jtnfoley

Silly question... Were terminal location on these, CW, or any others an orderable feature? I too have seen both top and bottom and wondered if it was a customer request, luck of the draw, or the preference of the person who fastened the back cover to the cabinet.

Check the tube audio forum at audiokarma... There's a LOT of expertise floating around, and a lot of DIY info if you are so inclined.

Just once I want to hear one of those commercials say "If you experience an erection lasting more than four hours, seek multiple partners."

She is just saying that so you feel better............or she is close to deaf ? Next time she's trying on clothes and ask you what looks better say they all look about the same just different colors, nothing special. Or the ultimate WAF ultieror motive: WAF itself. She prefers the visual impact of NOT having great big speakers.

Eico 666, the Tube Tester of the Beast. BMW 666i, the Beamer of the Beast. #6 West 66th street, the Manhatten Address of the Beast. 666 degrees fahernheit, the Temperature to which one should cook Roast Beast. There's dozens of them [8-|]

AudioKarma Tube Audio forum is also a great place to hang out and learn new audio goodness. I have read may threads about tube testers, and IIRC the 666/667 are highly regarded.

I'm surprised this is not an EIA line cord (PC-style cord.) Can you post pics?

Macrium Reflect is a fav for across-the-lan backup, including baremetal and browsable restore. And I definately recommend setting up a local mirror: The OP's described PC will certainly have hardware RAID, and a pair of 2TB drives can be had for well under $200 now.

Heh... I read the subject line of this thread and my mind went immediately to Frank Zappa. Highly quotable, that one.

No, not controversy... Controversy does not start unless and until someone claims to be able to hear the difference between several brands of multi-hundred-dollar-per-foot interconnect wire, or zero-oxygen-large-gage-ultrapure-drawn-between-the-thighs-of-a-virgin-on-midsummers-night-in-the-center-of-stonehenge speaker wire! [] (JTNF ducks!)

Engineering labor cost and budget constraints. The hobbyist can put unlimited time and money into the changes, the factory designer cannot. Exactly right. The manufacturer could make the "ultimate" speaker, but its high price would mean they'd sell very few units, so the company would not see economies of scale, so the price would have to stay high. It's a risky business model. Many companies do make very high quality speakers, but it's the less expensive models that keep the company in business and help pay for the R&D for the top-end models. Ideally, what's learned in the process trickles down to the bread-and-butter models, which benefits everyone. (emphasis mine.) In the car biz we call this "stuffing three Escorts into the trunk of every Lincoln." Another notable quote, from engineering school IIRC, is "perfect is the enemy of good enough." That is, the perfect product will never be shipped, and it's hard to pay the bills that way.

QSC sells their 2U as service parts: http://www.qscparts.com/ch00410000.html A trick that I'm fond of (call it a "Google Hack") is to search with Google Image search to get you to an item quickly. Searching for "2U handles" (without the quotes) resulted in this site http://www.industrial-enclosures.com/html/frontplatten-griffe.html and this site http://uk.farnell.com/jsp/search/results.jsp?N=1003629&isGoback=false Interestingly, Newark US has exactly the same web site as Farnell UK... http://www.newark.com/jsp/search/results.jsp?N=1003168&isGoback=false

NAD PP3 is Analog->Analog and Analog->USB also. I've not auditioned one, as I wound up with a NAD 114 preamp, but the PP3 was on my short list since it is the same gainstage as the well-regarded PP2. Not fifty bucks, but not horrible either: About $180USD on the street if I remember correctly.

The voltage that a turntable cartridge prvides is very different (much lower) than that of a CD player of FM receiver.... You need a dedicated linestage, such as the NAD PP3 or Cambridge Audio 540 or 640, that willamplify phono level signals to "line level" so an AUX input can be used for phono.

Typically, ISDN delivers two B channels and one D channel over a single pair of copper wires... that is to say, you have only one "line." Your troubles would be all or nothing if it were a physical line problem. The D (data) channel carries call establishment information and diagnostics, and the dial tone is actually generated by your 3COM modem. Most modems will use dial-tone as a means of dianosis, since traditional analog telephones don't provide any other means of feedback. Since you have one channel consistently good and one channel intermittent, I'd lean towards the endpoint devices being the culprit... This means your 3COM assuming the ISP and telco aren't full of bull... Terrible timing: I just threw away two 3COM OfficeConnect LAN modems last week that you could have had for the cost of shipping.

Barenaked Ladies "Barenaked For The Holidays" (BNL'd versions of Jewish and Christian standards) Squirrel Nut Zippers "Christmas Caravan"

True, dat. To quote Mel Brooks as Master Yogurt from SpaceBalls... "Moichendising! Moichendising! Moichendising" Apple has put together the most comprehensive ecosystem of hardware, software, and supporting services (the iTunes Store for example.) The hardware is proprietary but generally considered to be of high quality, normal human beings must use the PC- or MAC-based iTunes software suite for managing content on the player, and Apple makes a bloody fortune selling songs for a buck a pop via their Internet-based iTunes Store. Of course, you can extract music from CD and play on an iPod just as you would with a generic MP3 player... You are not forced to buy music from Apple. Common complaints are alluded to above: Notably, DRM (digital rights management) can be a pain in the butt if you get out of sync or replace/upgrade the player, you are pretty much tied into iTunes which is bloated and slow, and Apple does not support "open" lossless compression such as FLAC (may be a concern with this crowd.)

I've been looking for one for some time... There's a site, "MadeInRochester" over on Audiophool, where Tom Bavis (sp??) has schematics, marketing literature, SAMS folders, and other information. The 433 was the TOTL integrated if I remember correctly. Post over on audiokarma and Tom will chime in, as will many others with restoration advice.

It's also not uncommon for electronic parts to be "screened" for performace, temperature rating, etc. I don't know if the identified component maker is screening, but it's possible. Extreme example on a large piece of Silicon: Google reportedly has Intel screen parts for higher temperature ratings so their data centers can be run hotter and thereby save in cooling cost.

The set in my avatar was in the Northwest Suburbs of Boston IIRC. I was under the impression they went to New Hampshire where they await restoration.

Definately a good price. I had a set that I bought from a kid that literally needed to pay the rent: $225. I used them happily for over a year, refreshed the BLO finish, and sold them for $400 to a guy that was thrilled to pay that price. The market was stronger then, of course, but Quarts for under $200 qualifies as a deal.

I like the way you roll, rplace! I've got that same Sammy glass on my desk right now. []

And, perhaps more importantly, if a carpet is both real AND oxygen-free will the sound improve?

I've got a set, built by a GC who specialized in fine homebuilding. VERY well built,tight as a drum, cosmetically challenged as they were occasionally used as PA speakers at outdoor sporting events [] As stated, the Xovers were junk, especially after they were nearly launched out of my trailer by a Massachusetts Speed Bump (across I93.) The W4000 tweets were also stated to be a weak spot. I replaced the xovers with A4500s with a custom HF filter to flatten out the ST-350 BabyCheeks tweets I picked up on eBay. My total outlay on them was under $350. Perhaps this year I'll get around to finishing them! For critical comparison, I've had Quartets and Cornwalls in the same location, and still have La Scalas in my theater. I gotta say that the modified SKs sound pretty good.

The Magnavox amps in that console have fans over at AudioKarma.org forum. Seeing the tube compliment (first hit on google searching for 1st233L) with I'd say it'd be worth it even if the cosmetics are trash: That's a bi-amp right out of the box with 6V6 push-pull for mid/low and seperate 6V6 (Single Ended) for treble. I'd assume it'd be a GREAT match, properly restored, for LaScalas, Belles, or Klipschorns.