[Music Maven]

Thanks for the Vandy suggestion, Nature Boy.

It's excellent value for money, but I'm a sucker for real wood veneers so the aesthetics of the cloth-wrap don't float my boat. Of course, that's just my opinion. I do know he produces a nice honest speaker.

Inscrutable, thanks for the music reports.

I might look for Chambers in the store, and as to Fogerty, if you're willing to accept a softer, gentler "folky" Fogerty then I think it's worth the money. I figure since he's about 60 he wanted to find softer music to rest his voice. The few rock songs on there are "OK" but are either flat compared to his better stuff or sound totally out of character for him, as in "In the Garden."

Then, you have to look at the paltry 34 minute length of the CD, and that's a negative.

I'm happy to own and occasionally play it, but I view it as just something that "fills in" and slightly diversifies a long and distinguished career rather than something that stands on its own. It just isn't as significant as "Blue Moon Swamp" but I think a real Fogerty fan will still want to own it.

Yes, I know that Cain & Cain Abby is highly regarded, but it is a better match for a tubed system, and I just can't spend enough money now to change both amp and preamp.

Jerry

[Inscrutable]

Jerry,
About Fogerty ... I've not listened to much of his solo works, so I am perhaps less prepared or prejudiced (in the best sense).  It is very eclectic.  Sometimes it seemed like him, sometimes like a weak CCR, then sometimes it could have been a Dire Straits imitation (I suppose no great surprise as MK guests on it, though I understand is not the dominant guitar), and In The Garden sounded almost like Cream. Late mid-life crisis?

Too funny about your Now Playing

[Tonto Yoder]

I might look for Chambers in the store...

I have the DVD of her "Behind the Barricades" ( live show & some background material): I found her voice irritating, and the one track I was interested in (Patty Griffin's "Top of the World") was shrill to the point of being unlistenable. The studio material might be a little more restrained.

[jake3]

Mate, you probably wont find them in the US but Audiovector would suit your tastes perfectly, and they are inexpensive.
http://www.audiovector.dk/default.asp
I have the M3 Avantgardes with the ribbon tweeters, and they are a lively, responsive, truthful speaker with great dynamic range. 35-45kHz.
The new ones now do 28-50.
If you want a big boomy American bass then get some Vandersteens or something, the Audiovectors are articulate yet still punchy without drowning you in bass.

[bixby]

Out of all the speakers mentioned that I have heard, and based on your preference for female vocalists (like me), I think a speaker that absoutely get the mids right is in order.  I would second the mention of the Daedalus.  Outstanding speaker but I think over $3k.  I also liked the Lorelie.  Clean sounding and priced right.  Finally, I would add the Thiel 1.6.  Tranparent mid,, great vocals and natural instruments, weak low bass, a bit compressed when really cranked but superb detail at lower listening levels.   Extended top and revealing of everything upstream.

cheers

[Mudjock]

I attended DIY Iowa this weekend.  The Veracity HT-3 from Jim Salk (www.salksound.com), which won the unlimited class, does everything extremely well.  They start at $3500.

[jackman]

Mudjock,
You have good taste in speakers.  Although I would put Jim's new speakers up against anything in the 3K category for their sound, I'd double up the bet that they'd be much better looking and constructed than anything under 20K!  

J