Islander

Isn't it standard practice to give a bill of sale when you sell something, other than yard sale priced items? If the police happen to stop the guy and ask him where he got the nice speakers or whatever and all he can say is, "From this guy, but he wouldn't give me a bill of sale.", he'll be in an awkward position, through no fault of his own. It's always good to have some documentation to show where your stuff came from.

Some DIY mats you could try: http://audio.innerurban.com/innerurban/audio/2007/08/top-3-record-mats-for-turntables.html Or if you insist on spending money: http://www.mapleshaderecords.com/audioproducts/recordcouplingsystem.php More food for thought: http://www.theanalogdept.com/platter_mats.htm

First, does your receiver have 7-Channel Stereo or something equivalent to that? That setting will output 2-channel music from all 7 (or 5, as the case may be) speakers and is intended for parties and background music. It would send more sound into the kitchen. I often use that setting when listening during the day, especially if I'm down the hall at the computer. Toe-in and toe-out is relative to your listening position. If you sit at the "elbow" of the sofa and angle and balance the speakers accordingly, you may get the soundfield you're after, although you might have to move your left rear speaker over to a position between the sofa and the armchair. The listening position is where you say it is... Is that a window on the left wall? If not, you could also try shifting the room 90 degrees, as srobak suggested. Dr Who's idea is a good one, too.

Isn't it funny that the third hand is called the second hand?

Since every upgrade is costly, try to reach your goal in as few steps as possible. Also, when you spend money for an upgrade, there should be a really obvious improvement, not just an incremental step up in sound quality. If you don't mind buying used, you can get Heritage speakers at affordable prices, especially Heresies. New ones are pretty expensive. New or used, they'd be a big step up from what you have. Do you have a sub? If you're happy with the midrange and highs you're getting now, maybe adding a sub to fill in the bottom would be all you need for some time to come.

How could a level barely an inch long be at all accurate? A six inch long torpedo level would likely be more accurate and less likely to be influenced by the slightest granule of dust trapped under it. For that matter, a precision level would cost less and be more accurate. Here's one: http://www.nolansupply.com/bysubcategory.asp?category=Precision+Tools&supercategory=Precision+Levels&subcategory=Mitutoyo+Levels+%2D+Digital+Level+360%26%23186%3B+Protractor+Inclinometer%26nbsp%3B&type=False&specs=True

Then there's this isolating platform. The manufacturer states that granite sounds bad, MDF sounds bad, so we put them together and got a great-sounding unit. Does that make sense to anyone? Modular 45 Series Component Stands The Platform Over 20 years of experience in the field of electrical/mechanical engineering allowed us the resources to develop this truly unique approach to component isolation. If you have been in the audio hobby for even a short time you have heard many of the opinions as to what is the best material for your component platforms. We have determined that many materials have advantages and disadvantages. Through our analytical approach to combining dissimilar materials, we have developed some combinations that actually compliment one another. Granite and MDF (medium density fiberboard) have characteristics that are about as different as night and day. Neither of which material is worth a darn as an audio component platform if used by itself. Granite is too hard, MDF is too soft. Granite causes the upper midrange to sound too bright, MDF makes it sound too dull. But, through our proprietary conduction technique we are able to selectively transfer energy back and forth between the two materials essentially achieving a "nulling" effect.

Actually, 8 gauge is good for 40 amps, as my electrician buddy exclaimed when he saw the speaker cable. I could use it to boost my car if I had to. Like everybody else, I'm on a budget, but wire of that size and decent quality, for only $1.65 a foot, let me feel that in at least one area I was not compromising. It sounds good and looks good, and I know it's definitely not reducing the damping factor of the amp to the degree that smaller cable would, plus the twisted pair construction is claimed to reject interference. As for acting as a capacitor, could be. I have no idea. With cables, all sorts of theories and thought experiments pop up, mostly with no clear way to prove or disprove them, other than a "listen-off" among the various contenders. Imagine if a number of people showed up at the Pilgrimage with their favourite speaker cable in hand to try. Then someone would say (maybe me) that you can't really tell in an A/B/X test, you have to live with it for a while, and we'd be back to Square One.

Interestingly, that site says that tinned copper is not as good as bare copper, but rates it above silver-plated copper, which is rated by most cable companies, at least, as being better than bare copper and is sold at a higher price. Everyone has an opinion.Tinned copper cable has much better corrosion resistance than bare copper and at least one cable dealer claims that the higher resistance of the tin provides a sort of pseudo-Litz effect, actually improving the sound. I've been happily using fine-stranded (735 strands per conductor) tinned 8AWG speaker cable for a couple of years, with two different speaker types.

Stories like these make me really glad I'm single. When women visit me, they at least act impressed when they see the La Scalas. It could be just a case of trying to make a good impression on the eligible bachelor, but that's okay with me. Of course, everyone likes the sound, but when I first go to put on some music, visitors often think or say, "Uh-oh! Concert speakers, we're going to be blown out of our seats!" Then I put on some Chet Baker or Stephane Grappelli at medium volume, or some Stevie Ray Vaughan a bit higher (Tin Pan Alley is a favourite) and see smiles all around. I've had at least Forte-size speakers for decades and no-one has ever grumbled about them. The Scalas have been sharing my living room with me for more than a year and they really are part of the place.

Here's a price list that shows the decorator model:

Did you bring them home right away? Free Khorns, what a score! They may need some work and you'll need to find some suitable corners in your listening room, but they're Khorns! Let us know how you like them.

That was the question. Thanks, fritz. Just looking for improved performance at a bargain price.

Welcome to the Big Time! If your band is playing for that many people, it had better be a big show and it had better be as perfect as is possible. It's no time to cheap out on guitar strings, backup instruments or gear. With a crew that size, it only makes sense to have cooks on staff so people can concentrate on doing their jobs right without having to wonder where to look for some food when they're hungry. It's a matter of scale. When I competed in 24-hour motorcycle races in the mid-80s, we had a team of 13, including 4 riders plus a spare, mechanics, scorers, a crew chief, and yes, a cook. Food was always available and our thorough preparation showed in our results.

Kurt Vonnegut once said that mass media has ruined everyone's appreciation for local talent. In the old days, people would be impressed and happy to know the best musicians in the town or the county, the strongest man (the blacksmith, maybe) or best athlete, the prettiest girl, and so on. Now, however, TV shows us the best in the world, so we either think anything local is worthless or that if you can't be as good as the very best, it's not worth even trying. It ain't so! Personal best is still a valid concept. Do what you can and be happy with it.

Thanks for the info, fritz, but I was asking about non-XLR cables. That's why I called it a related topic. What's your opinion on "digital" RCA-to-RCA interconnects compared with regular "analog" ones? Dr Who sees no benefit. Could it be yet another marketing scam? We were told the same thing in the photography field with digital flash units. Supposedly, the old school $15 cables couldn't carry the "high-speed" digital info clearly enough for the new flashes to communicate properly with the cameras. Naturally, the new digital cables cost $100... Sorry to ignore you, oldtimer, we were both typing at the same time.

Very good prices, but are they any better quality than what you'd find at Radio Shack or The Source by Circuit City?

Have you guys seen The Nightfly Trilogy? It's just out, a 7-disc box set, 3 MVIs and 4 CDs, for only $59.99. The material is The Nightfly, Kamakiriad, Morph The Cat, plus videos and other stuff. MVIs are Music Video Interactive discs, which play on computers and DVD players, but not on CD players. They're described as having more space than CDs, along with other features. If you Google for The Nightfly Trilogy, you may find a little 2-minute video which explains MVIs. I picked it up last night, Friday, and listened to 2 CDs, and watched 2 videos on one of the MVIs, all on my computer while I was doing some Photoshop stuff, so I can't give a real audio review. It sounded pretty good, but I'll say no more until I hear it on my hi-fi.

On a related topic, are digital coax cables any better than regular interconnects? Since regular analog interconnects are supposedly unable to carry digital info properly, do the different features/construction of digital coax cables also make them better able to carry analog signals? I'm asking because they're not much more expensive than some analog RCA-to-RCA interconnects, and much less expensive than higher-end analog interconnects.

The test tones were useful in letting me know where not to locate the sub. One particular spot would cause the window nearby to thrum loudly enough to give me a headache when a 30Hz tone was played, at only 90dB at the listening position, roughly 10 feet away. Reference level was 85dB at the listening position. I tried two other locations before settling for the best-sounding spot and verified it by listening to music.

I was looking for that very article yesterday. Thanks for posting it.

If you decide to keep the Loreleis, you could pamper the wife with an excellent bedroom system. She already likes the look and sound of them, so she might not grumble at having great sound when she wants to relax in her boudoir (the ladies' equivalent of the man-cave). Besides, they would likely sound better in the smaller space, assuming your bedroom is smaller than your living room.

Audio Logic was a speaker manufacturer located near Toronto, but I think they closed sometime in the '90s. I"ve got a pair of their A-750s, circa 1980, a 2-way bass reflex design with cabinets similar in size to Fortes, each with a pair of 1" dome tweeters and a pair of 10" cone mid/bass drivers, crossed over at 1800Hz. They were my main speakers, but were shifted to the bedroom when the La Scalas arrived. The A-750s begin their bass roll-off around 70Hz. These measurements were done with a test CD and an RS sound level meter, so it's far from lab standard, but much better than my bare ears. Interestingly, some of the bass region peaks and dips were similar with both the ALs and the LSes, making me think that the room was as much a factor as the speakers. The test method may seem low-tech and old school to someone with access to all the latest gear, but it did help me with speaker and sub locating, as well as with some rudimentary room treatments.

Maybe I didn't have a good bass reflex. The Audio Logic speakers are nice enough, but not in the class of Klipsch, and they measured with more peaks and dips than the Scalas, in the 25-200Hz region at least.

What's negative about dynamic extremes? Live music is very dynamic, and no speaker/amp combo can truly duplicate that. Klipsch speakers (well, I'm most familiar with the Heritage series) come closer to live music, in terms of dynamics, than almost any other speakers. That can only be a good thing, unless you want a muted, "easy listening" sound, for in the bedroom, perhaps. Klipsch speakers do clearly present everything that's fed them, good or bad, so a rough-sounding source or a rough-sounding recording will not sound pleasant. Some amplifiers or sources don't combine well with Klipsch speakers, either, so an unsuitable combination could give a bad impression. As well, some listeners find them "too revealing". I can only guess that those listeners prefer their music to be in the background and not distracting, as if there were actual musicians in their living room. The dynamics you hear will vary with the types of music you listen to, along with the available power of your amplification. If you want punch, put on punchy music and turn it up. If your system pleases you, that's all that matters. I've had stereos for many years, but was amazed at how much difference a pair of La Scalas made, compared with any speakers I had ever owned before. They really did transform my system, in all the best ways.