Even though they've been around for about 10 years, I just started listening to Porcupine Tree. They play some very etherial and intricate music. Fascinating lyrics (and they can really sing!) and the recording quality is excellent. They also release on vinyl.

Adrian Belew and Robert Fripp opened for them a few times on their last tour. That will give you an idea what camp they are in. This is not mindless rock n' roll.

Here are the albums I own:
(I've made a killer collage CD from them)

The recent hooha on Tara (along with its inconclusive conclusion) begs a few questions about interconnecting cables. I can understand Michael's wanting to begin the cable auditioning process with the preamp-to-phono preamp connection -- the phono preamp, as my tiny brain understands the situation, is asked to perform a more delicate task than other links in the chain.

So I picked one of these up the other day to convert some LP's and do other various recording tasks, I was blown away at how good it sounded, especially the headphone jack. It also is plug and play in both windows and mac, when I opened adobe audition it automatically saw the device and was ready to go. Anyone else try one of these?

A new Hi-Fi store has opened in Columbia, Missouri, Pure Audio. They offer full two channel and home theater solutions. They carry such brands as Arcam, Crimson Electronics, Resolution Audio, Tannoy and ATC Loudspeakers. They have ATC 50's on the show room floor, please feel free to drop by and take a listen, I hear the sound is amazing!

Their website is:

www.pureaudiohome.com