Edgar

There's the truth, and then there's the whole truth. The fact is, having the knowledge to make a product, and actually making it, and then making it successful in the market, are all very different things. I am an engineer by trade -- I know quite a lot about audio and I have a lot of ideas for audio products. I have started two businesses of my own. Neither of them have ever seen the kind of success that Greg has had with Volti. There is about a 10:1 -- maybe 100:1 -- ratio of effort between knowing how to do something and actually doing it and bringing it to market. Greg and I even collaborated for a while. Ultimately he didn't use what I gave him, but he thanked me for it. Perhaps someday he and I can do it again. I give my knowledge freely on the forum, as does everyone else. I knew that Greg was developing a business, and that what I gave him might ultimately end up a part of that business, and I did it anyway. While I always hope that I can become rich and famous from my knowledge, that happens so incredibly rarely that in some cases it's satisfaction enough just knowing that it might be a small part of something great. Was anyone who collaborated with Greg NOT aware of the situation? It's not like it was a secret.

Might be similar today, but in '69 they were very different. I do like the retro look of the new Challenger. Interestingly enough, last time I checked you could only get a limited-slip rear diff with the automatic transmission -- not with the stick shift.

Chargers are nice, but having grown up with '68-'69 Chargers as 2-doors, a 4-door Charter just never sat right with me. Come to think of it, why are there so few coupes available at all any more?

I need a vacation. I should have been able to figure that out for myself. But, in audio, you never can tell. I've seen stranger advice that was serious.

Oh, my. Oh, my, my ... If it really sounds like you pulled a horse blanket off your speakers when you do this, then something is very, very wrong with your system. Thereby increasing the path inductance by orders of magnitude. Do they prefer rolled-off high frequencies? So that you can coil them on the floor next to your speaker, increasing inductance even more. What are they using for interconnects, iron pipe? It offers so many more opportunities for ground loops. Of course, the best sounding interconnect has zero diameter. You didn't actually want to be able to sell those cables after you found out that their claims were pure hogwash, did you? No, your system just loves it when you introduce RFI through the interconnects. Possibly the only advice here that has any chance of being useful.

CardRecovery

I've had very good luck with the Lynx AES/EBU I/O card, available in both PCI and PCIe. Beyond that, just about any PC will suffice. Frankly, the processing load for filtering is trivial, even for LOTS of filters. The biggest problem is ensuring bit-accurate throughput of audio samples -- both Windows and MacOS tend to resample "under the hood" without telling you. I've found that ASIO is very good for sidestepping those kinds of issues. Wow, I don't even remember. As I said, at the moment my system is in storage. I think that it is an old Yamaha unit.

Forgive me if this is a duplicate -- the forum lost my first response so I repeated it as best I could remember. Actually, I found the Merlin DACs (with "insider" tweaks) to be adequate for my application. I'd advise against considering the Merlin. First, it's a pro unit, with pro voltage levels and balanced I/O. Second, it was designed in the mid-1990s; it requires Windows 95/98 for the user interface (it won't run under later versions -- I've tried), and parts are impossible to find. In a word: it's obsolete. I keep using mine because it continues to work well, but once it fails I will replace it with something more modern (possibly using a PC as the processor). Exactly. One thing that I do is attenuate the analog signals between the DACs and the amplifiers. This accomplishes two things: 1) it lowers the noise floor, and 2) it allows one to set up the gain structure such that the maximum position of the volume control corresponds exactly to the point where the amplifiers start to clip. It accommodates up to four AES/EBU 2-channel digital outputs. Volume control is problematic. I use a six-channel passive.

1. That's through the analog I/O. With digital I/O the dynamic range is on the order of 138 dB. 2. You have not taken into account that I was a member of the design team. I have a Merlin ADC, built and tweaked from hand-selected components, with measured dynamic range of 119 dB. Threshold for bass, conrad-johnson for mid/highs. Speakers are Legacy Focus. Greg

I'm using a Merlin ISP-100 (13MB download), which may be the great-granddaddy of whatever EV offers nowadays (I no longer have any affiliation with EV and don't know what they put into their modern equipment). Back when we designed it, it was a flagship item, and it brought with it performance and flexibility that modern units do not match. My system (currently in storage -- long story) is digital from source, through crossover, to DACs. When I run vinyl, it goes through a phono preamp directly to an ADC, then into the crossover. Just the "next level" of performance. I'd rather spend the money on crossover and amps than on cables, rocks, and green ink.

Not intending to hijack this thread, but you make a point here that I feel needs embellishment. With regard to active crossovers, it has always astonished me that the same people who will spend $2000 on an exotic preamp (that basically does nothing but switching and buffering, unless it has phono EQ or tone controls), will cheap-out and spend less than $200 on an active crossover (whose job is much more difficult). And then they'll assert that passive crossovers sound better. Hmm ... I wonder why. I have a very high quality digital crossover in my system, and the results are so good that I would not even consider going back to passive. YMMV. Greg

Horse hockey. Every passive component (resistor, capacitor, inductor) distorts. And the larger the passive component (like the particularly large inductors and capacitors in passive crossovers), the more it distorts. Having passive components in-between the amplifier and the driver means that the amplifier has less control over the driver. And then there is the insertion loss of the network, which means the amplifier has to deliver more power in order to achieve the same loudness. Contrast that with drivers connected directly to amplifiers, without the extra distortion-producing, power-robbing passive components. Modern amplifiers are near-perfect voltage sources, and can control drivers rather well even if those drivers present non-resistive loads. Furthermore, if adding compensation components (such as Zobels) to drivers better matches them to the amplifiers and passive crossovers, then the same thing can be done in the case of active crossovers to even greater effect, because the Zobel only needs to match the driver to the amplifier, instead of to the combination of passive crossover network and amplifier.

Some good 300 Ohm twinlead, for if you ever want to DX FM or HDTV. Some 50 Ohm coax, for if you ever do the Ham Radio thing. Even if you never use either of these, it might make the house more attractive to a future buyer.

Hornresp model of stock-sized La Scala with K33 (gray) and 416-8B (black), assuming that it would fit.

Winner to be chosen by Dept of Homeland Security?

Never heard from you on the Golden Flutes. They're not going anywhere, so if you decide that you want them later, just PM.

The Focus 2020 is a little later version of the same loudspeaker, but the accolades offered in that article apply to the earlier version, as well. BTW, I spoke with Bill Dudleston (Legacy's chief designer) several years ago at the factory in Springfield, IL, and I mentioned that the Focus bass sounded almost "Klipsch like". He commented that he had learned quite a lot about how speakers should sound from Klipsch.

Three active 12" woofers. Two roll-off (1st-order -- a really big inductor) above 60 Hz; the third rolls-off (2nd-order, IIRC) at 180 Hz. That's right; all three are active below 60 Hz, only one continues between 60 Hz and 180 Hz. It's a little weird, and in my biamped version I use all three up to 180 Hz with a bit of contouring. Greg

I have a pair exactly like those. They are truly outstanding loudspeakers, in the B&W 801/802 class sonically at a fraction of the price. At about 94 dB/W sensitivity, I found that they can be easily driven with a 50W c-j tube amp. If you want to biamp them (which I highly recommend), the woofer crossover is easily (and reversibly) bypassed (don't just remove the jumpers on the back panel; go inside and physically disconnect the crossovers), while the midrange/tweeter/supertweeter crossover can remain intact. I love them. - Greg PS I have a pair of JPS Golden Flutes that I'd let you have for the price of shipping. I no longer need them because I take care of all EQ in my digital crossover.

I have done it with my Legacy Focus: Threshold solid state on the woofers; Conrad-Johnson tubes on the rest. I left the passive midrange-tweeter-supertweeter crossover intact. My active crossover is digital, using a custom Bessel-derived subtractive-delay topology. The results are very satisfying. In particular, the bass is very solid because of the direct connection to the amp, and everything else has that sought-after tube sweetness.

rec.motorcycles.dirt

Detroit Craigslist this morning (3/19/2013): Bandit 600 Triumph Speed Four SV650S SV650S FZ6 FZ6 FZ6 650R 650R 650R 650R You're in the sweet spot for used bikes.

I suspect that you'll get a newer, cleaner 600 for your $4000 than 750. A 400 would be a nice bike, but there just haven't been all that many of them on the market ... ever. There are tons and tons of 600s, which means that they'll be easier to find in your price range. And as for the lightness and flickability of a 400; you've been riding Harleys, so any sportbike is going to feel like a bicycle to you. IMHO. YMMV. Six-two, and even; over and out.

Honestly, the 600cc class has been so competitive for the past 20 years that they're all good. So drop by your local dealers and monitor Craigslist, and buy whatever fits you best and is in the best shape. If you're really concerned about the riding position, consider perhaps a Suzuki Bandit 600/650, a Triumph Speed 600, or a Yamaha FZ6.

Correct. Unless your amplifier noise floor is objectionably high, you would be better off putting the 12 dB attenuation ahead of the power amp than behind it.