dste6

if i had known you were talking about horn drivers, we wouldve been on the same page sooner ...i tend not to think of horns when someone says speakers, its a different universe to me haha! i especially want to hear a bass horn

I believe your running the avantgarde duo setup yeh deepak? Gotta agree with you there, i have an acquaintance that owns either duo or trio (im not firmiliar with the line up) with AR amp pair and some arcam receiver...truely one of the best speakers ive ever heard, unfortunately one of the most expensive as well (i believe he bought it new as well :'( ) I distinctly remember hearing the Kind of Blue remaster on them, with a lifesize trumpet levitating in the air pointing down at me, was so real it was spooky. ...i swear i wasnt high

:D nah im far too cheap, and im not entirely convinced that the DR variant will sound improvement to warrent the THREE fold different in price to the regular sovs, or the electro-harmonix makes.

Fairly inaccurate generalisation aerius. I've learnt to stay away from drivers made of fancy material. More accurately you may find that the worse the speaker, the fancier the companies advertises its materials. I've found that good old paper pulp + carbon fiber gives the nicest sound. There are always exceptions of cause, i have heard some Kharma speakers with ceramic drivers that were astonishing. And also have encountered Beyma units, both 90db and 98db with hideous response curves, that i couldnt use, i dont care how much power they could take. You are correct about crossovers, they can get a bit out of hand. However, what can ya do, i have so far not encountered any better way to get impressive bass extension and response, without 2 or 3 woofers in dappilito. When it comes down to it, you need alot of power to push alot of air. High sensitivity full ranges like Lowthers are interesting but just cant push bass without a horn config, the result i find unsatisfactory. Electrostats i have had no experience with. I dont even want to talk about large sub(flab)woofers. Im not saying good sound cant be achieved by SET's and high sensitivity 2 or even 3 way speakers. I am saying that SET are some what of a niche for a reason, theyre not the best at dynamics (ok not the be all and end all, i enjoy the tonal as much as the next guy). And that if you invest in a SET (within reason) you will usually have to chose a speaker that will suit your amp...not the other way around, and i dont like that.

each to their own, i spose deepak.

Damn right they do, and ideally should weigh more than one's self . Sensitivity is hard to come by if you run say 4+ way dappolito config, you try run one of those with a 20watt SET...

2 words my friend...Mandarina Duck...marginally less gay than Louis V, much more compartments "for the man who has nothing to hide....but still wants to..." - scrubs seriously though, check out Booq...i swear by em: ballistic nylon yeaaaaaa! http://www.booqbags.com/

Lee, you might be surprised. I've always prefered speakers to heaphones, and i still believe that you cant achieve the same dynamics/soundstage with phone that you can with speakers. The key with headphone rigs is that they offer a level of detail, depth, tonal accuracy that is on par with very impressive speaker systems, at a fraction of $. For example, a friend of mine has a similar phone/amp rig to mine (rather modest, as standards go)...he also owns a pair of Energy Veritas v2.8 speakers, a Musical Fidelity kW500 amp, and MF Vista sacd player...every component in this rig is a monster IMO....still, he finds aspects the headphone rig that he likes better than the speaker rig. Point is, if someone can can find a modest $1000~ headphone rig as enjoyable as at $30-45k (new) speaker rig [15K~ used; i dont believe used-price is a good way measuring level] ...i would not be worried about your ability to enjoy at 3k head rig If you want to melt, go tubes...headphones are qite good in that tubes can usually drive them without a problem...unlike tubes with speakers (IMO only monster Audio Research or CAT superamps driver /real/ speakers properly). A great comparison is Diana Krall Live in Paris "Case of You" (track 11 i believe)...there is ambiance, emotion and naunce (voice inflection, hall size, piano pedal texture) that gets lost on my modest densen/proac rig, and even my friend's energy/MF...but is somehow more easily appreciated on a simple 701/LD MIV. Headphones are NOT snake oil...they are just different. I've heard excellent things about Singlepower PPX3 (havent heard it), and in my opinion AKG K701 is the best phone a beginner can get (i was not impressed by RS-1, and from the sound of your preferences i dont think it would be for you). you did not mention source, but it is important, as you may know Enough rambling...

oh and stay away from anything like audioquest, over priced shit in my opinion...how can any company in good conscience offer up six different toslink cables

i've had good experiences with Chord Company, both toslink and coax. Tara labs are also memorable

Yes, it certainly can be. i've found people tend to think the opposite, that anything with 'optical' in its name is a perfect transmission medium. True it is the best for long distances, my father is in telecommunications he wouldnt let me lie. It is just not true for audio interfaces, its a different stream. Yes, reks' application is justified, but i laugh when people buy 2 foot toslinks for their rack, i laugh harder when its a $20 a/v type from the local shack (which it usually is) and think there wont be dramatic loss.

whao, 25 foot? Yes perhaps we are talking of different applications

reks your not wrong, toslink is fine...provided that a very good cable is used. Im my experience, money for money it is much easier (cheaper) to find a good coax compared to toslink, i know, i've done comparisons. In my experience $ for $ toslink is more lossy, i believe this is due to refractive errors inherent in the optic transmission...so u need a damn good cable (which u perhaps have), which many ppl tend to forget, and think the average hometheater a/v ones will do. I just dont see a point, if one is running spdif off their computer, to use toslink over coax.

ppl tend to take it personally when you call them vain and shallow...as they are fairly personal insults. Just like if i was to ask why you would ask such a question, at a forum set up primarily for people to discuss their sound gear...are you dense? or do you just lack the social skills or tact? to realize that you have phrased your question as a personal insult?...'or some other reason'?

Unfortunately not so, not on the regular MkIV (non-se) at lease; my friend had the misfortune of ordering some relatively expensive mullards only to find that indeed in that case the pin ORDER did not match....safe to say, he was pissed http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f5/little-dot-mk-iv-tube-rolling-259125/