[rockadanny]

I'll supply the sparkling water, wine, beer, or soda and packaged snacks. I also promise to shower, brush my teeth, and keep my shoes on so as not to offend anyone in the same or adjacent room.

[hubert]

Hello rockadanny,

If you want, you are wellcome in Alsass, France. Come with your Van Alstine Fet Valve Ultra 550, I'm currious about. I'll supply foie gras, choucroute and Riesling

[rockadanny]

Hubert,
I'd love to. Although I think the Ultra 550 would NOT fit under my airline seat! Honeymooned 11 years ago in and around Paris for several days, Chantilly, Versailles, then drove down through Limoges to Toulouse. On the way spent a few nights in  chateau somewhere and rode horses through the country side. Stopped in Cahors (great bridge), then Carcassone, and up to Avignon and Chamonix. Then on to Italy. Loved every minute of it, except for driving in Paris of course. Wish I could fly back there tomorrow. You've opened up my memory door, long since sealed, knocked down the cobwebs of years, and have made me long for France once again. Oh well, maybe tonight I'll just pop in a Nina Simone CD, pour myself a glass of Mont Redon Chateauneufe-du-Pape (yum), and revisit a good book: maybe Cousin Bette, Germinale, Madame Bovary, or Voyage Around My Room.

[hubert]

rockadanny,

You are a lucky man.

I would love to land with Hartfield Jackson and visit "South Athenia"... Sometimes the web is very frustrating

[MemphisJim]

I'm in Memphis TN, which is little farther than you'd like, I'm sure. In any event, feel free to stop by. I power mine with an upgraded Golden Tube SE40 SE and they sound wonderful!!

Jim

[rockadanny]

Jim,
Thank you for the invite. However, that is a tad further than I can travel these days, although I am going to visit Memphis at some point. After all, what music lover wouldn't want to? But for now:
830 miles round trip / 12 mpg (F250/V10) * $2.75/gal = $190 = ouch! I could get a decent power cord for that amount!  ;-}

[rockadanny]

Nobody else? Darn. I really wanted to compare a pair of 1801b's to my EgglestonWorks Fontaines. I am very curious as to how they would compare. Like the 1801b's my Eggys also have a superb tweeter: Dynaudio Esotar T-330D. Each has two glorious 6" woofers (one for mid-bass and one for bass - dual ported box): Morel MW-166 - these are in-line with the tweeter and series connected directly to the amp - NO crossover! Fantastic mids, though less bass than the 1801b's so I have to supplement with a powered subwoofer (ACI Titan). And the cabinet is highly inert as it employs granite adhered to outer side walls.

I seem to prefer simpler, though well engineered equipment, for the purest and most musical sound (no scientific basis for this assumption on my part). And the Fontaines, with as simple a tweeter crossover as you can get (one cap and two resistors) and full-range woofers are dead bang simple (by simple I do not mean engineering-wise, just parts-wise). The 1801b's seem like they too are engineered similarly: best, most appropriate parts in a simple (obviously well thought out) construction, but with better bass results. This piques my interest.