Tom Adams

Bless you my son for mentioning Carada screens! My HT room is now at the point of needing the projector and screen and the wife & I have been choking on the $1300 to $1800 price tags from Stewart, Da-Lite, and Vu-Tec. While I'm sure an argument can be made for the aforementioned being better, I can't help but wonder how much better considering the nearly $1000 price differential. And this savings translates into either a better projector or that SVS PB2+ I've been drooling over. There's no possible way to express the joy in learning about these folks. I'm beside myself. Once again - the Klipsch forum comes through in a big way. Hell...I'm smilin like smilin is smilin!! Tom ps: JBR - you've got a PM from me.

Dude - I think you need to back off the resolution of that digicam. Tom

Also make a quick call to your state insurance commissioners office and tell them what you've been told. If you have the person's name who told you this (crap IMHO) and the dates you spoke to them, that would be even better. And if ya feel like having some fun, call your insurance company, ask for the person that told you this (crap IMHO), tell them that you called the insurance commissioners office, and that they should be getting a call very soon...have a nice day and hang up. Tom

Colin - our crew was Chris & Barbara Linkiewicz. Hey Device Mgr. - see that beach area on the right side of Megan's Bay? Me swam in dare mon doncha know. Ah yes...did some swimmin' wit de wife and drank me some Caribe mon. Tom

Thanks guys.... The Littlite is what I had in mind. However...I also like Michael's idea of using rope lights. Hmmmm...what to do , what to do. minn_male42 - you've got mail! Tom

I too will extend a sincere welcome back HornEd. It's good to hear from you - especially the very positive things that are happening in your life. Speaking of which....from the projects/events/tinkerings/etc. that you've done in the past plus these recent endevours you've got going, methinks it's your Swiss Miss that had better get in shape to keep up with you! Tom

Do any of you know where I can get my hands on one of those small snake-like lights like what is used on mixer boards? I would like to have some illumination of my equipment in my HT A/V rack but I don't want it to be bothersome when the room is darkened. I hope this make sense. Anyhow....any help would be appreciated. TIA Tom

Hey Scott - I know you had a time limit for suggestions, but on the chance you're still looking for something romantic & unique.... About 5 years ago I chartered a crewed 51' sailboat for 7 full days in the BVI. We split the cost of the boat with another couple with whom we are close friends. In round figures, we spent around $4800 total for boat, airfare, food, drinks, souveniers, etc. It was absolutely the best money I've ever spent on a vacation. The boat was literally ours. We could sail as much or as little as we wanted. Basically, each morning (over breakfast)the captain would offer some suggestions for the day and then ask us what we wanted to do. No set agendas was great. And a 51" sailboat can go places a large cruise ship can't. The first mate (his wife) was a trained culinary chef and the food she prepared in a small galley was unreal. And their knowledge of the islands was invaluable. It was also a plus that they were close to us in age and liked to party as much as we did. I'm definitely going back and doing it again. In case you're interested, look these folks up on the net: Jolly Mon Sailing They're the ones I used and are the absolute best. It's a husband & wife team and they personally know/interview the boats & crews they represent. You can also PM me and we can chat. Good luck!! Tom

BTW....I went to school with Mr. Helwick Sr.'s kids. I can't remember his son's name (he was a couple of years behind me), but I suspect that is who owns Helwick's Pro Audio. He would be about 44 years old. OTOH, I was in the same grade as Sr.'s daughter Mary Helwick. Wow...she was, uh, rather, uh, uh...(gulp) She had a nice personality. But then I saw her 10 years later and OMG! The ugly duckling had growed up! Holy moly...she was hot!! And married. Tom

Well, well, well....Hoopers has sure come along way. I grew up on the MS Gulf Coast and left there in the early '80's. In "those days" Hoopers was just a little hole-in-the-wall (HITW) shop selling car audio. Their chief rival was another HITW shop by the name of Empress Audio. I see where Empress is still going strong too. And if you wanted serious audio gear you went to Sound Advice which was owned by Helwick's Electronics. I bought some NAD, Proton and Nakamichi (sorry ALK) stuff from Sound Advice. sigh.....brings back memories. Tom

No offense m00n...but in my experience your kids will listen to you more than some DJ if you talk to them. And what I mean by talking is open, honest dialogue. Not lecturing like most of us (me included) fall prey to. The problem is that instead of establishing this open dialogue (within reason) when they're 2 years old, we decide too late to talk to our kids. So by the time they're 8 or so, they've grown accustomed to getting their answers somewhere else cause we were too busy to explain things to them. Seems to me that the trick here is to get your kids to trust you and not others. That they know you'll never BS them and when you're wrong, you tell them you screwed up. TRUST - the key ingredient in any successful relationship. Just MNSHO. As for Janet's stunt...well, I'm pretty sure I saw more flesh moving and for a longer period of time when that very full 36C with the very small string bikini went running (in slow motion) down the beach on Bay Watch. Tom

"I sent 800 LP's to the Goodwill in 1991." After several years of hauling around approx 200 LP's (and never playing them), in 1998 I said, "What the heck, I'll never play these" and sent them off to a local auction house. I think I got $20 for all of them. In 1999, I sold my Dual TT for $75. Two of the biggest mistakes I've ever made. Tom

Yep - that's it. Tom

OK....how about this one m00n. A teacher decides to use the word auditorium for a language excerise. Each kid is asked to make up a sentence using the word. She gets to one little boy who is all excited because, as he explains to the teacher, he's written a poem using the word. And it goes like this: Little Cindy Brown Had the tightest pants in town. Once they were up I couldn't get 'em down. Auditorium. Pronounce the word right and you'll get it. Tom

Thanks Frzn. Looks like I'll be adding the T163 to my pre/pro list since it falls into my budget (i.e. cheap bastid ). Ha - it just occured to me that one of my first pieces of serious stereo gear was a NAD tuner and a NAD integrated amp. I think the amp was like 25wpc. But with 3db of headroom, that was plenty for my Heresy's. BTW, did you buy from a local dealer or on-line? I did a search and the nearest dealer to me over 4 hours away. Tom

Maybe I missed it, but did you post anything here about your experiences good, bad, or otherwise with the T163? I'm also curious if you considered the Outlaw 950 pre/pro? And if you did, what was the deciding factor(s) to go with the T163 over it or any other pre/pro. TIA Tom

Reading through this thread and all the accompanying links/photos has me wondering why speakers like these aren't still being made? Call me ignorant, but they don't seem to be all that complicated from both a construction or electronics point of view. The Laguna's look to be incredibly simple in form & function. I've often remarked that because of all the "new technology" that we possess, I believe we often times create complex solutions to simplistic problems. Anyhow....I too would like to join the camp of folks that wanna hear these speakers. Tom

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Steve!!!!!! BTW - will be in your neck of the woods tomorrow. Flying into N.O. around 3:30pm. The wife & I are staying downtown at the Historic French Market Inn and will be there thru Saturday. Then it's off to Bay St. Louis, MS for my (gulp) 30 year high school reunion. Anyhow....was hoping to contact you for some dining info since it's been several years since I ran around that place. Oh well... Have a great birthday!! Tom

Sorry - my bad. Double post somehow. Tom

Was visiting the website of a HT A/V store and saw this: http://www.soundandcinema.com/recom.htm Scroll down to theater system four. Sweet, eh? Tom

Some other shots of this guys' rig. http://www.georgiahometheater.com/images_project_photos/1photo49.jpg http://www.georgiahometheater.com/images_project_photos/1photo57.jpg http://www.georgiahometheater.com/images_project_photos/1photo62.jpg Not sure what those tall thin speakers are in the last photo. But I'm pretty sure that above those big oil lamps on the wall are some Bose cubes. Which would explain all that Mac equipment. I mean, you know how those Mac owners are when it comes to having tin ears. (ducking and running for cover) Tom

Gotcha ears on? I'm heading to your neck 'o the woods shortly. Tom

Well, apparently this dude in Gainsville, GA does too! http://www.georgiahometheater.com/images_project_photos/1photo59.jpg WOW!!!! Tom

I too will second the WOW - looks nice comments. I've always been a fan of natural maple as a finish on cabinents. It looks like you had the wall unit custom made for your stuff. Did you do the cabinetry or did you have it done? Congrats!! Tom

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!!!! My very first pair of Heresy's (which I still have) came with cane grilles. My next pair of Klipsch's were a pair of vertical horn model Cornwalls that were too good to pass up. Unfortunately, the grilles were black. Then I picked up three more Heresy's and they too had black grilles. Thus began my brain cramp of whether to get rid of the cane grilles (my favorite) and go all black or try to get cane grille material and convert the others (what I really wanted to do). Trouble was....Klipsch doesn't carry cane grille material and I could never find any place that had cane speaker grille material. UNTIL NOW!! WOO HOO!! Tom