Miscellaneous

A friend who is into music but not up to speed on gear and not an audiophile wants a new system but doesn't know what to get. He is looking for a new stereo/home theater setup that can also feed a couple of other rooms. He installed speaker wire and CAT5 cable to various spots when he remodeled awhile back and now wants to take more advantage of the multi-room music idea. The primary location will be a living room 5.1 home theater setup that will double as his 2-channel stereo listening location. He also has speakers for the den/kitchen, a back deck, and an upstairs bedroom that he would like to be able to play as a separate zone or zones from the living room/HT. He w…

I've been meaning to make a thread about this for over a year at this point. Last July I bought a Lord dual edge razor. It was like $12 and worth about as much as I paid for it. I also bought a 100 pack of Astra Platinum blades. Astras are made by Gillette in Russia. They offer a decent, but not amazing shave. The quality control is about as good as one might expect. After a few tentative weeks, I stopped using spray shaving cream and bought a Van Der Hagen brush, soap and bowl set. Unsurprisingly, shaving soap offers a much better experience than canned foam. I also invested in some pre-shave glycerine soap as well as some post-shave products (an alum block and b…

Do any of you have a shower filter? I have very sensitive skin and was thinking of trying one.

I need some reasonably priced speaker stands. I've taken my Daber Audio Monitor 3's out of storage, and I've shipped them to my new home in the Sacramento area, but I'll want some 18" to 22" stands to get them at a good height. I've combed the web, but thought you guys might have some recommendations that I may have overlooked.

Every couple years or so I email Sound Organisation to see if there is a Rega dealer in my area, never having any hope that there will be. I've been buying all my gear via the internet since I got into this game in 2006, and as much as I love the many benefits internet shopping provides, I have always wanted to form a relationship with somebody local. I like doing business with people I know, which is probably why I've completely stopped using ebay, audiogon, or even head-fi, I'd much rather buy and sell my crap here rather than deal with the teeming mass of insanity that is the open interwebs market. Lo and behold they get back with me, and there is a new hi fi deal…

"Open Source AirPlay." Something to keep an eye on... http://www.magicplay.com/

This is either brilliant or the most tortured metaphor ever: http://www.slate.com/blogs/quora/2013/05/03/do_high_quality_headphones_really_make_music_sound_that_much_better.html

Could be interesting... http://www.audioholics.com/news/industry-news/emotiva-audio-to-acquire-bob-carver-llc

Looking to update quite a bit lately and I am moving on from all my Mephisto dress shoes to something a bit more modern/interesting. Couldn't find a shoe-case thread here hiding amongst murses and bicycles so I figured we could have a nice discussion of something I assume most of us use. I have Allen Edmonds right across the street and an Alden one train stop away so they are first on my radar. Fashionista Colin pointed out the Peal & Co. option as well made shoes available at Brooks Brothers so I am looking at them as well. So what does the well-appointed Head-Caser wear for daily dress, casual, sport shoes around here?

http://news.softpedia.com/news/The-S2-Audio-Dockit-Affordable-Luxury-iPod-Docking-80422.shtml

I'm looking to replace my wired iPhone headset with a Bluetooth headset......I work remotely so I'm on calls a couple hours a day on average so comfort and call quality (including sufficient volume) are my top priorities. Not really going to use this much outside so looks aren't too important but I don't want it to look ridiculously geeky either. Trying to keep it under $60 but willing to go over if need be. I've looked online at several models and it seems like there is always someone who has a complaint about comfort or audio quality and I'm not sure which ones are just comments from nagging, never-happy consumers

Thought I'd start a thread for any interesting CES gear (audio or otherwise). First is a DAC. Anyone know BMC gear? http://parttimeaudiophile.com/2013/01/06/pre-ces-b-m-c-audio-announces-puredac/ Seems the XLR comment is off.

I'm starting a new thread so it doesn't get lost in the main one. If others think this should be more appropriately placed in the off-topic forum, I'll move it, but I was just thinking to keep the two threads somewhat together. Anyway, I like goals. Without them, I do nothing but talk about doing things. I'm going to keep mine simple and, barring more injuries, do-able. 1. 4000 miles. That's about 83 mile a week. Highly do-able. 2. I want to increase my speed to be able to hang with a paceline for more than 10 miles at 20+ mph. 3. I want to learn how to ride hills. I still can't stand and pedal, and descending, however much I like it, scares me. …

EOSD1426 by drjlo1, on Flickr The 13.3" Vaio Ultrabook certainly looks great and is very portable (compared to the 15.6" Asus), which is why I bought it. But after messing around with Windows 8, I just could NOT stand it. Bypassing Win 8 by installing "Skip Metro Suite" and "Classic Shell" is highly recommended.

I just got the November Time Warner Cable bill, which had a brand new charge for "Modem Rental," which is new and apparently a backhanded price hike. Any other Time Warner customers around got their November bill? http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/02/time-warner-cable-modem-rental/

Ran across this blurb: http://www.audiophilia.com/wp/?p=2544 Obviously, the list of audio and music-related sites can go on and on, but some of these places look like they're worth checking out (especially those that are suggested by a couple of the people who responded). Of course, if you bookmark too many of them, you're bound to get hooked one or two... or three...

Al, this one's for you. In case you haven't seen this one before. Leave it to a kerazy Korean guy to come up with this thing. http://gedrip.com/xe/ilbe/15151 http://lih203.blogspot.com/ They really need to make a plastic version of this one. I can't believe this crazy dude made it completely articulated as well. Can't wait to see what it looks like finished. -Ed

My "new" old car has a cassette player/AM/FM radio and I have no cassette recorder. Does anybody have recommendations for in-car CD players? A multi-CD unit is probably unnecessary for my needs, and the same with video. I don't think I'll need a new amplifier or speakers, but I'm also completely new to car audio in an audiophile sense. I've always stuck with the stock car setup to save money for my home listening. Should I just get a cassette adapter to connect my iPod shuffle/PCDP instead?

Some of you know stuff about car audio -- Samich? I forget who else. I'm going to be living with this car ('03 Lancer ES, non-Evo, non-wagon, non-anything really, completely entry-level) for a while, so want to upgrade the sound system, but don't want to spend thousands of dollars doing so, as it already has > 120K miles on it, and I'm about due for a car-totalling. So the current system sounds crap. Lots of distortion, doesn't go loud well at all. Replace the whole system (including the head unit)? Buy a new car? Or go piecemeal: sub first, head unit and speakers next. I'm not a complete dumb-bass-head when it comes to cars, but poprock just doesn't sound ri…

bye now

n

I live on the top floor of a poorly insulated building in Chicago with southern and western exposure. Even when it is not that hot out, it is hot in here. Does anyone have personal experience, or access to reviews, to suggest brands and/or models of window AC units that are quiet above all else?

few weeks ago I heard noise on one channel of my headphones. took CD player off that circuit and that furman surge protector. I now have the CD player going to my receiver via sony h.a.t.s, so its just digital out and not using the analogue stage headphone amp in the player. Its on a different circuit and surge protector. I can hear noise on one speaker like I heard with the headphones. I'm thinking this is something with the player, but maybe both circuits just suck that bad, it is an old house and the circuits share lots of items. Anyone know if AC noise can manifest itself in only one channel? I'm kind of planning to buy new gear this year anyway, but it…

Hi all, Did some searching, not really finding definitive opinions/answers for good photo printing sites. We got a DVD of pictures (hi-rez JPG) back for our son's Bar-Mitzvah, with the rights to print for our personal use....we wanted to make a nice album. We'll also investigate specialty photography stores locally, but wondered if anyoine can recommend decent online services. We've used Snapfish and Mpix, and have seen other work from Shutterfly. So-so impressed...... Any thoughts or recommendations? Or would a local place really be our best bet? Thanks, Todd.

I need a replacement Goldring D42 stylus. hifi4less.com sells them for much cheaper than I can get here in the US, even including shipping. Unfortunately they only sell in the UK. I was wondering if somebody in the UK would buy this for me and ship it here? Here is pertinent web page. Please PM me if you can help. Thanks.