hi guys,
im a young guy starting my first real rig. I've come across the oppurtunity to get my hands on either a NAD 304 or 3020B. They would be driving a pair of shelf's with vifa drivers. I am aware the the 3020 is less powerful than the 304, however im not that concern with power, the speakers are qite easy to run.

As a home delivery customer I get the Sunday NY Times Arts and Leisure section a day early. Tomorrow's (8/6) Times "Playlist" by Nate Chinen touts the re-release of the 1967 proto-fusion album by The Free Spirits. This was guitarist Larry Coryell's shot at jazz-rock and frankly it's not very good and is sunk by truly awful vocals and lyrics. But Coryell is escaping blame because The Times says "the band's chief creative force was the guitarist Larry CARLTON"! Newspaper of record?

Have a 25 year old Dual 522 in good shape. It came with the small Ortofon cartridge custom-designed for that series of turntables, which was supposed to control tonearm resonance. Cartridge was supposed to be equivalent to OM5. I would like to upgrade to something better, e.g OM20 Super, OM30 Super, X3-MC, Grado, I don't know.
What cartridges work well with such a light tonearm?
Is this low end turntable worth the upgrade (will there be a surprise)?

I've got a little confession to make to all you regulars over here at the Stereophile forum. I've been spending some time over at Head-Fi.org and I must say things are a bit strange over there, to say the least.

Got into my first minor flame war (I didn't start it, I swear!! - people even came to my defense!) and it didn't take much to ruffle some feathers. A lot of the users there sure are wet behind the ears as far as audio goes but at least they're trying. Seem to be rather young compared to the crowd around here but we know we just a bunch of grey haired old farts, don't we?

I need help. Im looking for a 5.1 or greater speaker set-up. I would like to stay at or below $3,000. I have read some good reviews on the JMLABS Chorus S and I have found a shop the has the 726S, 706S, SW700S and the CC700S for a total of $2327. Is there a better set within my budget that will deliver better performance?

...or are all the writers more defensive than usual in the August issue? Honestly, I find the defensiveness (and cattiness) toward those who disagree with subjectivists (or analogphiles, and vice versa) tiresome. Just give me your impressions of the equipment and leave the "nanny, nanny, boo, boo" stuff out.