Voltron

I listened to L3000 this last weekend for the first time in a while. They are good to great cans, and they are better balanced in a good system. When I had a pair for a couple of weeks, though, it turned me from wanting them a lot to not really caring much at all. There is a wow factor and the tactile appeal of the leather covers, but in the end I didn't find them nearly special enough for the cost. They are not neutral and they are not all that well balanced, from what I have heard. I'll live happily with my PS-1s that I bought before the crazy uptick in price. Oh, wait, I meant to write something more related to the original topic. I am really looking forward to hearing the ESW9 vs. ESW10 at Tampa, Vicki, so please don't let go of either before we have that chance. Aardvark seems to be quite taken with the 10 and slwiser apparently thinks they are an upgrade. I'll be curious to hear it. I often take my HF-1s for travel as an alternative to IEMs but they are not closed and do not represent an option on a plane. I used my Ed.9s a couple times that way, but then reterminated them with 2 XLRs which is kinda clunky with adapters down to 1/4 and then 1/8. I hope you can borrow an iPod this weekend to spend some time with the 10s.

JP#s and I saw Archie Shepp tonight at the Herbst Theater as part of the SF Jazz Festival. Really good show by a 79 year old man that can still blow and sings even more clearly than he talks. He played tenor and soprano sax, with piano, bass and drums accompanying. So glad to catch him because he doesn't come here often and he still has it. Political, topical, powerful stuff. See this legend if at all possible. One odd bit. The drummer seemed into it all night but was a bit too much at times -- mix should have brought him down and the piano/bass up -- and if anything was too anxious to mix it up when he should have dropped it down on occasion. At the end of the announced last number, he immediately took down his cymbals and broke down his hi-hat and was off the stage. Archie fucking Shepp was left standing at the front of the stage while the pianist and bass player looked bewildered and hung back. Archie needed about a second of prompting and went right into another tune without the drummer. It was one of my favorites of the night and finally let the piano and bass shine through more, while Archie's amazing tone and some breathy soft playing was prominently featured. Lemonade from sour lemons. No idea what the deal was with that cat.

Is it because I dissed you in DC the other day? Don't hate on the Lavry. I have them simultaneously right now but have not compared them. Don't really care to.

Congrats Steve! Nice symmetry given that you/EMI contributed all the other door prizes!

Huh? Not sure what you mean but he does take one-half as a deposit and he has yet to finish a Balancing Act to my understanding. I am not attacking Craig, as you know, and I am not talking about something similar to the Mikhail/SP issue either. As you and I have discussed many times, I think Craig does himself a disservice for the reasons above. Lots of good ideas but you've gotta decide enough is enough and finalize a design. It reminds me of my father in law, a retired engineer. The real joy to him is in the design and problem-solving phase. He plans things, tests them, thinks of a new idea and starts over again. The problem that caused the need in the first place remains unsolved because he doesn't finish anything. When my in-laws retired and moved out of their long-time Maryland home, they spent months finishing house-hold projects that were half-done (or less). They lived without any kitchen cabinet doors for many years because he wanted to build them out of cherry wood from their Michigan home that was milled, planed, shaped and ready for staining. He got pretty far until he was bored and turned to some other over-thought project. The basement floor was jack-hammered up in places for some kind of drainage/moisture control system -- and stayed that way for years. Their house was a pit in many ways until they got it ready to sell, but it was fabulous for the next owners.

What I wonder is why Craig doesn't design an amp, put it in production and sell it. Right now, he has Balancing Act pre-orders, the Nautilus prototype floating around, the empty box Aficionado, the Zana Deux T, an electrostatic amp, and who knows what else in development or partial construction. Not only is he leaving money on the table by not releasing products, but by constant tinkering and design-changing be undermines his credibility with customers. I think he has already said that BA pre-orders can shift to one of the more recently developed amps, and to my mind that is cool but it seems to indicate that the BA is not his latest and greatest anymore so why would somebody stick with it? The engineer/inventor mentality of always wanting to make the best possible product is great, but there are costs to it too.

Cheers!

I get it. Glad you resolved it.

Why are you using Vista to play music on your Macbook?

Is the meet going to be focused on hi-end portable gear?

I like the older vintage Heresy models and I have Heresy Is from around 1979. The Forte I was made from 1985-89 and the Forte II was made from 1989-96. I don't know those speakers well, but they have a similar driver complement to the Heresy but in a more upright, shallower box. You can read a lot about them on the Klipsch forum, and elsewhere, I am sure.

I have seen this amp and I think I even heard it with K1000s but in any event it is not a big risk at $175. As a nice tubed FM receiver it is worth that, and you could easily run Klipsch Heresy speakers or other efficient vintage or new speakers off of it.

Hmmm, could it be Transformer?!

No camera here today, so pics will have to wait. Honestly, it works out just fine but I think that it may have been slightly better to leave them the same length. No worries, though, it is not a problem at all and they sound great with the Harbeths.

Yeah, me too. Moar nudity doesn't hurt either.

My iMod dock came in a U shape and has caused me no problems with multiple amps used.

They arrived! Yay Nate! DOTU Bi-Wire Shorties are now hooked up to the Harbeths and are showing a nice improvement in separation, extension and detail over the single pair with crap jumpers. Thanks again Nate, these are awesome.

There is no antitrust violation for the reason Nate said -- the fact is that Vinnie couldn't come up with an iMod for the 5th Generation iPod until Ken had the idea to put the caps in a dock and so ALO came out with the first ones. Others have made them and you are not required to buy one when you buy the iPod so there is no tying or other violation, lawyer Monkey. The language Nenso quoted doesn't have anything to do with damage to headphone jacks that this thread was about, it has to do with using a regular dock without capacitors in it because doing so can fuck over the speakers or headphones connected to the iMod that way. LOL?

I think you saying he might have jinxed it is what really jinxed it. Shit.

Twice. Can't help but repeat the others and just bow down at the beauty of that colossus. Congrats and enjoy.

Incredible, ain't it?

Two 50-something Head-Casers, as of today! Enjoy your days fellas. Cheers!

Come on Deepak, Troy has been an asshat consistently and if you are buddies or have done deals or whatever, that is fine and you may know another side of him. But Pompon -- for whom I have no great affection or concern (no offense) -- only posted a harmless retort after Reks, for little reason, posted the above insult. Not the same.

I disagree. I don't think he has done anything but express an opinion and then he got jumped for that opinion. He hasn't acted the asshat like troymypatience, so until he does I don't get it at all.

We have to shoot for at least one per continent on the same day. Like the headphone community's equivalent of Record Store Day, but international.