Voltron

Marc and Birgir- What is it that you are talking about, or in other words what would I ask Ayre to explain? My comment about their suggestion of using the tape loop for a headphone amp was purely for grins and giggles because I don't recall seeing that in other hi-end preamplifier documentation. I was not suggesting it was anything special. As for turning off the inputs and the tape outs, my understanding is just what Wes Phillips and the Ayre manual say: turning them off "completely disconnects the auxiliary components from the K-XR (including the ground connection)." Wes goes into more detail on how it is done -- I think -- but mainly it just seemed like a good idea with so many ins and outs to be able to disconnect them and lift the ground to prevent ground loops or other interference from having all those empty jacks. That's all. Thanks, Al

That would be cool. The pre has 2 balanced pre-outs and 2 balanced tape outs to go along with the 4 s/e and 4 balanced inputs, so it can do a whole lot. Any number of the ins and the tape outs can also be turned completely off and the ground lifted so it is like they ain't there.

I admit that Wes Phillips' reviews of these two flagship models have got me looking at them, but everything I read seems intriguing and alluring. These are shockingly high cost items, so I am both hesitant to go too far down the rabbit hole of this fixation and yet still very curious. I also admit that the K-XR User Manual's suggestion that a balanced tape out could be used for a headphone amplifier made my heart go pitter-pat. Recognition in the highest of the high end! Anybody else heard the these and/or have any opinions on them or their design? A local dealer reps them, so I hope to get a listen later this week.

EDIT: That was what I meant to post.

thrice with the rickroll. sad.

I watched Dexter again last night and I am sick of all the Rita time even though her boobs are like twice as big as last season. The show seems to be stuck in a rut right now, or at least the current buildup to some kind of climax is taking too long.

Asshat markl? I thought he already put up the white flag and left us in peace...

Get an iPhone. There, I told you. Turned out Claire had Remote on hers, but I updated it and started using it last night. I know I am late to the party, but Remote is awesome!

Did that happen last night? Drag.

Too bad on the hiss, Nate. Do you hear it with music playing or just between songs, etc.?

I have used Audible.com for years. Works well with iTunes and iPods.

"Teh dingo saved mah kittehs!"

I watched Dexter last night but I think I still have one more to be caught up.

True Blood

Nice write-up Jack. Sounds fun even with the mediocre starters, and NIN is not a favorite but I would like to see them live. I agree that NOLA is one of the greatest places around, and a concert there would seem to be a great thing.

Congrats slow poke!

World Series Game 3

Telluride looks like a great event indeed. Much respek on playing bass with Nickel Creek, although I don't know what you mean by not on stage--was it an informal gig or something? The lineup for HSBG this year was great and my wife saw local boy MC Hammer and said he was great. 30 dancers and a bunch of school kids in attendance. Your second post actually caught my whole sunday afternoon lineup: Bonnie Prince -> Elvis -> Iron & Wine. Good free stuff!

Dayum! Is there no end to the spree? You have heard about this economic downturn/depression, right?

Come on out next Spring for the SF Jazz Spring Series! Sorry to break it to you, but SF has an incredible bluegrass festival for free 3 blocks from my house. Here is the lineup from earlier this month (I went on Friday and Sunday): Fri Oct 3 (10:30am - Noon & 2:30pm - 6:45pm) The morning (10:30 - noon) on Star stage is a special educational program for local schools (and the general public) as part of the Daniel Pearl Foundation Music Days. The afternoon (2:30pm - 6:45pm) features very special guests on the Banjo stage. Star Stage * 10:30am Ruby Jane * 11:30am MC Hammer Banjo Stage * 2:30pm Sharon Little * 3:35pm The Jerry Douglas Band * 5:15pm Robert Plant and Alison Krauss featuring T Bone Burnett Sat Oct 4 (10:45am - 7:15pm) Banjo Stage * 10:45am Band Joe & the Whyte Laydie * 11:00am Jimmie Dale Gilmore * 11:55am Laurie Lewis & Friends * 12:55pm Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band * 2:05pm Three Girls & Their Buddy (Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffin, Shawn Colvin & Buddy Miller) * 3:25pm Hot Rize * 4:40pm Odetta * 6:00pm Steve Earle & The Bluegrass Dukes Star Stage * 11:00am Dry Branch Fire Squad * 12:05pm Waco Brothers * 1:30pm Richard Thompson * 2:50pm The Desert Rose Band * 4:10pm The Del McCoury Band * 5:40pm Global Drum Project featuring Mickey Hart & Zakir Hussain Rooster Stage * 11:15am Carlene Carter * 12:20pm Guy Clark & Verlon Thompson * 1:30pm From The Jayhawks: Mark Olson & Gary Louris * 2:45pm Nick Lowe * 4:05pm Dave Alvin & The Guilty Women (Christy McWilson, Amy Farris, Laurie Lewis, Sarah Brown, Lisa Pankratz, Nina Gerber, Cindy Cashdollar) * 5:45pm Robert Earl Keen Arrow Stage * 11:00am Tift Merritt * 12:00pm Los Cenzontles featuring Santiago Jimenez * 1:05pm Bad Livers * 2:20pm The Gourds * 3:45pm Jerry Jeff Walker * 5:20pm Asleep At The Wheel Porch Stage * 11:00am Cyndi Harvell * 11:50am Sons & Brothers * 12:35pm Samantha Robichaud * 1:40pm Mike Farris & the Roseland Rhythm Revue * 2:40pm Marty Willson-Piper (of the church) & the Mood Maidens * 3:40pm Joe Purdy * 4:40pm The Roan Mountain Hilltoppers * 5:45pm John Jorgenson Quintet Sun Oct 5 (11am - 7pm) Banjo Stage * 11:20am Darrell Scott Band * 12:20pm Hazel Dickens * 1:45pm Ralph Stanley & The Clinch Mountain Boys * 2:55pm Earl Scruggs * 4:15pm Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder * 5:45pm Emmylou Harris Star Stage * 11:00am Bill Kirchen * 12:00pm Riders in the Sky * 1pm Ben Kweller * 2:30pm Elvis Costello's High Whines & Spirits * 4:15pm Gogol Bordello * 5:45pm Heavy Trash Rooster Stage * 11:00am Jon Langford's Skull Orchard feat. Sally Timms & the Burlington Welsh Male Chorus * 11:55am Kevin Welch & Kieran Kane & Fats Kaplin * 1pm Bonnie "Prince" Billy * 2:20pm Greg Brown * 3:25pm Iron & Wine * 4:40pm Loudon Wainwright III * 6:00pm Iris DeMent Arrow Stage * 11:00am Poor Man's Whiskey * 12:00pm Moonalice * 1:05pm Alison Brown Quartet with Joe Craven * 2:10pm The Infamous Stringdusters * 3:20pm The Waybacks * 4:30pm Pegi Young * 5:50pm Tea Leaf Green Porch Stage * 11:00am The Wronglers * 12:05pm Red Wine * 1:10pm Heidi Clare & AtaGallop * 2:15pm Bill Evans String Summit with Megan Lynch * 3:20pm The Opera Dukes * 4:40pm Justin Townes Earle * 5:45pm Maura O'Connell

Turns out that my wife went to the school open house so I hung out with my son and the panty-eating puppy. As such, I have had a fair amount of time listening to the Luxman during the day. Very nice surprise having some time and very pleased with the amp with both AD2K and CD3K.

Exactly the right question.

Apparently my dog ate the entire tail end of one of those toys because when she got stuck mid-dump just now I had to help her out by pulling the rest of it out (with a plastic bag over my hand of course). Just to gross you all out more, she threw up a pair of my daughter's underwear in the middle of the last night. I guess there wasn't any more room for the undies.

Back to back jazz legends makes for a nice week. Last night, JP#s, clarke68, my wife and I saw Cecil Taylor play solo piano at Grace Cathedral, also part of the SF Jazz fall festival. I knew there was a history of jazz at Grace but learned last night that it goes back to the consecration of the cathedral in 1965 when Duke Ellington wrote a spiritual piece for the occasion. That's a pretty jazzy way to dedicate a Episcopal church. JP and I saw Pharaoh Sanders play there solo in the spring or last fall. The resonance of the walls and high arches and the sheer massiveness of the space make for some amazing musical experiences. Pharaoh practically dueted with himself playing off the walls. Anyway, the show last night started with a spoken word number by Cecil walking around up near the altar. An elderly lady said in a stage whisper to her son "I thought he was a piano player..." among other gems during the show, such as "This sure doesn't sound like jazz to me!" Anyway again, Cecil's playing was fast and heavy and the first piece was weighted on the low end of the register for several minutes. With all those bass notes reverberating around, it was almost too much. He lightened up as he went along and moved up the register and JP called the pieces more like sound paintings than plain old songs. Not to be outdone on the emo scale, Clarke quite rightly nailed one of Cecil's effects as creating shimmering waves of sound. However you characterize it, the show was fabulous and lasted about an hour after he started playing, which at the age of 79 and the energy he plays with was pretty great. The guy in front of us had been at Cecil's last performance at Grace in 1991 and said this one was much better, although his wife topped him and said that we should have seen him swing in 1957 in NYC like she did. That would have been sweet. Highly recommend that any jazz fan get out to see this man.

Happy day to you. Cheers!