Wmcmanus

Good ideas, Doug, some of which I've considered. You're right about the barn not working here! I've thought about building a 16' x 24' detached building in the back yard, to serve as a storage shed. But I wouldn't want it to look like crap, so it would have to be concrete block construction and finished exactly like the house itself, including any windows, doors, roofing, etc. That way it wouldn't look out of place. It could be strategically located in a corner of the back yard such that when I finally get around to building my home theater room (which I've been dying to do but cannot quite afford yet), the detached building would become attached to the then expanded house (with some roof modifications to the previously detached building). That's a real possibility. In terms of getting things up into the attic, that's no problem, and would just take 2 or 3 Jamaican guys. They can lift anything! But as you say, once a spiral staircase is installed, you couldn't get anything back down unless you put in a dormer with large windows, but then that would present all sorts of other logistical problems (i.e., open the window, and then what?). It might be possible to bolt in the spiral staircase such that it could be removed on rare occasion, pushed aside, and then bolted back in once you've moved stuff up or down, but that's not too practical either. Thus the attic lift idea to provide as much flexibility as possible and still not break the bank. But then it's not practical or safe for human traffic, so the attic could only be used for storage. If I have the building constructed in the back yard right away (for storage), the attic idea could be put on hold (not needed right away for storage). Then if ever it was converted to livable space in the future, I'd just have to live with a spiral staircase. There is about 9' of headroom in the center, so it would make a nice room for a teenager one day.

Yup, for sure! I've been talking about adding a home theater room (and some other space) for years now. It's not something I can do right away, though. To make the kind of addition that I have in mind, it will be a pretty expensive investment, plus it will require planning approval and so on. The baby will be here in another 3 months, so I'd like to at least have a bedroom available by then so that I don't have to hear about how my "stuff" is more important to me than my child, yada yada. That, and I'm kind of getting excited about it. Here's another alternative. http://www.savariaconcord.com/pdf/brochures/telecab.pdf Quite utilitarian, but probably not nearly as expensive as most home elevators, which can reach $30k in a hurry. I'll have to call them tomorrow for pricing info. What I like about it is that you don't need to prepare a "pit" area under the ground floor landing for this one. Also, most home elevators require that you have structural support along a side wall on all floors, so most of the options out there don't work for attic applications. This one looks like it will work and might not be too expensive. My guess would be about $10k, but hopefully less. Were I to go this route, then I'd almost for sure convert the attic room into livable space (put in a couple of dormers with windows), but I wouldn't have to put in stairs -- a good thing since there isn't an easy place to do that anyway. It would have to be an elevator like this one or spiral stairs. Edit: Doh! Found the price for this on another site. $21,975 plus installation. Forget that!

Here's another option, although I don't think it will move any faster. Hercules Vertical Platform Lift - Commercial Plus, with the attic lift, everything tucks neatly into the ceiling when it's not in use, so you forget that it's there. Whereas this thing would have a constant presence, taking up floor space, and I'd then have to come up with some sort of trap door at ceiling height. This whole exercise is kind of frustrating. Bottom line is that I've outgrown my house and need to add on some extra space or else de-clutter, and I'm not too good at the latter.

I'm thinking about getting one of these to gain better access to my attic: Products The largest model is 4' x 6' and lifts up to 750 pounds. Cost is $2,595 plus shipping, so nearly $3k to Florida. Then the on-shipping to Cayman and 20% import duty when it gets here. Then paying someone to prepare the opening, do the install, and make it all look finished. Probably $5k or more before all is said and done. But that would allow me to: 1) Get most of the junk in my attic out of there, much of which is my former fiancee's accumulated possessions from living in Cayman for 17 years prior to moving to the US almost 10 years ago. She's shown zero interest in any of it, even the childhood pics of her kids. So I'd sift through everything looking for keepsakes (for her kids, not her), and then give away the rest. 2) Reinforce the attic floor by doubling up the joists, then install a plywood floor. Then put in an a/c system of some sort, some overhead lighting and electrical outlets, and then sheetrock the walls making it into a temperature controlled 18' x 30' storage room. Could always go back at a later date and make it into livable space. 3) Move everything from my extremely packed one car garage up into the attic, principally wooden crates for speakers and amps and other large audio related boxes, but some other stuff as well that needs to be kept but is in the way. 4) Move all exercise equipment that is presently spread across 4 rooms into the garage, which would then become an official gym, although of course it will rarely get used. I might, might, be able to fit everything in there. 5) The newly freed up front bedroom (which now houses about half of the gym equipment) will then become the baby's room, when he or she arrives this Spring. I can't think of a cheaper way to get it all done, plus I'd get to ride up and down the redneck elevator now and then (it takes about 90 seconds to move up or down 10 feet). Either that, or I could sell some of the gym equipment and audio gear that I don't use so much these days. Nah!!!

Ya, I suspect that wouldn't be a good thing.

That just sounds really wrong.

I made a funny post at Head-Fi today. It was a combination of funny 'ha ha' and funny 'ain't that strange', but it didn't have anything to do with funny 'gender confused'. It was in the HD800 for Ti thread in response to someone grumbling about the fact that they don't have 140 contributors yet and thus cannot afford the HD800 at this point: http://www.head-fi.org/forums/6331665-post204.html Ok, so it wasn't that funny. But at least I made myself snicker.

That's true, because it's a logarithmic scale, is it not? That is just beyond my imagination or comprehension.

Yup, it was 52 miles off of the East End of Grand Cayman (which is about 70 miles from where I live) and located 6.2 miles down. What I'm learning now is that a 5.8 earthquake is nothing to laugh about! The Haiti earthquake was a 7.0 and located 6.0 miles underground. But it was centered just 10 miles from Port au Prince. All of this leads me to believe that we were extremely lucky! Had this quake come a little closer it could have caused some serious damage. About the only damage in Cayman that I've heard of was a 28' diameter sinkhole that occurred at an apartment complex on the seashore (see pic). SinkHole Caused By Earthquake In Cayman Is. - CNN iReport

This is a really good way of looking at it. When the endless accumulation of wealth continues to be the primary motivator in their lives, the single thing that they're "worried" about or can get "excited" about (the game of money making just for the sake of it), they tend to become rather sad, isolated and lonely characters. Howard Hughes was a good example of this, although he had a lot of other things going on in his confused brain.

I agree that not everyone is driven by "greed" but money is something that affects different people in different ways, much like alcohol and drugs. There are those who become addicted to the accumulation of wealth, material things and the status it brings, such that money (and closely related things/concerns) becomes the central, driving force in their lives. In my experience, people of "ordinary" means (which might also include highly successful professionals and business owners who are comfortable financially but are not filthy rich) are more likely to be satisfied with their lot in life than the rare few who are exceptionally wealthy. The average to above successful person tends to lead a more balanced life, and doesn't worry (or focus almost exclusively) on money matters. The ultra wealthy tend to be less trusting (always concerned that someone will use them for their money, no doubt borne out by personal experiences) and thus often have a more limited number of friends in their inner circle. They seem surprised when you treat them like anyone else you might meet on the street by showing them that you're comfortable with them, person to person, and are not intimidated by their stature. I agree that the majority of people are not this way, but almost all of our clients were extremely guarded and suspicious. Some of them are more edgy than others, of course. But it's as though their wealth creates more burdens than joys and they cannot live "normal" lives unless they go somewhere on vacation where they can blend into a crowd where nobody knows them. Interesting characters though.

True enough, and that's the real issue here. That, and the fact that the legal system is far too soft on these people. Like anything, they can buy their way out of it with money, even when it's not their own.

Part of it for me, as well, was the fact that I was in an advisory capacity. Thus, by the very nature of my relationship with these clients, I was talking with them about their money and what they wanted to do with it. Not just new investment opportunities, but how to structure their affairs, reviewing the performance of their portfolios, etc. They never exerted any huge pressures on us nor did they show distrust in our advice, but there was always this sense that they expected nothing but upside. Even though they willingly took on risk, they were always surprised when the coin didn't turn up heads 100% of the time. I got the impression that it's all a huge game for them. All about winning.

I survived an earthquake today! All of 5.8 and some 70 miles from my house. It lasted all of 2 seconds, but was still kind of a weird feeling. M5.8 – Cayman Islands Region

Looks like Drew might not be able to offer the connector mod afterall: Head-Fi: Covering Headphones, Earphones and Portable Audio - View Single Post - Beyerdynamic T1 Tesla Headphone I hope he's able to sort this out, because cable swapping is always fun.

I worked as a relationship manager in the private banking arena here in Cayman for 5 years. Our minimum assets under management requirement to take on a new client was $10 million. Most of the trusts were in the $20-$50 million range, and one held nearly $20 billion of investment assets. I never met or talked on the phone to a single client who was what I'd describe as "happy" or "contented" with his or her level of wealth. It didn't really matter what age they were, what country they were from (all over the world), what their source of wealth was (whether earned directly via personal business interests, indirectly via investments, or inherited). They all wanted more. That was essentially my job: to make extremely wealthy but never satisfied people even wealthier. While it was exciting at times, eventually it got old. It's amazing what big money can do to people. In this woman's case, she was already prone this sort of "the more the merrier" mentality, so the fact that she got away with it for so long just fed into her ego, greed, and sense of entitlement. In her mind, it was her company because she was the one in charge and Michael Koss was a big idiot in her eyes. It's interesting how she created all sorts of diversions from having to face the truth of what her life really was: a complete and utter fraud. My guess is that none of these charity causes actually meant a thing to her. It was all about being seen and appreciated/valued by the high society folks she like to roll with, as being so "generous" (with her employer's money, of course).

"Her sense of style was impeccable," one friend said. "Her wardrobe was beautiful. I was in awe." Uh, ya...

Raffle for Doug! I'll hold the money.

Now that's what I'd call an honest review!

Happy birthday, Grahame! As my ever-drunken barber from back home always says, "You're a true gentlemen and scholar, and there aren't too many of us left these days!"

Yes, and he's diggin' on the EAR V20 and K1000 set up! I think I'll blow the dust off of that combo myself tomorrow in his honor. It's been a while since I've imbibed on that liquidy smooth sound.

I want a pair of IEMs that also have bass traps that can be inserted in my nose. They've just not trying hard enough.

About as comfy as sitting perfectly still in a dentist's chair for an hour for fear that they'll slip a millimeter and send you back to the drawing board again in an effort to get anything close to a reasonable seal. Indeed. But I still think they're great. Just wish I was one of the lucky ones who can get them to seal. It really distracts from my listening enjoyment with them.

If, as you say, it's an empty bedroom that you can do anything you want to with, then I think the Maggies should be fine in there. I wouldn't want much clutter anywhere, however. The MMG's might be a better bet for a small room though, but you would probably have to add a sub. Should also add a sub with the 1.6 but it's not an absolute must unless you're a bass head or if the Maggies are serving your HT needs as well. Problem there is in trying to match up the right sub that integrates well with them, and that can be pretty tricky. You won't notice the bass deficiencies as much if your listening position is somewhat low to the ground. Not sure why this is, but near field listening in a low rider seating position seems to help boost the perception of bass weight/heft with ribbon/planer/electrostat speakers, particularly in smaller rooms. The thing is, you're pretty much forced into near field listening so that's a given, but when you're sitting up higher the sound field often seems quite thin and lacking in body. Thus, you start trying various subs to smooth out the spectrum, but all they seems to do is mess everything up (i.e., it's hard to get them to integrate with very quick speakers). So then about the time you're ready to give up, and you're sitting cross legged on the floor with no sub connected (at the moment, but you're about to connect yet another one to give it one last try), all of a sudden you say "Hey! It sounds just fine down here!" Don't ask me how I know this or what I'm doing with a pair of Maggies in my closet, next to a pair of Martin Logans (electrostats) and a pair of Newform Research (ribbons), plus 4 or 5 subs (including a Talon Roc and Velodyne HGS15). I'd suggest taking a look at Audio Asylum to see what Maggie owners who've set them up in small room advise: how far back their listening position is, how far off the floor their ears are, whether they use a sub, and whether the 1.6 (or 1.7) would sound cramped in a 10' x 12' room. The thing about Maggies, as others have said, is that while the setup can be very tricky and quite frustrating for a time, once you get them dialed in they are about the best bang for the buck you'll ever find (assuming that you're not a huge bass head, and that quick/clean is more your thing).

This kid was conceived in a motorhome, so he or she will just have to get used to living on the road. I asked one of my friends who is a mom what sorts of things that a new mom and baby would need while on the road. Her response was something about warm water or warm milk (I can't remember which and I can't remember why). No problem with either of those. Warm water right out of the sink. Warm milk with the help of the stove top or microwave. So no reason they can't both come along. Or not. If she thinks not, then not it will be. No sweat off my grape fruits. All will be well. Just a man and his music and the open road. Unless of course he takes a liking for the kid and then after finding himself alone on the road for a while, he suddenly gets all soft about "missing out" on the "joy" of changing diapers and such, and voluntarily domesticates himself. She's now at the "can't wait" stage. I'm still at the "what the fuck did I do" stage, but am starting to come around a bit.