Yikes

Exactly!!

My old Sanyo PLV-Z2 has been showing its age. Rather than dump another $250+ into a new bulb I decided a new projector was the way to go. So I just ordered a brand new Sanyo PLV-Z2000 . It is suppose to ship today, which means that I should have it by tomorrow, or at the latest Wednesday. It's exciting! but it will start a round of upgraditus. First up a HD-DVD player. For a little review go here http://www.projectorcentral.com/sanyo_z2000_home_theater_projector.htm

By whom? The best CD playback that I've heard is the Zanden separates. Best single chassis player?? Good question. It certainly varies with the listeners tastes, so I doubt that anything is universally agreed upon. Perhaps you meant something like: Our little listening group universally agreed that the Andromeda is the best of those auditioned. One should avoid speaking in absolutes when talking about things based upon opinions. Now that I am done picking the nit I still have another ? hour until I need to leave for the airport. REMEMBER!! ALL PEOPLE WHO SPEAK IN ABSOLUTES ARE DICK HEADS!

Special-Ed? Everyone, Thanks. Now that I'm the boss I'll have music on all of the time, headphones or speakers, either way it'll make work a pleasure. Tomorrow I fly to Amsterdam for a few days, normally I'd love it but I really need to be packing. Later

North of Allentown. A little town called Palmerton.

Bad news, last month my employer lost the contract to import Siltech cables from Holland. Since that was all that we did I was sort of out of a job. Good news! I am moving to Pennsylvania and forming a new company (Until the incorporation is completed I won?t release the name). So instead of being an employee of the importer of Siltech cables I will be the new importer of Siltech cables. Same job, only now I can?t complain about my boss. The short-term bad news is that I am trying to start a new company, find a location for the company, find a place to live, and move from Boston all within a few short weeks. Busy doesn?t adequately describe this month.

Back in the 80?s I sold both brands. At the time at any given price point the Ariston clearly outperformed the Thorens. The Ariston pictured dates from the early 80?s or late 70?s, I?m not sure about the Thorens. Unfortunately Ariston went belly up in the early 90?s, this means that most replacement parts are now made out of unobtainium. I believe Thorens parts are significantly easier to come by.

My new toys are working out well. Listening has taken priority over the taking of photos. Here are some pictures. Before ? With my Luxman and Dynavector. System with my new VPI Super Scoutmaster with the upgraded Superplatter amd Benz micro cartridge. Also seen is my new VPI 16.5. If you look real closely you can see the two phono stages that I am auditioning 1) Einstein ?The Turntable?s Choice? Phono stage 2) Sonneteer Sedley USB Phono stage.

About the Equation Audio RP-21 A dealer of mine who knows that I am into headphones asked me to give the RP-21?s a listen. These are my thoughts. Build ? Seems durable and it is relatively comfortable. The cable has a really cheap feel ? Plastically feel to it. Nice design for a removable cable. The removable plug is a ? turn locking 1/8? plug. A much better designed plug than the crappy HD600/650 plug. The Copper and black color scheme is OK, but the logos on the sides look silly. Comfort ? They are fairly comfortable, but not as comfortable as my K-701?s. Most of the cup force is taken by the ear-pads, however the distance from the pads to the foam that covers the drivers is insufficient to keep the foam from touching my earlobes. The resultant pressure does get to be annoying (FYI ? I don?t have Radar ears). Sound ? Very dynamic with very good speed and clarity. The bass is very strong and powerful, albeit a little wooly sounding. After about 25 hours the highs have smoothed out and extrapolating out a thorough break-in I believe that the high frequency performance will end up being very good (It?s already good). On recordings that emphasize clarity speed and transparency (Classical, and acoustic Jazz) the RP-21?s were clearly bested by both my AKG K-701?s (Still stock) and my Sony MDR SA-5000?s (Siltech wired). They acquitted themselves quite well on Art/Prog rock, with 70?s art rock (Kansas) I actually preferred the RP-21?s to my reference phones. It?s sort of like using a good loudness control on an old receiver. As far as image goes the RP-21?s make no effort at attempting to sound like anything but headphones. Are they accurate? No. They have an exaggerated and slightly wooly sounding bass register. The midrange and highs are both good to very good. Up ? Very dynamic with great bass power and slam. Down ? Wooly bass ? Lack a degree of transparency ? They press on my ears so long term comfort could be an issue. Value ? I would consider them a good value at the $149 retail; at their MAP of $99 they are an exceptional value. No giant killer, but for Rock definitely a fun can to listen to. A quick comment about the selling price. Equation Audio is attempting to set up a brick and mortar dealer network where prospective customers will be able to actually listen to the product (As Grado has done). They are emphasizing MAP and making dealers actually stick to it. This is the only way that they can get dealers to invest in demos/stock and actually promote the product. If a product is widely advertised at a very low price (Internet dealers commonly settle on as little margin as 2 - 5%) brick and mortar dealers that due to the nature of the business must make more margin will not carry and promote a product that for them is not viable. If a manufacturer can maintain their pricing structure (i.e. keep the product from being widely advertised at excessively discounted rates) brick and mortar dealers will be able to, and willing to show and sell the product. Scenario 1 ? A Company that has not maintained a rigid pricing structure or not enforced their MAP policies. The end user (The customer) can?t find a local dealer where they can audition the product because local dealers won?t carry it. The end user is forced to decide what product to buy based upon someone else?s written opinion in an idiotic on-line forum or a written review in some magazine. The end-user gets a great price on product A. The problem is that as everyone knows everyone?s opinion is different, and product A just doesn?t suit them. So they sell it (At a loss) and order a different product. This is why so many members have owned so many different headphones. It usually takes many sets of headphones and a lot of time and money to find what they are looking for. Scenario 2 ? A Company has maintained a pricing structure that allows a brick and mortar store a fighting chance to make enough profit to effectively carry the product (Grado). The end-user goes into the store with some CD?s and listens to the various models. They narrow it down to one model. They ask, and the dealer allows them to take the headphones home for a day or two (With security) to hear what it does with their equipment. The end-user can therefore make an informed decision. The user pays more for one set of phones that they have auditioned and already knows that they like. This ultimately saves money. A manufacturer of quality product (That people will actually buy if they are able to audition) benefits greatly by having a dealer network where customers can audition the products. The only way of actually getting this dealer network is by insuring that the product is viable for the dealer to carry. A strict MAP policy is the only way a company can attempt to do this. The Internet is bringing everything to the lowest common denominator: The Price. This is what is killing audio stores all over the country and the world. Unfortunately in the future you won?t be able to locally audition much of anything. People will make purchasing decisions based upon other people?s gossip. They will get great prices, but they?ll be great prices on a lot of CRAP.

It showed up :dance: 3 boxes totaling 126 lbs. Now how long will it take me to finish the work that I must finish before I leave early? over/under?

Good news! My new turntable supposedly shipped yesterday. It?s usually one day from NJ to Boston, so it should be here today. I?ve also confirmed that the Ginko Dust Cover and my VPI-16.5 Record cleaning machine should also show up by the end of this week. http://www.vpiindustries.com/products_ssm.htm And http://www.vpiindustries.com/product_supplatter.htm Once set up and playing I?ll be sure to take pictures and post a little info. Damn! I?m so excited.

Vinyl can sound great, but? My office is in the same building as Soundmirror mastering studio. Soundmirror is where all of the Living Stereo SACDs have been mastered. On several occasions we set up comparisons. During these comparisons we were able to switch between the Original Session Tapes and the outputs from the DSD A/D then DSD D/As (Meitner) and lastly the last CD version. It was an eye opening experience. It was all but impossible to tell the difference between the session tapes and the DSD outputs. The CD output basically sucked. I know vinyl playback. I?ve owned several very good table systems and have extensive experience with several statement systems. I?ve actually heard some of the original Living Stereo LPs on these reference systems. The records sound great, but they sound different than the session tapes. The truth is that the DSD (SACDs) sounds much closer to the original session tapes than any of the exceptional vinyl rigs that I?ve heard. I?m not saying that DSD sounds better, just that it is more accurate. I chalk it up to the fact that vinyl rigs are prone to euphonic colorations.

You do and don't have reasons to be pissed. You don't have reason to be pissed that they made you a MOT and since you are a MOT you are not supposed to write about that which you trade i.e. Amps. The rules is da rules. You can?t expect the MODs to determine who is being biased and who?s not. If you mod amps and sell your services as a modifier then you are a MOT and as such shouldn?t write about your products or any products that could ever be perceived as being a competitor. This means if you sell or mod amplifiers you shouldn?t write about amplifiers. I know it sucks but them is the rules. What you do have a right to be pissed about is the arbitrary manner in which they enforce the rules. This is my biggest complaint about Head-Fi. I believe that just having the MOT status should be enough of a warning to members that what a poster is saying might be biased. It is a fairly safe assumption that a MOT is probably biased concerning his own product, therefore everything they write concerning the subject should be viewed as being biased. This is not adequate for the thought police over at head-fi. They have to be dicks about such things. It?s their playground and they set the rules.

Are they collecting Cell numbers for some scam?

Actually if you are marketing an amp (or modding an amp) you shouldn?t be writing about any amps. Just like I try like hell to not write about my cables, and I certainly never write about other cables.

So let me see if I got this straight. The MODs gave Pink the MOT status (Which He deserves), He got pissed off and told a MOD or Jude to go Fuck his Goat (or a goat) and He got a lifetime ban. Being a MOT is not the end of the world. It also doesn?t prevent a person from weighing in on most subjects. Methinks that Pink has anger issues. Pink should feel free to speak his mind here, but shouldn?t be surprised when people do likewise.

This is the problem. My friend recommended SUSE and I've had two other different recommendations. So I?ve gotten three different recommendations from 4 people. Choice is great if you are an experienced user, but choice just confuses the hell out of someone just getting started. I've created a boot-CD of Ubuntu. I'll play with that and see if it suits.

You do realize that to a total Linux neophyte the sections in bold seem to be a foreign language. I'll check out ubuntuforums.org, Thanks.

I?m considering running an alternative OS to Windows XP. I?m thinking one of the Linux variants. I have never used Linux so I am unsure how to proceed. So I have a few questions. I?d want a dual boot XP/Linux. Does anyone know of good tutorial web sites concerning this? Any opinions on the different versions of Linux? Does anyone know of music software for Linux (Open source) Burning/Ripping/Playing? Can I put both boot sections on one drive? I do have two drives so it?s not an issue. Any sites listing open source (Free) applications for Linux? Is Linux what I should be looking at? Thanks

Boring....

I?m going to hold out to see which format wins. I?m on my 4th SACD/DVD-A player, and I?ve just committed myself to purchasing a 5th (SACD/CD Only). I?m really not that critical of video performance. Not to mention the fact that I don't watch that many DVDs. Odd considering that I have about a thousand of them.

Toshiba HD Player

Pink just got a bug in his ass about all of a sudden being a MOT. He charges people to modify equipment, therefore by Head-Fi rules he is a MOT. As a MOT he is prohibited from posting about anything concerning his segment of the trade. MOTs are not prohibited from posting concerning other aspects. I am a MOT (Cables). I don?t comment about my cables. I also take the rules to mean that I shouldn?t comment about any other company?s cables. I can however comment on unrelated subjects (Amps, Headphones, Sources).

I haven?t heard the Rega Apollo or Jupiter, or the Planet 2000 for that matter. The only Rega CD play that I have actually heard is the original planet. In a word the original Planet SUCKED!!! A dealer that I?m friendly with took one in trade. We auditioned it extensively and came to the conclusion that if it weren?t for the rave review in Stereophile no one would ever have purchased the thing. We both thought that it sucked. It was clearly bested by the $500 Rotel player. I?m sure that the new Apollo and Jupiter are huge steps up from the original planet, they?d have to be.

I?ll probably re-cable after I get back from the CES. Here?s the shocker; I?m not re-cabling with Siltech. I have obtained 4 meters of Crystal Cable for the job. I don?t believe the Crystal is better than the Siltech that I used on my SA5000s, but it is significantly more flexible and user friendly. I know the 701s best the stock SA5000s but I want to determine how they compare with my modded SA5000s before I proceed with re-cabling the 701s. In the end I may end up re-cabling the 701s with Siltech. We?ll see. The Oppo 970HD. ? I believe it?ll do PAL as well. At least it appeared to ask PAL or NTSC. I?ll check to make sure.