skullguise

What was the name of that Ros

On a non-colorful note, I've heard of some reliability issues with the Onkyo.....

Summary only, no details? Must be the cables..... Actually, thanks for the notes, not wholly surprised, though.

Not sure if anyone posted this here, saw it in another forum..... It's the World's Strongest, Most Expensive Beer -- Inside a Squirrel - Asylum.com Duggeh? Drink one for the team?

Saw Judy Collins and guest Sonya Kitchell at the Pavilion at Salisbury Beach, MA, last night. The goods: - Sonya Kitchell is a nice performer, her music is pretty passionate. Only did maybe 6 songs, but I liked them all. She set up at the table where they were selling her CD's, and signed and chatted a bit - Judy Collins still has a stunningly lovely voice, with plenty of pitch and strength. She is also stunning in her presence as well, with lovely long platinum/white hair and a looking quite regal in a nice black dress - Judy is a great storyteller, some nice stories about the "old days" of the folk scene in the 60's - Song selection was pretty good, though my favorite were some Tim Buckley and Leonard Cohen songs The bads: - Sonya had a bit of sound trouble on her first song; interrupted the flow, but she did OK despite this - Judy DID slip a tiny bit a few times, forgetting lines but catching up almost immediately - I hate to say it, but I feel Judy kind of "jumped the shark" at this performance....explanation: Despite the small venue and some loving vociferous fans, she never seemed to really "connect." I saw her back in 1996/7, just at a local college gymnasium, and felt she was more personal and bonding better with the crowd, despite a sterile, cheaper location. She "performed" for the crowd quite well last night, with what seemed an almost pre-arranged spontaneity, and then she left REAL fast; my wife and I were one of the first out the door, and Judy and her piano accompanist were already rushing to the car which was driving them away, having ran out the back door. She didn't even respond to my "Thank you, Judy" (and I'm sure she heard me, she was perhaps 10 feet away). I swear, I wasn't running after her with a crazed look in my eye Still, a very nice show, she still has the voice and presence in spades. The perceived attitude could be any thing, even just a bad day. But I compared it to the last time I saw her, and the emotion was different.

Very lovely indeed; congrats, Gene. Any "before" pictures?

Agreed. Used to own the 3.0's. They DO shine MORE with better amps, but indeed are not so picky. When I sold them, I demo'd them with a cheaper Jungson 88C integrated, 80wpc; they soudned pretty darn good even with that. Then I hooked up a Belles 250i integrated, 120wpc (and a great amp, I miss it; the guy I sold mine to is selling it on Audiogon). Made a NICE difference, the extra watts provided that much more dynamic punch....as well as every other part of the sound being much better. But they were still quite good even with the cheaper amp.....

Liquid out of the nose worthy!

The only REAL thing that matters is what color lights a piece of equipment uses.....none of this objective versus subjective BS!

Cheesebert. But he was actually pretty cool about it, so I answered very nicely. I won't post what he said about how good it was, but it clearly was close to sliced bread

Actually, Yikes may be right.....I've heard some vintage gear that sounds much better than modern counterparts. Maybe you need DECADES of burn-in At this point, I probably have close to 300 hours on my Asgard with sound coming through them (set it up with a tuner initially to run it for a while, and have used it a fair bit when I'm not listening). And total "on" time is more than that. It IS a fun, very good little amp, and a bargain the price; I still maintain that. But even though it has lessened a bit with time and play, I still hear the glare that stands out sound-wise for me. It doesn't ruin it by any means, but I like my other amps better, and will use them more often.

I got a PM like this as well....they certainly feel the need to justufy their FOTM!

^ Uhhhhm, yeah...... I have helped quite a few folks with these issues. I usually use a Pre-Install Windows Environment CD to boot and run checks from there, but there have been some cases where it won't load on a client machine. Twice now, I've been forced to remove the drive, mount it on another machine (USB adapter), and scan/clean it there. The saddest/funniest thing I remember was helping one person, who was getting p*rn spam and popups about elderly folks and also animals! Couldn't help but wonder where he caught that drive-by....

I've liked some of SG's writing in the past. He also worked at Chesky as a producer IIRC.....some decent resume material IMO. So I'm happy for Schiit (or is that "as" Schiit?) to hear he likes this and that a mainstremer like CNET gives them some good marketing. But there is probably a bit of hyperbole involved. Part of it is likely finding a nice amp like this at such a low price; it causes the "wow" factor to go haywire.... I'm still enjoying mine, but still also using my other amps more. The glare I heard at about 30-40 hours HAS seemed to lessen somewhat (I don't think it's my ears adjusting to it, as I am using my Stax and Millett during this time as well). Still there, but a slight bit less.....

He probably got too much coconut milk on it.......

I have completely avoided the HF thread for just that reason. I do like this amp, a LOT for the price. It may be the best retail product at the price. But when you can get some nice DIY for the same or not too much more $, the value lessens. Still, it is a well-built, fun sounding amp, at a price that can entice anyone. Right now, I like my Millett better; but I think the $350 Valhalla could give it a run for it's money based on the value for $ of the Asgard.

No link for it, but I was listening to Gordon Lightfoot's "Gord's Gold" last night.... Came into work with "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" in my mind, and occasionally on my lips. Someone heard me singing/humming and said, "Is that the song about the colonoscopy?" After getting up off the floor, we chatted more and it was determined there is a parody song called "The Rectum of Edmund Fitzgerald" - and it's pretty humurous.....apparently one of the local radio stations did a promo mix.

Just a quick update, did a tiny bit more listening last night, and have some more thoughts: - Soundstage issues are likely more with the Shure than the amp. I tried the Thunderpants on the Asgard. There is something going on with my TP's, they are a little underdamped methinks....but bottom line, they got more spacious than the Shures. - I tried the Shures on my Colin-built Millett Max, and the soundstage was only a little bit bigger - The midrange glare is not there with the Millett, though; so unless it goes away with more burn-in, that may be indicative of the Asgard Still like this unit quite a bit at its price, the fun factor is certainly there....but I think it is what it is, a very nice $250 amp. Time will tell more......

Hawks were in impending Cap Doom anyway, but yeah, he was a big one to lose.....and Atlant DOES seem to be a team that'll be fun to watch. Waiting to see what happens with the Bruins, some rumors about Savard getting traded...Seguin isn't proven yet, and Savard's playmaking is amongst the best in the league. Making me a bit nervous, especially since one of the rumors has him going to Toronto. Edmonton will also be intersting to watch; they have a glut at wing like the Bruins have a glut at center.

Today I didn't shoot or wrestle any raccoons.... But after work, went with the wife and son to visit the first of probably several catering companies to discuss my son's getting-to-be-as-pricey-as-our-freaking-wedding Bar Mitzvah.

His tinfoil hat must be quite the assemblage!

Working on it.....Gulf comes first....... Oh, and MY raise ,too

Can be touched, but not held long without discomfort. Interestingly, the bottom plate gets hot pretty fast. And since no ventilation, it needs to be on footers. Schiit supplies some cheap rubber ones, but I used those clone-of-Mapleshade rubber/cork squares.....didn't tell any difference sound-wise, but felt better that heat was escaping the bottom.

Few more thoughts after some listening tonight. I put the Asgard in my secondary system, which is Sony NS-900V player driving Parasound 1600HD DAC. Feeds Stax SRM-T1W/Lambda Sig's via balanced, and now the Asgard via RCA. Used the Shure 840's; Haj, the volume control never got past 11:00, and it was plenty loud. Didn't seem to have balance issues at lower levels, nor any noise at all. Should drive IEM's pretty well, I'd bet. The clarity and dynamics I mentioned earlier were still evident, but I'm hearing the dynamics being more midrange driven. Even after some slight warm-up, there was a slight peakiness in the mids; noticable on female vox and piano. I had some Alison Kraus, Loreena McKennitt, and Cara Dillon CD's playing, and they showed some mid glare through the Shures. By contrast, the Stax system had more neutral mids; I could still hear the nasal sound of Alison Kraus' vocals, but it wasn't as glaring. If anything, it may have been a little recessed (for my taste; I can't say what was most realistic for the recording, but both systems sounded good. The Asgard/Shuire was more in your face with some glare, the Stax more distant). Alison's fiddle also had a slight more resonant tone with the Stax, but had some good clarity and richness through the Asgard/Shure as well. Bass was also not super deep, but seemed pretty tight for what it had. I think it may also need more warmup (was on for about 45 minutes to an hour befiore I started doing my real listening). Some tracks on Loreena's CD have some deep acoustic and synthesized bass. Came out with the Asgard/Shure combo, but was noticably stronger with the Stax. This may also be symptomatic of the Shures; never remember getting deep deep bass from them.... Highs are detailed yet pretty warm. The Stax system can be etchy in the wrong system; they mate very well with the slight warmth of the Parasound. The Asgard/Shure combo never seemed at a loss for detail, but did seem softer at the higher highs. Soundstage was limtied with the Asgard/Shure system, another attribute more driven by the Shures I'd say. Stax was very good, as I expected. Not much more to say right now. So far, though, I'd rate the Asgard VERY highly for such a cheap price. Even with the cheap but fun Shures, it's making some nice music, and aside from the slight glare when the volume was higher, kept me hooked. I estimate that after 457.3 more hours of burn-in, should be the new FOTM EDIT: Haj, you're welcome to borrow, we can arrange at my work sometime soon since you're right there. And Gene, given this experience, I think you'll like the tubes a lot....

Got mine, haven't had a big chance to listen, hope to tonight. Build quality looks mighty nice. Does get very warm, but as the manual says, it's expected (BTW, manual continues the great humor of the web site). Clarity and Dynamics definitely there, they stood out pretty quickly; need to do more listening for tone and overall joy factor. Don't have a wide choice of dynamics, down to just a Shure 840 and Thunderpants (I should add a pic to the new thread tonight ) for full-size, and UE Triple-Fi and Shure E210 for IEM's. Oh, and a Senn 414.....haven't tried that though.