Curmudgeon

Special Delivery! A toaster/amplifier just for Kelly! Yep, those are Western Electric tubes in that baby!

I would much rather have 3 dB of dynamic headroom than 3 WPC. I wanna see the lights dim when I switch an amp on!

A variation on the old snake bite joke.

---------------- On 10/3/2003 6:40:15 PM artto wrote: I kicked God's *** it's true ---------------- Better watch out for the rematch, though!

How about this doggy-dude? Ain't he cool!

I think this canine can talk. How about the line from the dog in the movie "Road Trip"? ..... Hey Jack, have that beeotch make me some blueberry pancakes...right now!

---------------- On 10/2/2003 8:10:19 PM mungkiman wrote: Curmudgeon - I'm not interested in arguing with you. You are welcome to have different opinions than I have on how this country was obtained/founded, or any other matter. I do not believe (again my opinion), that religion or politics have a place on this forum, but we all know they prompt responses from the likes of us. ---------------- Who's arguing? I was just making a smart-a$$ed remark. But this news story did warm the cockles of my heart: Redskins Can Keep Trademark, Judge Rules By Carol D. Leonnig Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, October 2, 2003; Page A01 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28449-2003Oct1.html

---------------- On 10/2/2003 7:18:45 PM mungkiman wrote: Please don't forget that this is NOT our country. We stole it by killing and imprisoning the NATIVE Americans. Please don't forget that this BECAME an English speaking country after WE immigrated here and brought the language from overseas, just as other immigrants are doing. And please keep the god crap to yourself. The above rant is my OPINION, and directed at the fool who drafted the original article, not any of you. I do agree with a lot of the other points, but please keep your arrogance and ignorance to yourself. ---------------- Attended the public school system in California, huh?

Good old UPS, you gotta love `em! Trying to give the U.S. Postal Service a run for their money!

The main factor that is key to successfully purchasing used audio equipment from eBay, Audiogon, or wherever is communication with the seller. E-mail or phone the seller and asked detailed (but not obnoxious) questions about the gear. Good sellers will offer more info than you ask for and back it up with images, bad sellers will give you answers like they were filtered through a politician first. If the seller is vague about the cosmetic condition, operational condition, whether he is the original owner, etc. than RUN away from the sale, even if it looks like a bargain. Most of the sellers on eBay and Audiogon are decent people but there's always that low percentage of miscreants that are out to rip people off, you just have to be able to discern the type of person you're dealing with from the communication. Be extremely careful if a seller requests payment using Western Union wire transfers or an on-line escrow service - there are a lot of fake escrow sites out there and once the money's sent you'll never see it again. If you see an eBay auction where the seller has set it up to accept only "pre-approved" bidders ignore it, pretend the auction doesn't exist because the listed item doesn't exist either. Some low-life keeps trying to slip eBay listings in for high-dollar Levinson equipment but it's pretty easy to spot them as a fakes, so far eBay has been done OK at policing for them but eBay runs thousands of auctions simultaneously - and no one sells a current production $6000.00 amp for $1500.00. Don't get sucked into a pipe dream. If using eBay or Audiogon always check out a person's feedback. Good feedback is essential and it can tell you how a person handles transactions, problems, and if they are an enthusiast or a reseller. Watch the resellers: usually the "checked by a tech" statement means he loaned the piece to a drinking buddy and it seems to work. I have had 99.9% good experiences buying used equipment on both eBay and Audiogon, saving a lot of money vs. buying new (or used) from local dealers. Along the way I have met many nice people that are dedicated to audio and very informative (like the bulk of those on this forum). Most of them are like the rest of us, scratching and scraping their way up the ladder in search of better sound, trading out components to achieve a certain goal. Most of those that pay the heavy prices for well constructed gear take very good care of it; it's not unusual to find Klipsch, Linn, Levinson, McIntosh, etc. components that are 20-30 years old in like-new condition. Most forum members will also offer up their for-sale equipment here first as a courtesy which is another good way to find fair deals, especially if you're looking for Klipsch speakers or the appropriate gear to drive them with. Overall, use a common sense approach to buying used gear: 1) Talk to the seller, ask pertinent questions, ascertain cosmetic & operational condition 2) Examine and listen to items beforehand if possible, request images of actual item 3) Discuss packing & shipping issues before committing to the sale 4) Discuss any included accessories (manuals, remotes, cords, etc.) 5) Ascertain the number of owners and if any warranty left is transferable (verify warranty transferability with manufacturer) 6) Always pay using a traceable form of payment (like credit cards) 7) Discuss who pays any PayPal or credit card fees beforehand If buying gear long-distance ask the seller to send it COD, there's no risk to the seller and it gives you a chance to make sure there's something other than bricks in the box. If the gear is really expensive consider having the seller ship it directly to a dealer/repair facility to get checked out, it's the buyer's responsibility to pay for the check-out charges but it might be worth the peace of mind on high-dollar pieces. Good luck and hope this info helps you!

On-line auctions that ask for Western Union money transfers as the only form of payment are a big tip-off that it's a scam. Another major red flag is an eBay auction that restricts bidders to only those pre-qualified (via e-mail) by the seller. Personally, I don't think eBay should even allow that type of auction as it lets thieves pick and choose among their victims. Thieves have also tried to sell vehicles on eBay, one zero tried to sell a Kawasaki ZZR-1200 that was non-existent. He had pulled images of the bike from a private web site and gotten a VIN (vehicle identification number) from another ZZR registry site. The thief's mistake was that the real owner's truck was in one the picture's along with the motorcycle, the real owner saw the auction and notified eBay to get it shut down. It's amazing what some of these low-life MF'ers will try just to extract money from unsuspecting buyers. Never, ever give out VIN's or serial numbers for vehicles, audio equipment, or anything worth owning because somewhere out there is a lazy slimeball just waiting for something to legitimize their next listing.

If anyone in the Tidewater area (I refuse to call it Hampton Roads) is in need of a generator the Home Depot on 3352 Virginia Beach Blvd. had a bunch of them as of about a half hour ago. I stopped by there to pick up a few things and they had them stacked up in the aisles right by the cash registers. There was at least 15-20 generators in plain sight and they might even have more. Other locations probably have them too, call them if you need one. This is not an advertisement for Home Depot (I don't even like the place that much) but if someone wants a generator they have them in stock, beats candles and Sterno any day!.

---------------- On 9/14/2003 9:43:51 PM IB Slammin wrote: Oh My. You girls sucked me in again. People that I have listened to live............ 8. THE Frank Zappa ( sat on top of 2 Marshalls and wailed - twice) ---------------- One of the reasons I have so much respect for Frank Zappa as a guitar player is that I saw him in concert around 1981, about the time he was promoting the Shut Up 'N' Play Yer Guitar album. The venue was at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA. This concert was different than a lot of his earlier shows, there was less goofing around and for the most part FZ and the band stuck with harder edged, more guitar oriented songs. FZ did a lot of solo's and absolutely cooked, it seemed he was concentrating (at that time) on demonstrating that he was as able a guitar soloist as any of the other "heavies". If FZ had wanted to he could have played lead for any of the hard rock bands around and made a name for himself doing nothing but that. Of course, FZ was too talented in other areas to just stick to lead guitar, he left a legacy of varied and interesting music that no one else will ever truly duplicate. So you wanna be a crew s l u t ? Don't make a fuss - just get on the bus!

DeanG: "You're not quite evil enough. You're semi-evil. You're quasi-evil. You're the margarine of evil. You're the Diet Coke of evil, just one calorie, not evil enough."

Women should be obscene and not heard. - Groucho Marx

Now that's pure Heresy!

Win, Thanks for the great info!

Hello all, I would like to get some recommendations on superior sounding tubes to use in the phono section of my McIntosh C2200 preamp. The built-in moving-magnet phono stage uses two 12AX7As and two 12AT7As, the OEM's are Chinese made Svetlana's and rather mediocre from what I understand. The phono section's current sound is OK but nothing special so I was thinking that upgrading the tubes might kick it up a notch (and be cheaper than buying another phono stage). For a comparison my Aragon 47k phono stage outperforms the C2200's, the Aragon is SS and not true high-end. Has anyone here swapped out tubes on a C2200? I have seen recommendations for RCA blackplates, Mullards, Telefunkens, etc. but I really don't know diddly about tubes themselves and the various qualities different brands exhibit. I don't mind spending the money for good tubes but I would rather avoid having to buy a bunch of different brands to experiment. One of the reasons I went with Mcintosh tube components was to keep it simple - high reliability and no biasing, etc. Plus, I have no way of testing tubes here (gone are the days when most drug stores had tube testing machines in them) so I would also be in need of a reliable source to buy them, such as another forum member or reliable web site. If the phono tube swap works well I'll do the main preamp tubes also. I'm putting together a 2nd Linn LP12 deck to utilize the C2200's phono section, my VPI Scout has a Clearaudio Sigma on it so the Aragon 47k is configured for MC use. Any recommendations would be most appreciated, I know a lot of you out there (Kelly, Allan Songer, Erik Mandaville, etc.) have extensive personal experience with tubes whereas my only knowledge of them is from reading on this forum and the web. In other words I can spell tube and use it in a sentence but that's about it. Thanks in advance for any suggestions! by the way, I generally listen to rock, blues, older jazz, and a bit of classical if that info will help. My current tube setup is as follows: McIntosh C2200 pre (all OEM tubes) McIntosh MC-275 Gow Commemorative amp (all OEM tubes) 1979 Klipschorns KC-BR (unmodded) Preamp/amplifier via balanced cables

---------------- On 9/11/2003 3:38:10 PM IndyKlipschFan wrote: It is the next line that totally baffles me: "There is a healthy used market for music. It is perfectly legal." Hmmm It seems that the secondary market you refer to is used CD's. While this is legal, AND, It amazes me that it is... I mean the record company only got paid ONE TIME for this purchase...Same with the artist... Are you not buying for a "service fee" a free copy of someone else's work? This is about as close to stealing IMO too. Our "service fee" online may be a modem, AOL, or cable, dsl, connection too. What is the difference??? In your thinking.. Shouldn't this be perfectly legal too? Hear me out, someone bought a CD and downloaded it to their computer. You copied it down to yours... Same as borrowing a CD from a friend or buying a used one at a record store if you ask me. You are also stealing it. ---------------- I may be incorrect here legally (although probably not morally) but there's nothing wrong with selling used CD's, LP's, or retail cassettes. The artist gets royalties when the original media is sold via retail. Once a person tires of listening to it and wants to unload it there is nothing wrong with selling it as long as no illegal copy has been made. If the persons keeps a copy (CD, tape, MP3, wav, etc.) and sells the original that's wrong, the artist is getting hosed. If the person keeps the original and makes copies for their friends that's also wrong. Selling copies is downright piracy, anyway. If only the original retail media is resold it shouldn't matter, the artist has received their royalty for that particular copy. Essentially, as long as the number of media copies on the street doesn't increase via copying the artist has been paid appropriately. What do they expect you to do with music you no longer want - destroy it or give it away? How about if I buy a basic CD of Duke Ellington/Blues In Orbit and then later buy a MFSL dual layer SACD version. Am I stuck forever with the basic CD or should I be allowed to recoup some money from the purchase? Does the next guy or gal have the right to purchase my old CD? In my mind, private ownership of music falls under different rules then public play: artists get royalties per media copy for private ownership and collect royalties per airplay or per public performance in the public end of it. If it's any different feel free to correct me. I believe computer software can be sold in a similar manner: If uninstalled from your CPU and no copy retained = legal to sell. If the software is not uninstalled from the CPU and/or a copy retained then it's an illegal sale. By the way IndyKlipschFan, this is strictly commentary and not meant to be argumentative with your post

Note that even with my parody of the RIAA headlines I do not advocate file swapping or artist's losing control over their intellectual properties. Between my wife and myself we have over 600 retail CD's and I have over 500 LP's, plus a hundred or so cassettes I made in the 70's & 80's. The bulk of the cassettes are copies of my LP's made to play in the car and to cut down on LP wear. And yes, a few of the cassettes were taped from friends albums (gasp). We own a fair amount of music and a lot of it has been obtained used or through clubs due to the ridiculous overpricing of CD's in retail stores, there's not many (single) CD's out there worth $18-20.00. I refuse to subsidize the record companies overpromotion and overpayments to talentless bubble-gum, boy-band, Barbie-doll bands or bad hip-hop posturers (there's nothing wrong with good hip-hop) by paying inflated retail. Especially for older rock, jazz, blues, and classical CD's that have been out for years and should be more competitively priced. Universal Music's latest move to drop prices will hopefully help, paying $10-13.00 for single CD's is no problem at all to me but the record companies can stuff their $20.00 titles and Britney Spears. - The main reason I don't like the RIAA is that their tactics remind me of the marching hammers from "The Wall" . Perhaps the RIAA lawyers could get some red and black uniforms for court days.

RIAA headlines to come: RIAA sues teenage mother and unborn fetus ..... The mother file-swapped therefore the fetus is an accessory, RIAA lawyer files to place hold on child's trust fund account ... Toddler sued by RIAA, Fisher-Price to be next ..... It seems that the youngster duplicated some of Metallica's chords and riffs on a Tuff Stuff® Sing-Along Karaoke Tape Recorder in a public forum (kindergarten playground) and was financially compensated (gum, candy, pencils). RIAA lawyer states that if you let one person get away with it, society will implode ... RIAA offers amnesty program ..... You have to uninstall any file sharing software on your computer and then publish a letter-to-the-editor in your local paper stating that you're a felon and are in need of a flogging. Then destroy any and all CDR's you've made, even if they don't have music on them. Delete all of the music from your computer (legal or not - remember, this is punishment), remove your hard drive and beat it with a hammer. Next, take the hammer to all of your current CD's so that you can do the right thing and repurchase them (to help the artists, of course). Lastly, destroy any CD or DVD burners you may own - they are inherently evil. Also, if you own a VCR, tape recorder, or DAT please destroy those too (we're still P.O.'d that we didn't take care of this issue sooner). Draw up an affidavit certifying that you have done all of this, sign it: I am a guilty wanker and mail it to us (at your expense, of course). RIAA lawyers state that those in the amnesty program may still have to pay fines but "we'll handle the court costs" ... RIAA suing estate of Mother Theresa ..... Developing

---------------- On 9/10/2003 12:14:55 AM fini wrote: Anything with Kevin Kostner. fini (not a big fan of his acting) ---------------- Speaking of fini's favorite actor , Kevin Costner had a memorable death scene in A Perfect World. Not just the final scene where the FBI sniper takes him out, technically it starts where the boy shoots him in the farm house. Is Butch Haynes (Costner) a good guy, or a bad guy? A victim of improper upbringing? Gets you to thinking in a Slingblade sort of way. - As for one of the goriest death scenes ever: Dead Alive has to take the cake. At the end of the movie when Lionel takes out the zombies with a lawnmower they must have had to haul in the fake blood in 55 gallon drums! All of you Lord of the Ring fans out there who are just familiarizing yourself with Peter Jackson's films should check out Dead Alive, just make sure you have a sense of humor and a few barf bags handy for your weak-stomached friends. Now, where did that Sumatran rat-monkey get to?

---------------- On 9/11/2003 12:08:46 PM Marvel wrote: TE DEUM Patrem ingenitum, te Filium unigenitum, te Spiritum Sanctum Paraclitum, sanctam et individuam Trinitatem, toto corde et ore confitemur, laudamus, atque benedicimus: tibi gloria in saecula. Great idea fini! Mrvel ---------------- Does that mean it's OK to talk dirty in Esperanto?

Just thought of a few more decent ones: Dennis Hopper's death scene in True Romance. The word play between him and Christopher Walken was absolutely hilarious. Al Pacino's death scene in Scarface. Talk about lead poisoning! The scene from the first Friday the 13th where the kid in a bunk gets stabbed from underneath straight through the mattress.

------------- Goobers on the left, raisonets on the right. ------------- Is this like the scene from "The Jerk" where Steve Martin has the difference between $hite and shinola explained to him?