erdric

With complete respect to all those above, it's pretty difficult if not impossible to tell someone not to buy a Rotel amp because Sunfire sounds so much better. First, everything is subjective and is based on what each individual thinks sounds good. Second, how can you say someone should pick Sunfire to go with your Klipsch when you haven't even listened to Sunfire driving Klipsch speakers? Just because Sunfire (or Denon, Anthem, Yamaha, Bryston) sound good with one manufacturer doesn't mean it'll sound good with Klipsch. And again, I have to refer to point one, it's all in the ears of the beholder. Sorry, I'm beginning to feel like the only proper answer to any of these amp/speaker posts is to tell the person to listen to the desired combo and decide for himself.

I used a KV-3 with my Forte II's for a long time. I found it to be a good match and I would recommend it. I moved on to the Academy because I just had to have one. Yes, the Academy is a better match, near perfect in fact, but if you don't have the absurd amount of money it takes to get one don't worry about it. You'll love the KV-3. IIRC, Jayhawk used a KV-4 with his Forte II's and thought it was a little bright for them. I could be wrong though, it's been a while since I talked with him about that.

still here but mostly in Lurker Mode these days... Wow, I used to have that Grim Reaper album! I forgot they existed.

Thanks for the reply. I think I'll give it a shot. If it sounds good I'll move forward with the new rack. Thanks again.

Hey Rob, I picked up a Pioneer Elite CLD-59 about 2 years ago. I got it for one reason and one reason only, I wanted the original Theatrical versions of the Star Wars Trilogy. That was enough for me. I've also picked up the theatrical version of Last of the Mohicans and THX1138, which was not available on DVD at the time. I've only watched the LD's three times since picking the player up (yes, Star Wars) because I find it annoying to have to change discs. At least the player flips side to side. Once I have a DVD recorder I'll be transfering the SW LD's to DVD-R and I'll never pull out the laserdiscs again. So, IMO, if you want the theatricals of Star Wars in a much better format than VHS then get yourself a LD player. If not, I'd pass and save yourself some time and money.

Without going into great and boring details about the lack of space in my HT room, I'm looking at a new combination TV stand/equipment rack option that would require standing my Academy CC on end underneath the TV (it's currently sitting on it's long side under the TV). The woofers wouldn't be an issue because they would be oriented just like a main speaker normally is but I'm afraid the rotated dispersion pattern of the tweeter might affect the front soundstage. I guess this is the opposite of taking a main speaker and turning it on its side. Has anyone tried standing their Academy, or other center channel, on it's end? If so, were you happy with the result?

Hi Fini. I'm an architect and have been using AutoCAD since release 13. It's relatively easy to learn the basics of AutoCAD so don't sweat what I say next. It's a very, very deep software and after using it for many years I can tell you that there are still a lot of commands and techniques I don't know. AutoCAD has about 5 different ways to do everything and that's not including the scripts and routines that we've written to improve efficiency. Of those many years, I spent only about 2 really exploring the program and learning new ways of drafting. The rest was spent learning and refining ways to manage drawings, working with blocks, xrefs, viewports, model and paperspace, etc. WRT the basics, most people have the hardest time learning and understanding scale within the files and how model space and paper space interact. Once you get through that it's pretty easy. As for 3D, AutoCAD will get the job done but there are other programs that get used instead. Desktop, 3D Studio, Viz, SolidWorks, etc. I've not used them so I can't give any advice. One last thing, you have to use it or lose it. I'm moving away from drafting into construction administration and it's shocking how quickly you forget some of the less frequently used commands. If you end up with AutoCAD and have questions, feel free to shoot me an email and I'll see what I can do to help.

You know what I think of AVS Forum? www.hometheaterforum.com They don't put up with a lot but they're better than AVS, IMO.

>>Eric, Yeah, the local HD hasn't dropped the price of the K-bodies. Have you tried the smaller, gray ones that look like K-bodies?<< No, I haven't. I looked at them when Woodworkers Warehouse was running their going out of business sale. They seemed like they were only meant for light duty but I could be wrong. I do have some of the Kliklamps. I'm using them for setting up jigs, attaching stop blocks to the TS fence, etc. They're pretty good for that type of thing, IMO.

>>Here's another tip. I was in Home Depot yesterday. They had marked-down Bessey (a brand) clamps 25-33%. These are GREAT woodworking clamps. I don't know if your local HD will have the same deal, but I'd be interested to find out...<< Word on Woodnet is that HD is clearing out the Bessey brand to make room for an all Jorgie line. Apparently there's a bigger profit margin with Orange. I managed to get 5 of the 24" Tradesman clamps at one of the local HD's. Everything else was cleared out. What I'm drooling over is the potential for 25-33% off the K-Body clamps.

>>Nope, no dado blades yet. They are very pricy. Think I'm gonna tackle them via router. I built a cheezy but decent router table. Tried to make a fence for it out of oak and poplar. I think I jointed it down to far cause now I have a slight bow in it. Going to try making another fence. If I can't get it perfect this time, I'll go buy a fence. Plus I still have to get my new porter cable table mounted. I have the accrylic for the base plate, just have not had a chance to do it yet. SO, that's really my first line of biz, get my router table situated, and get my dust collector hooked up.<< Agreed, I had a hard time passing the credit card over for the dado set. I use it but I still use the router as well. I've picked up a set of the undersized plywood straight bits and they work great. BTW, I don't know if you have a preference for bits but I tend to get either Freud or Katana. The Katana is the high-end line for MLCS and it's pretty good. The regular MLCS is garbage and you should stay away from it. As for the router table, I wussed out and bought one. I picked up the Bench Dog complete table. I wanted to make sure I had a dead accurate table top and fence. http://www.benchdog.com/Products/Protop/CB400.htm The latest American Woodworker has plans for a shop-built router lift that looks interesting. I might give it a shot. >>Actually, I want to build a router table insert for my table saw. My shop is small enough as is, so I need all the space I can get. I've just yet seen something that I like. I've seen a few premade ones you can purchase but I don't like the fact that there is no support under them. I don't want to bend my rails on my fence. Guess if I had gone ahead and gotten the GI with the beizmire (sp?) fence I would'nt have that issue. Nice and sturdy rails on that bad boy.<< I'm lucky that I have enough space for a dedicated router table. You do want to make sure that you don't have deflection, especially if that PC router is heavy. BTW, since you (sp?), it's Biesemeyer.

Go mOOn Go!!! It's an addiction isn't it? As for blades, I agree with Fini but I'd also suggest a good combo blade. I've got the Freud LU85 80T for cross-cutting and the LU84 50T for general work. Both are fantastic. Currently I'm using the stock rip blade that came with the Jet but soon I'll pick up the Freud 24T. Do you have a dado set, yet? I've got the Freud SD506. Nice, but pricey.

ROTFLMAO!! That has to be the dumbest thing I've seen in a long time. Hmmmm, I've got an OO Academy at home. If I wait a year I could sell it and use the money I get to buy a mint pair of Khorns. Hell, I might even have a little cash left over. Morons.

>>The planar/jointer combo was a Ridgid I seen at Home Depot last night. The biggest reason I stayed away from it was because it didn't have a very large cutting width. That may be just fine, I really don't know.<< Ah, okay. The jointer is the last major purchase I have to make and I'm undecided on what to get. Cutting width is a huge factor along with bed length. I'd love an 8" jointer with a 72" bed but you're talking $900-1,300 for that if you go with a Delta, Jet or Powermatic. Grizzly and General are options in the $600-900 range but I don't know too much about them. >>Oh yeah and Ed... I've been hanging round the Woodworking Forum. Nice bunch of guys.<< Me, I've been lurking at the Woodnet forum. Lots of great info there. One of these days I'll register and start posting. http://www.forums.woodnet.net/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php

>>Ed... Yeah I was looking at the Jet Contractor. Unless I got the Exacta fence there is no way I would have settled for the stock fence that was on it cuase the backend on that stock fence moved a good 1/4"<< Agree with you completely. The stock fence on the Jet CS is junk. I didn't really want to go up to the price of the Jet with the Xacta but a solid fence is the key to the TS so.... >>You got a planar? Dog! I still have bonus money to play with... I was looking hard at that planar/joiner combo last night. I think the reason I held off was because I don't know how much stuff I will be building... Meaning, I am not sure how long it would take me to get my money back out of it by buying rough cut woods. Know what I'm saying?<< Yeah, I'm pretty happy with the planer. I got it during the Woodworkers Warehouse 'going out of business' sale. Grand total= $350. What planer/jointer combo are you talking about? When I started to put together the shop it was after a 15 year hiatus from doing any serious woodworking. I didn't have the space nor the funding to take up the hobby during that time. Now that I have a house and a good sized basement I decided to get back into the hobby. I was concerned about spending the money because I didn't know how much I'd really use it and when I'd start to see some payback on my investment. Lets face it, it's an expensive hobby, not as bad as A/V can be but it's up there. In the end I decided that the amount of fun I'd have turning out projects for friends and family would be worth the money for all the tools. Now if could only get some of those projects finished...

>>It's funny you should say that... There is one particular Ryobi that people REALLY seem to love. I was looking at it last night at home depot. Does look like a damn nice benchtop saw. Had a sliding table and router table. If I didn't have enough money to buy the saw I did I am sure I would have got that ryobi. It's like the BT3100 or something like that.<< FYI, Ridgid's parent company sold their at least part of their power tools division this past year. Guess who picked up the Ridgid power tools line, remade it with new cosmetics, improvements, and now sells it exclusively at Home Depot? Yup, Ryobi. I kid you not. Other jointly owned product lines: Delta and Porter Cable Black + Decker and DeWALT Jet and Powermatic EDIT: Had to edit the above comment about the selling of the power tool division. I know it happened but I guess it wasn't their whole line. I just came back from the Depot where I saw a Ridgid jointer and drill press in the old design. Don't exactly know what's going on with all of their stuff, I guess.

>>As far as the biskets, it seems as though I seen a router bit for that BUT, not sure how it could make an oblong shape to match the bisket.<< I have one of those router bit sets for biscuits. It works alright but once I picked up the DeWalt biscuit joiner I smacked myself for waiting so long to do so. >>As far as air purification, well... I quit smoking about 4 months ago so I am able to breath better... I will just breath real hard and use my lugs as a filter.<< I have asthema so I have to deal with the dust. I have a small dust collector that I roll from machine to machine to go along with the Jet air filtration unit for ambient air cleaning. Works really well but sometimes I still need to wear a respirator.

>> I want a new table saw so bad, just can't bring myself to part with audio money to buy it.<< Do it Wardsweb, you won't regret it. Last May I was about to pull the trigger on a new Rotel setup but decided to put it on hold to get the new tools. I now have a beautiful Jet contractor saw. It's all cast iron, has the Xacta II fence, and it cuts like you wouldn't believe. As I'm sure you know, the TS is the heart of the shop and man, what a heart that Jet TS is. As much as I wanted that Rotel gear I have to say I'm glad I put off that purchase until after I upgraded the shop. More tool gloat, I just picked up the 2 speed Delta planer. Wow, is that a sweet tool.

Congrats Moon. You've just wandered into my other hobby, power tools, umm, I mean, woodworking. I've been putting together a shop for the last 7 months. It's great buying tools! Now you just need a jointer, planer, compound miter saw, router, router table, drill press, disk/belt sander, biscuit joiner, random orbit sander, circular saw, dado set, dial indicator, dust collection system, radial arm saw, lathe, a good work bench with front and tail vise...oh yeah, maybe some wood. Congrats again! Now start making sawdust!

>>but Carolina is no sleeper either. Many alayst say that they are the New England team 2 years ago when they won the Super Bowl.<< Yes, that's the party line at the moment and for good reason. One big difference between now and 2001, and I do mean big: the Panthers of this year are like the Patriots of 2001 but the Patriots of this year are nothing like the Rams of 2001. Both teams had great success, yes. Both were/are picked as the likely winners, yes again. But here's where it changes: -This Patriots team is led by a very strong defense. Defense wins championships and that alone is an important point in the Patriots favor. -Many believe the Rams overlooked the Patriots in SB 36. The Patriots never overlook anyone. You can't win 14 in a row by overlooking a team because you think you are better than them (hello Rams) -Bill Belichick. This will be SB trip number 5 for him (2 wins with the Giants as D-coordinator, 1 as D-coordinator with the 96 Patriots, and his 2nd as head coach of the Patriots). He knows what is needed to win in these games. Martz didn't and he was widely considered to be outcoached 2 years ago and admitted as much. By now everyone knows that Belichick is the NFL's resident defensive genius. The Rams lost the SB because of Martz trying to shove the pass down the throat of the Patriots instead of going to Faulk, who Belichick correctly determined as the key to the Rams offense. Belichick had a linebacker shadowing Faulk the entire game. Yes, I'm scared of the Panthers because they remind me of my Patriots, both of 2 years ago and this year. But if the Panthers do win, it won't be because of the resemblance to the Patriots of 2001, that will just be coincidence. Go Patriots!!!

>>Why in the world do the refs let the New England defense get by with bloody murder in the post-season? In Super Bowl 2001, my Rams were MAULED by the Patriot DB's and LB's. Against the Colts, they did the same thing. I don't know how many plays I saw that should have brought a flag for holding.<< The ref's missed two obvious holding calls against the Pats in the last drive. Absolutely and positively pathetic and that's coming from a Patriots fan. Having said that, within the first 5 yards the defense can do anything they want short of tackling them or holding (see above comment). The game plan against both the Rams and the Colts was to hammer the receivers in the 5 yard zone to get them off their timing routes. That's not mauling, that's football. As for the secondary hits, both of the monster shots Wilson dealt out were with the shoulder, not the head. In other words, perfectly legal and just part of football. BTW, I also saw some holding on the Colts side and don't forget the obvious delay of game that was missed. The ref's weren't perfect and never are.

>>Go Colts<< Yeah, go home! Sorry, I couldn't resist. Indy is a great team. One hell of a game by my Patriots. I was a little shocked by the 2 non-calls at the end of the game, though. I thought for sure there was either pass interference or holding on that last Colts drive.

I sold my 1990 KG-3's for $200. They were in absolutely mint condition, though. BTW, do you mean upgrading to Quartet? I think most would agree that the Quintets are a step down from the KG-3's.

I've picked up my Forte II's and Academy off Ebay with good luck. The Academy was shipped with good packaging and the Forte II's were local so I picked them up myself. I've bought items that were easily damaged (NAD tuner, electronics, etc). I contacted the seller to talk about shipping prior to bidding. You can usually tell from the communication whether or not they will actually do a good job.

Well, I lost so many auctions to last minute snipers that I gave up bidding on anything until the last 10 minutes or so. If there's something I want I write down the time the auction ends and make sure I'm at the computer for the last 10 minutes. Of all the items I've bid on I think I've only won once when I didn't bid in the last minutes of the auction. That's just life on Ebay I guess.