The Ever-Changing HT - Page 54

Thanks for the kind words guys.

Happy Easter.

Thanks again for the support guys. And yes Tigerstripe, we believe that this is the best for the both of us and we plan to remain close friends, so it is not all that bad.

That reaction is understandable. It certainly isn't easy or enjoyable, but in the end it probably is for the best. Sometimes all we need is a fresh start.

On a happier note, after many weeks of planning and buying all just the right cables and components, I finally got my rack back into something more credible.

Sorry for the piss-poor photography, but it is really hard to capture all black components as they look in natural light with my point and shoot Canon. With the flash, everything looks like it was lit by blast furnace, and without, I lose detail and focus.

Before


After


Before


After

You can get the cable looms on amazon for about $10.

http://www.amazon.com/Monster-CIT-MW.../dp/B000WNG0MW

And the little cable clips are here:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000AQOHM

Hey CD -

I'd prefer not to get into the details of my personal life on a public forum, as I'm sure you understand.

Nope, and I probably never will. Sorry, but I've pretty much run the course with trying out different players and whatnot. I just don't find the differences all that meaningful, and I'm quite happy with the sound quality and convenience of running all of my music off of Mac Mini. No more single disc listening sessions for me.

I'm afraid so LDG. I've got all that I need and I've tried all that I care to. Maybe in a few years I might consider different speakers, but it depends on a lot of things. Most of all, I fear that living in an apartment is going to kill the need for anything better.

The DBP-2010 is actually a very nice player. One of the things that I most like about it is that the disc loading is quiet and solid. It operates like what you would expect from a $700 player (when you can get a good player for less than half that). I got it for a steal on amazon too. Only $300 NIB from an authoirzed seller. If you don't need 3D, it is a great buy right now.

I wasn't trying to paint a negative picture when I commented on the apartment living conditions, just being realistic. I will do my damnedest to get a place to live that does have a better room layout, and the ability to listed at reasonably enthusiastic levels, but it may not be right away.

Paradigm will always have a fond place in my memory. I think they make very good sounding speakers at prices that are justified for the quality provided. Congrats on the great deal. I forget, what are your main speakers?

Mine too. It was my dream system. Looking back on it, it does seem rather rash of me to have sold it all off, but at the time, it was causing more frustration that it was worth.

That's a great new system you've put together. And yes, I think that you could easily start moving you money towards other manly past times like, sports cars and never really have to worry if you are missing out.

My life is full of change and compromise right now, and I actually just traded in the Porsche for a VW GTI. It isn't the head turner that the Porsche was, but is it is fun car and in some ways I like it better than the 10 year old Porsche. The fact that the GTI is new, helps put my mind at ease about large out of pocket expenses and there were a couple of things that really bugged me about the Porsche. Even though the interior looked like new, it sounded like it was coming apart at the seams on rough roads. The creaking, rattling and squeaking drove me nuts. And even though it was a "shiftable" Tiptronic automatic, it was still an automatic, which is no replacement for the level of driver involvement of a true manual.

So really, starting over seems to be a common theme for me right now.

Speaking of "bolt on" mods for the GTI, I just had the ECU reprogrammed to give me 50 more HP and close 100 more ft pounds of torque! It's amazing how much VW restricts the power available from the stock motor. I can't really get a full feel of the added power, since I'm still breaking in the motor, but once the turbo winds up, it really starts to pull. In another 1000 miles or so, I can start pushing it closer to red line to see what it can really do.

I saw Tron in the theater, but haven't yet viewed / listened at home. Thanks for the reminder. I'll put it in my queue.

While I like the idea of the DSG auto trans, I find that for me to really feel engaged when driving that I need a manual, so that's what I went with. I'm not going to go too mod crazy, but I'll probably drop it to close the gap between wheel and wheel well and to give it a sportier stance. I also swapped out the OEM US tail lights for the OEM Euro tails, had it tinted and clear bra.

OEM US


OEM Euro