0.3% Stereo separation: 45 dB (1kHz) 40 dB (6kHz) 40 dB (100Hz) I think it pulls in stations pretty well, but here in the SF Bay area, we're in a pretty target rich area & I've never used it anywhere else. The only reason it's sitting on the shelf is the lack of pre-sets (and the fact that I've got 4 pre-amps with built-in digital tuners). James

SOLD Sheldon: Not sure what you're looking for, but I've got a mint condition Optonica (Sharp's premium line) ST-4405 stereo tuner that I'm not using. '80's Solid state. Analogue, so no pre-sets, but it's an attractively designed, good quality unit complete with manual, sales brochure, schematic and original box - $25 plus shipping. I'll take pic's and post them if anyone is interested. James

Take a look at (or more importantly listen to) B&K. Warm, bullet proof, rugged, reliable and built in the U.S. of A. I've got four B&K amps in my HT system, one in my office system, one in my BR system, and another out in the garage. I like 'em. Don't be afraid to buy used, 2 channel B&K amps can often be had on ebay for ~$200. James

I thougth lascaladan left in a snit after someone questioned his "facts" awhile back. Now we're back to the green magic marker thing? http://www.snopes.com/music/media/marker.htm What's next - Magic Pebbles? Geeze, how can we miss you if you won't go away?

Allan: Not to mention "Lush Life" and "Satin Doll." Didn't mean to denigrate anyone. Perhaps I should have said "much of" Ellington's success. James

It's coming, practice holding your breath. James

Mark: I agree, NeXT is (was) totally proprietary - even down to requiring a NeXT specific printer! And I know NeXTStep/OpenStep is just a smiley face on top of unix. I fell into mine almost by accident. One of my clients produces Steve Jobs' product intro's and things such as his keynotes at MacWorld Expo, etc. Anyway, my buddy had a Cube and he turned me on to the factory auction when NeXT closed shop in either '92 or '94 (I forget). He couldn't make it, so he asked me if I could attend the auction and try to pick up a couple of "metro carts" for his shop. I went, but unfortunately for my friend, they were selling metro carts in lots of, like 1,500. They were, however, selling the NeXT Cubes individually, so I bought myself what was then a $10k computer for $600. Also picked up three NIB printers at a subsequent auction (still have one factory sealed). Sure it's old and slow, but how fast can you type, anyway? The NeXT was built to mil. spec. and has NEVER crashed in the 13 to 15 years I've owned it. Oh, so the Mac isn't proprietary - it just has DRM - and only since the recent adoption of the Intel architecture. I have nothing against the Mac, they've spent a ton of money making unix slick looking and accessable - based on the NeXTStep/OpenStep OS that I know and love. I just happen to be an advocate for open source. The world may run Windoze, but I never will. I despise Gates and his predatory anti-competitive, robber baron practices. I consider M$'s control of the market to be the ultimate triumph of mediocrity. (I won't use Linspire specifically because it mimics windoze.) I've used a number of different Linux versions over the years, including Red Hat, SuSE, and JDS. I haven't found any of them to be particularly difficult to use. Of course, there sometimes are a few teething problems, but nothing like what I'm hearing about M$ products. Your Mom may not be able to manage it, but I can do everything I need to do using open source applications (all two or three of them). James

Mac stuff is great - but proprietary and pricey. I'm a firm believer in Unix and still run OpenStep (the forerunner of OSX) on my old NeXT Cube as my workhorse system. Along side that, I've been running Linux for about 8 years now on a couple of laptops - it does everything I need it to do, and I'm certainly not any sort of a computer guru. There are open source (free) alternatives for just about everything that's commercially available for Windoze. Sure, you sometimes have to do a little tweeking, but if I can figure it out, anyone can. Help is out there and freely offered. James

39 year slow motion train wreck.

Pick a flavor of Linux & give it a try. With the OpenOffice Suite, there's no reason to ever have to deal with MicroCrap again. James

I'm looking forward to seeing it. Our local PBS station is apparently "second tier," so we get things a week or two late. Strayhorn was the quiet genius behind Duke Ellington's success. James

I think you've nailed the problem. It sounds like you have your EQ connected between the pre-outs and the main-ins on your receiver (as mentioned above, ordinarily there would be short "U" shaped jumpers between the pre-outs and main-ins). In other words, presently, the only connection between the pre-amp (control) section of your receiver and the amplifier section of the receiver is through your EQ. If you disconnect your EQ, you have no connection between your pre-amp and your amp - hence no sound. Short RCA cables can be substituted for the jumpers. I'd move the EQ to one of the tape loops so that you can turn it on or off (or just get rid of it) and connect your CD player to Aux. James

Congrats! You'll never regret buying Cornwalls. James

mprh: Welcome to the forum & don't be so quick to get your knickers in a twist. I think Audio Flynn was trying to say it was a "question" for Klipsch technical (some of us are spelling challenged - that's what the edit function is for). Many of us have experience with a few Klipsch models, but not many of us have experience with all models. I think most would agree that (within the heritage line) there is an appreciable step up in the mid range with the La Scala, Belle, & Khorn. James

One of my law school classmates around 79-80 had a pair of Cornwalls that knocked me out. He ended up selling them because his girlfriend thought they were "nothing but bass." I didn't know they were for sale, but didn't have any money at the time anyway. In '83 I found my own pair of '81 Cornwall demo's at the Good Guys in South San Francisco and bought them for $782.63 (including tax and 50' of speaker wire) - still have the receipt & still have the Cornwalls. Round about '96 I answered an ad for some Klipsch speakers & the seller brought round a pair of KG2's. Turns out the guy had sold them to someone else, but one of the speakers had a bad driver so he took them back. Figuring I'd have to replace a driver, I offered him $50 - sold. The guy also brought along a B&K ST-140 amp in case I might be interested and, sucker that I am, I bought the B&K as well for $150. Took a look inside the speakers and the "bad driver" turned out to be a loose spade connector. The KG2's are still going strong in my garage system and the ST-140 was my introduction to B&K amps (I now have seven & the original ST-140 is still sounds sweet). Since then I've scored two pair of Heresys off ebay, another pair off craigslist, and a local pair of La Scalas from craigslist. Also rescued a pair of beat up KG4.5s from Goodwill in SF for $50. One of the tweeter voice coils was "blown," but BEC came to the rescue & I replaced both tweeter diaphragms - so I'm into them for $98. Perfect for the patio as soon as things warm up a bit. Think I'm done for awhile. James

Geeze, I thought it was about bowling. I mean -- they do call it the super bowl.

Shouldn't that be "Masterpiece Thebester?" James

boomac: I suppose because someone needs to be the Cassandra. The "disneyfication" of Vegas is a cynical (and successful) campaign to make gambling additction acceptable to the mainstream. I said my piece & will bow out now. Just remember - the free drinks aren't free. But, if you go have fun! James

Been to "Vegas," see no reason to ever go back. As I said - my opinion. YMMV. Vegas is organized crime with a smiley face - now trying for wider appeal as a "family destination." Anyone remember that Bugsy Siegal & Meyer Lansky pretty much founded Vegas with the Flamingo? Remember Sinatra with his mob connections? Anyone seen "The Cooler?" Not a pretty picture. If you think the mob walked away from all that easy money, you've got another think coming Not to spoil anyone else's fun, but it's just not the type of thing that appeals to me. James

Yeah, go someplace else. Vegas is the epitome of plastic, phony, rip off, sleazy BS. Just my opinion (and you know what they say about opinions). Lots of people seem to love it - for reasons I can't fathom. If I'm going to give my money away, I'd prefer to give it to people I like. YMMV. James

That's gonna ruin your upholstery! James

Jazz = kcsm.org James