Racer X

Oddly, I demoed one of those back in the day: Was not well impressed, so I traded it back for a Technics SH-8065 third octave graphic equalizer, 33 bands, had some fun with that until it became a little onerous.

Is it just me, or does my P.L. appear sad he is not being well utilized ?

I had a great concert experience ( Luscious Jackson at Numbers, Houston ) totally ruined by worse: Squeezed up close in front of stage, a rather large dude was flat out molesting a poor hapless girl right next to me. I couldn't stand it, totally distracted and helpless to help, not able to find Security, I retreated to the back off the hall greatly upset. Just totally ruined a great concert experience but I guess it kind of pales compared to Altamont.

Heresy, kind of. This forum has "ruined" my Heresy 1.5. Inspired by Crites CS, and others who have plopped larger horns on top of Cornwalls, I found a slightly used JBL D405 driver on 2380 copy horn along with the DE-120 drivers on the Crites tweeter horn. First time I've just changed just the horns and not the drivers, and amazed at difference as Dave A predicted. Just looking at them, the beautiful elliptical wood tweeter horns apparently do a much better job at controlling the dispersion, polars than the plastic Crites tweeter horn with simple horizontal flare. Besides a much nicer presentation of the high end, my stereo image is now firm and well planted and apparent from any spot in my 20 x 20 ft room.

Always thought it interesting Sgt. Pepper's was recorded on a 4 track. Sure they had to bounce the hell out of those tracks though. So I got a 4 track recorder, found a band, and had a lot of fun and good success at recording Drums, Bass, Guitars and Vocals from the soundboard and mixing them down to 2 track cassette. Got tired of lugging the 4 track around, it weighed 75 lbs, and moved on to just recording the PA feed to cassette, so much easier and almost same result.

Thanks Muddy Dirt, Downloaded and added to my playlist for further review on the room stereo. Not big into the jazz, but this makes the cut. Reply back with CINDY, a 90s angel that left us far too early.

Bikes are kewl. I use mine for all of my commuting now, an aluminum frame Cannondale with 38 mm 700c tires, 80 psi. As such, it is very heavy and old, but one would be insane to ride a nicer bike around town and leave it outside the library or store for extended time. A friend loaned me his very nice road bike with skinnier slick tires, 100 psi, and Chromoly frame: Nicer ride than my aluminum, lighter, and way faster. But it had low drop bars, I like my higher flat bars, and the shifters on the levers I could never get used to, very much appreciate the easy thumb levers on mine. Very happy and I hope my bike never leaves me.

Top 40: That used to be good thing in 70s, one list encapsulating all the genres, and some stations would make some attempt at that variety. Remember when Bohemian Rahapsody hit the airwaves, the radio station would play it every 10 minutes. Styx likewise was very cool in 70s, 80s, and one of my first concert experiences. Then radio started to get more segregated, with Rock stations loudly proclaiming Disco sucks and making a promotion of burning or blowing up those records. Sad, as Disco doesn't suck even if it's not your cup of tea. Still recall when the new wave and punk put an end to all that. Recall fondly when I first heard Planet Claire by B52s, the local rock station DJ thought is was so mind blowingly different she played the track twice in a row during her primetime 7:00 evening show. That heralded the coming of the new wave for me. Punk was never heard on the radio, save the low powered college station, it was totally underground. Close with classic line from the Blue Brothers movie: Jake ( Belushi ) approaches the bartender at the club gig they usurped and asks: "What kind of music do y'all play here ?" "Both kinds, Country and Western."

Not sure if my experience from eons ago relates but here goes: When I finally saved the entry fee for a pair of LaScala, I alerted both dealers in my city, neither had a pair on hand. After a wait of about two weeks, one called and said come on down. So I rushed over to see he had two pairs boxed, ready to go. I wrote my check and asked if I may have a look to see which pair may have had a more desirable grain pattern: NO. The speakers were delivered ( along with 50 ft of 16 ga zip cord compliments of the store ) and unboxed for me in my room. Very exciting save one slightly mushed corner. Luckily it was a back corner and not too noticeable. I immediately said "Hey, what's the deal ?" and their reply was tough toenails. I was a young kid just graduated from High School, so what could one do ? I wanted to hear LaScala in my room. My evolving understanding of the LaScala sound, especially the bass response is another story.....

Two of the most challenging instruments to reproduce are piano and acoustic guitar, something about the percussive and chordal nature of those instruments is very hard to reproduce accurately. While both are of course acoustic, they are seldom recorded to capture the room, and for good reason, they would be even farther away from the microphones greatly dulling the dynamics. There are many microphone, recording techniques ( https://www.dpamicrophones.com/mic-university/stereo-recording-techniques-and-setups ) and no expert, but believe many use a combination of say ORTF and close miking. How many microphones does one observe at their symphonic hall ? My bet is many more than just two. Heard a story that Jimmy Page would often use two microphones on his amp, one close and the other farther way, muttering "Distance is depth", and use a mix of the two to get his desired result. Perhaps some hands on experience recording your preferred ensemble would be more useful than idle forum chatter.

I've been blown away by the quality of some of the phone videos posted on the YouTube and some really memorable performances and unique moments are now very well documented. When I think back to the live bootleg recordings from the 70s and 80s ( King Biscuit Flour Hour anyone ? ) and my attempts at same with a Walkman recorder, the contrast is striking.

Beee-atles: Purist mono or fake stereo ?

Holy Batman, this is a Wizard of Oz moment. This link wouldn't open on my computer, but checking my phone just now there it is. Eye opening to say the least. We've been scammed by MoFi and Music Direct all these years, apparently it is all snake oil and unless one buys original pressings which are near unobtainium these days, one has no assurance of true analog. Very glad I realized downloaded mp3s sounded same as the CD for the pop music I favor and they're free. Is it all a Matrix like multiple reality simulation ? So many questions.... Realize wiggly grooves and vibrating phono styli of esoteric MC cartridges on Rube Goldberg record players have a "warmer" sound, but let's all take a step back, reexamine, and embrace, step into the 21st century. Just stunned, and I don't even play records anymore....

Maybe newbies could find another forum member to build along with them so they could commiserate. Then one wouldn't feel so alone and it might provide a little incentive to plod along. Misery loves company. Just a thought....

Cranked the crap out of my copy of that album The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraword, and bought every remix of LFC I could find. That guy ( Alex Paterson ? ) defined the art of the sample for me. He took an off the cuff interview reply by RLJ and made it into poetry and an EDM mainstay. Subsequent albums by The Orb never really approached it for me, so I moved on to other artists like Deee-Lite.

"You don't see that. You might still see it in the desert." Rickie Lee Jones

Yeah, I was all dance, EDM in the 90s as that was the only music easily found on the vinyl. "Little Fluffy Clouds" was the track that set me off in that direction....

"Saw" the Grateful Dead in 1983 at Manor Downs near Austin and still recall that during the Drums/Space portion of the show the sound was swirling above the stage rather than from PA system left and right. Of course, I may not have been a reliable observer at that point....

Hmm, should be grateful you had good sound at the concert, a little much to expect stereo in large hall, PA system. In the room, imaging is all illusion, elusive. Interesting when it improves, but I struggle to see anything beyond the strong center image, Left, Right, and center left, center right. Depth is elusive, but sometimes one can hear the hall when audience applauds at end. Yeah, most imaging is studio trickery, but can be entertaining. Even at the orchestra hall, live I don't see any image. Of course we all see differently....

Following is a list of genres ( if one may be allowed to label, all Japanese ) I never knew existed before I chanced upon a suggested YouTube link: Japanese idol Classic Japanese idol Growth Period idol Kawaii Metal Techno Electro Pop Electro Rap Jazz idol Goth rock Jazz rock City Pop Pop rock Hard rock, World Domination All girl bands. Japanese have a penchant for "The Gap", merging kawaii ( cute ) and cool. The music, production, and talent is off the charts, and often has unexpected breaks and twists. The artistry is top notch, fresh, and extremely prolific. Some of the groups or artists I follow drop songs almost weekly. Western music is stale, repetitious, unimaginative, and full of hipster posers by comparison.

I have symphonic Zeppelin CD and two CDs of string quartet Zeppelin, so interesting they such an influence on Classically trained musicians.

OK, finally took some time to watch Schu's suggested video ( another hot tip: use closed captions and double speed ). While La la la, la la la, la la la, la la la, la la la, la la la, la la la will forever be a classic, I hope I never suffer Row, row, row your boat ever again. Certainly not an expert on music structure or composition, but music is repetitious by nature. Even the great Jimmy Page would often repeat phrases twice within his leads, otherwise they are just runs of notes, which can also be interesting. Check his leads in "When the Levee Breaks" : he repeats the same slide lead again, with an extra measure the second time around. Now back to dissing all the crappy new music....

@babadono Thank you very much for the most relevant interesting link and apologies for the retread, I guess one should learn to search the forum some before just jumping in. I guess most everything has already been covered many times by the forum in the past, but to us newer members it is all new.

Well, that certainly is a beast....

Worshipped at the altar of the Zeppelin for the first 20 years of my stereo life. A few years ago youtube recommended a Japanese idol video and it was life changing, unlike anything I had ever seen before. Quickly became fully immersed. Currently there is a Japanese hard rock band of 5 beautiful extremely talented young women that far surpasses any admiration and appreciation I felt for the Zeppelin. They will be touring the U.S. in the fall and I am greatly looking forward to seeing them again in a small intimate club atmosphere ( Hard Rock cafe ). This is just the tip of the iceberg, I've become convinced that no matter the genre, there are young Japanese girls ( mostly ) that are currently ( or recently ) just killing it.