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Colin

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Everything posted by Colin

  1. Two teams are 11 and 1!!!! http://www.nfl.com/m/article/0ap1000000105913/nfl-power-rankings-week-14-broncos-climb-giants-plummet?campaign=Facebook_writers_harrison
  2. Two teams are 11 and 1!!!! http://www.nfl.com/m/article/0ap1000000105913/nfl-power-rankings-week-14-broncos-climb-giants-plummet?campaign=Facebook_writers_harrison
  3. the Spielberg epic, Lincoln, has great acting by Daniel Day Lewis, but its awesome scenery makes it a big screen choice
  4. Certainly, the old meets new Bond, "Skyfall," keeps the action packed cliche franchise going - very easy and fun to watch
  5. love the solid-state Outlaw receiver though on Khorns otherwise, passive dual amplification is my ticket with solid state on bass bins and tubes on top Pallidiums are wonderful, but my friends with Khorns got them for a song or two
  6. Colin

    Best 3D Movie

    easily Hugo 3D - Martin shows how 3D should be done Master film-maker Martin Scorsese' recently created a marvelous movie, "Hugo 3D." Yet the fourth "Twilight" teenage vampire movie outsold the master's piece by ten-fold in the movie theater. Not all movie mavens, audiophiles included, want the same things.
  7. Colin

    Diana Krall new CD

    wow, love the cover! Though I don't think she is sexy herself.
  8. Heard these on a dozen different speakers, three times now on Khorns, best sound for the money! http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/equipment/1212/garber_fi_x4.htm
  9. Falcons and Texans still have best records in week 11, but who is going to division?
  10. Do you have a sub-woofer, because that makes all the difference. Tubes with subs are great! Sanders Electrostatics has a very good white paper on the need for solid-state watts. But big ole horns require extremely low distortion, NOT watts, to sound great and loud. This low distortion capability is readily available: So, look for heavy, vintage solid-state receivers, like Harmon Kardon twin transformer models 430-930, which go for as little as $5 Check out chip amplifiers, like Sonic Impact and Trend Audio, which were about $100 Seriously consider low-cost, refurbished tube amplifiers from fellow forum poster Craig, at NOSvalves.com. Refurbishing one will take time, yet it will cost less about a grand. The result however, will be as almost as good as most mega-buck integrated amplifiers, solid-state or tube. I know from experience that Cayin, Antique Sound Labs, Bottlehead and now Carys new Audio Electronics tube amplifiers are quite good Jonathon Valin in The Absolute Sound (September 09) gave a rave review to the $800 Odyssey Khartago Power Amplifier comparing it very favorably to much more expensive amplifiers. I just heard and loved an Outlaw receiver on big ole horns
  11. When testing amplifiers and loudspeakers for EnjoyTheMusic.com, I always play a crescendo of full orchestra music. No other type of music has full audible frequency response range, highest dynamic range, widest sound pressure levels and most instruments all playing at the same time! These characteristics are extremely hard for amplifier and speaker combinations to reproduce and MOST dont. They compress and distort the notes and sounds together like puree vegetable juice. Really wanna hear what your stereo cant do? Play all-out, high-energy full symphony orchestra.
  12. who is building these? Craig himself? After a wonderful listening day with modified LaScalas at Mike Lindsays 2006 Florida get-together, I strongly recommend investing in NOSvalves KT88 VRD monoblocks very solid bass for a tube amplifier!
  13. Week three; Texans, Falcons, Cardinals unbeaten! Browns (still) and Saints! in basement... http://www.nfl.com/standings
  14. Week three; Texans, Falcons, Cardinals unbeaten! Browns (still) and Saints! in basement... http://www.nfl.com/standings
  15. What is more important? The front-end electronics and source or the back-end speakers? In "Stereos, As They Relate to Indoor Sport," I swap boom-box parts for high-end and listen to the difference: http://www.enjoythemusic.com/senselessrambling/ Senseless Ramblings www.enjoythemusic.com Last night my daughter went out and bought a boom box from Sony for $179. Despite a living room dominated by two of the largest three way horn speakers ever made, she purchased a silver MHC-RXD2 for its CD player and dual cassette decks, with out any consultation from me. I knew that she woul... https://www.facebook.com/pages/Big-Ole-Horns/142663002431283?ref=hl
  16. At first I was shocked to see not only the modesty of some of the exalted reviewer's humble abodes, but also the horrible speaker placements and conditions with which they have to cope! For Cardinals of the Golden Ear, their homes are NOT cathedrals of Audio Nirvana. Most of the tweaking audiophiles in my Suncoast Audiophile Society (SAS, Meetup.com), who host our monthly meetings, have superior arrangements. The listening room defines the sound of home movie and music reproduction systems. Yet, while a few of them have some foam panels, very few have more acoustic treatment than that (one doctor has a custom designed room). Unfortunately, the reviewers modest rooms are like mine. Not hardly ideal at all. In fact, most people's homes do NOT have an ideal room for a purist audio system. I wonder why speaker manufacturers don't design loudspeakers for particularly difficult set-ups. Such as a bookshelf. How many times have you seen a perfectly decent speaker shoved so far back into a shelf that the walls are blinders to sight and sound? Because most rooms aren't ideal, I applaud Bose (gasp, Bose!) for incorporating an automatic EQ into some of their over-priced systems. They really do know how to get the most sound and consumer dollars out of as little of their investment as possible! Yet the impact is the same as EQ with actually good equipment; it helps make modest systems sound better, maybe as good as they can be. I hardly consider myself a self-anointed or pious expert. I consider myself a fellow consumer. I ask vendors a lot of stupid questions. I don't read electronics books in my spare time. I learn as I go. I report what I hear. I don't "charge people for the sham." I charge for my labor. It is less than a day's pay for a week's work. So it is NOT employment for me normally, but I will admit it has helped buy groceries these past few years. I am NOT an emperor, but I still stand naked before my readers. Having auditioned several dozen units of equipment over the past decade, I can say with confidence, that I do indeed hear differences. I read how some reviewers' describe those same differences. I am pleased that I have yet to get a unit wrong. I am very pleased that later Stereophile reviews only confirm what I heard and tried to describe previously. I certainly wish I did some simple measurements and I welcome suggestions in that regard. I do try to explain why somebody might purchase the unit I am reviewing and I rarely find units I just hate (often, the review gets killed anyway, threat of lawsuits, don't ya know). It is true that reviewers may NOT hear all the nuances of what they are writing about, since their rooms are indeed "clearly saddled with issues." Their room acoustics do effect the response of the unit. Personally, I would hope that these missing features are nuances only and NOT major characteristics of the unit. I could be wrong. When Supravox came and pulled their loudspeakers further into the room than I ever would, the soundstage opened up like the Grand Ole Opry (http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/equipment/0112/supravox_carla.htm)! My review would have missed that. Therefore, I try to review each piece of equipment in another location. The SAS has been wonderful for that. I think other reviewers try the same thing, only NOT so formally; they try to review on different systems too. Do you need a good room to review a $500 piece of equipment? Perhaps NOT. Usually its flaws are obvious, but its capabilities might be hidden. Then do you need a good room to review a $50,000 piece of equipment? Definitely NOT! Its capabilities are obvious as a nose, but its flaws, such as performance with much higher end equipment, might be hidden. It is the removal of weaknesses, the elimination of flaws that drives up the capabilities and cost of equipment. Most of the equipment I've reviewed sounds fairly good...to a certain extent. It is what IT CAN'T DO that limits them and defines their usefulness in the home movie and music reproduction system. Super expensive dream systems, can indeed make almost all music sound quite good. (http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/viewpoint/0902/deprecating.htm) Good recordings show off superior systems in ways that mediocre ones cannot. And vice versa. Poor recordings sound lifeless on even the best stereo. For that reason, I solicited, reviewed and continue to use what I believe are above average recordings: http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/music/0704/stereophile.htm, http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/music/0512/classical/test_track_4.htm I do NOT however think that the source material is the "end all and be all" of a great sounding system. Far too often in the SAS homes and even AXPONA, the system simply does NOT have the capability Dr. Floyd E. Toole, Vice President Acoustical Engineering, Harman International, espouses in his white papers. They do NOT have "flatness and smoothness of high-resolution on-axis curves." http://www.harman.com/EN-US/OurCompany/Technologyleadership/Pages/WhitePapers.aspx I did mention the sound pressure levels before. I will get back to doing that. I have NOT heard slight differences with couches and other things effecting sound very often. I recently heard the effect made by a a Mexican serape placed over an unused-center speaker. The 3D image of the singer was distinct and strong. I kept thinking the system owner was driving the center channel. It diminished the distinct. He wasn't. Unintentionally, the passive center driver helped nail the illusory location of the singer in the wide room. The system's owner never realized the wonderful effect it created. If I had followed the advice of local stereo shops and high-end magazines, I probably would have a basic sounding solid-state receiver with cone loudspeakers, at a modest price. Instead I have a kick-*** system, that when properly tuned, comes awfully close to some very good high-end systems I have heard, at the same modest price. Thank you neighbor Ralph Karsten, of Atmo-Sphere OTL amplifiers, for my teenage enlightenment. Flood's listening room is 12.5 by 18 feet long. One corner of the front wall is open with desk (dining) area and hallway. The other front corner has sliding glass door. Therefore, his classic Klipsch corner horns have false half walls (solid core doors cut in half) behind them. Front and back walls are concrete block. Floor is wood laminate on slab. Back wall bisected by staircase with enclosed steps. Eight white Realtraps panels reduce slap echo and modes. A Behringer digital EQ could reduce peaks, but Flood rarely uses it.
  17. Thanks, for both Chris, you beat me to it, gonna try IE anyway....
  18. nope, what is carriage return? CR? Nope, can it be Word 2010? Chrome?
  19. At first I was shocked to see not only the modesty of some of the exalted reviewers humble abodes, but also the horrible speaker placements and conditions with which they have to cope! For Cardinals of the Golden Ear, their homes are NOT cathedrals of Audio Nirvana. Most of the tweaking audiophiles in my Suncoast Audiophile Society (SAS, Meetup.com), who host our monthly meetings, have superior arrangements. The listening room defines the sound of home movie and music reproduction systems. Yet, while a few of them have some foam panels, very few have more acoustic treatment than that (one doctor has a custom designed room). [/P] Unfortunately, the reviewers modest rooms are like mine. Not hardly ideal at all. In fact, most peoples homes do NOT have an ideal room for a purist audio system. I wonder why speaker manufacturers dont design loudspeakers for particularly difficult set-ups. Such as a bookshelf. How many times have you seen a perfectly decent speaker shoved so far back into a shelf that the walls are blinders to sight and sound? [/CR] Because most rooms arent ideal, I applaud Bose (gasp, Bose!) for incorporating an automatic EQ into some of their over-priced systems. They really do know how to get the most sound and consumer dollars out of as little of their investment as possible! Yet the impact is the same as EQ with actually good equipment; it helps make modest systems sound better, maybe as good as they can be. [/P] I hardly consider myself a self-anointed or pious expert. I consider myself a fellow consumer. I ask vendors a lot of stupid questions. I dont read electronics books in my spare time. I learn as I go. I report what I hear. I dont charge people for the sham. I charge for my labor. It is less than a days pay for a weeks work. So it is NOT employment for me normally, but I will admit it has helped buy groceries these past few years. I am NOT an emperor, but I still stand naked before my readers. [/P] Having auditioned several dozen units of equipment over the past decade, I can say with confidence, that I do indeed hear differences. I read how some reviewers describe those same differences. I am pleased that I have yet to get a unit wrong. I am very pleased that later Stereophile reviews only confirm what I heard and tried to describe previously. I certainly wish I did some simple measurements and I welcome suggestions in that regard. [/P] I do try to explain why somebody might purchase the unit I am reviewing and I rarely find units I just hate (often, the review gets killed anyway, threat of lawsuits, dont ya know). [/P] It is true that reviewers may NOT hear all the nuances of what they are writing about, since their rooms are indeed clearly saddled with issues. Their room acoustics do effect the response of the unit. Personally, I would hope that these missing features are nuances only and NOT major characteristics of the unit. I could be wrong. When Supravox came and pulled their loudspeakers further into the room than I ever would, the soundstage opened up like the Grand Ole Opry (http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/equipment/0112/supravox_carla.htm)! My review would have missed that. Therefore, I try to review each piece of equipment in another location. The SAS has been wonderful for that. I think other reviewers try the same thing, only NOT so formally; they try to review on different systems too. [/P] Do you need a good room to review a $500 piece of equipment? Perhaps NOT. Usually its flaws are obvious, but its capabilities might be hidden. [/P] Then do you need a good room to review a $50,000 piece of equipment? Definitely NOT! Its capabilities are obvious as a nose, but its flaws, such as performance with much higher end equipment, might be hidden. It is the removal of weaknesses, the elimination of flaws that drives up the capabilities and cost of equipment. Most of the equipment Ive reviewed sounds fairly goodto a certain extent. It is what IT CANT DO that limits them and defines their usefulness in the home movie and music reproduction system. [/P] Super expensive dream systems, can indeed make almost all music sound quite good. (http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/viewpoint/0902/deprecating.htm) Good recordings show off superior systems in ways that mediocre ones cannot. And vice versa. Poor recordings sound lifeless on even the best stereo. For that reason, I solicited, reviewed and continue to use what I believe are above average recordings: http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/music/0704/stereophile.htm, http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/music/0512/classical/test_track_4.htm [/P] I do NOT however think that the source material is the end all and be all of a great sounding system. Far too often in the SAS homes and even AXPONA, the system simply does NOT have the capability Dr. Floyd E. Toole, Vice President Acoustical Engineering, Harman International, espouses in his white papers. They do NOT have flatness and smoothness of high-resolution on-axis curves. http://www.harman.com/EN-US/OurCompany/Technologyleadership/Pages/WhitePapers.aspx [/P] I did mention the sound pressure levels before. I will get back to doing that. [/P] I have NOT heard slight differences with couches and other things effecting sound very often. I recently heard the effect made by a a Mexican serape placed over an unused-center speaker. The 3D image of the singer was distinct and strong. I kept thinking the system owner was driving the center channel. It diminished the distinct. He wasnt. Unintentionally, the passive center driver helped nail the illusory location of the singer in the wide room. The systems owner never realized the wonderful effect it created. [/P] If I had followed the advice of local stereo shops and high-end magazines, I probably would have a basic sounding solid-state receiver with cone loudspeakers, at a modest price. Instead I have a kick-*** system, that when properly tuned, comes awfully close to some very good high-end systems I have heard, at the same modest price. Thank you neighbor Ralph Karsten, of Atmo-Sphere OTL amplifiers, for my teenage enlightenment.
  20. geez, what a "great" story, thank goodness he is OK, thank goodness, you have connections! And now for the jokes: was he wearing a hoodie? Next tell him to stand closer to the police officer so they can Tazer him Wait a minute. British police don't carry guns, why do ours?
  21. Gizmo's verbosity ran like manure - great guy!
  22. http://jeffsplace.me/wordpress/?p=424
  23. I had LaScalas. They do lack bass. As does any speaker that rolls off below 50-Hz.
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