Zealot125

True, but my goal was only for them to work on the Ipod, which does play VBRs.

Couldnt have said it better myself. But dont be too quick to judge MP3s on that one experience. You dont even know what enoder was used, nor at what bitrate. Though I agree with uninvolving aspect of low-quality MP3s my original objective was just to let people know that to my virgin ears (if you will), I cannot tell the difference between a well encoded MP3 at a high VBR, and the real thing.

Good point, except my bitrates rarely drop below 192 kbps, and when they do, it is silence.

"Midrange reproduction was accurate and crisp, but bass was severely lacking, which is surprising given the Reference series significant cabinet depth. Perhaps its horn tweeter system is so strong that the woofers are simply overpowered. Whatever the cause, there is a noticeable hole in their frequency response and a powered subwoofer is a definite necessity with the Klipsch Reference speakers I reviewed. The lack of bass problem notwithstanding, the Reference series speakers have exceptional dynamic range." I dont know what they listened to, but I KNOW that when set up correctly, RF-7s will knock the snot out of your nose with bass.

What you say: What I hear: "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!" Sorry, couldnt resist. [] In your heart you know that you want the THX subs. I call your bluff.

I would hope that everyone here shares that opinion. WAV is uncompressed, uncompromised music, which is exactly what was on the cd. It doesnt get any more accurate from a CD source.[] In comparison, both FLAC and Apple Lossless are at the same quality level as wavs, but they take up less space.

Apple has a compression called "apple lossless" which is another of the good compressors out there. Whether it is native or not, I dont know; I dont have a mac. Anyways like FLAC it is lossless. Also, ont he topic of VBRs I really dont follow your logic. The way the algorithm was explained to me, it only uses a lower bitrate when it would be impossible for the listener to discern the degradation in quality. In extemely simplified terms, it could be loosely compared to instead of recording silence in the music, telling how long that there should be silence. Not sure if that is accurate or understandable, but this chart on hydrogenaudio claims that V0 (preset --extreme) encoded with LAME are pretty much exactly the same quality as 320 kbps CBR, but takes up less space. http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=LAME

The thing is, I have a fileserver "in the sky" consisting of around 750 GB storing music, movies, tv shows, data, and everything in between. I have plenty of space. I wholeheatredly agree that OGG is better compression with better quality, but with my investement in an Ipod, I must make due with MP3s. In the future, I will end up ripping all of them with FLAC as well, just for archival purposes, but for the sake of having high quality music wherever I go, MP3 VBR with LAME is the best one can do with an Ipod.

The LAME encoder is significantly, audibly better. The best, some would say.

Well, Im going to have to take a rian check on the orchestral comparison, as his HT is unavailible at the moment. However, on a side note, I compared MP3s encoded at 320 kbps CBR by the windows MP3 encoder with LAME encoded VBR MP3's ripped with the "preset --extreme" setting (VBR b/t 192 and 320kbps). Frankly, I was stunned by the quality transition my the LAME encoder. I was able to pick out the LAME MP3 every time in a self-blind test. Well, its time to re-rip all of my MP3s. The VBRs even save space!!!

Thats a great idea! Tomorrow the testing continues with Mozart, Wagner, Dvorak and Greig.

Well, I took it upon myself to do some blind comparisons using a friends music room. For the sake of purity, we kept all testing conditions constant, including household noise. We listened on a 2.1 setup 2 RF-7's and a RSW-15 run of of a Denon (3801 or 4801, something like that, not exactly sure right now) at identical volumes and listening distances one person at a time. MP3's were ripped with Exact Audio Copy utilizing LAME encoding at 320 kb/sec CBR sample rate and VBR sample rate varying between 128 and 320 kb/sec. Audition music was various tracks from Dream Theater's Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, Steely Dan Aja, The Very Best of Chicago, Alice in Chains Greatest Hits, The Best of Blood Sweat and Tears. After blind testing, it is now apparent to me without any analyses whatsoever that the results are completely random. I can see no trends whatsoever. This either means that we are inexperienced listeners, or that there is little or no audible difference unless you were a music connoisseur with an anechoic chamber with Khorns on an amazing amp. I would be happy to perform a T-test to rule out any significance in the data. May not be an extremely scientific experiment, but it proved a point to me.

So given the choice, you would take two of these THX subs over two RSW-15s right? Would either set be more musical than the other? I am assuming that the THXs will go lower, but which sounds *better*. I have no way of actually listening to either (alone or side-by-side) so I must go by all of your collective wisdom.

for any Ipod buffs out there a few simple questions. Can Ipods play VBR MP3s? Can Ipods play ogg vorbis with an extra codec or firmware adjustment? Thanks in advance.

I liked the look of those "massive bass woofers". []

You dont need the media center edition to rip dvds....look for a piece of software called DVD Decrypter. Sony sued the guy who developed it, so the only version that is still availible for download is outdated, but it has worked for all of the DVDs that I have thrown at it. Eventually, a new copy protection will render it useless, but for now, it works. The DVD decryter rips dvds into an IFO and a VOB file. Then download a program called Auto Gordian Knot, which will encode these files into an avi file, which is basically a compressed version of the movie. You can decide what kind/how much compression, or you can give the program a target like 75% quality of the original DVD (still looks a thousand times sharper than VHS) and it will encode accordingly. This process is not particularly user-friendly, so if you dont feel confident with configuring these programs, then it is not for you. Also, in order to work as a TIVO, you will need 1 or 2 TV tuner cards (nvidia makes a great one). You'll need 2 if you want to be able to record a program and watch another at the same time. Again, the special edition is not actually REQUIRED, its just user-friendly.

Mink oil, thats what I use on my kangaroo leather soccer shoes...

Take a look at the new Pontiac Solstice, it looks slick, and my uncle really enjoys his. They run about 21k, so not bad. Just a suggestion. EDIT: Forget that, I thought you typed 30k instead of 3k. Disregard my ignorance please.

My PMUs sound great in close quarters, but RF-7s for example sound awful up close but thousands of times better with some space. My question is, what determines whether a speaker sounds good for near/far field listening?

Bobby Kimball - Toto A real unsung hero in my eyes. I just love the sound of his voice.

Another couple... http://cgi.ebay.com/Klipsch-RSW-15-Subwoofer-Pair-of-RF-7-Floor-Speakers_W0QQitemZ7363400843QQcategoryZ1288QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem http://cgi.ebay.com/Klipsch-RSW-15-Subwoofer-Pair-of-RF-7-Floor-Speakers_W0QQitemZ6986674185QQcategoryZ616QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

OK, nice job.

This MUST be a scam. http://cgi.ebay.com/Klipsch-RSW-15-Subwoofer-Pair-of-RF-7-Floor-Speakers_W0QQitemZ7194001580QQcategoryZ16043QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem But the guy has positive feedback. A hijacked account maybe?

This may be beside the point, but I do belive the Passive rad on the RSW 15 is on the front and the active driver does fire backwards "into the wall" if you will. There may be a reason, but correct me if I am wrong.

Did I hear the word "corners"? [H]