Wmcmanus

I don't know, what do the HD800 sell for now? Has the price come down? Seriously, I don't know. Bought mine from day one and haven't paid attention since. As I mentioned, Todd's answer was that $995 is pretty much the best deal you can expect to get for now or the foreseeable future. No doubt, that will change in time, as do all things. Likewise, that doesn't necessarily mean that there won't be a fringe e'tailer who is willing to discount them further right away. But my guess is that won't be the likes of TTVJ, Moon Audio, Headroom, and other proven companies in this circle. Just reporting what I've heard. Not trying to make the decisions for Sennheiser or Beyer, etc., or agree or disagree with their policies.

The more T1 impressions that pour in at HF, the more intrigued I've become about them. It's still a pretty small sample size, but at this point what does seem clear is that everyone who hears them at least agrees that they're an outstanding pair of headphones (a true high-ender) and worthy of an audition. That's all I need at this point, because I'm not really looking for my "ultimate" flavor, but just something interesting to add to the mix. I really like the fact that Drew can mod them quite cost effectively, making them an excellent candidate for balanced cables. This gives us the flexibility of trying his Black, Blue and Silver Dragon options at CanJam, and perhaps some other cables from other companies by then.

Happy birthday, my friend! Hope you can make it to CanJam.

Good question! Plus, my sort-of, kind-of, not-really but I think of her that way, daughter, is getting married in Florida the week after CanJam. I'd been planning to be in Illinois with the motorhome before CanJam and then fly out to Florida with my mom for 3 days for the wedding. But where does one put an angry, feeling neglected, broken hearted, ("Why is your ex-fiancee's daughter's wedding more important than me and your own child?") kind of woman for 3 days while you go off to do that sort of thing? There I was, 47, single, and completely unattached. A man with many toys, time on his hands, all sorts of interesting hobbies and friends, the ability to travel anywhere at a moment's notice, no 9-to-5 to worry about... This sort of thing conjurs up all kinds of fears! I might have to go to work again! Ehhh!!! Moving all the cables and booby trapping everything else may turn out to be the least of it.

Near field listening is actually quite nice with Maggies. I wouldn't get closer than about 5 feet, but then I wouldn't sit any further back than 8 feet in most rooms either. I don't think that should be a terribly big concern, although it would be if you had less than 2-3 feet behind the Maggies and less than 2-3 feet behind the listener. I don't think they would do terribly well in a 10' x 10' bedroom, but then again, not too many speakers would so that's kind of a moot point.

Yes, excellent choice! As you say, one of the best rides among the many you tested and you can't beat the warranty.

I think Todd has something like 30,000 albums in his personal (i.e., not for sale) collection. But maybe it's only 15,000. How can you even begin to guess when you see this 10' high wall running 30' across, and then there's more on the other side of the room, and in the adjoining room around the corner. It sure looks like a lot! Maybe if Jeff has seen Todd's listening room, he'll be able to make a realistic guess since he's got such a massive collection himself.

My first reaction was - meh, just the lawyers trying to get themselves (oops, I mean as many minority shareholders as they can put together as clients) a piece of the pie (if there is any left after settling the company's debts). So no big surprise there. But in the disclosures below the story, it indicates that they're not a law firm and provide information as a public service. Hmmm... "Foundation" implies that they're not-for-profit, but they don't make that claim directly. Color me suspicious. This does bring up an interesting point. I had mentioned earlier in this thread that chances are the outside directors and non-family officers of Koss will be "well" covered with D&O insurance. But for a company this size I'd imagine it would be for $10 million or so of coverage (perhaps less)* because they wouldn't have ever contemplated that there would be high transactional risks. In other words, sure Koss has to pay suppliers and such, but probably doesn't ordinarily enter into multi-million dollar single transactions. With D&O insurance being so expensive these days, and with Koss not typically doing high dollar transactions, I'd bet anything that they'll be underinsured. Plus, I can't imagine that they'll be able to convince their insurance company that all of this was a single occurrence! Ha! Fat chance. So the outside directors are probably shopping for fresh undies about now. Of course, normal protocol is to have the company stand responsible (in way of indemnity clauses) for any judgments handed down against individual directors. Thus if, a) Koss does appear to have the financial ability to emerge from this mess in tact, and then there is a successful shareholder derivative suit against the company -- which essentially involves a judge agreeing with a well represented group of minority shareholders that the company should be forced to sue the directors for their negligence, and c) the company then, in turn, must stand behind the directors (thus sued) to indemnify them for any personal liability they might stand to suffer... The end result might be that Koss would need to use it's own funds (whatever is left to begin with) to pay the minority shareholders for the damages that they've suffered. This would, in turn, bring on another round of litigation expenses to attempt to measure the minority shareholder losses. Not a straightforward process since Koss' stock price has slumped so much in recent years to begin with, part of which may well be attributable to the fraud that has been going on. Without adequate D&O insurance, I doubt that Koss will come out alive in this mess. Perhaps the only saving grace will be that 73% of those losses won't need to be indemnified by the company (that representing the family's ownership of the company). So if $31 million is the total loss, and if only $10 million of that is insured (just a guess), then it's a $21 uninsured loss that they might be held accountable for, which translates to less than $6 million of losses to the minority shareholders (assuming the worst case that there is a successful lawsuit by minority shareholders). Of course, their money damages could be measured differently, such as the loss in the value of their stock directly or indirectly related to the fraud, but that would be much harder for them to prove. All speculation as to what might happen, but suffice it to say, if Koss does appear to be emerging as an ongoing entity, it would for sure have some serious legal fees to deal with (not to mention all of the costs of this ongoing investigation), and there would also be a strong possibility of having to stand in the shoes of their directors as well to indemnify them against any shareholder actions. Like any such situations, it becomes a case of bad news piled upon more bad news. * Regarding the escalating costs of D&O insurance, I'm one of 4 outside directors for a company that has a market cap of about $150 million. The annual premium for D&O insurance to cover the 4 of us for $10 million per transaction this year was quoted at $82k ($119k for $15 million of coverage, $139k for $20 million of coverage). That was the best quote by far. One insurance company wanted more than double those figures. It's not cheap, to say the least. Now, given that, and given the attitude that I can see with Koss (e.g., not wanting to pay Grant Thornton to do an internal controls audit), plus the fact that their normal transaction profile is undoubtedly regarded as low risk, I just can't imagine that they'll have $30 million of D&O insurance coverage.

I agree(d). The trick in these situations is in trying to gather as much 'intelligence' as you possibly can about the mood and the environment in the workplace at Koss these days. Not insider information as such (you can't trade on that), but sort of the near-inside scoop in the 'talk of the town' sense. If you know people who know those who likely know more about what the future is likely to hold for Koss, you might want to make a calculated bet and make a substantial investment. But, even then, not more than you're willing to lose!

That's excellent! You're getting a great price and you'll absolutely love reading with this device. I've been somewhat tempted to buy a DX to keep at home and use my Kindle 2 when traveling, just because I think it would be fun to have the larger screen, the horizontal view option, etc. Just not sure I'd make enough use of it to justify having two of them lying around.

Ball, chains, and cage? I might not be very good at this...

I think either of these would be great. The MaxGuard looks remarkably similar to the case I have, but with the nice improvement of using two magnets to close the case (which eliminates the need for an awkward strap). My only concern would be their complaints about the smell. Mine doesn't have that issue.

Ya, that's it. She's aw'right. I could do worse. Have done, in fact. She's due in mid April. Already talking about "all of those cords" that will be "in the way"... To which I say, "In the way of what?!? Pick the kid up, already, and try walking behind the speakers, not right through the soundstage!"

Yes, definitely seems worth it. The extended warranty is pretty important for the DX since they tend to crack quite easily. Read the low rated reviews at Amazon and you'll see that it's important not to ever use any of the cases that connect the DX to the case via the two little metal tabs. Unless, of course, you don't ever expect to travel with it and thus are not likely to accidentally apply too much pressure at these points (as can happen when the DX gets loaded into a bag with other stuff that gets piled on top of it). Problem is, it seems to be hit or miss -- even with the extended warranty -- as to whether they'll replace it under those above described circumstances. (Although having the extended warranty and huffing and puffing a bit surely couldn't hurt.) It seems that they've been trained to say no and blame it on the customer for misuse of the product which is complete and utter BS given that it happens so frequently and often with not all that much pressure applied at those two attachment points (i.e., a clear design flaw if there ever was one). Same problem occurs with the regular Kindle but since the screen isn't nearly as big, it seems to take a bit more pressure at the leverage points to cause the screen to crack.

Todd told me that Beyer won't allow authorized US retailers to sell the T1 for less than $995, so that's where all of the usual suspects are pricing them at. Of course, this could change at some point in the future. Plus, it's anyone's guess as to what "Beyer won't allow" really means and how important it is to them to enforce their wishes. Who knows? There may be some fringe Beyer retailer who'll be willing to challenge it and start selling them for $900. But the minute one of the other authorized retailers gets wind of it and reports it, I'd bet anything the discount retailer will never get another shipment of T1s.

Remember to order two pairs, kiddies. It's always more fun when there's someone to share the experience with.

As a practical matter, yes. See my reply above for more details, but in a Chapter 7, chances are pretty good that product owners would get shafted completely. Yes, again, to all of the above. In a reorganization, the judge could void (or more likely modify) existing warranties. The reason I say more likely modify is that in reorgs, it's always a give and take process to get all of the various creditor classes to agree to the "plan". The more classes there are, and the more stubborn the senior note holders (i.e., banks) and other secured creditors are, the more difficult it becomes to get a plan approved. It all comes down to how badly everyone wants to get the job done to ensure that 1) the company can somehow survive, and 2) that everyone comes away with something. If the higher priority classes decide that warranty claimants (and other unsecured creditors) should get absolutely nothing, then they would be sabotaging any hopes that they might have had to get a plan approved. If just one class of creditors won't approve the plan (in this case because they are being offered nothing at all) then they can vote against the plan and kill the whole deal. Thus, for a Chapter 11 to work, the warranty claims would have to be honored at least to a certain extent, if the judge even allows them to be represented in the creditor meetings/negotiations as a separate class to begin with. So there are a zillion "what ifs" involved. You can be sure that if we were talking about GM (rather than Koss), and if they were in Chapter 11 (as regulated by a federal bankruptcy court and not "The Man" Obama) then the significance of warranty claims and the undue hardship imposed upon present car owners if their claims were not to be honored, would ensure that they are adequately represented. Why? Bigger dollar claims potentially involved and a much broader audience, as well as the political risk of not honoring those claims (to any extent). But with a small company like Koss and (for the most part) very inexpensive products and thus insubstantial warranty claims that are likely to occur, and no political pressure to ensure that their rights are being represented, sure, a judge might throw them out as a potential creditor class altogether just to simplify the overall process.

Even in a Chapter 7, there is a chance that the warranty claims would be paid. But that would only occur if 1) the company has enough money to first pay off all claims in higher priority classes, and 2) if the judge approved a plan to set aside a reserve fund to administer future warranty claims, which wouldn't necessarily need to be court administered, but would likely require that they set up a separate entity to deal with such claims. Thus, Koss itself wouldn't necessarily need to continue to exist (although some of their people would probably need to be involved). The problem is #1 above. If they go Chapter 7, it's unlikely that unsecured creditors -- which all future but as yet unknown warranty claimants would most likely be considered -- will most likely not receive much, if anything because there simply won't be enough funds. At least that's typically the case in a Chapter 7 liquidation. For it to get there, the company is already bust. Thus, there is a theoretical possibility that a new entity could be set up to administer warranty claims, but it would be highly unlikely from a practical point of view. At the moment, the company's stock is still halted. Trading is unlikely to resume until, as you say, the forensic audits are complete and amended financials are publicly available. At that point, nobody has any particular trading advantage. As others have said, it is a very thinly traded security, so there's no telling what could happen. There may be a lot of panic sellers which would create a very brief buying opportunity for those who think the company will be able to survive (i.e., not to bankrupt).

The G3 engine is a 1.6L GM Ecotec. It's highly reliable and easy to service. My Atom has a 2.0L Ecotec, so I'm familiar with it. You might be surprised there as well. The interior of the G3 is nothing special, but it's not too bad either (quite functional with no major frills, but not ugly by any means, and comes standard with a decent 6 speaker audio system, and the tilt wheel is nice for big lugs like me). EDIT: Missed Ric's post that he was no longer considering the G3.

Oh, there's definitely more to the story. Here's a pic of her (my "daughter" who is getting married this summer). She's so humble and down to Earth. I have no idea where she got it from!

What you're saying may well be true if what we have here is a case of theft only (not combined with fraudulent financial reporting), such that the financial statements themselves can still be relied upon as a true (or at least fair) reflection of the company's financial position. In other words, yes, money is missing, but the accounts fully reflect this fact and are therefore accurate. In that assumed scenario, all of the funds that were embezzled over time would have been treated as expenses of doing business. Thus, they would have come out of the reported profits. Thus, what was reported could be relied upon as being accurate. Problem is, that's not likely to be the case. Otherwise, they wouldn't have filed the 8K (non-reliance on prior financial statements) with the SEC. So it's fair to say that we won't know what their current financial position is (cash and other assets, as well as liabilities) until amended financials are filed and publicly disclosed. Because of their 8k non-reliance filing, I'm led to believe that we'll soon be learning of falsified asset values (chiefly cash). Of course, I could be wrong about this, but that's the way it's looking.

Similar to my point above that these kinds of payments might not have occurred in the early years. Maybe they only started to happen when she became far too emboldened by her own geniusness.

Great point, Carl. At first, the designer clothes thing made sense to me, but that's when they were talking about $4.5 million and had evidence of at least $2 million of payments to 3 different boutiques. I figured she had blown the rest of it traveling, fancy restaurants, and the like. My mind being focused on how she got the money out the door via wire transfers to supposed "vendors" (as opposed to her own accounts). But you're right. This thing is much larger than that. Payments like the one she got busted for might have been part of phase two, which may not have started until she got bored with sending money to her own accounts. Given the incompetent auditors and overly relaxed senior managers, anything is possible.

You are indeed, correct. I omitted you! Ha!!! Should have said Mike or Matt. Don't forgive me if you don't want to, but you do throw good Florida meets. Great ones, in fact. If this is all happening the same weekend, I'd be happy to drive the big party wagon to Jacksonville and back. It could probably hold most of the crew.

Oh, hell ya! As I like to say, I dated her for 6 years. She dated me for about 2 or 3, and then used me for the rest. Two different people. I love her daughter dearly, just as if she were my own. She was 17 when I met her mom and is 30 now. She has a "real" father and he'll be at her wedding. Yet, she's asked me to walk her down the aisle. Although that means the world to me, I've declined because I could never show someone up like that. I convinced her that it should either be him or her mother or her brother. She eventually decided upon her brother. Her mom, on the other hand... is actually a very nice person, deep down. She's just a self-first survivor type who has never learned how to truly love anyone other than her kids. But at least she does that well; oh, and her makeup, shoes, hair, and nails are always done right.