The Monkey

For a cool fifty bucks I will install flat pads on any and all Grados. You supply the pads, I merely take care of the intricate assembly process.

Thanks for the advice (here as well as earlier).

Is the 323 really that bad?

Happy Birthday(s)!

Sorry, I mean 5.1 (maybe expand to 7.1 later). Not sure if floorstanders are the way to go or smaller on stands? I just don't want a box o' crap surround setup.

Floorstanders, most likely. Budget around $3k.

I'm looking for some decent surrounds and don't want to break the bank. I've read good things about KEF and PSB as overperformers. Any others?

I am seriously considering the 303,

Are the Pelican cases no good?

They really lend a much warmer, smoother sound. Definitely sacrifices a little of the detail up top, too, but I'm generally ok with that--less fatiguing. They don't rock as hard, but they're much more comfortable and easier to use for long listening sessions. I still find congestion to be a problem with the HF-1, and the flats make that a bit more pronounced. Overall, though, the flats are a big improvement to my ears. I guess that wasn't all I had to say about that.

I think I like my HF-1 much better with flats. That's all I have to say about that.

Ah, very nice. Reminds me that I need to raid my father's wine cellar!

Flat pads for my HF-1.

It's going to be primarily home theater/hi-def. It's ok if standard def is sub-par as there are other TVs in the house. EDIT: hi-def viewing definitely will include sports/action.

He'd probably prefer plasma, but is open to all.

My Pop has asked me to recommend a home theater for him. $10k budget including HDTV. Any ideas, suggestions. Anyone with similarly priced setups out there?

Happy birthday, Duggeh.

Going to meets and packing up all my gear is a pain. And now with CanJam, it may limit what I bring. I was thinking of getting a Pelican case or two. Does anyone use them. Any other case suggestions? I don't want to use suitcases and cardboard boxes anymore.

What would be considered a reasonable price for a used O2?

Thanks Nate, I will get the IR thermometer.

At what point should you start to worry about how hot your amps (and other components) get? For example, my HR Balanced desktop runs hot, as expected, and so does the Desktop Power Supply. Further the DAC1 also runs pretty warm, which is also expected. Regardless of the fact that it is expected, it still concerns me. Should it? At what point do you consider the heat as a sign of a problem, or the imminent cause of one. Er, aside from fire that is.

That's what I was anticipating. I think I may have been reacting more to the source/amp combo than to the O2.

I listened to the O2 out of the McAlister with the MSB Platinum as the source. That setup was good. Damn good to my ears. And the O2 just melted away like it usually does for me when I hear it. Smooth and sweet. But I wanted to also hear some rock as I have always just heard jazz and classical. The only (sort of) rock the owner had was Joe Satriani, and while I'm not a huge fan, it was definitely engaging. But I still would like to try just to see if they can rock out. Can they? I tried to answer that question myself by listening to the O2 out of the Cary (and I think it was a SRM-007t amp) and it sounded dreadful; the worst I have heard it sound. Now mind you, I was listening to Stevie Ray Vaughn on a really poorly recorded CD, but it was the worst experience I have had with the O2. Maybe the Cary was spooked or something, though, because I just didn't like a lot of what I heard through it. Could be the old tin ears as well. Overall assessment, I very much want the O2, but I hope to put some rock through them at CanJam.

How do you like them overall?

Thanks for answering my questions a few pages back, all. So it sounds like the Lambdas are a good starting point. What about the 303 and 404?