Hmm, this is interesting. Obviously, living in Florida all my life, I know nothing first-hand about snow tires. But, on numerous forums centering around Volvos, I have heard that the Nokian Hakkapeliitta line of snow tires are the best in the world. Or, perhaps, among the best in the world. Any of y...

A picture is worth a thousand words, so they say, so take a look at this picture that I found and posted on another forum that I frequent, under the same username, N7SC. Note the relative orientations of the truck/SUV and the Volvo wagon. BTW, my Volvo looks almost exactly like the wagon in the pict...

MikeC: Merry Xmas to you and yours as well. Thanks for SPCR, which is one of the two most intelligent and thoughtful forums that I frequent. Aristide: Good point about the long term savings of discouraging smoking by raising the tax. To answer the original question of this thread at a more personal ...

I have a PC-A10, and love it. It does need to be quieted down a little more, but it is nowhere near as loud as I had feared an aluminum case would be. It is sitting on the top of my desk, about 18" from my ears, and level with them. The noise it produces is very close to me and this drastically incr...

I live in North Central Florida, just southwest of Gainesville (univ. of fl.) and nw of Ocala (aka "Oldcala" or "Slowcala," crawling with retirees). My family's ties are to Gainesville, and UF. Due to several factors: the drop in real estate values, huge backlog of homes for sale, previous governor'...

Thanks for the reply and info. It is very helpful. The outputs from the C 28, in fact all of its connections, are unbalanced, RCA jacks. The C 28 is from the early 1970's, long before balanced, XLR, connections were used, even in high-end stereo systems (of which the C 28 actually was the highest of...

Okay, but how about two (or more) questions at once? First one, alluded to above: The Tape out from my preamplifier (a McIntosh c 28, pretty standard home stereo type preamp), goes directly into the computer's built in sound system. The manual for the C 28 gives the tape out specification as 0.75V a...

Is the Audiophile 24/96 the best of the two cards that I am considering (the 24/96 and the 192)? In a simple set-up like mine, would it make any difference that the 192 uses the Envy 24HT chip (1724 chip) versus the 24/96 using the plain (but with hardware mixing) Envy 24 (1712) chip? And, are M-Aud...

May I jump in and ask for opinions on what kind of sound card, if any, you guys would recommend for me? If so, then, here goes: I use my computer connected to my stereo system, through the Tape 2 connections (Tape 2 ins and outs on the preamp) and use it like a tape deck. Thus all connections have t...

I'm curious what the thoughtful SPCR crowd thinks about the actual goals of economic growth. Pumping GNP in itself has no merits, it's simply something we can easily measure, a tool, or rather a means, to achieve other actual goals like better standard of living and cures for diseases etc. I don't ...

NEC LCD2070NX -White/Silver Virtually silent. Is running at 48% brightness, and 41% contrast, and I have to put my ear within 4" of the vents on the top of the back to hear a very, very quiet, whine. And, BTW, I have the hearing of a dog or bat, and the audiometry results to prove it. No one else i...

The question that I have pasted in below has been asked on a number of forums. It is pretty touchy, but still respectful, and has an innocence about it that really begs some consideration. Especially with what we are being "sold" on this topic during this election season. Here goes, along with my th...

This just in: Fluctuations in the quantum vacuum field, caused by the Large Hadron Collider have caused the appearance of micro or mini black holes, right here on Earth! Further, in an even more bizzare development: The Rays have clinched the AL East Division Crown! OH MY GOD! WE'RE ALL DOOMED! WHO ...

Even though the LHC had problems right after start-up, its operators still managed to run some protons around the ring several times, and to narrow the beam width. And, as doom-sayers have feared, the huge atom-smashing machine has altered the universe and warped reality. How else can you explain th...

Well, now to start the most epic flame wars ever: Was just thinking about something that needs to be said and discussed. Preferably rationaly and politely. That is that Sen. John McCain has given in, or broken, at least twice in his life. The first time was in Viet Nam. Yes, he was brutally tortured...

The thing above the GFX card is a cooling/fan duct that comes with the case. There is a fan inside it, sucking air from the motherboard/GFX card area and blowing it straight toward the camera, against the solid aluminum side of the duct that you can see in the photo. The solid side of the duct force...

The Lian-Li PC-A10 is *supposed* to be an ATX case, but the motherboard tray is, I think, easily big enough for an eATX motherboard. I can measure mine if you like and post measurements. I have a full ATX motherboard, the watercooling pump, and the reservior all mounted on the removable MB tray, and...

Sorry to say this, but my Lian-Li PC-A10A is 21.5" deep. And that is just from the front of the case to the back of the thumbscrews on the back. That does not leave any room for air flow. So a stock PC-A10 would need at least 23.5" to 24", and that is bare minimum. Mine is watercooled too, so there ...

Update: Have had a Mirra chair from the local Herman Miller dealer since Monday evening. Love it! My 23-year-old daughter and I think it has much better back support than the Aeron. Much more comfortable. Even my price-conscious wife liked the Mirra, although she thought it looked a bit too big for ...

Okay, I never said that increased temp and humidity would decrease the speed of sound in air. I did say, and can back up, that it does decrease the density of air, and I thought, therefore, that lower density would slow the transmission of sound in air - I think it does in other, admittedly non-gase...

And remark about older question - sound on hot muggy day - speed of sound increases with temperature and humidity. Probably your perfectly aligned speakers do not like faster speeds :) Increased temperature and increased humidity actually decrease the density of air, all else being equal, therefore...

Arvo, I apologize if it sounded like I was complaining about your english. It is better than many US Americans that I speak with every day. Your point about what is important to a true music lover is very clear and good, indeed. As for the reviewer that changed the fuse and then thought the amplifie...

The phenomenon is called "more money than brains." And, no matter what the people who buy into this crap like to think of themselves, they are NOT audiophiles. Being a true lover of audio (the meaning of "audiophile") means taking the time and effort to educate one's self about that which they love....

N7SC, my monitor weighs just under 20kg and I can't believe the rest of the stuff on my desk adds another 5. I'd hope it'd be OK with only half its max load. Yes, but what I'd worry about is how much force or load I'd put on it if I leaned on it. This can be more than you might expect. Then there a...

Derek, I'd be a bit concerned about the low capacity of the Fredrik too, even though it is adjustable. The design looks like it might be prone to racking or tilting sideways too. The shelves and desk top can be strengthened by gluing/nailing edgeing to it. Will explain if you are at all interested. ...

May I suggest one important criteria for a desk? Adjustable height. Sounds funny, but makes sense. I've been researching top of the line ergonomic chairs, like the Aeron by Herman Miller (am actually sitting in one their dealer lent me to try right now), and found a wealth of studies about desk/chai...

The Herman Miller dealer found their "B" sized Aeron and I've exchanged the big "C" size one for it today. There is quite a difference, and the "B" is a much better fit for me. It is noticably smaller than the "C" was, and much more comfortable for me, even though I am just a bit over 6' tall. This ...

Those things concern me too. We've made it policy, in our house, to unplug everything that is not being used. The only exceptions are the DSL modem (it takes forever at times to synch up and get itself started), the wireless router that it is attached to, and my LCD monitor (fully off = about 1 watt...

To clarify, I did not mean to encourage overclocking, was just giving the specs of my system, which was not originally built for audio work. Sorry if I was not clearer about that. Bonestonne is quite right about audio playback using little CPU power, and even recording does not tax my system above a...

Though I did not start out to build what you call a "High Performance Digital Stereo Source," I kind of wound up with one. Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 (overclocked to 3.0GHz, watercooled) Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 Memory: 2 Gigabytes of Kingston RAM Hard Drive: Seagate 320GB SATA II (3...