skonopa

That is something I seemed to noticed. After listening to something truly awe-inspiring such as the Project Creation or the Ayreon albums, than listening to something being played on Top-40 radio, I am just amazed at how banal and truly vapid the mainstream music scene as truly become in the past few years or so. Oh yeah, I am quite familier with Robert Fripp and his work. Indeed! It really is cool to see some of these musicians that seem to come out of nowhere and just blows me away with thier musicianship and talent. There are some really interesting things that I've heard in this scene. Take bands such as Leprous, or Arcturus, or even Diablo Swing Orchestra, and you'll see/hear some truly innovative and unique sounds and performances there. At the last ProgPower during the "after show" party that typically takes place in the court-yard of the Artmore hotel that is right next to the venue, I must've spend I don't know, how many hours just chatting with the lead singer from Leprous. Really cool guy that just loves what he does and cares about the music and treats it as the artform that it really is. And about intimit shows, this Jaxx nightclub that I like to go to a lot, which is just north of here in Springfield, VA. I am practically standing right on top of the band when I go to these shows. Sometimes, I actually gotta be careful when throwing the "devil horns" and what not, lest I accidently clunk the singer in the head (it's happened) or what not. One girl accidently knocked the guitar pick out of the guitarist's hand during one show. He just grabbed another off the mic stand and kept right on going - don't even think he missed a beat. Case in point - the lead singer (Timo Kotipeltto) from a Stratovarious show a few years ago. I actually had to stand back to get that picture, as I was standing directly in front of the guy: I can see what you mean. I guess many of those bands don't want to alienate to much of thier cult following, but that is just a hypothesis on my part. I have no way to prove that. However, I did go and check out this Umphrey's McGee band that you mentioned. Like I said above, never was much into these jam bands, but I'll have to admit that I really like a lot of what this Umphrey's McGee outfit has put out. I can see where you get some of the prog metal references, such as the track "Bright Lites, Big City" off thier The Bottom Half album. Certainly not near as heavy as what I am used to (listen to Section A's latest one, Sacrifice, and you'll see what I mean. For that matter, even James LaBrie's lastest solo effort - holy crap that friggan rips! [6]), but still pretty darn cool. This may be one outfit that I actually would not mind attending a show to see. I was checking it out on eMusic, as they have much of thier material available.

Granted, I was never a real "phan" of Phish or The Grateful Dead or these other so-called "jam-bands". However, I can certainly relate to your love of live music. Just Friday night, me and a couple of my friends went up to Jaxx in Springfield, VA to see Firewind. Over the next couple of weeks, I'll be going up there again to see Epica and then later, Blind Guardian. In addition, I also got 2nd row seat to see Trans-Siberian Orchestra coming up in two weeks as well. That is in Richmond, VA. My ultimate live music experience for me is going to be ProgPower USA which has been held in Atlanta, GA for the past 10 years. This is a 4-day festival (starting out with a very intimate "Midweek Mayham" on Wednesday night, and concluding with the final headliner of the main event Saturday night/Sunday morning). This is a much more intimite affair than even those Phish concerts, as we are talking at most, maybe 1,700 attendies. For the past two festivals and the one upcoming, I am have also now been an actual sponsor of the festival. That entails actually sponsoring one of the bands that plays there. This is an incredible experience for me, as that also means I get full VIP access to the show, not to mention getting to hang out with the bands back-stage and what not. Not only that, this festival is often the only place you actually get to see some of these bands perform live. For example, this upcoming one (ProgPower USA XII), will feature a very rare performance of Sanctuary, which is re-uniting. Not only that, but the only USA/North American appearance of Therion. The particular band that I am sponsering, Eldritch, this will be only their second tiem playing the US. Last year's band, DGM, was thier first. Another feature is that after the Friday night performances end, there is a video that is presented to announce the next year's line-up. Talk about being like a kid on Christmas morning! Needless to say, I was literally jumping in my seat when Eldritch was announced for next year's line-up at this last one, which was the band I put a sponsorship bid in for. But yes, I've also been on this forum for 10 years myself and wholly agree with your final paragraph. To me, it is truly all about the music and just having a very nice setup to listen to it on is just icing on the cake. That is awesome that you shared this with us. I knew you were heavy into the live music scene. Anyway, this is one of the main reasons why I love going to ProgPower USA - getting to personally meet the bands: Me (big guy on the far left) and my friend, Dave, (the guy in the center) with the band DGM, whom we sponsored for ProgPower USA XI which took place just this past September. These guys gave my friend, Dave, and I the royal treatment when they found out we were thier sponsors. It turned out getting to come to the US and to play this festival was a huge dream of thiers and getting to meet the guys that basically helped fulfill that dream was a big thing for them. I honostly don't know who was more excited here, me getting to see this band play and meeting them in person, or this band getting to play here and getting to meet the guys that sponsored them and enabling them to get to play this festival. All I know is that a trip to Italy is in the very near future as I hope to get to meet these guys again. Me with Sabaton, the band I sponsored for ProgPower USA X in September of 2009. Another really awesome bunch of guys that I really hope to get to see again.

Check this out! Trusty ol' iLounge has reviews of quite a few such units. Just a matter of finding the one you want.

I WON! I WON!! I WON!!!! <jumping up and down with excitement> [^][G][<)][pi][8] Now, awaiting the arrival of my brand-spanking-shiny-new red Image S3s [Y]

Now, that is indeed bogus! I remember seeing something about somebody else that tried to sue McDonald's because they claimed it made them fat. Well, of course, if that is all you eat, you are going to get fat. Well, I hope that dude that got the $18,000 uses it on a gym membership. Maybe that should've been a condition of the lawsuit award.

16 Million Scoville points?!!?? [6] From what I understand and know about hot sauces (being somewhat of a conniosour myself), that is pure capsaicin! No wonder it is a "crystallized form". About the Steak-n-Shake, whenever I've been in one, I don't recall any real hot sauces being there. I don't care much for these lawsuits that seems get dropped at every moment, but I have to agree that server was an idiot to recommend giving a sauce like this to a child. This suit may very well have merit here. BTW, I recently learned that they are putting in a Steak-n-Shake right here in Fredericksburg! I am actually pretty stoked as I do like the place.

If are still looking into the CD changer route, I have a Denon DCM-390 (the step up from the one you are looking at). I actually like it quite a bit personall. I find it sounds quite good for me. However, my music server is another story (an Elan Via!DJ, which was originally a $3,800 piece of eqiupment).

I have: My Denon reciever that I am using as a pre-pro has a built in ability to switch between an 'A' surround and 'B' surround, in addition to retaining the setting depending on what source I have selected. I found that for music listening, I prefer the sound of the RF-5s and for general TV watching or watching movies, I found that I prefered the sound of the RS-7s. This gives me the best of both worlds. Perhaps this is something the original poster should consider trying. If the his reciever itself does not have the ability two switch, than perhaps getting one of those speaker selectors as previously mentioned is worth checking out.

As I've already posted before here, I've found my RF-7s with my B&K amp to sound quite good with metal (and believe me, I listen to A LOT of metal here!)

Wow, my Flikr account actually still works! Probably been at least 5 years since I've last used the thing (much prefering Photobucket). Anyway, I got one from a couple of years ago (okay, 2003 - but still have the costume - in fact, wore it last year) I'll have to post up. EDIT: Holy crap, it's been a LONG time since I've logged into Flikr - the thing still has my old Adelphia e-mail address in the profile!

Well, that is my option. I can watch all the Mythbusters, Ice Road Truckers, Deadliest Catch, Ax Men, MegaMahines, How Its Made, Universe, Modern Marvels, Storm Chasers, and Dirty Jobs that I want. Throw in the occasional Steelers or Penguins game, or a movie with plenty of spaceships, stuff getting blown up, or guys swinging big swords and killing off orcs and goblins, and I am all set as far as the TV is concerned. I see these shows like "Kate and 8", or "A Dating Story" when going through the on-screen guide, and I am thinking "who actually watches that crap?". Apparently plenty of folks do, as they keep showing those shows all the time. I guess I like my independence to much to have bothered getting married.

The disks that I like to try on different systems: Vox Tempus - In the Eye of Time: Xystus - Equilibrio: Suspyre - A Great Divide: Project Creation - Floating World: Also like trying any of the Aryeon albums as well. These albums have a lot going on them that makes listening to these on various systems quite interesting, plus these also have some excellent recording quality. There are plenty of others that I like trying on other systems as well, but these are my standards

Really wish I could've gone to this, but on that short of notice, I just could not do it. Both because of work as well as trying to get a plane ticket on that short of notice, they really stick you with the airfare. Maybe next time. Still would love to get in on a good Klipsch gathering, especially to make up for my botched up trip when I attempted to go to the Pilgrimage (still royally pissed off at Delta over that one). Now at nearly 9 PM Eastern, where are the friggan pictures? I figure somebody had gotten some pics of the setups there!

When properly sealed, those Custom-3s really do sound awesome. I was having some of the problems that you had. I've tried both the large and the large double-flange that came with mine, but seems I could not keep them in all the time. However, I also had this pair of Sony headphones that I used at the gym that finally died. To find a suitable replacement (and not wanting to take what are essentialy a $300 pair of headphones to the gym), I also got a pair of the S4s. I was blown away at how awesome those things sounded, especially for $80. Not only that, I really like how well the medium ear tips that came with the S4 fit. So, I figured, lets try those same medium tips with the Custom-3s as well (as these are all supposed to be compatible). So MUCH better! The Custom-3s really shined, now that I got some eartips that fit me so much better than any that orignally came with those headphones. I ended up going to the Klipsch site and ordering some more of those medium eartips. If you really liked how good your S4s sounded, try those same eartips on the Custom-3s as well (they do fit). You can order extras through the Klipsch site (Products->Headphones->Accessories).

I have a Cambridge Audio Azure 640A amp on my downstairs rig, which I like the sound of. Your 740A is a step up. I think it should sound really good with the RF-82. Like was said, you already have it, so give it a try. I think you will be quite pleased with the results.

That was pretty cool [au][H]. Yeah, that big aluminum lever is the handbrake for doing those powerslides. That is cool seeing him shifting that thing all the way through 6th gear. Not only that, this car is modified for rear-wheel drive (if I recall, stock Ford Fiestas are front wheel drive). At the end of the video right after he was did all those tight donuts, you can see those rear tires where just shredded! To ultimately modify a car to perform like that easily costs into the $100,000 range.

JB, if you are catching the next flight in from Pluto for this; I can burn a Dream Theater disc for you. (Not exactly my cup of tea..... but for you? "TOP NOTCH!") I'd love to come to this, but on such short notice? Bit of a hike from Virginia to Chicago, though. And if I was going to come, you know darn well that Dream Theater would get played, along with plenty of Aryeon and even throw some Nightwish in for good measure. [H][8]

That sounds cool and all, but I would not get your hopes up to high. They are only making two sizes, a 12 inch and 20 inch and currently only in Japan. Also sounds like you have to sit fairly close to the display to get the proper 3D effect. Also, I can't imagine the viewing angle is going to be all that great on these things. Not only that, it is going to be pretty expensive. The 12-inch is to cost around $1,400 and the 20-inch to cost twice that. Sounds like it will be quite awhile before this is good enough for any displays larger than that, so if you are jonesing to get that 65-inch glasses-less 3D TV, you will be sorely disappointed. I would love to get a 3D-set that didn't require glasses, but this is still very nascent technology. I don't anticipate this to be perfected enough for larger displays for quite a few years, not to mention at prices that "normal" people can afford. At the very least, would be nice if somebody can come-out with something that only requires the cheap/freebie glasses that I got from the theater (I got two pairs of the things laying around the house from seeing Avatar a couple of times).

Not from me, mine looks like yours or worse but it is behind the tv. Great deal on everything, bet it sounds good, it's a good thing you have walls like that, it will help a little for the neighbors. Great view Not from me either. I probably should try to do something about this "snake den" that is behind my component rack: Anyway, nice rig you scored there, especially for the deal you got. Reference would be nicer, but for what you scored that for, you definitely did good.

I really like Pandora. Unfortunatly, it sucks that it is now blocked at work, so no more listening to it there. We used to listen to it all the time, but it was kinda hard on the bandwidth there, so the firewall had to be turned on to block it [:'(] I have Sonata Arctica, Dream Theater and Nightwish stations. BTW, I've seen Delain at ProgPower just this past September. That was an awesome show [H][8] BTW, also check out Edenbridge, Coronatus and After Forever, for that style of music (although it sucks that After Forever broke up). But I digress... If I could actually use it and listen to it at work, I may have considered signing up for the upgraded service, but as it currently stands, I just don't use/listen to it enough to make it worth it.

Well, SanDisk has already came out with something called "slotMusic", which is basically SD cards preloaded with MP3s of an album (at least 256 Kbps). It is DRM-free, thankfully. Would be nice if they could use a lossless codec, but at least MP3s are pretty universal, whereas even the lossless codecs are not (although FLAC seems to be getting to be more popular). Being curious, I tried to go to the official "www.slotmusic.org" site, but it keeps timing out. The current selection seems pretty paltry as well, though. But hey, this is at least a promising start, though.

Here is my very modest two-channel rig that I got setup down in my basement: A pair of Pioneer CS-99A's hooked up to a Cambridge Audio Azure A640 Integrated amp, sourced by a Pioneer Elite DV-79AVi DVD/SACD/CD player, which I am using in pure 2-channel mode. To bad I don't have any SACDs or DVD-Audio disks, though. That player almosts seems like overkill for this particular setup. Also have a on old Technics SL-QL15 linear arm record player. Nothing particularly fancy, but it actally is a pretty decent little turn-table. Hey, 'thebes' gave it to me a few years ago, so it is nice to finally be able to put it to use. Since the Cambridge Audio amp did not have a phono stage, I've managed to source a Pro-Ject Phono Box II on the forum, which certainly does the job. Actually a nice little unit that certainly does what it is advertised to do. Eventually I would like to get a better turn-table. I also need to spring for a decent record cleaner. Seems like that Spin-Doctor thing has gotten some nice write-ups both here on the forum as well as elsewhere, and for only $80. Will have to go order one up. Also using an old Yamaha YST-40 sub-woofer that is a leftover from my previous HT rig (before the current RF-7/B&K rig that I now have). Had it laying around, so figured, why not put it to use? It is actually a pretty decent sounding little sub. Not overpowering and seems to just enhance the bottom end. I am actually surprised at how musical and accurate the thing actually is, especially for being such a cheap, low-end model. Eventually would like to get better speakrs as well. I actually got those Pioneer CS-99As for free. Several years ago, one of my co-workers had them and was just going to throw them away. He asked me if I wanted them, so, of course, I took them. These are actually pretty decent speakers. Still, I hopefully got a line on a pair of Cornwalls that I found in the Richmond, VA area for around $650. I did try to call the guy, but never did hear back from him, although the ad is still on Craigslist. I'll try to call him again tomorrow and hopefully he still has them. Anyway, there you have it - nothing particularly fancy, but still a fun little system to toy around with and to listen to records on.

Looks like you guys are finally getting our heat [6]. Now that things are actually starting to cool off a bit hear on the East Coast, you guys are heating up. Last Thursday, it was something like 97 degrees. Factor in humidity, and it was actually something like 105 degrees. Back in July, we had one day where it hit 103 degrees, but with the humidity, it was actually something like 119 degrees! That was just brutal! It was so hot that I did not even bother to go to the pool - I think it was one of those only times where I pretty much stayed in. Other than that, the only other time where I've experienced anything hotter was in last July, while on business in Las Vegas, it hit something like 116 degrees while I was there. You know it is hot when even the locals are starting to moan about it. Looks like we may finally be getting a bit of rain as well as it looks like we may be seeing some tropical storm action here tomorrow evening and Thursday.

Sad you lost your parents at 10 (I am thankful I still have both of mine even at 40). Yeah, I know exactly what you mean with the above. In my particular case, I have actually personally thanked many of these musicians that I typically listen to. In person! Face-to-face! The cool thing is that almost to a T, they tend to be humble and actually thank me back for having taken the time to listen to it and actually appreciating it. Many of these guys in the small, underground scene are actually afraid of the old "if nobody's listening to it, then why bother creating it" syndrome, so they really like it when somebody actually came up to them and personally thanked them for the music they created and encourage them to continue to create more. They love creating the music so much as an artform that they really want people to listen to and enjoy it, even it if means giving away the albums, ala Silent Lapse (which, BTW, after posting that above, I actually got a PM/e-mail from one of the members of the band for thanking me for mentioning them in the forum here!). Heck, Look what happened when I believe it was Dennie posted one of Ava Lemert's albums in the "Right This Minute" thread. The artist actually took the time to create and publicly post a message indicating how cool it was to see people actually listening to and enjoying her work. Granted, her material is not my cup of tea, but I did find the album in question on eMusic and gave it a listen myself. I'll admit that I was quite impressed with what I heard and she has every right to be proud of what she accomplished there. So it goes to show that you just don't know who may actually be reading these forums! As an aside, as opinionated as I am with regards to the sorry state of most of the current mainstream music, I will not disparage any particular artist on the public forum, nor anybody's choice in music they may be listening to (even though I may personally think that particular recordng/artist actually sucks, but I won't dare say so in the forum) Of all the things that I could do with my time, between watching TV, playing video games, etc, I find myself just prefering to listen to music (as well as take advantage of the outdoors when the weather is nice otherwise). Music will always be my favorite artform as well. Yes, continue to spin those records and enjoy listening to it, regardless what the genre may be. Heck, it may be worth it to dash off a letter to the compose/artist to personally thank them if you really liked their work. You may just be surprised at the response you may get. You can typically find some way to contact them through the artist's website, especially if they are a smaller artist that will actually take the time to personally respond to the e-mail. I've done it on several occasions myself.

Yeah, still in good ol' Freddyburg (going on 17 years now - will be 15 years in this particular house at the end of October). Did change up jobs about 3 years ago - now with what used to be a tiny company (was 10 people when I started with them, now we got over 30). In fact, we had to move the entire company simply due to outgrowing our location. Today was my first day at the new location. I love that 1 mile commute [au] (used to be a 20 mile commute - just not having to drive on I-95 anymore is just friggan sweet! If there is one thing that will probably end up getting me to leave the area is that the traffic around here just plain SUCKS!). Yeah, still got my gear and loving it as much as the day I bought the thing, although I am ready for a new pre/pro (the Denon AVR-3802 that I've been using as a pre/pro is really getting long in the tooth). But, d[8]mn, this thing just sounds so friggan awesome! Oh yeah, to get back on topic, there is also good-ol Parts Express to find decent HDMI cables without paying the ridiculous prices of the likes of Monster. The only thing about Monster and the like is that if you needed somthing NOW (i.e., you got that fancy new X-Box 360, but don't have a cable to hook it up, but just DYING to get to playing that copy of Mass Effect 2 and don't want to wait for a cable to arrive in the mail). Of course, for that thing, you could always try WalMart or even Radio Shack, and you might find something that isn't to ridiculous.