Ron's Speaker, Turntable, Power and Room Treatment Upgrades

Lagonda

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If a component stays in its box, then it can't possibly get scratched,.
Personally i would have left the cars on the curb, and turned that 2 car garage into a temporary listening room long time ago !:)
 

Ron Resnick

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Personally i would have left the cars on the curb, and turned that 2 car garage into a temporary listening room long time ago !:)

The garage also is being partially renovated.
 

Lagonda

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The garage also is being partially renovated.
You are a very patient man Ron. I remember waiting 2 weeks for Martin Logan to come and assemble the Statements, drove me crazy with those crates sitting in the hallway o_O
 
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han_n

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Sep 5, 2019
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Beautiful room Ron, however be aware of the likely reflections bouncing around. After nearly 30 years of listening to panels (Apogee full range, Apogee Grands and Gryphon Pendragon) I would say don't do anything to the front wall (first). Start with (as is) walls, and fill it in gradually. You need to get yourself familiar with the sound of the untreated room first, try to understand what you don't like (if any), and take it from there. Other than that, don't spend the rest of your lifetime on trying to "improve" again and again. Spend time on enjoying what you have.... At least, that is my advice...
 
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Ron Resnick

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You are a very patient man Ron. I remember waiting 2 weeks for Martin Logan to come and assemble the Statements, drove me crazy with those crates sitting in the hallway o_O

I've just had too many problems, setbacks and larger fish to fry for mere impatience to be very high up on my list of issues.
 

Ron Resnick

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Beautiful room Ron, however be aware of the likely reflections bouncing around. After nearly 30 years of listening to panels (Apogee full range, Apogee Grands and Gryphon Pendragon) I would say don't do anything to the front wall (first). Start with (as is) walls, and fill it in gradually. You need to get yourself familiar with the sound of the untreated room first, try to understand what you don't like (if any), and take it from there. Other than that, don't spend the rest of your lifetime on trying to "improve" again and again. Spend time on enjoying what you have.... At least, that is my advice...

Thank you very kindly for your advice. I actually agree on each and every point.

I am going to start with the room as is, without any acoustic treatment. My traditional personal preference for dipole speakers is to not have anything on the front wall. At some point I am sure I will play with first reflection absorption versus diffusion versus nothing.

I am looking forward to spending months, and maybe even years, perfecting the positioning of the speakers in the room. But I am not an equipment swapper, and once everything is settled in I am not likely to fuss around very much.
 
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Hi-FiGuy

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Feb 23, 2015
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I always figured that it would be hard to impress Ron, or rather even make something he wouldn't laugh at... But now I think it's probably possibly even in my neck of the woods that could use some uplift in food culture (it's trying but most people can't recognize quality food).

I have lived in a few states but hands down Washington state had the worst food experience I have ever experienced, sorry, they certainly have not figured out Mexican and Italian food.
 

Folsom

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I have lived in a few states but hands down Washington state had the worst food experience I have ever experienced, sorry, they certainly have not figured out Mexican and Italian food.

Sorry you didn't have good experiences.

But I can name a few Mexican restaurants that are damn good. Like you have to go to NYC to find competition to them. (people say Cali, but honestly I've never seen anything that wasn't garbage there, and refute everyone's opinion on that barring some non-mexican mexicanish restaurant maybe in LA). There's a simple explanation for a few of the Mexican restaurants and that is the seasonal workers from Mexico that come to WA every year, but some stayed.

Italian? Hmm, that's harder to say. There are places I haven't tried, but can say nothing so far is particularly good, some ok.

On the whole though I would say Montana has the better quality food in general of any state I've personally experienced. Yes there is a lot of trash places but believe it or not a Denny's in Montana is infinitely better than in LA. The general quality is simply better.
 

cjfrbw

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Apr 20, 2010
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I ate better Mexican food in LA along Washington Blvd. at stands and holes in the wall than I experienced in fancier places elsewhere.

It was funny, but when I was in New Orleans, the whole downtown area only had one Mexican place. It was a buffet, and was dead awful compared to the lowliest Mexican food in LA.

I thought that was odd in a place that absolutely lived on jazz and food culture. I have heard they have added more and better since.
 

christoph

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Dec 11, 2015
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Beautiful room Ron, however be aware of the likely reflections bouncing around. After nearly 30 years of listening to panels (Apogee full range, Apogee Grands and Gryphon Pendragon) I would say don't do anything to the front wall (first). Start with (as is) walls, and fill it in gradually. You need to get yourself familiar with the sound of the untreated room first, try to understand what you don't like (if any), and take it from there. Other than that, don't spend the rest of your lifetime on trying to "improve" again and again. Spend time on enjoying what you have.... At least, that is my advice...
Excellent advice :cool:
 

sbnx

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No complaints about the Mexican food in Texas. Seems like there is a great place on every corner. :)
 
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Folsom

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I ate better Mexican food in LA along Washington Blvd. at stands and holes in the wall than I experienced in fancier places elsewhere.

It was funny, but when I was in New Orleans, the whole downtown area only had one Mexican place. It was a buffet, and was dead awful compared to the lowliest Mexican food in LA.

I thought that was odd in a place that absolutely lived on jazz and food culture. I have heard they have added more and better since.

My general opinion is that almost everyone just has their favorite tex-mex place that makes tex-mex the way they like it. Anything else is rare.

I looked at places on that street, some look good. Everyone likes to think near the boarder is better... they haven't been to all the NYC Mexican places. Just like your experience with New Orleans, that has been mine too many times. It just doesn't seem to be the best predictor.
 

Ron Resnick

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In my opinion, in general (of course there are a number of top-tier restaurants sprinkled all across the country) the top tier of Manhattan restaurants sets the food quality benchmarks for the United States.
 
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Joe Whip

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There are many great restaurants in Manhattan to be sure, but interestingly, I have NYC friends who pre COVID used to come to Philly often to dine.
 

Folsom

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In my opinion, in general (of course there are a number of top-tier restaurants sprinkled all across the country) the top tier of Manhattan restaurants sets the food quality benchmarks for the United States.

I'd extend that to even just NYC. The crazy thing is you can pay sub $20 a plate and still get amazing food in NYC. It's actually as cheap or cheaper than a lot of the US for a lot of very good food.

There is of course a lot more junk the further out you go from the restaurant hot spots.
 

Zero000

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Jul 28, 2014
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I'd extend that to even just NYC. The crazy thing is you can pay sub $20 a plate and still get amazing food in NYC. It's actually as cheap or cheaper than a lot of the US for a lot of very good food.

There is of course a lot more junk the further out you go from the restaurant hot spots.

Well we must have missed something when we spent a week in NYC. As Brits we thought the food was dreadful. It was about 17 years ago, though.

I can remember a decent bowl of French soup in a French restaurant somewhere however. We stayed on 54th street and I remember an overwhelming smell of drains. That sewage system needed some serious work!

Most memorable bits? Why is Times Square a triangle? And Madison Square Gardens round? And why did a bar in the park not know what a Manhattan cocktail was?

Also, the accounts of 9/11 in a nearby church. Gulp!
 
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Folsom

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Well we must have missed something when we spent a week in NYC. As Brits we thought the food was dreadful. It was about 17 years ago, though.

I can remember a decent bowl of French soup in a French restaurant somewhere however. We stayed on 54th street and I remember an overwhelming smell of drains. That sewage system needed some serious work!

Most memorable bits? Why is Times Square a triangle? And Madison Square Gardens round? And why did a bar in the park not know what a Manhattan cocktail was?

Also, the accounts of 9/11 in a nearby church. Gulp!

There isn't a shortage of touristy and bad places in a city that big.

But that was awhile ago. I was a in high school...
 

Ron Resnick

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Well we must have missed something when we spent a week in NYC. As Brits we thought the food was dreadful. It was about 17 years ago, though.

I can remember a decent bowl of French soup in a French restaurant somewhere however.

. . .

User211, Folsom,

Respectfully I think we might be talking about different things.

When I refer to Manhattan as my benchmark for food quality in restaurants I am thinking of the Zagats top 25 or so rated restaurants in Manhattan. An overall sense of this list of top restaurants in Manhattan developed from eating in most of them several times (especially Eleven Madison Park, but also Lespinasse, Le Bernardin, Daniel, Mondrian, Felidia, Il Nido and Cafe Boulud) over the course of living in Manhattan for many years (mostly treated by accounting firms and law firms) is what I have in mind when I evaluate restaurants in other cities.
 
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bonzo75

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Zagat and Michelin are very different.

Zagat ratings are very reliable for food taste.

Never trust someone that makes tyres for a living to rate food
 
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