Now this is what vinyl is all about!!! 39 cent records, now $25. http://store.acousticsounds.com/browse_detail.cfm?Title_ID=48363

I've not been very active on the Stereophile forum for the past few weeks because I've been spending my time online following the economic news. This morning I finally had the chance to log into the forum and I checked the new posts in the "General Rants'n'Raves" section of the forum fully expecting to see at least one thread dealing with the issue of the failing US (and possibly world) economy and what the impact might be on the world of high end audio. Since I could find no such thread I figured it was high time to start one.

When I first put this CD in rotation I was taken back with how great it sounded. A quick look at the label explains why "recording engineer Rudy Van Gelder". This is going to be in rotation for a long time as it is an excellent recording and performance. Mr Person has a nice backing set with piano, bass and drums and guitar on 4 tracks but what I really like is that Mr Person does not overly lay down his sax playing on the songs, he gives the other artists a chance to showcase their talents but when he blows the sax it is smooth and sweet.

JA forwarded this to me: 13 Reasons Why We Shouldn't Go Crate-Digging.

Funny, and oh so true. Except they are making new old records these days.

Oh, my aching back.

Hi

Ive just paid $60 for the newly released box set of albums.

This is not music, its art !! Forgetting that the albums sound better the overall package of 4 fresh albums in a box set with 4 sleeves and a great 24 page colour full size insert just adds so much to the experience of listening to the music.

Albums are just so much more emotionally linked to music than any silver disc or memory device ever will be, it just feels right to put on that big black disk watch it rotate and see the stylus tracking, it feels as if your part of the process not just using an Ipod

I am an admitted newbie looking for advice setting up a new 2.0/2.1 home system primarily for audio. I have a pair of nice speakers--paragon acoustics radiant (smaller company, no longer in business, has Dynaudio drivers). I am looking for an appropriate set up to power them--amp or integrated receiver/amp (I think).

Priorities:
Sound
Budget
ease of running source from Mac as well as CD

the specs of the speakers are as follows:
Paragon "Radiant" speakers

i wondered if anyone is now using this cart or has experience with it they would like to share. i just got the chance to get one at a really good price, so went for it. i can resell if i don't like it. the seller was moving way up the food chain. i am coming to this from the benz mc silver (which i will keep). are there any generalizations as to how the clearaudio products sound vs. benz products?
thanks for any input.

tom

Related to my most recent post regarding optimum sizing for in-wall backboxes, I have now turned my attention to another issue that we must resolve. I am putting an addition on my house. I would like to minimize the sound transmission through the common wall (formerly an exterior wall--now interior)between the addition and existing house. I have the luxury/flexibility, now, to insulate and/or apply different products to the wall framing to accomplish my objective. The room in the existing house is a "family room" that will be used for home theater/tv/...