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Saw McCoy Tyner and Marc Ribot at Yoshi's in Oakland. All I can say is if you get the chance see him on this tour. McCoy is as vibrant as ever and played with amazing skill and passion his interplay with Ribot was special. The rhythm section as utterly bland particularly after hearing Jack DeJohnette and Ron Carter on the CD but as long as they weren't soloing they were fine. Many thanks to Al , Claire and Ric for a great birthday dinner and concert, you guys salvaged a completely shitty week for me.

So I meet up with Al and we proceed to go the the home of the seller of these ATC beasts and he opens up the garage and we are welcomed to the site of two HUGE boxes with canvas green carry straps on each end. These were much larger than I or AL had expected. I now know what it will be like for the pall bearers at my funeral because lifting these was like carry a dead fat man. Well Al and I managed to get these into the back of the mini van and headed black to his home. After I took a detour around the SFO area Al and I got to the business of unpacking one of these beauties. Had we fully thought this out we might have taken them up the stairs in their shipping crates as the finish is a work of art. But no we unpacked them in the garage, wish we had filmed this, and were stunned to see them in person. I immediately began to freak out worrying that I might drop one of these while carrying them up the stairs. After Al smacked me a few times and called me several names I agreed to carry them up the flight of concrete stairs with him. They are not super heavy at 112 pounds but there is really not anywhere to grip them. We got the first one up the stairs and thanks god Clarke arrived to assist with speaker number two. Funny situation number two is two grown men lifting a speaker off the ground with armor piercing spikes on the bottom while man three tries to get discs the size of a dime (maybe smaller) under the spike so we do not trash the wood floor. Well after three hours we got them, picked up, unpacked, positioned and ready to fire up. Listening to the ATCs last night was a real treat. At first they sounded blah and I was really worried. I was ready to run for the door but figured the amps were cold and the drivers had not moved in weeks as well, so I trotted off the kitchen for a beer and hung out for a few. After about a half hour they really began to sing and they improved steadily as the night progressed. These just about took my head clean off when listening to the Rain Song by Led Zep I heard things on that track I have never heard. We did listen to many great recordings as well in particular a Flamenco track that Al uses alot and holy shit the pick attack on these speakers was amazing. I do however do not believe we were hearing these at their best as we were going direct out of the Emm Labs and the Doshi ALAAP pre should improve things a bit. The sound was the largest and full of life I have heard, not as defined as the Wilson Watt Puppies but better in all respect. This rig did nicely improve upon the Wilson>Ayre>Nagra combo we had heard earlier in the month. After I got home I spent a solid 30 minutes cleaning out my drawers after hearing this rig. Al may have to host a Bay Area listening party (sorry Al for volunteering your home) these are simply too good to not be heard. Yeah Yeah they look nice and all but the sound is just amazing.

thanks folks, yesterday sucked due to work but this weekend is going to be a great one!

Billy Happy B-day!

no list of bourbon is complete without George T Stagg the yearly bottling of this is outstanding and rare. If you see a bottle grab it, unfortunately they are gone fast and the price doubles on the secondary market.

Luis, I am so sorry to hear about your apartment but I am glad you are ok. X2 on letting the community know what we can do to assist. Ken glad to hear you and Stacy are ok and the the cats and birds all made it.

Vincent hope you had a great day and rock out all weekend

well you srta answered your own question, they are not loved here mainly because they are cold and analytical also they lack PRaT. You can get a fast player that can also vibe for instance the ayre cx7e.

well being a NYC phile I think LA would have not been as rich as NYC but I have heavy bias

Ok I am hooked on both the US and UK versions of the show, my source for the UK show only has episode 1 and 2. Any people over int he UK or Australia have a way to rent the DVDs and convert them to AVI files for me. I'll pay for the DVDs and shipping and we can work out anythings additional if required. Anyway I really like the concept but I am a sucker for cops shows and with the sci fi twist it is a winner for me. The 1973 NYC vibe is a nice touch as well being from NY anyway. Any other fans of the show out there?

Wow this Sunday took a nice turn I guess I am hooked

big thanks to all that serve and to their families that share in their service.

Mike both Kerry and Clinton unfortunately did not stand up when called upon to do so primarily in my opinion because it would have been political suicide to do so. They were smart enough to know better and chose career over patriotism (IMHO).

Your point is interesting as the way intelligence was managed during this administration was vastly different than in previous administrations. Intelligence was managed by the executive branch in a way that was not seen previously. You can take piles of raw intelligence and get the conclusion you seek. This is why there are analysts who sort chaff out of these things and come up with credible reports. In this case many raw data points were used over the objections of the analysts to support the claim of imminent danger.

Just found it funny that Monks were brawling in a church that preaches love and understanding at least in the sequel (crusades and inquisitions aside).

Just found this funny somehow Monks brawl before religious ceremony - CNN.com I wonder WWJD

couple of quick points, invading Irag one of the most secular governments in the middle east as a means to prevent another 911 is a waste of resources if post 911 safety is the objective. The history of biological weapons use in Iraq occurred under the Reagan administration and then under the Bush (the father) administration. Our own people who were on the ground as weapons inspectors showed no evidence of an ongoing program. Remember Iraq at that time had been under pretty brutal sanctions that severely limited their ability to raise capital and we were flying daily missions in both northern and southern Iraq enforcing 'no fly zones'. There was no credible evidence of weapons unless you include forged documents regarding yellow cake uranium, a bunch of old metal tubes that were not specked for centrifuge use or third grade drawings of train cars with weapons labs in them provided by coerced testimony from an Iraqi living in Europe. This is the reason why intelligence agencies need to be allowed to do their work free of the executive office telling them what to find. As to a democrat spending similar on other things fair comment, for the money spent on Iraq we could have provided FREE health care for all or given out free college educations to every high school graduate or maybe fixed our crumbling infrastructure and yes as you duly noted installed a solar panel on every house in the US. I would have supported any of the options over an occupation of Iraq. I am not sure if you are aware that over 50% of the govt spend each year is on 'defense' this spend is more than the rest of all nations on earth combined.

When you have a moment try reading 'All The Shah's Men' by Kinzer for a more comprehensive understanding of the Iran situation. I honestly do not blame the Iranians for the Islamic Revolution we left then little choice. Unfortunately many of us have a fairly shallow historical understanding of the Middle East. Iran had democratically elected Prime Minister that unfortunately the CIA mistook as a communist during the height of the Cold War. We did not need to bring democracy to Iran they had it for themselves. Since 1953 we propped up the Shah, trained the Savak and armed Iran to the teeth (10 billion dollars worth between 1972-1976 alone). We then gave Sadam the green light to invade Iran after the Shah (our man in Tehran) was deposed by a popular uprising. Then Sadam uses weapons of mass destruction on Iran and his people with our full knowledge and wonder why they hate us. They do not hate us for our Freedom as GWB often states they distrust us because the Brits and Americans have screwed the Iranians over since oil was discovered there in the early 1900s. As far as Carter goes I do blame him for continuing to back the Shah and send arms to him but this situation started long ago and was policy for 20 years prior to his presidency. I am pretty sure no one has forgotten 911 particularly those that were born and raised in the shadows of those buildings but using that horrible day as an excuse to invade Iraq, gut the constitution and create mass fear as a means of extending control is Orwellian and criminal. The Democrats and Republicans both should have been less spineless in those dark days and held this administration to a higher standard prior to invading Iraq and signing into law the (un)patriot act. As far as your statement regarding Obama showing nothing but disrespect for this Nation, our military and constitution I am going to have to disagree on all points. As far as your point goes about weapons of mass destruction they were outdated and no longer viable chemical weapons held in storage and not ready for use. If he had weapons of mass destruction they would have been used during the war or at a minimum put in a state of readiness for use.

I enjoyed it I don't have really high expectations of most movies other than to entertain

I have almost passed away at several Florida meets but to the chagrin of the folks there I had only merely passed out.

fuck all you wet shaver haters!

Vickie does not sleep during meets, she tends to spend 36-48 hours listening to gear or drunken ramblings from the rest of us. After she herds us all back to the hotel and after we pass out she takes full advantage of all that gear.

Earl mine is about a month to two away from completion mainly just cosmetic challenges now. Did you do two sets of tube sockets or one? I stuck with a design that focused on 6sn7s but with the flex to use 9 pins with an adapter. I had won some v-caps at the VSAC conference in Portland earlier in the year so the amp is getting those. We also went tube rectified instead of SS, I've heard great amps with both implementations but the builder wanted to go tube rectified. The early version I heard with garden variety parts was outstanding and easily played at the level or above the level of the Raptor, MPX3 and Zana when we heard it at VSAC. Some of this may be my enthusiasm for the design but the proto was not a looker and if anything my expectation should have been lower based on the eye appeal of the amp. Earl, when are you getting yours

certainly he is a big fan of the Doshi pre and I stumbled on to the Doshi pre from a ZYX thread I was reading by Doug however there seems to be a decent sized core of people that have heard the Doshi pre and think it plays well in the Shindo range and above. Al and I checked out the Ayre gear yesterday and damn the ayre pre/power combo mated with the Wilson Watt puppies was really special. Probably the deepest bass with definition that I have heard from a system. The mids could have used more life but that proved to be more a factor of the Wilsons more so than the Ayre. Probably the cleanest most defined image I have heard. Later in the demo we swapped in the nagra pre amp and it was not a good match as the bass lost most of its definition and did not go as low. On the up side the mids were really nice and the guitar sounds were more correct sounding to me with the nagra. I would not want to live with the nagra (not that I'll ever have the $$$ for it) after hearing the ayre's ability to play both low and high with amazing definition without ever getting bloated in the bass or harsh in the highs. After some time we wondered what the ayre sound sound like on a speaker with a bit more body. The guy who did our demo was really accommodating and brought in some Sonus Faber speakers (I think they may have been the cremona m's but Al can verify this). This was more my cup o' tea as they had more body and warmth than the Wilson's just not the bass slam and they were not nearly was wide open sounding. In short the aryre gear seemed to perform equally well with both speakers. Just a quick word about the retailer Music Lovers in San Francisco, they were top notch and really went out of their way to accommodate. Yes I know this was a high $$ system we were listening to but I left with the impression they treat all their customers well. If you live in the Bay Area they are a great resource and had some nice used gear in house as well.

bought a new/old phono pre amp, picked up the Mod Squad (McCormack) Phono Drive and a McCormack DNA-1 (power amp) gold up graded by SMc audio including added balanced inputs. I am not sure if this will best the Berendsen but it is worth a shot. The phono pre is in da house and the power amp is about a week out. Oh Earl I love the Millet SS car theme very cool and maybe a perfect work desktop rig amp.