[shep]

It's been a lot of fun and a real learning experience discovering this Forum this year. I remember waiting a month for an issue of TAS or Stereophile to appear at news stands or to beg/borrow one. This is so much more interesting. I will try in the new year to be a bit less bitchy and to post more info. and less opinion!
(comes with the territory and being totally frustrated reading about all the great gear I don't have!)
Since I KNOW you are all waiting with bated breath  I will tell you about my Trend T-amp from  M.MArdis, if it ever reappears, my new speakers from Holland (Crafty), and sonic life in the slow lane (just kidding)
Be well, be kind, and remember; the more you give, the more you get in return.

[PorkpieHat]

Et joyeux Noël à vous, également.

Speaking of territory, how are you finding the music stores and audio shops over there? What part of the country are you in?

[rollo]

Merry Christmas to all across the pond,
rollo

[PaulFolbrecht]

Merry Christmas from the fog-bound Midwest as well!

FWIW - I still read Stereophile and TAS only for some strange desire to keep up with what they're about.  I don't trust anything I read in there, except perhaps the THD measurements.  How can magazines that require manufacturers to give them advertising dollars before reviewing their gear be considered trustworthy?

[Frihed91]

Merry Christmas from the warm and sunny Brønshøj Riveria on the banks of the lovely Utterslev Mose, with special thanks to those who are making our climate warmer and who may bring the sea to our doorsteps.

[Daygloworange]

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from cold, damp and rainy Toronto. Doesn't look like it's going to a white Xmas this year.

Cheers

[Rob Babcock]

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the chilly Midwest US, Shep!   I used to read all the rags, but not TAS is the only print mag I read (and not every issue).  There's a link somewhere at AC to all the e-zines currently out there; there's a lot more good info available on the web than in the rags, and it's more up to date, too.

I hope the New Year finds you well, and finds here with us at AC.

[shep]

After days of fog-bound, frost, the southern sun reappears and wooshes away the ice Chrystal's. Living in an old stone built house sucks! A sober Christmas (that makes 20, hurray me!) My present to me was the Crofty Azumi's playing at present. Since I know you are all secretly jaded with your SUPER systems and the wife is wondering why there's a fourth mortgage on the house and you had to eat at Mac do on Christmas day...you just can't wait to hear about hi-end sound on a shoe string. Guess what? you gotta wait till M. MArdis comes back from the beach and sends me back my Trend t-10. But I can't help but give you a little taste. Some years back a friend gave me a vintage (1979) Hitachi integrated, in mint cond.
He upgraded (BIG mistake) to something newer and flashier. It was from the years when the Japanese were feverishly outdoing each other trying out different topologies. Sony and Trio (Kenwood) were the heavies and Hitachi had to try their hand. Most of these designs disappeared. Class A and AB and some variations are the norm today from Nippon. I guess the smart obsessive guys either took desk jobs or went over to tubes. Anyway my amp was large, black and heavy and called itself 'Dynaharmony, Power stage class-E". Ring any bells?  Lots of buttons and switches and a pretty pedestrian sound. In those days you got a book and best of all, a real service manual with complete schematics. Having nothing better to do, zero experience and a taste for risk, I decided major surgery was called for. Basically I disconnected everything that wasn't power amp, rewired that, changed out all the caps, put decent RCA's and speaker connections on the back and with great trepidation switched it on. No smoke, no solar flares, Great sound! To cut this short, I use some homemade stepped resistor pots and no complaints.
I ended up trading this amp to a friend for a laptop but borrowed it back while waiting for my T-amp and to break in the new speakers. They are the subject of this thread of course. At first I was disappointed but I'm an old hand at this game and I know about burning in new gear. They have about 50 hours and are beginning to make music instead of bad mannered sound. Small drivers...Last night they flouted a wall of sound for the first time and the space behind them was populated with vibrations and details. Nice.
I fear the t-amps are not going to be able to drive them beyond "polite". I am looking wistfully at something like Channel Island and those very interesting looking pots http://www.tweakaudio.com/Ultimate%20Attenuators.html. Twas always thus...