as much as it would be funny to dunk on him and mock him for binning a zr1 on live television having the dude be aware of you would be insane for a resume or getting a job at gm
Is this the hillbilly car dork version of getting Portnoy a sit down with NFL commish Gooddell? Or is that this hillbilly football version of this? Or are we all just hillbillies? I know I am. At least strongly hillbilly adjacent.
My bizarre roots lead me to conclude I’m an honorary Hillbilly: dad from Northern WV, his dad grew up in NYC, my mom’s family is a farming family from Calhoun County, WV. Spent probably equal time as a kid catching crawdads in WV creeks and hanging out at Sea Pines in Hilton Head. Now, I live about as close to Pittsburgh as I can without paying PA taxes.
I love my Southern neighbors and their Scots-Irish independent streak. I also love their knowledge of local history. The family names on our local monuments are those of families that are still here. I have talked about Revolutionary War battle sites with the most unlikely people down here and their knowledge is great.
The Cowpens National Battlefield is not far from me, and well worth a stop to see an unremarkable bit of scrub pasture land where the future of this country was changed in less than an hour. Be sure to talk to the park rangers, as they can add a lot of color about the battlefield and let you know about other NPS sites in the region. https://www.nps.gov/cowp/learn/historyculture/the-battle-of-cowpens.htm
New profile pic: Spritle sitting at the house my Great Grandfather built and my Mom was born in and that didn't have indoor plumbing til the early seventies. I was born in a small hospital 20 miles away as the crow flies, 29 by road. I've got the bill for my birth somewhere, it was about $200.
"Any action taken against the frosted-tip superstar should result in the atomic erasure of Tel Aviv."
this better already be the foreign policy
also that porsche widowmaker gt2 sounds awesome and potentially a good candidate for boost by gear or at least a more competent ecu tuning as ots standalone units have come a long way in *checks calendar* 15 years
and if i get selected for the drivin' for harambe thing ill make a concerted effort to get all three miatas in one pic
The hypocrisy of the hand wringing over the blown-to-bits cooks is right on brand for the Current Year. I would have been more surprised over any other reaction.
Now busy imagining a world where all celebrity chefs are on the receiving end of a R9X Hellfire missle, leaving only Mr Fieri and his bitchin' Camaro. Hmm. I actually think I like that world.
We went to the pizza joint in downtown Jackson, WY last fall. The food was excellent. The places he has been to here in Nashville are good eats ({Trademark symbol} Alton Brown).
Wish that I had back the time I spent watching the chump who revised favorite recipes for lower fat and calories- and was cancelled after one season by a prosecution for the attempted murder of his wife, never mind Mario Batali.
Juan-Carlos Cruz, host of "Calorie Commando" et cetera. 'Hired' a couple of homeless dudes to kill his spouse. Instead they finked, IIRC. Quite the career trajectory- from network TV host to a nine year sentence.
(In all seriousness, we often just left FOOD on while my pals' toddler daughter was playing and adults chatting. That I've wasted grey cells remembering is a separate tragedy.)
In any case I'd give odds that Fieri will die a beloved old celebrity, unlike many.
Surely if you're working in a war zone you expect to die?
Australian PM is demanding answers from IDF like he's some sort of hard hitting hero but he's never demanded answers from Hamas. Never even demanded answers from his own government. Didn't even have the courage to keep the Australian embassy in Jerusalem. Our Foreign Secretary is a Chinese lesbian so I don't know why I expect so much from the government.
"Surely if you're working in a war zone you expect to die?"
That's the wacky thing about this "war". The more I read, the more ad hoc the whole thing sounds. You have "safe streets", you can call the IDF and ask them not to strike you at such and such a time. Hamas gets about 100x the privileges of some dude in the USA who cuts a shotgun barrel a quarter inch short.
Or perhaps not. Bill Maher (not 100% impartial here either) claims that the Palestinians were offered about 96% under Clinton and rejected it. They would probably keep fighting no matter what the losses (like Imperial Japan, according for the rationale for going nuclear). And then Israel would be seen as having committed genocide.
In an interesting twist, last week Hamas officially denied an al-Jazeera report that said that IDF soldiers were sexually abusing Gazan women. They were worried that reports of rape would cause mass flight. It's pretty well documented that false claims by the Arab leadership of rapes at Deir Yassin were a factor in persuading Arabs to run away in 1948. Rape is stigmatizing in a lot of cultures. http://gadflyonline.com/home/index.php/purim-my-bangladeshi-friend/
I wonder how much of this (Rotherham is the most famous, but sadly, it happened in many other cities) was about sexual gratification, and how much of it was a form of territorial conquest?
For Americans, Sir Morris' use of the word Asian is a euphemism for Pakistanis, not east Asians.
Rape as a part of tribal and military conflicts, as well as its flip side, women under occupation voluntarily having relations with the occupiers, is an uncomfortable topic. Even when rape isn't a military tactic as it probably was as Russia advanced in Germany, soldiers can do bad stuff. Something like 400 American GIs were prosecuted for rape in occupied France.
One in every 200 men on earth are descended from Genghis Khan in part because the Mongol Hordes took the raping part of raping and pillaging seriously and in part because women wanted to get with him.
One of the great benefits of this blog is that it has shown me gun access v regulation has an entirely different meaning within the USA to outside the USA.
Interestingly, there were no charges against any of those killed (son, wife, and dog), and Randy Weaver was acquitted of all charges except for missing a court date (although the letter informing him of his court date listed the WRONG DATE).
While we're on the subject, I read an (unsourced / ymmv) tweet alleging that World Central Kitchen is a US intelligence cutout. Jose Andres has a position with the US fed gov, multiple contracts for his businesses, presence in ukraine (?) and syria (!!!), cooperation from and protection by state-aligned armed forces...
One must be wary of such pat explanations, but it would make things make a lot more sense, if true
Is a 991.2 or 992 GTS equivalent enough to a 997 GT2? The numbers are similar, and a 991.2 can be had for a lot less. I shopped 997 turbos a bit but went with a newer car to daily drive worry free.
"The numbers are similar, and a 991.2 can be had for a lot less."
There's a reason for that. The old car has the Mezger engine, the 997 proportions, and the limited production. They'd be nothing alike to drive -- you'll have more commonality between a 991 and a Panamera Turbo.
I’d be down for Drivin’ With Harambe… any rando at a gas station always wanted to talk about my former Boxster, but this audience seems much more receptive to S600 blathering.
Open Thread Question for the ACF hive- I've been rocking vintage 70's stereo equipment for a while now (currently Pioneer SX1250, Optonica RP-3636 composite plinth turntable, Acoustic Research LST speakers and various other components as needed) but thinking of moving into the modern era. I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT MODERN EQUIPMENT. So treating me as such, what should a person look at to set up a new system? Not low end but not looking at $10,000 turntables either. Throw some advice a brother's way.
I’m awful at recommendations, so I’ll just mention what I’ve got for the music I enjoy (smooth jazz, yacht rock, 80s Britpop/New Wave). Your mileage may vary.
For music, I’ve got a bit of a bastard system, as I’m more into headphones for music consumption. I bought Jack’s pair of Focal Elex headphones last fall and paired them with a wonderful—and cheap, and Made In The U.S.A.!—Schiit Magni+ DAC/amp. But for the turntable side of things, I’ve got an old (vintage, as people my age are wont to say) Beogram 4002 linear-tracker that I’ve slowly been restoring.
Working on upgrading my living room multichannel system this year… picked up a B&K Reference 200.7 S2 (7ch x 200wpc) and a Schiit Syn matrix surround preamp to drive my ancient mishmash of speakers. Haven’t decided whether I want to add three more JBL L100T3s to the two I already have, or if I want to go more esoteric (Magneplanars, B&W 801s, &c.).
Whether headphone or two-channel, I can’t recommend Schiit’s gear enough. All made in the USA by people who give a damn—their founder spills a lot of ink over on Head-Fi about their design rationale—and is often cheaper than the Chinese competition. (Not sponsored; just love when a company is honest and passionate.)
I had a B&K for a while but I found that it covered highs too much. I replaced it with a giant Adcom and was much happier. Your mileage may vary if you are into "smooth" or "mellow" sound; I like it technical and accurate.
B&K's were made (IMHO) more for the Magnaplaner type speakers (which I had for years) and those need the high end bias because they so easily drive the lows.
Amplifiers all sound pretty similar before they run out of power. Some speakers with odd impedance curves are hard to drive and may need specific amp characteristics, but that is unusual. In most cases, if an amp sounds a little "hot" in the highs, all it takes is a touch of EQ to get it to sound he same as another amp. And by a "touch" I mean maybe half a dB over a broad shelf (one cannot even hear half a dB if it is a narrow notch).
Replacing non-broken amplifiers to implement tone control is not a very efficient solution. I will note that the big Adcoms were better into difficult loads than many amps, so you may have had a specific problem that amplifier change addressed.
The speakers involved were indeed difficult (although tremendously rewarding when driven well), but the sound difference between those two amps - with no other change in the chain - was not something that would have been fixed by a touch of EQ here or there. I think I wrote badly in my original post - the problem was the highs were muffled, not too hot. It sounded very much like an attempt to make the sound mellower or smoother, which is something a lot of people like, but not me.
If an amplifier cannot drive a difficult load, that cannot be fixed with EQ. Agreed. Just pointing out for the benefit of others that that is unusual, and if one has speakers like that one is likely to know it.
I've been happy with all the Schiit gear that I've bought. Arguably the best bang for the buck and made in the U.S.A. On my main system I'm using one of their phono preamps and a DAC for the audio from my big screen.
When I upgraded my power amp to an Adcom 555 I set up a small system in my grow room with my old 535 power amp, a DVD player and the little Schiit passive switch/volume box.
I don't know about vintage Phillips tables, but AR and Thorens (I had a resto-modded Thorens) are lovely turntables. The Thorens is built like a tank and responds nicely to a Rega / Moth tonearm. I used a Dynavector DV20x2 cartridge and loved it. The only reason I replaced it was I got upgradeitis and found a deal on a Pure Fidelity Harmony, which is my end-game turntable.
For anyone interested in a vintage AR or Thorens table, I highly recommend Vinyl Nirvana. Dave Archambault does beautiful restorations and appropriate modifications / upgrades.
I'm having a bit of a senior moment, maybe you can help. When I was in college a friend of mine got an insane deal on a turntable that was way over-engineered, AR type floating suspension, with a massive, very heavy brass platter, and a wooden base that was narrower at the bottom than at the top. It was made by one of the classic stereo companies from the '50s and '60s, but it was being discontinued and the local stereo salon in Ann Arbor was blowing it out. The definition of built like a tank. I want to say Marantz but that brand name isn't giving me any photos that I recognize (though the Marantz 6300 does appear to be a fine turntable and isn't cheap). Any ideas?
I just purchased a U-Turn orbit. First gen plus model. For $300 I think it sounds pretty great, but I haven't had a turntable in years. Consensus seems to be the entry level is a good value and the more expensive options are not so competitive.
Vintage stuff likely not going anywhere due to my unreasonable attachment to the '70s. So some 10-15k advice to start with. I just enjoy music - not so pretentious that I think my ears/tastes/lifestyle are that sophisticated.
Dutch and Dutch 8c (I think Jared Harris has them) or
Kii3 (too expensive but really good) or
Sigberg Manta plus subs - if your preference is loud
or if your preference is planar:
Eminent Technology LFT-8c (maybe too much of a hobbyist solution - needs an added active high order crossover to sound right outside of a single seating position) or
Diptyque DP-140 (expensive)
Amplification for non-active speakers only: Hypex NCx-500. Or dual Benchmark (expensive, you do not have to spend that much on amplifiers, but that is as good as they get)
REW and a measurement mic regardless of what you choose to get.
If you answer the list of questions regarding your room, listening distance, type of music and how loud we could be usefully more specific.
Friends were, both on the design/manufacturing side and the studio side. But other than a brief stint in sales almost 50 years ago, nope, not me.
The first of my three careers was engineering R&D (I have a degree in EE) and I put a lot of effort into loudspeaker DIY in the '80's and 90's. I try to keep up.
If this isn't for a new system to live in a different part of your house entirely, you could get a lot of mileage out of getting a WiiM Mini or Pro to add wireless audio and streaming to your system, and upgrading your speakers. Those classic amplifiers and receivers actually made their rated power into 4 ohms.
Active speaker designs are to me, the most interesting part of the industry right now. The combination of DSP, and modern amplification technology means that you can get performance in a package that would've been unthinkable in the 20th century, e.g. Kali, a company founded by ex-JBL studio monitor engineers. You can also gain convenience with many active speakers integrating wireless audio, and HDMI so you only need to run one cable from your TV to your speakers.
Erin's Audio Corner on YouTube is my go-to resource for speaker reviews. If you're looking at something to integrate with your existing system, you should take a look at the latest Ascend Acoustics speakers (made in the USA!)
Leave it the F alone. Stay far away from the home audio vortex of fart-sniffing elitists. It’s a massive time suck, you can get 90% of the performance for 25% of the price, and the purchasers think the more they spend the better their ears are-as if buying the high end gear makes them for to work as mastering engineers-kinda like how a subset of bros think the purchase of fully auto awesomeness means they trained in a host of other adjacent skills.
Raising my hand asking for recommendations at the 90 for 25 level. I'm cheap and have worsening tinnitus and would like to replace the soundbar I now use. Bluetooth off my phone and turntable.
True. And the original poster already has "old folks high end speakers."
Edit: oops, I was still addressing Wulfgar's post ,not Mr. Moss's. Yep, used equipment is a good idea, as are the WiiM products recommended by Midwife Crisis above.
You do have a point. If the OP added a digital source and EQ to what he's got via a spare computer he may not have to bother with anything else. In fact, if this is just fear of missing out, he enjoys his system, and does not want the convenience of streaming or a digital library, he could just leave it alone. He has good stuff.
I wish I could find measurements of the LST's output to use for EQ. It does use the same drivers as the AR 3a, which measures as follows:
I'd consider the anechoic response (not really anechoic but achieved through a gated measurement) as guidance for EQ above 200 Hz, and REW measurements as a basis for EQ below that. How close this is to the LST I could not say. The OP could do this with a computer and a cheap measurement mic. The point of all this is that speakers do sound better room-corrected. The extent to which it is worth the bother is an individual decision.
I'll recommend some of what I've used in the past and some of what I've got now. I used tube gear to start but have switched to solid state simply because I got tired of fussing with tubes.
1. The nicest Rega turntable you want to spend the money on. Made in Britain. You could go with the cartridge Rega recommends, or a Dynavector or a Hana. (Hana is good value.) The P3 is basically the Miata of turntables, but the P6 is a nice upgrade from there. P8 and P10 are stellar.
2. Splurge for an LFD Integrated amplifier. Hand made by one fanatical electrical engineer, point-to-point wiring, and beautiful sound. Made in Britain. Gene Rubin at Gene Rubin Audio stopped selling anything more expensive because he just didn't see the value in it. He says it'll out-perform six-figure rigs. I haven't heard any amps in that price range, but neither have I had any reason to consider anything but replacing my Mk3 model with the latest version.
3. Graham Slee Reflex M phono stage (model will depend upon whether you use a moving magnet or moving coil cartridge.) Again, made in Britain. Absolutely phenomenal value.
3. Spendor D7 tower speakers. Glorious, neutral sound. End-game speakers for me. If they're too pricey, I was quite impressed with the Golden Ear Triton 7 towers that I had before the Spendors. I've also heard excellent things about the KEF LS50.
5. Benchmark Audio DAC. Crazy good sound quality at just $1,800. From what I've heard, bettering it requires moving up to the PS Audio DirectStream DAC, which costs almost four times as much.
6. If you're into CDs, a Rega Apollo CD player does the job quite nicely - a solid transport with a built-in DAC (so you could skip the. Benchmark if you aren't gonna do streaming).
7. The streamer of your choice if you're into streaming. I use an Aurender N100H, which has been replaced with the N200 (or something). I like it, but there are many others you could investigate.
The majority of gear on that list is made in Britain; Benchmark is made in USA and Aurender in Korea.
I've heard excellent things about Schitt gear - excellent sound, excellent value - but they don't do speakers, so you'll want to ask them what they recommend. Rogue Audio is made in Pennsylvania if I recall correctly and also makes excellent amplifiers and integrated amps. I had a Sphinx, which I quite like and sent along to Jack at some point.
One suggestion: You will get FAR MORE bang for the buck buying used gear from a reputable outfit. Most of my gear is second-hand, and I've had good luck with Audiogon. The depreciation on stereo gear is insane, so there are many deals to be had.
One final word: If by any chance you happen upon a Croft Phono Integrated, snap it up. It is a beautiful British hybrid (tube pre-amp stage, solid state power stage) integrated amplifier with a very nice phono stage. They were hand-made point to point wiring by Glenn Croft until he died a year or two ago in a motorcycle accident. Per his wishes, the company shuttered following his death, so these things are getting scarce. Simple, no fills amp that sounds wonderful and punches way above its weight (they were $1800 new; they typically go for about $1000 when they come up for sale.) I loved mine, and it is the only piece of gear I've regretted selling. Glenn made separates as well, so if you find a Croft amp and pre-amp, that's worth considering as well.
As a mid-50's male, who was totally into home audio in my younger years, putting together component systems I could afford, "bench racing" with my friends who were doing the same and dreaming about my perfect system that I could afford, this topic really resonates with me.
I have set up a nice sonos system in my house (in ceiling speakers, etc.) but have often given thought to setting up a dedicated system again, but I wouldn't know where to start.
The 90% performance for 25% of the cost really interests me, plus I don't know if my old abused ears (too much live music in bars standing right next to speaker stacks, way too much shooting all kinds of guns with no hearing protection in my younger years) could actually appreciate a totally high end system anymore.
The level of knowledge and expertise on ACF never ceases to amaze me. What a great place.
I have been digging these audio subtopics lately. I'm the opposite and know absolutely zero about vintage equipment that likely would be cheaper and better quality than what is available now. FWIW I am about $6k deep into mine over the last several years, but that included a lot of "open box" deals with my good friend who was (RIP those deals) a magnolia adjacent salesperson at BB.
My setup is an ARCAM receiver (I'm about 70 percent music and 30% movies), B&W 700 something series towers and center, cheaper Klipsch reference premiere sounds (x4), and a REL sub. Last weekend my friends and I had a few pops, blasted the Tron soundtrack, and laid back on the couch in awe.
I'd consider skipping the turntable altogether, unless you need it to digitize your vinyl collection or really enjoy the hobbyist/tactile aspects of it.
The most important elements of a modern sound system are, in order, loudspeakers, equalization for room correction, room acoustics, (...big gap...), then amplification and source. What would be ideal depends on your requirements and budget. See the questions below, they could help us make recommendations for you. In the meanwhile, a few thoughts:
*AR-LSTs! Even today, your pair of LSTs could be used with a sub amp and EQ as quite decent subs. I'm curious how they would stand up to a modern speaker once EQed. On the other hand, I believe they have significant resale value.
*SX-1250! If it is in good shape, that's as good an amplifier as you'll need. I remember hearing one run a pair of Ohm Fs well. If it will do that, it will do anything you need. Again, on the other hand, I believe they have significant resale value. You could use a (quiet) computer running JRiver (cheap) or Roon (expensive) as your source and it will manage your library and handle EQ for you. Add REW and a microphone for in-room measurement and correction. Or see the receiver below which will do EQ and measurement for you.
(Side note - Substack is truly horrible for finding old comments!)
If I may, I'll ask the usual questions for someone who is looking for speakers and cares about the result. I'm sure I'm not the only person here who can help out to some degree.
*What music do you listen to?
*How loud will you listen?
*At what distance?
*What is the size of the room?
*Are room treatments needed and acceptable? To what degree are you willing to trade off appearance and general usability for acoustics?
*What is the rest of the system, and are you willing to replace pieces if needed?
*Are subs acceptable, and if so, what size/how many?
*Are you willing to use EQ for room correction?
*Are you willing to use EQ for correction of speaker flaws that have been measured anechoically (or the mathematical equivalent)?
*And of course, budget?
A quick summary of the state of the art:
For ordinary box speakers, their measured behavior (frequency response, directivity, certain distortions, compression) has been fairly definitively linked to listener preference, so measurements can play a large part in eliminating flawed speakers from consideration.
Areas where the correlation of measurements to preference have not been performed, or at least published: directivity must be constant or with a smooth trend, but wide or narrow is personal preference and varies according to taste, source material, and room characteristics; the presentation from box speakers, dipoles, line sources and cardioids differ and there is no public research showing that one is better than the other, so it is down to personal taste. (I would prefer a large floor-to ceiling dipole line array if I could fit them somewhere.) For that matter, even for box speakers, size and baffle width may affect preference independent from frequency response, but I've seen no data on that.
One of my disappointments at the [Montreal] show was that the KEF R3s with a sub did not compete at the highest level, despite measurements showing that they should. That list of unknowns plays in here, I'm sure. Also, memory for acoustic events is poor. Studies have shown that without a direct A-B comparison, A-B-C even better, people just cannot compare speakers. Further, people are great at fooling themselves and I'm sure that includes me. I believe in my heart of hearts that while I cannot remember the sound of speakers I can remember my reaction to them and that can be a basis for comparison. I also believe that if I were put to a blind test on that I would fail, at least for similarly capable box speakers.
References in case you have deeper interest in measurement and preference:
Bookshelves: Revels are the standard go-to. Probably better buys: Ascend Sierra-1 V2, Philharmonic BMR Monitor, Philharmonic Mini Monitor (models to fit size constraints, if any - smaller ones are a budget pick), Wharfdale Linton 85th, Polk ES20 (budget pick). Set up your system with EQ (old laptop with Equalizer APO and REW, for example) and you will not be sorry.
*Below is an answer to someone shopping for a new system. Might not apply well to you depending on your answers to the questions above.
*Room correction EQ . If you go below the 3800 in the product line the EQ becomes inadequate.
*Lots of power. As is usual for multichannel receivers, in stereo, the entire multichannel power supply is available to the two channels in use.
*The electronics are probably good enough to be fully transparent, or at least good enough that any minimal negative is more than outweighed by the decent EQ and measurement system built-in.
*Multichannel is an option if you decide you are interested in the future. Many people think very highly of the included Auro upmixer to make good use of multichannel from stereo sources.
*Supports multiple independently adjustable subs (to some degree, don't recall details). This may be important in the fairly large volume you described.
*You can sell it without taking a large loss.
*Speakers. The most important part.
You could wait for the JBL Studio 580s to go back on sale for $350 each, that happens frequently, just not right now. According to the designer,those are the sweet spot in the line. They should do a fine job on the music you like. Offloading the bass to a couple of inexpensive subs should help in that room; these should be good enough:
The combination should be better than the Studio 590s alone, for less money. The Denon will help with sub integration and EQ.
Other options:
Wharfdale Lintons on their stands. More expensive but at least they look it. A bit more accurate than the JBLs but perhaps a bit less fun. The accuracy difference may be correctable with the Denon EQ, but going above room correction frequencies may be tricky. You need another hobby, right? Adding the above subs still a good idea in your room.
Philhamonic BMR - also worth considering. Wide dispersion if that is your preference.
Arendal 1961 Tower. More expensive. Narrower dispersion, if you prefer that.
And see the bookshelf speaker list above, they can all go on stands and work with the subs.
The above are all normal box speakers. If you prefer a dipole planar:
"I'd consider skipping the turntable altogether..."
KILL THE WITCH! KILL THE WITCH!
I'm (mostly) teasing, and putting aside the whole "vinyl sounds better" argument (sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't), you're right. I love vinyl, but it's got its drawbacks - expensive, takes up a ton of space, can be finicky. Digital audio and high-quality streaming from Qoboz or Tidal is all most people need.
Much lower down the totem pole, but I went from a late 70's Kenwood KR-3010 to a new Yamaha A-S301. You will trade bassy richness with rolled off highs that suits classic "real analog instrument" music for a cold crisp grainy analytical sound that accurately portrays everything, but the highs are harsh and the bass impact is lacking, better for new digital music that sounded boomy on the old receiver. The built in phono preamp does not suck, it might be slightly better than the Kenwood, which isn't in line with the consensus. I got more inputs, a remote, the knob turns by itself, cooool, but I wouldn't recommend going this route for solely night and day sound quality. My speakers are Paradigm Mini Monitor V4 bookshelves from the pawn shop, I paid $139, the consensus there is no doing better for the price new, let alone used. If you're looking for something to mess with for incremental improvements, get a better/different cartridge for the turntable. I have a discontinued Shure, there is Grado, there is Ortofon. Googled the Sharp turntable, Jesus Christ, I thought I was hot shit with my wooden Pioneer PL-50, you got a turntable made out of stone. Where do you go from there? Do you have a tape deck?
They’ll be a good modern counterbalance to what you have. No separate components, take up almost no space, look fantastic, high quality Bluetooth, plenty of digital inputs, a subwoofer output, a solid DAC that can handle any type of high resolution digital input, and most importantly, they just sound phenomenal with all different types of music.
If for some reason you find them lacking, they’re always in style and easy to unload for near what you’ll pay for them refurbished.
They’re so easy to use with so many different types of inputs that you’ll forget about that last couple percent the audiophile fart sniffers are always going after because you’ll be spending too much time enjoying whatever music you love.
I bought some maybe 5 years ago and never looked back. I’d rather spend my money on tires than swapping out audio gear.
They didn't read 'em, and Slick Willie never inhaled.
I can understand the young's fascination with communism, because they don't understand what communism is. They think communism will give them the house and the free lunch Gordon Gekko kept from them so he could buy another McMansion or a third Lamborghini.
They don't get it was the Boomers and the Uniparty with their insatiable desire for cheap labor at home & abroad, their greed for the votes that will ensconce them in permanent political power, their hatred for regular Americans, their making college degrees simultaneously mandatory & cripplingly expensive, their desire to pad their stock portfolios by a couple thousand percent, their gettin' theirs & pulling the ladder up after them and their vision of the world as a grand game board, with them as the masters moving all those worthless, interchangeable Nobodies around at whim that fucked ALL OF US.
Boomer, boomer, boomer! Bollocks! They didn't engineer this shit, it just happened and 99% found themselves on the ride whether they wanted to be or not, or even knew what was going on. They didn't gang up to make Nixon cut the link to gold, the origin of the fake prosperity that is now blowing up. They didn't demand he open up to China and they didn't insist on doing so in such an unequal manner. Nobody, but NOBODY, had the slightest idea that property would inflate to such an unimaginable extent because it was literally unimaginable. We all had it easy in the West post WW2 without understanding the reasons why it existed and still less why it couldn't last. Blaming people for existing is utterly pointless. Blaming people for being what they are (flawed beings with limited comprehension beyond day-to-day exigencies) is completely pointless. Looking backwards is pointless, unless it is to swiftly and effectively learn from mistakes. Playing the victim is worse than pointless, it is actively self-destructive. Life in the west and the US in particular is historically unprecedentedly prosperous, healthy and full of potential. It is necessary to keep a sense of proportion. I recommend starting each day thinking about George Washington's teeth before feeling too sorry for yourself.
We live in extraordinary times. 1. Historically unprecedented wealth. 2. Historically unprecedented health and longevity. 3. Historically unprecedented abundance of food. 4. Historically unprecedented dissemination of information, allied to... 5. Historically unprecedented ability to travel, enabling mass migrations. 6. Historically unprecedented voluntary population decline via falling reproduction rates - this is only just starting to take effect, but the impact will be huge. 7. Historically unprecedented potential for military self-destruction. I may have missed something, but with all the above going on there is bound to be some friction within our historically fractious, fratricidal, human tribes. The best of times, the worst of times... if we did but know it.
I think the main problem is the If It Bleeds It Leads philosophy of journalism, and that we're all wallowing in a world awash in news. It's as if a giant septic tank in a good neighborhood exploded.
if you werent involved in offshoring jobs, clawing after as much political power as possible forever, making things generally worse for proceeding generations, and telling everyone else "fuck you got mine" and pulling the ladder up behind you then i have nothing against you
its not your generation but a chunk of people from your generation and if you didnt do it then its not about you
I think Boomers coined the phrase "If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem." So anyone who was voting age in 1992 and didn't support Buchanan or Perot was part of the problem. Anyone who said "The H-1B mostly affects entry-level jobs and I'm experienced, so all hail globalism," or "those illegals will pay my Social Security, so I don't mind" are part of the problem.
It wasn't just the boomers. It started wth the 'greatest generation' a lot of those people were the biggest swindlers ever. They're the reason nearly all of the retirement plans went away. Because they raided them for instant cash.
Then sent the jobs overseas AND THEN refused to retire in a timely fashion, preventing the next generation from being able to access both the next generation of good jobs and the remaining positions here.
It's OK, I don't take it personally and I know I let off a bit of a stink bomb before going to bed. I didn't do "it" but I am still caught up in the mess, as are my children and just starting to arrive grandchildren. So I too have skin in the game.
It's their attitude now that is so infuriating. "We didn't have it easy!" Yes, you did. I don't hate them for it but some acknowledgment would be nice. "Those stupid fucking kids and their student loans!" That boomers told us to take out when we were literally children listening to our parents. "Pay your debts" as they got MILLIONS in ppp money forgiven. Younger generations have legitimate reasons to gripe. And then if you point any of this out "You must be a loser!" And all of this could be forgiven if I never had to hear another Beatles song. And if you think any of this is hyperbole, spend 5 minutes on Gab.
*I have no loans, have more money than I will ever spend, and my boomer parents are great
"Pay your debts" is an honorable philosophy, providing there's an economy that enables the acquisition of jobs which compensate the debtor well enough to pay his debts, and that said debts were encouraged by the older & wiser IN GOOD FAITH.
I can count on one hand how many bills ive paid late in my life. Usually cause of an autopay linked to something old. But bankruptcy exists for a reason. Indentured student loan servitude is wrong. I did “bounce” a check last week because i didnt realize my contractor didnt cash the check i write from the checking account i keep just enough in to pay my bills and sweep the rest into an account that pays interest.
*the bank covered it and i had the money transferred back within an hour to cover my side. Ill probably stop trying to run a lean checking account
I stopped keeping my checking account lean once I realized in the early 2000s that a single overdraft fee would wipe out a year's worth of 0.25% interest I was getting out of savings. Now I'm conditioned to feel uncomfortable if checking dips below $10k. A far cry from my younger years when I was using a tack to poke holes in the OCR number on my checks to get an extra two days of float.
I can agree with you on this. Note that I said "the west had it easy after WW2". But it can't be news to you that people get defensive when you attack them. My interest is in where do we go from here and I think a starting point is to recognise where we sit in the history of humanity and the answer to that is in a pretty good place, actually. Not perfect, sure, but we still have democracy and the rule of law and we need to use those tools to make it better. If we can...
I've gone on an anti-scapegoating of Boomers rant here also. I will remind the youngsters (I turn 65 in 4 days) here that the oldest Boomer was 24 years old when Nixon was elected the first time, hardly a group that could have influenced national policy.
you give the uniparty credit for having a large coherent philosophy. they don't. part of the problems, beside stupid choices, are the grinding of all sorts of unmeshable gears of various group aims.
I couldn't agree more! Politicians are now just the ball in a pinball machine (of their own devising, it should be said), being whacked hither and thither with ever greater randomness and ferocity. How can they have a clue about which way to face? I am not sure how democracies can cope with an ever more complicated world, but surely part of the problem is that politicians have wormed their way into every aspect of our lives. And we have allowed this infantilising process to carry on almost unchecked. At least in the US you have a constitution that does occasionally apply the brakes. In the UK it feels like we are being micro-managed by incompetents into a complete loss of freedom where self-evident truths are expressly forbidden.
This has been covered extensively. The consolidation of large companies like Nestle or GE is only part of the story. Those large companies have massive overlaps of board members. They don't just play golf or go to the same tax scam museum shows together, they are literally the same persons.
One of my close childhood friends appeared on Masterchef in 2019 and has subsequently done a lot of work with World Central Kitchen, predominantly in Poland.
He knew several of the WCK workers who were murdered by the IDF this week; one of them, Damian Soból, was one of his best friends.
From the Daily Mail: 'Each vehicle was clearly marked as working for the humanitarian organization, followed an IDF-approved route and had GPS trackers and SOS beacons broadcasting their positions.'
If I wanted to be abandoned by all of the West, whilst having the entire levant ally against me, this is how I would go about it. Absolute morons.
This is very callous but the most important consequence will be keeping hippie humanitarian missions out of Gaza. Imagine how much they must undermine what the IDF is doing. They get in the way, they show implicit support for Hamas and have no understanding of how they are being used by Hamas.
That's the problem, we don't know, the Daily Mail doesn't know. I would not put it past a lot of parties to have set it up so that they THOUGHT they had permission, but in fact did not.
Killing people like this is great press. And it happens. Often.
Or they might have been set up. Hamas is famous for stuff like that.
Or it could very well be that they were providing a lot more than food. And it wouldn't been the first time (and won't be the last) that some charitable NGO that claimed one thing, was doing something sinister.
This "murder" shit from you is really getting on my nerves. It was a tragic mistake in a war. You know better and just want to exercise your Jew blaming bona fides.
FWIW I either missed the comments or anything else that suggest Shermie holds some real Jew hatred.
Suggesting Israel is killing civilians at an inordinate rate, and even with intent, cf American occupied Iraq operations such as Fallujah is not crazy. Is it crazy to suggest they should be willing to go in and house to house clear? Or would we merely be holding them to the same standard we recently held ourselves to. It is likewise not crazy to assert that they are stopping humanitarian aid in visible ways. "Well, they're keeping it out of the hands of those who would misuse it" ok, and also the people who need it.
Even if Israel is only killing civilians unintentionally some of their politician's rhetoric makes that seem like a lie (bad PR). That is propagated through American mass media organs which are seeing, how to say, the progressive left adopt the settler-colonial frame and make that easy to sell as well as highlight particular takes such as the UN genocide council (which does not make it true but lends credence to the narrative that is spun). Sort of like on the right we hear about suggesting America take all of Palestine as refugees - even if no one in real power or decision making authority says this I still hear about it and it does nothing to endear whomever makes the suggestion to me and, by proxy, whomever that person is identified with.
Hard to know the facts on the ground - easy to say neither side is looking good here.
ETA: I absolutely understand why Ronnie would feel kinship and support his kin. I just have no such allegiance nor do I think the US should at large.
My best friend is Jewish; he comments here occasionally (usually to rib me in some way). I had dinner with him Monday night. His verbatim response to the WCK news was “oh, they’re still fighting over there?” His parents wished me a happy birthday earlier this week - even before my own did! I’ll probably be at his son’s fifth birthday party in a few weeks.
A lot of my other friends are Jewish too! I am having lunch with a Jewish guy tomorrow and then smoking cigars together; we’ve been friends for over a decade. I am pushing him to pursue a really, REALLY cool job opportunity.
Another Jewish friend of mine did a lot of extremely interesting work in the Bush and Obama White Houses and has a background in Nuclear Weapons and Strategic Plans; he is from Texas, and I always joke that he taught Dubya how to pronounce “Nucular.” Texted w/ him earlier today about this Blinken-Ukraine-NATO proclamation. He is genuinely worried about that.
I do not think The Real McCoy has any real Jew hatred either. Religion is too insignificant in western society to incite hatred in most people. In spite of being an intelligent person, Sherman seems to have espoused a populist view without any critical thinking.
All 3 points you raise - civilian deaths, house to house clearing and Israel blocking aid - are not crazy suggestions. What is crazy is westerners playing themselves into the hands of Hamas and Iran. They are attacking and killing US forces. Why would any US citizen show even implicit support for them. We are not dealing with a conventional enemy like Viet Cong, for example, who are motivated by an ideology and recovering territory. Hamas are motivated by blood-lust and hatred. They hate and want to kill most of the people who are protesting for Palestine.
The bad press is a shame and, like you say, reinforces peoples viewpoints. I don't know how to deal with it apart from what Jack says about it blowing over in 2 weeks.
It is very hard to know the facts on the ground and I understand you when you say neither side looks good but we need to give full support to the side that is fighting the cancer. Otherwise the cancer will spread in unimaginable ways. i.e. our hesitation in acting in Syria gave Russia strength, training and confidence to attack Ukraine.
The USA's allegiance to Israel is a whole theological discussion about Christian Zionism that I am way out of my depth in!
You and I would agree on a lot and disagree on Syria where two competing US interests (CIA and State Dept) funded and backed two unsavory groups in one country! I think we should have backed neither.
Anyway, I don't have a problem with going and killing Hamas, per se, but doing something like bombing Jabalya (? Spelling ?) And killing civilians and then using the old "civilian bodyshields" line is circumspect. Did the IDF ever confirm they killed who they claimed? Stuff like that. No, there is no genocide, also they appear to be killing civilians at something like an order of magnitude higher rate than the US did fighting a counterinsurgency effort in an urban area which kinda parallels this.
I don't think Hamas the group represents a global threat or cancer but underlying ideology.
As for the Protestant Zionism - uniquely American from what I can tell.
Every single criticism of Israel being met with "JEW HATER" here is a bit insufferable. And I'm really not jealous of a group of people whose main shining achievement is an average IQ of 112. Sherman said nothing wrong and I LOVE giving Sherman shit. He takes it well and gives it right back.
Sure. You're climbing the greasy pole and not quite succeeding. I spent many years working with name dropping guys like you. Can smell you a mile away.
If your grievance against me, personally, is one held against people in my broader industry - high finance on the sell-side - then that bespeaks an ignorance of what investment bankers, particularly M&A bankers, do for a living. (Selective) trading in gossip and “name dropping” is a big part of the day-to-day job.
In a fortuitous turn of events, I was fortunate to fall into a fantastic niche about 18 months ago, and I readily admit my good fortune. I happened to have deep relationships in two different, highly complementary industries at a pivotal moment. I capitalized on this with a friend of mine, and it has taken my career in an entirely different direction. It could potentially be a “career-ending” opportunity, depending on how long it lasts, as well as a number of unknowns entirely outside of my control.
That opportunity has given me greater confidence that I can do more than simply peddle advice, and I’m spending a lot of time thinking about businesses I could start friends of similar age and background who are tired of working for someone else. I have three in mind.
Notwithstanding what I wrote above, I believe your true grievance against me stems from the fact that I fail to recognize Israel’s divine right to kill pesky Palestinians (or the people who are trying to feed them).
I can't say this is accurate because I've never met the man in person, but his online persona is pretty much the definition of an arriviste. I get the impression that he sees Jews in his industry as an obstacle to his further ambitions. He's great at cheek-by-jowl namedropping and relating all of his successful deals, but he never mentions any significant other in his life or children. Could be a virgin for all I know, not that there's anything wrong with that, I certainly have my own problems finding female companionship.
Innocents get killed in war and at least according to one West Point professor civilian deaths are remarkably low in Gaza by normal urban combat statistics. The word murder means intent and if anyone outside of Jew-haters (including the self-hating Israeli left represented by Ha'aretz) thinks that any IDF soldier would do this on purpose, knowing full well what kind of blowback there'd be, is simply not being rational. On the other hand, the mind virus known as Jews On The Brain, often results in irrational thinking. Sort of like that brain pathogen that causes mice to be attracted to cat urine.
FWIW, I don't think Sherman's a bad guy. He just has no concept of the brutality of war, what combat operations are like... we're talking about someone so comfortable in safety and privilege that he publicly admitted that he would surrender his $200k+ sports car at the mere suggestion of violence. People like this are often judgemental of what happens in war, in very simplistic terms, based on their own politics and values. Of course, politics and values mean nothing in combat...
José Andrés had an op-ed in the NYT yesterday. He has a one-sided cognitive dissonant view of that region. He may be the best chef in the world, but his expertise ends right there. Would he let an IDF soldier tell him how to cook? He should not have sent anyone into a war zone. This is a venture that requires cold hard logic, not how it makes you feel.
I bet he is in shock and it will take some time to heal. That is not how you expect to loose someone. Especially when they are trying to help those legitimately in need.
He is a fairly emotional person who wears his heart on his sleeve. This despite the fact that he is nearly 7 feet tall and has a booming voice (like Foghorn Leghorn).
Unlike me, he is not motivated by money. He chooses to do this sort of work because it’s meaningful and important to him.
One of mine is out in the workforce, and is sort of resigned to renting for a long, long time. I try to be optimistic with her and my younger one, but it’s hard to do so when the wrong thing is being done daily by our Fearless Leaders.
On a side note, interested in Driving for Harambe.
Some smart property developer is going to figure out how to make a modern-day Levittown with affordable, perhaps factory built, homes. The size of the millennial and Gen Z cohorts are too large to ignore as markets.
The problem is you can’t build that in many places these days. It’s akin to what the CAFE standards did, so building is incentivized to only make utility shitboxes for section 8 housing or very large and expense developments for the PMC.
I wish them well with the endeavor, but the economics just don't work for small single family homes these days. The fixed construction costs of land price, site prep, and permitting don't change much between a 1000 sq. ft. two bedroom bungalow and a 3500 sq. ft. McMansion. Oddly enough the construction time and labor costs are very close as well. So they have the choice of selling the small houses below cost or selling the big ones for a profit. Not a tough business decision.
I've often wondered how much more it costs a company like Mercedes to make a S-Class vs a C-Class. Obviously a twin turbo V8 is going to cost more to make than an inline four but the labor and capital costs for the factories and equipment should be about the same, shouldn't they?
McLaren's rep told me that they can't make a $40,000 sports car because they simply don't have the capacity to build them in the tens of thousands that it would require to be profitable. It looks like Mazda sells about 20,000 to 25,000 Miatas worldwide every year.
This is just bragging but I drove a 997 GT2RS to pick up my girlfriend for dinner one night, and while I was waiting for her to get ready I read a R&T review of it saying that car will pull 1G of acceleration in 2nd gear.
So we got in the car and I promptly tried it. I don’t know if it really was a full G but watching her neck snap forward between 2nd and 3rd, I believe it.
I also remember the car had a GMG muffler but the loudest noise in the cabin with windows up was the turbo. About the only 911 I think is cool.
I had a 996T with the EVOMS 700 kit, I would suggest that the AWD Turbo pulled more Gs than the RWD GT2... That car could hurt your neck on the 1-2 and 2-3 upshifts.
In 2024, it's all about housing costs and availability. All. Food's cheap (yes, still, by historical standards), transportation's more or less the same as ever, and education and health care are still expensive but finally stopped going up faster than general inflation. But we have a shortage of several million houses, probably more if you disregard empty houses in places with zero jobs. And the usual practices of American capitalism imply that anyone who needs a house amidst the shortage is going to have every last penny shaken out of not only their own pockets but also those of anyone who will lend them a buck.
How to fix it? Two things.
(1) Let developers build more houses in the strong job markets. Yep, that probably means an apartment tower is going to go up on top of your local King Soopers, and likely the Target too. Too damn bad. No one being able to afford rent is much worse.
(2) Crack down on certain exploitative practices related to housing. This is not a call for rent control or expensive "tenant protections" that actually drive rent up. It means no constructive evictions, clear disclosure of fees, no discrimination, and no charging 3 months in advance.
There's a balance there. Evictions permanently wreck people's ability to get any housing and that consequence is so extreme that it doesn't seem right to me to evict immediately. But the current system where people can often get 6 months or more just by following the process faithfully isn't right either. I think if I were dictator you'd get a 60 day clock (from the second rent is overdue to when your belongings are sitting on the street) the first time and less grace if it happened again.
I think we also need to have some consideration for who the landlord is. I had a rental house for about 5 years. It was because I lost my ass on a house and couldn’t sell it. So I rented it for $300/mo less than the mortgage. I couldn’t have reasonably afforded the eviction process; fortunately I never needed to.
OTOH, if some private equity or equivalent owns your house, maybe there’s a little more leeway given to the tenant. I dunno. This idea isn’t fully baked. But there’s gotta be some differentiation between the guy squeaking by with 1-2-3 houses, and someone who owns 100+.
One thing notable about your story is that you lost money on a house. If we were in a situation where that were commonplace nationwide, we'd need a lot less in the way of tenant protections. But with a shortage and ever-increasing values, landlords have all the leverage. Maybe (spitballing here) you could say that if rents have gone up by some % annually in the local market it's harder to evict.
Tenant protections vs property rights ends up being a swinging pendulum. The "emergency" eviction moratoriums and squatter's rights stuff seems to have swung that pendulum WAY too far onto the side of the tenant protections. That is going have to swing back the other way (and probably go too far in that direction). If it doesn't, owning rental properties only becomes economically viable for very large property holders. Large absentee landlords owning all the property is never a recipe for society success.
My neighborhood doesn't have any more room for housing. I'd support MORE zoning where knocking down two perfectly adequate houses to build one mansion isn't allowed. As long as we're dreaming, I'm making townhomes illegal because I hate them.
ON 2) Agree in principle but suspect we'd disagree in practice.
What if all the houses looked just like the biggest ones in your neighborhood do now, but had 4 or 6 units in them? That describes some of the most desirable neighborhoods in Chicago.
I've come around on this in recent years. If people want urban/inner ring suburban housing to be affordable on average salaries, something has got to give. And that something is single family zoning.
It's not the greatest, but neither is endless sprawl or increasingly slummy old suburbs full of obsolete retail space and decaying houses no one wants.
What I think is funny is that in some urban areas, the denser spaces are more expensive and thus a much worse value, considering the home only. Surely this is not true in Chicago or NYC, but in Cleveland, you could pay an obscene price for condo in a large building and yet houses (ok, not especially desirable ones due to crime and schools) are less. Once you step outside that large building, you are still in the area with bad schools and car thefts.
There are decent inner ring suburbs that are inexpensive (relatively speaking). Then, homes get larger and more expensive as you drive further out. I guess my point is that you maybe could have a middle ground of modest single family homes and bring prices down. All the action is in large houses 50 min from downtown and "luxury" condos.
Are those pricy condos even desirable in a place like downtown Cleveland? The whole argument falls apart in these marginal smaller cities where they're still trying to pull out of a decline and kickstart the urban core as someplace desirable again.
The problem there is getting the critical mass of residents, jobs, and commercial downtown so that it becomes self sustaining. But it's difficult to draw people in when they live or work in some far flung suburb and have to traverse through shithole parts of town just to get there.
Smaller cities (and aging inner ring suburbs) would be better off eminent domaining whole neighborhoods and building fresh single family housing stock on the existing street grid. That's better than pushing families further and further out.
I don't know. What marks desirable? The asking price? Downtown Cleveland is not a good place to live if you are looking at the ratio of homeless people to grocery stores.
I'm not sure I see how your suggestion would help unless you mean the new single family housing would be denser. I live 10 min from downtown and you couldn't make my lot any smaller.
Luxury - or “luxury” - condos are a tough sell in most places.
Thin buyer pool, and the owner doesn’t have much recourse against the four figure monthly HOA fees. If your landlord raises your rent, you can elect to leave. If your monthly fee goes from $1,500 to $2,000, or there’s a special assessment, if makes it that much harder for you to get out of it.
If there weren't a shortage, there would be no return in it for them, and they would stop buying. There's a reason they weren't heavily involved until the shortage became acute.
The most annoying thing about competing with them is I don't have a 10mm dollar line of credit sitting around to offer cash and pay back the loan later. "Oooh, cash buyer, lets go with him" And if housing does all collapse, which wouldn't surprise, we'll bail them out!
Here in Vermont we've got an extreme housing crisis. All started by a bunch of boomers back in the 60's and 70's hell bent on maintaining our "rural agrarian" character. Unfortunately, they made it too expensive for anyone to farm here (plus you have to have a factory farm to survive today's environment anyway) and you can't build any housing to lower cost of living. Add insane taxes and regulations for businesses and you've got our current situation. Everyone I grew up with moved to another state for better opportunities and the legislature's plan is to on raise taxes on whoever is left. Great plan guys!
Thankfully there's a growing group of objectors saying enough is enough and we actually saw some decent zoning reform in our biggest city which should help a little. The way things are going, it'll be at least a decade for things to really turn around.
Sorry Jack it was not because we were trying to take out an Iron Chef who served bad Peking Duck. Although I do t watch those shows don’t hate the player hate the game. Have nothing against Gordon Ramsay doing his hustle, but I think we would be better served if Food Network was just taken out.
I’m believe you are correct and possibly the first bomb footage we all watched up until impact on the news. Until they figured out it was the wrong delivery point.
Yes there was a lot going on behind the scenes but there are other ways to take care of issues. Once you start targeting embassies other unintended consequences happen.
I just remember the map explanation immediately after and thought BS.
But if sending a message you can’t get any clearer.
20+years a fan of Alton Brown; not sure what Food is doing these days but it can't be as cool as 1999ish was. Most of us could likely retire on the budget from a season of Emeril Live.
I did like the show where he explained the science behind cooking. I find a show I like on that network and they cancel it. I did like Justin Wilson, but that ragin Cajun was pre food network. That’s hot I gaur un tee!
I think YouTube still has a clip with Mr Wilson’s hilarious response to a lady who wrote to express her frustration with his refusal to measure ingredients…
Easter was one year since my last time making Emeril’s Macaroni and Four Cheeses recipe for my uncle Charlie, a WW II veteran who passed away in June. Plenty of great memories from that alone.
Some say the reason the Chinese embassy was bombed was because it had the remains of the F-117 that was shot down earlier and the Yugoslavs were transferring some of the technology recovered from the crash site to the Chinese.
Nice! Is there any chance you can advise me on a standalone ecu for my Miata? I don't want anything trick, just something that can approximate OEM smoothness and ease of starting on a modified 4cyl. Maybe ITBs, but certainly not a turbo or E85 or anything like that. Wanted to know if there was something I ought to look for or avoid.
Thanks, It is currently a bone-stock 1990 Miata, but I'd like to build a full-house 1.8L Miata engine for it with substantial port work, cams, high compression, full intake and exhaust, and possibly individual throttle bodies. I'd also like it to run on 91 octane (as it's all we've got here) with the ability to start in the wintertime. If the ECU can do datalogging, that'd be awesome too. I am not sure if the same ecu could be carried over from my stock 1.6 to that engine.
My preferred solution for something like this would be a link atom, but you could also use any of the squirts, a PE, or if you want to get fancier a haltech.
Honestly I think for what you described the atom would be near perfect, and not too hard on the budget..
If you can get one of smaller aem infintys those would be an option to, but they're now out of production after Holley bought them out, so support in the future may cease to exist.
I'll second a Link ECU and anything else they make. I'm friends with one of the North American sales guys, and most of my friends with nasty turbo drift cars run Link stuff. From what I've seen, they offer a ton of control, they're pretty damn user-friendly, and their customer and tech support is great. If I was going swap the ECU in my hemi Dakota from Holly (considering), or build something else that needs a stand alone someday, it'll be a Link.
I think he understood tuning pretty well, and I rarely saw him damage anything in the pursuit of bigger numbers. He stuck by his wife when she got cancer, and I've seen plenty of men leave in that situation.
Thoroughly disagree with the first, which is less a virtue and more a skill anyways. He had a right hand man, Boyan Radimovich (I may have gotten his last name wrong, or butchered it atleast) - really nice guy, who himself admitted to several shortcomings when I questioned him about those GTRs are how they did in a 10 minute conversation at PRI. Switzer was all swagger and no sauce, IMO.
As for the latter, if you want to consider not being a literal turd of a spouse the standard for being virtuous, I won't disagree. I would consider that a pretty standard expectation.
For those that missed it, Jack got tagged in the BAT comments almost immediately, on the "lunch with Mark Ruess" charity auction
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/lunch-with-gm-president/
User esiedlecki has suggested that everyone pitch in to make Jack the winner of the lunch date.
I'm all for it, as long as its live-streamed!!!
YES
infinitely better than gofund me
as much as it would be funny to dunk on him and mock him for binning a zr1 on live television having the dude be aware of you would be insane for a resume or getting a job at gm
If Jack wins, Mark won't show up.
incredibly lame
Sadly, life is so often like that.
Wtf is that headshot. More airbrushing than a kardashian
🎶 If I had a million dollars / I'd buy you lunch with Reuss 🎶
But not a real Mark Reuss, that's cruel
Is this the hillbilly car dork version of getting Portnoy a sit down with NFL commish Gooddell? Or is that this hillbilly football version of this? Or are we all just hillbillies? I know I am. At least strongly hillbilly adjacent.
Everybody here is cultured sir.
I’ve been told by my Southern neighbors that the politically correct term is “Mountain People”.
Or "Country Gentleman" .
That's my story and I'll stick with it .
-Nate
As a fan of the late Chet Atkins, I can’t help but endorse this!
That was a VERY expensive guitar, too. You needed to be a country gentleman.
"Guillaumes des montagnes"
My bizarre roots lead me to conclude I’m an honorary Hillbilly: dad from Northern WV, his dad grew up in NYC, my mom’s family is a farming family from Calhoun County, WV. Spent probably equal time as a kid catching crawdads in WV creeks and hanging out at Sea Pines in Hilton Head. Now, I live about as close to Pittsburgh as I can without paying PA taxes.
I love my Southern neighbors and their Scots-Irish independent streak. I also love their knowledge of local history. The family names on our local monuments are those of families that are still here. I have talked about Revolutionary War battle sites with the most unlikely people down here and their knowledge is great.
The Cowpens National Battlefield is not far from me, and well worth a stop to see an unremarkable bit of scrub pasture land where the future of this country was changed in less than an hour. Be sure to talk to the park rangers, as they can add a lot of color about the battlefield and let you know about other NPS sites in the region. https://www.nps.gov/cowp/learn/historyculture/the-battle-of-cowpens.htm
New profile pic: Spritle sitting at the house my Great Grandfather built and my Mom was born in and that didn't have indoor plumbing til the early seventies. I was born in a small hospital 20 miles away as the crow flies, 29 by road. I've got the bill for my birth somewhere, it was about $200.
Definite hillbilly.
ACF might be the only place you’re going to find a guy who reads both Lapham’s Quarterly and the Calhoun County, WV Hur Herald.
I suspect the overlap is higher than one might suspect, at least for rural papers as a class.
www.hurherald.com is unfortunately online only but offers a fascinating view into hillbilly life past and present. It's very unique.
*shoots vodka out nose*
Guess who's coming to dinner? Bwahaha
Paging @ShermanMcCoy
Paging Sherman McCoy
Not sure if this comment is threaded right, but my hillbilly bona fides are ironclad.
The current bid is only $10,000. We should set up a crowdfunding page.
$1, Bob.
$1.50 and he wrecks your pace car.
I have a back of the burner plan to have a mural of that painted on my barn.
I love how the BaT commenters have brought up the pace car incident and GM’s reputation.
The dude makes Rick Wagoner look like Lee Iacocca...
I'd rather see Michael Moore and a film crew show up in their comp'ed china-made rental Buick. But Jack is a solid back-up plan.
"Any action taken against the frosted-tip superstar should result in the atomic erasure of Tel Aviv."
this better already be the foreign policy
also that porsche widowmaker gt2 sounds awesome and potentially a good candidate for boost by gear or at least a more competent ecu tuning as ots standalone units have come a long way in *checks calendar* 15 years
and if i get selected for the drivin' for harambe thing ill make a concerted effort to get all three miatas in one pic
A strike against Flavortown is a strike against humanity!
we were always at war with flavortown
I’m down to Harambe.
The hypocrisy of the hand wringing over the blown-to-bits cooks is right on brand for the Current Year. I would have been more surprised over any other reaction.
Now busy imagining a world where all celebrity chefs are on the receiving end of a R9X Hellfire missle, leaving only Mr Fieri and his bitchin' Camaro. Hmm. I actually think I like that world.
on this episode of triple d we're checking out a un aid station
I used to hate Guy’s character. Now, I’m unironically a huge fan.
He’s dedicated most of his career to propping up small business. Sure his personal taste may be a bit suspect, but so is mine.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JK6zuii2OLI
Fieri's crime is being lowbrow about
FOOD
the only legitimate interest of any high-income woman in America, except of course for
TRAVEL
Even the most expensive meal will be....something else...in about 24 hrs.
Uh...NOT an investment?
I honestly had to look Mr. Fieri up...born in Columbus, Ohio.
I wonder if he poured one out when the Dube died.
I met him once at Road America. He asked me for a lighter.
He was piloting a customized golf cart featuring lightning bolts.
Seems on-brand. I heard that his extensive hot rod collection is entirely YELLOW.
I don't go anywhere anymore but when I used to, I'd always look up what DDD locations were featured there and try one out. Always good.
Best meal I had in Hawaii was a Triple D shrimp truck. Way better than the $500 meal at Four Seasons.
I’ve never watched his show and not immediately wanted to go eat at whatever place he is featuring.
We went to the pizza joint in downtown Jackson, WY last fall. The food was excellent. The places he has been to here in Nashville are good eats ({Trademark symbol} Alton Brown).
And guess who was never mentioned in the wave of celebrity chef sexual harassment allegations?
Wish that I had back the time I spent watching the chump who revised favorite recipes for lower fat and calories- and was cancelled after one season by a prosecution for the attempted murder of his wife, never mind Mario Batali.
What
Juan-Carlos Cruz, host of "Calorie Commando" et cetera. 'Hired' a couple of homeless dudes to kill his spouse. Instead they finked, IIRC. Quite the career trajectory- from network TV host to a nine year sentence.
(In all seriousness, we often just left FOOD on while my pals' toddler daughter was playing and adults chatting. That I've wasted grey cells remembering is a separate tragedy.)
In any case I'd give odds that Fieri will die a beloved old celebrity, unlike many.
Fieri didn't need to take the pussy. It was VOLUNTEERED to him.
note to self:
get frosted tips
(and fame and wealth)
Surely if you're working in a war zone you expect to die?
Australian PM is demanding answers from IDF like he's some sort of hard hitting hero but he's never demanded answers from Hamas. Never even demanded answers from his own government. Didn't even have the courage to keep the Australian embassy in Jerusalem. Our Foreign Secretary is a Chinese lesbian so I don't know why I expect so much from the government.
"Surely if you're working in a war zone you expect to die?"
That's the wacky thing about this "war". The more I read, the more ad hoc the whole thing sounds. You have "safe streets", you can call the IDF and ask them not to strike you at such and such a time. Hamas gets about 100x the privileges of some dude in the USA who cuts a shotgun barrel a quarter inch short.
Perhaps the war would be over if Israel pursued a more intense strategy:
https://philip.greenspun.com/blog/2024/03/27/israels-military-strategy-in-gaza-compared-to-covid-lockdowns/
Or perhaps not. Bill Maher (not 100% impartial here either) claims that the Palestinians were offered about 96% under Clinton and rejected it. They would probably keep fighting no matter what the losses (like Imperial Japan, according for the rationale for going nuclear). And then Israel would be seen as having committed genocide.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KP-CRXROorw
In an interesting twist, last week Hamas officially denied an al-Jazeera report that said that IDF soldiers were sexually abusing Gazan women. They were worried that reports of rape would cause mass flight. It's pretty well documented that false claims by the Arab leadership of rapes at Deir Yassin were a factor in persuading Arabs to run away in 1948. Rape is stigmatizing in a lot of cultures. http://gadflyonline.com/home/index.php/purim-my-bangladeshi-friend/
I wonder how much of this (Rotherham is the most famous, but sadly, it happened in many other cities) was about sexual gratification, and how much of it was a form of territorial conquest?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10941619/The-damning-verdict-police-failed-Rotherham-victims.html
"More than 1,400 girls were groomed, trafficked and abused by Asian sex gangs between 1997 and 2013..."
EDITED to add quotes.
A little of both, I would imagine.
For Americans, Sir Morris' use of the word Asian is a euphemism for Pakistanis, not east Asians.
Rape as a part of tribal and military conflicts, as well as its flip side, women under occupation voluntarily having relations with the occupiers, is an uncomfortable topic. Even when rape isn't a military tactic as it probably was as Russia advanced in Germany, soldiers can do bad stuff. Something like 400 American GIs were prosecuted for rape in occupied France.
One in every 200 men on earth are descended from Genghis Khan in part because the Mongol Hordes took the raping part of raping and pillaging seriously and in part because women wanted to get with him.
You almost make me revoke my views on gun laws!
One of the great benefits of this blog is that it has shown me gun access v regulation has an entirely different meaning within the USA to outside the USA.
I think that the "quarter inch short" was a reference to this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_Ridge
Interestingly, there were no charges against any of those killed (son, wife, and dog), and Randy Weaver was acquitted of all charges except for missing a court date (although the letter informing him of his court date listed the WRONG DATE).
Yes, I was.
All you need is a tape measure for chrissakes .
'gun control' should mean free mandatory firearms training .
It's the right (and cheaper) thing to do .
I wish I knew where my photo of me holding a vintage Thompson .45 cal. sub machine gun was, I'd share it here .
-Nate
Wondered if he was trying to live up to the Abbot shirtfronting Putin thing...
Interesting!😄
Rule 6: Prime Ministers shall shirt-front any political leader they deem responsible for the death of an Australian citizen.
Rule 7: No poofters......
Defined for USAmericans (a/k/a Seppos): vigorously confront or challenge.
"he shirtfronted Skelton when he arrived in Alice Springs ahead of the election, demanding that he declare his relationship with Rogers"
Ah. I've been shirtfronting people for a long time, I guess.
The university of wollamaloo is a fine institution...
Poofters are _not_ the problem, paedophiles is .
-Nate
While we're on the subject, I read an (unsourced / ymmv) tweet alleging that World Central Kitchen is a US intelligence cutout. Jose Andres has a position with the US fed gov, multiple contracts for his businesses, presence in ukraine (?) and syria (!!!), cooperation from and protection by state-aligned armed forces...
One must be wary of such pat explanations, but it would make things make a lot more sense, if true
Always a Like for a Dead Milkmen reference.
Is a 991.2 or 992 GTS equivalent enough to a 997 GT2? The numbers are similar, and a 991.2 can be had for a lot less. I shopped 997 turbos a bit but went with a newer car to daily drive worry free.
"The numbers are similar, and a 991.2 can be had for a lot less."
There's a reason for that. The old car has the Mezger engine, the 997 proportions, and the limited production. They'd be nothing alike to drive -- you'll have more commonality between a 991 and a Panamera Turbo.
997 GT2 is peak water cooled Porsche for me. Thanks for helping to increase their value before I can afford one, not that I ever could…
I’d be down for Drivin’ With Harambe… any rando at a gas station always wanted to talk about my former Boxster, but this audience seems much more receptive to S600 blathering.
ARE WE EVER
Please, yes! Such a heat little machine!
since when is an s class merc little
I thought he meant the Honda.
i thought he had one too but i didnt want to waste the opportunity to make a bad joke
S-Klasse Mercs are nice to be sure but SO GODDAMN BIG .
-Nate
I think I’ve had more people come up and chat about my Miata than my Boxster.
Miata drivers are approachable. Boxster drivers obviously put on airs and use the king's own tailor for their suits.
I can't afford to repair a Boxster AND buy the shirts though.
The cost of purchase is NOT the cost of ownership.
can confirm
i am not allowed to be introverted
not that i am anyway but if you buy one especially a clean one and the top is down you have to expect attention
Open Thread Question for the ACF hive- I've been rocking vintage 70's stereo equipment for a while now (currently Pioneer SX1250, Optonica RP-3636 composite plinth turntable, Acoustic Research LST speakers and various other components as needed) but thinking of moving into the modern era. I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT MODERN EQUIPMENT. So treating me as such, what should a person look at to set up a new system? Not low end but not looking at $10,000 turntables either. Throw some advice a brother's way.
I’m awful at recommendations, so I’ll just mention what I’ve got for the music I enjoy (smooth jazz, yacht rock, 80s Britpop/New Wave). Your mileage may vary.
For music, I’ve got a bit of a bastard system, as I’m more into headphones for music consumption. I bought Jack’s pair of Focal Elex headphones last fall and paired them with a wonderful—and cheap, and Made In The U.S.A.!—Schiit Magni+ DAC/amp. But for the turntable side of things, I’ve got an old (vintage, as people my age are wont to say) Beogram 4002 linear-tracker that I’ve slowly been restoring.
Working on upgrading my living room multichannel system this year… picked up a B&K Reference 200.7 S2 (7ch x 200wpc) and a Schiit Syn matrix surround preamp to drive my ancient mishmash of speakers. Haven’t decided whether I want to add three more JBL L100T3s to the two I already have, or if I want to go more esoteric (Magneplanars, B&W 801s, &c.).
Whether headphone or two-channel, I can’t recommend Schiit’s gear enough. All made in the USA by people who give a damn—their founder spills a lot of ink over on Head-Fi about their design rationale—and is often cheaper than the Chinese competition. (Not sponsored; just love when a company is honest and passionate.)
I had a B&K for a while but I found that it covered highs too much. I replaced it with a giant Adcom and was much happier. Your mileage may vary if you are into "smooth" or "mellow" sound; I like it technical and accurate.
B&K's were made (IMHO) more for the Magnaplaner type speakers (which I had for years) and those need the high end bias because they so easily drive the lows.
Amplifiers all sound pretty similar before they run out of power. Some speakers with odd impedance curves are hard to drive and may need specific amp characteristics, but that is unusual. In most cases, if an amp sounds a little "hot" in the highs, all it takes is a touch of EQ to get it to sound he same as another amp. And by a "touch" I mean maybe half a dB over a broad shelf (one cannot even hear half a dB if it is a narrow notch).
Replacing non-broken amplifiers to implement tone control is not a very efficient solution. I will note that the big Adcoms were better into difficult loads than many amps, so you may have had a specific problem that amplifier change addressed.
The speakers involved were indeed difficult (although tremendously rewarding when driven well), but the sound difference between those two amps - with no other change in the chain - was not something that would have been fixed by a touch of EQ here or there. I think I wrote badly in my original post - the problem was the highs were muffled, not too hot. It sounded very much like an attempt to make the sound mellower or smoother, which is something a lot of people like, but not me.
If an amplifier cannot drive a difficult load, that cannot be fixed with EQ. Agreed. Just pointing out for the benefit of others that that is unusual, and if one has speakers like that one is likely to know it.
I've been happy with all the Schiit gear that I've bought. Arguably the best bang for the buck and made in the U.S.A. On my main system I'm using one of their phono preamps and a DAC for the audio from my big screen.
When I upgraded my power amp to an Adcom 555 I set up a small system in my grow room with my old 535 power amp, a DVD player and the little Schiit passive switch/volume box.
Schitt makes excellent gear. Pair it with KEF LS50 speakers and a Rega turntable and you''ve got a nice system for not a lot of dough.
Do you know anyone who has tried the U-Turn Orbit turntable?
Have you seen the prices on vintage ARs and Phillips tables?
I'm happy with my 40 year old Systemdek.
I don't know anyone who has used the U-Turn.
I don't know about vintage Phillips tables, but AR and Thorens (I had a resto-modded Thorens) are lovely turntables. The Thorens is built like a tank and responds nicely to a Rega / Moth tonearm. I used a Dynavector DV20x2 cartridge and loved it. The only reason I replaced it was I got upgradeitis and found a deal on a Pure Fidelity Harmony, which is my end-game turntable.
For anyone interested in a vintage AR or Thorens table, I highly recommend Vinyl Nirvana. Dave Archambault does beautiful restorations and appropriate modifications / upgrades.
I'm having a bit of a senior moment, maybe you can help. When I was in college a friend of mine got an insane deal on a turntable that was way over-engineered, AR type floating suspension, with a massive, very heavy brass platter, and a wooden base that was narrower at the bottom than at the top. It was made by one of the classic stereo companies from the '50s and '60s, but it was being discontinued and the local stereo salon in Ann Arbor was blowing it out. The definition of built like a tank. I want to say Marantz but that brand name isn't giving me any photos that I recognize (though the Marantz 6300 does appear to be a fine turntable and isn't cheap). Any ideas?
I just purchased a U-Turn orbit. First gen plus model. For $300 I think it sounds pretty great, but I haven't had a turntable in years. Consensus seems to be the entry level is a good value and the more expensive options are not so competitive.
Honestly, you're going to have to spend no-fuckin-around money to get better amplification than you have now.
If you have ten grand I think I could point you in the right direction. If you have five... probably not.
Now, you could SELL the Pioneer for $2000 easy, which would help. But think about that. There's a reason people are willing to pay that much for it.
🎶 Still have my VCR
Same one I've had for years
When the world is running down
You make the best of what's still around 🎶
- A wise XS11 rider
PS: Creem's StarsCars would be great fodder for an occasional series.
Oh my, you're right!
May want to enlist Toly's help with this one:
https://img2.bdbphotos.com/images/orig/9/u/9uaikwqio7reu9i7.jpg
That’s a Gordon Keeble. There’s a tortoise on the front badge.
Thanks; I am embarrassed at my ignorance. Styled by Giugiaro during his Bertone years, so at least my suspicion of Italian influence was correct.
I have a $5k budget and want to amplify two tower speakers to listen to bluegrass, folk, and classical.
I’m open to used or new. I want to play off my iPhone and a Pro-Ject turntable.
Would love to buy from someone on here!
I would sell you my Marantz way below current value.
Vintage stuff likely not going anywhere due to my unreasonable attachment to the '70s. So some 10-15k advice to start with. I just enjoy music - not so pretentious that I think my ears/tastes/lifestyle are that sophisticated.
BRICASTI M15
For $10-15K:
WiiM Pro Plus
plus active speakers:
Dutch and Dutch 8c (I think Jared Harris has them) or
Kii3 (too expensive but really good) or
Sigberg Manta plus subs - if your preference is loud
or if your preference is planar:
Eminent Technology LFT-8c (maybe too much of a hobbyist solution - needs an added active high order crossover to sound right outside of a single seating position) or
Diptyque DP-140 (expensive)
Amplification for non-active speakers only: Hypex NCx-500. Or dual Benchmark (expensive, you do not have to spend that much on amplifiers, but that is as good as they get)
REW and a measurement mic regardless of what you choose to get.
If you answer the list of questions regarding your room, listening distance, type of music and how loud we could be usefully more specific.
You sound like a pro, are you in the industry?
Friends were, both on the design/manufacturing side and the studio side. But other than a brief stint in sales almost 50 years ago, nope, not me.
The first of my three careers was engineering R&D (I have a degree in EE) and I put a lot of effort into loudspeaker DIY in the '80's and 90's. I try to keep up.
If this isn't for a new system to live in a different part of your house entirely, you could get a lot of mileage out of getting a WiiM Mini or Pro to add wireless audio and streaming to your system, and upgrading your speakers. Those classic amplifiers and receivers actually made their rated power into 4 ohms.
Active speaker designs are to me, the most interesting part of the industry right now. The combination of DSP, and modern amplification technology means that you can get performance in a package that would've been unthinkable in the 20th century, e.g. Kali, a company founded by ex-JBL studio monitor engineers. You can also gain convenience with many active speakers integrating wireless audio, and HDMI so you only need to run one cable from your TV to your speakers.
Erin's Audio Corner on YouTube is my go-to resource for speaker reviews. If you're looking at something to integrate with your existing system, you should take a look at the latest Ascend Acoustics speakers (made in the USA!)
The Ascend Sierra LX I bought are fantastic. Redefined what I thought a bookshelf speaker could do.
Seconding Midwife Crisis' entire post.
900 bluetooth speakers arranged in a circle
Don't you mean "arranged in a sphere"?
i mean he needs some way to get into the centre of the circle of bluetooth speakers to discover the true meaning of surround sound
There's very little modern equipment that's better than what you've got, and how old are your ears? Will you even notice a small difference?
"Let's face it, your ears can't tell the difference between AM and FM"
-Red Green (possibly not an exact quote)
I'm just glad the women find me handy.
Sadly, I think this is a real thing for us Boomers and Blue Collar workers who's ears have been ruined by TO MUCH LOUD NOISE .
I like to think I can tell the improvement in sound when I upgraded all the speakers in my Ranger trucklet but who knows ? . .
-Nate
Leave it the F alone. Stay far away from the home audio vortex of fart-sniffing elitists. It’s a massive time suck, you can get 90% of the performance for 25% of the price, and the purchasers think the more they spend the better their ears are-as if buying the high end gear makes them for to work as mastering engineers-kinda like how a subset of bros think the purchase of fully auto awesomeness means they trained in a host of other adjacent skills.
Exceptionally cruel of you to say, but not wrong.
Raising my hand asking for recommendations at the 90 for 25 level. I'm cheap and have worsening tinnitus and would like to replace the soundbar I now use. Bluetooth off my phone and turntable.
You should come to StereoLab in Columbus, which has a lot of brilliant older stuff, and cheap.
My brother was an audio engineer for decades and he taught me that your biggest bang for the buck is always speakers first .
Cheap ones suck .
No shortage of really good studio monitors and old folks high end speakers plus amps, turn tables etc. at auctions.....
-Nate
True. And the original poster already has "old folks high end speakers."
Edit: oops, I was still addressing Wulfgar's post ,not Mr. Moss's. Yep, used equipment is a good idea, as are the WiiM products recommended by Midwife Crisis above.
You do have a point. If the OP added a digital source and EQ to what he's got via a spare computer he may not have to bother with anything else. In fact, if this is just fear of missing out, he enjoys his system, and does not want the convenience of streaming or a digital library, he could just leave it alone. He has good stuff.
I wish I could find measurements of the LST's output to use for EQ. It does use the same drivers as the AR 3a, which measures as follows:
https://murphyblaster.com/content.php?f=AR3a.html
I'd consider the anechoic response (not really anechoic but achieved through a gated measurement) as guidance for EQ above 200 Hz, and REW measurements as a basis for EQ below that. How close this is to the LST I could not say. The OP could do this with a computer and a cheap measurement mic. The point of all this is that speakers do sound better room-corrected. The extent to which it is worth the bother is an individual decision.
I'll recommend some of what I've used in the past and some of what I've got now. I used tube gear to start but have switched to solid state simply because I got tired of fussing with tubes.
1. The nicest Rega turntable you want to spend the money on. Made in Britain. You could go with the cartridge Rega recommends, or a Dynavector or a Hana. (Hana is good value.) The P3 is basically the Miata of turntables, but the P6 is a nice upgrade from there. P8 and P10 are stellar.
2. Splurge for an LFD Integrated amplifier. Hand made by one fanatical electrical engineer, point-to-point wiring, and beautiful sound. Made in Britain. Gene Rubin at Gene Rubin Audio stopped selling anything more expensive because he just didn't see the value in it. He says it'll out-perform six-figure rigs. I haven't heard any amps in that price range, but neither have I had any reason to consider anything but replacing my Mk3 model with the latest version.
3. Graham Slee Reflex M phono stage (model will depend upon whether you use a moving magnet or moving coil cartridge.) Again, made in Britain. Absolutely phenomenal value.
3. Spendor D7 tower speakers. Glorious, neutral sound. End-game speakers for me. If they're too pricey, I was quite impressed with the Golden Ear Triton 7 towers that I had before the Spendors. I've also heard excellent things about the KEF LS50.
5. Benchmark Audio DAC. Crazy good sound quality at just $1,800. From what I've heard, bettering it requires moving up to the PS Audio DirectStream DAC, which costs almost four times as much.
6. If you're into CDs, a Rega Apollo CD player does the job quite nicely - a solid transport with a built-in DAC (so you could skip the. Benchmark if you aren't gonna do streaming).
7. The streamer of your choice if you're into streaming. I use an Aurender N100H, which has been replaced with the N200 (or something). I like it, but there are many others you could investigate.
The majority of gear on that list is made in Britain; Benchmark is made in USA and Aurender in Korea.
I've heard excellent things about Schitt gear - excellent sound, excellent value - but they don't do speakers, so you'll want to ask them what they recommend. Rogue Audio is made in Pennsylvania if I recall correctly and also makes excellent amplifiers and integrated amps. I had a Sphinx, which I quite like and sent along to Jack at some point.
One suggestion: You will get FAR MORE bang for the buck buying used gear from a reputable outfit. Most of my gear is second-hand, and I've had good luck with Audiogon. The depreciation on stereo gear is insane, so there are many deals to be had.
One final word: If by any chance you happen upon a Croft Phono Integrated, snap it up. It is a beautiful British hybrid (tube pre-amp stage, solid state power stage) integrated amplifier with a very nice phono stage. They were hand-made point to point wiring by Glenn Croft until he died a year or two ago in a motorcycle accident. Per his wishes, the company shuttered following his death, so these things are getting scarce. Simple, no fills amp that sounds wonderful and punches way above its weight (they were $1800 new; they typically go for about $1000 when they come up for sale.) I loved mine, and it is the only piece of gear I've regretted selling. Glenn made separates as well, so if you find a Croft amp and pre-amp, that's worth considering as well.
Thank you for this detailed response!
As a mid-50's male, who was totally into home audio in my younger years, putting together component systems I could afford, "bench racing" with my friends who were doing the same and dreaming about my perfect system that I could afford, this topic really resonates with me.
I have set up a nice sonos system in my house (in ceiling speakers, etc.) but have often given thought to setting up a dedicated system again, but I wouldn't know where to start.
The 90% performance for 25% of the cost really interests me, plus I don't know if my old abused ears (too much live music in bars standing right next to speaker stacks, way too much shooting all kinds of guns with no hearing protection in my younger years) could actually appreciate a totally high end system anymore.
The level of knowledge and expertise on ACF never ceases to amaze me. What a great place.
I have been digging these audio subtopics lately. I'm the opposite and know absolutely zero about vintage equipment that likely would be cheaper and better quality than what is available now. FWIW I am about $6k deep into mine over the last several years, but that included a lot of "open box" deals with my good friend who was (RIP those deals) a magnolia adjacent salesperson at BB.
My setup is an ARCAM receiver (I'm about 70 percent music and 30% movies), B&W 700 something series towers and center, cheaper Klipsch reference premiere sounds (x4), and a REL sub. Last weekend my friends and I had a few pops, blasted the Tron soundtrack, and laid back on the couch in awe.
I'd consider skipping the turntable altogether, unless you need it to digitize your vinyl collection or really enjoy the hobbyist/tactile aspects of it.
The most important elements of a modern sound system are, in order, loudspeakers, equalization for room correction, room acoustics, (...big gap...), then amplification and source. What would be ideal depends on your requirements and budget. See the questions below, they could help us make recommendations for you. In the meanwhile, a few thoughts:
*AR-LSTs! Even today, your pair of LSTs could be used with a sub amp and EQ as quite decent subs. I'm curious how they would stand up to a modern speaker once EQed. On the other hand, I believe they have significant resale value.
*SX-1250! If it is in good shape, that's as good an amplifier as you'll need. I remember hearing one run a pair of Ohm Fs well. If it will do that, it will do anything you need. Again, on the other hand, I believe they have significant resale value. You could use a (quiet) computer running JRiver (cheap) or Roon (expensive) as your source and it will manage your library and handle EQ for you. Add REW and a microphone for in-room measurement and correction. Or see the receiver below which will do EQ and measurement for you.
Copying, with minor edits, from earlier posts in
https://www.avoidablecontact.com/p/monday-night-open-thread-dan-meets/comments
(Side note - Substack is truly horrible for finding old comments!)
If I may, I'll ask the usual questions for someone who is looking for speakers and cares about the result. I'm sure I'm not the only person here who can help out to some degree.
*What music do you listen to?
*How loud will you listen?
*At what distance?
*What is the size of the room?
*Are room treatments needed and acceptable? To what degree are you willing to trade off appearance and general usability for acoustics?
*What is the rest of the system, and are you willing to replace pieces if needed?
*Are subs acceptable, and if so, what size/how many?
*Are you willing to use EQ for room correction?
*Are you willing to use EQ for correction of speaker flaws that have been measured anechoically (or the mathematical equivalent)?
*And of course, budget?
A quick summary of the state of the art:
For ordinary box speakers, their measured behavior (frequency response, directivity, certain distortions, compression) has been fairly definitively linked to listener preference, so measurements can play a large part in eliminating flawed speakers from consideration.
Areas where the correlation of measurements to preference have not been performed, or at least published: directivity must be constant or with a smooth trend, but wide or narrow is personal preference and varies according to taste, source material, and room characteristics; the presentation from box speakers, dipoles, line sources and cardioids differ and there is no public research showing that one is better than the other, so it is down to personal taste. (I would prefer a large floor-to ceiling dipole line array if I could fit them somewhere.) For that matter, even for box speakers, size and baffle width may affect preference independent from frequency response, but I've seen no data on that.
One of my disappointments at the [Montreal] show was that the KEF R3s with a sub did not compete at the highest level, despite measurements showing that they should. That list of unknowns plays in here, I'm sure. Also, memory for acoustic events is poor. Studies have shown that without a direct A-B comparison, A-B-C even better, people just cannot compare speakers. Further, people are great at fooling themselves and I'm sure that includes me. I believe in my heart of hearts that while I cannot remember the sound of speakers I can remember my reaction to them and that can be a basis for comparison. I also believe that if I were put to a blind test on that I would fail, at least for similarly capable box speakers.
References in case you have deeper interest in measurement and preference:
https://www.routledge.com/Sound-Reproduction-The-Acoustics-and-Psychoacoustics-of-Loudspeakers-and-Rooms/Toole/p/book/9781138921368
http://www.gedlee.com/Papers/papers.aspx
The Perception of Distortion
Bookshelves: Revels are the standard go-to. Probably better buys: Ascend Sierra-1 V2, Philharmonic BMR Monitor, Philharmonic Mini Monitor (models to fit size constraints, if any - smaller ones are a budget pick), Wharfdale Linton 85th, Polk ES20 (budget pick). Set up your system with EQ (old laptop with Equalizer APO and REW, for example) and you will not be sorry.
*Below is an answer to someone shopping for a new system. Might not apply well to you depending on your answers to the questions above.
Hard to beat this receiver for the price:
https://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/denavrx6700h/denon-avr-x6700h-11.2-ch-x-140-watts-8k-a/v-receiver-w/heos/1.html
I'd be sure to add a fan like this and vacuum it every now and then for better odds of long life:
https://www.parts-express.com/AC-Infinity-AIRCOM-S7-12-Dual-Fan-Top-Exhaust-with-Thermal-Trigger-305-412?quantity=1&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=20344069331&utm_content=161105436364&gadid=692363767583&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw5ImwBhBtEiwAFHDZx-Q8_wdW5T54SPAJHasNIeKuOKMkFU7LLkpXOPAVce1J5j_gQ-1r8BoC7DUQAvD_BwE
Nice things about that receiver:
*Room correction EQ . If you go below the 3800 in the product line the EQ becomes inadequate.
*Lots of power. As is usual for multichannel receivers, in stereo, the entire multichannel power supply is available to the two channels in use.
*The electronics are probably good enough to be fully transparent, or at least good enough that any minimal negative is more than outweighed by the decent EQ and measurement system built-in.
*Multichannel is an option if you decide you are interested in the future. Many people think very highly of the included Auro upmixer to make good use of multichannel from stereo sources.
*Supports multiple independently adjustable subs (to some degree, don't recall details). This may be important in the fairly large volume you described.
*You can sell it without taking a large loss.
*Speakers. The most important part.
You could wait for the JBL Studio 580s to go back on sale for $350 each, that happens frequently, just not right now. According to the designer,those are the sweet spot in the line. They should do a fine job on the music you like. Offloading the bass to a couple of inexpensive subs should help in that room; these should be good enough:
https://www.audioholics.com/subwoofer-reviews/dayton-sub-1500
The combination should be better than the Studio 590s alone, for less money. The Denon will help with sub integration and EQ.
Other options:
Wharfdale Lintons on their stands. More expensive but at least they look it. A bit more accurate than the JBLs but perhaps a bit less fun. The accuracy difference may be correctable with the Denon EQ, but going above room correction frequencies may be tricky. You need another hobby, right? Adding the above subs still a good idea in your room.
Philhamonic BMR - also worth considering. Wide dispersion if that is your preference.
Arendal 1961 Tower. More expensive. Narrower dispersion, if you prefer that.
And see the bookshelf speaker list above, they can all go on stands and work with the subs.
The above are all normal box speakers. If you prefer a dipole planar:
https://www.eminent-tech.com/
See the LFT-8b $3200 per pair shipped. I can't recommend a planar for less.
That's a start!
"I'd consider skipping the turntable altogether..."
KILL THE WITCH! KILL THE WITCH!
I'm (mostly) teasing, and putting aside the whole "vinyl sounds better" argument (sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't), you're right. I love vinyl, but it's got its drawbacks - expensive, takes up a ton of space, can be finicky. Digital audio and high-quality streaming from Qoboz or Tidal is all most people need.
Much lower down the totem pole, but I went from a late 70's Kenwood KR-3010 to a new Yamaha A-S301. You will trade bassy richness with rolled off highs that suits classic "real analog instrument" music for a cold crisp grainy analytical sound that accurately portrays everything, but the highs are harsh and the bass impact is lacking, better for new digital music that sounded boomy on the old receiver. The built in phono preamp does not suck, it might be slightly better than the Kenwood, which isn't in line with the consensus. I got more inputs, a remote, the knob turns by itself, cooool, but I wouldn't recommend going this route for solely night and day sound quality. My speakers are Paradigm Mini Monitor V4 bookshelves from the pawn shop, I paid $139, the consensus there is no doing better for the price new, let alone used. If you're looking for something to mess with for incremental improvements, get a better/different cartridge for the turntable. I have a discontinued Shure, there is Grado, there is Ortofon. Googled the Sharp turntable, Jesus Christ, I thought I was hot shit with my wooden Pioneer PL-50, you got a turntable made out of stone. Where do you go from there? Do you have a tape deck?
Honestly, just get some refurbished Kef LS 50’s from here for $1,600 if you plan to keep your ‘70’s stuff.
https://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/kefls50wr2-blk/kef-ls50-pair-wireless-ii-powered-wireless-mini-monitor-speakers-black/1.html
They’ll be a good modern counterbalance to what you have. No separate components, take up almost no space, look fantastic, high quality Bluetooth, plenty of digital inputs, a subwoofer output, a solid DAC that can handle any type of high resolution digital input, and most importantly, they just sound phenomenal with all different types of music.
If for some reason you find them lacking, they’re always in style and easy to unload for near what you’ll pay for them refurbished.
They’re so easy to use with so many different types of inputs that you’ll forget about that last couple percent the audiophile fart sniffers are always going after because you’ll be spending too much time enjoying whatever music you love.
I bought some maybe 5 years ago and never looked back. I’d rather spend my money on tires than swapping out audio gear.
They didn't read 'em, and Slick Willie never inhaled.
I can understand the young's fascination with communism, because they don't understand what communism is. They think communism will give them the house and the free lunch Gordon Gekko kept from them so he could buy another McMansion or a third Lamborghini.
They don't get it was the Boomers and the Uniparty with their insatiable desire for cheap labor at home & abroad, their greed for the votes that will ensconce them in permanent political power, their hatred for regular Americans, their making college degrees simultaneously mandatory & cripplingly expensive, their desire to pad their stock portfolios by a couple thousand percent, their gettin' theirs & pulling the ladder up after them and their vision of the world as a grand game board, with them as the masters moving all those worthless, interchangeable Nobodies around at whim that fucked ALL OF US.
yeah fuck em
Boomer, boomer, boomer! Bollocks! They didn't engineer this shit, it just happened and 99% found themselves on the ride whether they wanted to be or not, or even knew what was going on. They didn't gang up to make Nixon cut the link to gold, the origin of the fake prosperity that is now blowing up. They didn't demand he open up to China and they didn't insist on doing so in such an unequal manner. Nobody, but NOBODY, had the slightest idea that property would inflate to such an unimaginable extent because it was literally unimaginable. We all had it easy in the West post WW2 without understanding the reasons why it existed and still less why it couldn't last. Blaming people for existing is utterly pointless. Blaming people for being what they are (flawed beings with limited comprehension beyond day-to-day exigencies) is completely pointless. Looking backwards is pointless, unless it is to swiftly and effectively learn from mistakes. Playing the victim is worse than pointless, it is actively self-destructive. Life in the west and the US in particular is historically unprecedentedly prosperous, healthy and full of potential. It is necessary to keep a sense of proportion. I recommend starting each day thinking about George Washington's teeth before feeling too sorry for yourself.
I agree -- but a little bit of time and situation consciousness can go a long way towards properly motivating people to succeed.
We live in extraordinary times. 1. Historically unprecedented wealth. 2. Historically unprecedented health and longevity. 3. Historically unprecedented abundance of food. 4. Historically unprecedented dissemination of information, allied to... 5. Historically unprecedented ability to travel, enabling mass migrations. 6. Historically unprecedented voluntary population decline via falling reproduction rates - this is only just starting to take effect, but the impact will be huge. 7. Historically unprecedented potential for military self-destruction. I may have missed something, but with all the above going on there is bound to be some friction within our historically fractious, fratricidal, human tribes. The best of times, the worst of times... if we did but know it.
I think the main problem is the If It Bleeds It Leads philosophy of journalism, and that we're all wallowing in a world awash in news. It's as if a giant septic tank in a good neighborhood exploded.
Yes, absolutely. I find, for example, the BBC TV news to be absolutely unwatchable these days.
heres the thing
if you werent involved in offshoring jobs, clawing after as much political power as possible forever, making things generally worse for proceeding generations, and telling everyone else "fuck you got mine" and pulling the ladder up behind you then i have nothing against you
its not your generation but a chunk of people from your generation and if you didnt do it then its not about you
I think Boomers coined the phrase "If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem." So anyone who was voting age in 1992 and didn't support Buchanan or Perot was part of the problem. Anyone who said "The H-1B mostly affects entry-level jobs and I'm experienced, so all hail globalism," or "those illegals will pay my Social Security, so I don't mind" are part of the problem.
fuck those guys too
It wasn't just the boomers. It started wth the 'greatest generation' a lot of those people were the biggest swindlers ever. They're the reason nearly all of the retirement plans went away. Because they raided them for instant cash.
not keen on them either
Then sent the jobs overseas AND THEN refused to retire in a timely fashion, preventing the next generation from being able to access both the next generation of good jobs and the remaining positions here.
It's OK, I don't take it personally and I know I let off a bit of a stink bomb before going to bed. I didn't do "it" but I am still caught up in the mess, as are my children and just starting to arrive grandchildren. So I too have skin in the game.
If you genuinely care about your children... which I know you do... these Boomer allegations are Teflon where you're concerned.
It's their attitude now that is so infuriating. "We didn't have it easy!" Yes, you did. I don't hate them for it but some acknowledgment would be nice. "Those stupid fucking kids and their student loans!" That boomers told us to take out when we were literally children listening to our parents. "Pay your debts" as they got MILLIONS in ppp money forgiven. Younger generations have legitimate reasons to gripe. And then if you point any of this out "You must be a loser!" And all of this could be forgiven if I never had to hear another Beatles song. And if you think any of this is hyperbole, spend 5 minutes on Gab.
*I have no loans, have more money than I will ever spend, and my boomer parents are great
yeah that
the cool part about this place is that someone else can articulate my thoughts much better than i can
"Pay your debts" is an honorable philosophy, providing there's an economy that enables the acquisition of jobs which compensate the debtor well enough to pay his debts, and that said debts were encouraged by the older & wiser IN GOOD FAITH.
I can count on one hand how many bills ive paid late in my life. Usually cause of an autopay linked to something old. But bankruptcy exists for a reason. Indentured student loan servitude is wrong. I did “bounce” a check last week because i didnt realize my contractor didnt cash the check i write from the checking account i keep just enough in to pay my bills and sweep the rest into an account that pays interest.
*the bank covered it and i had the money transferred back within an hour to cover my side. Ill probably stop trying to run a lean checking account
I love the feeling I get when I make my car payment or other bill early. But I can afford them.
I stopped keeping my checking account lean once I realized in the early 2000s that a single overdraft fee would wipe out a year's worth of 0.25% interest I was getting out of savings. Now I'm conditioned to feel uncomfortable if checking dips below $10k. A far cry from my younger years when I was using a tack to poke holes in the OCR number on my checks to get an extra two days of float.
I can agree with you on this. Note that I said "the west had it easy after WW2". But it can't be news to you that people get defensive when you attack them. My interest is in where do we go from here and I think a starting point is to recognise where we sit in the history of humanity and the answer to that is in a pretty good place, actually. Not perfect, sure, but we still have democracy and the rule of law and we need to use those tools to make it better. If we can...
I've been thinking about George ever since the dentist told me that I need a partial plate to continue to be able to eat.
I've gone on an anti-scapegoating of Boomers rant here also. I will remind the youngsters (I turn 65 in 4 days) here that the oldest Boomer was 24 years old when Nixon was elected the first time, hardly a group that could have influenced national policy.
Valid point. And one could argue that he was forced into it by actions taken by others before...
Yet they like to take credit for the civil rights movement.
Yeah, and all Frenchmen fought for the resistance.
Boomers designed and assembled my Ram. It works well and somehow doesn't leak oil. I appreciate that.
This gentleman gets it..
Ok boom...
er
you give the uniparty credit for having a large coherent philosophy. they don't. part of the problems, beside stupid choices, are the grinding of all sorts of unmeshable gears of various group aims.
Maybe, maybe not.
Awful lot of coincidences though, don't you think?
Starting off with good intentions, but travelling down a bad road. Destination familiar?
Oh hell.
Oh, hell.
Coincidentally every policy action raises asset prices and/or lowers the value of labor. Purely random!
Stop being paranoid, you racist!
I couldn't agree more! Politicians are now just the ball in a pinball machine (of their own devising, it should be said), being whacked hither and thither with ever greater randomness and ferocity. How can they have a clue about which way to face? I am not sure how democracies can cope with an ever more complicated world, but surely part of the problem is that politicians have wormed their way into every aspect of our lives. And we have allowed this infantilising process to carry on almost unchecked. At least in the US you have a constitution that does occasionally apply the brakes. In the UK it feels like we are being micro-managed by incompetents into a complete loss of freedom where self-evident truths are expressly forbidden.
When you guys get your shit back in one sock, be sure to draw up a Constitution. Feel free to borrow ours.
It's nice and short (or was).
This has been covered extensively. The consolidation of large companies like Nestle or GE is only part of the story. Those large companies have massive overlaps of board members. They don't just play golf or go to the same tax scam museum shows together, they are literally the same persons.
One of my close childhood friends appeared on Masterchef in 2019 and has subsequently done a lot of work with World Central Kitchen, predominantly in Poland.
He knew several of the WCK workers who were murdered by the IDF this week; one of them, Damian Soból, was one of his best friends.
It's war so it's not murder.
If you're working in a war zone you expect to die.
From the Daily Mail: 'Each vehicle was clearly marked as working for the humanitarian organization, followed an IDF-approved route and had GPS trackers and SOS beacons broadcasting their positions.'
If I wanted to be abandoned by all of the West, whilst having the entire levant ally against me, this is how I would go about it. Absolute morons.
The fallout from this won't last two weeks.
Bet on it.
Hell, it will be forgotten about and too far down the FB or Instatube feeds for anyone to notice - in about two days.
Speaking of which, has anyone heard anything lately about that little dustup going on in Ukraine? No?!? Huh, weird.
They flew a Cessna on remote control into a Russian drone factory this week!
Loaded with half a ton of explosive.
Otherwise pretty dire for the whole security of Europe.
A result of spending 2% of your GDP on defence instead of 7%
This is very callous but the most important consequence will be keeping hippie humanitarian missions out of Gaza. Imagine how much they must undermine what the IDF is doing. They get in the way, they show implicit support for Hamas and have no understanding of how they are being used by Hamas.
Yeah, but is that true?
That's the problem, we don't know, the Daily Mail doesn't know. I would not put it past a lot of parties to have set it up so that they THOUGHT they had permission, but in fact did not.
Killing people like this is great press. And it happens. Often.
Friendly Fire is disturbingly common; I really hope that this was truly an honest mistake.
It might have been.
Or they might have been set up. Hamas is famous for stuff like that.
Or it could very well be that they were providing a lot more than food. And it wouldn't been the first time (and won't be the last) that some charitable NGO that claimed one thing, was doing something sinister.
This "murder" shit from you is really getting on my nerves. It was a tragic mistake in a war. You know better and just want to exercise your Jew blaming bona fides.
Agreed. Ruby Ridge was murder. This might not even rise to the level of war crime, depending on what the real situation was on the ground.
I had forgotten that’s it’s anti-semitic to criticize the most special, wonderful, elect group of people on the planet in any fashion.
Including when they kill civilian aid workers and say “whoops, it was an accident.”
You forgot the word 'superior'.
Sherman, I wish you well. I don’t have the stomach for this place any more. Good luck to you.
Hope you will stay. People have many different views.
I wasn’t clear, I AGREE with Sherman.
the f in acf means you can never leave
Liked, although I'm not certain you're (we're?) helping.
You can however check out any time you like.
you can check out any time you like but you can never leave
Why are there no aid workers for Hamas to kill in Israel?
Because Israel has a proper system of government that looks after its constituents in war and peace.
When holiday makers were killed and taken hostage, no answers were demanded by the Australian government (Using AUS cos that's what I know about).
My point being, if you're saying the scales are weighted, let's check both sides.
FWIW I either missed the comments or anything else that suggest Shermie holds some real Jew hatred.
Suggesting Israel is killing civilians at an inordinate rate, and even with intent, cf American occupied Iraq operations such as Fallujah is not crazy. Is it crazy to suggest they should be willing to go in and house to house clear? Or would we merely be holding them to the same standard we recently held ourselves to. It is likewise not crazy to assert that they are stopping humanitarian aid in visible ways. "Well, they're keeping it out of the hands of those who would misuse it" ok, and also the people who need it.
Even if Israel is only killing civilians unintentionally some of their politician's rhetoric makes that seem like a lie (bad PR). That is propagated through American mass media organs which are seeing, how to say, the progressive left adopt the settler-colonial frame and make that easy to sell as well as highlight particular takes such as the UN genocide council (which does not make it true but lends credence to the narrative that is spun). Sort of like on the right we hear about suggesting America take all of Palestine as refugees - even if no one in real power or decision making authority says this I still hear about it and it does nothing to endear whomever makes the suggestion to me and, by proxy, whomever that person is identified with.
Hard to know the facts on the ground - easy to say neither side is looking good here.
ETA: I absolutely understand why Ronnie would feel kinship and support his kin. I just have no such allegiance nor do I think the US should at large.
I don’t.
My best friend is Jewish; he comments here occasionally (usually to rib me in some way). I had dinner with him Monday night. His verbatim response to the WCK news was “oh, they’re still fighting over there?” His parents wished me a happy birthday earlier this week - even before my own did! I’ll probably be at his son’s fifth birthday party in a few weeks.
A lot of my other friends are Jewish too! I am having lunch with a Jewish guy tomorrow and then smoking cigars together; we’ve been friends for over a decade. I am pushing him to pursue a really, REALLY cool job opportunity.
Another Jewish friend of mine did a lot of extremely interesting work in the Bush and Obama White Houses and has a background in Nuclear Weapons and Strategic Plans; he is from Texas, and I always joke that he taught Dubya how to pronounce “Nucular.” Texted w/ him earlier today about this Blinken-Ukraine-NATO proclamation. He is genuinely worried about that.
I do not think The Real McCoy has any real Jew hatred either. Religion is too insignificant in western society to incite hatred in most people. In spite of being an intelligent person, Sherman seems to have espoused a populist view without any critical thinking.
All 3 points you raise - civilian deaths, house to house clearing and Israel blocking aid - are not crazy suggestions. What is crazy is westerners playing themselves into the hands of Hamas and Iran. They are attacking and killing US forces. Why would any US citizen show even implicit support for them. We are not dealing with a conventional enemy like Viet Cong, for example, who are motivated by an ideology and recovering territory. Hamas are motivated by blood-lust and hatred. They hate and want to kill most of the people who are protesting for Palestine.
The bad press is a shame and, like you say, reinforces peoples viewpoints. I don't know how to deal with it apart from what Jack says about it blowing over in 2 weeks.
It is very hard to know the facts on the ground and I understand you when you say neither side looks good but we need to give full support to the side that is fighting the cancer. Otherwise the cancer will spread in unimaginable ways. i.e. our hesitation in acting in Syria gave Russia strength, training and confidence to attack Ukraine.
The USA's allegiance to Israel is a whole theological discussion about Christian Zionism that I am way out of my depth in!
You and I would agree on a lot and disagree on Syria where two competing US interests (CIA and State Dept) funded and backed two unsavory groups in one country! I think we should have backed neither.
Anyway, I don't have a problem with going and killing Hamas, per se, but doing something like bombing Jabalya (? Spelling ?) And killing civilians and then using the old "civilian bodyshields" line is circumspect. Did the IDF ever confirm they killed who they claimed? Stuff like that. No, there is no genocide, also they appear to be killing civilians at something like an order of magnitude higher rate than the US did fighting a counterinsurgency effort in an urban area which kinda parallels this.
I don't think Hamas the group represents a global threat or cancer but underlying ideology.
As for the Protestant Zionism - uniquely American from what I can tell.
Every single criticism of Israel being met with "JEW HATER" here is a bit insufferable. And I'm really not jealous of a group of people whose main shining achievement is an average IQ of 112. Sherman said nothing wrong and I LOVE giving Sherman shit. He takes it well and gives it right back.
And Ronnie really shouldn't throw stones
You didn't forget, you decided to be provocative and edgy since you trawl on the Internet under a pseudonym and your career won't suffer.
You're still a lowlife hanger on.
why should his career suffer if he wants to be a memelord on the internet
a lot of dudes use pseudonyms here anyway
My name is john
My account predates this substack anyway. I don’t actually know if there is a way to change the display name, anyway.
If you would be so kind, please help me understand in what way am I a “lowlife hanger on”?
Sure. You're climbing the greasy pole and not quite succeeding. I spent many years working with name dropping guys like you. Can smell you a mile away.
If your grievance against me, personally, is one held against people in my broader industry - high finance on the sell-side - then that bespeaks an ignorance of what investment bankers, particularly M&A bankers, do for a living. (Selective) trading in gossip and “name dropping” is a big part of the day-to-day job.
In a fortuitous turn of events, I was fortunate to fall into a fantastic niche about 18 months ago, and I readily admit my good fortune. I happened to have deep relationships in two different, highly complementary industries at a pivotal moment. I capitalized on this with a friend of mine, and it has taken my career in an entirely different direction. It could potentially be a “career-ending” opportunity, depending on how long it lasts, as well as a number of unknowns entirely outside of my control.
That opportunity has given me greater confidence that I can do more than simply peddle advice, and I’m spending a lot of time thinking about businesses I could start friends of similar age and background who are tired of working for someone else. I have three in mind.
Notwithstanding what I wrote above, I believe your true grievance against me stems from the fact that I fail to recognize Israel’s divine right to kill pesky Palestinians (or the people who are trying to feed them).
I can't say this is accurate because I've never met the man in person, but his online persona is pretty much the definition of an arriviste. I get the impression that he sees Jews in his industry as an obstacle to his further ambitions. He's great at cheek-by-jowl namedropping and relating all of his successful deals, but he never mentions any significant other in his life or children. Could be a virgin for all I know, not that there's anything wrong with that, I certainly have my own problems finding female companionship.
Innocents get killed in war and at least according to one West Point professor civilian deaths are remarkably low in Gaza by normal urban combat statistics. The word murder means intent and if anyone outside of Jew-haters (including the self-hating Israeli left represented by Ha'aretz) thinks that any IDF soldier would do this on purpose, knowing full well what kind of blowback there'd be, is simply not being rational. On the other hand, the mind virus known as Jews On The Brain, often results in irrational thinking. Sort of like that brain pathogen that causes mice to be attracted to cat urine.
“I will get you fired if you criticize me” isnt the noble position you think it is.
Not sure if that's at me, but being noble isn't my gig anyways.
Personally, I'm a person that (internet-)enjoys most of the people in this whole debate, but this seems unfairly harsh.
I also use a pseudonym so I can espouse forthrightly patriotic views. What's wrong with it?
If Sherman name drops too much, wouldn't it be more appropriate to rib him as one would a college buddy doing same?
This seems like a good place for this: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C4i4EHRpNAI/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet
shes so lonely shes displaying how easy it is to kidnap her
I couldn’t click the pause button fast enough.
Opposite. Watched for the sheer titillating horror of her visage
Only way I would watch is if I had those solar eclipse glasses.
At this point she HAS to two bills.
From The Office:
Michael Scott: (discussing Phyllis’ friend Sandy) Could we share a rowboat? Could…could a rowboat support her?
Phyllis Lapin: ….What are you asking?
MS: I think I’m being very clear what I’m asking. Would an average-sized rowboat support her without capsizing?
MS: (long pause) It bothers me that you’re not answering the question.
PL: No, all right? No, she can’t fit in a rowboat.
MS: Dammit, I knew it, I knew it, Phyllis!
She’s for sure closing in. 5 yrs from now should be kinda rough if she stays on her current path…speaking from my own experience at home 😑.
Mostly posted as an inside joke for myself and whoever remembers the comment, “a girl so ugly it makes you hate Jews.”
I still crack up thinking about it.
Agree.
FWIW, I don't think Sherman's a bad guy. He just has no concept of the brutality of war, what combat operations are like... we're talking about someone so comfortable in safety and privilege that he publicly admitted that he would surrender his $200k+ sports car at the mere suggestion of violence. People like this are often judgemental of what happens in war, in very simplistic terms, based on their own politics and values. Of course, politics and values mean nothing in combat...
José Andrés had an op-ed in the NYT yesterday. He has a one-sided cognitive dissonant view of that region. He may be the best chef in the world, but his expertise ends right there. Would he let an IDF soldier tell him how to cook? He should not have sent anyone into a war zone. This is a venture that requires cold hard logic, not how it makes you feel.
Sorry for his loss.
People trying to help always see to get the bad end.
He is pretty torn up about it. Talked to him last night.
I bet he is in shock and it will take some time to heal. That is not how you expect to loose someone. Especially when they are trying to help those legitimately in need.
He is a fairly emotional person who wears his heart on his sleeve. This despite the fact that he is nearly 7 feet tall and has a booming voice (like Foghorn Leghorn).
Unlike me, he is not motivated by money. He chooses to do this sort of work because it’s meaningful and important to him.
We need more people like this.
Hoping to talk to him again tonight.
I am afraid that he will be bound and determined to go to Gaza as a result of this.
i dunno how you can look around and blindly defend this system as anyone of any conservative values anymore. truly a mystery to me.
I think you are right on in your 4th paragraph about the younger generation’s prospects and how they see things. I’m almost at that position myself…
I have total sympathy for them. Why should they care whether or not I keep my house, when they have no chance of ever seeing one?
I keep trying to point this out to my wife every time she bitches our house is too small. "WE HAVE A HOUSE!" Drives me nuts.
Scott you have 3 kids.
Siding with your wife on this one.
3 SMALL kids. I told her 3 years which is when my salary doubles and we can get the house we want in the neighborhood we want.
How much more will homes have appreciated by then?
One of mine is out in the workforce, and is sort of resigned to renting for a long, long time. I try to be optimistic with her and my younger one, but it’s hard to do so when the wrong thing is being done daily by our Fearless Leaders.
On a side note, interested in Driving for Harambe.
Some smart property developer is going to figure out how to make a modern-day Levittown with affordable, perhaps factory built, homes. The size of the millennial and Gen Z cohorts are too large to ignore as markets.
I think it's the size of their wallets, compared to the price of land, that matters.
The problem is you can’t build that in many places these days. It’s akin to what the CAFE standards did, so building is incentivized to only make utility shitboxes for section 8 housing or very large and expense developments for the PMC.
This is a great comment. CAFE killed small cars, a myriad of Big Government programs killed affordable housing.
As Milton Friedman said, if you put the government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in 5 years there would be a shortage of sand.
I wish them well with the endeavor, but the economics just don't work for small single family homes these days. The fixed construction costs of land price, site prep, and permitting don't change much between a 1000 sq. ft. two bedroom bungalow and a 3500 sq. ft. McMansion. Oddly enough the construction time and labor costs are very close as well. So they have the choice of selling the small houses below cost or selling the big ones for a profit. Not a tough business decision.
I've often wondered how much more it costs a company like Mercedes to make a S-Class vs a C-Class. Obviously a twin turbo V8 is going to cost more to make than an inline four but the labor and capital costs for the factories and equipment should be about the same, shouldn't they?
Yep. The higher the fixed costs become the harder it is to make a profit on the lower end. Only real way to do it is to boost volume.
McLaren's rep told me that they can't make a $40,000 sports car because they simply don't have the capacity to build them in the tens of thousands that it would require to be profitable. It looks like Mazda sells about 20,000 to 25,000 Miatas worldwide every year.
This is just bragging but I drove a 997 GT2RS to pick up my girlfriend for dinner one night, and while I was waiting for her to get ready I read a R&T review of it saying that car will pull 1G of acceleration in 2nd gear.
So we got in the car and I promptly tried it. I don’t know if it really was a full G but watching her neck snap forward between 2nd and 3rd, I believe it.
I also remember the car had a GMG muffler but the loudest noise in the cabin with windows up was the turbo. About the only 911 I think is cool.
Objectively speaking, the stock 911 GT2 had about as much spice as a Yamaha XSR900. But it felt stronger than that, for sure.
Sir I humbly contend that an xsr900 is more spice with a 160lbs rider on it.
They trap about the same 126-128mph... assuming one light-ish person in both.
But I wasn't referring to trap speed. I guess we need to define 'spice' eh?
The XSR900 can toss you off, that's for sure!
Is that written in en-GB or en-US?
lmao boom just called you fat
I'm merely saying the weight of the rider matters significantly more on a 400lb motorcycle, compared to a 3000 lbs car..
Jack doesn’t weigh 3000lbs man. Thats just mean.
I had a 996T with the EVOMS 700 kit, I would suggest that the AWD Turbo pulled more Gs than the RWD GT2... That car could hurt your neck on the 1-2 and 2-3 upshifts.
In 2024, it's all about housing costs and availability. All. Food's cheap (yes, still, by historical standards), transportation's more or less the same as ever, and education and health care are still expensive but finally stopped going up faster than general inflation. But we have a shortage of several million houses, probably more if you disregard empty houses in places with zero jobs. And the usual practices of American capitalism imply that anyone who needs a house amidst the shortage is going to have every last penny shaken out of not only their own pockets but also those of anyone who will lend them a buck.
How to fix it? Two things.
(1) Let developers build more houses in the strong job markets. Yep, that probably means an apartment tower is going to go up on top of your local King Soopers, and likely the Target too. Too damn bad. No one being able to afford rent is much worse.
(2) Crack down on certain exploitative practices related to housing. This is not a call for rent control or expensive "tenant protections" that actually drive rent up. It means no constructive evictions, clear disclosure of fees, no discrimination, and no charging 3 months in advance.
be great if there was something in place that allowed you to evict someone if they didnt pay their rent immediately
There's a balance there. Evictions permanently wreck people's ability to get any housing and that consequence is so extreme that it doesn't seem right to me to evict immediately. But the current system where people can often get 6 months or more just by following the process faithfully isn't right either. I think if I were dictator you'd get a 60 day clock (from the second rent is overdue to when your belongings are sitting on the street) the first time and less grace if it happened again.
yeah its never as easy as it looks but i would like some improvement on the current situation
I think we also need to have some consideration for who the landlord is. I had a rental house for about 5 years. It was because I lost my ass on a house and couldn’t sell it. So I rented it for $300/mo less than the mortgage. I couldn’t have reasonably afforded the eviction process; fortunately I never needed to.
OTOH, if some private equity or equivalent owns your house, maybe there’s a little more leeway given to the tenant. I dunno. This idea isn’t fully baked. But there’s gotta be some differentiation between the guy squeaking by with 1-2-3 houses, and someone who owns 100+.
One thing notable about your story is that you lost money on a house. If we were in a situation where that were commonplace nationwide, we'd need a lot less in the way of tenant protections. But with a shortage and ever-increasing values, landlords have all the leverage. Maybe (spitballing here) you could say that if rents have gone up by some % annually in the local market it's harder to evict.
Tenant protections vs property rights ends up being a swinging pendulum. The "emergency" eviction moratoriums and squatter's rights stuff seems to have swung that pendulum WAY too far onto the side of the tenant protections. That is going have to swing back the other way (and probably go too far in that direction). If it doesn't, owning rental properties only becomes economically viable for very large property holders. Large absentee landlords owning all the property is never a recipe for society success.
Don't forget WAGES.
My neighborhood doesn't have any more room for housing. I'd support MORE zoning where knocking down two perfectly adequate houses to build one mansion isn't allowed. As long as we're dreaming, I'm making townhomes illegal because I hate them.
ON 2) Agree in principle but suspect we'd disagree in practice.
WTF is wrong with you? You don't want to live in an apartment block out of Blade Runner or Brazil (Terry Gilliam version)?
not gonna lie... the world of Blade Runner looks pretty cool to me, but I skew toward dystopias and misanthropy.
Mea culpa for leaving off the Dredd Mega-block or Robocop Delta City.
What if all the houses looked just like the biggest ones in your neighborhood do now, but had 4 or 6 units in them? That describes some of the most desirable neighborhoods in Chicago.
I've come around on this in recent years. If people want urban/inner ring suburban housing to be affordable on average salaries, something has got to give. And that something is single family zoning.
It's not the greatest, but neither is endless sprawl or increasingly slummy old suburbs full of obsolete retail space and decaying houses no one wants.
What I think is funny is that in some urban areas, the denser spaces are more expensive and thus a much worse value, considering the home only. Surely this is not true in Chicago or NYC, but in Cleveland, you could pay an obscene price for condo in a large building and yet houses (ok, not especially desirable ones due to crime and schools) are less. Once you step outside that large building, you are still in the area with bad schools and car thefts.
There are decent inner ring suburbs that are inexpensive (relatively speaking). Then, homes get larger and more expensive as you drive further out. I guess my point is that you maybe could have a middle ground of modest single family homes and bring prices down. All the action is in large houses 50 min from downtown and "luxury" condos.
Are those pricy condos even desirable in a place like downtown Cleveland? The whole argument falls apart in these marginal smaller cities where they're still trying to pull out of a decline and kickstart the urban core as someplace desirable again.
The problem there is getting the critical mass of residents, jobs, and commercial downtown so that it becomes self sustaining. But it's difficult to draw people in when they live or work in some far flung suburb and have to traverse through shithole parts of town just to get there.
Smaller cities (and aging inner ring suburbs) would be better off eminent domaining whole neighborhoods and building fresh single family housing stock on the existing street grid. That's better than pushing families further and further out.
I don't know. What marks desirable? The asking price? Downtown Cleveland is not a good place to live if you are looking at the ratio of homeless people to grocery stores.
I'm not sure I see how your suggestion would help unless you mean the new single family housing would be denser. I live 10 min from downtown and you couldn't make my lot any smaller.
Luxury - or “luxury” - condos are a tough sell in most places.
Thin buyer pool, and the owner doesn’t have much recourse against the four figure monthly HOA fees. If your landlord raises your rent, you can elect to leave. If your monthly fee goes from $1,500 to $2,000, or there’s a special assessment, if makes it that much harder for you to get out of it.
If we're going that route, I'd prefer them to be less ugly. What's the saying? money can't buy taste. Some of the tackiest shit I've ever seen.
3rd thing, related to your #2…Wall Street does not need to be buying houses. Or farms for that matter…
If there weren't a shortage, there would be no return in it for them, and they would stop buying. There's a reason they weren't heavily involved until the shortage became acute.
True, that’s the market at work. But I’d be ok if there was a thumb on the scale limiting ownership to individuals.
The most annoying thing about competing with them is I don't have a 10mm dollar line of credit sitting around to offer cash and pay back the loan later. "Oooh, cash buyer, lets go with him" And if housing does all collapse, which wouldn't surprise, we'll bail them out!
Well of course. When you own THOUSANDS of homes, you're too big to fail?
Here in Vermont we've got an extreme housing crisis. All started by a bunch of boomers back in the 60's and 70's hell bent on maintaining our "rural agrarian" character. Unfortunately, they made it too expensive for anyone to farm here (plus you have to have a factory farm to survive today's environment anyway) and you can't build any housing to lower cost of living. Add insane taxes and regulations for businesses and you've got our current situation. Everyone I grew up with moved to another state for better opportunities and the legislature's plan is to on raise taxes on whoever is left. Great plan guys!
Thankfully there's a growing group of objectors saying enough is enough and we actually saw some decent zoning reform in our biggest city which should help a little. The way things are going, it'll be at least a decade for things to really turn around.
Yeah I love our governments hypocrisy.
I remember when we accidentally bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade. Initial reports were that we had outdated maps.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_bombing_of_the_Chinese_embassy_in_Belgrade
Sorry Jack it was not because we were trying to take out an Iron Chef who served bad Peking Duck. Although I do t watch those shows don’t hate the player hate the game. Have nothing against Gordon Ramsay doing his hustle, but I think we would be better served if Food Network was just taken out.
Just saying.
As I recall the accidentally put that pickle right through a window.
I’m believe you are correct and possibly the first bomb footage we all watched up until impact on the news. Until they figured out it was the wrong delivery point.
IIRC, the Belgrade Chinese were giving targeting data to the "enemy" and their 3C was taken out.
Yes there was a lot going on behind the scenes but there are other ways to take care of issues. Once you start targeting embassies other unintended consequences happen.
I just remember the map explanation immediately after and thought BS.
But if sending a message you can’t get any clearer.
20+years a fan of Alton Brown; not sure what Food is doing these days but it can't be as cool as 1999ish was. Most of us could likely retire on the budget from a season of Emeril Live.
I did like the show where he explained the science behind cooking. I find a show I like on that network and they cancel it. I did like Justin Wilson, but that ragin Cajun was pre food network. That’s hot I gaur un tee!
I think YouTube still has a clip with Mr Wilson’s hilarious response to a lady who wrote to express her frustration with his refusal to measure ingredients…
Ha
Yes.
I have watched his stuff from time to time. He was a character
His best quote: "My favorite wine is the one closest to me".
After the first bottle I absolutely agree with him. Just keep it coming. Once I pass out then every 15 minutes.
BAM
Easter was one year since my last time making Emeril’s Macaroni and Four Cheeses recipe for my uncle Charlie, a WW II veteran who passed away in June. Plenty of great memories from that alone.
Alton is most fun when he gets drunk and starts posting random shit on twitter.
I love watching cooking shows on youtube. It gives me great ideas on what to used my overpriced knives on.
I love that you said cooking shows and not Dexter.
Silence of the lambs
Some say the reason the Chinese embassy was bombed was because it had the remains of the F-117 that was shot down earlier and the Yugoslavs were transferring some of the technology recovered from the crash site to the Chinese.
I am sure there was enough left to go to both the Chinese and the Russians.
If that was the reason that was pretty blunt. There are more opaque ways to get a message across that both parties would understand.
In another life I was on early talks to help Switzer fix some of the boo boos on these cars, but, never came to pass.
The guy came across as a class A schmuck, to borrow a term.
You tune cars?
I can, and have done a lot of them on the side... Professionally there isn't anything I CAN'T tune, if you catch my drift, pun intended.
Nice! Is there any chance you can advise me on a standalone ecu for my Miata? I don't want anything trick, just something that can approximate OEM smoothness and ease of starting on a modified 4cyl. Maybe ITBs, but certainly not a turbo or E85 or anything like that. Wanted to know if there was something I ought to look for or avoid.
Sure thing, but what generation Miata and what mods does it have?
Thanks, It is currently a bone-stock 1990 Miata, but I'd like to build a full-house 1.8L Miata engine for it with substantial port work, cams, high compression, full intake and exhaust, and possibly individual throttle bodies. I'd also like it to run on 91 octane (as it's all we've got here) with the ability to start in the wintertime. If the ECU can do datalogging, that'd be awesome too. I am not sure if the same ecu could be carried over from my stock 1.6 to that engine.
My preferred solution for something like this would be a link atom, but you could also use any of the squirts, a PE, or if you want to get fancier a haltech.
Honestly I think for what you described the atom would be near perfect, and not too hard on the budget..
If you can get one of smaller aem infintys those would be an option to, but they're now out of production after Holley bought them out, so support in the future may cease to exist.
I'll second a Link ECU and anything else they make. I'm friends with one of the North American sales guys, and most of my friends with nasty turbo drift cars run Link stuff. From what I've seen, they offer a ton of control, they're pretty damn user-friendly, and their customer and tech support is great. If I was going swap the ECU in my hemi Dakota from Holly (considering), or build something else that needs a stand alone someday, it'll be a Link.
He had some real virtues. Other aspects of his character were terrifying.
I'd like to hear about said 'virtues'.
I think he understood tuning pretty well, and I rarely saw him damage anything in the pursuit of bigger numbers. He stuck by his wife when she got cancer, and I've seen plenty of men leave in that situation.
Thoroughly disagree with the first, which is less a virtue and more a skill anyways. He had a right hand man, Boyan Radimovich (I may have gotten his last name wrong, or butchered it atleast) - really nice guy, who himself admitted to several shortcomings when I questioned him about those GTRs are how they did in a 10 minute conversation at PRI. Switzer was all swagger and no sauce, IMO.
As for the latter, if you want to consider not being a literal turd of a spouse the standard for being virtuous, I won't disagree. I would consider that a pretty standard expectation.
Most of the base tunes also came, if I recall correctly, from a fellow named Scott Slauson.