[How many of us listen to VINYL as primary source?]

I run about 40% vinyl to 60% CD's on the average. I tend to collect audio stuff and turntables just seem to find their way to me via friends, horse-trades, etc. I'm up to over 10 decks now (starting to lose track) but they are fun to mess with when time allows. Vinyl definitely is preferable to CD's for sound as long as you're willing to put up with the inconvenience and an occaisional snap-crackle-pop. Most people have not heard vinyl with a good deck/arm/cartridge combo and quite literally don't know what they're missing (your mom's BSR stacker with the spring-loaded plastic tonearm just doesn't cut it). If I intend to pay attention to the music I'll spin vinyl, but its still hard to beat CD's when working or reading for non-stop tunes in the background. Here's most of the relics I own (all clean & functioning):

1974 Linn LP12, Valhalla w/Basik Plus arm (main deck)

1979 Linn LP12, Basik w/Infinity Black Widow arm

Yamaha PF-800

Kyocera PL-701

B&O RX2

Denon DP45F

Pioneer PL-50 w/Infinity Black Widow arm

Sansui FR-3080

Sansui SR-5090

Garrard Zero 100SB

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Rooms $4.00 a week & up, mostly up - Free showers when it rains!

Amalgamated Association of Morons, Local 6 7/8

[onkyo or outlaw ??????]

I would definitely recommend the Outlaw 1050 receiver. I auditioned one for 30 days and found it to have excellent build quality, features, plus it has a first class high-current amplification section. The 65 watts rating is conservative and will put many 100-125 watt receivers to shame while delivering clean sound. Features are easy to set up and use, also the owner's manual is extremely well written.

I ended up returning my 1050 to Outlaw because I decided to get their 950 model pre-pro but if the 950 wasn't just about ready to come out I would definitely have kept the 1050. Outlaw's customer service is exceptional, when I phoned them to set up the return I was treated very well and they even asked if I would talk to one of their reps to give my opinion as to what I did and didn't like about the 1050. This rep was also cordial, very interested in my opinion, and demonstrated that Outlaw is trying to do business on a much more personal level than the mass marketers. There really is minimal effort and risk to audition one, Outlaw refunds the receiver price plus the cost of shipping paid to get it from them to you. The only thing it costs you if you don't keep it is the return shipping charges via the carrier of YOUR choice, as an example I paid for UPS Ground to the tune of $15.00. As far as I'm concerned fifteen bucks is acceptable to be able to try out a unit in your home and if you can get your retailer to loan you an Onkyo just do a head-to-head comparison.

I've got nothing against Onkyo, I had a P304 preamp and M504 amp combo of theirs for a while which produced good mid-fi sound. In this case Outlaw's advantage is that it is not a discontinued model and you're not paying for Onkyo's advertising budget or distributor/dealer markups. What you may not realize is that whatever the Onkyo's original price was the retailer is still making a profit off of the "closeout" amount you're considering paying for it now. Anyway, good luck and let your ears make the final decision, all the advertisements and other people's opinions mean little if you yourself aren't happy with your purchase.

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Rooms $4.00 a week & up, mostly up - Free showers when it rains!

Amalgamated Association of Morons, Local 6 7/8

[Academy center channel on E-Bay....]

Hello everyone,

I was reading various posts on the forum and ventured over to the home theater section only to notice the Academy topic. Started reading and got the eerie feeling that it was just too familiar so I hit the eBay link to discover that I bought the speaker being discussed here. I had been looking for a decent Academy for a while and decided to go for this one, apparently from the other postings I got a fairly decent deal on it. I mailed out payment yesterday so hopefully I'll have it in a week or so.

I got this to go with my Cornwall II's due to my recent decision to move them from 2-channel to home theater duty. I'm currently using a Cerwin-Vega LS6C which matched up OK but not great so I can't wait to hear the system with the properly matched center. If anyone has any suggestions or recommendations on the Academy speaker I would be glad to hear them. Hope everyone has a nice holiday!

2-CHANNEL

Mobile Fidelity UltrAmp (Michael Yee PA-1) amp

Rotel RC-1070 preamp

Rega Planet CD player

Linn Sondek LP12 turntable

Denon DR-F7 cassette deck

B&W CDM9NT speakers

HOME THEATER

Sherwood R-956 (utilized as a pre-pro)

Acurus A125X5 amp

Sony DVP-S330 DVD

Sony CDP-C725 CD

Toshiba W704 VHS

Klipsch Cornwall II main's (Birch)

Klipsch KSW12 sub

Cerwin-Vega LS6C center (Academy on the way!)

Sansui XL-500 rear's (full-range, no Bose mini-cube crap here!)

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Rooms $4.00 a week & up, mostly up - Free showers when it rains!

Amalgamated Association of Morons, Local 6 7/8

["Premium" Speaker Cable- - My Family's Test]

Here's a little something for the special wire=nirvana crowd: find a copy of the August 1983 issue of Stereo Review, then turn to page 46 for Lawrence Greenhill's article "Speaker Cables: Can You Hear The Difference?". It compares 24-gauge vs 16-gauge vs Monster Cable wire in controlled, double-blind tests using premium audiophile components and gives out plenty of good information. I won't get into the specifics as it is a long article but here's a quote from their conclusions: "This project was unable to validate the sonic benefits claimed for exotic speaker cables over common 16-gauge zip cord. We can conclude, therefore, that there is little advantage besides pride of ownership in using these thick, expensive wires."

I've listened to a few high-end cables vs 16-gauge OFC wire myself and can't hear the difference either. The magazine article may be 18 years old but the information is still relevant, so far I'm still inclined to spend money on the components over wires that can be used to jump-start diesel trucks. Nothing personal to you "pride of ownership types" out there so spend your money as you will, perhaps on the really impressive Lirpa Labs Lirpa Turbo Steamtable.

2-CHANNEL

Mobile Fidelity UltrAmp (Michael Yee PA-1) amp

Rotel RC-1070 preamp

Rega Planet CD player

Linn Sondek LP12 turntable

Denon DR-F7 cassette deck

B&W CDM9NT speakers

HOME THEATER

Sherwood R-956 (utilized as a pre-pro)

Acurus A125X5 amp

Sony DVP-S330 DVD player

Sony CDP-C725 CD player

Toshiba W704 6-head VHS player

Klipsch Cornwall II main's

Klipsch KSW12 subwoofer

Cerwin-Vega LS6C center (still looking for a Klipsch Academy to match the Cornwall II's)

Sansui XL-500 rear's (full-range, no Bose cubes here!)