I've been trying to do my share Lon, really I have.

BTW I have the old Golden Tube Audio SE40 set up and dusted off for the first round of my smackdown battle vs my Taboo. The SE 40 has all the recent upgrades I know about and I have JJ 6L6GC, RCA blackplate 6L6 and SED 6L6GC and a set of Sylvania 5881 from the 60's with brown base and yellow lightning tops (try finding those now in a sixtet)  :)

Lon: I guess everyone's noticed that this forum seems if not moribund, then VERY quiet anyway.  The other (few) audio forums I visit seem much the same- maybe it's just my perception. There's always those people, some with many thousands of posts, who feel compelled to respond to every single topic. Then there's the "regulars" and then the newer members.
Dunno if it's the economic times or what, but without the input of the above mentioned "regulars", the place would really suffer.
Looking forward to your impressions of your new amp & speakers!
Don

Howdy Lon,

Thanks for thinking about me .....  

I'm not sure about the others, but my recent bout of illness took a little of the wind out of my sails and put me into a pattern of lurking more than posting.  I'm still not up to speed because of the side effects from the treatments I have been going through for the past few months, but I am slowly getting my strength back.

In addition to not feeling the best, a life threatening illness can have the effect of causing a person to focus on what is really important in life.  As much as I love music (and I REALLY do love music) there are only so many hours in a day and I have been sharing some of the listening and forum posting time that I previously spent with some other activities I enjoy ..... such as spending time with my family, bird watching, tending to my collection of miniature houseplants, gardening and playing my acoustic guitar (I know, I know ..... that falls into the music category).

Of course, the most important thing in my life is the pursuit of spiritual things ..... to which I have apportioned a suitable amount of my time and limited energy.

Unfortunately, because of the treatment I was receiving, I missed the DecFest for the first time this year .....    

I plan to attend the HornFest that is coming up in a couple of weeks and if I am still breathing I will be at the 2009 DecFest .....    

In addition to the fact that most of the posters to this forum are very busy people with a lot of interests, there are a lot of audio forums out there.  That might account for folks being "spread a little thin".

Even so, I will make an effort to post a bit more often (on the rare occasion that I have something intelligent to contribute) and hope that some of the other regulars will do the same.

As a sign says in one of our local 24 hour Caintuck greasy spoon restaurants ..... "We may doze, but we never close" .....

Thanks for the friendly reminder and best wishes,

Randy

Life gets in the way. It is understandable that people re-prioritize. As we get closer and closer to 'audio nirvana' the steps get closer together and the sense of urgency lessens.

Also a lot of the daily conversations were not truly audio related... "just dropped in with a thought" has moved to the many online friends networks such as twitter, facebook, myspace etc. They all are junk to me because few people give audio past Itunes a second thought.  ::)  For the diehards Decware is still where its at .  ;)

I've never been much of a socialite. What I miss the most is bouncing thoughts off the tube guru's. It seems as if they never post anywhere anymore, and most of my conversations carry on privately. I'm just happy Decware was there back in '96 when I first took notice.

Well Don, Buzz. . . I know what you mean.  I guess I like to keep my typing skills up, but it won't be here!  :)  Guess it will be sleepy and I'll go talk jazz on the jazz boards.

Enjoy the tube glow guys!

Lon: Any "jazz-boards" you recommend?
Thanks, Don

Well, besides the board being split to audiophile.com and the Decware support forum, proper;

There has been the introduction of way way WAY too many sub-categories in both of these forums.

I think the posts are really about the same, statistically, but conversations in a particular "box" or "sub-category" are separated by such an abyss from any other category, that it makes it an annoyance to check in on a thread and make a comment or ask a question, or create a sense of community.

Both forums should be collapsed down into FAR fewer sub-categories, and a community might then reform.

Less is more...

Karl

The forum was split???

I thought portions were just deleted as time went on.

Where's the rest?

Ya'll know where I've been.  :-/  Hell, life's still rolling downhill.

http://www.audiophiletalk.com

Mike, this one just seems to keep on ebbing!

"Love without
guts is
worthless!"
Philip K. D*ick

Posts: 943
Lon, if this one keeps ebbing then flow cant be far away......  8-)

LOL

I remember waaaaaaay back when there were some sub catagories to the Decware forum, but there was a pretty constant flow of conversation on the one board. Since then (98?) I have joined, posted to, left, rejoined, and in various other ways haunted no few internet forums. I wouldn't care to imagine how many posts I have made in total. I have even been an admin on several of these. There are forums with so many members that a lot of separation is needed so that the admins can keep an eye on their specific sections.

This forum has never seemed that busy to me. The split actually stopped me from coming at all for quite some time. Since I can't get into the audiophiletalk section I don't know how it even looks over there now. Can anyone report if some of our old buds are posting still?

I keep coming back to check in here and see who is handy. I miss a lot of your guys comments though and it looks like quite a few "veterans" still hang out here to answer questions to people looking at new equipment Perhaps the Ebb and Flow will find it's way back home. Or perhaps I will find a way to get into the other half of the forum. Until then, sleepy it seems to be for me, lol

Take care,
Robert

Cool Don.  Thanks for sharing.

Let's leave Nit where he seems to want to be, on the other forum. . . .

Well I had another tweaky thought come to my mind today. Now I replaced the plastic wal duplex guard on the receptacle with a steel one to control vibrations. I was looking for brass but I could only find the steel at Lowes. I also went a step furhter bought some double sided sticky tape and cut up small pieces of my Deflex Paneling asorbing material and stuck that to the back of the plate and the front.
The music is flowing effortlessly now.With added body and richness to all notes. I can relly hear the correct sound of stringed instruments for the first time in a very long time. The last time I heard something this real was many years ago listening to a CAT Signature preamp with an RM-9 Amp and a 30 K golmund Reference turntable.
I never thought I would ever come close to that sound . Well I think I'm on my way now.
  I can hear absolutely no noise even with the volume cranked almost all the way up with my ear next to the ribbon tweeter.
It is very very quiet.
Well Happy Listening
Don C.

I use wood (walnut actually) receptical and switchplate covers.

If you want to work with wood, Lon, you had better hurry. We are sort of running out of the venerable stuff. All the really high quality sorts are in short supply causing a high price/demand response. We are using woods from Africa instead of the old line American beauties. Walnut? High priced! Big leaf curly maple? Same story... Even oak and poplar, traditionally cheap resources, are becoming pricey. The culprit is not the real use of the material but the waste of them for use in paper and fire wood. Whole countries have been voided of highly desirable species-Indonesian Rosewood used up as concrete forms, Luan-gone and not replanted but replaced with palm oil plantations-25 million acres worth, Honduras mahogany, same story and brought to you by the same multinational corporations. As a cabinetmaker we are cutting veneer  now where we used to use solids. Hardwood brush instead of trees is starting to look desirable. I love wood and have made a living with the stuff. I am very concerned about what we are facing now.     mike