Aimless1

Happy birthday. Enjoy!

Property tax rate. Top/1st # is the tax and the bottom/2nd # is the property value. $20/$1000 on a $200000 home is $4000 in property taxes each year.

Looked like a pretty nice community in my very short port visit. Pretty town, small and the capital. Anchorage just didn't feel right when I was there, but again, short visit.

Traverse City, Michigan. I've had many opportunities to move away from here but I love the seasons, the weather, the people. Polar opposite of a city. I currently reside just outside Grand Rapids, MI which is basically the largest small town I've ever been in. Traverse City has a small college, on Lake Michigan with plenty of sun, sand, beach and boating opportunities. Good cultural options, wineries, great restaurants and incredibly nice people. 2 hours away from the Mackinaw Bridge, 1 hour away from wild Michigan, about 3 1/2 hours from Grand Rapids and what it has to offer. Connected so you're not too remote but distant enough to avoid the maddening hoardes. I intend to retire near Traverse City in a small community called Boyne City. Economy is NOT dependent on the auto industry and relatively robust. Good luck! Nice to have options.

Thank you all for your suggestions. My daughter tells me she has chosen the song but it is to be a surprise ... albeit, one of the many suggestions I've made. Yep, she still has me wrapped around her little finger "Air on the G String" was new to me. Just one of many suggestions I had not heard before, and some forgotten old favorites as well. Many of them were passed on to my daughter. I'll find out which song in just over 3 weeks.

Some great suggestions! Definitely some songs I can talk to my daughter about.

Left myself wide open when I posted this. Guzzi & Reks didn't disappoint. Luvdunhill, can you send me the you tube on that? I appreciate the suggestions and the advice. We've been through our individual music libraries and done the usual online searches. Just haven't found that one song that is meaningful to both of us, both like and we can dance to. Duggeh, I can best describe the dance as easy and slow, ala Joe Biden. I had forgotten Songbird and Antonio, that's the first time I've heard the Bangels. Exactly the kind of help I was hoping for and need. We may yet fall back on some popular song that we've all heard at what seems like every wedding, but we both want to try to avoid that if we can. Thanks for the suggestions.

My baby gets married within the month and we haven't been able to agree on song for our father/daughter dance. Neither one of us dances particularly well so something easy to move too is required. Suggestions appreciated.

Haven't heard the Symphony, but the comments about the Opera are right on the money. Well built mediocre amp with power issues. It was obvious it didn't have the balls to drive a K501 (maxed out volume on high gain gave barely enough volume to listen to). I owned it for 9 months before moving on. I now have a new appreciation for the K501s.

John Williams "Dusty Porch"

No doubt considers herself a fine example of her religion. Racism and bigotry is still insidious and not always so subtle.

I'm an MSU fan but this game went pretty much as expected ... but not as hoped for. Congratulations to North Carolina. They are truly deserving of this championship.

Happy birthday Zach! Thanks for the great cables.

Happy B'day!

I find the DT880('05) a nice complement to the RS-1. You can find them used for about $200. Haven't heard the '03 edition. Can't comment on the other Beyers mentioned as I haven't heard them. The mids on the 880s are somewhat recessed compared to the RS-1. Good quality bass reproduction with somewhat of an emphasis on the treble. If you're sensitive to sibilance this would not be the can for you.

Happy b-day!

Can you please explain why opamps for balanced to SE conversion is fail? I'm not a DIYer and it is not obvious to me. I can't see why this is FAIL on a Solid State head amp?

Have a great birthday!

Have a great birthday!

The RS-1s sound very nice with the P-1. Not ready to call it synergy but very nice indeed. I'm more impressed by the K501s out of this amp.

If I had an opinion either way I would have stated it. Just trying to clear up what appeared to be some confusion regarding the P-1. I don't know whether the power supply is important or not. Before TTVJ took on Luxman I had hoped to hear the US version vs one purchased from Price Japan with a voltage transformer/converter. Unfortunately the owner of the unit from Price Japan decided to sell before the proposed meet so I was unable to listen and make my own decision.

You can draw your own conclusions. Here is his post from HF New News at TTVJ: Luxman Added To The Lineup! - Head-Fi: Covering Headphones, Earphones and Portable Audio Quote: Originally Posted by jpelg I don't doubt that the amp sounds great, and the fit-&-finish are beautiful. However, I have to wonder if the power supply change completely justifies the >$1k price increase (nearly doubling the price) over the standard 100v version. Did Luxman USA have to gut the Japanese version when it got here & drop in a whole new PS? I asked these very same questions in a conversation with Phillip O'Hanlon some time ago, and he gave me several reasons for the price difference. Some things to consider that were mentioned: The transformers are made by hand for the North American market in small quantities by Luxman. Given that Luxman emphasizes the importance of the power supplies in their designs, this might be an important consideration (as opposed to using a non-native voltage unit with a conversion transformer). (This is one O'Hanlon didn't have to explain to me--it's one of the things that kept me from seriously considering the P-1 in the past.) The importer/distributor pays shipping, duty, and customs clearance to import Luxman into the US & Canada--which is part of the price of getting it done correctly (in terms of native voltage). The importer/distributor does have to pay for the costs of advertising and marketing, which consumers might not consider or care about, but is a real cost to bringing the line here, and a necessity to letting the marketplace know that Luxman is back. The importer/distributor offers a three-year warranty, as opposed to a one-year warranty from Japan. U.S. units have to meet different standards (like radiation standards) than the Japanese units, so there are differences beyond the transformers that needed to be made, related to shielding and the like. I don't know the fine points of this one, but something of this was mentioned. The owner manuals, brochures, and catalogs all have to be translated to English--this is one of those ones that the consumer might not give much consideration, but it's a real cost. The importer/distributor has the items triple-boxed by Luxman at the importer/distributor's expense. I can attest to this (with my P-1), and mine was, not surprisingly (if you saw how it was packed) in perfect condition. If a Japanese gray-market imported unit needs service, it would need to be shipped back to Japan. The P-1 is quite heavy (maybe safely called very heavy, as far as headphone amps go). And to ship it back triple-boxed and insured to Japan even once would probably be at a substantial cost. In short, you can save money by ordering a Japan-voltage model. I'd considered it in the past actually. But I consider doing so a compromise, in terms of doing it right, particularly in terms of the power supply--especially now that the North American voltage model is available. I'll take that three-year warranty as gravy, as well as knowing I'll never need to ship this behemoth back to Japan. __________________

Todd reports no more P-1s will be made specifically for the US market at this time. He has been pretty open about the situation and has reported that Luxman considers the US introduction slow. We all may have felt it was well received and off to a good start, but I'm told the Luxman distributor did not see it this way. They don't consider this an up and coming market for the P-1. I've also been told that he would have to order a minimum of 50 units in order for them to churn out additional production of a US specific model. The P-1 continues to be available in Japan. Although it can be obtained rather easily, it will not have the US specific power supply, which Jude has claimed is critical for optimal performance. It appears that the 10 US units that have been sold will be the only ones to exist.

Happy Birthday!

Ditto. Exactly my experience.