Jon L

Could you remind me why tube failure would be worse in BHSE?

I can't say I have noticed "odd reverberation on voices" or channel imbalance with my SR-009, but what serial numbers are considered "early" units?

How about the Samsung 60" Plasma for $799 with free delivery from Best Buy? http://www.bestbuy.com/site/samsung-60-class-59-9-10-diag--plasma-1080p-600hz-hdtv/8182045.p?id=1218864995544&skuId=8182045

I actually had/have several pairs of Aural Thrills "active" interconnects. Sound definitely changes with power on vs. off, but after using them for a long time, I decided different people may prefer one sound over the other, as "active" had blacker background and more liquid sound but lost some of the sparkle and life. I also have used Omega Mikro active power cords for a long time, which are fantatic power cords. It really doesn't make much scientific sense to me why battery biasing would make a big difference for AC power, but the difference is clearly noticeable, similar changes as Aural Thrills although I place Omega Mikro stuff at a higher baseline level of quality to begin with.

Cheers to the sliver of hope that mere mortals may be able to own a T2, at least a higher chance than currently

Nice pictures, but more importantly, I hope you ate plenty of the fresh seafood and sashimi that is served right in that area!

I guess they never mentioned my name. It was a pre-recorded, "computer" voice of a official-sounding lady. My current cell phone numbers is many years old, carried over and over through different cell phone providers, so I still don't know how they called my number...

Now I've seen everything. I just received a call from a (800) number to my Verizon cell phone with a pre-recorded message telling me to claim my Verizon wireless reward by logging on to Verizon18.com. I had my doubts, but the website looked identical to the real Verizon website, and when I clicked on certain parts of the fake website such as "customer service," it brought up the reall verizon wireless customer service page, so the scam is designed well. What gave it away was it requiring you to type in the ID, password, then the last 4 of social security number. This now appears very dangerous, and I called Verizon, they confirmed this is not a Verizon website or offer. Verizon will alert its fraud department. Anyway, this is a warning for Verizon customers. A voice call to my cell phone is a new one on me, different from the usual and obvious "Bank of America" or "ebay" scam emails from foreign email addresses. It just seems like the world is faull of criminal sh%%Heads trying to scam or hurt you and getting worse. Still, shudder to think how they got a hold of my verizon cell number.

Amazon has $300 off deal on Fuji body+2 lens packages, e.g. Fuji X-A1 with 16-50 and 50-230 mm lens for mere $499 w free shipping. Very nice pricing for a camera reportedly every bit as good as more expensive X-M1. http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&docId=1002981371&linkCode=ur2&plgroup=2&tag=bensbargaicenter&linkId=IGNGPV4N2HPB35WC

EOSE2125ir by drjlo1, on Flickr

Nice.

Pentax 645Z Medium Format camera review. Wow, one of the most useful and thoughtful review's I've seen.

I'd be interested to know how portraits and people shots work out over time because I spend half the time softening skin tones and blurring out skin blemishes as it is..

too damned hot around here EOSE2109 by drjlo1, on Flickr

EOSE2106Reala by drjlo1, on Flickr

Newegg won't refund you shipping after they "inspect" the damage? If so, that's messed up and I will try even harder not to use Newegg in the future.

Indeed. Also hoping there's some tubes in it somewhere

EOSE2063Portra by drjlo1, on Flickr

USDA Prime Ribeye marinated in my special sauce USDA Prime by drjlo1, on Flickr EOSE2022 by drjlo1, on Flickr

Doh! I was just able to install the old Foobar 0.8.3 onto my Windows 8.1 laptop, and it seems to be working, so my alternate plan was Win 8.1 with Foobar 0.8.3, with preserved Playlists (would Foobar 0.8.3. playlists still work with current Foobar version anyway?). In what way does Win 8 not behave with Foobar?

No. It was an old Seasonic fanless power supply, which worked fabulously all these years. It still works, except for the power switch. If I am going to go around buying another good fanless power supply and eSATA enclosure to revive this old XP machine, I figured I would ask about brand-new server options. On the plus side, I don't mind if the server ends up being large (old one's full ATX)), and I don't need fancy things like headless monitor. I don't mind fans, as long as they are quiet ones. In fact, I prefer to have fans as my old fanless, large-heatsink setup burned up in 100+ degree Summer one year.

I find myself in a pickle today. I turned on my old, Win XP audio PC/music server and found it broke. Specifically, 2 separate components were malfunctioning. One was the Rocketfish eSATA hard drive enclosure, which housed my 3.5" drive with Win XP OS AND music (I do have data backup), which developed some kind of error, leading to my PC not even booting up, at times citing "disc read error" or "I/O error," depending on which time I rebooted. I temporarily solved the issue by simply moving my hard drive inside my PC in SATA bay. This is not optimal because I had previously found my system to sound cleaner and purer with the hard drive outside the computer via eSATA enclosure's own power supply. I then found the computer power supply's rocker button button broke. At first I thought the PS was broken, but after I pushed the power rocker briskly several times, power actually went on. If I turn the switch off or pull the power cord, I have to go through the several brisk pushes, which turns on power. I am afraid the switch is going bad and I will no longer be able to turn it on in the future at all. P.S. Anybody know where to buy one of these rocker switches or how to repair it? (perhaps just bypass the switch and keep the PS permanently "on") switchJPG by drjlo1, on Flickr All this is leading up to me finally getting a new music server, which I have been putting off for several reasons: 1. Windows XP had sounded best to me over newer Windows, and it's difficult to set up a new server around Win XP now. Heck, I would have to hunt down a XP installation disc (hopefully genuine). 2. I have TONS of music on this 3.5" drive, and I have a bazillion music tracks neatly organized into numerous Foobar 0.8.3 Playlists. Would HATE to lose all my playlists, so the new server would have to work with Foobar 0.8.3 (which I found best sounding over newer Foobar versions) and Foobar playlists. 3. I used to use Lynx card for spdif out but use Xmos based USB DAC's these days, so the server would have to have "good" USB output. (Is "audiophile" USB card like SOtM good idea?) Looking around, it was surprising to STILL see not too many good off-the-shelf options for audiophile music servers from major companies. One can also spend quite a bit $$$ from "audiophile" companies, but I'm not sure it would be worth it. Taking all insights and inputs!

Aren't the Kef R series surprisingly great? I personally prefer the floor-standing R series to LS50, which obviously has the size advantage. I think I might even prefer the R900 to Kef's flagship the Blade, with side-firing woofers.

Good thing I am not a gamer. Photoshop CS6 seems to run extremely fast still; maybe it's not even using the Nvidia card for CS6. Ran 3DMark benchmarks for kicks anyway. 3Dmark by drjlo1, on Flickr