Islander

You're referring to slide trays. The round ones are called carousel type, after the Kodak Carousel projectors and the other ones are just straight slide trays. Slide trays are usually made of plastic. Sounds almost like you have some kind of industrial stuff there. Metal slide holders? That's different. Are you removing the actual piece of film from its holder? Most types of slide holder, well, the cardboard or plastic ones I'm familiar with, will fit into the scanner as is, with no need to take them apart. A 36-shot roll of film is around 5 feet long. You might want to grab a pair of white cotton gloves to avoid thumbprints when handling filmstrips.

I'm seeing a setting under "scanner extras" called "Multi sample scanning". It's defaulted to Normal 1x but there is are several selections, one being "Super fine (16X)" Might I presume that this is what you refer to and it will be a SLOWWWWWWWWW scan but might give me the best analysis of each slide?? Multi-sample scanning will scan the image several times and average out the results, for a probably better image. It may have less visible dust. If you have the time, give it a try and see if it looks better.

Computers work in 3-colour RGB (Red-Green-Blue), but commercial print shops work in 4-colour CMYK (Cyan-Magenta-Yellow-blacK), so it gives you the option in case you have work with those guys.

What's usually best to do is to save your scan in TIFF form, in the highest res you'll need for the print size you'll be using. That's your original. Then you make a duplicate. You do your cropping, colour corrections, dust removal and spotting on this copy and save it as a TIFF. Then you duplicate the copy and resize it (in Image Size) to 800 pixels or so in its long dimension (width for a horizontal, height for a vertical, obviously). Resizing shrinks the file size quite a lot, to 1 to 1.5Meg. Save that version as a JPEG and it will be about 80-180kb, a good size for emailing and onscreen viewing. 800 pixels across (or tall) means it will fit on a screen without having to scroll to see it all. When scanning 35mm negs or prints, 30Meg or so is plenty, but you can go to 80Meg if you want. This makes the pixels bigger onscreen, so it's easier to do fine retouching. Many printers can't use more than 30Meg of data, so that's usually a big enough file size to save for printing. Now you'll have three versions of every image, the original TIFF, the corrected TIFF, and the corrected JPEG. If you mess up the corrected TIFF, you still have the original and can make another duplicate from it. The JPEG is copied from the corrected TIFF, because the small file size and small pixels of the JPEG mean it's harder to do fine retouching on it. With old faded negs and prints, it's surprising how much AutoColor can do to freshen up the look. However, indoor shots with ambient light will never look great, whatever vintage they are. Hope this is helpful.

One Tripp-Lite filtered surge protector for the sub and power amp and a second one, plugged into a different outlet, for the receiver, turntable, DVD/CD, etc.

That Stanton T/T looks like a cheap knockoff of a Technics SL-1200, with an extra-cheap plinth. The USB idea is interesting, though...

Even the single-button loudness compensation?

A couple of months ago, I bought a new copy of Texas Flood, by Stevie Ray Vaughan, and opened it and played it as soon as I got home. It sounded great! As for the Zamfir album that I got for Christmas a couple of decades ago (from a relative who'll remain nameless), it will stay safely wrapped in its shrink (if it's shrink-wrapped, isn't it wrapped in shrink?).

Check out Knukonceptz. I've used their 8 gauge Karma Kable for a couple of years and really like it. They have a selection of interconnects and they're not expensive, but seem well made. http://www.knukonceptz.com/productMaster.cfm?Category=RCA%20Interconnects http://www.knukonceptz.com/productMaster.cfm?Category=Speaker%20Wire http://www.knukonceptz.com/productMaster.cfm?Category=Connectors

La Scalas can image surprising well. My mom was in town for a visit last month and I told her that I could tell whether a piano player was facing toward or away from me, depending on whether the bass keys were toward the left or the right side of the soundstage. She thought I was imagining things, but when some music was playing a couple of days later, she said to me, "That piano player is facing us. You weren't kidding!" Of course, not all music is recorded so that the performers are so clearly located, but with some recordings the effect is very realistic.

The Fletcher-Munson curve is actually a series of curves, varying with different sound levels, to show that human ears' sensitivity to different frequencies varies with the volume level. At higher levels, it approaches a flat response, so that the correction curve is only needed at low volume levels. Yamaha stereo amps and receivers (and possibly some other brands) have had a variable loudness knob since the '70s. It's set to flat at loud listening levels, then to reduce the volume, the loudness knob is used, while leaving the volume knob at its loud setting. As the loudness knob is turned, the volume is lowered as per the F-M curves, reducing the midrange the most, so as the volume goes down, the frequency response will continue to be perceived as flat. It's a logical concept and works fairly well, but doesn't seem to have been picked up by many other manufacturers, who usually go with a single loudness setting (with a button) for low-level listening.

Two very different types of music, but each with really outstanding audio: No Doubt Rock Steady Live and Neil Young's Live at Massey Hall 1971. The video on the Neil Young DVD is home-movie quality, but the audio quality is unequalled, noticeably better than the accompanying CD. Listening to (and watching) this DVD, I saw that Neil Young was a much better guitarist and pianist than I had ever realized. As for the No Doubt DVD, turn it up on a good system and you're at the concert. It rocks!

Thanks for the La Scala X-ray image. Very cool!

The resemblance between banana plugs and European power cord prongs is what led to BFA plugs. BFA is British Federation of Audio and the "safer" plugs may even work better, since their straight surfaces have more metal-to-metal contact area than the curved surfaces of banana plugs. You can see what they look like here: http://www.knukonceptz.com/productDetail.cfm?prodID=eKs-BP . BFA plugs fit standard binding posts just fine, although you sometimes have to squeeze or expand them for optimum tightness. I've used them for a couple of years and prefer them to bananas.

Refutile is sistance. Your *** will be simulated.

You might want to measure the Klipschorns' actual bass response without the sub. Published specs and actual performance in your listening room can vary quite a bit. Try different settings and see what sounds best to you. I get the flattest frequency response with my Paradigm sub rolled off at 150Hz and the Scalas set to Large, as well as all three Heresy IIs. With that high sub cut-off, setting the speakers to Small takes away a significant part of their low-end response. Setting the sub cut-off at 80Hz left me with a mid-bass dip, so I set it higher and higher until it seemed the smoothest. Naturally, the Klipschorns' low-end curve is somewhat different, so a lower setting would work better for you. The "80Hz in all situations" rule does not apply in every case. The sub is capable, but its single 10-inch woofer can't match the 2-foot-by-2-foot radiating surface of each Scala bass bin, so the sound seems noticeably bigger with the Scalas set to Large. The sub compensates for the Scalas' low-end roll-off and adds an octave or two at the bottom, all seamlessly, in my room at least.

If all those wires that are running parallel to each other in the "Best Dressed System" are unshielded, wouldn't they cause interference to each other? A less tidy-looking setup might sound better.

Er, Frzninvt, I think you meant the wrestling term "no holds barred". "No holes barred" is a porno term... At any rate, I'd concur with Frzninvt that Heritage is the way to go if you want to be finished trading up. If you have the room and the budget, they are the best. With the addition last weekend of a Heresy II center to go along with my Heritage II surrounds and La Scala mains, my HT/2-channel system is everything I need or want. A number of forum members have more ambitious (and likely great-sounding) Heritage systems, but my system suits my room and listening preferences really well. From Heresy to Jubilee, there are enough different Heritage speakers to mix and match so you can have the system that works just great for you. If the Ultra II system is everything you need, you could be totally happy with it. The deep discount makes it really attractive. As for upgrading, it's easy to say, "This is all I'll ever need." I've said it a number of times, two paragraphs ago, for example. Then you see or hear of the inevitable bargain upgrade. Now I just say, "This is the system in its current configuration." A year from now, who knows? Don't fight the future before it arrives.

As Hyde on That 70s Show said, "I'm lowering my standards." Eric asked, "How low?" Hyde replied, "Just this side of gross..."

You need "mini-spades". The usual size of modern spade connectors are too wide to fit into the the connector strips on the older Heritage speakers. I was able to find some gold-plated 8-gauge mini-spades for $1.25 apiece at a local car audio shop that fit perfectly.

Very tidy job! They look a bit like a nicely dressed up Jubilee with the small horn, and there's nothing wrong with that.

If one speaker is in a corner and the other is not, there will definitely be a difference in bass output. Try placing them both similar distances from the nearest walls and see how that sounds.

Try starting with your pink noise CD and a Radio Shack SPL meter (and a notepad). At least you'll get some consistent readings and settings. It would be hard to do that by ear.

Why do you guys live so far away? Asked the apartment-dwelling Scala owner with the 500Wpc amp... It would be a real treat to hear those speakers working to their potential. Lord knows, mine never get the chance. Well, volume-wise, at least.

Pretty wild stuff, but Jubilees are still at the top of my wish list. Some of those speaker designers seem to think that a shiny finish is all it takes to make a pretty speaker. Afraid not! Weird doesn't equal beautiful either...