garyrc

~~ 65 degrees F for the water (ocean). Compare Oregon ocean at 51 degrees. ~~ 73 degrees F for the air on LA coastal areas. The air is too warm. Try a cold day, and the water won't seem so cold. I used to raise Indonesian clown loaches. I had read that their native water (rivers) averaged 83 degrees. I met someone from there and said, "Your rivers are warm!" She said "Nooo, cold, very cold." It turned out that the air temperature was often in the 90s, sometimes 100.

Have a rewarding life in LA! Because of earthquakes, your house needs to be bolted down, and if you have a crawl space, shear walled with 3/4" plywood. See the internet for discussion and diagrams. Realtors are either not required to disclose whether the house is properly done, or don't know. Get an inspection, and perhaps a persnickety contractor first, and you might be able to get the price of bringing it up to current code taken off the sales price. Most people advise earthquake insurance. To get it, you may have to have proof of bolting, depending on local law. Just for fun, see a spate of LA movies and TV shows. Some are fairly accurate, some mythic, some trashy. But you will get impressions of LA by people who live there -- film people. When I was about 14 through 22, I wanted to be a filmmaker (did participate in making indies), and, in those days, LA was the place. I made several trips down, and was very entertained when I would see something familiar, "Oh, that was in ________." People will be only too happy to tell you, "This is the chandelier D.W. Griffith died under" (Hollywood Knickerbocker Hotel). Try the TV series Bosch, which eventually features Angles Flight, "the worlds shortest incorporated railroad," and the films: To Live and Die in LA, Short Cuts, L.A. Story, Chinatown, The Long Goodby, Mulholland Drive (no easier to comprehend than Last Year at Marienbad or the last 30 minutes of 2001: A Space Odyssey, but, like them, not one to be soon forgotten, Sunset Boulevard, Kiss Me Deadly, Blade Runner, Greenberg, The Day of the Locust, The Exiles, Training Day, Straight Outta Compton, Crash, Clueless, The Bling Ring, Swingers, Less than Zero, Rebel Without a Cause, Speed, Boyz n the Hood, Killer of Sheep, Barton Fink, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, L.A. Confidential, Inherent Vice, Tangerine, Safe, Los Angeles Plays Itself, Nightcrawler, Heat, Magnolia, and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Joan Didion's various accounts of Hollywood (where, for a while, she was a screenwriter) make good reading. In her essay, In Hollywood, she quotes The Last Tycoon, "You can take Hollywood for granted like I did ... or you can dismiss it it with the contempt we reserve for what we don't understand. It can be understood, too, but dimly and in flashes." There is a zeitgeist there, where the most bizarre and the most expected co-exist, literally "in the wind." Of the Tate/La Bianca murders by the Charles Manson Family, Didion wrote, "I remember all the day's misinformation very clearly, and I also remember this, and wish I did not: I remember no one was surprised." -- The White Album, by Joan Didion. Last, but not least, the book: Michael Light: LA Day / LA Night — Radius Books Referencing writers from Phillip K. Dick to Raymond Chandler

We lived in S.F. Bay Area for many decades, in Berkeley, Oakland, San Francisco. We loved the intellectual ferment. We hear that such is available in L.A., but, despite several visits, we don't know exactly where ... perhaps near one of the Universities, where you can drop in on good discussions. UCLA, USC, Caltech. We have sometimes returned from L.A. with headaches related to self-worth being associated with how much money one makes. We almost never heard that in the S.F. area, but we hear that it is changing, also.

The original Heritage center was a Heresy. Later a Cornwall. At some point La Scala was used, and for duty between two Klipschorns, or any two fully horn loaded (horn loaded even in the bass) LF and RF speakers, either La Scala or Belle Klipsch was recommended, because, since they were fully horn loaded, they would have the very low Frequency Modulation distortion that the front sides had. This was covered in one of the later Dope from Hope bulletins, and was meant for Klipsch's 3 channel Wide Stage Stereo (before home theater). Will this be for movies, music or both? Since you have Cornwall L & R, you could use a Cornwall center, or, for added dialog clarity a La Scala or a Belle. Or, as you mentioned, make your own center out of donations from some Klipsch speaker. The La Scala or the Belle won't have as much bass as the Cornwall, but, you might not want that much bass in a center, because, for movies, it is largely a dialog channel. When Berkeley Custom Electronics was helping a local Art House re-vamp it's sound, it was recommended to avoid too much bass, for dialog clarity. So, they put in La Scalas. I use a Belle Klipsch for a center, modified with a full length mid-horn (K401, yes, it sticks out the back, so the center is set into a wall) to match the Khorns on the sides. On ~~ 90% of the movies, it sounds great, but for about 10%, there is too much bass. For films with characters with cockney accidents this can be bad, the original British version of Train Spotting, I thought I'd need a translator.

Here is a wooden horn Built by a guy named Paul Klipsch

Yes, there is just "OFF," and there is also "PURE DIRECT," at least in Marantz. Since they have the same Parent Company I'd think Denon should have these options, too. But, I need to say, Audyssey FLAT, in my well treated room, with my Klipschorns and a few dB bass tone control boost (only possible with "Dynamic EQ" -- a new loudness compensation control -- OFF, which is execrable, anyway, IMO) is terrific, and sounds clearer and smoother than "OFF." It improves the sound of the vast majority of my CDs. A very few are better with Audyssey REFERENCE, which has a harshness reducing dip at about 2K Hz, and a roll-off starting at -1 dB at 7K Hz, -2 dB at 10K Hz, and increasing to -6 dB at 20K Hz. For CDs that are a little harsh, this works well. Aud. FLAT works with almost all Blu-rays. Every time I switch to "OFF," the sound is more bland, not as clear, and not quite as beautiful. Audyssey has been the greatest single improvement in my sound in a long, long time, better than room treatment changes, amplifier changes, changing to AK 4 and new drivers (originally AA) etc. I read the lengthy instructions here "Audyssey FAQ Linked Here" by Keith Barnes first, as well as the comments by Chris Kyriakakis of Audyssey at "Ask Audyssey" (the Marantz manual was not very good, and contained a few errors), used all 8 microphone positions, and used Audyssey full range. A smooth bass boost of a few dB is necessary for reasons discussed in the above FAQ. For speakers as sensitivie as Khorns, Audyssey will set all your (Khorn or equiv) levels to - 12 dB (but the EQ and Time domain will remain correct), and you won't know if it would have set the level even lower, if that range was available, so you need to use in line attenuators between the pre-pro and the power amp, or in a processor loop in an AVR when you set up, OR re-adjust your levels after calibrating with the aid of an SPL meter, and a disk like the Spears with pink noise 500 to 2K (don't use the internal pink noise, because it doesn't go through Audyssey). I opted to use 12 dB attenuators to set up, then remove them afterwards, knowing that my new reference level would no longer would be 0 on the main volume control, but instead would be -12 dB; this was with the imprimatur of Chris K. For even more information, see GUIDE TO SUBWOOFER CALIBRATION AND BASS PREFERENCES Which contains more updated information on Audyssey -- it is the Magnum Opus of set-up, by Mike Thomas. * The Guide linked above is a comprehensive guide to Audio & HT systems, including: Speaker placements & Room treatments; HT calibration & Room EQ; Room gain; Bass Preferences; Subwoofer Buyer's Guide: Sealed/ported; ID subs; Subwoofer placement.

Thanks for the articles. I only had time to read the first one, for now. IMO, this kind of research should always: Have an absolute minimum time gap between trials, so that auditory memory is less likely to be a factor. A subsequent piece of research can be done with living with each fuse in the circuit for a while, if desired ... or a massive (large N) factorial study could be done. The APA stat books might have other, better options. Be true double blind studies. These folk are married, so, hopefully, he provided no voice announcements, but evven breathing patterns could, conceivably, be a problem. Order effect and carry-over effect should be controlled. Some people cite "goats v.s. sheep" effects. Even when all of the above precautions are taken, it is conceivable that in a double blind test, skeptics might be less likely to hear a difference.

Monster Cable had some interconnects with bold arrows on them indicating directionality. I asked a dealer, "What the Heck?" The answer I got was, "Current flow is not easier in one direction than the other at first, but after the cables are used a while, it is." Someone should collect all of these notions into a book, The Audiophile's Handbook of the Secret Lives of Electrons. I'll bet it would sell. What's wrong with just having a surge protector? WWMLS (What would Mr. Lee say?")

I doubt it would improve the sound. Since there are bugs around here who are music lovers, I'll leave my driver alone!

Marantz 100 watts or more/channel, 8 Ohms, 20 to 20K, all channels operating to properly stress the power supply (or at least 2 channels; most AVR manufacturers have refused to give an "all channels operating" figure ... terrible!), at low (< .08%, or so) distortion. One advantage of Marantz (or Denon) is that they have Audyssey. You want one with Audyssey XT32, not just XT or lower. Read carefully. It takes about 1/2 a day to properly set up Audyssey, including reading up on it. Some people rush and then don't like it. I didn't rush, and love it. NOTE: most people turn up the bass (either at the sub, or a tone control) after running Audyssey. Read: "Audyssey FAQ Linked Here" and GUIDE TO SUBWOOFER CALIBRATION AND BASS PREFERENCES [includes Audyssey information!] * The Guide linked above is a comprehensive guide to Audio & HT systems, including: Speaker placements & Room treatments; HT calibration & Room EQ; Room gain; Bass Preferences; Subwoofer Buyer's Guide: Sealed/ported; ID subs; Subwoofer placement. NAD Same recommendations as above, but it uses Dirac instead of Audyssey. Get one with the highest form of Dirac, covering the full frequency range.

A tone, or a sample of pink noise (usually 500 Hz to 2,000 Hz) is, IMO, continuous, not peak. The SPL of a sample of music played as loud as we ever would depends on: Mood The amount of distortion in the recording. IMO, the more distortion on the recording, and the more noxious the type of distortion, the lower the the preferred SPL, and therefore the lower both the watts and volts. I guess I'd play the cleanest, least distorted recordings I have, and select the loudest, if I wanted to know the max amp power and voltage I needed. I don't have a working multi meter right now. BUT: Can it be that the Crown calculator is not working properly right now? With the Khorn sensitivity re-rated at 101 dB (since Crown probably assumes anechoic chamber measurements, at 2.83V, at 1 M, rather than Klipsch's rating of 105 dB in a typical room ) at 4 meters distance tells me I need 40 watts to produce the 102 dB peaks THX recommends, in my 4,257 cu. ft. room. I could swear it gave me 6 watts in the past. Another calculator says that 10 watts will do the job. That's much closer to what I thought. Wouldn't that be about 3.16 volts? That calculator is at: http://myhometheater.homestead.com/splcalculator.html When I used to have a power amp that had a (supposedly) peak reading meter, once in a while it would reach 25 watts, just for a moment. I think that would be about 5 volts.

Well, I don't know. First, I need to say that my gut says that 6 watts would be enough for the La Scalas, for most people, but not for me, as Gershwin might say. 85 dB desired (continuous?) power is 30 dB below the 115 db (presumably peak) you got ("it's calculating that I need 3 watts for the La Scalas to hit the peaks of 115 db."). The usual peak margin for the THX folk (and others) is 20 dB, and many amps have a hard time putting out 3 dB above the continuous rating -- the $85,000, 2,000 watt McIntosh puts out 6 dB on peaks, and it is a "just" a, monoblock, so one would need to buy two (three boxes each) for stereo. In 1977, Paul Klipsch and Don B. Keele, Jr. put out a paper* indicating that a La Scala in a typical 3,000 cu. ft. room being fed 6.3 watts would put out 105 dB (no listening distance given). They also indicated that there could be peaks 10 dB higher (from an excellent amp ?), which would give you extremely brief (truly instantaneous ?😕) peaks of 115 dB. I wonder if these peaks would be just a few milliseconds long -- the leading edge only, of a peak. To produce a 115 dB peak, I would presume that just for that moment, just for that handful of ms, would need a surge of 63 watts. In their paper, they characterized your 85 dB as "medium level," which seems about right to me. When I have measured a live full orchestra from about row 10, "C weighting," "fast" I usually got about 85 dB for a normal, loud-ish passage (f ?),but at the end of a Beethoven or Mahler symphony, or The Great Gate of Kiev or The Firebird, or Fanfare for the Common Man (ff or fff?), I would typically get about 105 - 110 dB, and my meter was not one of the peak reading types. In a room in a home, unless it's very absorptive, loud sounds will sound a few dB louder than the SPL, reads because of those usual, sometimes noxious, early reflections. If you are ever tempted to turn up the bass (likely with the La Scala, because it starts rolling off below the high 50s Hz), you will use more, "soak up" more, watts. This does not apply, of course, if you have a subwoofer ... but if you get one, I hope it is a horn type, to keep the bass as clean as it is with the La Scala. I didn't do that when setting up my Khorn room, and regret it. Where did you get 11 dB as "amplifier headroom?" Does Decware claim that, or did a "bench test" from a magazine find that, or did you measure them yourself? That seems awfully high. Here's what I get, plugging in the 105 dB sensitivity of a modern La Scala (in a "typical" room, about 101 dB in an anechoic chamber), and looking at an SPL of 98 dB (PWK "Loud level"): To produce 98 dB at 4 meters takes 6 watts. With the usual 3 dB headroom, that would provide a conceivable peak of 101 dB, but depending on it makes me nervous. If your amp really has 11 dB headroom, about 109db ... I would think, if I'm doing this right! * Dope from Hope Vo. 16, No1, January 1977 available online. 6

Well, if 6 watts is enough for any speaker, it should be enough with a La Scala. In my fairly big room with a high ceiling, I figure 6 watts into a Klipschorn (same sensitivity as a La Scala) will produce about 102 dB, with instantaneous peaks higher. But, there would be only a small safety factor. THX, in a large home theater, wants ~~~ 102 dB above about 80 Hz, and the capacity for 112 dB below 80 Hz. This takes into account the multiple early reflections in the typical large home room. In a large cinema, reference level peaks are 105 db above 80 Hz, and 115 dB below.

I don't see them as competing. I like both, but need a little more coffee to read Tolstoy. I made the mistake of reading Pasternak while in the hospital with pneumonia, as a 20 year old, and had difficulty keeping the names straight.

A novel of less than the top literary quality that, indeed, follows a formula, because it is easy to write without looking deeply inward, mainly written to keep the author's hand in, and to provide income, thus keep the pot boiling at the author's hearth. In my experience, such books tend to be on the thick side, and a bit "pulpy." The Da Vinci Code may be one, and Dan Brown's need to make the end of every chapter a cliff hanger, as is advised in some bad books on how to write a novel, bespeaks keeping the pot boiling with minimum fuel, other than making the Nag Hammadi manuscripts seem to imply things they don't. This not to say that capable writers don't write pot boilers. The pseudo-historical novels of Howard Fast might qualify. IMO, a historical romance, like Gone with the Wind, might be considered a pot boiler, whereas War and Peace might be more of an epic. War and Peace allows a little of Tolstoy's Christian Anarchism to slip in, and, in a way, (IMO) is a novel of ideas. Gone with the Wind is not strong on ideas, but may have been born, like the Civil War itself, according to Mark Twain, of too much Sir Walter Scott.

Also, have the ear/nose/throat person clean your ear wax out. Only professionals should do this. "Never put anything in your ear that's smaller than your elbow." I had a big wax plug that was invisible from the outside. Without it, I can hear much better!

No true Scotsman ...

Being There Simple-minded Chance, who has been educated only by television, is forced to vacate his home.

They used to sell a lot of oval speakers, plus cone tweeters, at Al Lasher Electronics, University Ave., Berkeley, to anyone with a few dollars. People would put them in a nice, stained box, wire them up, and try to pass them off as audiophile speakers. Some people were fooled. Not too hard as long as they were all direct radiators.

Dave Brubeck's niece (I think -- some kind of relative), Virginia Brubeck, was in my elementary school class (John Swett, in Oakland). she was friendly but a bit shy, I thought. Dave went to graduate school in music at Mills College, where they did admit men to the graduate school only. I don't know if that was at the time Virginia & I were in John Swett, but it's plausible. Mills was a few blocks from both the school and our house. A wonderful and beautiful campus, with beautiful 1870s/'80s buildings. I was grateful for Dave's music, and helped plan a short film to "Far More Drums" in the album Time Further Out. It was never made, as was true of a number of films I had something to do with. Oh well.

Did you move your post to another section? Here is my attempt to start answering your question:"How Much Amplifier Power Do I Need?" The amount of amplifier power needed is not as simple as it is sometimes depicted. Need more information: What speakers? Brand and model. Sensitivity rating if available. Room size. Room liveness: Treatments? What kind? Carpet? Wall to wall, area rugs("throw" rugs)? Drapes? Photograph. Distance from main listening position to speakers. Type of music. Loudness preference (Klipsch and Keel , Jr's characterizations, DFH, Vol. 16, No. 1, January 1977 ): Medium 85 dB Loud 90 to 100 dB Very Loud: 105 to 110 dB Too Damn Loud 115 dB [105 dB is THX full scale (peak) above 80 Hz; 115 dB is THX full scale (below 80 Hz)]. A huge variable is the brand and model of speaker. The range of amplifier power needed ranges from 3 watts to > 1,000 watts, depending on the above variables.

Judeo Christianae vitae valorem LATINE

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Amy, glad you're well. My great aunt lived until 103 years of age, and met Edison and Ford, but not Johnson or Berliner. She had the old one sided records, which she played ... on a Victrola. It had the tapered, hollow tone arm. When I was about 2 years old, the Victrola fascinated me, so she moved it to my house, where it lived until I was about 5, starting the only addiction I've ever had. It's Victrola's fault!

We sodded with about 3' x 3' squares. The Racoons came at night and carefully lifted each square to go grubbing.