Knuckledragger

As Laxx said, aperture is the main advantage prime lenses have over zooms. Discounting the two nutball F/2 zooms for the 4/3rds system, the fastest zooms are F/2.8. Most zooms start at F/3.5 or F/4 and shrink down F/5.6 at the long end. Constant aperture zooms, especially F/2.8 ones, are quite expensive. Wider apertures are possible with prime leneses, but they can be pricey too. Canon's 50mm F/1.8 is under $80, but it's built like a toy. The F/1.4 version is more than four times that. The 50mm F/1.2L is $1200, and IMJO, complety not worth it. The long-discontinued EF 50mm F/1.0L sells for more than an HE90 on the used market. There are some very good primes that aren't bank-breakers. The EF 35mm F/2 ($250) is the best deal in the entire Canon lineup. The EF 85mm F/1.8 is also a steal, especially for photographers overly concerned with bokeh. If you don't know what that is, consider yourself among the sane. Primes have several other optical advantages, they are often sharper than zooms, and usually have less distortion. Usually they are smaller and lighter as well. Prime lenses are popular with skinflints, available light shooters, and pretentious photography snobs. I happen to be all three. There is something to be said for the fixed field of view a prime offers making one a better photographer -- or at least offering the potential for such growth. Most very wide and and very long lenses are primes, though recently that has changed on the wide end (Nikon's 14-25mm F/2.8 is a really groundbreaking lens.) Lastly, there are all sorts of special purpose prime lenses: macros, fisheyes, tilt/shift, soft focus, etc etc.

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1768855/how/

*ahem* This forum sure isn't slow today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zy12XmybYzY

I had an email from the seller this morning. He apologized, said he'd send me the other black speaker, and a return tag for the wood finish one. He seems like a stand up guy, if this goes well, I'd still consider him for future purchases (MA sales tax and all). It turns out the wrong speaker was Cherry finish. I'm somewhat perturbed by this as I grew up in the antique furniture business and in theory should have some clue about identifying wood.

technite71 is indeed the official Grado Labs eBay account, much as bd-usa is Beyerdynamic and koss4129 is (duh) Koss. I don't think John Grado actually manageds the account, which might explain the references to him in the third person. I hope that $15 included insurance.

A-yep. I double checked the auction description, to make sure I wasn't going crazy, and then sent of a short email explaining the situation. I just spent the last half-hour getting the speakers situated and wired (oh, do I loathe long runs of Kimber.) I've had the speakers on for oh, about two minutes, and so far they sound ...well pretty good I guess. I'm nowhere near the point of doing critical listening, but they make noise, and it is pretty. On a side note, apparently the DACs of my Adcom GCD-750 work even when the unit is powered down (in standby mode?) Sound comes out, but it's very quiet. Powered on it has a class A analog output stage (I think, don't hold me to that) which is of course VERY LOUD. Fortunately, I turned the Quads off before powering on the Adcom.

$3,400.

Well, I just opened them, and the speakers appear to be fine, but... One is piano black, and the other is ...light maple or something.

Well, that was quick. To reasonably heavy boxes arrived at my doorstep this afternoon. The contractors just left, and I've got a radio show at midnight, so I won't have much time to set up the speakers and futz with them this evening. One thing's already clear, I'm gonna need some isopads.

Don't show that to Justin.

I drive a stick shift, and don't have an earpiece for my cell. When it rings when I'm driving, I ignore it. I am guilty of futzing with the iPod while driving. That can be pretty dangerous, particularly at night.

That sucks, dude. SUVs FTL.

Kim Petras, the German boy who at the age of 12 became the world's youngest person to start hormone treatments for a sex change operation, has been signed up by a German record label

Have you seen Some Kind of Monster?