sunnysal

that's what I love about this B-board, the community aspect. We all will be waiting to hear the results of Randy "X-off"...tony

As a New Yorker living "temporarily" in Central America (ten years now and counting), the triad of realities of international shipping, customs and "may the buyer beware" have become cornerstones of my life as an internet consumer. I have paid $600 in import duties for $100 in wooden picture frame materials. I have recieved all manner of electronics with dings, crushed corners and even with so many lose parts inside that they sounded like a Maraca when you moved them. I have bought goods that were totally mis-represented only to find that I could not ship them back a reasonable expense even if the seller agreeed to take them back. I have slowly and painfully learned lessons that have reduced the incidence of dismay. A few of my golden rules: 1. I carefully check out a seller before buying anything, past performance DOES serve as a good indicator of the future in retail. 2. I carefully research the physical and operating condition of any item before buying or shipping, at least documenting with photos and the sellers wirtten words the condition of the item before shipment. 3. Every item sent to me is shipped via a reliable shipper, UPS, DHL and one or two local/regional companies with which I do business regularly and thus have some leverage, just in case. 4. I dictate, and pay for, special packing to ensure I minimize the chance of damage in transit. Double boxing, plastic wrap, foam peanuts, etc. whatever I would do to try to pack each item to protect it maximumly from damage. (this does not always work since I may not be an expert on the best packing for all items, I learned this when I recieved a center channel speaker with both woofers "shot" out fo the cabinet, it had been mounting in expanded foam, plastic wrapped, triple boxed, but the laws of physics won out). and lastly, 5. I demand that all shipments are insured and make sure I understand how to place a claim. Re: Myram's responsability, I would hope a seller would back up his sale by ensuring a favorable resolution. My view (admitting I am a buyer almost always) is that if he fails to deliver the item in good shape he should re-imburse the buyer and get his money back via the insurance. If he did not want this responsability he should of, up front, informed the buyer that he could not guarantee safe delivery and that the buyer would have to take charge of shipping and insurance. Terrible when this happens but at least you know you are not the only one who has had that "spoiled Christmas morning" type of moment. I wish you the best and hope Myram makes good on the deal. Regards, Tony

congrats Randy! I will be waiting for your post about the change in sound with the Cary unit versus the passive Creek unit. Hope it "bumps it all up a notch"...regards, tony

edster and I can both vouce for the "short wire risk"! be careful! regards, tony

I love the holy war aspect of audio..don't you? I had heard differences in transports demostrated to me in the past but did have any idea why...mdeneen just elightened me as to what could causes the differences in sound, I didn't realize all that was going on before the DAC...of course I may be nuts because I hear differences in cables too! enjoy! cheers! tony

Happy birthday TOM!!!! "my hovercraft is full of eels"

John, I, for one, will be waiting with great anticipation for your news...regards, tony

ken, what about replacement earpads? I have the same problem with my Grados but every couple of years I replace the ear pads....et voila! almost new...before buying the sennheisers be sure you can get a good supply of replacment earpads in the future...I might worry because it seems they tend to change design details over time and I do not know if it affects the earpieces...grado alomost NEVER changes, and keeps the same chassis' so I am assured parts supplies until the second coming! regards, tony This message has been edited by sunnysal on 08-31-2002 at 11:04 AM

JC, the k-horns were my last set of speakers...if you have the scratch and the room for the k-horns forget the cornwalls, you won't miss'em...ood luck, tony

I clipped one tine off my spades and slipped them in that way...has worked well to date...tony

I turbocharged my k'horns...my biggest problem is getting the EGT up high enough...

I hated school BUT now recognize the value. If you are lucky enough some day to get a really great job and move forward and upward througout your career I can guarantee you that often you will look back fondly on those precious few years you were studying. Hey maybe I should go back and get my Phd! LOL! regards, tony

I have no problem accepting that cables act as filters in some respects and that they are just one segment of a very long signal chain. that is why I tried various types of cables until I got certain ones that sounded good in between certain components, those that sounded best to me stayed. I use the *what sounds good to my ears, with my music* method of selecting cables and components for two reasons, one I am an veritable dim-wit scientifically speaking and two, I have never found specs, reviews, etc. to correlate that directly to what I was most pleased by in my own room with my own equipment and music. So now I am a listen and decide kind of guy, happily so I might add. If the filters sound good more power to them! regards, tony btw way kris the kimber hero and audioquest diamondback sounded great to me in the under $200 range This message has been edited by sunnysal on 08-26-2002 at 11:43 AM

You could go with some of those ratshack or "from the box" stuff, many people do not hear any differences in cables. I do, and thus spend some money on upgrading that part of my signal chain....everything depends on price range...but for those components something from Audioquest, Kimber, Monster or MIT in the $100-200 range should be about right...I personally have been very impressed with Audioquest products. regards, tony

yeah, the Mclaren I ordered in January hasn't arrived yet either, sucks doesn't it? No seriously, waiting for such a cherised item is agonizing, like kids we want them right away. kinda like when you're 10 and are trying to sleep before christmas morning. I hope your belles arrvie soon so I can be really, REALLY jealous of you! warm regards, tony

the common wisdom on sorbothane feet and vibropods, etc. is that they damp vibration, dissipate it. William mentions that it they allow the player to move, but I think that if we want to stop vibration from affecting the player it is valid to want to create an interface shelf-component with materials to dissipate the vibration at the point of transmission. Isolation from vibration combined with dissipation/dampening in the two directions: component<-->material<-->shelf makes sense to me. regards, tony This message has been edited by sunnysal on 08-23-2002 at 11:11 AM

Mike re: foam, remember I was thinkiing of a temporary thing to firmly prove it is vibration from the floor-rack-player ruote that was causing the skipping. just take a pillow or coushin form the couch, whatever and place it under the player for five-ten minutes and wild with the volume, if it does not skip then eveyrone can reccomend vibration isolators (like vibropods, etc.) if it does skip while resting on top of a pillow, it is not vibration from the shelf-floor and we need to look eleshwere for the cause...try it. tony

just remember good ole tony who pulled the access door off and yanked the plate right of his woofer! aaarrgghhhh! glad the wire trick worked...may try it sometime when I work up the nerve to take that door off again...lol! tony

ok tom...done, I cast my vote for angelica, she has my best wishes! regards, tony

Mike it abslutely sounds like you need to isolate or move the Planet. Just to make sure before investing in any expensive isolation methods...why don't you do what silverfox suggested, find some foam and place it under just to see if isolation stops the problem? then you can spend on the nice looking isolation stuff. I have used some meium density foam padding under my equipment and it works, ugly yes, but it works an inch or so thickness should do it...good luck, let us know what happens, tony

No hiss, hum or scratching from my 7T I tell you in all honesty is was the best purchase I have ever made (besides my K-horns of course!). I had been saving for a 7C but after hearing this unit in my system I forgot that quickly. As they say, highly recommended. I will tell you I had old caps and some of the resistors (the ones in the signal path) replaced. regards, tony

Andy, I personally feel that vintage tube stuff will be heaven with your k-horns! Scott, Leak, Eico, Dynaco...all that stuff can be found a low prices and if you like to solder well...than swapping some caps and resistors, et voila! audio nirvana. At this point, when price is a primary consideratio I feel vintage is the only way to go. The super low cost tube stuff out there new does not seem to have the same tube magic as the vintage stuff for the same price MHO, YMMV, etc., etc. BUT I am quite happy with my cheapo Dynaco MkIV monoblocks and Marantz 7T driving my k-horns. cost? after upgrading, about $1,200 for the pair. regards, tony

hahahah SS versus tube...I love THIS battle...I hvae both (as most of us do) and listened to a wide variety of both. with my K-horns there is no doubt that my tube amps sound better than SS amps. Not to say there are not great SS amps out there. some Pass stuff sounds great (especially those class A only alephs), some Krell stuff, some McIntosh stuff, I am sure many, many sound good. BUT I remember that many, many tube desginers mention that they could get pretty much the same sound from either technology, that it is more expensive to get equivalent sound from tube equipment than it is from SS equipment. I quote an interveiw with Tim de Paravicini where lays out some thoughts on tubes versus SS for him... "The "warmth" in a lot of tube electronics is due to their dismal top end, the bad transformers they use, and the loading down of their high-impedance outputs. Because of the output transformer and the feedback used, many tube circuits have a partial bass instability that gives a bloated bass. Any warmth in the tube sound is a defect, but listeners don't want to know that. I don't have to use tubes in my designs; I only do it for marketing reasons. I've got an exact equivalent in solid state. I can make either type do the same job, and I have no preference. People can't pick which is which. And electrons have no memory of where they've been! The end result is what counts. Most transistor-circuit architecture was different from tube-circuit architecture, and that's what people were hearing, more than the device itself. The main advantage of tubes is that an average tube has more gain than an average transistor. Second, tubes don't have the enormous storage times of transistors, so they are very fast. Tubes go to 100 MHz without trying." I have heard basically the sam ething from most of the top amp desginers, some have dropped tubes altogether because they get the sound they want at the price they want from SS, or would prefer not to have to spend so much and pay some much attnetion to construction to get the sound they want form tubes, others continue to develop tube gear...seems a toss up to those who know (I certainly don't) so it comes down to listening for what sounds best in your individual system at a price level you can afford. (we have all heard THAT before) I say ignore whether its tube of SS, pick a price level, take into account your surrounding components and give both a whirl in listening tests, you can't lose that way. warm regards, tony

congrats on joining the k-horn family! I am sure they will give you a lot of musical enjoyment. Post the rest of system we are always interested in seeing how fellow members drive thier Klipsch speakers. Regards, tony

WOW! nice setup! it once again reminds me that my "Home theatre", with it's 29" tv is a joke! For some things size DOES matter! that must give you and your family a ture theatre experience! congratulations and jealous regards, tony